Pearblossom, California

Pearblossom (pronounced "Pear-a-blossom" [ˈpeɹəˌblɑsəm] by natives and longtime locals) is an unincorporated town located in Los Angeles County, California. The town has a population of 2,435. The ZIP Code is 93553 and the community is inside area code 661.

Geography

Pearblossom is located about convert|15|mi|km Southeast of Palmdale in the Antelope Valley portion of Southern California.

About Pearblossom

The name Pearblossom came from the multitude of local pear farms along the southern ridge of the Antelope Valley. A few still exist today, but most of those farms are now abandoned and have returned to the desert landscape or have been overridden by small-scale housing development.

Pearblossom is well known by Southlanders as the home of one of the most dangerous roads in the US. State Route 138 (Pearblossom Highway) is the main street in Pearblossom and as of 2004 has been the location of numerous serious and fatal automobile accidents in its Palmdale to I-15 segment. It is known locally as Suicide Highway. The road is only single lane each direction for most of this segment's length, and the volumes of traffic that use it are far beyond what it was engineered to handle. The chief reason for accidents according to CHP data is passing the double yellow line in unsafe conditions. Overuse of Pearblossom Highway is chiefly on Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays, the time period many use the route to travel to Las Vegas. This section of 138's route is commonly used as a bypass of the Los Angeles Metropolitan region, and as a route from the Antelope Valley to the Inland Empire.

Pearblossom in the Arts

Pearblossom (in name only at present) is found in the following creative works:

* "The Crows of Pearblossom," authored by Aldous Huxley
* "Pearblossom Highway," a photographic collage assembled by David Hockney

"Crows," first published in 1967, was written by Huxley for his niece in 1944, during the World War II period. Set in the Antelope Valley, it is neither about the Crows (except as actual literal birds) nor Pearblossom. It actually is a children's story using crows (birds) to tell a story about Huxley's admiration of a particular pharmacist and his wife (not surnamed Crow) who worked and lived in Palmdale, not Pearblossom. Huxley wished to heap scorn on another Antelope Valley set of acquaintances (snakes in the story) who lived near him in Llano and praise his Palmdale pharmacist and family. He used this children's book to do so. To protect the anonymity of the pharmacist, Huxley changed the pharmacist's surname to Crow and their residence to Pearblossom. This was critical to the business dealings of that pharmacist, as ostracism in the then more rural Antelope Valley was not good for his business. Of course, the name of the book retains the Pearblossom name long after the death of Huxley and the pharmacist involved. The book, a rather rare find as an original edition, has been spotted on eBay by Antelope Valleyites in 2004. It is easily obtainable for purchase via the Internet, however.

Aldous Huxley's property in Llano, California was a 40 acre ranch. The two main buildings are still standing: a ranch house originally built in the 1880s, and Huxley's own artist's studio, which he partially designed, and had built by local artisans. These are now part of the "Pearblossom Picture Ranch", a filming location used by the motion picture industry.

Western actor Bob Faust (Louis R. Faust, aka Louis Faust) died in his rental on Hwy 138 in Pearblossom, CA; his seven movies followed his purple-heart exit from the U.S. Navy. He acted with John Wayne in Angel and the Badman. His son named after him owns a five-acre plot in Pearblossom gained partly from a split inheritance from the actor. [Los Angeles County death certificate and property tax assessor records are resources for these facts.] [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039152/fullcredits#cast Louis Faust. He played also in The Plunderers, Hellfire, The Last Bandit, King of the Wild Horses [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269262/] ] ]

"Pearblossom Highway" (1986) was actually photographed in the Littlerock rural vicinity. Yet it too is not about Pearblossom proper.

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/pearblossomca/ Pearblossom Chamber of Commerce]