TOUR : Ranch Tour Reveals How West Was Won

You’re watching an action-filled Western. A posse mounts up and gallops off, raising a cloud of dust. Or at least, it’s supposed to be dust.

In reality, it’s crushed walnuts, or even more likely, dolomite--an ingredient of kitty litter.

Such tricks of the filmmaking trade can be seen Saturday morning at 9:30 on the “Lights! Camera! Action!” tour of Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills.

Sponsored by the National Park Service, which owns the land, the free one-hour tour will focus on the ranch’s Western town set. The town has been the site of dozens of shoots, ranging from the 1930 Gary Cooper film, “Man From Wyoming,” to television series such as “Bat Masterson,” “The Rifleman,” “The A Team” and “MacGyver.” It even filled in for biblical Jerusalem for the 1983 television special “The Fourth Wise Man.”

The 436-acre site is part of the 2,700 acres that Paramount Pictures purchased in 1927 because it wanted to own a variety of landscapes for films. (It was known then as Rancho Las Virgenes.)

But because of economic problems caused in part by the advent of television, the studio sold the land in the late 1940s, and the property was later broken into smaller parcels and sold to individuals.

In 1952, a dentist named William Hertz bought the northeast portion and constructed his version of a Western town, which became a popular filming site for television Westerns. After more ownership changes, the land was acquired in 1980 by the National Park Service as part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Four years later, the park service began refurbishing the Western town and replacing some of the facades--which had fallen into disrepair--with six buildings. They were designed by art director James F. Claytor, whose Paramount TV credits include “Family Ties,” “Mork and Mindy” and “Webster.”

Seven original structures remain from the early Paramount days, including a general store, wood shop, barn and a bridge.

On a recent tour, park ranger Karen Willcox told visitors that the bridge was a location for “The Scarlet Letter” with Lillian Gish in 1926 and “Broken Lullaby” with Lionel Barrymore in 1932. In 1938, the bridge’s Medea Creek reportedly stood in for the Mississippi River, complete with miniature riverboats, in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”

En route to the Western town, Willcox pointed out Sugarloaf Mountain, which bears a striking, if coincidental, resemblance to the Paramount logo.

In the town proper, newer buildings include a post office, bank, newspaper office and leather goods store. Willcox said the buildings have been treated to look old.

Outside the Old Star Saloon, visitors examined the breakaway “candy glass,” which is actually plastic and is used during fight scenes. Other fakery includes structures built to three-quarter scale, fiberglass rocks and log cabins, and a marshal’s office of chicken wire, stucco and balsa-wood “bricks” for easy prison escapes.

The tour also includes a tree suitable for hanging lawbreakers, a freight depot and an open-sided shed called the Pavilion, where Paramount once stored vehicles and equipment. The Pavilion is now used for company picnics, wedding receptions and other gatherings.

The town lacks two prominent features: a schoolhouse and a church, which cannot be added without a major fund-raising effort, said Alice Allen, park ranger and film permit coordinator.

“We were only able to complete 40% of the work Jim Claytor designed,” she said. “There are strong winds here from time to time and portions of the town had blown down, so the National Park Service decided to build three-dimensional structures rather than facades in 1984. It would take $30,000 for each new one. We also want to stabilize the historic buildings, which start at $100,000 each.”

The park service has no plans to begin charging for the tour, however. “Our main purpose for the tour is to get people out here, see the site and use it,” Allen said. Besides the Western town, the property has picnic areas and trails for hiking, bicycling and horseback riding.

Though visitors rarely see filming during the tour, the public is welcome to observe movie making, also free of charge, any time during the week.

“We do request, though, that the public respect the fact that people are working, and stand back and not click their own cameras while there is filming,” Allen said.

The park service hopes to acquire 300 acres next to the site’s northern boundary, pending a congressional appropriation for the $17.6-million selling price.

“That would give us a good cross section,” Allen noted. “We’d have the sweeping landscapes that were used for (the 1937 Gary Cooper film) ‘The Adventures of Marco Polo,’ and large open grassland areas where battle and cattle scenes were done.”

To get to Paramount Ranch, take the Ventura Freeway to Kanan Road exit, go south on Kanan 3/4 mile, turn left at sign reading “to Cornell Road” and veer to the right. Go south 2 1/2 miles. Entrance is on the right. For information and to request a catalogue of other activities, call (818) 597-9192.

Shooting Times To find out what’s filming where:

* The California Film Commission, (213) 736-2465.

* Los Angeles County Film Office, (213) 957-1000.

* City of Los Angeles Film and Video Permit Office, (213) 485-5324.

All are located in adjoining sixth-floor offices at 6922 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. All have log books with daily shooting information, available to the public Monday through Friday.