Children Find ‘Ghost Town’ With Spirit of the Season

During the first years of his life, Raul Mateos, 10, lived on a ranch in Mexico near Jalisco. There, he said, he regularly rode horses and played in the wide-open spaces.

Six years ago, his family moved to El Monte, east of Los Angeles, where he lives in a crowded neighborhood near the freeway. His family has suffered from the ravages of urban crime: Last year their house was burglarized.

But on Saturday, Raul relived a bit of his younger days. Under clear blue skies, he petted horses and played cowboys and Indians on the dusty streets of a rickety Western town.

He was one of more than 50 low-income children from the Head Start program, some of whom are physically disabled, who came to Johnny Carpenter’s Heaven on Earth ranch in Lake View Terrace for an old Western Christmas party, complete with a barbecue lunch, a generous Santa Claus who dispensed toys, and Christmas carols in English and Spanish.

Carpenter, 75, is a crusty old cowboy who starred in such low-budget 1950s Westerns as “Trail of Kit Carson,” “In Old Wyoming,” and “Santa Fe Saddle Mates.”

And for more than 50 years, Carpenter has entertained thousands of disabled and disadvantaged children at his 3 1/2-acre lot, where he keeps several horses and donkeys. He has also constructed a ghost town, complete with the Mangy Dog Saloon, a post office and a stagecoach station.

Carpenter, who comes from a wealthy Arkansas family, developed the ranch so that disabled and other disadvantaged children could play in the wide-open spaces and interact with animals.

“A kid that hasn’t played in the dirt--it is physically impossible for him to be normal,” Carpenter said.

Over the years, by his own count, more than 750,000 children have visited the ranch. Many have learned to ride horses on the property.

Mark Friedman, 23, of Studio City said he has been coming to the ranch since he was 3 1/2. Friedman, who is deaf, was there Saturday, dressed in a Civil War costume, to help Carpenter. He said he wanted to be sure the children had as much fun as he had when he was young.

Carpenter said his efforts on behalf of the disabled are the fulfillment of a promise he made while recuperating from a devastating auto accident when he was 18. Lying in bed with a broken back, a broken leg and a concussion, he vowed that if he was ever able to walk again, he would dedicate his life to helping the disabled. Carpenter recovered. The inspiration for the ranch came several years later, when four blind men came to the stable where he worked and asked Carpenter to teach them how to ride horses. At first, Carpenter was skeptical, he said, but they persuaded him and eventually became adept riders. That’s when he decided to open a ranch for disabled and urban children, he said.

Lorraine Gutierrez, coordinator of the El Monte Options/Head Start program, who organized the trip for the children and their parents, said many of the children at the ranch Saturday had never been outside their immediate neighborhood.

The children loved the games, gifts and lunch, but most said the best part of the outing was the donkeys and horses.

“I got to pet the donkey,” said Julia Franco, 4, as she sucked on a candy cane and clutched a Barbie doll she had received from Santa Claus.