Helendale, California - Elmer's Place - Bottle Cacti

As we drove down Route 66 this past summer, we had the opportunity to hang out with Elmer and his bottle trees. He's a wonderful folk artist and the trees are special to him. The objects on top of the trees are items he has collected from childhood. He was really neat to talk to and he took time to entertain a couple of Mother Road travelers. Stop by and tell Elmer hi! [Melinda, 03/17/2008]

If you take the National Old Trails Highway (which is also a great old stretch of Route 66) west out of Barstow, California (the road to Exotic World), you'll pass "Elmer's Place," a front yard chock full of bottle cactus/folk art scuptures, between Barstow and Victorville. You can't really miss it on your right at the crest of a little hill. You can see the density of the yard from at least a quarter mile away. There must be easily a hundred of these bottle cactus sculptures on the property. [Kim Newell, 03/19/2005]

Someone has filled his yard with sculptures that resemble trees covered with bottles. They're actually pieces of pipe welded together, with hundreds of bottles loosely slipped over the ends so that they tinkle in the wind. There are lots of other odds and ends mixed in, including old signs, wheels, mechanical junk. [Paul D. DeRocco, 01/18/2004]