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Newton T. Bass House

1950s architecture in the United StatesBuildings and structures in CaliforniaHouses in California
Newton T. Bass House, Apple Valley, California
Newton T. Bass House, Apple Valley, California

The Newton T. Bass House, known colloquially as "Hilltop House," was a private residence in Apple Valley, California built in 1959 for Newton Thornberry Bass and designed by Mexican architect Francisco Artigas. The house, which the owner never occupied, was built atop Miner's Hill adjacent to the Apple Valley Inn that Bass had opened in 1948. The hilltop location provided panoramic views of the Victor Valley and symbolized Bass's preeminent status in the town. In January 1967, the home was wrecked in a fire started during a robbery. Subsequently, in April 1968, reconstruction began following plans by Leslie E. Arthur, and the house was converted into a board room for the Reserve Oil and Gas Company, of which Bass was chairman of the board. Following Bass's death in 1983, the house was left abandoned for the next four decades. In 2016, the town of Apple Valley purchased the house, and in March 2022 the town council voted to demolish it. The house was torn down in September 2022.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Newton T. Bass House (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 34.522966 ° E -117.222215 °
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92307
California, United States
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Newton T. Bass House, Apple Valley, California
Newton T. Bass House, Apple Valley, California
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Apple Valley Inn

The Apple Valley Inn was a hotel and restaurant established in Apple Valley, California, to help developer Newton T. Bass attract wealthy land buyers to the southern California desert town. Bass and partner Bernard "Bud" Westlund owned Apple Valley Ranchos Land Development Co. The inn, which opened on Thanksgiving Day 1948, is a landmark in the community and a prominent feature in the history of Apple Valley. The inn was a popular vacation destination for Hollywood celebrities during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Frequent visitors included notable icons Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne and Richard Nixon in its heyday. Entertainment for guests included such performers as cowgirl celebrity and famous trick roper, Texas Rose Bascom. Jack Rogers, famed Country Western Singer, guitarist, and prolific composer, was frequently performing at the Inn during the sixties. He was a close friend and compatriot of “Newt” (the owner), Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Bob Hope, etc. Richard Nixon took a liking to Jack and his music and would go into the bar at night and each night request Jack play and sing “El Paso” which of course he accommodated. The inn originally allowed only white Christians as patrons. Apple Valley Ranchos Land established racial policies in its covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) dated Feb 14, 1946. The restrictions were increasingly relaxed throughout the 1950s as GI Bill money was used to purchase property. In 1954, screenwriter and producer Roger Corman set part of his movie Highway Dragnet at the inn with extensive shots of the lobby, pool and exterior scenes. In 1956, director Douglas Sirk and producer Ross Hunter utilized the same features as the 'Palm Valley Inn' in the film There's Always Tomorrow. In 1965, movie stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and their family became residents of Apple Valley. Roy Rogers leased the inn and restaurant, which was then renamed Roy Rogers' Apple Valley Inn. The Outdoor Steak Fry and the Roy Rogers' Riding Stables, with its haywagon rides and horseback riding, were two popular enterprises attached to the inn. Mel Marion and then Billy Bascom managed the stables. Cowboy artist Earl Bascom and his artist son John worked there from time to time. Roy Rogers' personal horse, Trigger Junior, was frequently boarded at the riding stables. After many successful years, the inn closed to the public in 1987. It was purchased by the Lakritz Partnership in November 2003 and restored.

Mojave Narrows Park
Mojave Narrows Park

Mojave Narrows Park is a regional park in San Bernardino County, California, near Victorville. It features a 50-acre (20 ha) fishing lake and hiking trails. Once described as "one of Southern California's least-known parks," it is a location where the typically subterranean Mojave River flows above ground. The river rises out of a "long gorge with granite walls" near the park's northern boundary. As described by the Los Angeles Times, "the now-you-see it, now-you-don't Mojave River comes to a rocky gate near Victorville called Mojave Narrows. Here the water comes to the surface in lakes, sloughs and green pastures." The section of the park near the river is "an inviting expanse of green meadows, cottonwoods, willow thickets, and year-round water in river channels, creeks, bogs, ponds, and two small lakes." Over 250 species of birds have been observed at the park, up from 125 species 50 years ago. Beavers have been periodically sighted in the park since its establishment up to the present day. The park permits RV camping and tent camping at designated locations. Los Angeles-bound BNSF Railway freight trains "frequently rumble past," crossing over bridges on the western boundary of the park. The Santa Fe Railroad pioneered a train route named Frost through Mojave Narrows to the west in 1885. In antiquity, the "oasis" was visited by Native Americans, later by migrant travelers from back east. The land for the park, previously called North Verde Ranch and then Kemper Campbell Ranch, was purchased by San Bernardino County in the late 1960s. A 1973 newspaper "trip of the week" feature described the state of the park at that time: "Ranch guests are housed in adobes that seem to grow out of the hillside. The informal ranch life includes swimming, tennis, bass fishing, hiking and riding on trails…The late afternoon and evening views are gorgeous over the crumpled Narrows rocks, pale desert mountains and snowy San Bernardinos in the distance."