Mystery village on the Upper Iverson Movie Ranch: Have you seen this town set in the movies or on TV?

Upper Iverson Village — seen in a 1959 aerial photo

Sometime around 1958 a small cluster of buildings, presumably a movie set, sprang up in an out-of-the-way corner of the Iverson Movie Ranch. I have never seen this set in any movie or TV show.

Little is known about this set, which appears to have consisted of as many as 12 buildings. The only known photos that have surfaced of it are aerial shots like this one.

1952 aerial photo of the same area

Here's a 1952 aerial showing the area of the Upper Iverson town set — with no town set in place at that time.

With the main Western street at Iverson being torn down starting in 1957, it's possible that the Upper Village was put up as a sort of replacement Western town set, although it may also have served as barracks in war movies.

Upper Iverson Movie Ranch — 1959

A wider view of the 1959 aerial photo reveals a number of the sets that were in place on the Upper Iverson at the time. In addition to the Upper Iverson Village, we can see the Fury Set and Midway House in this shot.

Another major set, known as the Middle Iverson Ranch Set, was also in place a short distance to the east — it falls outside the frame in this shot. Please click here to read an earlier post all about the Middle Iverson Ranch Set.

Newhall-Malibu Fire, 1970 (Jack Gaunt/Los Angeles Times)

The Upper Village appears to have stood intact at least until the destructive Newhall-Malibu fire cut a swath through the Chatsworth hills in September 1970. That means it was in place throughout the 1960s — a period when "grown-up" Westerns flourished on television: "Bonanza," "The Virginian," "Gunsmoke," "The Big Valley." All of these shows are known to have shot on the Iverson Movie Ranch. Maybe one or more of them set up shop in the Upper Village for a period of time. The search goes on ...

If you have info on the Upper Village, please comment here or email me at:

iversonfilmranch@aol.com