Parks Find It Pays to Play Ball With Movie Makers

Vintage 1950s automobiles filled the parking lot at Simi Valley’s Santa Susana Park. Old glass soda bottles littered the stands along the baseball diamond.

And in all directions, men, women and children were dressed in polyester.

The time warp, down to the smallest details on the snack bar menu, came with the invasion of a major film production company to the remote park at the eastern edge of Simi Valley on Monday.

The transformation of the quiet park to bustling movie lot, replete with catering trucks, trailers and stars including Patrick Swayze and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, has meant more than just a chance for park-goers to gawk.

The filming will bring big money to the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

At the end of a week of shooting, the producers of the 1950s fantasy “Three Wishes” will owe the park district almost $10,000 in fees. The funds will help the district maintain its 53 park sites.

Since Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckled through Hidden Canyon in “Robin Hood” and Michael Landon moved into the “Little House on the Prairie” at Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, Ventura County has been a popular backdrop for Hollywood movies and television shows.

But now, as area park districts face increasingly tight budgets, officials are finding quick cash from no business like show business.

“Every time we get a crew out there filming, there are benefits for us,” said Rick Johnson, a park district spokesman. “Recently we’ve been getting more and more exposure in Hollywood, which can only help us.”

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Last year, the district earned about $8,000 in permit fees.

Conejo Recreation and Park District earned about $2,000 in filming fees.

And at the Santa Monica Mountains National Park Recreation Area, movie and television production brings in more than $100,000 a year--much of that from year-round work on the television show “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” at Paramount Ranch, just south of the Ventura County line.

National Park officials said the filming not only generates revenue for upkeep of the recreation area, it lures dollars into the local communities.

“They buy feed for their horses, lumber, they get their catering, all from local stores,” said Alice Allen, who handles film permits for the national park recreation area.

“At Paramount Ranch, we’re talking about 1,500 pounds of ice in a week and 30 cases of soda a day from stores in areas like Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks,” Allen said. “Being able to allow production companies to use the parks really helps pump money into the local communities.”

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The influx of cash explains why local business advocates are pushing cities like Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks to streamline the issuing of permits to increase business.

“We’d like to see one person handling all of this for Thousand Oaks,” said Steve Rubenstein, executive director of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. “We would be wise to do anything we can do to be more attractive to the movie companies.”

As for the parks, they not only earn much-needed revenue, they can often coax the production companies to repair run-down facilities.

For “Three Wishes,” film crews trimmed oak trees, painted bleachers and made improvements to the backstop at Santa Susana Park. The movie includes several baseball scenes, which feature players from the 1994 championship Northridge Little League team.

Executive Producer Larry Albucher said the minor expense was worth the return in scenic beauty.

“There was a look to this park that made it stand out from the rest that we look at,” Albucher said. “The rocks and the trees were just right for us.”

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Also, Albucher said portions of Ventura County have been appealing for movie locations because producers pay more in union fees if the production leaves a 30-mile radius from Hollywood.

“They’re usually willing to come out to Ventura County, but not much further,” he said.

According to Allen, who books permits for the national parkland, still photographers and magazine advertisers find the outdoors in the Conejo Valley appealing for a different reason.

“A lot of the clothing companies want a place to shoot their fall catalogues in the summer,” Allen said. “Our parks look like that all year long.”