Restored Entrance to Park Is Dedicated : Recreation: Zev Yaroslavsky calls 20-acre site in Sherman Oaks ‘another piece in the overall mosaic.’

The restored entrance to the 20-acre Dixie Canyon Park in Sherman Oaks was dedicated Saturday by conservation officials and Los Angeles Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who called the steep, wooded park “another piece in the overall mosaic” of recreational land in the heart of the city.

Actor Warren Beatty helped conservation-minded residents fighting development of the area by buying the 20 acres in 1977. A looping, half-mile trail was built the next year, but soon afterward, a giant pile of dirt from illegally graded land blocked the entrance.

The developer later settled with the city and paid to clean up the mess. But delays in obtaining city permits stalled efforts to give hikers access until December, when the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency, used its emergency authority to do the work.

Standing before a rock-faced retaining wall, steps and a boulder-strewn bed for a small stream that flows from the canyon and trickles down the center of Dixie Canyon Place, Yaroslavsky said such parks will be “important for the sanity of our community” as the metropolis grows.

“As we found out last January, houses come and go, but mountains you can only destroy once,” he said. “Once you chop down the mountain, you cannot rebuild it. No FEMA grant, no SBA loan will rebuild the Santa Monica Mountains.”

John Diaz, deputy conservancy director, said if the agency is able to acquire land at the end of nearby Longridge Canyon, hikers could walk up to Mulholland Drive. “People would find it easier to park up there than here at the entrance of Dixie Canyon,” he said.

Another speaker was actor-environmentalist Ed Begley Jr., who arrived perspiring from his bicycle ride. Begley praised the man who recently appointed him to the conservancy, Mayor Richard Riordan, whom he first met while bike-riding in the mountains.

“Mr. Riordan is not just interested in bike riding; he’s interested in preserving areas like this,” said Begley, who is featured in the movie “Greedy.” “It’s up to us to make sure there is something left for our children and our grandchildren.”

Conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston cited more than a dozen people who helped in the preservation and restoration fight, including nearby residents Peter and Eileen Doctorow, who donated land at the park entrance, and Barbara Asa-Dorian of Sherman Oaks.

Asa-Dorian said she became an ardent defender of the land in 1977 when she saw bulldozers grading it for homes. An admitted novice in the arcane workings of city departments and land-use laws, Asa-Dorian said she used a combination of research and guile to impress government officials.

“They didn’t think women had any brains in those days, and I wasn’t above wearing a tight shirt when I went downtown,” she said with a smile.

“There was going to be a 90-foot wall here and 32 homes on the ridge,” she said. “We got it down to 11 homes, and Mr. Beatty bought the land.”

Conservancy officials surprised Asa-Dorian by revealing that the park’s trail will be named after her. After shaking her head in disbelief, she recovered quickly: “I hope you all use my trail.”

* NEW PARK: A former cattle ranch is officially parkland. A3