2016/2017 Directory - Chatsworth Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce | Page 27

FILM TIMELINE BY LOCATION CONTINUED THE SPAHN RANCH The 40-acre Spahn Ranch was situated just south of the Rocky Peak Church across Santa Susana Pass Road. Originally owned by silent film actor William S. Hart, it was purchased by dairy farmer George Spahn in 1948. It was home to many early movies and television shows, including Duel in the Sun (1946), and episodes of Bonanza, the Lone Ranger and Zorro. SPAHN Duel in the Sun (1946) Talisman, The (1966) [Adult Western] BRANDEIS Cheyenne Kid (1933) The Newhall fire of 1970 blazed through Spahn and burnt down its movie set. After that the ranch was divided into three sections. The portion of the ranch that contained the sets became part of Santa Susana Pass State Historical Park in 1984. Heir to Trouble (1935) BELL RANCH Bell Location Ranch sat on a plateau in the Santa Susanna Mountains overlooking the San Fernando Valley and Chatsworth reservoir. It was on Studio Rd. (just off Box Canyon Rd. and south of Santa Susana Pass Rd.) halfway between Chatsworth's Iverson Ranch and Simi Valley's Corriganville Ranch. Cavalcade of the West (1936) According to local lore, the ranch was sold to Rosemary Couch and Jean Forsythe, who renamed it the Berry Ranch. Around 1950, five acres of the 511-acre property were sold to Tony Stimolo. He renamed his plot the Bell Location Ranch. In the mid 1950s he built a western-style street on the ranch that included a white mansion, sometimes seen as a boarding house. The ranch was used as a backdrop for many televisions productions, such as Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, How the West Was Won, Zorro, The Big Valley, and an episode of McCloud. The Star Trek episode “A Private Little War” found that the ranch’s sparse landscape made the perfect environment for its fictional Planet Neural. Bonanza’s “Rattlesnake Brigade” was shot here, as was the movie Sunset. Sunset may have been the last production on the ranch, which closed in 1988, the same year it was filmed. Gun Grit (1936) Pecos Kid, The (1935) Sundown Saunders (1935) Blazing Justice (1936) Cowboy Star, The (1936) Desert Phantom (1936) Ghost Patrol (1936) Ghost Town (1936) Ghost Town Gold (1936) Men of the Plains (1936) Roarin' Guns (1936) Santa Fe Bound (1936) Singing Cowboy, The (1936) Stormy Trails (1936) Winds of the Wasteland (1936) Arizona Days (1937) Bar Z Bad Men (1937) Brothers of the West (1937) Come On, Cowboys (1937) Feud of the Trail, The (1937) In 199l, the buildings at the ranch were donated to the Wilderness Institute and relocated. Fighting Deputy, The (1937) Hit the Saddle (1937) PORTER RANCH Porter Ranch, originally owned by the Porter brothers, was the location chosen for many of the scenes in Steven Spielberg’s smash hit, E.T. Hollywood Cowboy (1937) Hollywood Round-Up (1937) 25