Spahn Ranch
{{For|the band|Spahn Ranch (band)}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Spahn Ranch
| official_name =
| other_name = Spahn Movie Ranch
| image_skyline = Old Stagecoach Trail Santa Susana3.png
| imagesize = 250px
| image_caption = The Spahn Movie Ranch, with a portion of a back road.
| image_map =
| mapsize =
| map_caption =
| image_map1 =
| mapsize1 =
| map_caption1 =
| pushpin_map = USA Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| pushpin_mapsize = 250px
| pushpin_map_caption = Location within Los Angeles County
| settlement_type = Ranch
| timezone = PST
| utc_offset = -8
| timezone_DST = PDT
| utc_offset_DST = -7
| coordinates = {{coord|34|16|18|N|118|36|59|W|type:landmark_region:US-CA|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{USA}}
| subdivision_type1 = State
| subdivision_name1 = {{flag|California}}
| subdivision_type2 = County
| subdivision_name2 = Los Angeles
| area_total_acre = 55
| elevation_m = 415
| elevation_ft = 1364
| established_title = Built
| established_date = 1947
| founder = Lee and Ruth McReynolds
| website =
}}
Spahn Ranch, also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch, was a 55-acre (22.3 ha) movie ranch in Los Angeles, California. For a period it was used as a ranch, dairy farm and later movie set during the era of westerns. After a decline in use for filming by the 1950s, its owner George Spahn established a stable for renting horses for riding on the varied acres. It became known in the late 20th century as the primary headquarters of Charles Manson and his cult followers, the "Manson Family", for much of 1967 and 1968. They were notorious for the Tate–LaBianca murders of August 1969.
The entrance to the historic ranch was originally at 12000 Santa Susana Pass Road (street numbers have since been changed) of the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains above Chatsworth, California. It is no longer in use. After Spahn's death and a wildfire that destroyed the main ranch house and outbuildings, the land was incorporated into the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.[https://www.google.com/maps/search/spahn+ranch+Santa+Susana+Pass+Road+in+Chatsworth/@34.2676668,-118.6333116,15z, Spahn Ranch Map]
History
=1880s–1968: Initial ownership and movie ranch=
Beginning in the 1880s, a piece of land, including what would later become the Spahn Ranch, became the homestead of Mexican immigrant Dionisio Sánchez and Hoosier James R. Williams, along with their families.{{cite journal |url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/sspshp%20historic%20resources_adb.pdf |title=Santa Susana Pass State Historical Park. Cultural Resources Inventory. Historica Overview |first=Alexander D. |last=Bevil |journal=California State Parks |date=March 2007 |access-date=17 August 2019 |pages=48–50}}{{cite journal |url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/chapter%202%20existing%20conditions(1).pdf |title=Existing Conditions and Issues |journal=Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park |access-date=17 August 2019 |pages=33–34, 37, 45}}
The property was purchased in 1928 by Sharon M. Atkins and in 1947 by couple Lee and Ruth McReynolds. Lee built some movie sets next to his trading post on the property to catch some overflow from the Iverson Movie Ranch. With mountainous terrain, boulder-strewn scenery and an "old Western town" set, Spahn Ranch was a suitable filming site for westerns and had been used mostly for B movies and TV series.[https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-07-25/where-to-see-the-la-sites-of-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood "Experience the L.A. captured in 'Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood{{'"}}][https://www.history.com/news/spahn-ranch-manson-family How Spahn Ranch Became a Headquarters for the Manson Family Cult]
In 1953, McReynolds sold the site to dairy farmer George Spahn, and it became known as the Spahn Ranch. He continued to allow some filming there. Much of the information reported about specific productions filmed there is unreliable. The rumor that the location was used for the film Duel in the Sun (1946) is now known to be false. Among the productions said to have been filmed at Spahn Ranch are The Lone Ranger with Clayton Moore,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cghgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Hoodlum Movies: Seriality and the Outlaw Biker Film Cycle, 1966–1972 |first=Peter |last=Stanfield |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2018 |page=3 |isbn=9780813599052}} and several episodes of the Bonanza television series.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dyk-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter |first=Lis |last=Wiehl |author-link=Lis Wiehl |publisher=Thomas Nelson |year=2018 |page=2 |isbn=9780718092115 |editor-first=Caitlin |editor-last=Rother |editor-link=Caitlin Rother}} Spahn Ranch is also often cited as the filming location for the B-movie The Creeping Terror (1964).{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XmISfb1C3VEC&pg=PA275 |title=Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer's Guide to Exploring Southern California's Great Outdoors |first1=Harry |last1=Medved |first2=Bruce |last2=Akiyama |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=2007 |page=275 |isbn=9781429907170}}
