MovieChat Forums > High Plains Drifter (1973) Discussion > mono lake - lago does not exist

mono lake - lago does not exist


I went to Mono Lake - looking for " LAGO " town ...and must say it doesnot exist anymore... SOUTH TUFA has changed [ after 35 year's ] water took a land and this place look little bit diff than at Movie ... i was upset that situation... its a shame that NO ONE care this place[ seen in movie ]to has survive///...But i take a picture and never forget it..



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The town in the movie was not real , it was a set built for the movie so of course it isnt there anymore.

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A very interesting read here: http://vormedia.com/?p=244

Enjoy.

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I think I found Lago on Google Earth based of the cool story that the last poster referenced. The guy in the story wouldn't give the exact location, but very general directions. If you go to Google Earth (or whatever you use) point the north indicator straight up. Lago should then be directly south of Paoha Island. If you scan the shoreline there a little to the left, you will see the little squiggly dirt road into Lago. I couldn't zoom in closer (too blurry) to get a good look at the open area of the town, but there is a fuzzy grey patch that is probably it.

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Yup, I think that's it.

If you go here,
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Mono+Lake&state=CA#a/maps/l:::Mono+Lake:CA::US:38.019299:-119.0653:city:Mono+County/m:hyb:10:37.943381:-119.028917:0::/io:0:::::f:EN:M:/e
zoom in two levels and then pan west about a half mile, I think it's the gray area just west of the banner that says "Mono Lake".

Way cool!

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My guess is that the town is at or very near 37 56' 43.83N 119 02' 27.79 W

Nothing to really see based on the story of the guy's visit except nails, glass and some burnt wood. Nothing painted red or a Lago/Hell sign waiting to be found in the bushes. Still cool to be able to locate it though.

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Ya found it in about a minute or so of panning around after reading that guy's article, kind of fun actually. The "squiggly" road is still visible splitting off from the larger road identified by name on the Google Earth map. The curved "point" feature evident in the screenshots from that guy's article is very easy to recognize. You can kind of see a wide bare patch on the ground just to the southeast of it, which I guess would have been where the "town" was.

The guy missed his chance, should have collected some of those nails n sold em on eBay!

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Many sets are just abandoned, not necessarily destroyed. The giant ship sets from Titanic are still around, and many backlot and remote sets from the fifties and older still exist.

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In 1981 driving N. on hwy 365 towards Reno NV I pulled down into a town by a lake that looked like the town in High Plains Drifter, it was like some feeling of Dejevu that I had been there before. The sign said mono lake, and the town looked like I had seen it somewhere. I went into a store, and bought some pop to head back on the hwy. As I was driving through the town looking at the wooden buildings that looked fairly new, and a white pine kind of look to then I kept trying to think where I seen it before. The blacktop road that went through town then curved up to get back onto 365. I took one last look in the mirror at the lake wondering where I had seen this before, then pulled back onto the hwy towards Reno. It was some years later watching the film, that I seen in the credits MONO LAKE, and thought MY GOD so thats where I was at. It was in April of 1981, and there was a town there that looked like it did in the film. I had cut through to California from Nevada to take the road up towards SF, but the pass was still closed so I had to drive up to Reno to go to SF from there. 365 is a beautiful hwy, and I would suggest taking the drive to anyone as it follows the walker river, very pretty scenery, and a lot of films were made up there.

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It's hwy 395 not 365

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You must be thinking about Bodie.

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"Lago" is spanish for "Lake".

"This are Nice shoes! Couldn't you afford some real Nike?"

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Lago is Lake in Italian.

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Come on you guys. It was a set built on the area surrounding Mono Lake, located just over the Sierra Nevada, near a town called Lee Vining, CA. It was just a set, built and then disassembled. There is an old historic town called "Bodie" close by, but there are no scenes shot there.

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I have to agree with Amalfi regarding Redwood 55's thread. The town he probably stopped in for a soda pop was Lee Vining. The "town" of Lago was a movie set and there would have been no paved road. As others have stated it was burned down after filming of HPD.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9HuDCnt8g

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So the town was located to the SW side of the lake?

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Anyone know thats been there?

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That was cool.

_
Every person that served can be called a veteran, but not every veteran can be called a Marine.

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Inyo Nat Forest is about 25 miles from Mono Lake. The lake in the movie is Mono Lake, so it was definitely filmed there.



http://theforlornpath.blogspot.com/

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Ahem. I must respectfully inform you that you are wrong. Mono Lake is completely surrounded by land belonging to the US Government, and under jurisdiction of the US Forest Service via the Inyo National Forest. The closest existing town to Mono Lake is Lee Vining.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/PA_WIDConsumption/wid/EnlargeImage.jsp?para m5=null&param1=PA_WIDConsumption&param2=STELPRDB5192862&pa ram3=Inyo%20National%20Forest%20Map&param4=/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/ste [email protected]&param6=null&pname=Forest%20Service

Clint Eastwood is known for his passion for USFS National Forest land within California. He has made many films on location in various National Forests in California during his time making movies.

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George Lassos the Moon
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I remember riding south near 395 a few year back and came upon a small town near Mono Lake. Stopped in at the local saloon for a beer and a bottle of whiskey. Headed across the street for a shave and and bath while Ms Peekins washed my clothes. She does a ripe clean boiled wash.

While there 3 guys came in making threats and yada yada yada. I left a few days later and the town was never the same.

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Lago is a mirage like Clint.

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