Golden Oak Ranch is an 890- acre (360- hectare ) movie ranch owned by the Walt Disney Studios subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that serves as a filming location and backlot . The ranch is off of Placerita Canyon Road outside of Newhall, Santa Clarita, California , less than an hour north of Los Angeles ; its entrance is not far from Placerita Canyon Road's intersection with California State Route 14 .
31-575: The ranch is on land that was part of the Rancho San Francisco land grant. Its name honors the first discovery of gold in California at the site by Francisco Lopez, years before the discovery that precipitated the California Gold Rush . The ranch has a heliport , grassy meadows , two creeks , a waterfall , and various Western sets. Walt Disney Productions first leased the land for
62-670: A California-bound gold-seeking emigrant party that was stranded and starving in Death Valley, some 250 miles to the northeast. Placerita Canyon State Park – California Historical Landmark No. 168 Oak of the Golden Dream: where Francisco López found gold. The marker reads: NO. 168 OAK OF THE GOLDEN DREAM – Francisco López made California's first authenticated gold discovery on March 9, 1842. While gathering wild onions near an oak tree in Placerita Canyon he found gold particles clinging to
93-434: A Drama Series, Semi Chellas and Matthew Weiner for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for "Lost Horizon", and Weiner in the same category for "Person to Person". For the 68th Writers Guild of America Awards , the series won for Best Drama and Matthew Weiner was nominated for Best Episodic Drama for "Person to Person". For the 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards , the cast was nominated for Best Drama Ensemble and Jon Hamm
124-429: A great deal of flooding , and ranchers were forced to mortgage their properties in order to sustain their needs during the interruption in producing their food and needs and other damages to the land and buildings. Feliz mortgaged her portion of the land to William Wolfskill , who returned a portion of it back to Del Valle in exchange for him settling her debts. Floods were followed by droughts , which again exacerbated
155-477: A local legend, Francisco López, the uncle of Antonio's second wife, Jacoba Feliz, took a rest under an oak tree in Placerita Canyon on March 9, 1842, and had a dream that he was floating on a pool of gold. When he awoke, he pulled a few wild onions from the ground finding flakes of gold in the roots. Contrary to this portrait of him as a farmer who stumbled upon his discovery, López had studied mineralogy at
186-469: A rail line to Los Angeles and sold them a portion of the land, upon which sprang a new town that the company named after him, Newhall . Another town grew around the train station and Newhall named it after his hometown, Saugus . After Newhall's death in 1882, his heirs formed the Newhall Land and Farming Company , which managed the lands. In 1936, Atholl McBean, Newhall's grandson-in-law, found oil on
217-490: A second extension for the new studio's construction permit was granted, extending the permit to January 2019. The ranch was used to film the episodes of Spin and Marty , a popular segment of The Mickey Mouse Club and parts of Zorro . The first movie shot at the ranch was Toby Tyler . Most of the exterior scenes in Old Yeller were filmed here. The Bolton Estate scenes and several others from Disney's The Horse in
248-432: A sure-to-be-compelling climax." On Metacritic , the first part of the seventh season scored 85 out of 100 based on 26 reviews; the second part scored 83 out of 100, based on 19 reviews, both indicating "universal acclaim". For the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards , the first half of the season was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, Jon Hamm was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Christina Hendricks
279-508: Is also the setting of Dwight Schrute 's farm on several episodes of The Office , and has also been used for the exterior downtown scenes of WandaVision . The official video of Ed Sheeran ' s song Overpass Graffiti was filmed there. The music video for HelloGoodbye 's song " Here (In Your Arms) " was also filmed there. Rancho San Francisco Rancho San Francisco was a land grant in present-day northwestern Los Angeles County and eastern Ventura County , California . It
310-470: The Mickey Mouse Club "Adventures of Spin & Marty" segments in the 1950s . The company bought the 315-acre (127 ha) ranch in 1959 for $ 300,000 (~$ 2.4 million in 2023). Subsequent purchases of adjacent land increased the area of the ranch to 890 acres (360 ha). A business district set and residential street set were built on the ranch by 2012. The district set has 42 stores, while
