Nighttime Closure Sought : Trouble Rides Up the Road to Chantry Flats

Bored and broke, Brian Teate had driven to Chantry Flats in hopes of salvaging his Saturday night.

Just above the communities of Sierra Madre and Arcadia, at the entrance to the Angeles National Forest, Chantry Flats offers a breathtaking view of the San Gabriel Valley at night and serves as a departure point for daytime hikes to area waterfalls and swimming holes.

But Teate and other youths have come to know it for a different, less pristine, allure. On weekends, late-night parties complete with alcohol and stereos blasting Ozzy Osbourne and Led Zeppelin music erupt spontaneously along the county road ascending to the flats and in a parking lot at the road’s end.

“We listen to music, sit on the rocks, drink beer and talk,” said Teate, who had driven up with two friends last Saturday night. “What’s the harm in that?”

Weekend Rendezvous

Once considered a “lover’s lane” or an “inspiration point,” Chantry Flats in more recent years has attracted a growing number of teen-agers and young adults seeking refuge from parents and police. They converge on the mountain every weekend, 20 to 30 cars containing 50 to 75 people. During warm summer nights, it’s not unusual for 150 to 200 of them to party late into the night along such turnouts as Rendezvous Overlook, which they call simply “The Rocks.”

Residents who live in the $400,000 homes at the base of the mountain in Sierra Madre say the mix of alcohol, drugs and twisting road is a deadly one. They count seven serious accidents in their residential neighborhood in the past three months alone, all involving young drivers who had used alcohol or drugs at Chantry Flats.

Cabin owners who spend their weekends in the mountain complain of drunk teen-agers throwing bottles, setting off fireworks and brawling.

Although officials of the Sheriff’s Department deny that the area has become a haven for hard drugs or violent crime, they acknowledge their inability to cope with an increase in vandalism and alcohol- and drug-related accidents. They say they lack the manpower to patrol the area and ensure that Chantry Flats, which is supposed to be closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., is swept clean each night of partying youths.

Solution Complicated

And a solution is complicated by geography and a strange quirk of jurisdiction. Santa Anita Avenue, the road leading to Chantry Flats, winds through Sierra Madre, Arcadia and Monrovia before ending up in a designated federal area.

The police departments of those three cities, the California Highway Patrol and the U.S. Forest Service all oversee varying parts of the mountain and must coordinate their efforts with sheriff’s deputies, who bear the brunt of the responsibility.

Last weekend, deputies reported arresting nine adults and eight juveniles for crimes ranging from driving while intoxicated to possession of cocaine and a stolen vehicle.

“We’re not going up there on numerous stabbings or shootings,” said Lt. Tom Johnston of the Temple City sheriff’s substation, which oversees the area. “Mostly, it’s a situation of kids being kids. We just have to protect them from themselves.”

Game of Cat and Mouse

Johnston described a frustrating game of cat and mouse with partying youth who use citizens band radios and lookouts to warn of police patrols working their way up the mountain.

“They always seem to be driving down the hill as we’re coming up,” he said. “They’ll wait until we leave and they drive right back up.”

Jody and Dennis Lonergan, who own a pack station that sells foodstuffs and other supplies at Chantry Flats and live in an adjacent home, say attempts by Arcadia police to patrol a popular gathering spot on the the lower half of the mountain have only pushed the problem into their backyard.

“We have been threatened with bodily harm for suggesting that they take their music and beer down the road so we can get some sleep,” said Jody Lonergan, 31.

“We’re not conservative folks. We like to enjoy ourselves. But the problem has just gotten out of hand in the past three years. On Valentine’s Day, we had a kid stabbed up here.”

Frustrated Homeowners

In January, 20 frustrated homeowners formed Citizens for a Safer Sierra Madre to spearhead a drive to enforce the 10 p.m.-6 a.m. closure at Chantry Flats by installing a new gate at the base of the mountain, where the residential area ends.

The group cites the recent nighttime closure of Chaney Trail in Altadena and Glendora Mountain Road in Glendora, among others, as precedents for the move. Over the past two months, the group has gotten 700 residents to sign a petition in support of its effort and has made presentations before elected officials in Sierra Madre and Arcadia.

George Salisbury, the group’s vice president, whose efforts to close the road four years ago were unsuccessful, said he is taking no chances this time. He has written a letter to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district includes Chantry Flats, and threatened to stage television “media events” if his office did not respond to the problem.

“The letter may be harsh, but it’s intended to get some action,” Salisbury said.

Specific Proposals

Representatives from Antonovich’s office and the six jurisdictions involved met in February to discuss the problem. The group is expected later this month to choose from several specific proposals by the citizens group, including the construction of a new, vandalism-proof gate. A second option, which the residents vehemently oppose, calls for the installation of a toll booth manned 24 hours a day by a U.S. Forest Service employee who will charge $2 for every car entering the area.