After the decline of filming and his dairy business, Spahn added more sets and rental horses. The ranch became popular among locals as a place to go horseback riding.{{Cite web |url=http://www.chatsworthhistory.com/Documents/PastPresent/Spahn%20Ranch%20-Ann%20CHS.pdf |title=Spahn Ranch & Curtis Automotive |date=November 2008 |publisher=Chatsworth Historical Society |access-date=2019-01-01 |archive-date=2021-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715164558/http://www.chatsworthhistory.com/Documents/PastPresent/Spahn%20Ranch%20-Ann%20CHS.pdf |url-status=dead }} By the late 1960s, however, the ranch became almost deserted.[https://www.cielodrive.com/spahn-movie-ranch.php Spahn Movie Ranch]
=1968–1969: Manson Family headquarters=
Spahn was 80 years old, going blind and living at his ranch when he allowed the Manson Family to move in, rent-free, in exchange for labor.{{cite news |url=http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/10/the_story_of_the_abandoned_movie_ranch_where_the_manson_family_launched_helter_skelter.php |work=LA Curbed Blog |title=The Story of the Abandoned Movie Ranch Where the Manson Family Launched Helter Skelter |date=22 October 2014 |access-date=17 August 2019 |first=Hadley |last=Meares |publisher=Vox Media, Inc.}} The family did daily chores and helped run the horse-rental business, which had become Spahn's main source of income.{{cite web |url=http://www.cielodrive.com/spahn-movie-ranch.php |work=Cielodrive.com |title=Spahn Movie Ranch |access-date=17 August 2019}} Manson Family member Lynette Fromme later wrote, "I was impressed with George Spahn's hardiness. He was eighty years old and, although his blindness had for five or six years kept him in a world apart, he was mentally still present, living alone and working through all the frustrations of having lost authority in the running of his own business."{{cite book |last=Fromme |first=Lynette |author-link=Lynette Fromme |year=2018 |title=Reflexion: Lynette Fromme's Story of Her Life with Charles Manson 1967–1969 |publisher=The Peasenhall Press |isbn=978-0-9913725-1-5 |page=480 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-wauwEACAAJ}}
In the 1970 murder trial, Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi later claimed that Manson would occasionally send one of his girls to Spahn for sexual relations.{{cite news |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/154556/manson-girl-got-away-interview |title=The Manson Girl Who Got Away |first=Win |last=McCormack |author-link=Win McCormack |date=29 July 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |magazine=The New Republic}} A Spahn employee, ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, had known Manson in the past and had a physical confrontation with Manson.{{cite news |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/manson-family-donald-shorty-sheas-revenge-4117399 |title=Manson Family Murder Victim Donald 'Shorty' Shea's Revenge |first=Charles |last=Montaldo |date=3 July 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |work=ThoughtCo.}}
On August 16, 1969, after the Tate–LaBianca murders, more than one hundred officers from the Special Enforcement Detail (the SWAT team of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department) were deployed at Spahn Ranch in what authors Tom O'Neill and {{interlanguage link|Dan Piepenbring|de}} have alleged was the largest documented police raid in California history in their book CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, resulting in the arrest of several Manson Family members due to suspicion of their participation in an automobile theft ring (unrelated to the later arrest of those involved in the murders).{{cite report |title=LASD Time Line: 1960 - 1969 |url=https://lasd.org/pdf-lasd-museum/timeline/1960%20-%201969.pdf |publisher=Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department |page=5 |access-date=June 4, 2024}}{{cite book |last1=O'Neill |first1=Tom |last2=Piepenbring |first2=Dan |date=June 25, 2019 |title=CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties |url=https://archive.org/details/chaos-charles-manson-the-cia-and-the-secret-history-of-the-sixties-9780316529211/page/n123/mode/2up?q=SWAT |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |pages=146–147 |isbn=9780316529211}}
Ten days later, on August 26, Susan Atkins of the Family lured Shea to a remote spot on the ranch where he was ambushed and killed by Bruce M. Davis and Steve "Clem" Grogan.{{cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/2019/8/7/20695284/charles-manson-family-what-is-helter-skelter-explained |title=The Manson Family murders, and their complicated legacy, explained |first=Aja |last=Romano |date=7 August 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |work=Vox.com |publisher=Vox Media, Inc.}}{{cite news |url=https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/08/05/key-figures-in-manson-case-cult-disciples-rich-and-famous-2/ |title=Key figures in Manson case: Cult disciples, rich and famous |first=John |last=Rogers |date=5 August 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |work=News1130 |publisher=Rogers Media}} The Family members allegedly believed he had reported them to the police, leading to the August 16 raid.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=adxLDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT467 |title=The Crime Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained |publisher=Dorling Kindersley Ltd |year=2017 |page=467 |isbn=9780241307366 |first=Peter |last=James}} His remains were not found until December 1977, when Grogan agreed to lead investigators to the spot where Shea had been buried.