MODJESKA CANYON : Its Sylvan Solitude Is So Appealing That Everybody Goes There

For 32 years, Cliff Larson has lived on a hillside in this isolated canyon community, cultivating a reputation as the town’s preeminent artist.

Reed-thin and bearded, Larson, 56, often sits on his porch, pontificating on the past and future of the place he loves.

“When I moved in here,” he said, “Santiago Canyon Road wasn’t even paved. It was just an old dirt road that hardly anyone ever drove up or down. Now, you’re seein’ cars all the time, and some of ‘em are bein’ driven by rich people. I ain’t rich.”

Larson lives in what he calls “the closest thing you’ll find to a trapper’s cabin,” which in Modjeska Canyon these days occupies a hallowed place not far from lavish two- and three-story estates built by doctors, lawyers, investment bankers and the like.

Fiddling with the salt-and-pepper stubble on his chin, Larson has another word for them.

“Yuppies,” he said with a snarl. “We’re bein’ invaded by yuppies.”

Modjeska Canyon has become one of Orange County’s hottest real-estate draws, with dozens of expensive homes popping up throughout the community, which has a rich and colorful history.

This once-remote canyon within the Cleveland National Forest was named for Helena Modjeska, famed Polish stage actress who moved to the United States in 1876 and fell in love with the same neighborhood that Larson did.

Modjeska’s sprawling estate, named Arden in honor of William Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden in “As You Like It,” has been preserved as a local monument. It is open to tourists, plenty of whom show up on weekends.

The Arden-Helena Modjeska Historic House is a five-gabled white building on a narrow stretch of flatland along Santiago Creek. Today, its twin outdoor fountains are empty, and its wishing well, once covered with Gold of Ophir climbing roses, is closed.

Larson and some neighbors say that Modjeska, who died in 1909, might be horrified to see how the town she inspired has changed.

“It’s changing. It’s changing a lot,” Larson said, surrounded by a front porch of knickknacks that include bell chimes, lanterns, a gum machine, Art Deco billboards, packs of Kool cigarettes and a gallery of paintings, all Larson originals, just like the ones that adorn the Cook’s Corner bar.

“But I still love livin’ here,” he said. “I like the seclusion and the serenity, and I tend to think development--at least big development--is far enough away that I’ve still got time to enjoy it here.”

Karen Buller, 45, a registered nurse who lives just a few oaks and sycamores away, sees the neighborhood she has lived in and adored for 13 years changing already. She sees “more and more” people buying houses here and “loads of looky-loos” coming up on weekends on a narrow, two-lane road built to handle minimal traffic at best.

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The canyon is made up almost entirely of private residences, save for a general store, the Modjeska estate, the community center where fiery town-hall meetings are held and the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary, owned by Cal State Fullerton.

Tom Mathews, planning director for the Orange County Environmental Management Agency, calls the friction between residents and occasional visitors “an ongoing, unresolved issue . . . one that seems to get more sharply defined over time.”

Mathews said the public not only needs but deserves access to the canyon on weekends and even weekdays because it contains both an entrance to the Cleveland National Forest and the Tucker sanctuary. In other words, he contends that residents could be more tolerant to streams of outside visitors and that “it’s their canyon too.”

But Buller said the number of hikers and mountain bikers--all looking for a place to park--has increased dramatically, with the periodic invasions being felt most intensely from Friday to Sunday evenings.

“Sometimes it seems like the mountain bikers have taken over,” she said. “But I can understand why it’s popular. It’s why I came here. Modjeska is what’s left of the country in Orange County--all that’s left, really. . . . Who can blame anyone for wanting to come here? It’s the best place in Orange County.”

Modjeska Canyon homes vary from Larson’s cliff-side dwelling, which hangs precariously from the mound of earth on which it’s perched, to $1-million estates, which are more prominent on the west end of town, but increasingly prominent nonetheless.

It is undisputed that both Modjeska and Silverado canyons are increasingly occupied by young professionals. And contrary to local grousing about the so-called yuppie invasion, many newcomers say they’ve been welcomed--a reception they claimed not to have found in Laguna Beach, Irvine and other areas of the county.

Shelly Solomon, an environmentalist who maintains an office in Modjeska Canyon, chooses to live in nearby Silverado.

“I love to live in the elements, which you have in both places,” she said while working in a local pond, waist-deep in mosquitofish. “I also love the feel of the changing seasons, which you have in both places. But the difference is, Modjeska is a lot more expensive, which is a fairly recent occurrence. It’s opening up more and more to a young, professional, highly affluent crowd.”

Even so, anyone who lives or works here talks of its soothing tranquillity, its native vegetation and animal life and those towering banks of sycamore and coastal live oak. Upon entering Modjeska Canyon, newcomers are often pleasantly taken aback by a soothing canopy of oaks that blankets the road for more than a mile.

Jeani Buchanan, 43, who shares an office with Solomon, said she gave up working “in the sterile confines” of Irvine, “because I got tired of breathing the bad air and feeling like I was going to explode. Here, you really are at one with nature. You’re not always in this cyclone of pressure.”

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Buchanan also likes the people here, saying, “They’re earthy. They’re not worried about their appearance. They pay more attention to animals--dogs, horses and birds--and don’t seem to care so much about things.”

Ed Reed, 56, who has lived here for three decades, is, however, quite concerned these days with the 1929 Dodge he’s laboring over in his front yard, which isn’t really a yard so much as a space between his house and the spidery, winding road in front of it.

“I love livin’ here!” he said exuberantly. “I love the peace and quiet, the fact that there aren’t any sidewalks or street lights. I love being able to see the sky at night--I mean, really see it. We’ve got four seasons here--we’re at about 1,400 feet--and I like the fact that it gets damn cold out here at times.”

It’s the economic and demographic changes that Reed and others worry about more than anything else. The other things that make Modjeska daunting--floods and fires in particular--are “nothin’,” Reed said. “Those we can handle.”

But whether it’s fires, floods or yuppies, Larson, for one, has no intention of moving on.

“This is God’s country,” he said. “Modjeska is just a little piece of paradise on Earth. There ain’t nothin’ that’ll make me leave, not even if this house rolls down the hill, all the way to the damn road.”

Larson paused and looked around.

“Which could happen any time now,” he said with a laugh.

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Modjeska Canyon

Points of Interest: Arden, the estate of Helena Modjeska, the Polish stage actress who immigrated in 1876 and for whom the canyon is named. Named in honor of William Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden in “As You Like It,” the estate has been preserved as a local monument and is open for tours. Canyon also is home to the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary, owned by Cal State Fullerton. It, too, is open to the public.

Key Issues: Shares the Sil/Mod plan with neighboring Silverado Canyon. That’s a county planning document seeking to limit residential or commercial growth. The two communities also share a water district, which residents recently fought to save. Many of Modjeska’s newest residents comprise a wave of upscale migrants lured to Modjeska because it’s rural and less expensive than Laguna Beach and Irvine. Some say pricey new homes don’t mix well with older ones, many of which are cabins.