How Apple Valley California Was Built: Newt Bass, the Apple Valley Inn, and Hollywood History
Oilmen, Movie Stars, and a President Writing a Book
By the mid-1940s, Apple Valley California was still a quiet High Desert settlement.
Then two oilmen from Long Beach looked across the Mojave Desert and saw something very different.
Newton T. “Newt” Bass and B.J. “Bud” Westlund believed the valley could become a destination community where people would want to live, relax, and invest.
In 1946 they formed the Apple Valley Ranchos Land Company, beginning the development that would shape modern Apple Valley.
Their centerpiece project was the Apple Valley Inn, which opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1948.
The Inn quickly became a destination for celebrities seeking privacy and sunshine in the desert. Hollywood figures such as Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, and John Wayne visited the Inn during its early years.
Another chapter in Apple Valley history began in 1965, when the beloved Western film stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans made the valley their home.
But perhaps the most surprising visitor arrived a few years earlier.
In 1961, former Vice President Richard Nixon came to Apple Valley seeking quiet after losing the 1960 presidential election. Nixon stayed for three months at the Fairhope House on Tigertail Road, where he wrote his book Six Crises.
In a personal note to Newt Bass, Nixon thanked him for providing the “seclusion and comfort” that allowed him to complete the book.
Meanwhile Bass built one of the valley’s most remarkable homes, the Hilltop House, on Miner’s Hill.
Designed by architect Francisco Artigas, the dramatic glass-walled home overlooked the Mojave Desert and became one of Apple Valley’s most recognizable landmarks.
Wait… I Never Knew That!
The Hilltop House appeared in a 1961 episode of the television series Perry Mason, giving the modern desert home a brief moment of Hollywood fame.
Charlotte’s Desert Reflection
Apple Valley has always been a place where remarkable stories unfold quietly. From ancient communities along the Mojave River to Hollywood visitors and presidents seeking solitude, this valley has always drawn people who are beginning new chapters in their lives.
About Charlotte Volsch
Charlotte Volsch is an Apple Valley real estate broker specializing in probate and trust real estate. Over the past 25 years she has helped families through more than 770 estate property sales, working alongside attorneys, executors, trustees, and personal representatives to guide them through the process of settling a loved one’s estate.