Golden Oak Ranch
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The Walt Disney Company’s Golden Oak Ranch is a movie ranch that serves as an interior and exterior filming location. The ranch is off of Placerita Canyon Road in Canyon Country, California, less than an hour north of Los Angeles; its entrance is about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Placerita Canyon Road's intersection with State Route 14.
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[edit] History
The ranch is on land that was part of the Rancho San Francisco land grant. It was named in honor of Francisco Lopez, the man credited with discovering gold in California, years before the discovery that precipitated the California Gold Rush.[1]
Walt Disney bought the 315-acre (1.27 km2) ranch in 1959 for $300,000. Subsequent purchases of adjacent land grew the area of the ranch to 827 acres (3.35 km2).
In October 2009 Disney announced plan to construct a 12 stage production facility on 56 acres (230,000 m2) at the ranch.[2] Expected to generate more than 3000 jobs during construction and more than 2800 permanent full and part time jobs, the facility is projected to contribute $533 million annually in economic activity. Construction is slated to begin in 2013.
[edit] Examples of use
The ranch was used to film the episodes of Spin and Marty, a popular segment of The Mickey Mouse Club and parts of Zorro. The first movie shot at the ranch was Toby Tyler. Most of the exterior scenes in Old Yeller were filmed here. The town featured in Roots: The Next Generations was also built on the Golden Oak Ranch. Segments of Pete's Dragon were shot on this location as well, as were The Apple Dumpling Gang, Treasure of Matecumbe, The Muppet Movie, The Electric Horseman, Little House on the Prairie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Colonel Sanders commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken. A covered bridge spans the man-made stream featured in Follow Me, Boys! and episodes of Bonanza and The Greatest American Hero. The exterior house featured in the original 1961 film The Parent Trap was also shot on the ranch, as was the Peabody farm from the Universal film Back to the Future. It was also used for the filming of Alonzo Hawk's dream sequence in Herbie Rides Again. In 1985, Big Top Pee-wee was filmed here and part of Short Circuit was filmed here as well. According to Phil Abraham, parts of "The Hobo Code" (a first season episode of Mad Men) were filmed here (specifically, the scenes of Don Draper's childhood).[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Worden, Leon (October 2005). "California's REAL First Gold". COINage magazine (Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society). http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/worden-coinage1005.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ Verrier, Richard (2009-10-29). "Disney plans to build major production facility near Santa Clarita". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-disney29-2009oct29,0,2238554.storyt. Retrieved 2008-09-27.[dead link]
- ^ Director Phil Abraham's DVD commentary track for "The Hobo Code". Man Men. AMC. September 6, 2007. No. 8, season 1.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Disney's Golden Oak Ranch from the website of a former Disney employee and author of The Wonderful World of Disney Television (1997, ISBN 0786863595)
- Cinchset.com Panoramic views of the Golden Oak Ranch compiled from rare films and Walt Disney's, Adventures of Spin and Marty, 1955)
Coordinates: 34°22′26″N 118°28′41″W / 34.374°N 118.478°W
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