RKO Forty Acres was a film studio
backlot owned by
RKO Pictures and later
Desilu Productions, located in
Culver City, California. Best known as Forty Acres, or "the back forty", it had other names such as "Desilu Culver", the "RKO backlot" and "Pathé 40 Acre Ranch" depending on which studio owned the property at the time. For nearly fifty years it was known for its outdoor full-scale
sets such as Western Street and Atlanta Street or Main Street and was used in films like
King Kong (1933) and
Gone with the Wind (1939), and television shows like
Bonanza and
Star Trek. It was situated on a triangular parcel of land that measured , located a few blocks from RKO (now "The
Culver Studios") which was situated to the west. It was bounded by Higuera Street to the north, West Jefferson Boulevard,
Ballona Creek and Culver City Park to the south and Lucerne Avenue to the west. In 1976 it was razed for re-development and is known today as the southern expansion of the Hayden Industrial Tract. A number of the buildings in the industrial park have been converted to television studios. One of the shows produced at the park is
Hell's Kitchen.