Western RoundUp: Iverson Movie Ranch
Visiting western movie locations is one of my favorite things to do! Visiting these sites in person always offers interesting insights into filmmaking in general and westerns in particular.
In previous columns, I’ve taken readers to visit western places like Corriganville in Simi Valley, California; Kanab, Utah; and Lone Pine, California.
This month we’re paying a visit to the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, where most of the great movie cowboys have filmed at some point. Iverson was first used as a film location in the silent film era; Countless films and television shows were filmed there up until the late 1960s.
One of the most famous sites on the Iverson Ranch is “Lone Ranger Rock,” named for its appearance in the opening credits of Lone Ranger TV series:
The photo above was taken by me along with most of the photos in this column in February 2022.
Here is Lone Ranger Rock taken from further away in November 2016:
The Iverson Movie Ranch was originally 500 acres and much of that is now developed as seen below, but there are still key areas, including the ‘Garden of the Gods’, that can be hiked.
To this day, remnants of Iverson’s film history can be found throughout the area.
For example, a film crew made a “cave” in some rocks in front of this hole; Parts of the cave are still on the ground (see above).
Another man-made alteration was this shoring for a “stagecoach road” used in many films including The Oklahoma Kid (1939) with James Cagney:
At one point a crew screwed something to that rock; The holes remain:
And here is a retaining wall:
We also found a blank 5-in-1 left behind by a film crew!
Finding a tangible relic like this is a bit like reaching out and touching the movie past.
John Fords stagecoach (1939) was filmed right around here!
A few years ago I did an Iverson film location tour for the Hopalong Cassidy film Mysterious man (1944). What’s particularly fun is that the film edited a shootout filmed in Iverson with scenes filmed in Lone Pines Alabama Hills so that the actors shooting at each other from “close range” were actually filmed hundreds of miles apart. Why that happened is a mystery in itself, but it’s believed the Lone Pine film crew came home to find they didn’t have enough footage, so they supplemented what they had by shooting in nearby Iverson filmed.
While most films and television shows filmed in Iverson were westerns, other filming was done there as well. One of the most famous spots in the area is Nyoka Cliff, named after its appearance in the series Dangers of Nyoka (1942):
Here is Nyoka Cliff from afar, photographed in 2016:
My husband poses in a used place The Fighting Sea Bees (1944):
Here’s a shot overlooking the famous Garden of the Gods. Even Buster Keaton filmed there, e.g Three Ages (1923).
More views of Iverson Ranch:
The rock formations in Iverson are as unique and distinctive as those in Lone Pine’s Alabama Hills. It’s great fun to spot them while watching westerns.
I’ve been to the Iverson Ranch a few times now, and each time I take away a little more knowledge, but I’ve barely scratched the surface of familiarizing myself with their history.
To learn more about this fascinating film location, please visit the Iverson Movie Ranch’s outstanding website, which contains hundreds of detailed location photos. The site is an educational experience in and of itself that should be of great interest to my Western fans.
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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub
Laura can be found on her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she has been writing about film since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film buff, Laura loves classics like Disney, film noir, musicals and westerns. She regularly reports on classic film festivals in Southern California. Laura will be writing all about westerns at the Western RoundUp for CMH.
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