Historical Society Members To Visit Autry National Center The Pacific Palisades Historical Society is offering a bus tour to the Autry National Center and the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on Saturday, November 10. The visit to the Equestrian Center will include a short talk on its development into a world-class venue for equestrian competitions since its modernization for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, followed by an opportunity to see a portion of the National Preview Hunter/Jumper Show taking place over this weekend. The tour moves across to Griffith Park at noon for a no-host lunch at the Autry National Center followed by a docent tour of the collections. The Center celebrates the American West through three institutions: the Museum of the American West, the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, and the Institute for the Study of the American West. The Autry National Center, formerly known as the Museum of Western Heritage, opened in 1988 as the realization of Gene Autry’s dream ‘to build a museum which would exhibit and interpret the heritage of the West and show how it influenced America and the world.’ It was the culmination of Autry’s long and successful career in the entertainment business. Born in Texas in 1907, Autry began playing guitar at 12. Working as a railroad telegrapher in Oklahoma in his 20s, Autry sometimes sang and played in his office, and here he was discovered by the great cowboy humorist Will Rogers, who advised him to try radio work. In the 1930s and ’40s when the Western was a favorite movie subject, Autry established a solid career as America’s favorite singing cowboy, appearing in 93 feature films and making over 600 recordings, more than 300 which he wrote or co-wrote. Some of his best-known movies are based on his hit records, including ‘South of the Border,’ ‘Mexicali Rose,’ and ‘Back in the Saddle.’ Autry’s holiday records, ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’ and ‘Peter Cottontail,’ went platinum, selling more than two million copies while ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’ a perennial favorite, remains the second-best selling record of all time, with sales of more than 30 million. Realizing that the days of the B-Western were numbered, Autry moved into television in the 1950s, producing a series for himself and other actors, which gained high viewer ratings. Always a lover of baseball, Autry purchased the American League’s California Angels team in 1961 and acted as Vice President of the American League until his death in 1998. Following his popular and financial successes Autry determined to give something back to the community with the creation of a Western museum in Griffith Park. Since its opening, the Autry National Center has developed into a wide-ranging institution devoted to exploring the interaction of cultures and peoples and their impact on the evolving history of the American West. The bus tour is open to the public as well as Historical Society members; the bus will leave the Palisades at 10 a.m. and return at approximately 4:30 p.m. Entry fees are included in the price of $15. Advance reservations are recommended. Checks to the Pacific Palisades Historical Society should be sent to P.O. Box 1299, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. For further information, call (310) 454-7811 or 454-4201.
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