Oak Park: The best-kept real estate secret, and a film location

Movies are in his veins: By day, Harry Medved is in PR (at movie site

Fandango). By night, he’s a film historian. (He’s co-authored two indispensable–and fun–guides to film location history,

Hollywood Escapes and

Location Shooting in Los Angeles

.)

And now, he’s got a new one, Oak Park-about the Ventura County community he now calls home, which happens to have a storied history.

Oak Park is one of those gems you’ve never heard of unless you happen to have a friend like Medved, who defected from the west side and moved there with his family for its idyllic lifestyle. (A move he says he never imagined making.) A Native American site turned ranch owned by storied radio personalities turned into a planned country suburb back in the sixties, Oak Park has done a star turn in dozens of films: “Of Mice and Men,” “A Walk in the Sun,””Texas Across the River,” “Firecreek,” “Little Big Man,” “The Thing with Two Heads,” “Nickelodeon,” “Back to the Future III,” and”3 Ninjas” –to name a few. Watch a video of film clips shot on location in Oak Park, below:

Medved’s enthusiasm for the place will have you hankering to move–or to at least pay a visit. Listen to our conversation below: