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)
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