Where We Be
We took a very bumpy ride in this stagecoach. Thankfully it was only fifteen minutes long!
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Old Tucson Studios -- Tucson, Arizona
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Talk about great movie lighting! And...action!
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Old Tucson Studios is an Old West movie
location and theme park. Located adjacent to
the Tucson Mountains, it offers a dramatic
backdrop and has been used in more than 300
movies and TV productions. It was originally
built in 1939 by Columbia Pictures as a replica of
1860s Tucson for the movie Arizona. After lying
dormant for a few years, it began being used as
a set for famous westerns such as Gunfight at
the OK Corral, Rio Bravo, and three other John
Wayne films. The television series Little House
on the Prairie was filmed here, although a fire in
1995 destroyed most of those buildings. More
recent movies filmed here include Three
Amigos, Young Guns II, and Tombstone.
Old Tucson Studios was opened to the public in
1960 and has become a popular site for
historical tours, western shootouts, and stunt
shows. Listed as one of the top attractions in
the Tucson area per TripAdvisor, it is located in
western Tucson quite close to the Sonora
Desert Museum. If you visit, be sure not to miss
Reno the locomotive, known as the most
photographed locomotive in American history.
We arrived just in time for a shootout
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Robin may have a long wait for that next train
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This was the set for the TV series "High Chaparral"
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Porch and wagon wheel at sunset
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Old Tucson Studios is located west of Tucson, so you get to drive over beautiful Gates Pass on your way back to town -- hopefully at sunset!
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This simple interior has been used in several Westerns
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Gotta love those PJ's and bloomers
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Typical Western main street
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The twenty minute reenactment followed the script of "The Quick and the Dead"
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Every character drew on every other character at least once
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Just look at the list of famous passengers who have boarded this train!
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View looking west from Gates Pass -- great way to finish a day!
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Blacksmith shop near sunset when most visitors had already left for the day
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Buildings are built to a slightly smaller scale to better fit on movie screens
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Dramatic lighting ready-made for a Western
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A highlight was seeing the locomotive Reno, which has been used in nearly 100 movies and TV shows
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Ready for her next trip out West
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Old Tucson Studios has served as the set for more than 300 movies and TV shows
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This mission backdrop has been used in numerous movies including "Three Amigos"
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At the mission we watched a comedic Western called "The Secret of Santa Maria"
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The Tucson Mountains have served as the backdrop for a huge number of Westerns
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This is the main street at the entrance to Old Tucson Studios
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The streets look empty enough for an actual movie shoot
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We happened to be there during the week of Arizona's centennial celebration
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Arizona has seen a whole lot of change in 100 years
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You're never too old to ride a carousel!
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By late afternoon the light had turned movie-set spectacular
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Robin's sister Win and brother-in-law Alan happened to be in Tucson the same time we were.
We shared Old Tucson Studios with them -- including an extremely bumpy stagecoach ride!
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The stagecoach enters town
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The Reno is known as the most photographed locomotive in American history
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Even the Wild West had product ads
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We took a spin on the small train that makes a loop around the Studio premises
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