Celebrating the Cowboy : Fans Hoping to Put Newhall’s Western Walk of Fame Back on Its Feet

Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch in Placerita Canyon, where the former cowboy actor produced his most famous films, has been subdivided into a housing development. The old Tom Mix studio on San Fernando Road is now an antique shop. And the rodeo arena that Hoot Gibson built on Soledad Canyon Road has become the Saugus Speedway.

Much of what once made the Newhall area a mecca for cowboys, Western actors and movie makers is gone. But remnants remain. The buffalo still roam in the community’s William S. Hart Park, not far from the mansion that the famed Western actor built in the 1920s.

Still living in the area are Andy Jauregui, a rodeo star of the 1930s and 1940s who is in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame; Cliffie Stone, host of the 1950s country-music television show “Hometown Jamboree”; cowboy singer and actor Tex Williams’ widow, Dallas, and country singer Stuart Hamblin.

A group of Santa Clarita Valley residents are trying to revive another reminder of the area’s heritage, the Western Walk of Fame. Patterned after the more famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, the celebration surrounding the Newhall version had grown increasing popular until it was canceled last year, a victim of financial problems and lack of participation by organizers.

The Newhall Walk, located between Fifth and Ninth streets on San Fernando Road, was started in 1981 by Milt Diamond, then owner of the Newhall General Store. Diamond, now retired, said he originated the walk to call attention to downtown Newhall and to preserve the town’s Western heritage.

“A lot of the movies that were made here were shot in front of my store,” he said. “There was ‘Walking Tall,’ and too many to remember.”

Diamond’s idea caught on immediately. The first year, the names of Gene Autry, the late William S. Hart and Tom Mix were engraved on bronze and terrazzo tile plaques and embedded in the sidewalk. A Western saddle also is featured on the plaques.

The Walk of Fame celebration grew in size and importance in succeeding years. Added to the walk were the plaques of Tex Ritter, Rex Allen, Eddie Dean, Pat Buttram, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Tex Williams, John Wayne, Andy Jauregui, Clint Walker, Clayton Moore (the Lone Ranger), Dennis Weaver, Robert Conrad, Jeff Connors, Iron Eyes Cody and Monte Hale.

Stars Came Out

Many of the stars attended the event, signing autographs for delighted fans.

The Walk of Fame ceremony appeared to be on its way to becoming the event of the year in Newhall. But, last year, the committee running the affair grew smaller. Many of the merchants and the Chamber of Commerce had bowed out of the planning.

Several key workers--JoAnne Darcy, the coordinator and publicity director; Judi Martin, the chairman, and Diamond--found themselves too busy to devote the time needed to organize the event.

“You might say there was lack of interest,” said one committee member. “There also was some dissension in the committee.”

As a result, the event was not held last year, leading many residents to believe that the Newhall Western Walk of Fame had quietly died.

But Darcy, Martin and others who value Newhall’s Western heritage say they are determined not to let that happen. They re-formed the committee and began to make plans for this year’s celebration. And although there still are differences about how and where the celebration should be held, Darcy said, it looks as though it will be the biggest yet.

Candidates for Walk

Walk of Fame candidates are Jimmy Stewart, Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Amanda Blake, Michael Landon, Debbie Reynolds and Kenny Rogers. The late Hoot Gibson, Harry Carey Sr., Randolph Scott, Jimmy Wakely, Ward Bond and Yakima Cannut also are under consideration.

The only requirement is that the star must have made some sort of contribution to the Santa Clarita Valley’s Western heritage. And that, said Darcy, could mean that they actually lived in the community or that they once made a movie there.

A tentative date of Aug. 22 has been chosen for the celebration, and committee members are considering the California Institute of the Arts, where more than a thousand people can be accommodated, as its site.

Darcy said the event has often experienced financial troubles. At first, merchants donated the money for it. Then, the committee decided to charge $15 admission to cover the costs. But Hart Park, where the traditional ceremony and barbecue were held, had only a 250-person capacity, and the committee couldn’t cover its expenses.

“The plaques alone cost $2,000 apiece,” Darcy said.

Then there was insurance, entertainment, food and other expenses.

This year, Darcy said, with more people paying to attend, the ceremony should be more successful financially.

“And it should be a lot of fun,” she said. “We can’t allow the tradition to die.”

No community could be more deserving of being honored for its Western heritage, according to Jerry Reynolds, curator of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.

California’s first gold strike was in Placerita Canyon State Park in 1842, six years before the famous Sutter’s Mill strike in Northern California. Henry Mayo Newhall, for whom Newhall is named, came west from his home in Saugus, Mass., with the gold rush, Reynolds said.

‘Lousy Gold Panner’

“But he was a lousy gold panner,” he said.

But Newhall bought the railroad right-of-way and six old Spanish land-grant ranches. He established a train station, and the town of Newhall, complete with saloons, blacksmith shops, a general store and a hotel, sprang up.

Newhall’s sons and widow founded Newhall Land and Farming Co., which had developed and still owns much of the land in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Reynolds said the first Western movie, John Ford’s “Straight Shooting,” starring Hoot Gibson and Harry Carey Sr., was made in Beale’s Cut, the pass between San Fernando and Newhall, in 1914.

Movies filmed since in the community are too numerous to mention, Reynolds said. Many old John Wayne movies were set in the area, he said.

Reynolds and Darcy said the area still is used as a movie set. Michael Landon now is filming a segment of “Highway to Heaven” on Sierra Highway. Scenes from “Star Trek IV,” “Little House of the Prairie,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Bonanza,” “The A-Team” and other films and television shows were shot in and around Newhall, Darcy said.