Bar None Ranch

Sign of the Bar None Ranch

The Bar None Ranch is the main location of the Hey Dude TV series.

Description

The Bar None Ranch is a dude ranch on which people from the town (called "dudes") spend their summer vacations. The ranch is situated in the desert near Tucson, Arizona. The ranch buildings include the main lodge, the boys and girls bunks, the guest lodge and the stable.

The ranch has horses for guided riding trips and also offers other activities for adults and children. It is run by the rancher together with female ranch hand Lucy. During the summer, the staff is increased by some temporarily employed teenagers to wait on the guests.

History

Lucy and the veteran summer employees Ted, Danny and Melody have already been working on the Bar None Ranch during previous summer seasons with the former owner, Mr. Smelt. The three teenagers return to the ranch for the present summer. Ted is nominated "senior staff", and Melody works as a lifeguard at the ranch's pool.

Mr. Ernst who has acquired the ranch arrives there with his son Buddy and Buddy's pet dog Cassie. Buddy does not like the life at the ranch and wants to return to New Jersey. When Brad arrives in a limo, she is believed to be a rich new guest before she reveals herself to be the new riding instructor.

Some time later, Ted has to leave the ranch to attend sommer school. He is replaced by Mr. Ernst's nephew Jake. Some time later, Kyle, the son of Lucy's ex-boyfriend, joins the staff of the ranch. Finally, Ted returns from sommer school.

For a detailled description of the events at the ranch please refer to the articles on the episodes.

Behind the scenes

The main building of the film set during the production of the show

The main building of the film set in 2014

Most of the Hey Dude TV series was filmed on the property of the Tanque Verde Ranch, 14301 East Speedway Boulevard, Tucson, Arizona. The ranch is situated about 20 km east of the city center (Google Maps Satellite - Bing Bird's Eye). It was founded in 1868 and served both for the production of cattle and for touristic purposes. For more information about the real ranch see its official website.

The ranch buildings shown in the series, however, are not the actual ranch buildings, but a film set especially constructed for the TV series about 500 m west of the actual ranch buildings (Google Maps Satellite - Bing Maps Bird's Eye). In this way, the guests of the ranch were not bothered by the production of the series. Further, the actual ranch buildings were too modern and luxurious for the series, and the film set could provide more old-fashioned and time-worn buildings. The guest lodge also was used as cast dressing rooms. Only the pool of the actual ranch was used for filming the pool scenes.

Hey Dude - ABANDONED - Nickelodeon Television Set

After the end of the production of the TV series, the film set was abandoned and left to decay. Some of the buildings are still standing, but in much disrepair.