Ventura Planners Postpone High Noon for Movie Ranch

The showdown between the owner of a Western-style movie ranch and his neighbors in rural Box Canyon proved to be a standoff Wednesday at a hearing to determine the future of the film-making facility.

Ventura County officials postponed for two weeks a decision on the fate of the Bell Movie Ranch, whose owner, Tony A. Stimolo, is seeking permission to continue operating the 18-building movie set that looks like a frontier town of the Old West.

The six-acre property is in an area that is no longer zoned for commercial uses, and residents argue that the ranch should be closed because it causes traffic and safety problems.

County planners say a possible compromise would be to allow Stimolo to rent out his ranch to film makers if he agrees to widen the nearly one-mile stretch of Studio Road that serves his movie set and 13 homes.

But that might not be enough to satisfy neighbors who testified during the hearing Wednesday that the convoys of large studio trucks and equipment going to and from the movie set are a nuisance.

“I have been verbally abused, subjected to litter, water theft and driveway blockage,” complained resident Greg Zeiman.

Stimolo told members of the county Environmental Report Review Committee--which includes representatives of planning, fire and public works departments--that he would be willing to widen the one-lane road, but that he is not sure that his neighbors will give up any of their property for the widening.

Any move to close the ranch is unfair, Stimolo said, because he was there before most of the homes were built in the area.

“Most of my neighbors have been here nine or 10 years and I’ve been here 30 years,” Stimolo said.

Was Studio Carpenter

Stimolo said he built his Bell Movie Ranch in 1952, working in his spare time while making a living as a carpenter for several Hollywood movie studios. At that time, no county permits were needed to build the Western-style town, he said.

“I had already helped build forts, Western towns and Mexican villages on location, so I knew what I was doing,” he said.

Stimolo said he selected the site, about two miles south of the Simi Valley Freeway near the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, because the rocky terrain so closely resembles his image of the Old West.

A 1968 fire on the site destroyed the first Bell Movie Ranch, but he soon replaced that with the existing buildings, built mostly from salvaged materials.

County planners say that Stimolo should not have been given a permit to reconstruct his town after the fire because the county changed zoning to allow only single-family homes in that area. The operation of a movie set is no longer a permitted use there, Ventura County Associate Planner James Caruso said.

Permit Expired in 1986

In 1978, Stimolo and the county reached an agreement to allow operation of the movie ranch for eight years. That permit, which expired last September, could be renewed if the county, Stimolo and neighbors can agree on a plan to solve problems created by the film crews, Caruso said.

The central issue seems to be the widening of one-lane Studio Road. Neighbors say they are worried that large studio trucks could block emergency crews going to the 13 homes off the road.

Stimolo, who is now retired, said he rented out his movie ranch 19 days last year--at a charge of at least $1,000 a day--and that it would cost him $65,000 to $100,000 to widen the road to two lanes as the county has recommended.

The ranch owner said he would like to share with the neighbors the cost of the road work. But the residents who spoke Wednesday said the road is fine for residential use.

“Most of the neighbors don’t feel like they need to contribute to the road widening,” said Barbara Ryan, a homeowner who testified.

The Bell Movie Ranch, one of the last privately owned Western movie sets in Southern California, was used for old television shows such as “Gunsmoke,” as well as for more recent fare such as “Fantasy Island,” Stimolo said.