If I needed confirmation that we had arrived in Joseph, Ore., tucked comfortably in the Wallowa Mountains far away from Hollywood, I received it when the vintage sign greeted us, “This Little Town is Like Heaven to Us. Don’t Drive Like Hell Through it.” A rustic berg of 1,081 inhabitants in far northeast Oregon, Joseph is legendary for its foundries, old West culture and proliferation of art galleries. Main Street resembles a sculpture garden with bronzes on every street corner. Surrounding Joseph are the mountain lakes that give this region its nickname of “Oregon’s Little Switzerland.” It’s no wonder they have screened “The Sound of Music” at their annual Swiss-Bavarian Alpenfest at nearby Lake Wallowa.
One of the bronze sculptures you won’t see hanging around a street corner is the larger-than-life homage to California’s own movie star-turned ex-governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The nine-foot, 580-lb. behemoth was recently cast nearby in Enterprise, Ore., at the TW Bronze Foundry (www.tzbronze.com) owned by Tim Parks and sculpted by renowned artist Ralph Crawford. This striking statue was then shipped to Schwarzenegger’s birthplace in Thal, Austria where the Arnold Schwarzenegger museum (formerly his childhood residence) opened in 2011. You can read about it at www.weirdwidenews.com, a global “news” blog, which has the entire run-down on this “hulking bronze statue of Arnie.”
In order to get to know Joseph, your first stop should be the Wallowa County Museum on the city’s Main Street. Housed in an historic bank building dating to 1888, the museum tells the long and varied history of the town, which was named for Native American leader Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. In the 1870s, white settlers began showing up. Under Chief Joseph’s (1840-1904) leadership, the Nez Perce co-existed with the white settlers for a time, before they were forcibly removed, and then embarked on a long journey of resistance.
There’s also a touch of Hollywood here. Walter Brennan, regarded as one of the finest character actors of all-time for his roles in the Westerns such as Howard Hawkes’ “Red River” and “Rio Bravo,” built the only motel in Joseph and was a frequent visitor. The first of three art foundries opened during the 1980s, which kickstarted Joseph’s transformation into an arts destination. Today, the City of Joseph’s playful official motto is “The Town with an Artitude.”
Western culture also has roots in Joseph. An old-fashioned ice cream parlor called the Mad Mary and Co. Soda Shop, the Outlaw Restaurant & Saloon and the Stubborn Mule & Steakhouse roll out the welcome mat for visitors. We even picked up a handsome, hand-tooled leather gun holster—there are yard sales galore in Joseph— which made for a terrific cell phone holder.
For more information on Joseph, Ore., visit www.wallowa.com. Hikers may want to check out Eagle Cap and Hells Canyon in Wallowa- Whitman National Forest: www.fs.usda.gov/wallowa-whitman.
Pamela Price contributes to www.forbes.com/sites/pamprice and serves as an art commissioner in Cathedral City, Calif.
