We'll be headin' up soon to the historic movie town of Lone Pine, California — and we're hoping y'all can join us!

This year's Lone Pine Film Festival, coming up Oct. 10-13, 2024

The tiny town of Lone Pine, Calif., is the site of some of the most spectacular filming locations around, and each year in October the town honors its place in movie history by hosting one of the country's top film festivals.

 

The picturesque Alabama Hills, just outside of Lone Pine

This year we'll be taking a deeper dive into the Lone Pine Film Festival than ever before, as we've been invited to lead a couple of fun movie and TV tours out in the historic and beautiful Alabama Hills.

 

Zane Grey's "Nevada" (1944): We'll be stopping off at all the key filming locations

One of our tours will focus on the 1944 Robert Mitchum-Anne Jeffreys Western "Nevada," a Zane Grey saga that filmed all over the Alabamas.

 

"Nevada" (1944): One of the many tour stops where we will be matching up the rocks

The tour will take us to the most important filming locations for "Nevada," where we can take a good hard look at exactly where every key movie rock is located — and marvel at the fact that almost nothing has changed.

 

Lone Pine: Still gorgeous, after all these years

One of the great things about Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills is that all the movie rocks are still there. The place is just far enough off the beaten path that it has escaped the kind of development pressure that destroyed many of California's other historic filming locations.

 

"Tremors" (1990): One of the Alabama Hills' most popular non-Westerns

Our other tour will be a departure from the Lone Pine Film Festival's traditional focus on Westerns. Dubbed "TV Sci-Fi and Beyond," this tour will take us to shooting locations for the TV shows "The Twilight Zone," "Star Trek: Voyager" and "The Time Tunnel," along with the movie "Tremors."

 

Matching shot from "Tremors," part of the "TV Sci-Fi and Beyond" tour

Here's a sample of the rocks we'll find and the matches we'll be making. On a recent visit to the Alabama Hills, I tracked down this location where three terrified people raced to escape a giant man-eating worm in "Tremors."

 

Sign up for tours by clicking here

The tour schedule for the 2024 Lone Pine Film Festival was recently finalized, and details on how to sign up are now posted HERE, on the festival's website.

 

Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Robert Mitchum and Richard "Chito" Martin in "Nevada"

Festival tours usually sell out quickly, so if you're interested, I recommend you sign up right away. We'll be doing two "Nevada" tours, on Friday, Oct. 11, and Sunday, Oct. 13.

 

"The Twilight Zone": See the spot where the delivery van plummets into the ravine

We will also have two installments of the "TV Sci-Fi and Beyond" tour, on Friday, Oct. 11, and Saturday, Oct. 12. Among the highlights will be an up close and personal look at the ridge where the delivery van met its fate in the 1961 "Twilight Zone" episode "The Rip Van Winkle Caper." Parts of the van may still be there!

 

Painting of the Confederate warship CSS Alabama, which gave the Alabama Hills their name

If you're wondering why a town in the Eastern Sierra country of California has a filming location called the "Alabama Hills," it has nothing to do with the state of Alabama. You can click here for more of that story — and more shots of the stunning Alabama Hills.

A postcard from Lone Pine 2022: How a movie festival 200 miles away helped solve an old "Iverson Movie Ranch" mystery

The Lone Pine Film Festival just wrapped up its 32nd year

We had a great time earlier this month at the Lone Pine Film Festival, which is still going strong in its 32nd year. Not only is Lone Pine one of the best film festivals in the U.S., I believe it also stands alone in that it's more focused on actual filming locations — and a lot of them — than any other festival in the world.

 

Dawn breaks in the Alabama Hills (Oct. 9, 2022)

The centerpiece of the festival — and of movie history in the Lone Pine area — is the Alabama Hills, a unique geological formation that first caught the attention of Hollywood more than a century ago.

 

Alabama Hills — a vast rocky landscape

"Alabama Hills" is the name given to a sprawling rocky area west of the town of Lone Pine in California's Owens Valley, where hundreds of movies and TV shows have been filmed over the past 100-plus years.

 

Painting of Confederate warship CSS Alabama, which gave the Alabama Hills their name

The area has nothing to do with the state of Alabama, but the name is a Civil War reference. The Alabama Hills are named after the CSS Alabama, which was sunk by the Union ship Kearsarge in 1864.

