Why we love old movie locations — especially the Iverson Movie Ranch

For an introduction to this blog and to the growing interest in historic filming locations such as the Iverson Movie Ranch — the most widely filmed outdoor location in movie and TV history — please read the site's introductory post, found here.
• Your feedback is appreciated — please leave comments on any of the posts.
• To find specific rock features or look up movie titles, TV shows, actors and production people, see the "LABELS" section — the long alphabetical listing on the right side of the page, below.
• To join the MAILING LIST, send me an email at iversonfilmranch@aol.com and let me know you'd like to sign up.
• I've also begun a YouTube channel for Iverson Movie Ranch clips and other movie location videos, which you can get to by clicking here.
• Readers can email the webmaster at iversonfilmranch@aol.com
.

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Is Quentin Tarantino building the "New Corriganville"?

New construction at Corriganville, August 2018

Big things have been happening at Corriganville over the past several weeks, and we're starting to put together a picture of what's going on over there.

Vintage Corriganville postcard — featuring Ray "Crash" Corrigan

Many readers of this blog are already familiar with Corriganville, a former movie ranch and Wild West tourist attraction tucked away in the southeast corner of Simi Valley, just a few miles west of the Iverson Ranch.

Corriganville's Silvertown in its 1950s heyday

Founded in 1937 by stuntman and B-movie cowboy star Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Corriganville became one of the most important filming locations of the B-Western and early TV Western era — a neighbor and friendly competitor to the Iverson Movie Ranch.

Ray Corrigan with a Native American performer and a youngster having a big moment

Back in the '50s and early '60s, Corriganville was also a terrific place to visit — especially for young kids.

Foundations of what was once Silvertown (2013)

Almost nothing is left of the original Corriganville — mainly just a few foundations of what was once "Silvertown," the Wild West movie town that was the heart of both the theme park and the movie operation.

Foundation of Corriganville's "Barn No. 2," below Gorilla Rock

One of Corriganville's biggest attractions in recent years has been the remaining stone walls of what was once "Barn No. 2," at the northeast end of Silvertown.

"The Fighting Lawman" (Allied Artists, 1953)

This is what Barn No. 2, also known as the "new barn," looked like back in the filming days. That's it on the left.

The stone portion of the barn's walls, which still survives, can be seen at the base of the building. You might also recognize Gorilla Rock from some of the recent photos.

The "Barn No. 2" area in August 2018, with new construction

The stone walls are still there, but they have some new neighbors as of this summer. To get a better look at the walls, click on the above picture, which should bring up a much larger version of the photo.

I haven't personally confirmed it, but the new buildings are believed to be a set for the upcoming Quentin Tarantino movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," with a story that takes place around the Manson murders.

"Fargo" (Bill Elliott, 1952): Corriganville's Old Barn

With all this talk about the "new barn," or Barn No. 2, I suppose we should take a moment to acknowledge Barn No. 1, otherwise known as (wait for it) the "old barn." That's it at the other end of Silvertown.

Tarantino's "New Corriganville"

Photos of the recent construction at Corriganville come from fellow location historian Cliff Roberts, who has been keeping tabs on the project as it has taken shape over the past few weeks.

Cliff Roberts slacking off on a recent Iverson Ranch expedition

You might remember Cliff from this recent post about Dinosaur Claw and the Totem Rocks on the Upper Iverson.

This shot from Cliff again features the surviving stone wall from Barn No. 2.

The old stone wall — now a part of the new construction

Zooming in on the shot we get a better look at how the old wall appears to be incorporated into construction of a new barn — should we be getting used to the idea of a "Barn No. 3"?

While we're at it, we may also want to add "Barn No. 4" to the discussion.

The new Silvertown?

That discussion is more than rhetorical. One of the tantalizing rumors flying around is that the new buildings will be left in place after filming is completed on the Tarantino movie.

As unlikely as it sounds, there's a chance we will in fact end up with a new Silvertown. And based on the supply of building material waiting to be pounded into place, there's plenty of work yet to be done.

It may be too soon to start getting excited about the prospect of Corriganville coming back to life, but it's an intriguing possibility. Stay tuned — I'll be posting updates here as the story develops.
 
