Providencia Ranch

It was used as a filming location for the American Civil War battle scenes in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and other silent motion pictures.

The Nestor Ranch was located on 'Providencia Land and Water Development Company' property east of the river, just below Cahuenga Peak.

[4] Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal, saw the Oak Crest site as too small to consolidate all the west coast operations.

The photographs of the Providencia Ranch land, "A Birds Eye View of Universal City", can be seen in the Los Angeles Image Archives.

[10] "The Famous Players - Lasky Corporation have secured the old Universal Ranch, a 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) tract within five minutes of Hollywood at a cost said to be $1,000,000.

Rancho Providencia, Lankershim, Van Nuys, Cahuenga Pass, Burbank, Glendale, Tujunga Wash, Griffith Park, and rail lines, as mapped in 1916
Early map of Burbank, California with Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills on the bottom left
Filming a western at the Universal Ranch ( Moving Picture World , 1913)