 

A typical Alabama Hills rock formation

California's Alabama Hills are known for their unusual rock formations, spread out across mile after mile of dramatic landscape. This area has stood in for the American West of the frontier days in countless Western movies, and remains an active filming location today.

 

Lone Pine Peak and Mount Whitney, west of the Alabama Hills

The Alabama Hills are bordered on the west by the Eastern Sierra, including Lone Pine Peak and Mount Whitney, which lend additional scenic splendor to the location.

 

Mount Whitney keeps a low profile here

Almost everyone mixes up Lone Pine Peak and Mount Whitney at first — I know I did. Even though Mount Whitney is the tallest peak in the Lower 48 States, the proximity of Lone Pine Peak makes it appear higher.

 

Lone Pine rock detective and tour guide Don Kelsen examines an Alabama Hills formation

The Alabama Hills aren't the only thing that sets the Lone Pine Film Festival apart from run-of-the-mill movie festivals. A key to the annual event's enduring popularity is that Lone Pine is a gathering of not just movie fans, but movie location fans — including some who really know their stuff when it comes to Lone Pine.

 

"The Last Posse" (1953): One of hundreds of filming locations documented by Don Kelsen

A case in point is master Lone Pine rock finder Don Kelsen, who has been involved with the movie festival — and with uncovering historic Alabama Hills filming locations — for something like three decades.

 

The "Last Posse" location in modern times, photographed by Don Kelsen

I've reported before on Kelsen's spectacular movie location finds — you can click here to see some of his stunning Alabama Hills "then and now" shots.

 

"Gunga Din" — 1939 epic filmed in the Alabama Hills

High-profile Lone Pine movies such as "Gunga Din" and "Bad Day at Black Rock" are well-documented, so on my recent visit I made a point of seeking out locations for productions that don't normally get as much attention.

 

Jeep commercial featuring Lone Pine Peak and the Alabama Hills, 2018

One thing I've been seeing a lot of lately is car commercials shot in the Alabama Hills. Ads for Jeep, Acura, Chevy trucks and other makes have been capturing breathtaking Lone Pine scenery in recent years.

 

The same location in October 2022 — not quite the same angle, but in the neighborhood

I took this photo approximating the location of the Jeep commercial from my campsite in the Alabama Hills on Sunday morning, Oct. 9.

 

 Click on the video above to watch the Jeep spot

Here's the 30-second Jeep commercial that features the beautiful Alabama Hills shot, which appears at 0:19 in the ad. Click on the image above, then click on YouTube in the bottom right corner for the best look at the video.

 

Rabbit Dry Lake in the same Jeep commercial

Other parts of the Jeep commercial are shot at Rabbit Dry Lake in Southern California's Mojave Desert. We explored this location back in 2019, in a post you can see by clicking here.

 

Randolph Scott arrives in the Alabama Hills in the opening to the 1957 Western "The Tall T"

Unique movie tours of the Alabama Hills, such as the Del Gaudio brothers' "Tall T" tour, have long been among the biggest attractions at the Lone Pine Film Festival.

 

The same location in 2022, one of the many highlights on the Del Gaudios' "Tall T" tour

These fascinating tours give the general public a chance to experience the excitement of seeing stunning filming locations up close, and to benefit from the knowledge and legwork of veteran Lone Pine explorers.

 

Mike Del Gaudio breaks down a filming site for "The Tall T"

When you spend time in the Alabama Hills with location hunters like the Del Gaudios, you're bound to learn a thing or two — but more important, you're likely to get caught up in their passion for movie locations.

 

John Del Gaudio stands in for Richard Boone, illustrating a key shot in "The Tall T"

The Del Gaudio brothers, who travel from the East Coast each year to conduct tours, flip burgers and whatever else the festival needs, have perfected a tandem approach to revealing the finer points of the Alabama Hills.

 

Richard Boone's character, Usher, rides through the same pass in the movie

A movie like "The Tall T," filmed almost entirely in the Alabama Hills, offers countless shots that can be matched up against the current landscape — and it's a landscape that remains largely unchanged since the peak filming years.

