Cowboy Buckaroo

Just 29 miles N.W. of Hollywood and 5 miles north of Chatsworth on Scenic Highway 118 lies a secret. A place that no longer exists as it once did but holds a memory or two for those that have traversed these dusty roads. This is the story of an old movie cowboy named Ray "Crash" Corrigan and the western town he created.

He started out as a trainer for stunt men and actors but was soon offered roles in B movies and it wasn't long after that somebody got the idea that he looked pretty good in a cowboy hat and boots. He made tons of movies and starred in many of them but it was the cowboy roles for which he would be remembered. When cowboy movies went big budget one of the actors he worked with was catapulted to even greater stardom. That actor was John Wayne. As a side note, when his career was winding down he played the monster in "It, The Terror From Beyond Space"which scared the bejabbers out of me when I was little. That film was the ancestor of the sci-fi shocker "Alien". But I digress.

He was called "Crash" because he was known to frequently fall off of his horse. His good nature allowed him to laugh at himself and he was only too happy to use the moniker. He saw some property in Simi Valley that was just so beautiful he had to have it. He built a western town on it and the rest is history. The town was known as Corriganville and became "One of the most interesting places in America to visit." It was used for countless movie westerns and was one of the most photographed movie ranches in history. In 1965 I visited Corriganville, not having the slightest idea of what niche it occupied in the annals of Hollywood history. All I knew is that Mom and Pop were taking a drive to a place where they had cowboys. And did they ever.



The ranch was much like a modern day theme park with skits where the bad guys would ride into town and start trouble only to be thwarted by the good guys, white hats and all. The shootouts were great and the Indians would side with the white hats to finish off the rustlers and restore order. I guess they felt they owed the Indians something after they'd swindled them out of all their land and possesions so allowing them to play the good guy seemed a fair reward. Every hour on the hour a new show would start up with the same plot and the same result...the good guys always won. That's the way it is in real life, right? Right?

We poked about the old town and took pictures...me and Pop standing on Main Street, my parents posing beside "Boot Hill", a cemetary complete with tombstones. It was on the dusty Main Street where Mom saw him first, "Oh my God! It's Crash Corrigan!" she cried. I didn't know who he was but this place bore his name so he must be important. She pointed to a man who sure looked like a cowboy and we excitedly quick-marched over to him. My parents encouraged me to ask him for his autograph which I promptly did. He smiled and said that he had to wait until he had lunch. OK. So I followed him to the cafe down the dusty street and he pulled up a chair at one of the tables and ordered what I thought was spaghetti. One of his employees, a cowboy from one of the street shows, came over to chat with him and they sat there for the better part of 45 minutes. I stood about 20 feet away and watched and waited for Crash.



He finished his meal and made good on his promise. He gave me his autograph and put me up on a horse where I pulled a six shooter on one of his cowboys. He then posed with me in some photos. Perfect. The cowboy and the little dork. His movie making days were behind him by a good 20 years but he was still good to his fans. I didn't know it but I became a Crash Corrigan fan right then. I had met a real movie cowboy, an oxymoron if there ever was one. But all I remembered is how good Crash was to me to this day, a nice man who became a big part of Hollywood history.

Corriganville would soon be a thing of the past. The property was bought by Bob Hope and soon Highway 118 would be built, bisecting the property. Later on it would be restarted in a different guise, as a kind of park for hikers and campers. The old movie town of Hollywood lore was just a memory now. A faded black and white photo yellowing with age but containing the animas of cowboys past. Yippee Kay-aye.