Map of Locations   Home Page

 
Vasquez Rocks Filmography
Scarlet River
Son of the Border
Young Buffalo Bill
Apache Rose
The Gallant Legion
The Last Bandit
The Last Musketeer
Fury at Gunsight Pass
Hearts of the West
The Gene Autry Show
Lassie
Cheyenne
Gunsmoke
Bonanza
Laredo
Vasquez Rocks named for the California bandit, Tiburcio Vasquez, is one of the most uniquely recognizable film locations to appear on the screen. Through the years, Vasquez Rocks has been home to many. The area was first occupied by ancestors of the Chumash and later by the Tataviam Indians (related linguistically to the Shoshone) who arrived around 450 AD and are responsible for the petroglyphs found in these rocks. Among the various rock paintings are volcanoes, suns, people, lizards and other creatures. In 1871, Tiburcio Vasquez, the so-called Scourge of California, began using the craggy rocks as a hideout. Vasquez was born Jose Jesus Lopez on August 11, 1835 in Monterey, Alta California. His first brush with the law came in 1854, when he and a friend, Anastacio Garcia, while engaged in a saloon brawl, a local constable, William Hardmount, was murdered. With the law in pursuit, Jose Lopez fled and changed his name to Tiburcio Vasquez, embarking into a life as a bandit. He joined a gang of desperados, and in time became leader of his own group which ranged up and down central and southern California. By age 20, he was rustling cattle and robbing freight wagons. In 1857, Vasquez was captured, convicted of horse-stealing and sent to San Quentin Prison. He escaped two years later and hid near Idria only to be recaptured after a few months where he remained in prison until his release in 1863. Returning soon to a life of crime, he would serve an additional three years in San Quentin. His exploits, which traversed the length of California, would rival those of the more famous Joaquin Murieta, California's first real outlaw. It is reported that Vasquez would occasionally ride into Newhall and steal horses while holed up at Vasquez Rocks. The ever increasing crime spree became intolerable on August 13, 1873 when Vasquez and his gang raided the town of Tres Pinos, south of Hollister, robbing Snyder's General Store and killing three. On November 12, 1873, he and his gang ransacked the town of Kingston, robbing and tying up its male residents. Vasquez sought refuge, escaping to southern California, where he managed to elude capture for several months by hiding in the Tejon Pass area. Vasquez string of robberies and violence continued through the end of the year and into the next. On February 25, 1874, he and his gang robbed the Bakersfield Stagecoach at Coyote Holes in the Mojave Desert. Shortly thereafter, California Governor Newton Booth authorized a posse, headed by Alameda County Sheriff Harry Morse, to go after Vasquez - $8,000 alive and $6,000 dead. After a falling out with his gang, Vasquez parted ways and hid in an area near Los Angeles in the cabin of 'Greek' George Caralambo's ranch, a former camel driver. The events that followed are somewhat vague however, Vasquez was a well-known ladies' man. Some reports claim that either he had an affair with Rosaria Leiva, the wife of a fellow gang member, Abdon Leiva, or with his own niece. Regardless with whom, either Leiva, motivated by jealousy, or the girl's family betrayed Vasquez, turning State's evidence against him to Los Angeles Sheriff William Roland. He was finally captured on May 13, 1874 at 'Greek' George's residence, believed to be present day West Hollywood. News of his capture excited residents of Los Angeles, and the word quickly spread throughout the city. Vasquez spent nine days in the Los Angeles County jail while news of his capture spread statewide. While in the County jail, there were many requests from newspaper reporters to interview Vasquez, but only three were allowed - two from the San Francisco Chronicle and one from the Los Angeles Star. He was transported from Los Angeles to San Francisco in late May 1874 by steamship, Senator, and eventually to San Benito County and then to San Jose for trial. Vasquez became somewhat of a celebrity and folk hero to fellow Spanish speaking Californians. His jail cell became a major tourist draw from the thousands of people that visited. Vasquez was charming to all. He went as far as to pose for photos and sign autographs. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to hang in January 1875 by presiding judge David Belden. The trial took only four days and the jury deliberated for two hours before declaring him guilty of two counts of murder in the Tres Pinos outrage. Visitors to Vasquez' jail cell continued to number in the thousands as he waited the day of his hanging. Clemency was denied and Vasquez was hanged by Santa Clara Sheriff Adams at 1:35 p.m. on March 19, 1875 in San Jose, California ending his life of crime. Unlike Murieta, Vasquez' name never became a legend. He was buried in the old Santa Clara Mission Cemetery and few today realize that he was once one of the most famous bandits in California.

In 1910, Henry Krieg homesteaded the rocks. Recognizing the uniqueness of the area, the enterprising Mr. Krieg built cabins on the property then rented to visitors. He also built a dam that supplied water to those who lived on his property. During the depression, visitors were charged 25 cents a carload to see the rocks. The fascination with these rocks has been captured time and time again by the Hollywood studios that have been using this locale as a backdrop for both the silver screen as well as for television. Prior to the advent of movie-making this area was simply known as the 'Rocks'. The area took its' present name probably after the filming of Zorro whose Hollywood character is modeled after the bandit Vasquez. Vasquez Rocks, the magnificent, south-facing hogback ridge formation created 25 million years ago presumably by an earthquake that squeezed the rocks upward at a 45-degree angle toward the sky is now part of a 900-acre County Park, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It lies cradled by the San Gabriel mountain range on the west and the Sierra Pelonas to the north.