 

Tour participants follow along with their "Tall T" photo brochures

Visitors participating in the movie tours receive photo brochures containing screen shots from the movie so they can see exactly where everything was filmed and line up their own matching photos.

 

Randolph Scott on the Anchor Ranch in Lone Pine — note the horse stable behind him

A scene early in "The Tall T" finds Randolph Scott on the Anchor Ranch, a cluster of old buildings in downtown Lone Pine that was historically used for filming.

 

The same stable building in 2022

To my surprise, much of the old ranch remains intact today — if "intact" is the right word. The old stable isn't in the best shape these days, but it's still recognizable as the same building seen behind Randolph Scott in the movie.

 

"Conquering Comes Standard" Jeep commercial, circa 2018

One of my favorite locations I visited during this year's festival was from another Jeep commercial. When I showed this shot to Don Kelsen, he knew right away where it was.

 

The Jeep location in October 2022

Here's a matching shot I took at the Jeep location — probably my best match from the latest Lone Pine expedition.

 

Promo still for the 1938 serial "The Lone Ranger": Chief Thundercloud and Lynne Roberts

Another highlight for me from this year's festival has a connection to the Iverson Movie Ranch. I spent a long time searching for the location of this photo after someone suggested years ago that it was taken on the Iverson Ranch. It turns out it wasn't shot there after all.

 

The same rock in 2022, in the Alabama Hills

Thanks to Greg Parker — another extremely accomplished Lone Pine rock hunter and tour guide — the elusive rock was found earlier this year in the Alabama Hills. I took part in an expedition to the site on Oct. 9.

 

"The Lone Ranger" (1938): The movies' original Tonto in the Alabama Hills

A second promo still from the same photo session also turned up some time ago, with Chief Thundercloud standing on top of the rock and Lynne Roberts, the serial's leading lady, on the right.

 

The mystery rock — a mystery no more

The serial "The Lone Ranger" was filmed both on the Iverson Movie Ranch and in the Lone Pine area, among other locations. But the promo stills with the distinctive rock were definitely taken in the Alabama Hills.

 

John Del Gaudio basks in the presence of Chief Thundercloud's rock

A number of veteran Lone Pine researchers, including the Del Gaudio brothers, took part in the pilgrimage to the rock, with Don Kelsen leading the expedition.

 

"Thundercloud Rock" in its natural setting (Oct. 9, 2022)

After wondering for years where this rock might be, I have to admit it was pretty exciting to finally see it in person.

 

Lone Pine, one of the best-kept secrets of the Eastern Sierra

If you missed this year's Lone Pine Film Festival, you might want to start making your plans early for next year. The motels in town fill up fast, but there's also camping available in the historic Alabama Hills.

 

The Lone Pine Museum of Western Film History

Meanwhile, Lone Pine's Museum of Western Film History is open year-round, and is a must-see. You can pick up a brochure there for $2 that'll show you the way to many of the most important filming locations.

 

Where to go, how to get there and what to do once you're there

Two places to keep up on what's going on with the Lone Pine Film Festival, and to start making plans for next year's event, are the Lone Pine Film Festival website and the festival's Facebook page.

 

See you on the rocks at Lone Pine 2023!

If you do plan to go to Lone Pine 2023 — and for that matter, if you're headed to just about any historic filming locations in the SoCal area — shoot me an email ahead of time and maybe we can arrange to meet up.

 

I 💗 Lone Pine

As for me, I'll be going back for sure — and sooner than later. Seems I left my heart-shaped rock arch in the Alabama Hills.

A movie location explorer's adventures on the Iverson Ranch — and in Lone Pine, Calif.

Tyler Malone peers around the "Sliver" near Desert Tortoise on the Lower Iverson

A relative newcomer to the Iverson Movie Ranch — and I can call him that because I've been studying the ranch for more than 11 years and I still consider myself a newcomer too — is movie location adventurer Tyler Malone.

Interactive map of the Iverson Movie Ranch and nearby filming locations

Tyler came out of the chute this year with guns blazing, contributing some nice rock finds along with his terrific interactive map of the Iverson Movie Ranch and nearby filming locations.

Here's where you can always find the interactive map

I know a number of readers have already become fans of Tyler's movie location research thanks to his interactive Iverson map. You can always link to it at the right of this page under "LABELS" — it's the first item.

