Movie ranch facts for kids
A movie ranch is a special kind of ranch that is used as a place to film movies and television shows. These ranches became popular in the United States, especially in southern California, because the sunny weather was perfect for outdoor filming. The first movie ranches were usually found within 30 miles (48 km) of the main film studios, often in valleys like the San Fernando Valley or Simi Valley.
Movie ranches started in the 1920s. Hollywood studios needed big outdoor spaces to film western movies, which were very popular. It was hard to make the Old West look real on small indoor sound stages or studio backlots. So, filmmakers went to the real valleys, canyons, and hills of Southern California. Other big movies, like war films, also needed large, open areas for scenes like battles.
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Why Movie Ranches Started
At first, filmmakers traveled far away to places like Arizona and Nevada for outdoor scenes. But this meant that the film crews had to pay for their own travel, which caused problems with the studios. To fix this, studios agreed to pay extra if workers had to travel more than 30 miles (48 km) from the studio.
To avoid these extra costs, many movie studios bought large pieces of undeveloped land, often existing ranches, closer to Hollywood. These ranches were usually just inside the 30 miles (48 km) limit. The natural California landscape was perfect for westerns and other types of films.
After World War II, cities grew rapidly, and land became more expensive. Many historic movie ranches were sold and divided into smaller properties for homes. However, some have been saved as regional parks and are still sometimes used for filming. Also, new movie ranches have been built in other states like New Mexico and Texas.
Below is a list of some famous movie ranches from the past and some newer ones.
Famous Movie Ranches
Apacheland Movie Ranch
The Apacheland Movie Ranch was built in Apache Junction, Arizona, between 1959 and 1960. Before that, filmmakers often used local ranches for western town sets. For example, the movie Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) was filmed nearby.
Construction on the Apacheland Studio began in February 1959. By June 1960, it was ready for use. The first TV western filmed there was Have Gun, Will Travel in November 1960. Many famous actors like Elvis Presley and Ronald Reagan filmed movies and TV shows at Apacheland. Some of these include Charro! and The Ballad of Cable Hogue. The last movie filmed there was Blind Justice in 1994.
Fires damaged the ranch in 1969 and 2004. After the second fire, Apacheland closed permanently in October 2004. Two buildings that survived, the Elvis Chapel and the Apacheland Barn, were moved to the Superstition Mountain Museum, where you can see them today.
Big Sky Ranch
Big Sky Ranch is a cattle ranch in Simi Valley, California. It has been used for many western TV shows and movies. Some popular shows filmed here include Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Little House on the Prairie.
A fire in 2003 destroyed many of the sets, including a replica of the farm house from Little House on the Prairie. Even after the fire, the ranch is still used for filming. Recent productions include "The Office", "Saving Mr. Banks", and "The Revenant".
Corriganville Movie Ranch
Around 1937, actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan bought land in Simi Valley, California and turned it into the Corriganville Movie Ranch. Many movies were filmed here, including Fort Apache (1948) and Mysterious Island (1961).
In 1949, Corrigan opened parts of the ranch to the public on weekends. Visitors could explore themed sets like a western town, a Mexican village, and a cavalry fort. This amusement park closed in 1966.
Filming continued even with tourists around. The TV series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin used the Fort Apache set. Shows like Lassie and Emergency! also filmed scenes here. In 1966, Bob Hope bought the ranch for development. A wildfire destroyed the buildings in 1970.
Today, about 200 acres (81 ha) of the original ranch are part of Corriganville Regional Park. The old sets are gone, but you can still see some of their concrete foundations. Parts of the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood were filmed here, pretending to be the Spahn Movie Ranch.
Iverson Movie Ranch
In the 1880s, the Iverson family started a farm in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. They eventually owned about 500 acres (200 ha). It's believed that movies were filmed on their property as early as 1912.
By the late 1910s, the Iverson Movie Ranch became a very popular outdoor filming spot, especially for westerns. It also appeared in adventure films, war movies, comedies, and science-fiction films, pretending to be places all over the world.
Many famous productions were filmed here, including Buster Keaton's Three Ages (1923) and John Wayne's The Fighting Seabees (1944). The ranch's rocky landscape was often seen in chases and shootouts in 1930s and 1940s westerns. For the 1945 movie Along Came Jones, a western town was built at the ranch. This set was used in many other films until 1957.
When television became popular in the late 1940s, Iverson was used for countless TV series. These included The Lone Ranger, The Roy Rogers Show, and Zorro. It's estimated that over 3,500 movies and TV episodes were filmed at the ranch during its busiest years.
In the mid-1960s, the Simi Valley Freeway was built, cutting the ranch in half. This, along with the decline of western movies and more development, led to the end of Iverson as a major movie ranch. The last movies filmed here were in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Today, parts of the ranch have been saved as parkland in Chatsworth. This includes the famous "Garden of the Gods," where you can see rock formations from many old movies and TV shows. The well-known Lone Ranger Rock, which appeared with the Lone Ranger's horse Silver in the opening of The Lone Ranger TV show, is also here.
