Center Rock, Sheep Flats, Smooth Hill ... and a bunch of utility poles

"Rocky Mountain Rangers" (1940): Center Rock on the left 

Here's a nice shot from one of the best Iverson movies, the 1940 Three Mesquiteers installment Rocky Mountain Rangers, from Republic Pictures. It's directed by George Sherman, with cinematography by Jack Marta — both men worked a lot at Iverson and contributed mightily to documenting its legacy through cinematic images.

Zooming in on the utility poles

One thing I like about this shot is it reveals no fewer than five utility poles on and around Smooth Hill, all the way back in 1940. That means they were in place for the bulk of the B-Western shoots, including throughout the lifespan of the Iverson Movie Ranch Western street. Some of them can occasionally be seen as anachronisms in the background of Westerns, but rarely are they as easy to spot as they are here.


Above is a link to the "Saturday Matinee Double Feature" DVD, which includes the great Iverson movie "Rocky Mountain Rangers" along with the non-Iverson Buck Jones/Tim McCoy Rough Riders movie "Arizona Bound."

Click here for a post that explains what happened to Smooth Hill and also shows what it looked like in the background of the Iverson Movie Ranch Western street.

Another shot from Rocky Mountain Rangers, from approximately the same angle, gives a better look at Center Rock, the light-colored clump of rocks at the left of the shot. Center Rock was in the middle of Sheep Flats, where Iverson's Western town was built a few years later. This cluster of rocks was noteworthy for a number of things, including its isolated location, its protruding ledge and the odd little arch at its base. Somewhat miraculously, Center Rock survived, even as a mobile home park — the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village — was built around it.

Center Rock in its current predicament

Today Center Rock's setting isn't nearly as grand, as it's been stuffed behind fences and barriers and is essentially part of a maintenance facility at the park. I've been especially frustrated by that white plywood, which not only is a bit of an eyesore but also conceals the rock's trademark arch.

Here's a shot of Center Rock in the 1948 Republic serial G-Men Never Forget, showing pretty much the same angle as the contemporary shot above. Looks like the arch would be just about big enough to hide a motorcycle.

Here's what Center Rock looks like today from the other side. The rock was rarely filmed from this side.

Classic Rock: The Pirate Ship

This blog entry is part of a series on "Classic Rocks" — rocks located on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., that were featured in old movies, cliffhanger serials and early TV shows.

To me this large cluster of rocks looks like a pirate ship with sails a-billowed, or whatever the proper seafaring term would be. When I discovered it a few years ago in a corner of the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village on a visit to the site of the former Iverson Movie Ranch, I initially didn't recognize the formation from any movies or TV shows. But I had a feeling it would eventually turn up — and it did.

"The Lone Ranger" TV show: "Damsels in Distress" (1950)

Among other productions, it's in some episodes of the "Lone Ranger" TV show, including the "Damsels in Distress" episode as seen above. It's also in episodes of "The Roy Rogers Show," including "Ride of the Ranchers." And it's in a couple of major features: the 1937 Shirley Temple movie "Wee Willie Winkie" and Gary Cooper's 1945 Western "Along Came Jones." Then there's "Ghost-Town Gold," a 1936 Three Mesquiteers picture from Republic. And the list goes on.

From other angles, at least one of the rocks that make up the Pirate Ship is much more common. The rock to the left in the above photos is the western side of a rock that's better-known from its northern side: Split Rock, as seen below.

Split Rock

Split Rock now sits in the swimming pool area of the mobile home park, along with the Cave Rocks (Hook Rock and Big B) and a few others. The riders in the above movie still would be roughly on the deck of the pool if they rested in the same spot today. All of these rocks fall more or less in a straight line running north and south, with the billowed sail of the Pirate Ship representing the southern tip. These rocks can sometimes be seen in the background of shots of Iverson's Western town — usually called El Paso Street or Iverson Village — which was to the west of them (to the left in the top two photos). It's hard to get around to the east side of the Pirate Ship these days, due to signs warning about fierce attack dogs.

Whatever its past glory may have been, these days the Pirate Ship is drydocked up in its obscure corner of the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village, keeping as low a profile as it's possible for something that big and grand to keep. But it's part of what was once a heavily filmed section of the Iverson Movie Ranch.

The 1952 aerial photo

Iverson researcher Jerry England came up with this 1952 aerial photo of the Lower Iverson Movie Ranch, which has proved to be an invaluable resource. It's not as clear as we would like, but it's the only "map" of its kind that has surfaced from the filming era depicting the Lower Iverson.

Among other things it shows the location of Iverson's Western town, sometimes called El Paso Street or Iverson Village, toward the top right corner, just below the 118 freeway (approximated by the thick black horizontal line) and just west of Topanga Canyon Boulevard (approximated by the thin black vertical line). On that site today is the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village. A number of researchers have had a hand in identifying landmarks on the aerial shot, with special thanks going not only to Jerry England but also to John Emmons and Bill Sasser. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

A similar shot exists of the Upper Iverson, but it is much less clear than this one. I'll post it at some point, but so far I'm stalling because it's just frustrating to try to find anything on it.

