Virginia City, Nevada - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• Virginia City is near the site of the fictitious Ponderosa Ranch on the Western television drama Bonanza. As such, the show's characters made visits to the town regularly. The Virginia City depicted on Bonanza was located at RKO Forty Acres in Hollywood.
• It was the locale of the 1940 film Virginia City, set during the Civil War, and starring Errol Flynn.
• The city during its mining boom was the setting for most of the 1946 James M. Cain novel "Past All Dishonor."
• Virginia City und die wahre Geschichte des Wilden Westens, directed by Elmar Bartlmae, is a 2007 German documentary film.
• In 2004, Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin filmed their paranormal investigations at reportedly haunted locations in Virginia City for their 2006 documentary Ghost Adventures.

"Darcy Farrow", a folk song written by Steve Gillette and Tom Campbell, mentions Virginia City and other places and landmarks in the area (including Yerington, the Carson Valley, and the Truckee River). The most popular version was performed by John Denver.

Virginia City's Red Dog Saloon was where Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Charlatans, the Grateful Dead and others got their start during the summer of 1965. Happenings at the Red Dog, including a house light show, underpinned the beginning of West Coast hippie culture.