TRIPS: WHEELER HOT SPRINGS : Restful Waters : A historic spa near Ojai hasn’t lost its touch for melting away the stresses of the city.

Wheeler Hot Springs is the kind of place that really tests a person’s generosity.

Should you tell about the peaceful grounds--the palms and gently rustling alder trees, the clear spring water that runs down the hillside, the rejuvenation one feels after soaking in a wooden tub of bubbling mineral water? Or should you keep the information to yourself, hoping the crowds never find it and ruin a good thing?

In the end, altruism prevails. It’s too good not to pass on.

Nestled in the Wheeler Gorge canyon just six miles from the heart of Ojai, Wheeler Hot Springs has been a haven for stressed city dwellers since it opened to the public in 1891. Having heard about the mineral water’s supposed restorative powers, visitors regularly traveled by train from throughout Southern California, transferring to a stagecoach in Ojai for the rest of the journey.

Today, it is a lot easier to get there, but Wheeler Hot Springs seems as untouched by progress and technology as it did 99 years ago.

Surrounded by trees and wildflowers, the two buildings on the grounds look much as they did in old photographs taken near the turn of the century. One building is the bathhouse with private, skylit rooms, where visitors can alternate between hot and cold mineral tubs.

The water in the hot tubs smells pungently of sulfur and is said to have been used by the Chumash Indians to treat everything from arthritis to muscular complaints. After a few minutes submerged, it is difficult to imagine even the most stubborn workaholic doing anything but relaxing.

Moving into the cold mineral water in an adjacent tub is instantly refreshing, though the water is odorless and otherwise nondescript. The taste is a completely different story.

Wheeler Hot Springs receives no drinking water from the city of Ojai, according to spa manager Lanny Kaufman, and gets all of its drinking water from a nearby spring. Unaffected by the drought, large glass pitchers in every tub room are filled to the brim, with lemon slices floating on top.

Comparing this water to tap water is like comparing Thunderbird with Dom Perignon. By the time a bell on the door signals to a visitor that his or her time in the tubs is up--and that a masseur or masseuse is now waiting in a room down the hall--the water in the pitcher is gone.

An hour later, an expertly kneaded visitor walks out of the massage room, as tense as overcooked pasta.

The second building, just across from the spa, was a dance hall in the 1920s and ‘30s. Today, it is a restaurant that overlooks a bamboo-shrouded creek. Jazz musicians sometimes play in the evenings. Their compensation generally is free access to the spa.

“We don’t have a big budget and usually can’t afford their fees,” Kaufman said. “The spa is usually enough, though.”

A vegetable and herb garden beside the restaurant provides fresh ingredients for the menu, which changes almost weekly. Prices for such entrees as grilled eggplant, seafood fettuccine and orange-carrot salad range from $14 to $19.

Kaufer claims he can distinguish the customers who have come directly to the restaurant from the ones who have first been to the spa. “I can always tell,” said Kaufer, who appears as relaxed as his clients.

“You can always see the difference on their faces when they come out of the spa.”

Although appointments are recommended, on a recent weekday the tub rooms and massage rooms were virtually empty. Hot tub rooms are $8.50 per person per half an hour on weekdays; $10 on weekends. Massages are $34 per half an hour, $46 for an hour and $76 for 90 minutes. For reservations or more information, call 646-8131.

* WHERE AND WHEN: Wheeler Hot Springs is located at 16825 Maricopa Highway, 6 1/2 miles north of Ojai on Highway 33. It is open year-round. The spa is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The restaurant is open Thursday to Sunday, 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and for Sunday brunch 1 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information call 646-8131.