If you'd like to learn more about the map and how it works, you can also click here to see the post we did back in September introducing the map — and you can link from that item to the map itself.

"Mystery Mountain" (Mascot serial, 1934)

Tyler recently set out to find a rock on the Lower Iverson that caught his eye in this promo still for the old Ken Maynard serial "Mystery Mountain." His successful search made it clear that he's a skilled rock sleuth.

In the photo, Edmund Cobb, in an uncredited role as "The Rattler," has our hero "Ken Williams," played by Ken Maynard, in a stranglehold.

Because of this shot, we began referring to the rock they're standing on as "Stranglehold Rock." But the key to finding it would turn out to be the rock in the bottom left corner.

Some readers may have already figured out where this discussion was headed, but I initially didn't recognize the "unknown rock," and Tyler surprised me when he said it was the Sphinx.

Markers identified on the Sphinx, as it appeared in "Mystery Mountain" in 1934

Tyler provided this shot identifying some of the markers on the rock that can be found in the "Mystery Mountain" stranglehold shot.

The same markers identified on the Sphinx as it appears today

He also pointed out the same markers in this recent photo of the Sphinx.

Stranglehold Rock and the Sphinx in a poster for Chapter 5

Something that surfaced a little bit later was this poster for one of the chapters of "Mystery Mountain," showing more of both the Sphinx and Stranglehold Rock. The Sphinx is easier to recognize here than in the promo still.

Target area for "Stranglehold Rock" (Google aerial view)

With the Sphinx identified the search area could be narrowed way down. Even so, finding Stranglehold Rock posed its share of challenges, as I found out when I poked around the target area and couldn't find it.

On one of Tyler's visits to the target zone he found a big, messy tree where he had determined Stranglehold Rock should be located.

Stranglehold Rock in 2019

Poking his head inside the morass of tangled brush under the tree, he found what he was looking for: Stranglehold Rock, engulfed by the tree and its scrubby ecosystem.

Tyler noted a few key markers on the rock to illustrate that it's the same rock appearing in "Mystery Mountain."

The markers can be seen again here, in a blowup from the "Mystery Mountain" poster. The shot also reveals where the actors' feet were positioned during the stranglehold sequence.

A Google aerial shows the Sphinx, in the red circle, and the Stranglehold Rock tree, marked by a blue arrow. The Garden of the Gods Trail, visible at top center, will get you there from your parking spot on Redmesa Road.

Ken Maynard on the Lower Iverson (promo still for "Mystery Mountain," 1934)

Another fun promo still from "Mystery Mountain" shows Ken Maynard taking aim from behind a sliver of a rock, which still stands today on the Lower Iverson Movie Ranch.

"Mystery Mountain": Ken Maynard behind the sliver

The promo still is based on this scene in the serial. As usual, the promo still is a huge improvement on the picture quality seen in the movie itself.

Tyler Malone takes cover behind the same "sliver" of a rock.

If the shot looks familiar, it's because of the picture of Tyler that appears at the top of this post. Tyler positioned himself behind the same rock sliver to re-create the "Mystery Mountain" shot.

It's kind of obvious here, but this is the rock I keep referring to as the "sliver."

It's probably a little less obvious in the promo still, because next to the sliver rock is another rock that also has "slivery" characteristics.

We can call this one "Rock B" for the time being, as it may help get a handle on some of the more interesting rocks in that corner of the Lower Iverson Movie Ranch.

"Mystery Mountain: A wider shot of Desert Tortoise and the "Sliver" rock

This wider shot from the same sequence in "Mystery Mountain" doesn't have nearly the detail of the promo still, but what it lacks in picture quality it makes up for by showing several of the area's key rocks.

The shot includes the "Sliver," with Ken Maynard behind it, along with "Rock B," a larger rock to its left that we can call "Rock C," and of course, Desert Tortoise, which is sort of the mother of all rocks in that immediate area.

"Mystery Mountain": The shootout, from Ken's side

The embarrassment of riches that is "Mystery Mountain" also offers this cool shot from a reverse angle.

Again, I wish the picture quality were better, but at least we can still make out the main features.

