On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
BillinGlendaleCA
Two weeks ago, when I shared my visits to the M*A*S*H production site, I began with this:
Malibu Creek State Park was established in 1976, protecting the watershed of Malibu Creek from the Malibu Dam to it’s mouth in Santa Monica Bay. In it’s previous life it had been a private club and then for 40 years the 20th Century Fox movie ranch. My father and I hiked in the park a couple of times in 1977 and there were still quite a few old movie sets dotting the landscape including a large Chinese structure, some sets for Planet of the Apes, and some western buildings including a fort.
These photos were from both trips to the park, though mostly from the first trip, the exception being the fort site. There is little indication in the park of where many of the structures I saw and photographed 45 years ago were, I had to look at aerial photos of the area(h/t to Framefinder at UCSB). In addition to the now/then photos, I’ve also included a couple of shots giving an overview of the park.
Chinese type of structure, I think this may have been used for the Kung Fu TV series.
You can still make out that something was in this location by the difference in the grass.
Malibu Creek as it flows though the valley on the eastern side of the park. When this was the Fox ranch, there were buildings at the left side of the photo.
Looking towards the east from a ridge that you climb over to get to Century Lake.
A remaining portion of “The Planet of the Apes” set.
A panorama of the same location today, other than the M*A*S*H set this is the only place in the park that has an interpretive exhibit.
My dad standing in the entrance to the fort.
The location of where the fort was as it looks today.
Elizabelle
I wish they had left some of the movie sets up. Planet of the Apes! Although I know they are purpose built, and not meant to endure (except in film).
Benw
I love MCSP and no one ever seems to go there, so it felt like my own little place back in the day
StringOnAStick
I think these sets aren’t meant to last too long. Here, a park had the covered bridge that was built to make the The Incredible Journey, but it was demolished not that many years later because it was unsafe and falling apart. There’s an informational sign that explains it all at the location though.
Very cool to see the before and after photos, Bill; love the history!
way2blue
East of Santa Cruz—an area of sandstone bluffs (Santa Margarita Sandstone) supports a relict stand of Ponderosa Pine trees (now mostly found in the Sierras). Little foothold niches were carved into the bluffs for the cowboy movies that were filmed there. Very cool.
BigJimSlade
@Benw: It can get pretty busy on nice weekend days. At least the main part between the parking lot and Century Lake, and a quarter of those will continue on to the Mash site. But venture any other direction and it gets pretty quiet quickly :-) We like to go hiking on the other side of Mulholland and hardly see anybody at all.
@?billinglendaleca – Thanks for the pictures of the old sets – those are fun. In the hiking group we’ve hiked with a bunch, the leader has posted similar things, but, of course, not quite the same, so it’s always neat to see.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: It would have been nice in a way; but as you noted they weren’t really designed to be lasting. There were also fire that went though over the years…we don’t rake.
@Benw: They had pretty good crowds on the days I went this year.
@StringOnAStick: Glas you like them. I most cases they’re not built to last and would be expensive to maintain them safely(they’re designed for production folk to use, not kids climbing all over them).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@way2blue: We have a lot of areas that were used for film locations here, mainly due to the proximity to Hollywood. One area is being maintained by the National Park Service(Paramount Ranch), though most of it burned down during the Woolsey fire in 2018, but is being rebuilt.
@BigJimSlade: I went on weekends, so it was pretty crowded. There is a drop off going to the M*A*S*H production location due to the road across the creek being out, so that decreases access there during the winter if you park in the main lot. I saw one young woman end up falling into the creek trying to cross on my first trip back this year. I’ve got a few more shots of some of the movie sets, but I’m not sure where they were.
BigJimSlade
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You can also get to the MASH site (I’m too lazy to put in the asterisks) from the Malibu Lake side, though you would have to cross the creek to get to pretty much everything else.