Pollardville Chicken Kitchen, Palace Showboat & Ghost Town

Was the “Best Chicken in the Country”

The Chiggen from Pollardville Chicken Kitchen, Palace Showboat & Ghost Town

The Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company's locomotive "Chiggin" outside the glory hole at the Davenport quarry, circa 1915. Courtesy Images of America: Davenport. Colorized using

May 1951 the original Restaurant building.

The beginnings of Chicken Kitchen . 1946

The sign at the entrance to Ghost Town with the Texas Longhorns that were used in the movie “Back To The Future III” below it. The full story is on this page. They are pictured above the bar in the movie. The picture is from the movie set when Neil visited.

Not many people knew that a number of our antiques were used in the movie "Back to the future III". John Q a friend of ours came to us because he was approached about finding sets, props and antiques to be used in the movie. John Q works with Movie Companies, Fairs, and State of California Affiliates finding appropriate furnishings needed for movie companies and other sources. He has a ware house full of his own sets and props that he uses and he also goes around and rents or leases what he doesn't have. We had leased out other items for commercials and other ventures before and he knew that they were wanting "Rustic Western Antiques". So he came to Pollardville and looked around and picked out quite a few items for the movie. He took Neil with him onto the set on the out skirts of Jamestown & Sonora, CA. It is typical for movie companies to lease or rent quite a few items and maybe use half of them. The items leased were an 1880's Doctors chair, an antique fire wagon/ladder, a pair of Texas Longhorns seen above the bar in the movie, and a few other small props. Filming took place in both California and Arizona, and the film was released in the United States on May 25, 1990. The film was a commercial success and achieved $244.53 million at the international box office, making it 1990's sixth highest grossing film. The earliest origins of the western theme for Back to the Future Part III lie in the production of the original film. Michael J. Fox was asked by Zemeckis, during filming for the original, about what time period he would like to see and responded saying he wanted to visit the old west and meet cowboys. Zemeckis and Gale were intrigued by the idea, but held it off until Part III. Rather than use existing sets, the filmmakers decided to build 1885 Hill Valley from scratch. The western scenes were filmed on location in Monument Valley.Some of the location shooting for 1885 Hill Valley was done in Jamestown, California, and on a purpose-built set at the Red Hills Ranch, near Sonora, California. Some of the train scenes were filmed at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, a heritage line in Jamestown.

Chicken Kitchen ceramic bank from the 1960s-70’s.

One of the wagons we sold with our name on it.

Keys to the jail.