Little Hollywood Kanab
The back lot years
Little Hollywood, and what is left of it.
More than a hundred movies and television productions were shot in the country around Kanab between the 1920s and the 1970s. This is the honest version: what was filmed here, what you can still walk into, and what quietly fell down decades ago.
By Scott Buehler, Kanab local
Updated September 2026
The short answer
Kanab is called Little Hollywood because more than a hundred movies and television productions were shot in the red rock country around it, roughly from the 1920s into the 1970s. For a small town this far from a studio, that is an enormous run of pictures, and it is the whole reason for the nickname.
Most of what was built for the cameras out in the canyons is long gone, but two things survived in town: a movie set museum you can walk into, and Parry Lodge, the hotel that housed the stars and has been open since 1931. The bigger survivor is the landscape itself, which on the ground looks almost exactly the way it looks on film.
The film years
A hundred pictures, fifty years.
Between the 1920s and the 1970s more than a hundred movies and television productions were shot in the canyons around Kanab. That is a genuinely large number for a town this size in country this remote, and it is the whole reason for the nickname.
Stagecoach came out here in the 1930s. So did Gunsmoke, the Lone Ranger television series, and, later, the original Planet of the Apes. The draw was simple: red rock that photographed like nowhere else, enormous skies, and a town willing to feed and house a film crew a very long way from California. Even after the western era faded the cameras kept coming back, for Maverick in the 1990s and John Carter decades after that.
The stars came with the productions, and Parry Lodge housed them. The guest list over the years ran from John Wayne through Frank Sinatra, Charlton Heston and Clint Eastwood. The lodge is no museum piece; it has been taking travelers since 1931 and still is.
The museum
Free, and built out of real sets.
The Little Hollywood Movie Museum sits at the west end of Center Street. There is no charge to walk the movie sets, a small donation is suggested, and it is run as a nonprofit. What makes it worth an hour is that the buildings are actual sets moved here rather than reconstructions built to look like them. You can walk into them.
It keeps seasonal hours rather than staying open every day of the year, so it is worth a quick check before you plan around it. There is a gift shop and, in the busier months, some living history that leans cheerfully into the western thing.
Pair it with a walk along Center Street. For a town this small the restaurant row is unusually good, and the reason is directly upstream of the film years: the productions built hotel and hospitality capacity here decades before national park tourism arrived to use it.
It is not open every day of the year. The museum keeps seasonal hours. If you are here in deep winter, confirm before you build an afternoon around it.
The honest part
What is gone, and what was never here.
A lot of what was built for the cameras out in the canyons has not survived. Sets were temporary by design, weather in this country is hard on timber, and a good deal of what remains stands on private ground where there is no public access. Anyone who tells you that you can drive out and wander through the old western towns is overselling it.
What you can do is see the sets that were saved, at the museum, and drive the country that is in the frames, which is public and largely unchanged. That is a better afternoon than chasing ruins, and it is the version locals will point you at.
The film years also fold into the calendar. The Western Legends festival fills Center Street each August with a parade, live music and western events, and it exists because of this history rather than in spite of it. The exact dates move by a week or so from year to year, so confirm with the city before booking around it.
The sets were built to last a season. The canyons behind them were not built at all, and they are the part that is still exactly as it looks on film.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
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Read the pageQuick answers
The film years, answered.
Because more than a hundred movies and television productions were filmed in the red rock country around town, roughly from the 1920s into the 1970s. Stagecoach, Gunsmoke, the Lone Ranger television series and the original Planet of the Apes were all shot here, the stars stayed at Parry Lodge, and the nickname stuck.
More than a hundred productions across five decades, mostly westerns and television in the classic years, using the canyons, the sand dunes and the ranch country as backdrop. Later films kept coming too, including Maverick and John Carter. The movie set museum lays out which was shot where.
There is no admission charge to walk the movie sets, though a small donation is suggested and the place is run as a nonprofit. What makes it worth the time is that it is built around actual movie sets that were moved and preserved rather than reconstructions, so you can walk right into them.
It keeps seasonal hours rather than staying open every day of the year, which catches out the occasional deep winter visitor. If you are in Kanab in January or February, check before you build an afternoon around it.
About an hour, and it costs nothing to walk the sets. It is run as a nonprofit, it keeps seasonal hours, and pairing it with a walk past Parry Lodge fills a morning.
Yes, at Parry Lodge, which has been taking travelers since 1931 and housed the stars through the filming years. The swimming pool there was built in the early 1950s at his request. The guest list over the decades also included Frank Sinatra, Charlton Heston and Clint Eastwood.
It has been operating since 1931 and it is the building that housed the stars during the filming years. Confirm current hours and availability directly, as with anything seasonal in a town this size.
Some of them, at the museum. Out in the canyons much less survives than people expect. Sets were temporary by design, the weather here is hard on timber, and a good deal of what remains sits on private ground with no public access. The canyons themselves are the part that is unchanged, and most of that country is public.
Yes. The western era gets the attention, but the cameras never really left. Maverick came through in the 1990s and John Carter used the country around town decades later, drawn by the same red rock and open skies that pulled the first crews here.
The canyons are still exactly as they filmed.
That is the thing about this country: the sets went, and the backdrop did not. If you are weighing a move to a town with this much history for its size, I am glad to talk it through.
Or call me: (435) 357-4345or send me a message
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