Discover the Lost History of Piru | Harry Lechler

Описание: Piru looks very different today from the way it looks in this video. After years of quiet storefronts, the town has begun to come back to life, with restaurants and shops reopening along its main street and the historic Mountain View Inn welcoming guests again for the first time in many years. This video, filmed around 1995, captures an earlier moment in Piru’s story and offers a rare look at a place that no longer exists in the same form.

At the center of the video is longtime Piru resident Harry Lechler (1912–2005), who opened his long-shuttered private museum to visitors by appointment and personally led a guided tour. Inside, Harry explains artifacts contributed by longtime Piru families, demonstrates historic tools and equipment, and shares stories passed down through generations. The informal nature of the visit is part of its charm, including moments when Harry plays the harmonica, offering a glimpse of the personality behind the collection.

00:00 Lechler family roots and the founding of Piru
01:40 Arriving at the Lechler Museum with Harry Lechler
02:05 Building the museum and a lifetime of collecting
02:30 Early Piru agriculture and ranching tools
03:30 Singletree, doubletree, and tripletree explained
04:40 The Lechler homestead in Lechler Canyon
09:20 Driving a stagecoach from Lone Pine to Arizona
11:00 Piru Hotel history and early telephone service
15:50 Harry Lechler plays harmonicas from his collection
19:20 World War I toy soldiers and family stories
21:05 Growing up in Piru and Main Street memories
26:15 Visiting the museum by appointment (circa 1995)

The Lechler family’s roots in the area extend back to the 19th century. Members of the family homesteaded land in what became known as Lechler Canyon near present-day Lake Piru, establishing ranching, agricultural, and business ties that were closely intertwined with the development of Piru itself. Harry was born in the Piru Hotel and later operated the town’s general merchandise store, making him both a witness to and participant in much of Piru’s 20th-century history.

In August 2000, the contents of Harry Lechler’s museum were auctioned and dispersed. As a result, this footage represents one of the only known visual records of the museum’s interior and many of the artifacts it once contained, along with Harry’s firsthand stories about Piru and the people who shaped it. Today, the video stands as a valuable record of memories gathered and shared at a moment in time.

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