341-651: The Mexican-American War , the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, Jacoba Feliz filed a claim for Rancho San Francisco in 1852. She received a patent for 48,611.88 acres in 1875. Ygnacio Del Valle received the westernmost portion of 13,599 acres (55.03 km ), Feliz (now Salazár) took 21,307 acres (86.23 km ), and her six children received 4,684 acres (18.96 km ) each. Unfortunately, at this time Southern California experienced
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#1732876389876372-704: The Santa Clara River in what is now the unincorporated community of Castaic Junction . Following the Mexican War of Independence , the missions were secularized and the land taken by the Mexican government. In 1834, Lieutenant Antonio del Valle was assigned to inventory the property of Mission San Fernando. The rancho was supposed to be returned to the Tataviam, but Governor Alvarado deeded it to his friend Del Valle instead on January 22, 1839. The Del Valle family moved into
403-532: The University of Mexico and had been actively searching for gold. Evidence suggests that gold had previously been found in the area about thirty years prior, but the López gold find was the first popularly documented incident in the area. This sparked a gold rush on a much smaller scale than the 1849 California Gold Rush . About 2,000 people, mostly from the Mexican state of Sonora , came to Rancho San Francisco to mine
434-847: The Gray Flannel Suit was shot here. The town featured in Roots: The Next Generations was also built on the Golden Oak Ranch. Other films and television shows that were shot on this location include: The ranch has also been used for filming Colonel Sanders commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken , and the music video for Jordin Sparks ' song, Battlefield . A covered bridge spans the man-made stream featured in Follow Me, Boys! , episodes of Bonanza , The Greatest American Hero , various episode of multiple Star Trek series and
465-511: The Year and Outstanding Achievement in Drama, and Hamm won for Individual Achievement in Drama. For the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards , Jon Hamm won for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series after eight consecutive nominations. The series received nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, Elisabeth Moss for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Christina Hendricks for Outstanding Supporting Actress in
496-591: The administrators there realized they would need more land for agriculture and livestock, and they looked north to the Santa Clarita Valley to establish their estancia , or mission rancho. Subsequently, the Tataviam who had been living there were relocated to the Mission, where they were baptized and conscripted for work. The Estancia de San Francisco Xavier was built in 1804 at the confluence of Castaic Creek and
527-511: The boundary of what was Rancho San Francisco. The adobe headquarters of the rancho, and the site of the gold find (known today as the "Oak of the Golden Dream"), are designated California Historical Landmarks . The rancho included portions of the San Gabriel , Santa Susana , Topatopa , and Sierra Pelona Mountain ranges . After Mission San Fernando Rey de España was established in 1797,
558-675: The final two episodes which are 54 and 57 minutes, respectively. The first part of season 7 begins in January 1969, several weeks after the Thanksgiving 1968 ending of season 6, with characters dealing with the dynamics of lives and offices being split between New York and Los Angeles , and ends in July 1969. The second part of season 7 takes place between April and November 1970. Both halves received critical acclaim, and based on year-end lists published by television critics, Mad Men ' s seventh season
589-401: The first half, titled "The Beginning", aired from April 13 to May 25, 2014; and the second half, titled "The End of an Era", aired from April 5 to May 17, 2015. The first part of the seventh season was released on Blu-ray/DVD on October 21, 2014, and the second half was released on October 13, 2015. Each episode in the season has a running time of approximately 48 minutes, with the exception of
620-429: The former estancia buildings (near what is now Castaic ). Del Valle died in 1841. On his deathbed, he attempted to reconcile with his estranged son Ygnacio by writing him a letter and offering the entire rancho to him as his inheritance. Del Valle died before his son received the letter. Ygnacio did return and took possession of the land, but after a lawsuit the property was split with his stepmother. According to
651-443: The gold. Knowledge of the gold find seems to have remained largely within Mexican territory. John Sutter and his "right-hand man" John Bidwell , both of whom sided with Governor Manuel Micheltorena during his power struggle with former governor Juan Bautista Alvarado , were imprisoned after the latter's side won the bloodless Battle of Providencia in 1845. After their release, Bidwell headed north through Placerita Canyon, saw
