Page 20 - Aerospace Valley Heritage - Aerotech News and Review, October 15, 2021

BJ’s corner: A place to watch history in the making

by Bob Alvis their homes and forgo the subdivision The prehistory of that corner before
special to Aerotech News mindset that was driving families to the it became BJ’s Corner looked a lot
wide open spaces like the High Desert! different then what it became in the
For years, the skies over the We will never know how successful later years, as the aircraft flying across
Antelope Valley have always been a he or she was, but over time that Sierra Highway were the product
buzz of aircraft activity. It’s not a rarity structure finally ran its course and was of numerous aircraft production
to see people look to the skies when the removed, as was the Pixie Club across companies that had multiple designs
sounds of aircraft dash overhead. the street. It was around this time that competing for lucrative contracts.
The Valley being filled with Plant 42 was taking a hard look at the That location in the 1950s and 1960s
aerospace workers and enthusiasts, runouts at the end of the runways and would be a location any fan of all those
it’s no wonder that they migrate to that with the removal of these obstacles, cutting-edge aircraft would love to be,
one spot at the end of a runway where, the land was purchased. From Sierra spending a day or two clicking off
wheels up or wheels down, cutting- Highway to 10th Street West on the photos of the silver offerings from the
edge aircraft come so close that you south side of Avenue N became the aircraft companies of the day.
feel that you can almost touch them! property of Air Force Plant 42. But Starting in the 1960s, what would
BJ’s Corner has become a mecca the north side of Avenue N remained become the watershed event for BJ’s
for aircraft lovers and photographers Courtesy photograph in public hands and after the removal Corner started showing up in not
alike. Chance encounters with rare BJs Corner at the intersection of Sierra Highway and Avenue N/ R. Lee Ermey of that old real estate structure, for silver, but in black, as Lockheed and
aircraft are very much a possibility, Ave. in Palmdale, Calif., is a popular gathering spot for aviation enthusiasts whatever reason, that foundation the government started to let the public
looking to see aircraft take off and land at Air Force Plant 42.
and being outside the fence gives the remained! For many years before it in on some of its sensitive aircraft
shutter bugs a feeling of security, as became ground zero for aerospace programs. It wasn’t long until the
nobody is going to show up and rip the came into existence, the notoriety of made it a great place to have a couple enthusiasts, it was just the pad to park sheriffs were stopping traffic as SR-71s
SIM card out of your camera! that corner was a grim one. That of cool ones or mixed drinks with the on when meeting somebody halfway were skimming over Sierra Highway at
But BJ’s corner was not always corner of Sierra Highway had a slight wingnut crowd! Looking across to that or picking up a carpool ride to some tree-top level. Soon to follow would
known by those initials and, as a offset to it and for some reason the area today, the foundation of that old location of work around the valley or
matter of fact, for most of its life it motoring community managed to run stomping grounds can still be seen. In down below. See BJs, Page 21
was just the northwest corner of Sierra up a pretty large number of wrecked the area around the foundation, you
Highway and Avenue N. automobiles and injured drivers and can still find old pop tops from beer
Little interest was taken when, back sadly, many fatalities. But over time bottles from the 1940s and 1950s!
in the early days of Palmdale Airport, that curve was slowly removed, and The other thing that made that
the designers laid out the runways that statistic-filled location became a location a prime spot was that back in
that, as luck would have it, have the less dangerous part of travels between those days, Sierra Highway was the
approach and departure fly over that Lancaster and Palmdale. freeway of the Valley. Every person
now historic corner. When it was just The next event that started another coming to the Antelope Valley would
the Army Air Corps flying in and out evolution of that corner was directly pass across the desert on that old
of Palmdale in World War II, nobody related to the aerospace companies that two-lane road and if there was any
really cared to photograph or just were starting to populate the grounds advertising at all, it a was welcome
plane-watch those P-38s and P-51s of what was once Palmdale Airport, relief from looking at the expanse of
fly in and out. On the occasions when morphing into what we currently call the desert. It was this aspect that began
fog and low clouds shut down flights Air Force Plant 42. A prime spot on the BJ’s Corner legend we know today.
to the Los Angeles area, the sound of the southwest corner of Avenue N Centered in the Valley with unlimited
big radial engine airliners came over and Sierra Highway would be a good views, an enterprising developer saw
the corner, with the passengers looking location for the aerospace workers the opportunity to sell land to all
down on a desolate spot in the desert to catch up on gossip and do a bit of those aerospace folks and travelers by
surrounded by funny-looking trees “hangar flying,” so a restaurant and building a two-story real estate office. Courtesy photograph
and wondering how long they would bar called the Pixie Club opened at Visitors could view the Valley in all The sun sets over BJs Corner in Palmdale, Calif. BJs Corner is a popular
be stuck in the desert, or how long the that location and for several years. directions and maybe see the location gathering spot for aviaiton and aircraft enthusiasts, as it sits at the end of
bus ride would be to “down below .” It did a sonic-booming business, as that they felt would best fill their land Runway 25 at Air Force Plant 42. The group boasts its own Facebook group
For a long time after Sierra Highway its location at the end of that runway needs, if they had the mind to build where people post tips and photographs of aircraft flying in and out of Plant 42.

Courtesy photograph
Club Pixie, located at the intersection of Sierra Highway and Avenue N in
Courtesy photograph Palmdale, Calif., was one of the, if not the, first occupants of what is now
Looking west from the end of Runway 25 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., circa 1958. known as BJs Corner.

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