Government and police officials were reluctant to say which solution they favored, but at least two indicated there were more advantages to the toll booth idea.

Lt. Johnston said the toll booth would raise revenue for the county and the Forest Service and would not require the nighttime sweeps of the area that would be needed with a gate.

Johnston rejected suggestions by the citizens group that the toll booth and the $2 fee would not deter troublemakers from entering the area.

‘Symbol of Authority’

“With the toll booth, the kids would be passing some symbol of authority upon entering Chantry Flats. It suggests to them that they’re in somebody else’s backyard and that they should watch out.”

While group members are not happy with the toll booth plan, they applaud the Sheriff’s Department and local police for initiating a program last month of increased patrols and unannounced sweeps of the area.

The enhanced police presence--a temporary measure until a permanent plan can be reached--has already had an effect, according to the teen-agers and young adults who frequent Chantry Flats. Last Saturday, only a dozen cars could be seen parked along Santa Anita Avenue or in the lot near the pack station.

Teate, 20, said it was one of the slowest nights he could remember.

‘Hassled All the Time’

“We used to not get hassled up here. Now we get hassled all the time,” he said. “There’s a lot of people (upset). They’ve taken away our only place to be.”

Kathleen Garrick, Teate’s 28-year-old companion, said she has partied at Chantry Flats nearly every weekend since moving to Arcadia from Portland five months ago. Despite the bitter cold of the evening, Garrick wore a tight, short skirt several inches above the knee, leather jacket and high heels.

“I like to get dressed up when I come here,” she said. “It’s a pretty place and you’ve got a great view.”

Debbie Clinton, 21, of Van Nuys, said she had spent upwards of 30 weekend nights in Chantry Flats and had never seen any evidence of cocaine or other hard drugs, only alcohol and marijuana. She said she could recall only one time when a group became rowdy.

‘Bombed’ Marines

“There were four Marines based in Twentynine Palms and they were bombed out of their minds,” Clinton said. “Three of them picked up a truck parked in the lot and turned it around. Then they broke the headlights. I later dated the one Marine who didn’t take part (in the vandalism). He turned out to be a really nice guy.”

Laurie Altmann, 18, of Covina, said Saturday was first time she had ever visited the flats. Altmann, who was with a date, said friends at school often drove up when parties in town ended early.

“You don’t want to go home. You’ve just started to have fun,” she said. “Sure, there are some people up here who blow it. But I’ve seen a lot of others who just want to kick back, have a wine cooler and listen to some music.”

Tim Seelig, 20, of West Covina, said the road to Chantry Flats was one of the few mountain roads in the area that had not been closed at night. Seelig said he had frequented Glendora Mountain Road before authorities, citing similar problems of teen-age drunkenness and accidents, recently ended nighttime access there.

‘This Is Wildlife’

“This is the mountains. This is wildlife,” he said. “They shouldn’t be trying to close this down.”

But Chantry Flats cabin owners and residents at the base of the mountain said a nighttime closure was long overdue. They said denying access to the few legitimate “moonlight hikers” and sightseers was a small price to pay for the safety of area youth and homeowners’ peace of mind.

“Four accidents have ended up in my yard in the last few months,” said Lois Jenkins, who has lived at the corner of Arno and Santa Anita Avenue for eight years. “They’ve damaged my sprinklers and knocked down my trees. One young man got out staggering and four beer cans fell out of his car.”

Major Accidents

Dr. Jacob Fakoory, an emergency room physician who lives on Arno Drive, said the area averages four major accidents a month. One occurred recently outside his back fence when three young people driving down from Chantry Flats shortly before midnight crashed into a pole.

“One kid was hurt very seriously. I went out to see if I could help, and saw one of the guys throwing beer bottles out of the car before police arrived,” he said.

“This is a real safety issue,” Fakoory said. “There’s the potential for more. We need to take some preventive action.”

‘Just Plain Afraid’

Salisbury said his 28-year-old daughter refuses to sleep in a bedroom facing Santa Anita Avenue when she visits town. “She’s heard the stories of cars crashing into homes. She’s just plain afraid.”

Susan Hartley, who lives in another part of Sierra Madre, said she sees the effort to close Chantry Flats at night as more than combatting accidents and vandalism.

“The people whose homes are located along Santa Anita certainly have had their personal lives disrupted. But I see this as an issue affecting the entire area. There are drugs and alcohol being abused up there.

“We’re talking about the future well-being of our youth. I have three young children, and I know I don’t want them to have Chantry Flats luring them when they get older.”