Santa Clarita City Briefs

Number two on the City Briefs list of reasons to visit the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival is a chance to visit the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio. Melody Ranch is a virtual pantheon of film history, home to over well over 1000 feature films and television programs, and it’s only open to the general public once a year during the Cowboy Festival.

Melody Ranch is the perfect setting for a trip back to the old west.

 From the climatic showdown in High Noon, to the setting of Gunsmoke and most recently the HBO hit series Deadwood, you’ve likely aleady seen Melody Ranch hundreds of times and never even realized it. The History of Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio is as rich as it is extensive. [Click for SCVTV.com's Leon Worden's excellent "Newsmaker" interview with Andree and Renaut Valuzet about the ranch]

One of the great attractions at the ranch is the museum that’s open all weekend-long. The museum has amazing memorobialia from decades of production. It’s a must-see if you’re even the most causual fan of cinema.

Add festival-goers in full regalia and it’s like stepping back in time. Unlike some western movie sets or even ghoust towns, Melody Ranch looks more like a vibrant Dodge City in the middle of the gold rush. Another feature which differentiates the movie ranch is that the street is not lined with facades - the buildings have interiors too. Go into the saloon, and it’s a saloon. Go into the jail and you’ll find a cell. In fact, real live 21st century Sheriff’s use the jail as a base of operations to “keep the peace.”

Whether you’re among the Cowboy Festival faithful or a “first timer,” the experience of walking down the same street as movie legends like Gene Autry, John Wayne and yes, even Elvis Presly is worth the price of admission alone.

Check out today’s KTLA coverage of the festival with early morning diva Allie MacKay