Lasky Movie Ranch – Ahmanson 'Lasky Mesa' Ranch
This area is famous for being a filming location for many important movies. These include The Thundering Herd (1925), Gone with the Wind (1939), and Santa Fe Trail (1940).
In 1914, the Lasky company bought a 4,000 acres (16 km2) ranch in the San Fernando Valley. They built a large Spanish-style house for filming and planned to use the land for big scenes.
In 1963, the Ahmanson family bought the property. It became known as the Ahmanson Ranch. Later, a bank took over and planned to build homes there. However, people wanted to save the land as open space. Also, tests showed that the water was polluted from a nearby experimental nuclear reactor.
Because of this, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the State of California bought the land for a public regional park. The Lasky Movie Ranch is now part of the large Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve, with trails for hiking. Some filming, like for Mission: Impossible III (2006), was done here even after it became a park.
Monogram Ranch/Melody Ranch
This ranch was first called 'Placeritos Ranch'. From 1936 to 1952, Russell Hickson owned it and built many film sets. In 1937, Monogram Pictures leased the ranch and renamed it 'Monogram Ranch'.
In 1953, actor and singer Gene Autry bought the property and renamed it 'Melody Ranch' after his movie and radio show. It is located near Santa Clarita, California. In 1962, a brush fire destroyed most of the western town sets. Autry then sold most of the ranch.
In 1990, the Veluzat family bought the remaining 22-acre (8.9 ha) and developed it into the new Melody Ranch Studios. They have sound stages, western sets, and prop shops.
Early silent films were often shot in this area. In 1931, Monogram Pictures leased land and built a western town. This town later became part of Disney's Golden Oak Ranch. In 1936, the western town was moved to Russell Hickson's ranch, which became 'Monogram Ranch'.
After the 1962 fire, the damaged landscape was even used for productions like Combat!. A large Spanish hacienda and an adobe village survived the fire.
Today, the Melody Ranch Studio is still active. It was used for filming scenes for Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained in 2012. The ranch also has a museum that is open year-round.
Paramount Movie Ranch
In 1927, Paramount Pictures bought a 2,700 acres (11 km2) ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains near Agoura Hills, California. The studio built many large sets, including a replica of early San Francisco, an Old West town, and a Welsh mining village. These sets could be changed to look like places all over the world, from Tombstone, Arizona, to 13th-century China.
Today, it is Paramount Ranch Park, part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The National Park Service took over in 1980 and restored the sets. The Western Town was built in 1954 and was used for popular TV westerns like The Cisco Kid and Gunsmoke. More recently, it was used for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Carnivàle, and Westworld.
The ranch was also home to the original Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California for many years.
In November 2018, the structures at Paramount Ranch were almost completely destroyed by the Woolsey Fire. Despite this, a campaign called "The Paramount Project" was started to help rebuild the ranch.
Republic Pictures Ranch – Walt Disney Golden Oak Ranch
The former Republic Pictures Movie Ranch became the Walt Disney Golden Oak Ranch in 1959. It's located near Santa Clarita, California. The ranch was named after the first gold discovery in California, which happened nearby. Walt Disney bought the 315 acres (1.27 km2) ranch because he was worried that other movie studios' ranches were being sold off. Over the next five years, Disney bought more land, making the property 691 acres (2.80 km2).
The Walt Disney Studios worked with the State of California when a freeway was built near the ranch, making sure it didn't interfere with filming. In 2009, Disney announced plans to expand the studio complex.
Many Disney productions have filmed at the Golden Oak Ranch, including Old Yeller, The Parent Trap, Pearl Harbor, and Pirates of the Caribbean II & III.
Spahn Movie Ranch
The Spahn Movie Ranch is a 55-acre (22 ha) property in the Simi Hills above Chatsworth, California. It was once owned by silent film actor William S. Hart and was used to film many westerns from the 1940s to the 1960s, including Duel in the Sun and episodes of Bonanza and The Lone Ranger. A western town set was located there.
Dairy farmer George Spahn bought the ranch in 1953. He added more sets and rented horses, making it a popular spot for horseback riding. Filming continued for various B-movies and TV series until the late 1960s. As westerns became less popular, the ranch became mostly empty.
A 1970 mountain wildfire destroyed the film sets and buildings. The site of the Spahn Movie Ranch is now part of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.
20th Century Fox Movie Ranch
The 20th Century Fox Movie Ranch, also known as Century Movie Ranch or Fox Movie Ranch, is in the Santa Monica Mountains. 20th Century Fox bought it in 1946. One of the first sets was a New England farmhouse built for the 1948 movie Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. From 1956 to 1957, 20th Century Fox filmed its first TV series there, My Friend Flicka.
The Fox Ranch was used for most outdoor scenes of the CBS-TV series Perry Mason (1957–66).
The Century Movie Ranch was the main filming location for the original 1970 MASH film and the later M*A*S*H (TV series). It was used in many other films, including Tarzan movies, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and the original Planet of the Apes film and TV series.
