Paramount Ranch- Agoura Hills

On Saturday, we made the 2 hour drive up to Agoura Hills/Calabasas area to see the Paramount Ranch. We recently saw Huell Howser do a segment on it on California Gold. We were intrigued. Huell and the Ranger rode up on horses and it looked like it was far from civilization. We thought it would be fun to "Hike" to the ranch.

Well, it turns out that it is right off the side of the road. No hiking necessary. It takes about 10 minutes to see.

Lights! Camera! Action!… In 1927, Paramount Pictures purchased 2,700 acres of the old Rancho Las Virgenes for use as a “movie ranch.” For 25 years, a veritable who’s who of Hollywood practiced their craft at Paramount Ranch including director Cecil B. Demille and actors Bob Hope, Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert. The diverse landscape was the real star of the show. It offered film makers the freedom to create distant locales such as colonial Massachusetts in The Maid of Salem, ancient China in The Adventures of Marco Polo, a South Seas island in Ebb Tide (1937)and numerous western locations including San Francisco in Wells Fargo. The art of illusion was mastered on the landscape.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…The golden era of movie making at Paramount Ranch came to an end when changes to the studio system prompted Paramount Pictures to sell the ranch. Paramount Ranch found renewed life as a film location when William Hertz bought the southeast portion in 1953. An ardent fan of movie westerns, he built a permanent western town utilizing Paramount Pictures’ old prop storage sheds. As a result, television companies began producing westerns at the ranch such as The Cisco Kid and Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre. William Hertz sold the property in 1955. The Paramount Racetrack opened a year later, and some considered it one of the most challenging in the U.S. Although it closed 18 months later, after three fatal accidents, the racetrack was featured in The Devil’s Hairpin, filmed in 1957. Most of the track still winds through the grasslands of the park.

Ride Off Into the Sunset… From 1957 to 1980, the ranch changed ownership several times, but filmmaking continued. After purchasing a portion of the original Paramount property in 1980, the National Park Service revitalized the old movie ranch. From 1992 to 1997, Paramount Ranch was used as the setting for the television show, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Whether watching filming or exploring the area, experience the drama and grandeur of the Santa Monica Mountains.

(from the NPS.gov website)

This is the train station used in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman

The actors must have been really small, because everywhere HH went his head touched the ceiling.

Since it only took us 10ish minutes to see the whole town, we tried to hike some of the trails. It was pretty comical, we would start to follow what looked like a interesting trail only to be to have it end a 1/4 mile or so in.

It was a pretty place, an interesting find, but not worth the long drive up just to see that. It is worth it if you are passing through or are going to be in the area for another reason. Seriously, it is 5 minutes off the freeway with easy access.

There's a new Sheriff in town!

There was this beautiful old oak tree. It was at least 15 degrees cooler in the shade of this tree than out in the sun.