My Voice: Pioneertown “Owns” Alanna Gold.
My voice is a place for individuals to write in and have their voice heard in celebration or concern regarding our hi-desert community. If you would like to submit an editorial, please email info@joshuatreevoice.com.
Submitted by Rex Edhlund
Pioneertown owns Alanna Gold – you know… like the slang for when someone is absolutely dominated in a competition or debate. Because when the strange and exaggerated claims came out on the Netflix reality TV show, Selling Sunset, the town rallied and shut it down FAST! The surreal media storm that the producers were assuredly fine with, was offensive in so many ways. For those of us actively involved in the preservation and direction of Pioneertown it is as close to nefarious as a claim could be. There was a severe response, not just from us, but from what it seems, the world.
In a rare and refreshing unified moment, we all chimed in. A barrage of postings sharing our dismay and outrage poured out as the regularly starstruck media, ranging from People Magazine to Business Insider, reiterated her claim. Often, they gave her a chance to clarify, but instead, she doubled down on “how hard it is to own a town”. Many of us reached out to the writers who were shocked to hear how they were bamboozled and surely embarrassed by their lackadaisical fact-checking.
Then the neck-snapping reversal began, most significantly with the Pioneertown Gazette posting an incredibly crafted response and demand for apology with one highlight being “These claims belittle generations of artists, neighbors, nature lovers, community members, musicians, small business owners and otherwise magnificent people of Pioneertown. Pioneertown is a mile-square censusdesignated community with over 400 residents and is privately owned by more than 100 independent parties.”
During this active response period, I was approached by Karma, who operates the Bingo night at the Red Dog Saloon which benefits the Morongo Basin No Kill Shelter. She thought a t-shirt was in order. I whipped together a design and threw it up on t-public (https://www.teepublic.com/user/pioneertown-ca) where a bunch of them were sold with all revenues to be given to the aforementioned charity. In an amazing completely-lacking-in-self-awareness moment, one of the main Selling Sunset characters was seen in the gym WEARING one of the shirts in an apparent attempt to throw shade at his co-star or possibly mocking our anger. Even local animal celebrities like Wolfie the minidonkey and his crew (at www.mojaveminidonkeys.com got on board). As annoying as this all was, and as disappointing as some of the invader behavior has been, it has also been pretty damn entertaining.
I’ll spare you the complex history of how Pioneertown Land Company LLC came to buy the small strip of Pioneertown they overpaid for (it isn’t pretty and is easily found with a bit of googling). Story has it that when using other people’s money you can do that. The LLC is comprised of investor Dave Corso, whose primary claim to fame is with promotions for the Coachella Festival, and Adam Gold (Alanna’s husband) whose minor stake is said to be 3% of the 1% of Pioneertown they actually own.
When asked directly, the partners will claim to know nothing about plans, but a quick check on submitted proposals will show an intent to create nightclubs, hotels, etc., all to their exclusive benefit. Add to this their active attempts at sabotaging a recent citizen-led zoning overlay that prevents non-Western town architectural elements to be added to Mane St. as well as their being strongly opposed to the ban of franchise businesses. None of this “Saves Pioneertown”, more so it sweeps what we revere aside to be remade as a plastic corporate shell for the hollow of heart to consume.
This town was formed in 1946 to act as the base and set for a multitude of western films and TV shows. The buildings that served as the backdrops were also actively lived in and worked at. It was a hybrid set and town, wonderfully unique. It has gone through many iterations of development and is currently a serene mountain neighborhood of wildly individualistic people peppered with phenomenal concerts and rich living at our local landmarks- Pappy + Harriet’s, the Red Dog Saloon, the Pioneertown Motel and the delightful Pioneer Bowl. Incidentally, those 4 world-famous spots are NOT part of Pioneertown Land Company LLC, in fact, Gold and Corso have been 86’d from the bars due to previous unpleasant business dealings, banned years before this episode came out. This latest outrage is just the cherry on top of the nonsense sundae they’ve been making, but it did get us to the point of enough is enough. It may be worth mentioning that even though she brags about being wed here, she omits that they were banned from being able to celebrate at any of the saloons.
Why does Alanna Gold’s wild exaggeration (lie) actually matter?
Other than the consistent bad neighbor thing, it does matter how the world sees our rare village. Pioneertown has thousands of visitors every month and already there is a trespassing problem with far too much disrespect from many tourists. At my land in the SW corner where I usually work every day, I am constantly addressing people walking across properties, trying to camp on others’ land, speeding around on dirt bikes and basically treating it all like it’s an abandoned backlot while being oblivious to the people living here. “I thought this was a movie set.” is something I have heard already too often. Someone announcing that they “own a western town that was built to be a movie set” propagates the nonsense that this is the high-desert equivalent of the MGM backlot.
I had just spent a week at an Earthbuilding conference while interacting online with this media circus, and on the way back I had stopped at a dive bar in Kingman AZ. As the conversation went to where I was from, and I shared, the bartender immediately replied, “Oh! The place that new Selling Sunset lady owns! She’s the Sherrif there! What’s she like?” To which I responded, “Who knows, no one has ever spoken to her since she does NOT own Pioneertown and no one has ever seen her there.”
It’s disturbing. Living here is hard. The wind, fire threats, the coyotes, the snakes, the bears, the harsh sunlight etc., the desert is actively trying to dismantle one’s existence here already, we don’t need behind-the-scenes shenanigans. We do the work and the town is flourishing, always improving, always building back better. To have an unknown try to take credit for that is infuriating.
Please keep in mind, I’m not of the never-do-anything crowd. We can have more places of interest here. I’d love a coffee shop, more stores, art events, and functions. We can grow it into a fun, family destination, and the local community organization Friends of Pioneertown meets regularly to work towards that goal (a group Pioneertown Land Company LLC is NOT a member of).
Wolfie the mini donkey
Let’s face it, Corso approached this area quite calculatingly with the whole “Saving Pioneertown” schtick. Some people look at the dirt roads we want to keep, as some sort of 3rd world problem, when it is actually because we wish to remain an equestrian community. He parades this self-appointed savior of Pioneertown identity to whatever monied visitor or politician he can get within earshot of. I’ve seen it plenty. But remember, if someone is “selfappointed”, it’s usually because no one else wants them to do it.
PS: If you want to see more of how Alanna was “owned”, find the Reddit on this subject – it’s quite a collection of digs and does incidentally establish to the world that the people of Pioneertown are the last people you should ever mess with. So, instead of fool’s Gold, we get a silver lining.
Submitted by Rex Edhlund
Edhlund is an artist, writer, and adobe homebuilder in Pioneertown Ca. When not being outspoken, he is out making adobe bricks.
