MovieChat Forums > Bonanza (1959) Discussion > Where was it filmed?

Where was it filmed?

posted 8 years ago by samslick
6 replies | jump to latest

Nevada? LA?

Ever tried checking the front page. ?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052451/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt

[–] samslick 8 years ago

That's a lot of flying back and forth to film the episodes.

[–] steve8171968 8 years ago

I live in Massachusetts, and back in the 80s, friends and I used to go to a Ponderosa restaurant in Danvers. Had no idea it was started by Hoss (Dan Blocker), as Bonanza, then the name was changed to Ponderosa. I think I found it either in Dan's trivia or the Bonanza trivia. Interesting!

[–] DrakeStraw 8 years ago

... I used to go to a Ponderosa restaurant in Danvers. Had no idea it was started by Hoss (Dan Blocker), as Bonanza, then the name was changed to Ponderosa.

Actually, the Bonanza and Ponderosa Steak Houses coexisted as two separate companies 1965-1997 and then merged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponderosa_Steakhouse_and_Bonanza_Steakhouse

DrakeStraw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponderosa_Steakhouse_and_Bonanza_Steakhouse
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[–] hnow 8 years ago

It was filmed on the Paramount western street set for the town scenes and on a sound stage for most of it. Outdoors scenes were filmed in the LA area as were many other western TV shows of that era. Thousand Oaks was a popular area, which is not all paved over. The place with all the large boulders was split by a highway and made unusable for TV productions. Later in the series they did more location shots outdoors in the Tahoe area. But it was very rarely done. The replica ranch house was built as a tourist attraction, not for filming the show. Only a few times they used an exterior shot of the place on the show.

[–] chocknog 8 years ago

The Ranch was called the 'Ponderosa' and so called after the 'Ponderosa' strain of Pine trees that grow around Lake Tahoe.
This was a snippet of Bonanza trivia I picked up during a Skiing holiday at 'Heavenly' near Tahoe City.