From L.A. to LA:
The Easy Rider Journey
Fans of Easy Rider often times dream of making the same heroic journey as Billy and Wyatt, setting out into, “…the wilderness, fighting Indians and cowboys at every side.” Anyone in Los Angeles can hop on Interstate 40 and make a run for New Orleans, LA with only a couple of turns. But this doesn’t satisfy the purist. They want to ride those same roads, stop at the same towns and see the same sites that the mythical Billy and Wyatt passed on their search for America.
I have tried my best to compile just such a trip. Believe me, with the ever changing American landscape such a task can prove daunting at best. Thank you to all the individuals out there that have helped me track down some of the locations. When I first posted this section I thought of it more as an informational page about where they shot footage with a leaning towards how an actual trip might take place. Since then I have heard from so many people about their actual use of info on this page to help them recreate portions of the trip and to visit some of the landmarks. Perhaps even more surprising, the people from other continents that have visited the American Southwest to ride motorcycles along the Easy Rider trail. And why not? The trip from Los Angeles to Louisiana takes a person through some beautiful, open country. In addition, you get to travel major portions of historic Route 66. Two trips for the price of one!
A word of caution (and a disclaimer) to those who dream of recreating the journey. Each of the states along this path has strict drug laws that could easily land a person in prison simply for transporting an illegal substance across state lines. Also, the film crew had to request special permission to film at many of the sites. Violation of either of these taboos could land a person in jail for a while. I in no way recommend doing either of these. If you choose to and get caught, don’t blame me. One last caution, many people would still cheer at the end of the film as the two rednecks obliterate our heroes. Giving the finger to a person pointing a shotgun at you might prove lethal.
The film starts at a junkyard in Mexico. Actually, they filmed this sequence in Taos, New Mexico. Don’t worry, your road journey will take you through this town soon enough. If you want to keep the same feel as the film, pick a small Mexican town just across the border. Ride a dirt bike there, buy two batteries full of “nondescript white powder” and make a run back for the US of A.
For safety’s sake let us start our journey at the airport in Los Angeles. Take a few pictures of planes landing and duck every time you have an incoming jet. Of course if you picked up nondescript white powder in a small Mexican town, you should probably have your connection come and get it in his limo.
Ballarat, CA- Ghost Town
From here you need to get to Ballarat ghost town on the edge of Death Valley National Park. Start by taking CA-Hwy 14 North to CA-Hwy 178. Hwy 178 heads Northeast and goes through a couple of name changes before you turn onto Ballarat Rd. and head East into Ballarat. In 1968 its last resident, Seldom Seen Slim, died. Recently a couple of people have moved back and the town now has a general store that caters to tourists.
In Ballarat Billy and Wyatt roll up bills and stuff them into tubes which then get stuffed into their gas tanks. Also in Ballarat Wyatt removes his watch and the two of them take one last look at the time before they throw it away. If you want some cruising tunes, you should probably listen to “The Pusher” while in town and switch to “Born to be Wild” as you take off out of town.
Needles, CA
From Ballarat you will need to head back out the way you came in heading South on Trona Rd. (CA-Hwy 178). The info I have gets sketchy at this point. I would turn left onto US-Hwy 395 and then take CA-Hwy 58. Now you have a real choice to make. You could hop onto I-40 and head East or follow the more scenic route along National Trails Highway. You might as well stick with I-40 from here. I need more info about this section of the trip. If you can help me out, please do so.
The First Camp Site
Around Kingman, Arizona you can get off of I-40 and take the one and only Route 66. About 10 miles west of Flagstaff you can pull off at the Pine Breeze Inn of Bellemont. One fan spotted the hotel recently about half a mile down the road from the Harley-Davidson shop. You can’t stay here either but not for the same reasons as Billy and Wyatt.
If you camp (which I would highly recommend to get the full experience) you can “pull inside” while your riding partner draws parallels between your journey and that of the outlaws of the Old West. The next day they end up at a rancher’s house. I have no clue as to the whereabouts of this ranch.
The Stranger
On your next day out try to follow Route 66 as best you can. I-40 has swallowed up a great deal of it. With any luck you will run across a hippy who will slowly put his thumb out in an attempt to hitch a ride to a commune. Otherwise, just pretend. Head north on US-Hwy 89 out of Flagstaff.
An e-mail from another fan has confirmed that the Sacred Mountain gas station still exists but fill up on gas elsewhere since the pumps don’t exist anymore. You should find it about a half hour North of Flagstaff on Highway 89. This route will take you past Sunset Crater.
The source says it looks almost exactly the same except for a reversed color scheme, red building with white letters. If anyone stops there, send me some pictures of this place.
The Painted Desert
The path taken in the film gets a little obscure here. The two cruise across Monument Valley. A person could head out on Hwy 160 North of the Sacred Mountain stop. Turn onto Hwy 64 East bound to get to Taos, NM the next day.
