Spahn Ranch , also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch , was a 55-acre (22.3 ha) movie ranch in Los Angeles, California . For a period it was used as a ranch, dairy farm and later movie set during the era of westerns. After a decline in use for filming by the 1950s, its owner George Spahn established a stable for renting horses for riding on the varied acres. It became known in the late 20th century as the primary headquarters of Charles Manson and his cult followers, the " Manson Family ", for much of 1967 and 1968. They were notorious for the Tate–LaBianca murders of August 1969.
30-559: The entrance to the historic ranch was originally at 12000 Santa Susana Pass Road (street numbers have since been changed) of the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains above Chatsworth, California . It is no longer in use. After Spahn's death and a wildfire that destroyed the main ranch house and outbuildings, the land was incorporated into the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park . Beginning in
60-634: A crucial wildlife corridor to the Santa Susanas, has been proposed for public open space parkland after the closed site's cleanup completion. The population of red-legged frogs is small and isolated, and was impacted by the Woolsey Fire swept through the area in November 2018. The Simi Hills were inhabited for over 8,000 years by Paleo-indians and Chumash-Venturaño Native Americans for settlements and hunting grounds. The Chumash had
90-471: A place to go horseback riding. By the late 1960s, however, the ranch became almost deserted. Spahn was 80 years old, going blind and living at his ranch when he allowed the Manson Family to move in, rent-free, in exchange for labor. The family did daily chores and helped run the horse-rental business, which had become Spahn's main source of income. Manson Family member Lynette Fromme later wrote, "I
120-413: Is also an important member of the native plant habitat community here. The Simi Hills is the principal, and much wider, of only two terrestrial wildlife corridors linking the coastal Santa Monica Mountains with the inland Santa Susana Mountains , Topatopa Mountains , and San Gabriel Mountains , all of the transverse ranges fauna community. The Simi Hills are a critical wildlife corridor linkage for
150-567: Is now known to be false. Among the productions said to have been filmed at Spahn Ranch are The Lone Ranger with Clayton Moore , and several episodes of the Bonanza television series. Spahn Ranch is also often cited as the filming location for the B-movie The Creeping Terror (1964). After the decline of filming and his dairy business, Spahn added more sets and rental horses. The ranch became popular among locals as
180-662: Is now part of California's Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park , the "Devil's Slide" section of the historic Old Santa Susana Stage Road being located on the park's western side. Several hiking trails give access to extensive views of the San Fernando Valley . Spahn Movie Ranch is a setting in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), a drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and set in 1969 at
210-584: The Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) for open-air testing of rocket engines from 1947 to 1990, and the site of experimental nuclear reactor experiments with four nuclear accidents between 1959 and 1969; these projects and accidents were declassified in 1989. The first accident, in 1959, was the most serious with a full meltdown. The extent of the accident is unknown due to instrument limitations, other than that it released extensive radiation. More radiation
240-492: The evergreen coastal live oak ( Quercus agrifolia ), the deciduous valley oak ( Quercus lobata ), and the scrub oak ( Quercus dumosa ). Riparian zone plants include California sycamores ( Platanus racemosa ) and arroyo willows ( Salix lasiolepis ). Spring wildflowers include the redbush monkey flower ( Mimulus aurantiacus ), Plummer's mariposa lily ( Calochortus plummerae ), and canyon sunflower ( Encelia californica ). poison oak ( Toxicodendron diversilobum )
270-644: The 1880s, a piece of land, including what would later become the Spahn Ranch, became the homestead of Mexican immigrant Dionisio Sánchez and Hoosier James R. Williams, along with their families. The property was purchased in 1928 by Sharon M. Atkins and in 1947 by couple Lee and Ruth McReynolds. Lee built some movie sets next to his trading post on the property to catch some overflow from the Iverson Movie Ranch . With mountainous terrain, boulder-strewn scenery and an "old Western town" set, Spahn Ranch
