Paramount Ranch

The frontier lives on at Western Town, a popular filming site and part of Malibu Creek State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The town is surrounded by rolling hills and a gurgling creek, a perfect setting for picnics, hikes, bicycling and horseback riding.

Now in its 51st year, the annual Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest returns for a down-home day of bluegrass, old-time and folk music. In addition to more than 100 instrumental and singing contests, there will be dancing, family activities, arts and crafts, and jam sessions. Paramount Ranch, 2903 Cornell Road, Agoura Hills. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun. $8-$10 in advance, $10-$15 at the gate. (818) 382-4819. http://www.topangabanjofiddle.org.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday rejected a request by environmentalists to reopen hearings on the controversial Paramount Ranch housing development in the Santa Monica Mountains. Instead, the supervisors unanimously re-approved the 150-house project, which the Sierra Club and the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation had failed to stop through a recent lawsuit.

As we move into the hottest part of the summer, the nights are long and languorous, perfect for seeing a movie. Outside. Perhaps in a cemetery, with a picnic and a live DJ. This is one of the best reasons to live in film-crazy L.A., and Angelenos have a good selection of outdoor locations and programs to choose from. From Agoura Hills to Hollywood, we've got your guide to cinema under the stars. For 10 years, Cinespia's Saturday-night screenings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery have been the gold standard for outdoor cinema in L.A. Besides the never-gets-old novelty of picnicking next to some of Hollywood's most famous (and now dead)

A complex transaction between a parks agency and a bank has all but assured the preservation of Paramount Ranch in Agoura, the former Renaissance Faire site long threatened with development, officials said. Under the deal concluded last week, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy purchased delinquent loans on the 314-acre tract and will foreclose on a development firm that is millions of dollars in arrears. In effect, the conservancy will be paying Brea-based Union Federal Savings Bank $17.

Buoyed by the success of its popular TV show "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," filmed at the Paramount Ranch in a rural area south of Agoura Hills, CBS Entertainment Productions has signed a five-year agreement with the National Park Service to continue filming at the ranch.

National Park Service officials said Friday the agency will make an offer to purchase a 314-acre mountain property with money that had been set aside to acquire thousands of acres of wilderness as part of the $1-billion Ahmanson Ranch deal. David Gackenbach, regional superintendent of the park service, said a formal offer for the Paramount Ranch property in Agoura would be made to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy possibly as early as next week.

Take a tour through the Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains and you can see how the re-created western set near Agoura Hills passes each week for frontier Colorado in "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." Come this Saturday and you can also view a transformation of a different kind. In addition to the general tour of the ranch, special-effects makeup artist Russell Seifert will demonstrate how Hollywood pulls off some of its amazing makeup feats.

Citing the opportunity to acquire two high-priority parcels, Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) asked a key House panel to appropriate $30 million in the 1992 federal budget to purchase land in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Beilenson told the House Appropriations subcommittee on interior Thursday that the funds are urgently needed for a centrally located Las Virgenes Valley property owned by Soka University and the scenic Paramount Ranch in Agoura.

A Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Los Angeles County acted legally in approving the Paramount Ranch development in Agoura, handing a stinging defeat to opponents who claimed the controversial luxury house development did not get an adequate environmental review. Under the ruling by Judge David P. Yaffe, construction could start soon on the scenic, oak-studded parcel where the Renaissance Pleasure Faire formerly was held.

10 Artist Terence Koh's "The Whole Family" opens at Chinatown gallery Peres Projects 17 25th annual California Strawberry Festival, Saturday and Sunday in Oxnard 18 Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival at Paramount Ranch 28 Huntington Art Gallery unveils its three-year, $20-million renovation

I loved your article on the Saturday/Sunday shuttle service in the Santa Monica Mountains ["Beachgoers, Hikers Can Get on Board," March 1]. I drive from Woodland Hills to park at Paramount Ranch. I catch the shuttle there, ride to Malibu, get off and have lunch at Starbucks. An hour later I catch the shuttle again and continue the ride to Corral Canyon, Solstice Canyon, Zuma Beach, Point Dume, Backbone Trailhead, Peter Strauss Ranch, and back to my car at Paramount Ranch. It's a relief to be traveling in this bus. It seats a passenger much higher than a car does, and the views are great.

While generally exhaustive in detailing local venues for special screenings and classic film revivals, "Thinking Outside the Box Office" (by Phil Davis, Aug. 30) omitted a few of note. First, several local museums besides LACMA screen films from time to time, such as the Bowers, Gene Autry and William S. Hart. Two annual summer events no true cineaste should miss are the Silent Society's "Silents Under the Stars" screenings at historic Paramount Ranch and the L.A. Conservancy's "Last Remaining Seats" series of classic films in classic downtown L.A. theaters each June.

Bill Hertz migrated to the San Fernando Valley from New Jersey in 1946 with dreams of becoming a cowboy. That never quite worked out, but he achieved what he considered the next best thing--running a western movie lot on what is known today as Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The Paramount Ranch, that Old West movie set tucked into the Santa Monica Mountains, is usually the backdrop for the TV show "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." But Sunday, the place near Agoura Hills will be a foot-stomper's paradise when the Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest warms up for its 38th annual festival. For those who love old-time bluegrass and folk music, it's a chance to get an earful. Apparently, a lot of people love this music.

Wagons were rumbling by and cowboys swaggered along the boardwalk when, suddenly, murmurs of anticipation rippled among the clutch of women gathered under an enormous oak: Hank the bartender and Jake the barber were about to duke it out over Teresa the schoolteacher. "This should be pretty good," said Pam Hughes. "They both want to date her." Another chapter was unfolding in the travails of Michaela Quinn, heroine of "Dr.

A complex transaction between a parks agency and a bank has all but assured the preservation of Paramount Ranch in Agoura, the former Renaissance Faire site long threatened with development, officials said Thursday. Under the deal concluded this week, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy purchased delinquent loans on the 314-acre tract and will foreclose on a development firm that is millions of dollars in arrears.

The traditional sounds of bluegrass, folk and country music return to the mountains and for ests above Los Angeles on Sunday as musicians, dancers and fans converge for the 34th annual Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest and Dance & Folk Arts Festival. It's true that the annual event hasn't actually been based in Topanga since 1969, leaving the festival bouncing from one venue to another through many of the years since.

Feel like a movie? Sure, you can take in the latest eardrum-ripping Batman adventure or you can sit under the stars and undergo a totally different cinema experience--silence. For the 10th year, Paramount Ranch in Agoura is the setting for the mini silent-film festival Silents Under the Stars, opening Sunday with "The Beloved Rogue," starring screen idol John Barrymore. This 1927 classic may be silent, but viewing it won't be. Moviegoers will hear the chirps of crickets and an occasional coyote as the plot unfolds on the outdoor screen at the old movie ranch nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Re "Conservancy Accused of Misspending," April 29. I must take issue with the state auditors for criticism of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for paying interest on promissory notes for two acquisitions, namely Paramount Ranch and Towsley Canyon. First, I question the qualifications of auditors to make decisions about the habitat and resource value of potential land acquisition. The auditors' suggestion of paying cash for the 1991 acquisitions would have resulted in securing between 1,100 and 2,000 acres instead of the 3,819 actually protected.