Prop cars on the "Spahn Ranch" set for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (Jerry Condit photo)

To read the follow-up post to this one, with more pictures and details about the incredible Spahn Ranch re-creation built at Corriganville for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," click here or click on the photo.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic! I hope to visit the Corriganville site and the Iverson Movie Ranch site this Fall. I always hoped that Corriganville would be rebuilt as it was in its golden age. Thank you for this and all the excellent posts.

Carla Bollinger said...

Saving historic land/open space like Corriganville (Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District) and Iverson Movie Ranch - Garden of the Gods (Santa Monica Mountains Conservation) is one of many reasons "OUR" America's historic parks, national, state and local parks, need to be protected.
Enjoy a delicious meal at Corrigan's Steakhouse, 556 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., T.O., and a step back into Western movie history. Vintage movie posters decorate the walls from original owner Tom Corrigan's collection of Westerns his dad, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, appeared in with other legendary "reel" cowboys. Tom died in March this year but Corrigan's Steak House remains open.

Thank you, Dennis, for your always entertaining/informative blog-posts of movie history along the Santa Susana Pass!

twbrxdx said...

It so nice to read about something being built instead of torn down in "Hollywood." Thank you Tarantino! Presumably Corriganville will play Manson's Spahn Movie Ranch (Burt Reynolds, who might well have worked at the location in its heyday, is playing Spahn!)

Thanks for this bit of good news Dennis, and thanks to the above poster about Corrigan's Steakhouse, which sounds like a fun place, as well.

Unknown said...

I live in York, an old town in the north of England. Three months back I was in a pub (a public house where alcohol and sometimes, food, is served). There was just one vacant seat at a small table and I asked the attractive lady sitting there if I could join her. I noticed her gentle American accent. It turned out she was Canadian and married to a British citizen who, every three months, visited Canada and came back into the US on a visitor's visa.

Anyhow, I discovered we were both movie buffs and she had been living in Thousand Oaks, California, since the '50s. She and her family had been firm friends of someone she assumed I would never have heard of - Crash Corrigan. I blurted out my love for Western locations and the old Three Mesquiteers quickies. She couldn't believe it. She had lived near Corriganville in the early '50s and still ate at Crash Jr's steak restaurant. She called him Tom. She loved visiting Corriganville and went there regularly until the fires wiped it out.

We chewed the fat for an hour until her friends came to pick her up. To say she was surprised to meet a Corrigan buff in Yorkshire is an understatement. I would bet a fat fistful of dollars I was the only one out of the population of 300,000 who had even heard of the guy.

I'm sad to hear Crash Jr - I mean Tom! - has died recently, but pleased some of the sets are being rebuilt as we speak. It really is a small world!

Regards from Blighty,

Wild Bill

Mark said...

I'ts great that there is a resurrection!

Unknown said...

thanks for the share and research, this will be interesting to see this in the movie and see what is left over afterwards for future shots.

mike pierson said...

his new movie is about 1969 and has to do with manson maybe he is building a version of spahn ranch.

Thiago Vieira said...

Hello everybody....
This is really great...
I was wondering if it would be possible to get a hold on the construction plans of these sites and/or buildings for 3D Modeling studies purposes.....
Does anyone know anything about that?

Anonymous said...

I was out there yesterday, a day after seeing "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". Funny - I explored and was convinced that this was NOT the site from the movie, only because it looked so much larger on film and there were zero remains of what was seen in the movie. It was only upon returning home and comparing my photos to production photos that I confirmed. I'm pretty convinced that they must have trucked in a bunch of dirt to level out the main section and widen it. My guess is that the level surface was a good 4-5 feet above what is there right now. Such a great spot with such a cool history.

Swami Nano said...

Good observation. I think you're right that they brought in dirt. They covered up many of the concrete foundations that remain at the site, and then they cleaned up when they were done, enabling the foundations to resurface. I don't think it was measurable in feet, as that would have required an enormous amount of dirt, beyond the scale of this project. In some cases the foundations could still be seen during filming. One example can be found in the shot of the interior of the motorcycle shop seen in this post:

http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com/2018/10/its-wrap-tarantinos-spahn-ranch-set-at.html

I know some of the foundations were still buried after filming was completed, and one of the last things the crew did was clean them off.

Thanks for your comment.

-SN