Simi Valley city feature
About this landmark
The park occupies the site of a former working movie ranch, now offering trails and historical remains.
Corriganville Park is located at 7001 Smith Road, Simi Valley, CA 93063, and is open dawn to dusk daily. The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District reopened it to the public in May 1998. The site features over four miles of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails; sandstone cliffs; oak forest; seasonal streams; picnic areas; and the Camp Rotary Youth Campground. No movie-ranch buildings survive standing on site today. What remains are foundations, interpretive signage with historical photographs, and remains of historical movie sets.
The Movie Ranch Era and Film Production History
The park was named for Ray "Crash" Corrigan, a stuntman and actor who developed the site as a working movie ranch. Over 3,500 movies, television shows, and commercials were filmed at Corriganville, including Fort Apache, Jungle Jim, The Three Musketeers, Bonanza, and The Lone Ranger. Corrigan operated the ranch until 1965, when he sold it to comedian Bob Hope.
The movie-ranch structures did not survive intact past the twentieth century. Major wildfires in 1970 and 1979 destroyed virtually all remaining movie-set structures and buildings; some structures had already been damaged or removed around the time of the 1965 ownership transition. In 1988, the City of Simi Valley acquired 190 acres—the principal working areas of the former ranch—to establish the regional park. A fire in November 2018 caused additional extensive damage to remaining site elements and structures.
Today's Park and Historical Site Remains
What is visible on site today consists of concrete and brick foundations, remains of movie-era and theme-park structures, hiking trails, rock formations, and interpretive signage featuring historical photographs from the ranch's operational period. The park serves simultaneously as a recreational destination and an outdoor history museum for the community. Visitors can walk the extensive trail system and observe foundations and ruins marking where film sets, western town structures, and buildings once stood, understanding the historical land use through the interpretive materials provided at various site locations.
The transformation from working movie ranch to public park reflects the broader changes in land use across Simi Valley during the latter half of the twentieth century. Destructive wildfires removed the built structures while preserving the natural landscape features—sandstone cliffs, oak forest, seasonal streams, and extensive trails—allowing the environment to become the primary focus of public experience. The park's current design balances recreation with education, enabling visitors to appreciate both the natural setting and the site's significant role in Hollywood's location-filming history.
Insurance connection: Flood insurance requirements
Flood damage coverage is not included in standard homeowners policies. In California, flood protection is provided through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a federal program administered by FEMA. New NFIP policies typically take effect 30 days after purchase, though waiting periods are waived for mortgage lenders in high-risk zones. Flood coverage protects against inundation, overflow, and mudflow, but excludes earth movement like landslides. The California FAIR Plan excludes storm-related damage unless supplemented by a private difference-in-conditions policy. Eligibility depends on the individual policy. The issued policy controls.
Primary sources: Rancho Simi park page and Wikipedia Corriganville article document the park's current operations, history, and remaining structures from the film-production era.
Insurance context is general information only. The issued policy and its endorsements settle coverage.