Connecting the dots between the Iverson Ranch and its infamous neighbor the Spahn Movie Ranch, once home to the Manson Family

"Linda and Abilene" (1969): Spahn Ranch

The Spahn Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., which became notorious as the home of Charles Manson and his followers, was one of the closest neighbors to the Iverson Movie Ranch. Spahn Ranch was situated southwest of the Iverson Ranch, across Santa Susana Pass Road, "catty-corner" to Iverson's main entrance.

Main Western set at Spahn Ranch ("Linda and Abilene")

While the Iverson Ranch was one of the most important filming locations in the history of Hollywood — a place where thousands of movies and TV episodes were filmed over the span of more than a century — Spahn Ranch was little more than a footnote as a filming location, hosting just a handful of productions.

Police raid the Spahn Ranch, fall 1969

The Spahn Ranch's busiest period for filming overlapped with the Manson Family era, with Spahn's highest-profile productions shot mainly in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Photos from the period, such as this news photo of a police raid, reveal that the main set area looked exactly as it did in the 1969 movie "Linda and Abilene."

Shots of Spahn Ranch in the movies and on TV are relatively rare, and the shots in "Linda and Abilene" provide what may be the best color views we'll ever see of the Ranch's main set.

Many of the productions filmed at Spahn Ranch, including "Linda and Abilene," fall into a category that might politely be called "exploitation films." Among the less polite labels, which may be more accurate, would be "skin flicks" or "soft-core porn."

Westerns that fall into this category have their own label, although it remains relatively obscure: Naughty West. A few Naughty Westerns were reportedly filmed on or near Spahn Ranch — along with "Linda and Abilene," these include the early effort "Revenge of the Virgins," released in 1959, and "The Ramrodder," from 1969.

"Linda and Abilene": Main Western street at Spahn Ranch

The racy elements aside, "Linda and Abilene" illustrates the importance of movies and TV in documenting historic filming locations. Even with all the press coverage Spahn Ranch received following the Manson killings, the location shots in "Linda and Abilene" help flesh out the record that exists of Spahn Ranch.

As a researcher focused primarily on the Iverson Movie Ranch, one of my favorite things about "Linda and Abilene" is that it includes a shot of its neighbor just across Santa Susana Pass Road. This shot from the movie provides a view of the southern end of the Garden of the Gods on the Lower Iverson.

Iverson's Garden of the Gods, as seen from Spahn Ranch in 2015

A photo taken earlier this year by film historian Jerry Condit on a visit to the former Spahn Ranch site captures almost the identical angle on Garden of the Gods seen in "Linda and Abilene" — minus the actors, horses, buildings and loose boulders. A bridge along the private West Santa Susana Pass Road is visible near the center of the frame.

"The Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1955)

While the Iverson Movie Ranch could occasionally be spotted in the background of productions shot at Spahn Ranch, shows filmed on the Iverson Ranch also at times captured the Spahn Movie Ranch in the background. The above example comes from the beloved Disney TV serial "The Adventures of Spin and Marty."

The shot is taken from just north of the main rock features of Garden of the Gods, and shows Santa Susana Pass Road in the background along with the main set area at Spahn Ranch, on the south side of the road.

"Have Gun — Will Travel" TV series (1957)

Another example of Spahn Ranch popping up in the background of an Iverson Movie Ranch shoot can be found in the TV series "Have Gun — Will Travel." This shot is taken from a little south of where the "Spin and Marty" shot was taken, in the Garden of the Gods.

The shot comes from an episode called "Show of Force," which premiered Nov. 9, 1957, during the first season of "Have Gun — Will Travel."

"The Miracle Rider" (Mascot, 1935)

Even as far back as 1935, sections of what would become the Spahn Movie Ranch could be seen in Iverson productions. This shot from the old Tom Mix serial "The Miracle Rider," again taken from the Garden of the Gods area at Iverson, shows a distinctive plateau that would later be located just behind Spahn's main set.

The plateau is highlighted in this version of the "Miracle Rider" shot.

The same plateau can be seen again 20 years later in the "Spin and Marty" shot, and here it appears in context with Spahn's Western set and corral area, near the center of the frame.

Spahn Ranch corral area, circa 1969

This shot of part of the corral area at Spahn, one of the many photos taken around the time of the murder investigation in 1969, provides a nice view of the rocky hill to the south of the main set area. While the hill has similarities to Garden of the Gods to the northeast, they're two different hills — one at Iverson and one at Spahn.

The same location in 2015

On a recent visit to the Spahn Ranch site, Jerry Condit snapped this photo showing what the area looks like today. With the photo reproduced in black-and-white, the similarity to the shot of the corral in 1969 is striking. The dry grassy area in the foreground is where the buildings previously stood.

Overview of the main set area at Spahn Ranch, circa 1969

Another shot from around 1969 presents an overview of the main set area at Spahn Ranch. A nice feature of this shot is the rocks in the foreground, which are located north of Santa Susana Pass Road.

Former site of Spahn's main set area, 2015

Jerry Condit took this shot from those same rocks during his recent visit, and here again, the shot nicely matches the photo from 1969 — including the rocks in the foreground. Today the foreground rocks are a part of the sprawling property owned by the Church at Rocky Peak.

 

Re-creation of the Spahn Ranch set in 2018 (Cliff Roberts photo)

The Spahn Ranch became a focus of attention again in movie location circles starting in fall 2018, when word got out that Quentin Tarantino was building a re-creation of the ranch buildings for an upcoming movie.

