Soak With a View : Family Will Open Hot Tub Spa in County’s Bonelli Park

In 1983, when Lynn Swann and his son, Tom, first stood on the quiet ridge overlooking Puddingstone Reservoir and marveled at the view 30 miles in each direction, they knew they had found “the perfect place” for the Swann family project.

Now, the Swanns and the county Department of Parks and Recreation are partners in a project at Bonelli Regional Park near San Dimas that will plunge the county feet first into Southern California’s booming hot tub rental business.

The Swanns are building a rustic outdoor spa, believed to be the first of its kind in Los Angeles County, with 10 hot tubs and a huge public bath on a ridge high above the eastern flank of Puddingstone Reservoir.

Three years in the planning, the facility, if successful, will eventually include about 35 hot tubs and two public baths that can accommodate more than 25 people each. It is patterned after outdoor spas in San Luis Obispo and San Juan Capistrano that have been extremely successful, Lynn Swann said.

“When we approached the county about our idea in 1983, they weren’t against it, but they said, ‘You want to do WHAT?’ ” he said. “It’s not like anything they have ever done before, but we think they are going to be awful glad they said yes.”

The Swanns are paying all of the development costs and will lease the site from the county, under a contract similar to many used for county park concessions to bring in increased revenue.

Nestled among natural rock outcroppings and native California shrubs and cacti, the semiprivate hot tubs will allow visitors to simmer in bubbling waters while they watch boaters and skiers circling the reservoir’s blue waters below.

Skyline Visible

On clear days, even the distant outline of Los Angeles skyscrapers 30 miles to the west are visible from the lofty perch, Lynn Swann said.

The undeveloped area, long slated for use by the county as a campground, is a few hundred yards from the 2,000-acre park’s East Shore Recreational Vehicle Campground, and is near an equestrian center where park visitors can rent horses. The site is also about a mile from the park’s “Raging Waters” aquatic amusement center, located on the north shore of the reservoir.

That combination of recreational activities nearby “is just perfect for us,” said Tom Swann, the general manager of the project.

“We expect a great deal of business from people who are camping or swimming nearby and like the idea of stopping in for a nice hot soak and a great sunset,” he said.

Slated for opening by Labor Day weekend, the hot tubs, located about 50 feet apart, will be walled-in on three sides with glass and wood windbreaks to allow an unobstructed view of the reservoir and distant communities, Tom Swann said. The tubs, which can accommodate up to six people, will rent for about $7 or $8 an hour per person.

The 25-to-50-person public bath, complete with a shelter and barbecue facilities large enough to roast a pig, will be open to all visitors at a similar price during the day and will be available for large groups to reserve--at a likely cost of $50 to $100 an hour--in the evenings, Lynn Swann said.

“This will be the kind of place where companies can throw luaus and huge picnics,” Tom Swann said.

In addition, he said, the facilities will be open in the early morning “because we would like to cater to the exercise crowd and bicyclists who use the park before work.”

Lynn Swann said that before the project was approved by the county Board of Supervisors this spring, county personnel took time to “try out the hot tubs” at a similar facility that he had seen in San Juan Capistrano.

“When they came back, they called and said they liked the idea,” he said.

The project, the brainchild of the two Swanns, has captured the imagination--and commitment--of the entire Swann family.

Members of the family, most of whom live in the La Verne and Pomona areas, have invested more than $200,000 in the project, and three of the key investors, including Lynn Swann, have formed a corporation, Hotubs Inc., to operate the facility.

In addition, Lynn Swann, a concept engineer with General Dynamics Corp. in Pomona, and Tom Swann, an industrial equipment salesman with a business degree, have plenty of ready talent from which to draw.

Tom’s wife, Lori, has a degree in ornamental horticulture and landscaping, and she is designing the naturalistic landscaping and walkways at the site. Tom’s sisters, Kay and Mary, with degrees in business, expect to help operate the facility. A brother, James, is a civil engineer who designed the layout of the site. James’ wife, Louisa, is Hotub Inc.’s secretary.

“Each member of the family is putting in what they can,” Lynn Swann said.

“My mother is in a wheelchair, and we’ve told her she’s going to be our senior citizen adviser because we want to slate things for the handicapped,” he said. “And we always tell people that my grandson, Brandon, is the project mascot.”

Family Labor

Family members spent recent weekends pouring concrete walkways and grading the road into the site, and in the coming weeks the family crew will install hot tubs and begin the landscaping.

Lori Swann, the landscaper, said she has been cultivating large potted plants for the last two years, and those plants will be transplanted to the site soon.

“It is really going to have a natural, unplanned look to it,” she said. “We want to stay with the original beauty of the area.”

County officials, who have called the project “innovative and exciting,” said the facility will bring a small profit to the county through a lease agreement.

Under the lease, the Swanns will pay the county $250 a month the first year, $500 the second year, and $1,000 the third and fourth years. In addition, the county may also get a percentage of the profits, if revenues increase markedly.

“We just think it’s a fantastic idea,” said Olene Shipley, park supervisor. “There are more and more things to do at Bonelli Park every year, and this is going to fit right in.”