Death Valley-Amargosa Opera House

Friday 3/30/2012

We took a day off from sight seeing because we had a RV service company scheduled to work on a few things on our new motor home.

The first thing we had them do was to install a new satellite system on our motor home. When we purchased our Newmar, it had a satellite system on the roof, but it has not been working. The service man from "All Around Mobile Service" from Pahrump talked Joe into buying a new one. He told Joe that the one on the roof was outdated, and he could spend a lot of money trying to fix it. We replaced the old TV for a new flat screen TV since he had to take out the old TV to install the satelite system.

The RV service company also fixed our electric front door step that goes up to create a floor in front of the passenger seat. It had stopped working a few weeks prior.

Saturday 3/31/2012

After a day of rest, we headed back to Death Valley National Park. The day was sunny instead of cloudy, which I thought would make for better pictures.

Our first stop was at Death Valley Junction to see the Amargosa Opera House. We had stopped here on our first day to Death Valley, but the tour was already in progress and we didn't want to wait. Joe went to the Amargosa Hotel to find out about tours.

View of the center section of the Amargosa complex.

The U-shaped building/complex was built in 1923-25 by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The company hired workers to mine the borax from Death Valley It contained a company office, employee headquarters, dormitory for employees, 23 room hotel , dining room, lobby and a store.

The northeast corner of the complex housed the recreational hall for movies, dances, church services and town meetings for the employees.

The Borax Complex recreational hall then known as Corkhill Hall, went to ballet when Marta Becket rented the old rectreational hall in 1967.

She began repairs and changed the name to the Amargosa Opera House. In 1970, journalists from National Geographic discovered Becket doing a performance at the Amargosa Opera House without an audience. Their profile and another in Life led to an international interest in Becket and her theater. She began performing to visitors from around the world, including such notables as Ray Bradbury and Red Skelton.

She had put on her one women dance, mime show in this opera house for forty years. Her last show was February 12, 2012. We just missed it by a month and a half.

She painted all four walls and the ceiling by herself

Each wall took a year to complete.

Becket began ballet lessons at age 14, which eventually led to performances as a ballerina. She was in the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall, and on Broadway she appeared in Show Boat, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Wonderful Town. Later, she took her one-woman show across the country, performing in small theaters and school auditoriums. She married in 1962, and she was on her way with her husband to an engagement in 1967 when, due to a flat tire, she discovered a theater in Death Valley Junction and decided to stay.

The ceiling took her 2 years to finish.

In each corner of the ceiling are the four winds.

Back stage on her vanity was this note.

Marta now owns the entire complex and lives on the property.

During our tour, we were told many paranormal teams come to check out the place, because ghosts are said to live here.

At the end of this section of the complex is the Opera House.

The complex now houses the Amargosa Opera House, Hotel, Restaurant and gift shop.

Marta did all the mural in the hotel also This one is in the hotel lobby.

This picture and the next are of murals in the restaurant.

This mural was in the buffet area.

This mural was in a small room off of the lobby.

This was a poster I found of Marta in the Lobby. A book about Marta Becket can be found in the gift shop.

We are now at Three Rivers, California, which is located just 7 miles west of Sequoia National Park. Rain is forcasted for the next 2-3 days, so we are going to stay here until it clears up. I got a new labtop yesterday because my computer got a virus and was giving me a ton of problems. My Dell was almost four years old, so I decided it was time to replace it. The touch pad was needing to be replaced, because the springs were shot in it, and the electrical cord needed to be replaced because it kept falling out of the AC port jack.I purchased a Gateway that was on sell at target for $329.00. I liked Dell, but I hated their tech support. All of the support were forigners and I could never understand what they were saying. Gateway's support team are not forigners. I also paid way to much money for my Dell four years ago. I paid over a $1000 for it. My new computer is the same size as my old one. I think the technology changes to fast to spend that kind of money on a Dell.