Opened in the 1930s, it was used as the backdrop for films and television shows by Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. Only the front facades of the houses and buildings were built; the interiors were always shot at other locations or studios.

The streets were constructed and arranged to allow shooting at multiple angles to create the illusion of a much larger area, though the lot spans only about six city blocks.

Columbia Pictures, with limited space at its Hollywood headquarters at Sunset and Gower, had been forced to rent neighboring movie studios' backlots for outdoor shooting.

The fountain in the park, built around 1935, was seen in the opening credits of Friends, as well as in Hocus Pocus, 1776, Bewitched, and various other Screen Gems television shows from the 1960s.

[5] The list of Columbia films and Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures Television shows produced at the ranch include: Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, Bewitched, Gidget, I Dream of Jeannie, The Monkees, The Flying Nun, Here Come the Brides, The Partridge Family, The Hathaways, The Waltons, F Troop, Lost Horizon, High Noon, Mr.

Deeds Goes to Town, You Were Never Lovelier, Tokyo Joe, Lethal Weapon, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, WandaVision, The Wild One, The Middle, The Wrecking Crew and Autumn Leaves.