Ponderosa Ranch closed to public forever

[Big Lebowski]

   Bummer, maybe I watch to much Bonanza, but that's the one place we thought about seeing this year. It's above the Incline village at N. Lake Tahoe. I've been hanging around/remodeling cool log cabins in the Palomar mountains for 35 years, so I would have really liked to have seen the Ponderosa cabin. Some greedy condo builder is going to build condos right where the Ben, Little Joe, Hoss, and Adam rode their horses up from the lake. The Ponderosa Ranch was a great tourist attraction since the Bonanza show. The local Gov. tried to buy it with $50 million to keep it a historic public site. But nooooooooooooo.

Here's some really cool pics...
http://ponderosascenery.homestead.com/ponderosa.html

Here's the story...
http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/laketahoe/a/ponderosa.htm

[Big Lebowski]

[Big Lebowski]

[Big Lebowski]

[Big Lebowski]

[bull]

Figures. That was on my to-do list.

[MichaelRW]

I saw it a few years ago. The house interior was somewhat of a letdown. The camera angles on the show made it look much bigger than what it is and the stairs that lead up to the 2nd floor lead to nowhere except a door that doesn't open. The magic of TV.

[purple70rt]

Figures. That was on my to-do list.

LOL.  Yeah, mine too.

[ChargerHound69]

That is very upsetting.  I have been there a few times, and it was a great place for the family.

[Lowprofile]

Sad to see a piece of Americana go out like that. "God Forbid" we have something in our community that has entertained Families for over 30 years. Hey, I know, lets build ugly condos & gigantic homes for billionares.......Olympic sized swimming pools, tennis courts, go-cart track, 20 car garage, helicopter landing pads, etc.............   Yes, that's more important.


        Sarcasm Detector is on   

[Afflyer]

Wow!  Beautiful views- too bad it's going to be turned into condos.  Sounds like such a shame.

[Big Lebowski]

Wow!   Beautiful views- too bad it's going to be turned into condos.   Sounds like such a shame.

Ya that's the bummer. You have to be rich to hang out there now, buy a condo, and the Ponderosa is still forever closed to the public. Now the $$$ elitists snobbs can have it for themselves, their own private rich mans club. I thought the place would have a historical landmark attached to it. But I'm a Capitalist, and a family legally owned and sold it. But it sounds like this developer creep is going to destroy it all with condos that cost what? A million each? Slimeball.

[Charger Aficionado]

  I hope someone sues to STOP this!  DEFINETLEY a historical site.

[TheGhost]

Wow!  Beautiful views- too bad it's going to be turned into condos.  Sounds like such a shame.

Ya that's the bummer. You have to be rich to hang out there now, buy a condo, and the Ponderosa is still forever closed to the public. Now the $$$ elitists snobbs can have it for themselves, their own private rich mans club. I thought the place would have a historical landmark attached to it. But I'm a Capatalist, and a family legally owned and sold it. But it sounds like this developer creep is going to destroy it all with condos that cost what? A million each? Slimeball.

He must not be a fan of the show.  Sad, I watched this show all the time.

[last426]

  I hope someone sues to STOP this!   DEFINETLEY a historical site.

It's no historical site, far from it.  It was built when I was in high school, about 1968 and was always somewhat controversial with locals.  This was well into and towards the end of the TV show.  I think, maybe, that a few, very few, scenes were shot there, just to give the place publicity.  Oh, I am from Reno and we had a cabin up at Tahoe, that's why I remember.  I did visit it once, and I thought that the cabin, with those straight line plasters between the logs, just looked weird. 

And the opening scene, as I was told back then, was filmed at the South Shore of Tahoe, right by that golf course between Zephyr Cove and Stateline (I certainly know that it was filmed at Tahoe and no where near Incline Village).  One last thing, the reason it was made, IIRC, was to take advantage of the publicity of the TV show.  Now all of this is how I remember it so might be a little wrong in some details but...   Kim

[Silver R/T]

I didnt mind watching the show. Too bad some greedy bastard would destroy historic site to make an easy buck

[ChargerBill]

I go to Tahoe 4 or 5 times every summer and couple times a winter...it's only a little over 1 hour from me. Anyway, I went to the ranch once about 6 years ago and thought it was neat, but nothing spectacular. Besides, it wasn't the actual set that they used during MOST of the early years of filming.

BTW: Tahoe is a place for the rich and famous to live and build summer homes, not the average Joe. Whenever me and my friends and family go there and go out to eat at a nice restaurant or cafe I feel as though the local socialites are looking down their noses at us...and they are. You just have to appreciate Tahoe for it's beauty and setting, and ignore it's social climate and wealthy property/home owners. This is yet another example of wealth overpowering something that money SHOULD NOT be able to buy.

[BB1]

Amen brother, Tahoe is going to look like downtown LA one of these days. 

It's was my very first vacation ever, 1967 folks rented a cabin in the pines. Very nice memories.

"Mount up boys, looks like were headed out for good." 

[viper r/t]

Man, That sucks.

[BB1]

On the flip side, you can still see the Hootervill cannonball old number 3, at the junction........ Petticoat Junction.  Water tower is still there. It does run, but it is used for more move work than pulling trains.

Come ride the little train that is rolling down the tracks to the junction. (Petticoat Junction)

Forget about your cares, it is time to relax at the junction. (Petticoat Junction)

Lotsa curves, you bet - even more when you get to the junction. (Petticoat Junction)

There’s a little hotel called the Shady Rest at the junction. (Petticoat Junction)

It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the junction. (Petticoat Junction)

And that’s Uncle Joe, he’s a movin’ kind of slow at the junction. (Petticoat Junction) 


http://www.sierrarailroad.com/