"The Duke" and Old Tucson

Twelve miles west of Tucson, surrounded by Tucson Mountain and Saguaro National Park - a scenery like out of a western movie: Old Tucson, film setting and entertainment park in once. It all started in 1939 with Columbia Pictures and the movie "Arizona". The Tohono O'odham - the local indian tribe (see pic) – then assisted in production, primarily by building solid adobe style buildings for the set, which are still existing for the most part. Only a couple of years ago, their merits were recognized and an indian village was added to Old Tucson to show people how the native people, the original settlers of the region, lived.

In the 1950ies the "Last Outpost", "Lone Ranger", "Cimarron", later "Rio Bravo", "El Dorado", "Zorro", "Billie the Kid","Tombstone" and series like "Bonanza", "High Chaparral, "The Little House on the Prairie", "Gunsmoke", and others were produced here. John Wayne, "The Duke", became a regular in Old Tucson, starring many movies. Still today, Old Tucson is a popular film location.

Robert Shelton had taken over the film set in the 1960ies and transformed the complex into an attraction to make it more profitable. Nowadays 75 buildings and a typical Southwest Main Street, a saloon, a hotel, a town hall, a mission, a sheriff's office, a civil war fort, a ranch, an historic locomotive, are to be seen here, as well as the Old Tucson Story Museum with costumes, posters, photos etc. – 70 years of film & movie history compressed into a small space.

Besides a visit to the museum, there are regular tours, Old West shows, gun fights, stunt shows, saloon dance, gold panning, trail rides (see pic), a carousel and rides with a small train through the desert for visitors as well as an excellent restaurant, called Big Jake BBQ. We thoroughly enjoyed our morning in Old Tucson!