300-708: The CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties , resulting in the arrest of several Manson Family members due to suspicion of their participation in an automobile theft ring (unrelated to the later arrest of those involved in the murders). Ten days later, on August 26, Susan Atkins of the Family lured Shea to a remote spot on the ranch where he was ambushed and killed by Bruce M. Davis and Steve "Clem" Grogan . The Family members allegedly believed he had reported them to
330-551: The Conejo Valley. The Simi Hills further block these winds, which bring cool weather in both summer and winter from the San Fernando Valley . The southern lower hills are mostly covered in grasslands and oak savanna. The northern rocky hills area is primarily chaparral shrubland and oak woodlands . The Simi Hills are part of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion . The oaks ( Quercus spp. ) include:
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#1732780692199360-812: The Santa Monica Mountains to these and other Transverse Ranges further east. The undeveloped native habitat provides routes that protect larger land wildlife of the Santa Monicas from genetic isolation. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a proposed vegetated overpass spanning the Ventura Freeway at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills, California . Large sections of the Simi Hills are protected by parks and open space preserves. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory property,
390-667: The Simi Hills typically experience rainy , mild winters. Snow is rare in the Simi Hills, even in the highest areas. Summers are warm and dry and wildfires do occur here. Cool winds from the Pacific Ocean come from the Oxnard Plain and blow into the inland areas through the Santa Clara River Valley and the Conejo Valley , though some low hills, such as Conejo Mountain , block these winds from
420-465: The Simi Hills. In the first half of the 20th century, there were four large movie ranches in the Simi Hills for filming motion pictures on location. The gated community of Bell Canyon began development of geographic Bell Canyon in the 1968. To the north of U.S. 101 , east of Thousand Oaks , and west of Simi Valley the early 1960s suburban expansion of metropolitan Los Angeles brought the development of small to significantly sized parcels of land in
450-563: The Simi Hills. Hillside subdivisions regraded natural contours into terraced lots, changing the Hills viewshed, drainage patterns, and habitats in those areas. The extensive planned new community projects at Jordan Ranch and Ahmanson Ranch were eventually stopped by local citizens and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy keeping extensive Hills acreage natural in open space parks. The Simi Hills were home of
480-727: The balance of the natural world. Upstream were healing springs and are rock outcrop 'grinding stones.' The Burro Flats Painted Cave , an example of the Rock art of the Chumash people , is nearby. The Juan Bautista de Anza expedition passed through the area in 1769, being the first European sighting of the Simi Hills. The U.S. National Park Service administers the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail which enters at Moore Canyon in El Escorpión Park and crosses across
510-433: The central Transverse Ranges System. They lie almost entirely within southeastern Ventura County , with some southern and eastern foothills within western Los Angeles County . The Simi Hills are on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley . The Simi Valley lies to the north, and the Conejo Valley lies to the southwest. The San Fernando Valley communities of Chatsworth , West Hills , and Woodland Hills are in
540-631: The eastern hills and adjacent valley floor in Los Angeles city and county . The cities of Agoura Hills and Westlake Village are also located in Los Angeles County, generally southwest of the Simi Hills. The cities of Thousand Oaks (to the west) and Simi Valley city (to the north) are in the hills and adjacent valleys within Ventura County. The two nearby mountain ranges are: the higher Santa Susana Mountains adjacent on
570-458: The established village of Hu'wam in Cañon del Escorpión (Bell Canyon). It was a multicultural 'crossroads' destination, where Chumash, Tongva , and Tataviam peoples traded and lived beside Bell Creek below Escorpión Peak , at the present day Bell Canyon Park . This peak in the Simi Hills (aka: Castle Peak) is one of nine alignment points in Chumash territory and is essential to maintaining
600-624: The headwaters of the Los Angeles River , by name its beginning with their confluence in nearby Canoga Park . 90% of the Santa Susana Field Lab property drains into the Los Angeles River via tributaries. Peaks in this region include Simi Peak , 2,403 ft (732 m), Chatsworth Peak , 2,314 ft (700 m), and Escorpión Peak (aka: Castle Peak), 1,475 ft (450 m). Because of its low elevation,
