Paramount Ranch should be rebuilt after the destruction

The film takes place south of Agoura Hills, in Los Angeles County, in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, part of the National Parks Service. The set consisted of a series of buildings, but only the train station and a church built for HBO's "Westworld" remained after the flames.

The Woolsey fire began on November 8 near the Rocketdyne facility, south of Simi Valley.

Sara Horner, chair of the Santa Monica Mountains Fund non-profit fund's board of directors, said at a press conference Friday that it was time for Hollywood to give back and talk about it. Providing financial support.

She announced the creation of "The Paramount Project", as the nonprofit organization has called it, to restore an element of the film industry's culture and the natural beauty that surrounds it.

"This place represents the history of the film industry in Los Angeles as well as the natural setting of one of the world's most important biodiversity sites," Horner said.

Paramount Pictures purchased the 2,700-acre ranch in 1927. The current ranch has 765 acres. Although he changed ownership several times between 1957 and 1980, production continued. The National Park Service purchased part of Paramount's original property in 1980, according to the agency's website.

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More than 300 films, TV shows and commercials were shot at the ranch, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Western Town was established in the 1950s for television shows such as "The Cisco Kid". More recently, in the 1990s, she served as a backdrop for "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman ", according to the National Parks Service.

Approximately 88% of the lands within the boundaries of the national park have been burned and include Western Town and Paramount Ranch.

David Szymanski, Director of the National Recreation Area, said the ranch was two key human elements that would help motivate the recovery process.

"The first is the story. The story, in its simplest form, is a rumor, but in the form we've come to love, it's the magic of the movie, "Szymanski told the press conference. "And we hope to be able to tell the next story of this place very soon. … We would like Paramount Ranch to be rebuilt in the next 24 months. "

In the meantime, hope is to set up a temporary film set so that the park can derive much needed income from site fees. These fees also cover National Park Service employees who manage the area during filming, said Kate Kuykendall, spokesperson for the recreation area.

For the permanent assembly, measures will be taken to make it more fire resistant. The utility infrastructure also needs to be modernized, which was already planned because it goes back to the time when Paramount owned the property, Szymanski said.

He said the ranch is also a gaming area. It attracts 400,000 visitors a year and hosts public and private events such as the Topanga Banjo and the Fiddle Festival, as well as an annual celebration dedicated to the stars and many weddings.

Although the walls of flames and smoke columns have disappeared, firefighters continue to extend the containment lines around the burned area. Fire commanders said the burning area of ​​153 square miles (396 square kilometers) was surrounded by 78%.

The number of structures destroyed reached 713. Another 201 structures were damaged.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives were investigating three deaths. Two adults were found in an eviscerated car last week and one person 's remains were found Wednesday in the rubble of a house that had burned down.

At Paramount Ranch, structures that have served as barns, hotels, lounges and hair salons for decades of movies and television shows have disappeared. Workers will recover what they can and then work to rebuild.

The site began serving as a backdrop for Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and was taken over by the National Parks Service in 1980. It was the subject of a major restoration in 1985. The Parks Department tried to preserve as much as possible the buildings of origin. The corrugated iron roofs on many of them still date back to the 1920s. Now these roofs are burned and twisted on the ground like pieces of a plane crashed.

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The park employs a number of young people from disadvantaged communities in Ventura and Los Angeles counties looking to train future leaders. The plan is to continue the program but on a smaller scale, said Szymanski.

There are a number of issues that need to be addressed before the park opens, such as the condition of hiking trails, fallen power lines, and debris left in Western Town, which needs some kind of barrier to close them. .

Some archaeological work can be done in the burnt stacks, as some items deserving of preservation date back to the time Paramount owned the ranch, Szymanski said.

The ranch also intersects with lands overseen by California state parks. Both agencies will need to work together to ensure that all areas are open when it is safe for visitors to return.

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