Frank Bogert
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Frank Mitchell Bogert (January 1, 1910 – March 22, 2009) was an American
cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
, professional
rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...
announcer, author, and
politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
best known as the longtime
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of
Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
. Born in
Mesa, Colorado Mesa is an unincorporated community in Mesa County, Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also b ...
to Henry Kneeland Bogert and Adaline Esther Mitchell, he was raised in the California mountain town of
Wrightwood Wrightwood is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County, California. It sits at an elevation of . The population was 4,720 at the 2020 census, up from 4,525 at the 2010 census. Wrightwood is located northeast of Los Angeles. It is o ...
in
San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...
. He was a rodeo colleague and distant relative to cowboy artist Earl W. Bascom. Bogert arrived in Palm Springs in 1927, becoming the city's first
chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...
manager in 1939. In the later 1930s he was the manager of the Palm Springs Racquet Club. In 1958, Bogert was elected to the Palm Springs City Council, becoming mayor soon after, serving for eight years. He was elected to the position for two more two-year terms in 1982. Bogert worked closely with
Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...
to bring the
California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...
to Palm Springs for spring training. In 1987 he wrote a book, ''Palm Springs: First Hundred Years'', a favorite of famous area resident
Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
. In 1997, a Golden Palm Star on the
Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.


Early life

The youngest of eight siblings, Franklin Mitchell Bogert was born on January 1, 1910 to Henry Kneeland Bogert (1868-1959) and Adaline Esther Bogert (1870-1970) in Grand Mesa, Colorado. The Bogert family initially lived a refined life on a 250-square-mile ranch. As a young child, Bogert learned to ride a horse and assisted with the raising of cattle and other ranch chores. However, this came to an end as the family lost their wealth and ranch as the result of fallout from the
Panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange suddenly fell almost ...
. Shortly thereafter, the Bogert family relocated to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
where Frank attended the 24th Street Grammar School followed by the
Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are called the Romans. Los Angeles High School is a publ ...
. In high school, he was a successful football player and worked odd jobs. It was also around this time that he began to take riding a roping lessons near the family’s home on Rimpau Boulevard, where the development of Los Angeles opened into rural open space. In 1926, when he was 16, he took a job as a stable hand at a stable in Wrightwood, and when the owner died the following year, he left his sixty horses to Bogert and another man named Rod Abbott. Shortly thereafter, after considering a place to put the horses out for pasture, Bogert and Abbott moved all sixty horses about ninety miles over the course of three days to
Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
. At the time, Palm Springs was in the early stages of becoming a recreation destination, with hotels such as the
El Mirador El Mirador (which translates as "the lookout", "the viewpoint", or "the belvedere") is a large pre-Columbian Middle and Late Preclassic Maya, Preclassic (1000 BC – 250 AD) Maya civilization, Maya settlement, located in the north of the moder ...
and Desert Inn attracting wealthy tourists during the town’s temperate winters. Bogert and Abbott built a small horse riding operation that took these tourists into Palm Canyon for a nominal charge of $1. During this time, Bogert still had not moved to Palm Springs, but would return on weekends while Abbott ran the business during the week. Bogert was also attending the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
, which he had entered in hopes of courting Marion Dale, a future Olympic athlete. Partially due to the busy nature of his and Abbott’s horse operation, he did not finish his degree.


Section 14 Indigenous Land

As Mayor of Palm Springs in the mid-1960's, Bogert was an advocate for the eviction of non-Native Americans from Section 14, a tract of land held by the