Best Wild West towns in California and the popular spot thats a complete fake

California may be better known for Hollywood stars, palm trees and bumper-to-bumper traffic, but head off the beaten path and the Golden State can still serve up a serious dose of the Wild West.From abandoned mining camps frozen in time to Gold Rush towns where visitors can ride a stagecoach and belly up to a historic saloon, California is packed with places that look like they were ripped straight out of a Western.And in many cases, they actually were.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story Bodie, Columbia and Placerville, ominously known as “Hangtown,” all have roots stretching back to the days when gold fever sent fortune seekers scrambling into California.Then there’s Pioneertown, perhaps one of the most convincing Old West destinations of them all.There’s just one catch — it was essentially fake from the beginning.Here are four California towns where travelers can saddle up and get a taste of the Wild West, including the Hollywood creation that has been fooling visitors for decades.Pioneertown certainly looks like an authentic 1880s settlement, with dusty streets, wooden storefronts, a saloon and even a jail. But this cowboy town was actually born in Hollywood.The desert community was established in 1946 after actor Dick Curtis envisioned a “living, breathing movie set” where Westerns could be filmed while businesses operated behind the camera-ready facades.Curtis teamed up with a group of investors that included Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Bud Abbott and members of the Sons of the Pioneers.

The group purchased thousands of acres near Palm Springs and began building their cowboy fantasy.The gamble paid off.More than 50 movies and serials were filmed there during the 1940s and ’50s, with productions including “The Cisco Kid,” “Annie Oakley” ...