Classic Rock: Brainiac

"The Roy Rogers Show" (1955)

Here's one of those funny faces in the rocks that show up in movies and TV shows from time to time. I doubt anyone will be as amused by it as I am, but I hope you can at least see it. It looks perfect to me: little dark eye, button nose, grim mouth and that massive forehead. It's right in the middle of this screen shot, facing toward the left. This character, which I call Brainiac, appears in "The Scavenger," a 1955 episode of "The Roy Rogers Show." That's Dale Evans riding by.

In case you're having trouble seeing it, I've identified some of the key parts in this version of the photo. Brainiac the rock is actually the north end of a familiar movie rock, which I used to refer to by the unimaginative name "the Log" before I learned that it already had a name: Range Rider Rock.

Another "Brainiac-type" figure

Incidentally, Range Rider Rock — including its north "face," Brainiac — is now located in the Indian Hills Mobile Home Park area of the former Lower Iverson Movie Ranch. These days the rock is hidden behind some mobile homes, and it's no longer possible to grab a photo that looks anything like Brainiac.

Brainiac the supervillain, battling Superman

Another so-called Brainiac in popular culture is the supervillain of the same name in DC Comics, seen fighting with Superman in the action shot above. This Brainiac is no relation to the one on the Iverson Movie Ranch — even though Superman did do stuff at Iverson, and you can read about that by clicking here. Personally, I find this Brainiac's giant brain to be not fully exaggerated enough — even though I understand that for the purposes of fighting people like Superman, a larger brain could get in the way.

This post is part of a series on "Classic Rocks" — sandstone giants located on the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., that became a part of not only America's physical landscape but also its cultural heritage, through featured roles in old movies, cliffhanger serials and early TV shows. Other entries in the series can be seen by clicking here.

Note: Volume 14 of the DVD set "Roy Rogers With Dale Evans" includes the episode "The Scavenger." See Amazon link below.

Bugeye and Trapezoid

Bugeye and Trapezoid are a pair of rocks that show up pretty regularly in old B-Westerns. They're not not particularly dramatic but they are good landmarks, easily recognized sitting atop a relatively flat wall-rock that was located alongside a road used frequently for chase sequences and horseback scenes. In the shot above they're seen in the "Lone Ranger" movie, a 1952 release made from the first three episodes of the "Lone Ranger" TV show, originally shot in 1949. They're not clear in this screen shot, but they're the two rocks near the top of the photo, Bugeye on the left and Trapezoid on the right.

Today they live in the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village, located at Topanga and the 118 Freeway in Chatsworth, Calif.

Iverson's Western street: The northern end of town ... and the demise of Smooth Hill

"The Hills of Utah" (1951) — Iverson Village looking north

I recently posted photos of the southern end of Iverson Village (you can click here to see that post), and this is what the rest of the town looked like. The shot above is from the Gene Autry B-Western "The Hills of Utah." Note the stone buildings on both sides of the street — the Saloon on the left and the Livery Stable on the right. Most Western movie towns were made of wood, so the buildings' stone appearance helps distinguish Iverson Village.

A number of the town's main structures are identified in this version of the shot, along with Smooth Hill, a landmark that sat just north of the town. The consensus for years among film historians was that the main street was oriented more or less north and south, although comparing the positions of Gumdrop and Church Rock, the marker rocks at the southern end of town seen in the earlier post, gave rise to the idea that the street would have had to be positioned at an angle, leaning a bit southwest to northeast.

Aerial photo of Sheep Flats, 1952

This idea was confirmed after the above aerial photo surfaced from 1952, when the Western town was still in place. The town was located on a sprawling flat area known as Sheep Flats, which is now occupied by the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village.

"Check Your Guns" (1948) — Smooth Hill (before Casa Grande was built)

I searched at Iverson Ranch for months for the hill at the north end of town, which I began calling Smooth Hill. It eventually became apparent, even though I had a hard time believing it at first, that the hill was gone. It turns out the thing was basically leveled when the 118 freeway went through in the 1960s. Chunks along the southern edge of the hill were blown away to put the freeway through, and while they were at it they lopped off the top of it.

The former site of Smooth Hill as it appears today, now occupied by apartments and condos

The destruction of Smooth Hill cleared the way for what is now a batch of condos and a couple of large apartment buildings sitting on that spot, overlooking the freeway just above the Topanga interchange.

"Rocky Mountain Rangers" (1940) — Smooth Hill, before the town was built

Smooth Hill was a presence in movies even before the Western street was built, as in the above example from Republic's Three Mesquiteers Western "Rocky Mountain Rangers." Not only was the hill a key marker identifying Iverson Village in the old movies, but it was also kind of famous in its own right — and its loss is felt.

"Calamity Jane and the Texan" (1950)

This shot from the Columbia Western "Calamity Jane and the Texan" shows more of the eastern side of the street, and provides a look at Oat Mountain to the north — the series of hills with streaks of white, in the background. One of the markers on Oat Mountain, the Triangle Brand, is also visible, at the top of the photo, toward the left, partially hidden behind a small hill (Notch Hill).

Here's the same screen shot with some of the key features highlighted. The town set is also called El Paso Street, after its role in the 1949 movie "El Paso." Once again, for a look at the southern end of the Western street, please click here.