A New Deal hospital campus that became a university
The largest set of period buildings in Camarillo started as a state hospital. The first structures went up in 1934 as a New Deal public works project, the hospital ran from 1936 to 1997, and the campus reopened in 2002 as California State University Channel Islands, the twenty-third CSU. It covers 1,187 acres of predominantly Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, and it has been on screen since The Snake Pit in 1948. Pearl Harbor and The Ring both shot there in the early 2000s, and Jarhead filmed marine barracks scenes in and around the Grand Salon in 2005.
The other landmark is older and smaller. The Camarillo Ranch House is an 1892 Queen Anne Victorian of roughly 6,000 square feet and fourteen rooms, built as the home of rancher Adolfo Camarillo, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Camarillo covers 19.7 square miles at 177 feet with 70,741 residents, sitting between Oxnard to the west and Thousand Oaks to the east, with Somis and Moorpark to the north. Camarillo Airport is county-owned, with a control tower, a single 6,013 by 150 foot runway and 383 based aircraft. The Commemorative Air Force Southern California Wing keeps a museum there holding flyable historic aircraft including a PBJ-1J Mitchell, an F6F-5 Hellcat and a Spitfire FR Mk. XIVe. A hangar, a Victorian ranch house and a Mission Revival quad inside one drive is not a combination the rest of the county offers.
Runway, ranch house and Mission Revival quad in one drive
Three location types sit within a few miles of each other here, and none of them look like the others on camera.
Camarillo Airport is county run with a control tower, a single 6,013 by 150 foot runway and 383 based aircraft. The Commemorative Air Force Southern California Wing keeps flyable historic aircraft on the field, including a PBJ-1J Mitchell, an F6F-5 Hellcat and a Spitfire FR Mk. XIVe. Hangar interiors give height, hard light through open doors and a floor that can take vehicle weight, which is why aviation and automotive brands book them.
The CSU Channel Islands campus is 1,187 acres of Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival on the grounds of the old state hospital. Arcades, bell tower, quad and long corridors have carried features since The Snake Pit in 1948, with Pearl Harbor, The Ring and Jarhead following. It reads as institution, campus or period depending on where the camera sits.
The Camarillo Ranch House is the third: an 1892 Queen Anne Victorian, roughly 6,000 square feet across fourteen rooms, on the National Register.
Around them sit the employers who actually commission work, in semiconductors, filtration, health and education. The practical value is compression. A commercial needing a hangar, a campus exterior and a period interior can hold all three on one call sheet, and a corporate shoot can put an executive in front of any of them without leaving the city.
Where the credits actually are
California State University Channel Islands holds most of them. The 1,187-acre campus sits on the grounds of the former Camarillo State Hospital, which ran from 1936 to 1997; the university opened in 2002 as the twenty-third CSU campus. The architecture is Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival.
The CSUCI library publishes the site's filmography. The Snake Pit shot there in 1948, followed by Pearl Harbor, The Ring, The Shape of Things, Soul Plane and Jarhead, whose marine barracks scenes used the Grand Salon. Television includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Carnivale and Ray Donovan. Music videos shot on the site include the 1999 'N Sync video I Drive Myself Crazy, plus Drowning Pool and Murderdolls.
Off campus, Spanish Hills Club carried Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and Queenpins shot at the airport in 2021. Camarillo Ranch House is an 1892 Queen Anne Victorian built for rancher Adolfo Camarillo, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and managed by the city since November 1, 2019 for weddings and rental events.
Who commissions work in Camarillo
Semtech, a supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors founded in 1960, is headquartered here. Vitesse Semiconductor was based here until the Microsemi acquisition closed in April 2015. The largest civilian employers are Pleasant Valley School District at 729, St. John's Hospital Camarillo at 611 and Meissner Filtration Products at 510, per the city's annual financial report.
Retail and hospitality carry their own demand. Camarillo Premium Outlets opened on November 24, 1995 and runs more than 160 stores across roughly 674,000 square feet, which is a steady source of brand and product work. Event producers book the Ranch House. Listing agents work a city of 70,741 people where a ranch parcel and a hangar sit a few miles apart and answer to different permit desks. The airport recorded 108,566 aircraft operations in 2020 against 383 based aircraft.
The Conejo Grade, the county line and the drive
Access from the Conejo Valley is over the Conejo Grade, a stretch of US 101 with a 7% grade and a summit at 841.1 feet, with California Highway Patrol truck inspection stations on both sides of the highway at the upper terminus. Camarillo sits at about 177 feet and the airport at a surveyed 76.8 feet, at the eastern end of the Oxnard Plain.
Jurisdiction changes at the city limit. Farmland around Camarillo, in Somis, the Oxnard Plain and Santa Rosa Valley, is largely unincorporated, so an agricultural location is permitted by Ventura County Resource Management Agency Planning, generally in three business days, or five where waivers are needed. An event held entirely on Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District property may need only district approval on (805) 482-1996. A FilmLA application buys nothing here, and the Ventura County Film Commission issues nothing either.
From Westlake Village the drive is roughly sixteen miles, about seventeen to twenty-five minutes without traffic, up US-101 over the grade. Those are routing estimates. Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley run separate processes, Oxnard shares the county airport arrangement, and the Ventura County overview covers all ten. Property films here are real estate work with two permit paths behind them.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a permit to film in Camarillo?
Yes for anything commercial, through the city's Community Development Department, and Camarillo Airport needs a separate county permit on top because the County of Ventura owns and runs it. We file both. What matters on your side is the date and whether the airport is in the plan, because that is the piece with the longer runway on approvals.
What can we actually film at Camarillo Airport?
Hangars, apron, based aircraft and the Commemorative Air Force collection, which includes a PBJ-1J Mitchell, an F6F-5 Hellcat and a Spitfire FR Mk. XIVe. Hangar interiors give you height, a hard shaft of light through open doors and a floor that takes vehicle weight, which is why automotive and aviation brands book them. The field has a control tower and 383 based aircraft, so there is real activity in the background when you want it.
What does the CSU Channel Islands campus offer a production?
1,187 acres of Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture on the grounds of the former Camarillo State Hospital, with arcades, a bell tower, a quad and long institutional corridors. It has been on screen since The Snake Pit in 1948, and Pearl Harbor, The Ring and Jarhead have all used it. It reads as a university, an institution or a period building depending on where you put the camera.
Do we need two permits to film at Camarillo Airport?
Yes. The airport belongs to the County of Ventura Department of Airports, which requires a permit from the Director of Airports for any commercial filming, and the same document requires a City of Camarillo filming permit too.
What does filming at Camarillo Airport cost per day?
The county publishes $1,100 a day for feature, television or commercial filming with one to twenty cast and crew including base camp, $3,000 for twenty-one or more, and $800 for commercial photography. Activity on a tenant leasehold is capped at $262 a day.
Can we fly a drone near Camarillo Airport?
Only with the right authorizations. Part 107 requires a remote pilot certificate and registration, and bars flight in controlled airspace without prior air traffic control approval, usually through LAANC. The city separately requires airport and FAA permission for any air flight portion of a shoot.
What is the drive from Westlake Village to Camarillo?
About sixteen miles, over the Conejo Grade on US-101, usually half an hour outside of peak. That grade is the county line in practical terms, and it is the reason a Camarillo call time and a Los Angeles call time behave differently in morning traffic. For a same-day two-city shoot we schedule Camarillo first and come back over the hill.