Starting in 1930's, Vasquez Rocks became a frequent backdrop on the silver screen especially in the western genre of filmmaking. Stars such as Buck Jones, Tom Mix, John Wayne, Tom Keene, Fred Kohler and many others have captured the rocks on celluloid. The Texas Ranger (1931) has Jim Logan (Buck Jones), an undercover ranger, posing as a cowhand to help capture a gang turned outlaw headed by Helen Clayton (Carmelita Geraghty) whose father was killed by Nevada (Harry Woods), a bad guy who has his men burning out the local ranchers. Vasquez Rocks are also easily identifiable in RKO's Son of the Border (1933) starring Tom Keene and The Girl and the Gambler (1939) starring Leo Carrillo and Tim Holt. In a horror classic of the 1930's, Vasquez Rocks doubled as a mountaintop in Tibet for the botanical expedition of Dr. Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) who is attacked in the dark by a strange animal in Werewolf of London (1935). Upon returning to London, he finds himself turning nightly into a werewolf and terrorizing the city, with the only hope for curing his affliction with a rare Asian flower that is also being sought by Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland). Republic Pictures' John Wayne and Vera Ralston rode together in a stagecoach past Vasquez Rocks on their way to Dakota (1945). Several of the 1940's B-westerns to use Vasquez Rocks included Tex Ritter's Golden Trail (1940), Roy Rogers' Young Buffalo Bill (1940), Colorado (1940), Jesse James at Bay (1941) and Sunset on the Desert (1942), Don Barry's Arizona Terror (1942), Monte Hale's Along the Oregon Trail (1947) and Rex Allen's The Last Musketeer (1952). In Republic Pictures' The Last Musketeer (1952), Vasquez Rocks is not only visible throughout the movie it also appears in the opening title scene. In the 1950's, the colorful rocks appeared on several Technicolor productions including Sugarfoot (1951) starring Randolph Scott, Conquest of Cochise (1953) starring Robert Stack, Massacre Canyon (1954) starring Phil Carey, and Shotgun (1955) starring Sterling Hayden just to name a few. With the popularity of the television western in the 50's and 60's and the relative proximity of Vasquez Rocks to Los Angeles the area became a favorite location site. TV westerns like The Lone Ranger, The Gene Autry Show, Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, Broken Arrow, Bonanza, Laramie, The Big Valley, Laredo, The Wild Wild West, The High Chaparral and Hondo have all used Vasquez Rocks in some of their episodes. Besides being a popular location for westerns, Vasquez Rocks has also doubled as Colonial India in the 1950's television series Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers. The 26-episode series was produced by Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, and aired during the 1956-1957 television season. For the series, the studio erected a large fort on the level field between the major rock formation and the current Antelope Valley Freeway (Highway 14) at a cost of $117,843.17. Upon termination of the series the fort was apparantly left on site for several years until the Park Department finally torn it down presumably for safety reasons.

With the waning popularity of westerns in the late 1960's, TV themes turned to sci-fi and once again Vasquez Rocks appeared in such episodes of Star Trek, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century just to name a few. In the Star Trek (The Original Series) Episode 18 - Arena (1/19/67) Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) battles the lizard-like Gorn Commander (Bobby Clark) on the surface of an uninhabited asteroid (Vasquez Rocks). As expected, Kirk is the victor and boldly goes on to command the U.S.S. Enterprise for three more seasons. In Episode 27 - The Alternative Factor (3/30/67) the Enterprise experiences a moment of 'nonexistence' while orbiting what should be a dead planet (Vasquez Rocks). A Crew is sent down to explore the planet when Captain Kirk finds a man called Lazarus. Lazarus has incredible mood swings one minute sane and rational, the next exhibiting violent rage. He apparantly has been chasing an enemy and wants the Enterprise's dilithium crystals to help continue the search. Kirk refuses to give him the crystals but the uncanny Lazarus steals them and returns to the planet. The search continues until the crystals are recovered. This episode was actually filmed in sequence following the Arena (Episode 18) but aired three months later.

During the 1980's, the stars of such television programs as Hunter, Hell Town and MacGyver were found chasing criminals over these rocks. Moviegoers of the 1980's would recognize Vasquez Rocks in the feature, Short Circuit (1986) starring Steve Guttenberg. In the 1990's, cinema features included Bette Midler's For the Boys (1991), John Goodman's The Flintstones (1994), Pauly Shore's In the Army Now (1994), Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jingle All the Way (1996) and Christian Slater's Very Bad Things (1998). Recent big screen editions included Planet of the Apes (2001), Rat Race (2001), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) and Bubble Boy (2001). In addition to cinema features and television shows, Vasquez Rocks has also appeared in many commercials including Taco Bell's Run For the Border, Discover Card, 7-Up and Chrysler's Cruiser Car.

Today, Vasquez Rocks County Park is commonly visited not only by camera work crews but also by hikers, picnickers and sightseers. The Krieg family, who initially homesteaded these 'Rocks', has since died and its members are buried here at the site.