Film Stories From The Book:
Hollywood of the Rockies

By: Frederic B. Wildfang

Acknowledgments

This history of movies filmed in and around the Durango area is titled after a monument erected in Fassbinder Park during the filming of The Naked Spur in 1952 — designating the San Juan basin as the “Hollywood of the Rockies.” According to articles published in the Durango newspapers at the time, this monument was intended to be the first of fourteen such monuments — one for each of the movies filmed in the area during the preceding five years.

This original monument, we are told, was actually a “mock obelisk” —

...the model for a permanent monument to be installed at a later date at the Y-area of the intersection of US highways 160 and 550 (Durango Herald-Democrat, June 12, 1952).

The permanent monument, another article explains, is a “granite shaft, eight feet in height” —

...a replica of the Washington monument... provided by the Vanadium Corp. of America (Durango Herald-Tribune, June 5, 1952).

Whether or not this permanent monument (or any of the others) was ever actually erected is not known. None have been seen since. Nor is the whereabouts of the original model known.

Although the disappearance of the monument is unfortunate, the beautiful San Juan basin continues to be a favorite location for movie-makers — especially during the current revival of Hollywood westerns. In the absence of our “Hollywood of the Rockies” monument, I offer this book in its stead.

Again, I give thanks to the Durango Public Library for providing me with microfilms of the Durango Herald-Democrat, the Durango Herald-Tribune, the Durango News, the Durango Herald-News, the Durango Herald, and the Durango-Cortez Herald — my major sources for on-the-spot information about movies shot in and around Durango. My other major sources were my trusty copies of Halliwell’s Film Guide and Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s and Video Viewer’s Companion. Photo credits are included with the text.

Frederic B. Wildfang