Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks

 

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a 932 acre park located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is located in the town of Agua Dulce between the suburbs of Santa Clarita and Palmdale. The area is also visible from the Antelope Valley Freeway.  

The rock formations were formed by rapid erosion during uplift about 25 million years ago and later exposed by uplift activity along the San Andreas Fault.

In 1873 and 1874, Tiburcio Vásquez, one of California's most notorious bandits, used these rocks to elude capture by law enforcement. His name has since been associated with this geologic feature.

You may think that you have never heard about, or have never seen the Vasquez Rocks but I’ll bet you have and just didn’t know it!   In 1935, Universal Pictures filmed Werewolf of London at Vasquez Rocks as the filming location used to portray Tibet.  Since then, its location inside the ‘studio zone’ in LA has ensured Vasquez Rocks has been used repeatedly in motion pictures, television series, and in moving and still-image advertising.

The site once held the exterior façade of the fort in the 1950s television series Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers.

Vazquez Rocks is prominently seen in a 1963 episode of Outer Limits called "The Zanti Misfits". The rocks are also in several television westerns, including the 1959 "Whipsaw" episode of Tombstone Territory; the Bonanza episode "Between Heaven and Earth"; The Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Cadre"; and the opening credits of the TV Western Laramie as Slim Sherman and Jess Harper come riding down, each from one side.

 

The rock formations are also seen in the Michael Jackson music video "Black or White" when he dances with Plains Native Americans.  

 

Also in the  original series Star Trek episode "Arena", where Captain Kirk rolls a boulder onto a reptiloid alien called a Gorn.  The prominent rock formation has been nicknamed "Kirk's Rock" due to being featured in several Star Trek episodes, each time representing a different planet.

 

The use of the rock as a place to struggle with an enemy was echoed in the film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey twice, once replaying the Gorn-themed Star Trek episode on the TV, and again when the title characters are murdered by their doubles at the same location. A scene at a diner in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was filmed in front of the rocks, and in homage to the Star Trek episode, the diner is called The Arena Diner.

Feature films shot at Vasquez Rocks include Dante's Peak, Hot Shots! Part Deux, Rustlers' Rhapsody, The Flintstones, Blazing Saddles, Star Trek V:The Final Frontier, Free Enterprise, and Hail, Caesar! Television shows include The Fugitive, F Troop, The A-Team, and MacGyver. Commercials for Taco Bell, Bank of America, Pacific Bell, Pepsi and Nike have also been filmed at the rocks. Besides Michael Jackson, 311, Eddie Money, Sammy Kershaw, and Lee Tae-min, member of the Korean Boy Band Shinee, also shot music videos here.

 The Vasquez Rocks were also used prominently throughout all three seasons of the science-fiction television series Roswell as something of an important location for the main characters and their story. The area is also featured as the location of the Command Center/Power Chamber for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers throughout Power Rangers Turbo. In a season-five episode of Friends - "The One with Joey's Big Break" - Joey lands the lead role in a movie being filmed at the Vasquez Rocks (though the peaks are not seen on camera). It is also featured in the movie Paul, and in the 2009 "South by Southwest" episode of NCIS. The final episode of New Girl season 1 is primarily set here with the Rocks prominent in the background.

In the Big Bang Theory episode "The Bakersfield Expedition", which aired in 2013, the four male protagonists appear to stop here, thanks to green screen, on their road trip to San Diego Comic-Con in Bakersfield, CA. Since they have Star Trek:The Next Generation- themed costumes for the costume contest at Comic-Con, they decide to have a brief photoshoot at the Star Trek filming site. Their stop goes horribly wrong when someone steals their car as they are taking pictures. In the episode "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency", the characters attempt to observe a meteor shower from "34.48° N, 118.31°W"; the map coordinates of the Vasquez Rocks formation, to make it appear as if they were there.

The same formations can clearly be seen in the TV series "Teen Wolf" (2011), during season 5, episode 13 titled "Codominance" when character Kira and her mother Noshiko set out to seek help from the Skinwalkers. Kira performs the Skinwalker's test on site as well, just before Scott and Stiles arrive to aide their escape. The same rock formations are also visible in episode 20 of the same season when Kira returns to make a deal with the Skinwalkers.

Now if you are thinking how amazing my list of movies, TV shows, advertising and musical numbers is with relation to these rocks, trust me when I tell you it isn’t so!!!  There is an abundance of info available in LA to learn about area tourist sites.  So bits and pieces were  posted here and there and we wrote down all the items we saw and saved the notes.    OK, so, I hope you enjoyed the Vasquez Rocks and a little of their history.

If you do recognize the ‘Rocks’ from something you have seen you can let me know by sending a ‘comment’ at the end of this chapter.  I’d love to hear from you!

More coming soon 👽🤖💀👾🐱‍🏍👾

Jan 🌷🌷🐾🐾