About The Lucky Star Gallery

My mom, Harriette Allison, was born in The Owens Valley of California, as was my grandmother, her mother before her… and me, as well.

We all grew up in a small town lying at the base of the Eastern Sierras on Hwy. 395. The small towns stringing along this stretch are home to rugged desert terrain and plenty of sagebrush. This backdrop provided a famous filming location for early movies, especially westerns. Since the 1920′s, The Alabama Hills outside of Lone Pine, CA have been the setting for hundreds of movies including Tom Mix and Hopalong Cassidy films and classics such as Gunga Din, Rawhide, Tycoon, High Sierra and How the West Was Won.

About a dozen television shows also made the Alabama Hills their backdrop, including The Gene Autry Show, and The Lone Ranger.

Closer to home, my mom also found entertainment in the many stories her mother told of their own famous cowboy cousin Carmen William “Curley” Fletcher. Curley’s reputation as a drinker, prankster, and show-off preceeded him.

Be that as it may, Curley had multi-faceted talents, and was well known as a rodeo cowboy and promoter, poet, songwriter, musician, publisher and prospector. His book of poetry, Songs of the Sage, has become a classic among cowboy poetry historians and buffs, alike. Curley was also used, as were many of the working cowboys of his day, as an extra and “authentic cowboy advisor” for the multitudes of western movies shot in the area.

Cousin Curley

Curley personally had a recurring role as a rancher on Gunsmoke. Curley is best known for his song, “The Strawberry Roan” which became popular in the early 1920′s.

The song has had a large history of its own, from bunkhouses to Hollywood. The most famous version of the song was sung by country music icon, Marty Robbins.

With this larger than life family member in our background and growing up with the Hollywood cowboy influences in our backyard, it’s no wonder that my mom developed a love for all things classic cowboy. She grew up, like other “baby boomers” loving the range riding, white hat-wearing legends of the silver screen, like Roy Rogers.

In that spirit, but without the money necessary for her own horse, my mom spent her childhood scavenging on foot all over the sandy hills dotted with granite boulders, bringing home everything from carved obsidian and old bottles to iron beds and broken down cultivators. Her treasure hunting interest in all things primitive and antique began then and has progressed into her business today.

Furthering her scope of interest in the western lifestyle, my mom tried her hand as a cowgirl. Packing dudes into the High Sierra backcountry as a cook and guide, she lived out her own cowboy fantasy adventures, the kind she’d been listening to all of her life from various ranching families and friends.

On those backcountry nights, high up in a mountain camp, around a crackling fire, the old boys would tell tall tales, and reminisce about a dog pal, or an old horse and still get misty with the memory. If someone had brought along a harmonica or guitar they would all sing. These intimate gatherings were enjoyed by those who had had a chance to live part of the American west, and those who hadn’t, but wished they had. This cross-appeal gave the concept of cowboy poetry a chance at the big time.

When cowboy poetry, as a popular medium of entertainment, really took stride into the mainstream in the early and mid-1980s, my mom, always the entrepreneur following her passions, became a self-made cowboy poetry promoter. Who better than the cousin of Curley Fletcher to bring to his hometown of Bishop, CA The Curley Fletcher Days Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival? Cowboy poetry and cowboy music promotions became one of the constants in our lives and one of my moms many hats for years. The Curley Fletcher Days Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival was held at Laws Railroad Museum, where Curley lived as a boy.

Poets and musicians performed on the depot platform with the original structures from the train station as the festivals backdrop, beautiful on a High Sierra summer evening!

She also served as Vice President for the Bishop Homecoming and Rodeo Association. Because of her association with western lifestyle events and culture, her energetic spirit and big personality, my mom was invited to become civically involved as well. She became the parade announcer for the famed festival at Bishop, CA, Mule Days. The Mule Days parade is the nation’s longest-running non-motorized parade. and for over a decade my mom used her quick wit, knowledge of horsemanship and gear to entertain thousands of attendees!

As an increasingly popular community figure, my mom was given the opportunity to have her own locally produced television show, California Country. She used the format to travel to and talk to the area “old-timers”, ranchers and cattle people about the “old days” and the “old ways”. A continual pursuit of treasure got her some terrifically colorful interviews full of area history and lore.

That treasure seeking nature, seemingly inherent to my mom (and now me) started long ago but was continually enhanced through exposure and experience. On a trip to the hills above Santa Monica, CA to the Pacific Palisades museum/home of Will Rogers my mom was overwhelmingly inspired.

The classic Western décor used in the home of Rogers, the Cherokee-American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer and actor, solidified the style of collecting my mom has done for the last 30 years.

What began as my mom’s personal hobby decades ago has become one of the largest vintage western collections in the country!

As a mother and daughter team, we began formulating our vision for the business we have today several years ago on a cross-country antiquing road trip. It was apparent somewhere in the Midwest that our 12-foot cargo trailer wasn’t large enough for the rest of the trip. It was there that we upgraded to a much larger trailer, unpacked, re-packed and kept right on going. That trip changed our lives… we were officially in the antiques business.

The Lucky Star – Western Americana Gallery is the culmination of my mom’s years of collecting, that trip, found treasures and a solid vision. A slice of Santa Fe, old town Scottsdale and Jackson Hole, The Lucky Star is a beautiful space situated unassumingly in the middle of Reno, NV. Chock full of those gems we have found and loved, let our passion ignite yours!

- Missy Allison