Judy Garland would bring them in

I read with great interest the article about Judy Garland in the Antelope Valley Press. She is one of the all-time, internationally known film greats. As mentioned in the article, she grew up in Lancaster before launching her Hollywood career.
Two of the houses she lived in are up for sale.
As Lancaster considers plans to revitalize its downtown, one of her houses would make an excellent museum that could draw so many visitors into our area.
For example, Judy Garland’s birthplace is in a small town on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Even though it’s in a remote, rural area, John Kelsch, the curator, said they have some 20,000 visitors from around the world and 34 different states each year and it’s only open in the summer months. Several thousand attend the festival the fourth weekend in June to celebrate her June 10th birthday.
Imagine how many would come to the much more accessible Lancaster to see where Judy Garland grew up and lived at the time she was first discovered!
Kelsch said, “Having her home preserved on its original site is invaluable. It’s where she grew up with homes surrounding it of the same era. More people in the world have seen the Wizard of Oz -- some three billion people – than any other movie.”
The small town of Lone Pine is enjoying a renaissance of cowboy movies filmed in their area. They have several hundred movies filmed in the area, yet we have had more than a 1,000 movies shot in the Antelope Valley since Whither Thou Goest was filmed in 1914. Also, we have a number of Hollywood stars who have lived here.
I was thinking how great it would be to showcase “our” Judy Garland and the movies made in “Hollywood’s Back Lot.” The things I’m thinking of include:
· Preserving the Cedar Street House. The Minnesota museum applied for and got grants from the Bob and Delores Hope Foundation, the Streisand Foundation and Alan King Productions. Surely there’s a grant writer available to do the same here.
· Paving a yellow brick road down Cedar Street from Lancaster Boulevard to Avenue J.
· Develop a brochure for a self-guided tour of movie sites.
· Update the city’s websites to include movies shot here.
· And, have a Festival of Movies shot in our area.
Bringing tourists into Downtown Lancaster would have a positive impact on the businesses and the town revenues.