Valley `jewel' wins reprieve
Source: Daily News
by Melissa Pamer
Hidden behind stucco walls along busy Ventura Boulevard in Encino lies a quiet oasis on five small acres -- just a thousandth of the grand rancho it once was.
Los Encinos State Historic Park was at various times a Tongva village, a cattle ranch, a working farm and a stagecoach stop on the historic El Camino Real route between Spanish missions. As a park and educational site, it has embodied the Old West for generations of San Fernando Valley children on school field trips.
But public access to the park and its historic blacksmith shop, natural spring and guitar-shaped pond might end soon.
That's because Los Encinos is on a list of 70 state parks that are slated for closure due to budget cuts.
The park, however, got a temporary reprieve from closure recently.
Early on the day after Christmas, the office of state Sen. Fran Pavley, who has formed a task force to keep the park open, was called by a Valley resident who had heard about the threatened park closure. He and his family said they wanted to donate $150,000 to keep the park open.
"They decided to make this amazing generous end-of-year contribution," said Pavley, D-Calabasas. "They wanted to make it anonymous, which I support, and it makes it even more generous."
The donation - which will be funneled through the California State Parks Foundation - ensures that the park can remain open for one more year after a looming summer closure date.
But with a continuing state budget crunch likely, what happens after 2013 remains unknown.
Pavley hopes the anonymous donation will encourage others to open their pocketbooks to help the park.
The park, one of the state's smallest, charges no entry fee and can't even make money from charging for parking, because there is none. It costs the California Department of Parks and Recreation $210,000 to run Los Encinos every year, according to Pavley's district director, Rebekah Rodriguez.
A former middle school history teacher who grew up in Sherman Oaks, Pavley holds the park especially dear.
"The trip down old Ventura Boulevard went right past that park. I was probably one of the few people who knew that park existed if you weren't in the immediate area," Pavley said. "Think of how the Valley has changed over the years, and here we have this 5-acre hidden resource."
Jennifer Dandurand, an interpretive specialist with California State Parks who gives tours of Los Encinos, said it is the rich background of the site that contributes to its charm and value.
"What makes this site super cool is there's so much history here," Dandurand said. "This kind of encapsulates the history of California."
Community opposition to shuttering the park has been slowly building, spurred by resident Amy Zidell and Encino Neighborhood Council member Kathy Moghimi-Patterson, among others. Both women sit on Pavley's task force.
"It just is not acceptable to have it closed. It needs to stay open," Zidell said.
Moghimi-Patterson said the historic nature of Los Encinos makes it important, but it's also a community park and gathering place for families.
"It's like a jewel to all of us who live in Encino," she said.