{{cite news |url=https://www.wpxi.com/news/deep-viral/manson-family-murders-two-nights-of-brutality-that-terrorized-1969-los-angeles/974205161 |title=Manson family murders: Two nights of brutality that terrorized 1969 Los Angeles |first=Crystal |last=Bonvillian |date=12 August 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |work=WPXI |publisher=Cox Media Group}} Spahn was unaware of the reason for Shea's disappearance; he was never accused of any role in the 1969 murders for which several Family members were later convicted.{{cite web |url=http://www.cielodrive.com/location/spahn/ |work=Cielodrive.com |title=Manson Family story evidence |access-date=17 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308044537/http://www.cielodrive.com/location/spahn/ |archive-date=8 March 2005}}
In late 1969, Robert Hendrickson began filming the Manson Family at the ranch for his documentary Manson,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oASrCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 |title=The Rise of True Crime: 20th-Century Murder and American Popular Culture |first=Jean |last=Murley |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2008 |page=93 |isbn=9781573567725}} including Spahn, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, Bruce Davis, Nancy Pitman, Catherine "Gypsy" Share, Sandra Good, Paul Watkins and others.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0CIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |title=American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography |first=Rob |last=Craig |publisher=McFarland Publishing |year=2019 |page=247 |isbn=9781476666310}}
=1970–present: fire, Spahn's death, and incorporation into a state park=
The Clampitt Fire destroyed all of the Spahn Movie Ranch's film sets and residential structures in September 1970.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-08 |title=How Spahn Ranch Became a Headquarters for the Manson Family Cult |url=https://www.history.com/news/spahn-ranch-manson-family |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=HISTORY |language=en}} George Spahn died on September 22, 1974, and is buried in Eternal Valley Memorial Park in nearby Newhall.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA704 |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons |edition=3rd |first=Scott |last=Wilson |publisher=McFarland Publishing |year=2016 |page=704 |isbn=9781476625997}}
The Spahn Movie Ranch site is now part of California's Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park, the "Devil's Slide" section of the historic Old Santa Susana Stage Road being located on the park's western side.{{cite web |url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=611 |title=Santa Susana Pass SHP |work=California State Parks |access-date=17 August 2019}} Several hiking trails give access to extensive views of the San Fernando Valley.{{cite web |url=http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=12 |title=Escondido Canyon Park |work=LAMountains.com |access-date=17 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041028053005/http://lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=12 |archive-date=28 October 2004 |publisher=Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy}}
In popular culture
Spahn Movie Ranch is a setting in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), a drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and set in 1969 at the time of the Tate–LaBianca murders.{{cite news |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-recreating-the-spahn-ranch/ |title=Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: Recreating The Spahn Ranch |first=Nick |last=De Semlyen |date=16 August 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |work=Empire Online |publisher=Bauer Media Group}} The scenes for the movie were filmed at the nearby Corriganville Park in Simi Valley, which was also a movie ranch at one time.[https://variety.com/2019/film/news/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-locations-guide-musso-and-frank-1203284555/, 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood': A Guide to the Los Angeles Area Landmarks] George Spahn was played by Bruce Dern.{{cite news |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/08/manson-cult-ranch-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-upset-locals-1202163991/ |title=Rebuilding the Manson Cult's Ranch for 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' Angered Locals |first=Zach |last=Sharf |date=7 August 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |work=Indie Wire |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC.}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=611 California State Parks: official Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park website]
- [http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=123 LAMountains.com: Santa Susana Pass Park website]
- [http://jeffdroke.com/Spahn%20Ranch.htm Spahn Ranch: From Hoss Cartwright to Charles Manson]
- [http://www.imdb.com/search/title?endings=on&&locations=Spahn+Ranch,+Chatsworth,+Los+Angeles,+California,+USA IMDb's list of the movies and series shot at the Spahn Movie Ranch]
{{Manson Family}}
Category:History of the San Fernando Valley
Category:Chatsworth, Los Angeles