Hi-yo Silver!
Few come to Lancaster, near the northern border of Los Angeles County, where east/west avenues are named by letter and the north/south streets by number, just to take in the sites – not that Lancaster is without its own idiosyncratic charms. The city is home to Edwards Air Force Base, the site of numerous landings for the now defunct space shuttle program. The Houston Astros host a Single-A minor-league team in Lancaster, the JetHawks, with a Kinetic Brewery beer garden on the third base line. A local rustic church served as the fictional Two Pines Chapel, where the ill-fated wedding rehearsal in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill was interrupted by a visit from the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. And each spring, the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve draws visitors hoping to see the mountains exploding with orange blooms.
If you happen to be en route to the reserve, take the left lane on Avenue G to enjoy what is Lancaster’s most eccentric feature: the Musical Road, a brief quarter mile of asphalt that reproduces the melody of the “William Tell Overture” – more commonly known as the Lone Ranger theme song – as cars drive over it.
Info
Address 3187 W Avenue G, Lancaster, CA 93536 | Getting there By car: head west on Avenue G just over a mile from the freeway. Follow the signs for the Musical Road. Stay in the far left lane to participate. | Hours Always open| Tip Fans of Quentin Tarantino can visit the Two Pines Chapel (19857-19999 E Avenue G, Lancaster, CA 93535), featured in Kill Bill, 28 miles east of the Musical Road.
The “singing” roadway was originally built at a site about four miles from its current location by the Honda Corporation for a commercial filmed in 2008. By cutting grooves in the pavement at different intervals, Honda’s team of engineers was able to create timed musical notes as tires rolled over the grooves at 55 miles per hour, the posted speed limit. A mere 18 days later, the road was repaved due to some of the area residents’ ardent complaints about the constant noise caused by curious motorists at all hours of the day and night.
Evidently, the naysayers were in the minority. The Musical Road was reinstated by popular demand just three months later – this time on a secluded stretch of roadway, two miles from any private home.
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