Simi Valley Sees Hopetown Land as Possible Park, Site for Museum

Simi Valley officials, scanning their growing city of housing tracts for potential parkland, are considering the purchase of Hopetown, a former movie ranch owned by comedian Bob Hope that was used as a set for Western films in the 1940s and 1950s.

Hopetown--formerly named Corriganville after its previous owner, cowboy actor Ray (Crash) Corrigan--has been the object of development plans in recent years, but local officials favor preserving it as a historic site.

The ranch ascends into the hilly southeast corner of Simi Valley, bordered by the Simi Valley Freeway on one side and an industrial park on the other.

Hopetown is “the last sizable piece of open space near an urban area in Simi Valley,” City Councilwoman Ann Rock said. “You’ve got to put the parks where the people are.”

Vandalism and time have taken their toll on the old movie sets. But the land around them still looks much as it did when 3,500 films, from the classic “Fort Apache” to forgotten second features, were made there, along with television series such as “The Lone Ranger,” “Gunsmoke,” “Death Valley Days” and “Lassie.”

$4.6 Million Option on Last 212 Acres

Griffin Homes, a Calabasas-based development company, acts as the property’s future developer, although Hope still owns the land. In 1983, the company agreed to pay $4.6 million to Hope if it exercises an option to buy the 212 remaining acres of the ranch, said Elaine Freeman, the firm’s vice president of land development.

Griffin Homes has already won approval to build 238 single-family houses on the ranch’s lower 40 acres along Kuehner Drive, an area used as a parking lot when Corriganville was an amusement park featuring tours of movie lots, stunt shows and Indian craft demonstrations.

But last December the city Planning Commission rejected a plan by Griffin Homes to build condominiums on 17 acres near the center of the ranch after Simi Valley residents complained that it would ruin the local landmark.

Earlier, the developer withdrew a plan to build an industrial park on the site after meeting local opposition.

May Approach Conservancy for Grant

Now, some City Council members are considering the possibility of getting $1 million from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy that could be used as seed money to purchase Hopetown and operate it as a center for recreation or film history. The money, ironically, became available after the conservancy’s negotiations with Hope to buy another mountain tract collapsed in January.

The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, which would probably manage any park at Hopetown, said the talks ended after Hope’s representatives held to a $20,000 per-acre price for the pristine mountain land south of Simi Valley known as China Flat--nearly 20 times what park officials were offering.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy recently ordered a study of Hopetown’s future that will attempt to assess the financial feasibility of a park.

The study, due in late April or May, will be presented to the state Legislature in hopes of getting more money to buy the land, said Joseph Edmiston, the conservancy’s executive director.

“Whatever is put there will have to be of regional benefit” to attract funding from Sacramento, Edmiston said.

Among the possible uses being discussed for Hopetown are a Western movie museum and an interpretive center. Either could include restoration of some of the movie sets and the construction of picnic grounds, hiking trails, softball diamonds and an equestrian center linking horse trails entering Santa Susana Pass.

Much of the ranch’s rugged terrain, crossed by dry creeks and dotted with boulders and oak trees, would be preserved, council members said. But no detailed proposals have been made.

“There are natural values that should be preserved there,” said Edmiston. “A beautiful area with easy access is going to be of immediate interest to us.”

He estimated that at least another $1 million would be needed to develop a regional recreation center. He said proposals for a facility that would not need yearly subsidies would enhance prospects for a one-time appropriation from the Legislature to help buy the ranch.

Freeman said Griffin Homes still hopes to build on Hopetown land, but that the developer would be willing to sell it, minus the 40 acres already slated for development, for an unspecified “appropriate price.”

“We’re prepared to develop it. That’s our business,” Freeman said. “But we’ll sell it if the community wants it.”