Get your Tivos set, because on Tuesday, January 10th,
PBS will premiere a new episode in their excellent AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
documentary series. BILLY THE KID will
be the first documentary to run under their THE WILD WEST grouping. To see a preview/teaser, click HERE. The following Tuesday, January 17th,
another episode will premiere, CUSTER’S LAST STAND. To see the preview/teaser, click HERE.
Then each successive Tuesday, previously aired episodes will
play, the subjects being WYATT EARP, GERONIMO, ANNIE OAKLEY, JESSE JAMES,
BUFFALO BILL and KIT CARSON.
AMC RENEWS 'HELL ON WHEELS' FOR 2ND SEASON!
WESTERNS ‘TALL IN THE SADDLE’ AT EASTMAN HOUSE JAN & FEB
Beginning on Thursday, January 5th with THE
OX-BOX INCIDENT and continuing for most Thursdays in February, Eastman House in
Rochester, New York, will present ‘Tall in the Saddle’, a Western film festival
curated by Jack Garner. Other films to
be shown will include HIGH NOON, THE BIG COUNTRY, BLOOD ON THE MOON, WAGON
MASTER, THE GUNFIGHTER and Walter Hill’s THE LONG RIDERS. I’ll have more details soon.
LOS ENCINOS SLATED FOR 2012 CLOSING
Often known simply as ‘The Duck Park’ or
‘The Duck Pond’, for the natural spring that attracts flocks of varied breeds
of ducks, geese and other birds, both migratory and resident, Los Encinos
State Park has a history
that stretches back centuries. But it’s a
history which may abruptly end, as it is one of seventy State Parks currently slated
for closure due to a $22 million cut in the budget for state parks.
At the corner of Balboa and Ventura Avenues
in Encino, an Indian village was for centuries the home of the Tongva, most of
whom left around 1797 to relocate at the then new San Fernando Mission. In 1834, when Mexico
dissolved the Mission system, three mission
Indians were given a 4,400 acre land grant for the Los Encinos area. The area, eventually the De La Osa Rancho,
would become a center of beef-raising with the coming of the Gold Rush, and in
fact the two standing adobe buildings were built in 1849. They were at various times the homes of
Spanish families, Basque shepherds, and a busy stage-coach stop when Ventura Boulevard
was better known as El Camino Real.
A popular park, famous for their monthly
‘living history’ presentation, Los Encinos is no stranger to strife. Just weeks after the buildings’ 1994
reopening after an expensive renovation, the Northridge Earthquake hit, closing
the buildings for more than another decade.
At brainstorming meetings this month, docents, local residents, business
representatives and politicians have to come up with ideas on how to raise the
money to save the park. One clear fact
is that it costs about $150,000 a year to operate the park, and the park has
turned a paltry $50 profit two years running.
Even to close the park to the public, but maintain it, would cost
$15,000 to $30,000 a year.
Among the politicians who are trying to help
save the place are State Senator Fran Pavley, who describes the park as “a
hidden treasure,” and L.A. Councilman Paul Koretz. Ironically, in the midst of California ’s
(and America ’s)
financial woes, L. A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is campaigning to open fifty
new parks, and there’s no reason why Los Encinos couldn’t be one of them. If you’d like to know more, and to help,
please visit the docent website HERE.
When I had a chance to chat with his last year, he pointed out that a
WATCH TRIGGER AND BULLET ON NEW YEARS DAY
The Annual New Years Day Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena will feature anRFD-TV-sponsored float honoring the 100th birthday of the King Of The Cowboys, Roy Rogers! And though they’ve been gone longer than Roy , riding the float will be Trigger, the smartest horse in the movies, and Roy ’s wonder-dog, Bullet! The artfully taxidermied pair has been touring the country, making public appearances, for about a year, since network owner Patrick Gottsch purchased the dynamic duo at the big Roy Rogers Estate Auction. RFD-TV shows an episode of theRoy Rogers Show every Sunday, and a Roy Rogers movie every Tuesday, with repeats. .
There was very little about the death and life of Ted Markland. Could you put in something about him in your column?
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