FILM HISTORY IN CHATSWORTH
filmed at the Iverson’ s homestead. The following year, the Iversons reported an income of more than $ 50,000, a huge amount of money for that time as America was still in the midst of the Great Depression.
As the popularity of their ranch grew, so did the fees the Iversons charged the studios. Film companies paid $ 150 per camera per day and up. They also incorporated entrance fees for: people( 50 ¢), horses( 25 ¢), light vehicles($ 1) and trucks($ 2) and other daily charges, including $ 100 for each additional camera and generator used in the production. Studios also had to pay for electricity and water usage. In addition, the Iverson’ s required studios to leave all sets built on the ranch in place when filming was finished, with the guarantee that they would not be used or remodeled by another film company for two years.
At its height, the ranch included chase and insert roads, an adobe village, western street and a ranch set. The ranch’ s western street was built in 1945 for the Gary Cooper movie Along Came Jones. Westerns continued to be shot at the ranch into the late 1940s, although their numbers decreased due to higher production costs. With the start of World War II, they were replaced with movies about espionage and war.
Television serials began filming portions of their story lines at the ranch in the late 1940’ s and throughout the 1950’ s. They included The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid and The Roy Rogers show. Portions of the Tarzan serials were also filmed at Iverson. Travel to the ranch had become easier with the completion of the 101 Freeway connecting the Valley to Los Angeles in 1954.
By 1962 the ranch had been divided into two sections: Lower Iverson and Upper Iverson. The main attraction of Lower Iverson was the“ Garden of the Gods” rock formations seen in thousands of movies. It
also featured a majority of the film sets, including a native Indian village, stagecoach stop, cave mouth, outlaw hideout and more. Today this part of the ranch is occupied by the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village, the Cal-West Townhomes and the Church at Rocky Peak, with some still vacant. It is also home to the 23-acre Garden of the Gods public park.
Across Red Mesa Rd., just north of Santa Susana Rd., is the famous Lone Ranger Rock. If you’ re over 55 you may remember that the famous rock formation appeared in the Lone Ranger television series, which aired from 1949 to 1957. The rock appeared at the end of the show as the credits rolled. Audiences saw the Lone Ranger, played by Clayton Moore, galloping up the hill on the back of his horse, Silver. When they reached the rock, Silver would rear on its hind legs, and the Long Ranger would say his famous line,“ Hi O, Silver.”
South of Lone Ranger rock is Nyoka Cliff, which takes its name from the movie serial, The Perils of Nyoka, released by Republic Pictures in 1942. Over the years, it appeared in hundreds of movies and television shows. But it isn’ t only famous for its movie closeups. Many stagecoach scenes were filmed on the trail that winds around the base of Nyoka Cliff.
Upper Iverson included long stretches of road where many film and television directors created epic stagecoach and horse chase scenes.
Productions at the ranch slowed down drastically in the mid 1960’ s when the Simi Valley Freeway( California Route 118 / Ronald Reagan Freeway) was being constructed. It cut its way through the center of the ranch, and the incessant noise drove away many film and television production companies.
The family sold the property, which over the years had grown to more than 500 acres, in the 1980s. Sporadic production continued into the 1990s with the movie, Motorcycle Cheerleading Mama and episodes of W television show. As many as 2,000 motion pictures and television shows were shot at Iverson over its more than 50-year history as a motion picture location ranch.
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