When Bob Bradshaw came to Sedona back in 1945, Sedona was a small agricultural cattle town ripe of opportunity for a young man to leave his mark in the world.
In 1949, Bob’s love for photography prompted the building of his first photo studio and Kodak Dealership located in uptown Sedona. Built next to The Hitching Post Restaurant, the business was constructed all by Fox Film set materials from the movie Broken Arrow starring Jimmy Stewart, Jeff Chandler, and Geraldine Page. A horse corral was erected behind the studio and the Bradshaw family opened the first commercial trail riding business that offered tours of the Red Rock country.
Although a few early films were shot in the Sedona area, It was not long after Bob’s arrival that Hollywood turned its eye to the pristine beauty and accommodating scenery of the area for the western film genre. Not only did he build the first western town for use in the booming Movie Industry (located beneath Coffee Pot Rock), but was a stuntman, actor, photographer, film location scout, and supplier of cattle, and horses. Bob’s influence with Hollywood left its mark, he worked on 28 films,19 television shows, and 77 commercials and was one of the first official Marlboro Men for their commercials. Ironically, having never smoked, he confessed with a smile, “I just faked the smoking”. Bob explains, “My skills for building and my abilities with horses and cattle along with my knowledge of the entire region, made me a valuable asset in the making of many motion pictures here in Red Rock country.” “I was good on horses, that’s what they wanted. As for the stunts, I just did the easy ones, I wasn’t crazy.”
Later, many of these westerns were filmed on the 140 acre ranch Bob acquired in 1960 for $200 an acre. When he moved in, all that remained of the original homestead abandoned in 1942, was an old adobe house, which still stands today and is believed to be the oldest pioneer structure in the Sedona area. Over the years, the Bradshaw Ranch served as a location for 5 movies, 2 television series, and numerous commercials. For the film “Stay Away Joe” starring Elvis Presley in 1967, the first old town movie set was erected on the ranch called “Bitter Creek” which was used as a set for many later movies, TV series, and commercials eventually being burned down for a Wells Fargo commercial in 1986. The old town was then re-erected to host “A Day in the West’s” western destination town. The town was maintained until the sale of the Ranch to The National Forest (Department of Agriculture), whereupon it was taken down and the land returned to natural desert grasslands…. the adobe house still stands.