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Movie Ranch
Part One
Simi Valley, California
Many scenes from Duke's Fort Apache
and The Three Mesquiteers series filmed here.
Around 1937, Ray Corrigan invested in some real estate in the foothills
of the Santa Susana Mountains,in the Santa Susana Pass
area of Simi Valley in eastern Ventura County, California.
He developed it as a multi-purpose movie location for use in film production.
While several dollar figures have been thrown about, apparently the purchase price
for the land was in the range of $10,000 - $12,000.
The location provided different types of terrain such as lakes, mountains,
caves, large boulders, and rock outcroppings and overhangs.
The environment was a picturesque California oak woodland.
The small man-made lake featured a bunker with windows
that would allow underwater scenes to be shot.
Estimates of the number of movies and television shows
filmed there range from the hundreds to the thousands.
..
Above, youngTom Corrigan sits atop..........Ray "Crash" Corrigan takes part
Roy Rogers' horse, while Dale Evans,.........in a scene with actors
who is clearly out of costume, .................John Wayne and Raymond Hatton.
looks on
Corrigan's family lived in homes converted from the movie sets.
Most of the Range Busters were done there, as well as A features like
Fort Apache (1948) with John Wayne.
Also filmed at Corriganville were Columbia's Jungle Jim series
with Johnny Weissmuller and TV shows such as
The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin Sky Kingand Star Trek
The last Range Busters film was released in 1943, and was basically
the end of Ray Corrigan's starring career.
But he was tired of the cowboy film rat race ... and his priorities had changed
as he had become very busy with the movie ranch.
Corrigan opened the ranch to the public weekends and holidays from 1949 to 1965.
and would stage shoot-em-ups and various other entertainment shows.
For an admission price of one dollar, one could experience stuntman shows,
actors (often Crash himself) signing autographs, and movie locations
including a western town (“Silverton”), frontier fort, and Mexican village,
all made up of real structures and not just set fronts.
He even employed several of his movie buddies at the ranch,
including Max Terhune and Victor Daniels (Chief Thunder Cloud).
Corrigan's family lived in homes converted from the movie sets.
Tom Corrigan said the amusement park on the ranch was
the first amusement park in the United States, preceding Disneyland,
Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios, and said as many
as 20,000 people would come to the park on weekends.
In 1965 Ray Corrigan sold the property, which was acquired
by comedian and property speculator Bob Hope.
A housing subdivision project called Hopetown
was developed and built on a parcel near the park entrance.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s part of the site
was used for motorcycle racing. In 1970 the ranch was swept by fire.
One of the last movies filmed there was Vigilante Force (1976).
In 1979 another fire destroyed virtually all of the remaining structures.
In 1988, 190 acres of land comprising the principal working areas
of the original Corriganville Ranch were purchased by
the City of Simi Valley for use as a Regional Park.
Now named Corriganville Regional Park, the Corriganville Movie Ranch
is now a public park operated by the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.
The park's eastern area is part of the Santa Susana Pass wildlife corridor
connecting the Simi Hills (and the Santa Monica Mountains)
with the Santa Susana Mountains (and Tehachapi Mountains
and San Gabriel Mountains).
Hiking trails provide exploration and views.
Rocky Peak Park is adjacent to the east.
Rick Johnson, a spokesman for the Rancho/Simi Valley Parks and Recreation Area
compiled and edited by ethanedwards, from various sources.Only the foundations of the movie sets remain, but the park is a beautiful place for hiking
Many movies were filmed here including Duke's
Fort Apache
..
Fort Apache (from the author's collection)
For the 1948 Fort Apache, during the Summer of 1947,
20th Century-Fox built the basis of a western fort on a plateau above the town..
By the early 1950's, the fort walls were added.
When a Foreign Legion type of movie was filmed there (name not known),
the western side of the fort set was converted into the "concrete"
style of walls used in the African pictures.
This wall also included its own gateway.
The remnants of the wall can be seen in the photo above,
(the white wall on the right bottom side of the fort set).
This fort was the main set for the television series The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin.
The roadway along the western side of the fort next to the white walls
was the entrance way from the parking lot to the Silvertown set
(left to right in the photo).
The roadway to the north of the fort as well
as the roadway that exited the fort from the secondary gateway
(upper left side of fort) both headed towards
the dugout relay station.(see photo below)
By late 1967, the set was dismantled. A shooting range was later installed.
Photo is an aerial view of Fort Apache in the late 1950's/early 1960's
(from the author's collection)
The photograph below shows a reverse angle of the above photograph
and includes the legionaire wall and gateway (upper left of picture).
..
Reverse view of Fort Apache taken......................Stairs next to the main entrance
in early to mid 1950's (from the Mark S. Cramer, collection)
..
The dug-out in Fort Apache
(Click on photo for enlargement)
Information from Jerry L. Schneider
except for a select number of photographs
and/or images which are copyrighted by their
respective owners.
For more information:-
Corriganville Movie Ranch
Click here for comprehensive list
Exterior-Locations
Other Information from Wikipedia
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Originally Posted by dukedood
