Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood: All About the Creepy Ranch the Manson Family Lived In
In Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Charles Manson and his family are an ominous presence throughout the film.
Like the Boogeyman, Manson (played by Damon Herriman) is briefly seen as he creeps up the home Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski are renting.
Shooed away by her friend Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), Manson is never seen again in the film, but his presence is felt through the cast that plays his followers Tex Watson (Austin Butler), Squeaky Fromme (Dakota Fanning), Gypsy (Lena Dunham) and Pussycat (Margaret Qualley).
In the film, the members have mostly taken up residence at the Spahn Movie Ranch, owned by George Spahn (Bruce Dern), that was once used as a movie set for Westerns.
RELATED: Manson Murder Spree: All the Hollywood Places Charles Manson’s Followers Killed Their Victims
Located in the mountains of Southern California, the ranch existed in the outskirts of Los Angeles in Chatsworth and was the home of the Manson Family from early 1968 to the fall of 1969 after members were arrested following the death of Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski.
One of the most notable movies that were filmed there was Howard Hughes’ The Outlaw as well as several episodes of the TV show Bonanza.
RELATED VIDEO: Manson Family Member Dianne Lake Speaks Out About Life Inside The Cult
By the time the Manson Family moved in, Spahn was 80 and blind, a fact Tarantino makes note of in his film. He struck a deal with Manson that allowed the group to live on his property in exchange for help around the ranch.
While Spahn is credited with nicknaming several of the Manson Family members, Squeaky Fromme disputes the idea that she or other female members of the group traded sexual favors with Spahn in exchange for lodging — an idea Tarantino depicts in the film.
RELATED: Steve McQueen Was Meant to Be at Sharon Tate’s Home the Night the Manson Family Attacked
“The idea that I was having sex with this old man on the ranch, that’s a big one [people get wrong],” Fromme said on Oxygen‘s “Manson: The Women.“
A wildfire burned down structures at the ranch in September 1970. It is now a part of California’s Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park. Spahn died in 1974, while Manson died in 2017 from complications related to colon cancer.
Oxygen‘s upcoming two-hour special “Manson: The Women” airs Saturday, Aug. 10 at 7 p.m.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is now playing in theaters.
