Studio City : Storm Fails to Dampen Trail Opening

It’s a good thing that hikers are a hardy breed.

Nearly 150 of them were nearly blown off a ridge Saturday when a driving rainstorm interrupted dedication ceremonies for a mountain hiking trail in Studio City.

Officials ignored the weather to open the five-mile-long Betty B. Dearing Mountain Trail, which crosses a scenic canyon and connects three Santa Monica Mountain parks.

The new trail is named after Betty Dearing, a Studio City homemaker who waged a 25-year fight to preserve open space by opposing new housing tracts in the hills south of the San Fernando Valley.

Developer Granted Path

Although critical of most housing tract developers, environmentalists Saturday had words of praise for one. They said builder C. James Fabian voluntarily granted a pathway through a proposed 37-home construction site so that the Dearing Trail could be built.

“This is the first time a developer has permitted a trail over his property even before the development is approved for construction,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the trail’s builder, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

“Most developers use trail dedications as a carrot, demanding that they get their building approvals first. He didn’t. He’s taking a risk by allowing the trail first.”

Starts at Fryman Overlook

John A. Diaz, project analyst for the Conservancy, said the trail gently drops between two sites owned by his agency. It starts at the Fryman Canyon Scenic Overlook at 8941 Mulholland Drive and ends at Wilacre Park, west of Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

However, there was no rush Saturday to break in the new hiking route after schoolchildren helped cut a red ribbon at the overlook’s trail head.

The rain cut short an oak tree planting ceremony next to a plaque honoring Dearing. Gusty winds interfered with a balloon launch by blowing them down the side of the ridge, into Fryman Canyon.

As the ceremony ended, one gust knocked over a row of folding chairs in the back of a tent rented for the dedication. Members of the crowd dashed for their cars through the downpour.

Canopy on Hand

Actually, ceremony planner Laura Young of Pacific Palisades had ordered only a canopy for the event, just in case it drizzled. “Fortunately, they brought sides to it when they delivered it,” she said.

Linda Palmer, a Calabasas resident who is president of the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, said she was not surprised by the large turnout in the rainstorm.

“It shows how important trails are in people’s lives,” Palmer said.

Among those jamming the tent to hear several short dedication speeches were members of Dearing’s family and homeowners who worked with her in her neighborhood’s Briarcliff Improvement Assn. and the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns. She died in 1977 at age 60.

Leroy Dearing said his wife had a knack for “getting things done without making enemies” in the neighborhood or at City Hall.

“I’m anxious to hike the trail,” he said. “I’ll be thinking about Betty and the fact that part of these mountains is preserved for people to use rather than for houses on stilts.”