630-600: The northeast across Santa Susana Pass ; and the Santa Monica Mountains running nearby along the south. The hills provide the complete or partial watersheds for several year-round creeks and numerous seasonal streams. They include Las Virgenes Creek (tributary of Malibu Creek ), Moore's Canyon Creek, Bell Creek , Dayton Creek, Woolsey Canyon Creek, Brandeis Creek, Runkle Canyon Creek, Arroyo Simi , Palo Comado Creek, Cheeseboro Creek, and Arroyo Calabasas (northern fork). Bell Creek and Arroyo Calabasas are
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#1732780692199660-782: The past and had a physical confrontation with Manson. On August 16, 1969, after the Tate–LaBianca murders , more than one hundred officers from the Special Enforcement Detail (the SWAT team of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department ) were deployed at Spahn Ranch in what authors Tom O'Neill and Dan Piepenbring [ de ] have alleged was the largest documented police raid in California history in their book CHAOS: Charles Manson,
690-525: The police, leading to the August 16 raid. His remains were not found until December 1977, when Grogan agreed to lead investigators to the spot where Shea had been buried. Spahn was unaware of the reason for Shea's disappearance; he was never accused of any role in the 1969 murders for which several Family members were later convicted. In late 1969, Robert Hendrickson began filming the Manson Family at
720-645: The ranch for his documentary Manson , including Spahn, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme , Bruce Davis , Nancy Pitman , Catherine "Gypsy" Share , Sandra Good , Paul Watkins and others. A wildfire destroyed all of the Spahn Movie Ranch's film sets and residential structures in September 1970. George Spahn died on September 22, 1974, and is buried in Eternal Valley Memorial Park in nearby Newhall . The Spahn Movie Ranch site
750-603: The range. The Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor is in the planning stages and includes the Simi Hills open space parklands and proposed new areas. Robert Hendrickson (director) Robert Hendrickson (17 September 1944 – 1 October 2016) was an American documentary filmmaker. He was known as the co-director of the Oscar nominated documentary Manson about the "Manson Family" which he directed together with partner Laurence Merrick . He authored
780-476: The southern Hills through Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve and Cheeseboro/Palo Comado Canyon Park to the Conejo Valley . In 1845 the land grant for Rancho El Escorpión , beside the Peak and named for it, was issued to one Chumash and two Tongva people and a rare instance of Native Americans being grantees, by Mexican Governor Pío Pico . The Rancho El Conejo was to the west, and included that end of
810-702: The time of the Tate–LaBianca murders . The scenes for the movie were filmed at the nearby Corriganville Park in Simi Valley , which was also a movie ranch at one time. George Spahn was played by Bruce Dern . Simi Hills The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County , of southern California , United States . The Simi Hills are aligned east-west and run for 26 miles (42 km), and average around 7 mi (11 km) north-south. The Simi Hills are part of
840-460: Was a suitable filming site for westerns and had been used mostly for B movies and TV series. In 1953, McReynolds sold the site to dairy farmer George Spahn , and it became known as the Spahn Ranch. He continued to allow some filming there. Much of the information reported about specific productions filmed there is unreliable. The rumor that the location was used for the film Duel in the Sun (1946)
870-527: Was impressed with George Spahn’s hardiness. He was eighty years old and, although his blindness had for five or six years kept him in a world apart, he was mentally still present, living alone and working through all the frustrations of having lost authority in the running of his own business." In the 1970 murder trial, Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi later claimed that Manson would occasionally send one of his girls to Spahn for sexual relations . A Spahn employee, ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea , had known Manson in
900-529: Was released in the 1959 event than in the Three Mile Island accident 20 years later. The groundwater under portions of the Simi Hills, contaminated with toxins and radionuclides that were also historically used at SSFL, has been and is a key concern in new development decisions and the SSFL property's future limited to parkland use after an impending cleanup, initiating preservation of more open space in
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