Spahn Ranch
Encyclopedia
Movie ranch
A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated to being used as a site for the creation and production of motion pictures, and television productions...
used for filming generally Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
-themed movies and television programs. With mountainous terrain, boulder-strewn scenery, and an 'old Western town' set, Spahn Ranch was a versatile filming site for many scripts. No longer in use, the entrance to the historic Ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
was off 1200 Santa Susana Pass Road of the Simi Hills
Simi Hills
The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges, located in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States.-Geography:...
and Santa Susana Mountains
Santa Susana Mountains
The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south, from Santa Clara River Valley to the north, and Santa Clarita...
above Chatsworth, California. Now part of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park is a California State Park of approximately located on the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, between the communities of Chatsworth and Simi Valley. Geologically, the park is located where Simi Hills meet the Santa Susana Mountains...
, Spahn Ranch is notoriously and best known as the primary residence of Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
and his followers, the 'Manson Family', for much of 1968 and 1969.
Movies
The ranch took its name from dairy farmer George SpahnGeorge Spahn
George Spahn was a rancher who once owned the Spahn Ranch near Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA. Spahn rented the ranch to the movie industry to film Westerns. At the ranch, he housed Charles Manson and his followers...
who purchased the property in 1948. Silent film actor William S. Hart
William S. Hart
William Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...
owned the ranch prior to Spahn. Many western-themed
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
movies and television shows were fimed on the ranch, including Duel in the Sun (1946) and television episodes of Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger (TV Series)
The Lone Ranger is an American western television series starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr as the episode narrator...
, and Zorro.
The Manson Family
Spahn was 80 years old and living at the ranch when he allowed The Manson Family to move in, rent-free, in exchange for housework and sexual favors from the group's women, most of whom were under age 25. Despite this arrangement, Spahn was never accused of any role in the many murders for which members of the Family were later convicted, the most infamous being the Tate-LaBianca murders committed on August 9th and 10th, 1969. In late 1969, Robert Hendrickson began filming the Manson Family at the ranch for his documentary film MansonManson (film)
Manson is a 1973 documentary film directed by Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick. It deals with the "Manson family" and has many interviews with the members of the group, including Charles Manson, "Squeaky" Fromme, and Sandra Good...
. There he filmed Spahn, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme
Lynette Fromme
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme is an American member of the Manson Family. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975...
, Bruce Clayton Elliott, Nancy Pittman, Catherine "Gypsy" Share
Catherine Share
Catherine Louise "Gypsy" Share is a former member of Charles Manson's "Family".-Early life:She was born in Paris to a Hungarian violinist father and a German mother. Her parents were both members of the French underground movement during World War II, and both committed suicide when their daughter...
, Sandra Good
Sandra Good
Sandra Collins Good a long-time member of the Manson Family and a close friend of Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme. Good's Manson Family nickname is "Blue," given to her by Charles Manson because of her blue eyes....
, Paul Watkins
Paul Watkins (Manson Family)
Paul Alan Watkins was a member of Charles Manson’s "Family." In the period leading up to Manson’s trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders, Watkins provided the prosecution with information that clarified the Helter Skelter motive.-Background:By his own account, Paul Watkins lived "a pretty standard...
and others. It is the place where the 'family' lived while committing the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. The 'family' also stayed at Barker Ranch
Barker Ranch
Barker Ranch is infamous as the last hideout of Charles Manson and his "family" after the gruesome Los Angeles murder spree. It is located inside Death Valley National Park in eastern California....
, which is located in the Panamint Range
Panamint Range
The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, United States.-Geography:...
between Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
and the Panamint Valley
Panamint Valley
The Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus Range and Slate Range, and west of the Panamint Range in the northeastern reach of the Mojave Desert, in eastern California, United States.-Geography:...
in the northern Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
.
Later history
A wildfireWildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
destroyed all of the Spahn Movie Ranch's film sets and residential structures in November, 1970.
In the book The Family, the character of Ed Sanders
Ed Sanders
Ed Sanders is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author and publisher and has been a longtime member of the band The Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations.-Biography:...
of the 1960s rock music group The Fugs
The Fugs
The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
uses the Spahn Ranch old telephone number of '(213) DI1-9026'. The number has the old prefix system of a word's first two letters — DI = Diamond, a 'Telephone Exchange Name.' It was replaced by the corresponding two numerals in the early 1960s.
Jim Thirlwell recorded and released a song about the Manson murders, called "DI1-9026", and released it under the name "Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel
Foetus (band)
Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...
" on the 1985 album Nail
Nail (album)
Nail is a Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel album released by Self Immolation/Some Bizzare in 1985. It was initially released in the US by Homestead Records in 1985 and later by Thirsty Ear in 1995...
.
George Spahn
George Spahn
George Spahn was a rancher who once owned the Spahn Ranch near Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA. Spahn rented the ranch to the movie industry to film Westerns. At the ranch, he housed Charles Manson and his followers...
died on September 22, 1974, and is buried in Eternal Valley Memorial Park in nearby Newhall, California
Newhall, California
Newhall is the southernmost and oldest district of Santa Clarita, California. Prior to the 1987 consolidation of Valencia, Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, and other geographically proximate settlements into the conglomerate city of Santa Clarita, it was an independent but unincorporated town...
.
State Park
The Spahn Movie Ranch is now part of California's Santa Susana Pass State Historic ParkSanta Susana Pass State Historic Park
Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park is a California State Park of approximately located on the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, between the communities of Chatsworth and Simi Valley. Geologically, the park is located where Simi Hills meet the Santa Susana Mountains...
, with the "Devil's Slide" section of the historic Old Santa Susana Stage Road on the park's northern side. Many hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
trails give access to the natural beauty and the panoramic views of the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
.