CHATSWORTH : Hikers Lament Over Graffiti at Mountain Park

Every year, after the winter rains subside, James and Maureen Portnoy of Encino like to escape the trappings of city life by hiking through Chatsworth Park South and up into the folds of the Santa Susana Mountains.

They ascend to higher elevations by walking along the banks of a stream temporarily created by the rain as they, in total seclusion, converse or silently sort out the problems awaiting them in the Valley below.

But last Saturday, a big city problem greeted the couple as they walked by the rushing water toward their favorite resting spot.

Near a large crevice carved into one mountainside, gang epithets were spray-painted on loose boulders and alongside the mountain’s steep facade. The crevice was covered by shattered beer bottles.

Aggravated, the Portnoys went home.

James Portnoy said he is already fed up with the graffiti he sees in his own neighborhood. But in the mountains, he said, the graffiti violates a sanctity. And he has set out to alert residents that the mountains, as well as the San Fernando Valley, will soon be overrun with graffiti if nothing is done to erase the problem.

“This is eye pollution,” Portnoy said. “Last year, the area was completely clean. You were afraid to tell anyone about it because it was so peaceful.

“Now, it looks like New York City. What will it be like next year?”

Largely responsible for the 1985 cleanup of an illegal-dumping site near another area of Chatsworth Park South, Portnoy said that the mountain graffiti is the last straw for him and his wife.

“Los Angeles is a great place,” he said, “but we’re ready to move out. Things are just getting too bad.”

Although aware of the growing pollution problem in the mountains, the Santa Susana Mountain Park Assn. can only toss up its hands in response to Portnoy’s complaint.

Jan Hinkston, the association’s founder, said a lack of state funds can be blamed for the absence of rangers patrolling the area to thwart potential graffiti vandals.

Until they receive those funds, Hinkston said, dealing with the problem is entirely up to the association members.

“We believe we’ve seen the graffiti artists hanging around in the area, but can’t prove that it’s them,” she said. “They all come dressed in the same color, either black or white, carrying bags with them.”

The association, which conducts weekend tours of the mountain’s trails to highlight their historical significance, sometimes employs the services of students in the area to help erase the epithets from the boulders.

But, Hinkston said, the process is as damaging as the graffiti itself. Scraping the paint off with a wire brush or painting over the rocks entirely might contribute their erosion. Paint gets into the pores of the rocks, and wire brushes scrape away their much-needed protective veneer, Hinkston said.

Pointing out that some vandals have attacked ancient Native American pictographs featured on some mountain walls, Hinkston laments that a lack of historical awareness is part of the problem.

“These rocks sprang up more than a hundred million years ago,” she said. “(Because of this,) they are geologically unique in structure.

“It’s a crying shame to see this done to them. I know that’s how I feel.”