 

The 2018 version of the Spahn Ranch stakeside truck (Jerry Condit photo)

The accuracy and level of detail in the Spahn Ranch re-creation were mind boggling. The new set was built at Corriganville, about three miles west of the original Spahn Ranch site, and later turned up in Tarantino's 2019 film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

 

Bird's-eye view of the re-created Spahn Ranch set in 2018 (Dennis Cohee photo)

We tracked the progress of the Spahn Ranch re-creation throughout the fall of 2018, and you can follow our series of posts, with many photos and additional details, by clicking here or clicking on the above photo.

The stories those old oak trees could tell ...

"The Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1955)

Getting the trees to tell their stories is a relatively untapped branch of Iverson Movie Ranch research, and one that's in some ways more challenging than using rocks to reveal history. After all, trees don't hold their shape over the decades quite as well as rocks do. But there comes a time when a tree is the best person to tell a story. The scene depicted above, from the Disney production "The Adventures of Spin and Marty," is a good example. (Credit Disney for any screen shots from "Spin and Marty" that appear here.)

The same shot, with an Iverson landmark noted

I was skeptical at first when "Spin and Marty" expert Kurt Spitzner suggested that the bear sequence was shot at Iverson. But as is usually the case with Kurt and anything to do with "Spin and Marty," he was absolutely right. Kurt's research pointed to the Oak Flats area of the Upper Iverson, where many of the original oak trees — not all of them, unfortunately — have survived. Kurt spotted a number of rocks in the background that turned out to be known Iverson rocks, with the clincher for me being Rock in the Field, as noted above.

"The Golden Stallion" (1949)

The above shot from Republic's color B-Western "The Golden Stallion," starring Roy Rogers, offers a more familiar view of Rock in the Field. The rock was commonly seen during chase sequences in old Western movies and early Western TV shows, typically appearing to be out in the middle of a field (hence, the name).

1952 aerial photo of the Oak Flats section of the Upper Iverson

With Rock in the Field as a known landmark, the search for the tree in the "Spin and Marty" bear sequence zeroed in on the area seen in the above aerial photo from 1952, which depicts the section of the former Upper Iverson Movie Ranch known as "Oak Flats."

Here's that same 1952 aerial with a few key features noted.

A zoomed-in view of the Oak Flats area — still from the 1952 aerial — shows a number of trees that were identified as possibilities for the bear sequence in "Spin and Marty." The research team, consisting of myself, Kurt and field operative Cliff Roberts, began testing out theories involving Trees A, B and C.

This is what that same area looks like today, in a Google aerial view. A number of large estates now occupy the site of the former Upper Iverson, but by comparing this view with the 1952 aerial above, we can see that many of the native oak trees that made up Oak Flats during the filming era remain in place — including all three trees that were targeted in the "Spin and Marty" research.

Tree A: "Bear Tree," as it appears today

After I obtained photos of all of the trees in question, it became immediately apparent that Tree A — now known in my research as "Bear Tree" — is the mighty four-trunked oak seen in "Spin and Marty."

A closer view of Bear Tree gives some idea of how gnarled it has become in the almost 60 years since "Spin and Marty" was filmed. The chain-link fence in the background is a reminder that the area is all private property — and is now home to an exclusive gated community.

Certain views of the tree can be matched up almost perfectly with shots from the 1955 "Spin and Marty" episode. The shot above includes a distinctive arched limb branching off to the left, and Rock in the Field, although hard to make out here, appears in the background. This shot is a good match for the bear shot from 1955 seen below.

The same arched limb seen in the 2014 photo of Bear Tree is immediately recognizable in the bear sequence from 1955 — the limb looks remarkably similar in these two shots taken almost 60 years apart. You may notice that by 2014 the weight of the limb and its many appendages has caused it to sag, with much of the weight of that part of the tree now resting on the ground.

This is the same view of the bear and its namesake tree from 1955, pointing out the arched limb and noting the location of Rock in the Field.

For comparison, here's the 2014 shot of Bear Tree's arched limb, with the limb and the location of Rock in the Field noted. As I mentioned above, it's harder to make out Rock in the Field from this angle than it was in 1955. Some of that has to do with lighting conditions at the time this photo was taken. But it's still possible to see the rock.

The young actors treed by the bear in the "Spin and Marty" episode are Dee Aaker and Tim Hartnagel, as noted above.

Here's a better look at the boys in the tree.

The bear that took part in the sequence must have been pretty tame. Presumably the producers had containment measures in place, but based on some of these shots it appears as though the bear could have bolted the set if it got a sudden hankering to make a run for nearby Cactus Hill. This is the only time I can recall seeing a live bear at Iverson for the filming of a production — rather than a guy in a bear suit, which is how they would have handled it in the old B-movies.

Interactive map from Kurt Spitzner's "Spin and Marty" site cinchset.com

Please do yourself a favor — especially if you have fond memories of "Spin and Marty" — and check out Kurt's incredibly well-researched cinchset.com website, devoted to all things "Spin and Marty." The site's emphasis is on the first, and widely considered the best, of the three "Spin and Marty" productions, "The Adventures of Spin and Marty," which aired during 1955 as part of "The Mickey Mouse Club." While "Spin and Marty" shot mainly at Disney's Golden Oak Ranch in Newhall — which is still operating as a filming location — Kurt's site includes a number of pages devoted exclusively to "Spin and Marty" location shoots at the Iverson Movie Ranch, which you can access directly by clicking here. His recent research on Bear Tree and the Upper Iverson, including the interactive map seen above, can be found by clicking here and going to the bottom of the page.

Below is a link to the DVD set "Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Spin & Marty," which is the same set I used in my Bear Tree research: