Almost eight years after the fire, a $26 million rebuilding project is nearing completion.
The Woolsey Fire began on November 8, 2018, and burned nearly 100,000 acres across Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The fire reached Paramount Ranch on November 9 and destroyed most of its historic buildings and film sets. Paramount Pictures had owned the property from 1927 to 1943 and filmed more than 160 movies there during that period, according to Lyle.
Because the ranch had continued its connection with filmmaking for decades, the loss was significant.
“Almost everything in the ranch burned,” said Jody Lyle, Superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Lyle said a few structures survived, including some film sets, the chapel from HBO’s Westworld and the train depot from Dr. Lyle said the older buildings behind the facades were particularly important to the ranch’s history Although Western Town was the most recognisable part of the site. “What we have rebuilt here is something more akin to what existed during the Paramount era,” Lyle said.
The ranch was used for productions set in different parts of the world. Over the years, it became known for its Western-style sets and was also used for television productions. Stars including Gary Cooper, Bob Hope and the Marx Brothers filmed there. TV shows such as Gunsmoke, The Dukes of Hazzard and The Bachelor also used the ranch as a filming location. The ranch was also open to the public, with visitors able to hike, bike and ride horses on its trails. It hosted events including ranger programmes, music festivals, classic movie nights, weddings and night sky parties. Quinn, Medicine Woman. However, most of what visitors knew as Western Town was destroyed. The property was later developed with a Western Town-style setting, where television Westerns and other productions were filmed. Many of the Western Town sets had been built in the 1980s and 1990s, while the original buildings dated back to the late 1920s and early 1930s.