The Lazy JB Ranch - A little Colorado in Paris

If you have visited LeftCoastMini.blogspot.com recently you will see Carol's take on the Lazy JB. She inspired me to blog about it, so here is my story.

One day in Paris Carol and I went up to Montmartre. 

After visiting Sacre-Coeur and perusing the artwork for sale we decided to walk down the Rue Lepic in search of the Café des Deux Moulins where Amelie worked in the movie of the same name.

 The Rue Lepic runs downhill for a long time before one reaches the Cafe. It was a pleasant walk, but something caught my eye and stopped me dead in my tracks.

Through a large window facing the street I could see Lazy JB Ranch. It was fantastic.

The Lazy JB is a 1:12 scale work of art by photographer Jeff Berner who was raised on an Indian Trading Post in The Garden of the Gods, outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado, but lives in Paris now.

 Jeff took pity on this poor Canadian who had her nose pressed tightly against his front window and invited me in to see the ranch in all it's glory.

At which point I lost Carol on the Rue Lepic. It took her a while to retrace her steps and find me again. But she did.

In Jeff's own words he describes the Lazy JB as such "Well, pardner, some years ago I created a miniature diorama of a Wild West ranch which was on exhibit at the Museum of Miniatures in Los Angeles for three years (it was across from the LA County Museum of Art, but has now disappeared). I did spend 700 hours building the 1-inch-to-the-foot scale model...which is six feet by three feet by 15" high and is totally realistic.  You can imagine how many local visitors - and Germans, Italians and Japanese, all great fans of Wild West Americana ~ wandering up or down rue Lepic, will be rooted to the spot outside my windows !"

Just like I was. Jeff gave me permission to take pictures of the Ranch and post them on my blog.

We spent a few moments reminiscing about Colorado. Jeff was raised there and I had spent some time in that glorious state visiting Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Silverton, Cripple Creek and taking a jeep on the old mining roads in the Rockies, among other things.

Check Jeff Berner's photography at http://www.jeffberner.com