Take a Tour of Hollywood Movie Ranches

View Hollywood Movie Ranches in a larger map

The following post is part of our online companion to our Winter 2013 issue on Classic Hollywood.

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If you’ve ever wondered where your favorite Western was filmed, or wanted to visit the set location for shows like Little House on the Prairie or Dukes of Hazzard, Aaron Gilbreath has researched the most prominent Hollywood movie ranches and mapped their locations.

Here’s a summary of what you’ll find on the annotated Google map above.

Big Sky Movie Ranch

Some shots from Little House on the Prairie were at Big Sky; other shots occurred near Sonora, California, at Red Hills Ranch.

Century Movie Ranch
This ranch land is now protected as Malibu Creek State Park. It provided the set of M*A*S*H*, Tarzan the Ape Man, and Planet of the Apes.

Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
This property includes what was once Spahn Ranch, which was the set of Bonanza and The Lone Ranger.

Iverson Ranch

This ranch occupied land around where Topanga Canyon Boulevard intersects the 118 Freeway. Garden of the Gods Park protects a portion of the old ranch property. (The best address to use is that of the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village, which sits on boulder-strewn land that appears in numerous classic westerns, and possibly near the original Iverson Ranch house.) The ranch was the set for The Lone Ranger and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Garden of the Gods’ rock formations, in particular, make repeat appearances in The Lone Ranger TV show.

South of the 118 Freeway, in the Garden of the Gods area, on the east side of Redmesa, is what a number of people call Lone Ranger Rock. It’s the rock outcropping that appears beside the Lone Ranger as he rears his horse Silver, the Lone Ranger’s horse, in each episode’s opening sequence. This fan’s website includes some great stills of this particular locale, its many rock formations, and films.

Dukes of Hazzard

Many of the car scenes were shot in the oak and chaparral-covered hills around the city of Valencia.

Corriganville Ranch

The ranch is now Corriganville Regional Park. It was the set for the Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.

The Google map plotting Hollywood Movie Ranches is open for collaboration; if you know of other movie ranch sets, please add them. You can find out more about movie ranches here.


View Hollywood Movie Ranches in a larger map