By Lisa Morgan
The legendary Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace is a national treasure that has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine as well as named in Billboard Magazine’s Top Ten “Hidden Gems of the Country”. Hailed by visitors from all over the world, this unique and famous rendezvous in the high desert is prized by fans, musicians and agents alike and is nationally known as a place where new music shines.
Pioneertown was founded in 1946 by a group of Hollywood investors with dreams of creating a living movie set. It was built as an 1870’s frontier town with facades for filming whose interiors were open to the public. On the outside, you saw stables, saloons, and jails. On the inside you enjoyed ice cream parlors, bowling alleys, and motels. The Sons of the Pioneers, for whom the town was named, along with Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Russell Hayden were some of the original investors and personalities who helped build and invent Pioneertown. More than 50 films and several television shows were filmed there between the 1940’s and 1950’s.
In 1972, Harriet’s mother, Francis Aleba, and her husband, John, purchased the building that had stood as a cantina façade for numerous movies. They opened “The Cantina” as an outlaw, biker, and burrito bar and it thrived as such for a good decade. When it closed, Francis and John made sure the building stayed in the family. In 1982, Harriet and her husband, Claude “Pappy” Allen, opened “Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace”. While the bikers still hung around, Pappy & Harriet’s presence created more of a family atmosphere with their family style Tex-Mex cuisine, outdoor barbeque and live music that featured Pappy, Harriet and their granddaughter Kristina. Pappy & Harriet’s quickly became a local favorite with all walks of life, who on this common ground, found a way to get along all under one roof!
Friends and fans flew from all over the world to be at Pappy & Harriet’s for a celebration of Pappy’s life when he died in 1994. Victoria Williams, a good friend of Pappy and touring partner, wrote the song “Happy to Have Known Pappy” that was recorded on her critically acclaimed album Loose. Harriet sold the bar to a family friend who gave it up after a few years. Here is where current owners, Robyn Celia and Linda Krantz came on the scene. The two New Yorkers and huge fans of Pappy & Harriet’s wanted to see it returned to its glory days. The ladies bought the club in 2003 and have truly helped the venue do that and more. Musicians from Robert Plant and Vampire Weekend to Leon Russell and Sean Lennon have graced the historic stage. The incredible lineup of talent isn’t about to stop there either, as the venue has quickly become a highly sought out stage amongst the countries rising stars and top musicians.
Co-owner, Robyn Celia, explained how she came into this amazing venture. “Me and two partners came out from New York City in 2003 and bought Pappy & Harriet’s from a man named Jay Hawk. I was in the restaurant business and Linda was in the film business. Change was the inspiration. I had lived in the same studio apartment in the West Village in Manhattan for a long while, and the time was right. It was a total whim.” Apparently it was not an easy “whim” as one of the partners left after only 6 months. Still, the ladies forged on with one mission: “We want to make all of our customers leave with a smile on their face. When it comes to the music, we just want the artists to be treated well by the crowd and the crowd to enjoy the artists. The biggest hurdle is to try to keep all different kinds of folks satisfied. We are very fortunate that the local community has supported us very well, since day one.”
There is some extraordinary entertainment coming to the Pappy & Harriet’s musically drenched stage. Along with “The Sunday Band” and their surprise special guests and Ted Quinn’s World Famous Open Mic every Monday, the venue has live music scheduled every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. March brings the high caliber entertainment of Leftover Cutties, Dash Rip Rock, Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang, The Pedestrians, Dave Gleason and more.
Granville Automatic and Ted Russell Camp will open up a full April schedule, that in conjunction with Golden Voice, will play host to The Shouting Matches featuring Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, the band Spirtualized, and one of alternative rock’s favorite sons, Franz Ferndinand, just to name a few. They have also just announced that Jim Lauderlae as well as Devendra Barnhart will be performing in May.
I asked Robyn what the favorite part of owning Pappy & Harriet’s was as well as what the toughest part. She replied, “I guess the answer is the same for both questions ~ the people. It’s been the greatest thing in the world to meet such amazing people over the years. We are so lucky! The toughest is not being able to please all of those people sometimes.” According to the reviews and returning customers, they are accomplishing their goal most of the time. As a music enthusiast, I am hugely grateful that this venue attracts such a wonderfully varied cornucopia of human beings and music all of which we, as residents of this unique desert landscape have within our reach. A day at Pappy & Harriet’s is truly an escape and an adventure; the stuff photo albums and memories are made of. The legendary bar continues the tradition of live music, great barbeque, and good times in memory of Pappy and all those who came before him.
