Western Town, Reagan Ranch, Santa Susana Field Lab: The Woolsey fire torched them, but spared other famous sites

In its path of destruction from Agoura Hills to Malibu, the Woolsey fire has torn through notable, sometimes famous, Southern California locales, threatened scores of others and raised community concern about places dear to people’s hearts.

So far, the fire, which was sparked Thursday in the hills south of Simi Valley, has consumed more than 75,000 acres, burned 150 homes and forced 250,000 people from their homes.

 

With heavy winds threatening over the next few days, fire officials were scattered all over the region to hold the line against a giant blaze that is threatening people and property.

• Read related fire updates here

For some local landmarks, it was simply too late. And others came frighteningly close to the flames.

Western Town

The venerable old motion picture set in Agoura’s Paramount Ranch was destroyed by the fire.

“It’s a tremendous loss,” said Tommy Gelinas, curator and founder of the Valley Relics Museum. “It is in so many ways directly related to our pop cultural history. It’s a really sad day, a sad week… to lose something of that historical value.”

From the 1920s through to today, the site,  nestled between Kanan Road and Muholland Highway, south of the 101 Freeway —  was both a production ground for TV shows and films. In modern times, think HBO’s “Westworld” and in the 1990s, “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”

Back in the last century, think Cecil B. Demille and actors like Bob Hope, Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert.

Reagan Ranch

ABC News reported that a portion of Reagan Ranch, now part of Malibu Creek State Park, was torched.

Ronald Reagan bought the 305-acre ranch in the Malibu Hills as a place to raise thoroughbred horses, according to an LA Times article back in 1989.

Back in the 1950s, when Reagan hosted TV’s “Death Valley Days,” it was reportedly a more rural retreat than his Pacific Palisades home.

The land ultimately became a retreat for hikers who liked to stroll the ranch’s meadows and oaks.

Flames engulf a portion of the Reagan Ranch, once owned by former Pres. Ronald Reagan, at Malibu Creek State Park as the Woolsey Fire has forced the city of Malibu to evacuate. https://t.co/Te4y8wbta9 pic.twitter.com/ezSTl391x4

— ABC News (@ABC) November 10, 2018

The Peter Strauss Ranch

The site, in the Aguora Hills, was full of oak woodlands, trails and an amphitheater. It was named for Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Strauss. It’s where, according to the National Park Service, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson performed in the 1950s.

But on Saturday, fans were lamenting its fate.

Santa Monica Mountains

The mountains near Malibu were also where the TV show M*A*S*H was filmed, and there was concern about that area as the Woolsey fire swept through the Malibu hills.

One report, from social media, noted that the fire had found its it way to camps near the former TV set.

The Fire has now swept all the way down to The Salvation Camp Crags and Gilmore sites near Malibu, not far from the MASH set. Thousands of underprivileged children attend camps there each year – fear of total loss. Hopefully sparedthough, won’t know until the smoke settles. pic.twitter.com/DtBa0I0V8u

— Dalita Lovett (@DalitaBLovett) November 10, 2018

Santa Susana Laboratory

The fire itself started in an area that has a history, more notorious than beloved.

It began as a brush fire near the site of a partial nuclear meltdown at the Santa Susana Laboratory in Simi Valley.

The laboratory is the site of a series of nuclear reactor accidents, including a partial meltdown in the 1959, and a place where tens of thousands of rocket engine tests took place using propellants that are known carcinogens.

The burned through a portion of the site, but did not pose any additional public health threats.

Spared

Other places were spared, even though they may have come uncomfortably close to flames.

Pepperdine University in Malibu ordered its students and faculty to shelter in place Friday night, while the rest of the city was evacuating.

Ultimately, the fire had found its way on campus, though it didn’t do much damage there.

The Malibu Times ran a list of lucky locations on its Facebook page.

It included:

• The Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue (no known damage);
• The Rock Store (a popular biker destination);
• Malibu Seafood (no known damage);
• And several other local churches, schools and stores.

Also, USA TODAY reported that the mansion at which the ABC-TV reality shows “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” survived.

Staff writer Timothy Guy contributed to this story.