Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace

Top choice in Joshua Tree National Park


For local color, toothsome BBQ, cheap beer and kick-ass live music, drop in at this textbook honky-tonk in Pioneertown, a movie set turned living town. Monday’s open-mike nights (admission free) are legendary and often bring out astounding talent. From Thursday to Saturday, local and national talent takes over the stage.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Joshua Tree National Park attractions

1. Pioneertown

0.14 MILES

Looking like an 1870s frontier town, Pioneertown was actually built in 1946 as a Hollywood Western movie set. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were among the…

2. Big Morongo Canyon Preserve

9.04 MILES

Named as one of California’s important birding areas by the Audubon Society, this preserve encloses a natural spring-fed desert oasis that’s a native…

3. Beauty Bubble Salon & Museum

10.38 MILES

Jeff Hafler loves hair and everything to do with it, which is why his Steel Magnolias–type home salon brims with related vintage beauty paraphernalia he's…

4. World-Famous Crochet Museum

10.39 MILES

An old lime-green photo booth is the home of Bunny, Buddy and hundreds of their crocheted friends collected by Shari Elf. The artist, singer, fashion…

5. Integratron

10.8 MILES

It may look just like a white-domed structure, but in reality it's an electrostatic generator for time travel and cell rejuvenation. Yup! At least that's…

6. Noah Purifoy Desert Art Museum

12.02 MILES

The 'Junk Dada' sculptures and installations of African American artist Noah Purifoy (1917–2004) are collected by the world's finest museums, but some of…

7. Cabot’s Pueblo Museum

13.69 MILES

Cabot Yerxa, a wealthy East Coaster who traded high society for desert solitude, hand-built this rambling 1913 adobe from reclaimed and found objects,…

8. Indian Cove

19.93 MILES

Rock hounds love the hulking caramel-colored formations in this northern corner of the park, while birders are drawn by feathered friends hiding out among…