Desert Tortoise in modern times

Desert Tortoise is this big rock located just northwest of the main Garden of the Gods area. It was situated next to an old movie road and became one of the more heavily filmed rocks on the Lower Iverson.

Desert Tortoise in "Law of the Ranger" (Columbia, 1937)

I've blogged about Desert Tortoise before, and if you click here you can see a post about some of its movie history, along with an explanation of why I call it "Desert Tortoise" — and there's a map to help you find the rock.

The key features are identified again here, as seen in a screen shot from the Bob Allen Western "Law of the Ranger." Of the four rocks identified, only two — Desert Tortoise and the "Sliver" — have survived.

"Law of the Ranger" marked one of the final shoots for Rocks B and C, which were removed around 1937 — presumably so stagecoaches and groups of riders could more easily negotiate the road past Desert Tortoise.

"Days of Jesse James" (Republic, 1939)

By 1939, when Roy Rogers filmed "Days of Jesse James" on the Iverson Ranch, Rocks "B" and "C" were no longer in place and the road had been widened.

"Mystery Mountain": Ken Maynard stands on a mystery rock

Another interesting promo still from "Mystery Mountain" is this one showing Ken Maynard standing on a rock that Tyler and I have been searching for without any success. If you happen to recognize it, please get in touch.

"Bat Masterson" episode "Buffalo Kill" (1959): Buffalo Kill Rock

Stranglehold Rock isn't Tyler's first Iverson Movie Ranch find — he also found this rock, which had me stumped for some time. I've been calling it "Buffalo Kill Rock" because of the "Bat Masterson" episode where it appears.

Buffalo Kill Rock as it appears today

The rock doesn't look much like its "Bat Masterson" photo anymore — at least not from any angles we can see today. I talked about the discovery of this rock back in September, and you can read more about it here.

Promo still for "Excuse Me" (1925): Norma Shearer on "Excuse Me Point"

Tyler also tracked down a rock I call "Excuse Me Point," where Norma Shearer was filmed for the 1925 silent feature "Excuse Me." Click here to see a discussion of this find in the same September blog post.

"King of the Pecos" tour, 2019 Lone Pine Film Festival (Don Kelsen drone photo)

Something I didn't get to do this year was go to the annual Lone Pine Film Festival in October, but Tyler attended and reported back, including sending some cool photos from Lone Pine's Alabama Hills.

Natalie Wood in "The Great Race" (1965), and Tyler Malone visiting the same spot

Above is a screen shot of Natalie Wood in the Alabama Hills from "The Great Race." Below Natalie is Tyler's recent re-creation of the scene.

Kevin Bacon in the Alabama Hills in "Tremors" (1990), and Tyler's re-creation

The campy 1990 sci-fi/horror movie "Tremors," starring Kevin Bacon, filmed heavily in the Lone Pine area, and here Tyler gets down to about one degree of separation while re-creating a shot from the movie.

"Trail to San Antone" (Gene Autry, 1947): Stunt jump in the Alabama Hills

In this shot from Republic's "Trail to San Antone," a horse jumps over a car in the Alabama Hills.

The same location as it appears today

Tyler returned from Lone Pine with this photo of the location where the stunt jump was filmed. Snow-covered Lone Pine Peak can be seen in the background of both shots, above the distinctive vertical crack in the rock.

Gene Autry Rock — in "Boots and Saddles" (1937) and more recently

Speaking of Gene Autry, one of Lone Pine's most famous rocks is named after him. Here the curved rock tower known as "Gene Autry Rock" is seen with Autry in "Boots and Saddles" and with Tyler in a modern re-creation.

"Hop-a-Long Cassidy" (Paramount, 1935) — and Tyler's contemporary re-creations

The Western character most closely identified with Lone Pine is Hopalong Cassidy, so naturally Tyler has walked in the footsteps of the original "Hoppy," William Boyd.

A Greg Parker tour at the 2019 Lone Pine Film Festival

Sometimes we get fun reminders that Lone Pine and Iverson are both part of a larger community of movie location enthusiasts. On Lone Pine tour guide Greg Parker's "Hop-a-Long Cassidy" tour at this year's festival, Tyler and Greg found out they had both been looking for Iverson's elusive "Stranglehold Rock."

Have a cowboy Christmas (or holiday of your choice), everybody!