Rancho Temescal is for sale for $44 million, the movie-famous Ventura County ranch that’s basically all land

Rancho Temescal is the kind of listing that forces you to rethink what a “home” even means. For $44 million, you are not buying a mansion so much as taking custody of a working landscape, a 5,600 acre spread of canyons, pastures, and movie-ready vistas in Ventura County that has doubled as everything from a war zone to a silent era backlot. If you care about land, water, film history, or simply the future of Southern California’s open space, this sale is a test of what you think those things are worth.

As a buyer, you are stepping into a story that stretches from early California ranching to modern Hollywood, with a price tag that reflects both its scale and its mythology. The property has hosted productions with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, supported cattle and horses, and given conservationists a rare example of a privately held landscape that still feels largely untouched. Now it is on the market, and you have to decide whether you see it as an investment, a sanctuary, or a stage.

The $44 million listing that is mostly land

If you strip Rancho Temescal down to its essence, what you are paying for is acreage. The ranch is described as a 5,600-Acre working estate in the Topatopa foothills, with the $44 million ask tied far more to its sheer size and location than to any single residence or trophy structure on site. You are buying a footprint on the map that stretches across valleys and ridgelines rather than a conventional luxury compound with a dominant main house and a guest wing.

That scale matters because it is increasingly rare in Southern California, especially within reach of the greater Los Angeles area. The listing frames Rancho Temescal as a functioning operation with livestock and equestrian facilities, not a subdivided patchwork, and notes that the $44 price reflects both its status as a Working Acre Ranch Hits the Market opportunity and its proximity to urban centers. When you look at the numbers, you are effectively paying a premium for the right to keep 5,600 acres intact in a region where land is usually carved up and sold off in far smaller pieces.

Where exactly you would be buying: Piru, Ventura County

Location is the second half of the equation, and Rancho Temescal’s address does a lot of the talking for you. The property sits near the small community of Piru in Ventura County, tucked into the Topatopa foothills and within reach of Lake Piru, which anchors a broader landscape of chaparral, oak woodland, and agricultural land. You are not in the middle of nowhere, but you are far enough from dense development that the night sky and the soundscape still feel rural.

From a practical standpoint, that means you can leave Downtown Los Angeles and, within a relatively short drive, find yourself at the gate of a ranch that feels like its own world. Regional descriptions emphasize that Rancho Temescal is a sprawling 5,600-acre estate near Lake Piru, and mapping tools place it in a corridor of open space that connects to the larger mountains and canyons of Ventura County. If you are used to thinking of Southern California as freeways and subdivisions, this pocket of land forces you to redraw that mental map.

A working ranch, not just a backdrop

For all the attention on its film credits, Rancho Temescal is first described as a working ranch, and that distinction matters if you are the one writing the check. The property supports cattle and horses, with pastures, corrals, and infrastructure that reflect day-to-day use rather than purely cosmetic staging. You are stepping into an operation that has to function in every season, not just when a camera crew shows up.

That working identity is reinforced in coverage that calls it a place where it is a working ranch before it is anything else, even as it doubles as a new “Garden of Eden” for filmmakers and visitors. The balance between production and practicality is part of the appeal: you can run livestock, host events, or simply ride out across the property, knowing that the land has been managed as a cohesive unit rather than as a series of disconnected luxury pads. If you value authenticity in rural property, that operational backbone is as important as the views.

Hollywood’s quiet co-star: from Tom Cruise to Brad Pitt

What sets Rancho Temescal apart from other large ranches is how often you have already seen it without realizing it. The property has hosted film productions starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, including major projects that needed wide open spaces, rural roads, and flexible sets that could be transformed into anything from a Midwestern farm to a dust-choked battlefield. When you watch those scenes, you are effectively touring the ranch’s canyons and meadows.

Industry-focused profiles describe the ranch as a California Ranch That Starred in “War of the Worlds” and “Babylon,” with its landscapes pressed into service as alien invasion zones and period Hollywood outskirts. That versatility is part of why location scouts keep returning: the same valley can read as contemporary exurb in one project and as early twentieth century farmland in another. If you buy Rancho Temescal, you are not just acquiring land, you are inheriting a filmography that can continue to generate both revenue and cultural cachet.

