Gene Autry bought 110 acres in 1952, then fire destroyed 54 buildings before he sold

Before Melody Ranch became associated with Gene Autry, it was already part of the machinery of early Hollywood. The Newhall property opened in 1915 as Monogram Studios, providing a ready-made setting for Western films at a time when the genre was becoming a staple of American cinema. John Wayne was among the performers whose early productions used the site. Autry had filmed there himself before purchasing it in 1952. Under his ownership, the ranch was renamed Melody Ranch and adapted to the demands of television, with several Flying A Pictures series made on its sets.The property later hosted a long list of Western programmes, from Hopalong Cassidy to Gunsmoke. Then a fire swept through Placerita Canyon in 1962. Fifty-four structures were destroyed, along with much of Autry's collection. What followed was not a clean ending, but decades of selling, rebuilding and changing use.Melody Ranch began as a Hollywood Western film studio in 1915The property was already established as a movie location when Gene Autry acquired it. Known as Monogram Studios, the Newhall ranch had opened in 1915, during the formative years of the Western film industry. Its sets were used for early Western produ...