For nearly a century, a ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains was home to movie and TV film production.
But the 2018 Woolsey Wildfire changed everything, burning nearly 100,000 acres of land in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. It destroyed the iconic Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains just south of Agoura Hills.
"Almost everything in the ranch burned," said Jody Lyle, Superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. "We had a couple of film sets, the chapel from the HBO series Westworld, and the train depot from the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman TV series survive. But everything else in what people knew as Western Town was unfortunately lost to the fire."
The ranch's connection to Hollywood goes back nearly a century.
"Paramount Pictures bought the 2700-acre property in 1927. They owned it up until 1943, and they used it as an outdoor movie location. They filmed more than 160 movies here during the Paramount era," said Lyle. "William Hurtz bought the property, and turned it into the western town feel. TV serial westerns were filmed here. The Park Service finally acquired the property in 1980, and we decided to keep that practice going. It's the longest continuously used movie ranch from the Golden Era, and that's what we hope to bring back."
Stars like Gary Cooper, Bob Hope, and the Marx Brothers filmed on the ranch. And, it was the setting for TV series like Gunsmoke, The Dukes of Hazzard, and even The Bachelor.
Most of the sets and the infrastructure behind them were destroyed by the Woolsey Fire. But now, almost eight years later, a $26 million project to rebuild the ranch is almost complete. The park superintendent took us on a tour.
"What we have rebuilt here is something more akin to what existed during the Paramount era," said Lyle. "These structures are built in the footprint of the Paramount buildings. Those were the buildings built in the late 20's and early 30's. We refer to then as The Barn and the Pavilion. Theses were prop sheds and other things used in the administration of the movie ranch. The buildings existed all the way to the Woolsey Fire."
Lyle said what people remember from before the fire is the western facades. But, it's the prop buildings and other structures behind the facades that were the true heart of the ranch. "There was an incredible sense of loss about Western Town. But, the Western Town sets were much more modern. Many of them were built in the 1980's and 90's. The true historic structures were what was hidden underneath, and all of it was lost."
Now there are four new, state of the art buildings on the site with underground utilities, modern restrooms, and areas which can be used for everything from prop storage to ranger talks, and even weddings. Lyle walks us over to The Pavilion, a huge, covered open space with a stage at one end.
"This is going to be an amazing facility for us. Having this area where more than 200 people can gather for all kinds of different events will be great," said the park superintendent.
The new structures are built with wildfires in mind. They have metal roofs, fire resistant siding, and built-in fire sprinkler systems. With the infrastructure in place, studios will be able to build facades for whatever type of movies or TV series they are filming. Lyle says the hope is to open the rebuilt movie ranch in January in time for its 2027 centennial.
The National Park Service received $26 million in federal disaster relief funding to help with rebuilding efforts. The nonprofit Santa Monica Mountains Fund raised a million dollars to help jump start the reconstruction project.
Because of the ongoing construction, the area around the ranch buildings is closed to the public, but the ranch's trails are open to hiking, biking, and horseback riding.
