Itinerary: West of the West

Theodore Roosevelt once claimed that “California is west of the West.” Angelenos understand what he meant.

California is, geographically speaking, about as far west as one can get in the continental U.S., yet our collective memory of the Old West stems as much from movies and TV shows as from history. Nevada, Montana, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico can lay claim to Jesse James, Billy the Kid and Buffalo Bill, while in this region, our local cowboys are Roy Rogers, Tom Mix and Gene Autry.

Play cowboy this weekend. Los Angeles is full of fun destinations that have a western theme. L.A. freeways can be slower than a lame appaloosa on holiday weekends, so start early, pardner.

Friday

Start the weekend with Jesse James. “American Outlaws” (PG-13, in general release) is about the James Younger gang and features a whole pack of handsome young actors.

After the movie, head to the unlikely Beverly Hills location of Reata Restaurant (421 N. Rodeo Drive, [310] 550-8700). Reata’s updated version of western decor and Cal-Tex-Mex menu makes it a satisfactory food stop. Even people who wear cowboy hats only when Madonna does love this place.

Saturday

Get up early and head to the homes of two of Los Angeles’ best-known cowboys. The William S. Hart Museum (24151 San Fernando Road, Newhall, [661] 254-4584 Wednesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.) is housed in the former home of Hart, a silent-film western hero. Hart’s films are rarely seen today, but his museum shows how he celebrated the myth and reality of the West.

In the afternoon, head to Will Rogers State Park (1501 Will Rogers State Park Road, off Sunset Boulevard, Pacific Palisades, [310] 454-8212), for a gander at his iconic western home. Rogers was an Oklahoma boy with a hankering for show biz. His wisecracking rope-trick act got him into the Ziegfeld Follies, then out to Hollywood, where he found success in movies, radio and stage as a humorist and commentator. The park features hiking trails, polo grounds and a well-preserved family house (docent-led tours are available) with expansive interiors filled with western artifacts.

Sunday

It wasn’t only filmmakers who created the mythic western image. Painters had their say too. Head to Santa Ana for the “Remington, Russell and the Language of Western Art” exhibition at the Bowers Museum (2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, [714] 567-3680, open Tuesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $16; students, $13; ages 5-18, $10). The sculptures and paintings of these two artists fixed the savage drama of the West so firmly in the psyches of Easterners that many arrived here disappointed to find that horses mostly just stand around.

Monday

Remember “Rin Tin Tin”? “The Lone Ranger”? Those and countless other TV shows and western movies were filmed in Simi Valley at Corriganville Park (Kuehner Road exit off Simi Valley Freeway, left on Smith Road. [805] 584-4400), a western-themed ranch built by Ray “Crash” Corrigan in the late 1930s.

Corrigan, an actor with Republic Pictures, built storefronts, outlaw shacks, gallows and a lake at the ranch, which functioned as a location for movies and TV.

In 1949 Corrigan opened it to the public as a western attraction complete with stunts and reenactments, and it became a huge tourist draw years before the phenomenon Disneyland would start.

A fire destroyed the sets in the ‘70s, and the property is now a park with a 2-mile trail that loops past the lake and rock formations familiar from so many western movies.