Improvements that still leave the land in charge

Despite the focus on open space, Rancho Temescal is not raw land. The ranch improvements are extensive, including an 18-stall Spanish Hacienda style horse barn with an expansive courtyard, along with arenas, support buildings, and housing that allow you to run horses and host guests at scale. The architecture leans into regional history, with stucco, tile, and shaded arcades that feel consistent with the landscape rather than imposed on it.

For you as a buyer, that means you can step into a functioning equestrian and ranching environment without having to build everything from scratch. The property is marketed as having the kind of infrastructure that can serve both private use and commercial activity, from boarding and training to events and filming. Yet even with those structures, the overwhelming impression is that the land still dominates, with buildings clustered in pockets while the majority of the 5,600 acres remains open and undeveloped.

How the listing frames value in a changing market

In a luxury market crowded with glass boxes and ocean views, Rancho Temescal is being pitched as something different: a rare, contiguous landholding in Southern California that still functions as a traditional ranch. Marketing materials highlight that Rancho Temescal is a 5,600-acre estate located in the Topatopa foothills northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, with the $44 figure positioned as a reflection of both scarcity and potential. You are being asked to see value not just in square footage of living space, but in square miles of landscape.

Regional business coverage underscores that framing by describing Rancho Temescal as a historic Ventura County Ranch that hits the market for $44 m, noting that the property near Lake Piru represents a scale of ownership that is increasingly uncommon. In a world where coastal buyers debate whether a $4.2 M or $4.2 Million oceanfront retreat is the better play, this listing invites you to consider whether long term value might lie inland, in water rights, grazing capacity, and the ability to host productions and events on your own terms.

The family story behind the sale

Behind the price and the photos, there is a personal narrative that shapes how you might view the sale. Twenty-five years ago, we started and built this thing together, Tim said of purchasing the property with his father, describing a long running partnership that turned an already significant ranch into the multifaceted operation it is today. For a quarter century, the family has balanced cattle, horses, conservation, and film work, effectively curating the land for the next owner.

That history matters because it suggests you are not buying a distressed asset or a speculative flip, but rather a place that has been lived in and worked over decades. Reporting on the decision to list notes that the ranch is now for sale with the ranch team that helped shape its current form, signaling a transition point rather than a fire sale. If you care about continuity, that kind of stewardship record can be as persuasive as any spreadsheet of projected filming fees or grazing leases.

What it means for Ventura County’s landscape

When a property of this size changes hands, the implications ripple far beyond the fence line. Rancho Temescal sits within a broader mosaic of agricultural land, open space, and recreation areas in Ventura County, and its future use will influence everything from wildlife corridors to fire management. If you keep it intact and operating as a ranch, you help preserve a buffer of green between urban Los Angeles and the interior mountains.

Local business reporting frames the listing as a moment when a historic property near Lake Piru just hit the market for $44, highlighting how rare it is for such a large, contiguous tract to be in play at all. For you as a potential buyer, that raises the stakes: your decisions about conservation easements, public access, and development will shape not only your own experience of the land, but also how the region evolves. In a county where open space is both a political and environmental issue, Rancho Temescal is more than a private asset, it is a piece of the public conversation.

If you are tempted to buy a movie-famous ranch

So what do you actually do if you find yourself drawn to a listing like this? The first step is to recognize that you are not just buying a house, you are acquiring a complex asset that blends agriculture, hospitality, and entertainment. You will need to think about water rights, grazing capacity, fire risk, and permitting for filming or events, all while deciding how much of the existing operation you want to maintain versus reinvent.

Practical due diligence starts with walking the land, but it also means studying how Rancho Temescal has been used as a Southern California ranch that hosted film productions starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, and how it has been positioned in property listings that emphasize its improvements and location. Public mapping tools that show the Rancho Temescal place profile can help you visualize boundaries and terrain, while detailed offering memoranda from brokers such as Hall and Hall’s Rancho Temescal listing and farm and ranch marketing platforms fill in the operational details. If you are serious, you will treat the purchase less like buying a weekend getaway and more like acquiring a small, very scenic company that just happens to come with its own backlot.

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*This article was developed with AI-powered tools and has been carefully reviewed by our editors.