Changing Times, Lawsuits and The End
Despite a close friendship between Pancho and many powerful men in the military, relations grew sour after a 1952 change of command - four years after Muroc Army Air Base was renamed Edwards Air Force Base. One reason for friction between Barnes and the Base's commander was the increase in flights at the base, along with an increase in flights at the Club's landing strip. Gen. Albert Boyd, an admirer and friend of Pancho's, after assuming command of the Base, would berate her if her clientele came too close to his airspace. After Pancho refused to sell the ranch to the government to facilitate a runway expansion, allegations surfaced that the Happy Bottom Riding Club was a brothel. Pancho's posted rules for hostesses were strict, and many discredited the allegations. However, acting on the rumors, the Air Force prohibited servicemen from visiting the club, thereby destroying the vast majority of her business. Since she and the government were in the middle of negotiations regarding establishing a fair price for her business and property, she felt betrayed. When the government added a suit to appropriate the ranch, Pancho countersued for slander, harassment, inappropriate taking of land, and conspiracy. Under suspicious circumstances, the ranch was destroyed by fire on November 13, 1953, shortly before Pancho won every lawsuit. Frustrated and dismayed, Pancho resettled in nearby Cantil, and the land was appropriated by the Air Force. Interestingly, the proposed runway extension was never implemented.
Barnes intended to reestablish the Happy Bottom Riding Club on her and her husband's land in Cantil, but never did so.
Servicemen at Edwards hold an annual barbecue on the site of the Happy Bottom Riding Club (adjacent to Edwards Rod and Gun Club) in remembrance of Pancho and the ranch. Visitors may still see the remains of the pool, the restaurant's foundation (including chimney), the barn, and - if they are allowed to overfly the site - a fading outline of the airstrip.
In its heyday the Happy Bottom Riding Club had over 9,000 members worldwide.
The Happy Bottom Riding Club was immortalized in Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff and Lauren Kessler's biography of Pancho, "The Happy Bottom Riding Club." Pancho's life was chronicled in a an Emmy winning 2009 documentary film for PBS station KOCE-TV, entitled The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club. The documentary continues to air on PBS stations in the United States.
A made-for-TV movie aired on the CBS TV network, Pancho Barnes (1988), starring Valerie Bertinelli as Pancho, featured a fictionalized version of Barnes' life and events relating to The Happy Bottom Riding Club.
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