They stop for the night and camp at some ruins. I don’t know which ones. Don’t expect to camp there yourself even if you do find them. A park ranger watched as they filmed and even yelled at them to stop climbing on them in the scene just before the flash to the campfire. Contact me if you have any information on the whereabouts of the ruins used in the film.
Taos/ Not Taos
The next day Billy, Wyatt and the Stranger ride into Taos, NM. A person going through Taos can still locate the Pueblos they pass and even go down to the Stage Coach Crossing or Manby Hot Springs for a swim. Don’t expect to find the site of the commune, though. Hopper wanted to shoot at the New Buffalo Commune in Arroyo Hondo, but the commune did not want the attention that a feature film would bring. So the crew tried to completely recreate New Buffalo in the mountains of California, Mull Hullen I do believe.
Dennis Hopper lived in Taos for 15 years. His brother and a cousin still live there. The area supports a large population of artists. Try to find the old county jail house. You won’t find incarcerated souls their, just art as it now operates as a gallery. Hopper shot all of the interior jail scenes with Jack Nicholson at the county jail in Taos. Due to the heavy art population, the jail had more graffiti and didn’t need any dressing up. I found out about the jail in an e-mail from George Fowler, the man who played Officer Bob.
Viva Las Vegas!
“I’m hip about time. But I just gotta go,” Wyatt says as we suddenly cut to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Find the impound lot and jail (now Tito’s) at 155 & 157 Bridge Street. Hopper shot all of the exterior shots of the jail, the parade and George Hanson taking his first drink of the day in this town South of Taos on State Rte 518.
“Here’s to the first of the day, fellas. To ol’ D. H. Lawrence.” If someone has some time to kill or just feels particularly industrious, search the graveyards in Las Vegas for D. H. Lawrence. Jack and Dennis had reportedly slept on his grave the day before shooting this scene. They had also hung out with the natives, thus explaining a possible inspiration for George’s “nic-nic-nic-fuc-fuc-fuc-indians”. (The original nic-nic came from a biker they paid to come with and start the bikes for them.)
Just say NO to Texas
Hopper had insisted that they would film in Texas despite everyone’s warnings of the violence occurring in that part of the country at that time. Hopper had made up his mind that nothing would keep him from filming where he wanted to film. So after a day of riding and an anonymous camp site where Wyatt turns George on to grass, we see a few more miles of New Mexico highway to the tune of “Don’t Bogart Me”. Suddenly the song changes to the Jimi Hendrix song “If six was nine” and we find ourselves in Louisiana.
Somehow get yourself onto LA State Rte. 1 and head to Morganza, just Northwest of Baton Rouge on the banks of the Mississippi River. Several e-mails from people either in Morganza or who grew up there have confirmed that the cafe no longer exists. They used the real local rednecks and got them to talk bad about them by saying that they had raped and killed a young girl outside of town. The sheriff also threatened to arrest the whole crew if the white members of the crew didn’t get out of the “separate but equal” black section (which had a better jukebox, dancing, and seemed like a lot more fun to them).
If a member of your group gets killed by rednecks in the middle of the night, you might want to consider at this point the wisdom of trying to recreate the trail of Easy Rider.
Women & Wine
Don’t bother looking for the restaurant and brothel in New Orleans, LA. The place exists (or existed) somewhere in the Hollywood hills of California. You can still go to the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse Streets.
Mardi Gras and The Cemetery
The film crew shot the Mardi Gras scenes first. Unfortunately, they had missed Mardi Gras by a month. So everyone rounded up friends from the area to recreate the festival in the streets. Unless you have a lot of friends in that part of the country, you will probably want to plan on arriving in New Orleans at the proper time if you expect any all night partying and parades.
After staying up all night drinking booze and hanging out in the streets, you need to find St. Louis Cemetary #1 and take some acid. OK, I don’t actually recommend doing this. Taking LSD in a public place seems a bit risky and using powerful mind altering substances in a cemetery where the tombs have to sit above ground as a constant reminder of the enclosed space and the mortality of man strikes me as a REALLY dumb idea. Major thanks to all of the people who have helped me pinpoint this cemetary.
Blown Up
Our fallen heroes head out of New Orleans on Hwy 1 back towards Morganza. They rest for the night at another unidentified camp site while Wyatt announces, “We blew it.” The next day they ride the highway close to the Mississippi River when Billy decides to give a shot-gun wielding red-neck the finger, leading to the tragic ending of the film and the end of the road for those of you retracing the route.
Details
The Road Trip has expanded thanks in large part to the readers of this page. If you have information about any of the locations here please send it my way. I especially like detailed instructions on how to get there. I would also love to receive photos of any of these locations.