Anyone familiar with "The Lone Ranger" remembers its classic opening credits, as the masked hero sped along on his white horse 'Silver', through rugged Western territory, firing his six-shooter.

Then, with a his hearty cry of "Hi, ho, Silver!', his steed reared up on its hind legs, next to a uniquely-shaped rock.

So, you may ask, where was that "Lone Ranger" rock?  Is it still around to be found after all these years?

The answer is yes, it is.

You'll find it still standing out in Chatsworth, in northwest corner of the San Fernando Valley. It can be seen from traffic on the east side of Redmesa Road, just north of Santa Susana Road (only a few miles from the Woodlawn cemetery, where Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers are buried).

• From that cemetery, head back east to Topanga Canyon Blvd, then take Topanga Canyon a mile and a half north to Santa Susana Road and make a left. Follow Santa Susana west about a third of a mile to Redmesa Road and turn right (north). About halfway up the hill (after you drive only about 250 yards up Redmesa), the rock will be visible (through the trees and bushes along the side of the road) on your right (east) side.
  
  
• Or, from the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway, take the Topanga Canyon Blvd offramp and go about a third of a mile south to Santa Susana. Make a right and go west on Santa Susana to Redmesa Road, then turn right. Here is a map, with the locations marked.

The once wild area is slowly building in with condos. so it may not be there forever.

Be warned that to actually reach the rock on foot (and see it from the front), you have to climb down a steep incline. So exercise reasonable caution...

Here are some photos of the rock, courtesy of Rich Barnes. Click on them to see larger versions.

Click on the photos above to see larger versions of the images

View from the road.

Close look at the Lone Ranger rock.










• If the scenery in some of those old TV Westerns such as "THE RIFLEMAN" and "HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL" looks alike to you, that may be because many of them were shot in the same place: a mock western town inside the Paramount Ranch (at 1813 Cornell Road, Agoura). It's now a part of the Malibu Creek State Park, and is open to the public. Recently, they filmed the TV series "DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN" at the ranch.
  
  
  

• Other western TV series, such as some episodes of "THE LONE RANGER" and "HOPALONG CASSIDY," (as well as the 1995 movie "WILD BILL") were filmed at Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio, at 24715 Oak Creek Avenue, in Newhall, CA (out near Magic Mountain.)
  
  You can visit the ranch each March during the annual Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival.
  
  
  

Remember Ozzie & Harriet and Ricky Nelson? Well, in their old TV sitcom, the Nelsons lived at the fictitious address of the 822 Sycamore Road.



But in reality, you can find that house from "THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE & HARRIET SHOW" at 1822 Camino Palmero Drive, in Hollywood. It was the Nelson's family's actual home. That short, hilly street is located above Hollywood Boulevard, half a mile east of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Alas, the current owner has drastically remodeled the estate, so you won't recognize the old place. The mansion was originally built in 1935 by millionaire Lynn Atkinson, but his wife thought it was too ostentatious, and refused to live there!

• If you're old enough (or if you're just a fan of classic reruns), you may remember the TV series "77 SUNSET STRIP," and its neighbor, "Dino's Lodge." Well, Dino's Lodge is gone, but the real address of the old Lodge was 8524 Sunset Boulevard - right on the Strip. It is now home to the Tiffany Theatre.
  
  
  
  

"She took her daddy's car,
and she cruised to the hamburger stand, now.
Seems she forgot all about the library,
like she told her Old Man, now.
And with the radio blasting,
she goes cruising just as fast as she can, now.
And she'll have fun, fun, fun,
'till her daddy takes the T-Bird away!" *

  (*© Capitol Records, Inc.)

Remember those lyrics to the Beach Boys' song, "FUN FUN FUN" ?  Well, the Beach Boys grew up in Hawthorne, CA., and the "hamburger stand" mentioned in that song was actually a Foster's Freeze (which they nicknamed "Frostie's"). It seems that Brian Wilson spotted a friend driving by in her daddy's T-Bird... This Foster's Freeze is located at 11969 Hawthorne Blvd. (just north of 120th Street), in Hawthorne. It's on the west side of that street, just across from the Hawthorne Plaza Mall. It's still open for business. *

While in the Hawthorne area, you can also see a Beach Boys monument that was erected nearby, on the former site of the Wilson's family home, where the Beach Boys wrote and recorded many of their hits songs.