Paramount Pictures purchased what 2,400 acres in the Agoura Hills outside of Los Angeles in 1927. The studio established a faux ranch where they filmed western movies. According to the National Park Service's website:

For 25 years, a veritable who's who of Hollywood practiced their craft at Paramount Ranch including director Cecil B. Demille and actors Bob Hope, Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert... It offered film makers the freedom to create distant locales such as colonial Massachusetts in The Maid of Salem (1937), ancient China in The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938), a South Seas island in Ebb Tide (1937) and numerous western locations including San Francisco in Wells Fargo. 

The property had a variety of owners after World War II, but in 1980 the National Park Services purchased the land and restored the ranch. Birders should be happy the property was made public because it is a convenient and picturesque place to bird during nesting season. Recent sightings have included: Lazuli Buntings, Phainopeplas, Bullock's and Hooded Orioles, Western Bluebirds, Swifts, Quail, and Hawks.

For more information, please visit

http://www.nps.gov/samo/planyourvisit/paramountranch.htm and

http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=88.

(Photo by NPS)