we are a pair of brits who love John Wayne and would like to visit the good US of A. is there any john wayne tours that anyone can recomend thanks, joemar

Hi Joemar,

I don't know the answer to your question but as one Brit to another I would like to welcome you to the best John Wayne message board in existence bar none, and I am sure you will get an answer.

Hope you stick around.

Regards

Arthur

Maybe you'd like to let us know which part of the US in particular you'd like to visit, then I'm sure we can point out all the John Wayne attractions and former locations nearby for you to visit.

Hi Artrhur
Thanks for your warm welcome Joe and Mar

Hi Thanks for your reply we were wondering if there was any organised trips that visited john wayne sites of interest if not then we would like to his place of birth momument valley etc thanks again joe and mar

I myself never heard of a tour that would include the major locations in the US for a John Wayne fan. So you'd probably have to put your own tour together. I hope I can be of some help and write down the first things that come to mind, others here will surely add:

MONUMENT VALLEY, Arizona/Utah:
some of Wayne's most memorable westerns were shot there. Visit Goulding's Lodge - there is a museum. Cast and crew often stayed there when shooting. Also: museum on films shot there at visitor's center.

Close to Monument Valley:
MEXICAN HAT, rugged area, John Ford shot some river crossings (like The Searchers) there.

CALIFORNIA:

Mojave Desert: Three Godfathers was shot there. Wayne used to take his sons camping in the desert.

Glendale: he went to school at Glendale High School.

Newport Beach: Wayne's final home-adress. His yacht was anchored at the harbor. Even before that he used to make the trip to Catalina island.

Wayne's final resting place is nearby. Visit findagrave.com for details.


HOLLYWOOD:


WARNER BROTHERS STUDIOS: there is an interesting studio-tour through the very studios where Wayne shot films like Rio Bravo. His winchester from this film is on display in Warner's own museum.

GENE AUTRY'S WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM, up in Griffith Park, Hollywood. Many items on display. Young John Wayne used to walk in the park with his first wife. Griffith Park is Hollywood-history because the pioneer filmmakers often used the woods as a background (like Errol Flynn's Robin Hood). Up in the park is the observatory used in James Dean's Rebel without a Cause.

John Wayne's star on the famous WALK OF FAME.

GRAUMAN'S CHINESE THEATER, movietheater with footprints of stars. Wayne added his footprints and his fist (!) in 1950, premiering Sands of Iwo Jima. The first filmpremiere he attended there was his very first film, The Big Trail.

UNIVERSAL STUDIO TOUR: The Coach from The War Wagon is on display.


TEXAS:
San Antonio: The price he received for directing The Alamo from the Director's guild and his coonskin-hat are on display at the Alamo, downtown San Antonio.
A 3 hour drive away in Brackettville is the original film set, open for tourists. Some scenes were also shot at Fort Clark, where Cast & Crew lived (Wayne himself occupied the Wainwright house).

WINTERSET, Iowa
Wayne's birthplace has a museum. Winterset was also the location of Eastwood's Bridges of Madison County.

That should keep you pretty busy, and them's just some of the major attractions - many locations of other movies could be added.

itdo,

Thank you for taking the time to put that all together! It looks like you might have hit upon a new career for yourself - putting together John Wayne tours for Europeans coming to the US. Let's see - 30 day tours, about $15,000 per person including all transportation, food and lodging (and of course, gratuities ;) ) - if you need help on the West Coast, maybe the Mrs. could get involved, and of course Chili Bill would know about Monument Valley and nearby locations. We have a few members down Texas way - Stumpy, The Ringo Kid, Jay J. Foraker. And Jen is probably somewhat near Winterset . . . :rolleyes: .

Hm-m-m-m-m, it could be a thriving business . . . .

All kidding aside, you did a terrific job

Chester :newyear: and The Mrs. :angel1:

Hi Chester,

I spent yesterday looking through web sites for research and by accident (Which means I will have a hell of a job finding it again) came across a site by a woman who was a great John Wayne fan and who did a tour of Los Angles Newport Beach his star on Vine His Statue in front of the Great western Bank and in the airport and his boat which is now used for corporate hospitality and at the time was not alongside.

Apparently it became quickly evident that even with the best maps, the traffic made it impossible to see it all in a day, but it is an interesting concept. And I will try to locate the site.


Regards

Arthur

Arthur; It would take at Least two days to see all that you talked about on the tour! That L.A. area is a mighty big place!!! Chilibill :cowboy:

Actually, the horse-riding statue is still there but Great Western, the bank that commissioned it, isn't.

OLD TUSCON, Arizona: western town built for film purposes, used in 4 Wayne films. Does anybody know if it's open to public again after the big fire, and what remained from Wayne's films to see (I guess the old church from "El Dorado" should still be there).

And here's the site that covers about everything to see about JW when in Los Angeles:

http://www.seeing-stars.com/StarIndexes/JohnWayne.shtml

Joemar; If they get to Arizona and the Southwestern part of the U.S.A. have them get ahold of me and I can tell them how to get to many places that Duke did his Film work, like Monument Valley, Sedona, Moab and Old Tucson. Chilibill :cowboy:

Thanks itdo for all that i think its a good base for us to plan our trip next year does anyone now the best time to visit monument valley? joe

Thanks for your offer chillbilll as i said to itdo do you now the best time of year to visit momument valley joemar

joemar; Any time from about March till November is a good time! Mid Winter is very cold and some Snow, and middle Summer can get mighty hot but good Weather with a few Thunder Storms. Chilibill :cowboy:

Hi Chillbill thanks for that i think we give up trying to see all in one visit ,so mar my wife has always wanted to visit monument valley so the best thing to do is to make that first port of call (or close to )and work out were to go from there joe