86:, California, and were prominent members of the city's Black community. The Murrays ran the ranch in part as a retreat for underprivileged African-American children. Operated for nearly 20 years as a dude ranch with a pool, several small houses, tennis courts, a ball field, and riding stables, the ranch was used by entertainment personalities and by ordinary families. It was open to all who could afford to come. Murray's was a recreational favorite for Blacks, and a marker in the history of Black recreation. In the 1920s, when Murray's Dude Ranch opened, widespread
185:, renamed the property the "Lazy B" and installed modern conveniences like a telephone and updated lighting. Nolie Murray continued to reside on the remaining 5 acres of the original ranch, operating a small hotel, until his death in 1958. Bailey sold the ranch in the mid-1960s. In 1988 the old buildings, not worth salvaging, were burned for a training session of the Apple Valley Fire Department.
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practices limited Black
Californians' access to most private and public recreational facilities. Resorts, hotels, nightclubs, and even public parks in many California communities were closed to Black patrons. For nearly half of the 20th century, recreational activities of the Black community were
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181:, who for nearly a decade spent her days as an Apple Valley housewife when she could get away from the demands of her career in films and entertainment. Bailey and her husband,
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Murray's hosted about 100 people each week during the height of the season, from May to
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carried out in separate facilities. Apple Valley was once well known for the guest ranches that flourished there from about
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The 40-acre (160,000 m) site was purchased for $ 100 in 1926. The ranch was founded by husband and wife Nolie B. and
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Remembering Bell
Mountain: African American Landownership and Leisure in California's High Desert During the Jim Crow Era
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from the 1920s until the 1960s. The ranch was located at the northwest corner of Waalew Road and Dale Evans
Parkway in
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to the mid-1950s. Black-owned resorts were established in the first two decades of the 20th century, including
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Films shot on location at Murray's Dude Ranch were four "all-black cast" westerns, starring
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Murray's Ranch:Apple Valley's
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clientele. It also served as the set for a number of "all-black cast"
256:. University of California Riverside: ProQuest LLC. pp. 387–388.
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Populated places in
California established by African Americans
309:"The 1930s California Dude Ranch That Broke Racial Barriers"
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Murray's Ranch: Apple Valley's
African-American Dude Ranch
271:. Lewis Center for Educational Research. pp. 30–31.
478:"This Desert Life: 'The world's only negro dude ranch'"
284:"In Prejudiced Era, Ranch Welcomed Dudes Of All Colors"
118:as a black singing cowboy, made in the late 1930s.
367:Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California
369:, University of Washington Press, p. 262 (2001).
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553:History of San Bernardino County, California
82:, both of whom ran successful businesses in
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282:Rasmussen, Ceclia (February 22, 2004).
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563:Dude ranches in the United States
307:Meares, Hadley (May 27, 2015).
476:Cabe, Matthew (May 11, 2017).
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56:and catered primarily to an
269:The History of Apple Valley
252:Thornton, Jennifer (2018).
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292:. pp. B4 – via
54:owned by African Americans
34:Overall Wearing Dude Ranch
42:Bell Mountain, California
267:O'Rourke, Katie (2004).
195:African American resorts
24:Apple Valley, California
127:Two-Gun Man from Harlem
32:, sometimes called the
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568:Ranches in California
289:The Los Angeles Times
121:Harlem on the Prairie
67:Harlem on the Prairie
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529:34.5573°N 117.2074°W
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133:The Bronze Buckaroo
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520:117°12′27″W
171:Clark Gable
93:World War I
88:segregation
84:Los Angeles
80:Lela Murray
50:Victorville
38:guest ranch
547:Categories
517:34°33′26″N
500:References
351:August 12,
151:Kate Smith
147:Lena Horne
487:March 17,
346:0261-3077
318:March 17,
313:Curbed LA
201:Footnotes
155:Joe Louis
105:Val Verde
52:. It was
189:See also
130:(1938),
124:(1937),
70:(1937).
36:, was a
74:History
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103:, and
489:2020
371:ISBN
353:2023
342:ISSN
320:2020
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