The Fox Movie Ranch property was bought and saved as part of the new state park, Malibu Creek State Park, which opened to the public in 1976. Some productions continued to film there even after it became a park.
Other Original Locations
Bell Moving Picture Ranch
The Bell Moving Picture Ranch is located in the Simi Hills above the Spahn Movie Ranch site. Many movies were filmed here, including Gunsight Ridge (1957) and Hombre (1967) starring Paul Newman. The climactic scene in Elvis Presley's first movie, Love Me Tender (1956), was filmed on a rugged slope at Bell Ranch.
Many TV westerns also used the ranch, such as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Zorro, and Have Gun – Will Travel. Even an episode of the original Star Trek series, "A Private Little War" (1968), was partly filmed at Bell Ranch, pretending to be an alien world.
In 1990, all the film sets were removed, but some filming still continued.
Columbia Ranch – Warner Bros. Ranch
Columbia Pictures bought this 40-acre (16 ha) lot in 1934 because they needed more space for filming. Over the years, many different themed sets were built on the ranch.
Now known as the "Warner Brothers Ranch," this 32-acre (13 ha) movie ranch in Burbank, California, has been used for many TV series. These include Father Knows Best, Hazel, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and The Partridge Family.
Many classic movies also filmed scenes here, such as Lost Horizon, High Noon, The Wild One, and It's a Wonderful Life. The famous "Bedford Falls" town from It's a Wonderful Life was filmed here.
The house from The Waltons was originally on the main Warner Bros. lot. After it burned down in 1991, a new version was built on the Warner Bros. Ranch lot. This house facade is still used in shows like NCIS and The Middle.
In 2019, it was announced that Warner Bros. will sell this property as part of a larger real estate deal.
Pioneertown
Pioneertown, California, is in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. It started as a live-in Old West movie set in the 1940s. The town was designed so actors could live in the homes, and the homes themselves would be part of the movie set. Many westerns and early TV shows were filmed here, including The Cisco Kid. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were involved in developing Pioneertown.
The sets are still there and are open as a tourist attraction.
RKO Encino Ranch
The RKO Pictures Encino Ranch was 89 acres (360,000 m2) located in Encino, California. RKO Pictures bought this property in 1931 to film their movie Cimarron, which won four Academy Awards. The art director won an Oscar for designing the first sets here, which included a complete western town and a modern main street.
RKO built many different sets on the ranch, including a New York street, English houses, a small town square, a medieval City of Paris, a Russian village, and even an ocean tank. They also had soundstages and prop shops.
Many classic movies filmed scenes here, such as King Kong (1933), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Citizen Kane (1941), and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
In 1954, the ranch property was sold for a housing development. All the unique film sets were bulldozed to make way for new homes.
Will Rogers State Historic Park
This park was once the home of American humorist Will Rogers. It includes his house, horse ranch, and a polo field. While it wasn't specifically a movie ranch, the property has been used for filming movies, TV shows, and advertisements since his death.
Located in the Santa Monica Mountains in Pacific Palisades, the property was given to the state in 1944 and is open to the public. Some filming has been done here in recent years, but it was temporarily closed to filming after fires in 2018.
Newer Movie Ranches
Santa Clarita Ranches
The Santa Clarita Valley has about 10 movie ranches. These include Melody Ranch, Blue Cloud Movie Ranch, the Golden Oak Ranch (owned by Disney), and Rancho Deluxe.
Productions like "SWAT" and HBO's "Westworld" have filmed at Rancho Deluxe. A fire in 2016 destroyed trees but not the buildings.
Sable Ranch was a 400-acre (160 ha) property in Santa Clarita with lakes, a western town, and fields. It was used for many films and TV series, including The A-Team and 24. The ranch was destroyed by the Sand Fire wildfire in July 2016. However, by 2019, Sable Ranch was partly back in business, used for the mini-golf competition Holey Moley.
J.W. Eaves Movie Ranch
Located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the J.W. Eaves Movie Ranch opened in the early 1960s. Its first production was the TV series Empire in 1962. Over 250 other productions have filmed here, including Chisum, Easy Rider, and Young Guns II.
The Eaves Ranch is open to the public and hosts festivals. Some movie-making still happens here, for example, scenes for the 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Skywalker Ranch
The Skywalker Ranch is different from traditional movie ranches. It's the location of the production facilities for filmmaker George Lucas in Marin County, California. The property covers over 4,700 acres (19 km2), but most of it remains undeveloped.
The ranch has a large Technical Building with a world-class scoring stage, mixing stages, sound design suites, editing suites, and a 300-seat theater. It also includes the main house and Lake Ewok.
Southfork Ranch
Southfork Ranch is a working ranch in Parker, Texas, near Dallas. It became famous as the main setting for the 1980s TV show Dallas and its later continuation.
As of 2019, it is a popular tourist attraction.
Circle M City
Circle M City, in Sanford, North Carolina, is a film set for the Christian movie Cowboy Trail. It's a western town with a church, mercantile, bank, saloon, and jail. It also has costumes and horses.
In 2019, it was used for various events and weddings.
