Corriganville Defies the Ravages of Time

Time, like the weather, can wreak havoc on people and places. But climatological change, like El Nino, the Baby Huey of all weather conditions, tends to attack randomly and aggressively, while time ravages in subtle and seductive ways. There are those moments in life--while in the dentist’s chair, or creeping toward that much anticipated Hawaiian vacation--when we seem to have so much time. But then it rushes ahead of us, stealing days, weeks, years--suddenly weeds have overtaken the garden and children are grown. At those moments, time seems like the trusted family retainer who all along has been stealing the silver and sporting with the spouse.

The years, the elements and even vandals have been unkind to Corriganville Park, the former movie ranch in Simi Valley, which is the subject of Jane Hulse’s Jaunts column (Page 7).

The 225-acre property, which officially opened to the public last month, was originally owned by the late actor-stuntman Ray “Crash” Corrigan, who envisioned the site as the perfect backdrop for westerns. And indeed it was, since a thousand or so movies and television shows were shot there. Eventually, the property was sold to Bob Hope, before becoming part of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District in 1988.

Now, most of the ranch is gone--the sets, the lake and the trading post. Only cement foundations remain. And the recent storms, have again, albeit temporarily, shut things down.

Yet, through it all, Corriganville, the place and the idea, has been maintained by preservationists, film buffs and regular folk who, as Hulse put it “have been using it, not legally, but by just sort of slipping in,” for years.

“The thing that impressed me most about Corriganville,” said Hulse, “is that while the ranch is all but gone, you can see these rock outcroppings and remember scenes from the ‘Lone Ranger’ and ‘Gunsmoke.’ ”

A bit of history, one of time’s better aspects.