Since we arrived I have been wanting to drive up and see Palmdale and Lancaster and we were finally able to go. But first Lee had a surprise stop for me at Vasquez Rocks County Park and as soon as we pulled in I recognized the landscape. Over 100 movies and TV shows have filmed here but for me what I recognized was the place Captain Kirk fought the Gorn in an old Star Trek episode. Lee was pretty impressed that I got it right off and I loved the landscape. Can’t wait to go back with Jack and have a proper hike!
After the county park we made it to Palmdale and although it was the desert landscape I expected it was also a decent little town. The stretch between Palmdale and Lancaster though is a bit of a no man’s land reminding me a little of Quartzite with lots of RV groupings. Land up here is relatively cheap and outside of the towns there aren’t many rules. Lee even drove us pretty far down a side road to come to this former motel and cafe which is now often used as a movie set. It must get a lot of visitors because even on a Saturday morning there was a guard of sorts watching over the place.
We also stopped at the Lockheed plant which is the home of the famous Skunkworks. There was a small museum called Blackbird Park with a display outside the locked in areas and we saw many of the original prototypes for spy planes from the 1960’s. Lee loves spy stuff so he was really enjoying it, what surprised me was that these planes are all jets and a teeny tiny cockpit area. Definitely worth a stop if you like planes or spy stuff.
The main reason I wanted to come to this area was Grandma’s Attic. Although the thrift store is permanently closed, it is owned by Ivy and featured on Storage Wars. In person it looked exactly like it looks on TV (that rarely happens) and we were able to stop and I got a quick pick.
On our way back to Northridge we even stopped at the Halfway House Cafe which has been used in many movies. The most recent is from the film Maverick, where Tom Cruise crashes his plane and walks into a cafe and gets a drink of water. I stood right in the spot he was at which was really neat. Another great scene we remembered was from the show Studio 60 where John Goodman plays a judge from Pahrump, NV and treats the LA folks to a piece of pie. The restaurant hasn’t had pie since Covid but it was still pretty good and a popular place.
Here is the counter and a screen shot from the Tom Cruise Scene.
Super cool standing right there. It was a great day and Lee planned the whole thing with lots of wonderful surprises. One other thing I wanted to mention is when you come here you might be looking at stars and not even know it. There was a beautiful young woman in the cafe with a hat and sunglasses on which is a dead giveaway because when do you wear sunglasses inside a dim restaurant??? She was also with two huge guys who were clearly bodyguards (another giveaway) although for the life of me I have no idea who she was. She might have been a influencer (I don’t pay much attention to those) but I do know they are all over LA.
Anyways, it was a lovely day. Sunday was Father’s day and since we weren’t with anyone, Lee went to a car show in Beverly Hills (he saw the original Batmobile from the 1960’s!!!) and I had a great chat with my dad. I sent him this cool apron and he was kind enough to share a picture with me of him in it. Nice chill weekend.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
Camper Chronicles 