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#1732876389876682-536: The mining operations, and was determined to search for gold on his way to Sutter's Fort . During the Mexican–American War , Del Valle destroyed the mine to prevent the United States from gaining its control. The tree where López took his nap is now known as the "Oak of the Golden Dream" and is registered as California Historic Landmark #168. With the cession of California to the United States following
713-503: The property and changed the name to Newhall Ranch. California Historical Landmark No. 556 Rancho San Francisco Adobe marker reads: NO. 556 RANCHO SAN FRANCISCO – Approximately one-half mile south of the point was the adobe headquarters of Rancho San Francisco, originally built about 1804 as a granary of Mission San Fernando. The rancho was granted to Antonio de Valle in 1839. Here, in January 1850, William Lewis Manly and John Rogers obtained supplies and animals to rescue their comrades in
744-607: The ranchers' problems. Finally, in 1862 Del Valle was forced to sell off most of his land to oil speculators (the Philadelphia and California Petroleum Company headed by Thomas A. Scott ), keeping only his Rancho Camulos . The oilmen were unable to find any oil, and Rancho San Francisco eventually landed in the hands of Henry Newhall , whose name is now closely associated with the Santa Clarita Valley area. Newhall granted right-of-way to Southern Pacific Railroad to build
775-468: The residential set has 23 houses all with separate architectural style. In May 2013, Disney announced plans to redevelop 58 acres (23 ha) of the property into a new film and television production studio, consisting of six new sound stages and production offices. The site will be called Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch. The project was approved by Los Angeles County in August 2013. In October 2017,
806-559: The roots of the bulbs. The San Fernando placers and nearby San Feliciano Canyon were worked by Sonoran miners using panning, sluicing and dry washing methods. Lopez's find predated James Marshall strike at Sutter's Mill by six years. Mad Men (season 7)#Episodes The seventh and final season of the American television drama series Mad Men premiered on April 13, 2014, and concluded on May 17, 2015, on AMC . The season consists of 14 episodes split into two, seven-episode parts:
837-493: Was a grant of 48,612 acres (19,673 ha) by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Antonio del Valle, a Mexican army officer, in recognition for his service to Alta California . It is not related to the city of San Francisco . The rancho is the location of the first popularly known finding of gold in the Southern California area in 1842, in Placerita Canyon . Much of the present day city of Santa Clarita lies within
868-409: Was filmed here and part of Short Circuit was filmed here as well. According to Phil Abraham , parts of "The Hobo Code" (a first-season episode of Mad Men ) were filmed here (specifically, the scenes of Don Draper 's childhood). The rural farmhouse set on the ranch (known as "Olivia's House") played the part of Margaret Sterling's hippie commune in the fourth episode of Season 7 of Mad Men . It
899-413: Was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and Robert Morse was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. For the 67th Writers Guild of America Awards , the series was nominated for Best Drama Series and Jonathan Igla and Matthew Weiner were nominated for Best Episodic Drama for "A Day's Work". For the 31st TCA Awards , the series was nominated for Program of
930-522: Was the seventh most acclaimed series of 2014 for its first seven episodes, and was the second most acclaimed series of 2015 for its final episodes. The seventh season of Mad Men received acclaim. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 90% of 510 critics reviewed the season favorably with an average score of 8.85/10. The site's consensus is: "Just in time to rekindle viewers' interest, Mad Men gets back on track for one last season, revisiting its steady, deliberate pace and style on its way to
961-762: Was used for parts of the music video of Amaranth by Nightwish . The exterior house featured in the original 1961 film The Parent Trap was also shot on the ranch, as was the Peabody farm from the Universal film Back to the Future . It was also used for the filming of three of the five Herbie films, including two scenes at the lake in The Love Bug and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo , along with Alonzo Hawk 's dream sequence in Herbie Rides Again . In 1985, Big Top Pee-wee