Stoney Point, Chatsworth's No. 1 landmark Everyone who takes busy Topanga Canyon Boulevard through Chatsworth, Calif., drives past Stoney Point. Situated on the east side of Topanga near the 118 Freeway, it's the town's largest and best-known landmark.   A view of Stoney Point from the Iverson Movie Ranch (Cliff Roberts photo) Sticking out above the flat San Fernando Valley, this high-rise sandstone rock formation is a close neighbor of the former Iverson Movie Ranch, sitting just across Topanga to the southeast.   "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940): Stoney Point crashes a promo s ..read more

"The Cisco Kid" episode "Rodeo" (Jan. 28, 1954): A rare look at the Iverson Ranch rodeo arena It's not widely known that the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., once had its own rodeo arena — and for a short time in the early 1950s, it was the home of a weekly TV rodeo series.   Los Angeles TV listings from July 1953 The TV show, "Rodeo Roundup," aired during the summer of 1953 on local L.A. station KNBH, which later became KRCA and still later evolved into NBC's present-day West Coast flagship station, KNBC.   Early L.A. television personality "Cowboy Slim" (Sherman ..read more

"American Pickers": A favorite of pickers, collectors and hoarders since 2010 I'm a fan of the TV show "American Pickers," but the show has a tendency to get in trouble whenever it ventures into the realm of movie history.   Whoopsie! (Screenshot from "American Pickers" with botched ID) I was watching the "Zephyrville" episode, which premiered last summer, when a couple of whoppers popped up on the screen. I know a lot of my readers will immediately spot what's wrong with this picture.   Are you gonna trust television ... or your own lyin' eyes? In what is probably about th ..read more

"The Mandalorian": The latest disturbance in the Force The tourism industry in the Santa Susana Pass may be in for a boom in the near future, because we just nailed down a filming location that fans of the "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian" have been eager to find — and it's right here in the Santa Susana Mountains, tucked away between Chatsworth and Simi Valley. "The Mandalorian," Chapter 14: "The Tragedy" (premiered Dec. 4, 2020) I received the above screen shot from the recent episode "The Tragedy" from "Mandalorian" fan Scott Lechuga, who asked whether I might recognize the locati ..read more

Rhonda Fleming (1923-2020) I heard the sad news recently that Rhonda Fleming, one of the great screen sirens of the '40s and '50s, a really nice lady and an actress with plenty of Iverson Movie Ranch roots, died Oct. 14. She was 97. Rhonda visits Rhonda Fleming Rock in "Tennessee's Partner" (1955) If you've been following the Iverson Movie Ranch Blog for a while, you may be aware that there's a rock on the former location ranch that's known as "Rhonda Fleming Rock."  Rhonda Fleming Rock may not be as glamorous as one might expect a rock named after the legendary redheaded bombshell to b ..read more

Corriganville in its heyday, ca. 1950s: A thriving movie location and tourist attraction Some readers may already know that Silvertown, the famed Western street at Corriganville in Simi Valley, Calif., burned down in fall 1970 in the Clampitt Fire, part of the enormous and wildly destructive Newhall-Malibu Fire.   "Have Gun Will Travel": Silvertown in 1957, overseen by "Gorilla Rock" It's not as well-known that it took two fires, almost a decade apart, to finish off Silvertown. Several of the buildings at the northeast end of town survived the Clampitt Fire, only to be destroyed by ..read more

"Spartacus" (1960): The "I'm Spartacus" scene, filmed in Thousand Oaks A while back we reported on the filming location for the famous "I'm Spartacus" scene in Stanley Kubrick's 1960 gladiator epic "Spartacus." The scene was shot in Thousand Oaks, Calif., in a cactus-riddled pass through a ridgeline of volcanic rocks.   The same location in 2020: "Spartacus Draw" (Jerry Condit photo) Today the site is known among film historians as "Spartacus Draw." This shot by photographer Jerry Condit reveals that it still looks pretty much the same today, although the cactus has come back in for ..read more

"The Orville" (2017-2022 and counting): "Star Trek" with a few more laughs The "Star Trek"-inspired sci-fi series "The Orville" has been quietly shooting in an out-of-the-way corner of the San Fernando Valley that has a history of filming dating back more than a century.   Progressive Insurance's "Loyal Order of Riders" campaign, running since 2021 It's the same location that serves as headquarters for "The Loyal Order of Riders," featured in a series of Progressive motorcycle insurance commercials that's been in heavy rotation since about 2021.   "The Paleface": Buster Kea ..read more

Sunrise in Monument Valley (2022): The Mittens and Merrick Butte For movie location enthusiasts with a soft spot for old Westerns, much of our love for the genre can be traced back to John Ford's work in Monument Valley.   John Ford in 1955, filming "The Searchers" at today's "John Ford Point" The legendary director had such an impact on the valley that parts of the landscape wound up being named after him. The above site, where Ford was photographed in the director's chair during filming on his acclaimed 1956 Western "The Searchers," is known today as "John Ford Point."   J ..read more

Filmed largely on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., the 1952 Western comedy "Son of Paleface" featured a high-profile cast led by Bob Hope, Jane Russell and Roy Rogers ... and of course, Trigger. Cecil B. DeMille, left, and Jerry Mathers ... as the Beaver The lineup of uncredited bit players was interesting too, including a super-young Jerry Mathers — still about five years away from becoming famous as the Beaver on "Leave It to Beaver." Also on hand were Bing Crosby and Cecil B. DeMille ... yes, THAT Cecil B. DeMille. "Have Gun — Will Travel" (1957): Richard Boone as Paladi ..read more