Warren Wray Hamilton

It was later leased to various restaurateurs until fire destroyed it in 2001. The bar had props from 'Bounty' and Judy Garlands home. Warren had a lifetime collection housed at the site. He even had an iron lung!His son Warren Wray Hamilton Junior and his grandson Craig Hamilton also worked in the film industry.

From 1983 to 1990 he leased it to the Desert Hot Springs Elks Lodge.

He retired from UCLA in 1977. His work at the studios and UCLA were only a part of his creative and productive life. As early as the mid 30's he was interested in designing and building furniture which later developed into designing and building homes and apartments that he constructed himself. He had a fascination with the desert and its landscape and it showed in his designs.

He opened it on July 4, 1976, bicentennial of the nation's birthday which he operated until 1982. The interior was decorated with many stage props discarded by the studios. The most famous was the bar used in 'Gun Smoke'.

In 1962 he bought an old non-operating, steel fabricating building on Indian Avenue in Desert Hot Springs and transformed it into Hamilton's Restaurant.

In 1960 he purchased his first piece of property in Desert Hot Springs and built his first home in the desert at Cholla Gardens.

He retired from his work at the studios in 1959. But Warren thrived on work and retirement was not in his blood. His new career was to teach others what he had done for so many years. UCLA hired him as Senior Scene Technician for Motion Picture Division in their Theater Arts Department. Here he taught many students in the art of designing and constructing sets for the motion picture industry.

Walt Disney lured him away from Fox in 1954 and put him in charge of the special effects miniatures for their epic film '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. ' At the conclusion of this film, Warren rejoined Fox in their newly created television unit.

'Leaving MGM in 1940 he joined 20th Century Fox where he was in charge of painting and preparing miniatures for various feature productions. It was through this experience that he became a scenic artist and created many of the cloud and sky scrapes on the huge sky backing at Fox Studios. Warren also served Fox as a stand-by painter on locations that took him too many parts of the country.

His artistic work was evident in such films as 'The Black Swan', The day the Earth Stood Still', 'Broken Arrow', 'Miracle on 34th Street' and 'A Night to Remember,' just to mention a few that he enjoyed working on during their production.

"It was in the year 1928 that Warren began his career in the motion picture industry when he went to work for MGM studios. During this period the industry was making its transition from silent films to 'talkies'. After a short apprentice period, he was assigned to the Paint Department where he developed hi skills as a set painter. He became quite adept at gaining sets. He worked on over 200 films and his personally proud of his contribution to 'Tarzan of the Apes', 'Wizard of Oz' and "Northwest Passage.

He graduated from Santa Ana High School in 1926. He and his brother Dwight, purchased and operated a dairy farm in Laguna Beach. This property later become the home of 'The Laguna Festival of Arts.

His family moved to Southern California in 1916.

Warren Wray Hamilton was born in his grandfather's farmhouse in Adams County, Iowa on December 18, 1906.