The heir to a 400-acre pair of movie ranches in Santa Clarita that served as an Old West backdrop to films from “Ride ’Em Cowboy” to “Oppenheimer” has listed them for $35 million.
Derek Hunt, who inherited the adjoining Sable Ranch and Rancho Maria from his grandfather, Frank Vacek, has put them up for sale at 25933 Sand Canyon Road, in Canyon Country, the New York Times and Commercial Observer reported.
In the 1940s, the century-old ranches once drew the likes of Abbott and Costello to practice their schtick in “Ride ’Em Cowboy,” while Elizabeth Taylor and Charlton Heston came out to perfect their horseback-riding skills a decade later.
In the 1970s, camera shop owner Vacek bought the chaparral-covered ranches, surrounded on three sides by the Angeles National Forest, and built a Western movie set.
Sable Ranch, home to such film and TV productions as “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” “American Horror Story” and the Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer,” it also hosted such music videos as Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” and obstacle game shows such as “Wipeout.”
In recent years, the ranch has hosted “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Criminal Minds” and “24.”
The sister ranches, which sit within two Hollywood zones that offer filmmakers reduced labor costs, include the frontier set with its dusty saloons, which Hunt rebuilt after a wildfire tore through Santa Clarita in 2016. He formally inherited the ranch in 2020.
It also includes many of its original structures, including a Spanish-style ranch house that dates to 1900, plus five houses and two apartments for film crews with 14 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. There’s also a four-car train, green screen and parking for 200 cars.
The spread is zoned for agriculture, filming, recreation and potential residential or commercial subdivisions, according to CBRE.
Brokers Sam Glendon and Craig Peters of CBRE, and Aaron Kirman of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, hold the listing.
Glendon told the Observer that several buyers have already “expressed interest” in the ranches.
Hunt, unmarried with no kids, said he’s ready to sell.
“I want to make sure it has a future home and a legacy,” Hunt told the Times. “It can be used either as a big family property or a movie studio. To have a place where Harrison Ford can fly his helicopter to work, where you can build Alaska, it really is a one-off place.”
— Dana Bartholomew
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