Ponderosa Ranch Ponderosa Ranch The Ponderosa Ranch was a theme park based on the popular 1960s television western "Bonanza", which housed the affluent land, timber and livestock-rich Cartwright family. The amusement park operated in Incline Village, Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, from 1967 until 2004. Portions of the last five seasons of the TV series and three TV movies were also filmed at that location. The Ponderosa was the fictional setting for "Bonanza". According to the 9th episode ("Mr. Henry Comstock") in the first season, it was a thousand-square mile (640,000 acre or 2,600 km) ranch on the shores of Lake Tahoe, nestled
The Chinese Restaurant "Cartwright" instead of "Costanza" was a subtle allusion to the classic western show "Bonanza". "Bonanza" rhymes with "Costanza" and the show's main characters are the "Cartwright" family. "The Chinese Restaurant" was first read by its cast on December 5, 1990, and it was filmed on December 11. Filming took place at CBS Studio Center in Studio City, Los Angeles, California, where all filming for the second season took place. As only one location was used, it took roughly half of the time it usually took for an episode to be filmed. Cast members have remarked that the filming was shorter