Movie-Making Will Live On at Iverson Ranch

The Iverson family may have wrapped up its storied career in the movie business, but the new owners of a six-acre parcel at the famed Iverson Movie Location Ranch said they plan to continue the filmmaking tradition.

Phyliss Murphy and Van Swearingen of North Hills purchased the lot that was once part of the legendary 2,000-acre ranch located at the intersection of the Ronald Reagan Freeway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard in May and intend to continue to rent it to production companies, Murphy said Tuesday.

The couple is also mulling plans to build a western movie museum, a western walk of fame and a set of a western town as a tribute to the site whose craggy rocks and sweeping views served as a backdrop for such films as “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” and “The Grapes of Wrath.”

“[We] feel strongly that this piece of Southern California’s rich TV and movie history must be preserved and continue to be made available to the entertainment industry,” Murphy said.

As part of the sale, the couple also purchased the Iverson Movie Location Ranch name, its previously unpublished telephone number and a list of production companies that have filmed there in the past, Murphy said.

Murphy said she was alarmed by media reports that the sale of the ranch marked the end of an era in movie-making. “I thought we were going to be put out of business before we got started,” she said.

Last Sunday, Bob Sherman, an Iverson heir and owner of the ranch’s remaining 30 acres, finished a nine-day shoot of the low-budget flick he directed, “Motorcycle Cheerleading Mamas,” billing it as the last film to be shot at the ranch.

Sherman attributed the misunderstanding to “miscommunication between my publicist and myself.

“It’s the end of my family’s era,” Sherman said. “It’s my hope that the new owners will continue to make movies there.”

Asked if he knew before the sale closed that Murphy and Swearingen planned to rent the site to production companies, Sherman said he didn’t, adding that he thought the couple planned to rent the space for weddings, picnics and special events as he had done in the past.

No matter how the new owners use the property, Sherman said his movie-making days at the ranch are over.

In addition to the six acres bought by Murphy and Swearingen, a Chatsworth nursery owner is buying a 17-acre parcel and a developer is purchasing a three-acre parcel. An unimprovable four-acre lot is likely to be donated to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, he said.

The film director and producer said he intends to open a production facility in Costa Rica where, he said, the filmmaking industry is virtually untapped.

For Murphy and Swearingen, however, the purchase marks the beginning of a new era.

Swearingen owns a collection of 40 classic cars from the 1950s and early 1960s that he makes available to the entertainment industry, Murphy said.

The cars have appeared as props in the Tom Hanks film “That Thing You Do” and the NBC-TV sci-fi series “Dark Skies,” among other productions, Murphy said.

“We bought the ranch to house the collection,” Murphy said. “We hope to use the [cars] in movies that are made by the production companies.”