Back in 1949,Ray Bernard, better known as Crash Corrigan, and an actor and stuntman of B-film westerns,decided to build a film ranch. He then decided to open it up to the public on weekends, while maintaining it as a fully functioning backlot during the week. mediate of it a mix of Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios. Kids could watch shoot outs and even possess their picture taken with Crash himself. He allowed other films and shows to use his ranch, and if they built anything,they had to leave it for tourists to visit.
Corriganville was sold to Bob Hope in 1965 for a housing development. The area suffered two fires, one in 1971 and another in 1979. In 1988, and the undeveloped portion became a park,owned by the City of Simi Valley.
Today foundations of the buildings—including the weird human-made lake fitted with a unique camera room to film underwater sequences—used in Jungle Jim, Creature from the Black Lagoon, or The African Queen remain visible to visitors.
Source: atlasobscura.com