Texas Hollywood

{{Short description|Theme park in Almería, Spain}} '''Texas Hollywood/Fort Bravo''' is a [[Western (genre)|Western]]-styled theme park in the [[province of Almería]] in Spain. Built in the early 1970s,<ref name=hughes>{{cite book |last1=Hughes |first1=Howard |title=Once Upon a Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns |year=2004 |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] |location=London and New York |isbn=1-85043-430-1 |page=xviii |chapter=Sundowner: An Introduction to European Westerns |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781850434306 }}</ref> it lies a few kilometres to the north of the [[N-340 road (Spain)|N-340 road]] highway (468 km mark), near the town of [[Tabernas]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Jeffrey |title=Andalucia & Costa Del Sol |url=https://archive.org/details/andaluciacostade00kenn |url-access=registration |series=DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides |year=2006 |orig-year=2004 |publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]] |location=London, United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-4053-0270-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/andaluciacostade00kenn/page/111 111] |chapter=Around Andalucía—Granada & Almería Provinces}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Noble |first1=John |last2=Forsyth |first2=Susan |last3=Maric |first3=Vesna |title=Andalucía |edition=5th |date=January 2007 |publisher=[[Lonely Planet]] |location=London, United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-74059-973-3 |page=407 |chapter=North of Almería}}</ref>

== History == Around 1977, Rafa Molina, a stuntman, bought the set for [[United States dollar|US$]]6,000 to improve his job opportunities if the set was to be used for filming. In the early 1980s, he started charging visitors money to tour the set. Mock shoot-outs and barroom brawls were later added, and one of the buildings was converted into a full saloon to sell beer.<ref name="natgeo">{{cite journal |last=McCarthy |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew McCarthy |date=April 2007 |title=The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly |journal=[[National Geographic Traveler]] |page=80 |location=New York, United States |publisher=[[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] |issn=0747-0932 |access-date=April 12, 2011 |url=http://www.andrewmccarthy.com/overlays/writing_ngt_spain.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723124001/http://www.andrewmccarthy.com/overlays/writing_ngt_spain.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 23, 2011}}</ref> It is now known as Fort Bravo.

== Style == The building architecture in Texas Hollywood is of two different styles built back to back split between two areas.<ref name=longis>{{cite web |url=http://www.delongis.com/SantaHelena/ |title=The Queen of Swords—The Town |first=Anthony De |last=Longis |author-link=Anthony De Longis |date=January 21, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117200740/http://www.delongis.com/SantaHelena/ |archive-date=November 17, 2011 |url-status=live |access-date=October 11, 2011}}</ref> The Western set features a blacksmith, jail, hotel, [[gallows]] and [[clapboard (architecture)|clapboard]] buildings from the [[American Old West]] era.<ref name=natgeo /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Neil |title=The Rhizomatic West: Representing the American West in a Transnational, Global, Media Age |series=Postwestern Horizon |year=2008 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |location=Nebraska, United States |isbn=978-0-8032-1539-9 |page=114 |chapter=Welcome to Westworld}}</ref> The Spanish set consists of a town square, a church,<ref name=longis /> and houses found in a typical Mexican [[pueblo]].<ref name=natgeo /> Texas Hollywood remains an active film set.<ref name=natgeo />

== Media == The television series ''[[Queen of Swords (TV series)|Queen of Swords]]'' was filmed May 3, 2000 to December 12, 2000,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tessiesantiagofansite.com/TVQueenOfSwords.html |title=Tessie Santiago Fansite == Queen of Swords == |access-date=2011-03-18 |archive-date=2011-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716212124/http://tessiesantiagofansite.com/TVQueenOfSwords.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> principally in the Spanish buildings and the surrounding [[Tabernas Desert]]. The Western buildings were also used for the series with the Western jail serving as the Spanish jail and one of the large Western buildings was converted into a sound stage containing the living quarters of both Senorita Alvarado and Col. Montoya.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sd2cx1.webring.org/l/rd?ring=btvslayer;id=48;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edelongis%2Ecom%2FLaReina%2Findex%2Ehtml |title=On the set at Santa Helena |access-date=2012-09-17 |archive-date=2017-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301180703/http://sd2cx1.webring.org/l/rd?ring=btvslayer%3Bid%3D48%3Burl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.delongis.com%2FLaReina%2Findex.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[A Town Called Mercy]]" was filmed here and at [[Mini Hollywood|Oasys/Mini Hollywood]] in 2012.<ref>Spanish link for Fort Bravo/Texas Hollywood [http://www.fortbravo.es/rodajes07.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621003222/http://www.fortbravo.es/rodajes07.htm |date=2012-06-21 }} Retrieved 12 september 2012</ref>

[[Depeche Mode]]'s music video for the song ''[[Personal Jesus]]'' was filmed there.

== Photos == <gallery widths="225px" heights="250px"> File:Fort Bravo Texas Hollywood September 2013.JPG|Fort at the entrance to Fort Bravo/Texas Hollywood File:Spanish town square Fort Bravo Texas Hollywood September 2013.JPG|Spanish pueblo in Texas Hollywood File:Fort Bravo Texas Hollywood, Almería.jpg|Street view of the Western town in Texas Hollywood File:Grand Central Bank Fort Bravo Texas Hollywood.JPG|Bank used in "A Town Called Mercy" </gallery>

==See also== *[[List of films shot in Almeria]] *[[Mini Hollywood]] *[[Western Leone]]

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Texas Hollywood}} * [http://fortbravooficial.com/en/ Texas Hollywood's official site]

[[Category:Amusement parks in Spain]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Andalusia]] [[Category:Tourist attractions in Andalusia]] [[Category:Western (genre) theme parks]]