Westworld Filming Locations: Where TV's Westworld was filmed: Las Mudas

Q. What is it supposed to be on the show?

A. A small Mexican border town, with Mission-style architecture and a public plaza.

Q. When do we see it?

A. We first see Las Mudas in Episode 2, where the Man in Black kills Lawrence's family, one by one, to make them reveal the secret of the Maze.

We see the pueblo again in Episode 4, where Dolores speaks with Lawrence's surviving daughter at the fountain, while the girl draws a picture of the maze in the dirt at her feet.

Q. What is it in real life?

A. A permanent set on a movie ranch.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This is a permanent Mexican town set standing at Veluzat Ranch (it is sometimes referred to as the "Diamond V Ranch"), a movie ranch which has the official address of 28100 Haskell Canyon Road, in Santa Clarita, CA.

But that's not where it really is. It's actually located out in the hills about a mile and a half to the northwest, of that official address, off a long, dirt road.

( See my page about the Abernathy Ranch to learn more about movie ranches. Suffice it to say that a movie ranch is most often a large parcel of open, undeveloped land here in L.A., used by film-makers when they need to shoot a Western or any film that needs to look like it's in the past or out in rural country. )

I've seen photos of the plaza area when there was a Spanish fountain in that pool (the one that shows up on Westworld as a low well). I suspect they removed the fountain for the scene.

This Mexican town set is only one of several sets at this smaller movie ranch; others include a '50s town and diner, a rustic cabin, a tavern, a gas station, etc.

Here is a photo of that Mexican town set at Veluzat Ranch:

Veluzat Ranch is about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

It's about seven miles north of Melody Ranch, another key filming location for the Westworld series, and about 20 miles northwest of Big Sky Ranch (as the crow flies).

Here is a map link.

The GPS coordinates are roughly 34.483977, -118.507194

And here is a Google Earth view (with a marker near the Spanish well).

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. After over a decade of tracking down filming locations, I'm familiar with most of the movie ranches.

I found Veluzat Ranch, for instance, while looking for a location from "Teen Wolf", and I simply recognized this Spanish set.

There aren't many mission-style church sets around L.A. The only other one was at Universal Studios (which was used as "Pariah" in Westworld), and recently I hear that Blue Cloud ranch added a new mission-style church set. But it was easy to match up the screenshots with photos of Veluzat Ranch.