A Portal to L.A.’s Playground

Because it is at the doorstep of the Angeles National Forest, the nation’s second most heavily used federal wilderness, many of the forest’s 32 million annual visitors stop at the intersection of Angeles Crest Highway and Foothill Boulevard.

At that corner in La Canada Flintridge, an affluent town nestled against the San Gabriel Mountains, they can engage in one-stop buying or renting of hiking gear, gasoline, skis, food, tire chains, propane and clothes--or even obtain a permit to use the forest’s facilities.

That’s happening a lot now because of the snow decorating the mountains.

“At 4:30 on Friday afternoon, especially on three-day weekends, the line [of customers] goes out the door,” said Sport Chalet clerk Erik Brandriff, who works in a converted gas station at the corner.

The intersection is a major jumping-off point to the national forest for many Angelenos. There are other access routes, such as California 39, but they are not as prominent or as user-friendly as Angeles Crest and Foothill.

The intersection, 12 miles from downtown L.A., has been tied to the national forest since construction began on Angeles Crest Highway in 1929.

For many years, the road had only two lanes. Bird-watchers, hikers and others looking for quiet ventured into the wilderness. By the start of World War II, Angeles Crest Highway reached the previously isolated mountain community of Buckhorn.

Today, it stretches 65 miles to Wrightwood.

In addition to snow enthusiasts in the winter, motorcycle riders revel in the road’s winding curves in clear weather.

And, with the spread of urban sprawl in the Antelope Valley, some--like Fred Buss, who works as a senior planner for La Canada Flintridge--commute on portions of Angeles Crest each day from Palmdale, a distance of about 40 miles.

“I wish I had a convertible,” said Buss, who drives a 1992 Chevrolet Caprice Classic, “because you can drive home in beautiful clean air. In the summertime, it’s an absolute wonder to drive.”

Drive-Through Convenience

Although the completion in 1973 of the Foothill Freeway at Angeles Crest, also known as California 2, siphoned off some travelers from the corner, it is still tied to the 690,000-square-mile forest in uniquely Southland ways. It has a drive-through convenience for urban dwellers who are used to the idea that one travels to the snow; it rarely comes to you, even in La Canada Flintridge, a town of 20,000.

Clerks at the Sport Chalet sporting goods outlet scurry about on most afternoons in the winter, filling requests for skis, boots and snowboards. About the only things not available at the store are skiing lessons.

“You have to go someplace else for that,” Brandriff said.

Across the street, Craig Mellino said he works on a fair amount of hiking boots at the family shoe-repair shop. “And I have a nice view of the mountains,” he said.

And at the Unocal station, dealer Dave Silversparre, who has operated at the corner for 42 years, said weekends are especially busy. “We really get jammed up with traffic coming down from the mountains,” he said.

But there are problems.

For example, folks around town still talk about the out-of-control truck many years ago that came down Angeles Crest and tore into part of a restaurant at the intersection.

To guard against runaway vehicles, dirt medians have been installed.

And, in more recent times, some residents have found the weekday morning traffic coming down Angeles Crest a problem because of the growing number of commuters from the Antelope Valley.

“It’s not my favorite road,” said resident Larry Pryor, director of the online program at the USC School of Journalism. “I jog down [Angeles Crest], but I’ve been really careful to stay as close as I can to the curb.”

While enjoying the wilderness, some regular visitors wonder about the growing impact of having an urban center so close by.

“It’s a world of native plants and animals where modern man and his cars don’t have a place,” said Mt. Washington resident Clare Marter Kenyon, who has used the national forest since her first hike there in 1973. “The way I feel about Angeles Crest is this: Any highway into a wilderness area ultimately brings negative impacts and potential devastation to the ecosystem. I compare a paved road with a wound into the body.”

Sprucing Up a Park Along the Highway

Others, however, find the highway a reassuring part of small-town life.

Margaret Pankratz took it upon herself to spruce up an acre along Angeles Crest that was languishing because of inattention. She enlisted local units of the Boy and Girl Scouts and others to revitalize a park first proposed by residents Glenn and Nola Dolberg.

Pankratz planted 700 rosebushes, campaigned for donations and celebrated when a new gazebo was installed last October at Glenola Park, which was named for the Dolbergs.

“I think the park makes a beautiful entranceway into the national forest,” Pankratz said. “My family has always enjoyed the mountains. The mountains have been very friendly to me. So consequently, I’ve wanted to give back to what’s been given to me.”

Sport Chalet, which established the first of its 23 stores at Angeles Crest and Foothill, may also figure in how the corner will look in the future.

Since the early 1980s, owner Norbert Olberz, who has about 11.8 acres along Foothill, has been trying to develop the property to upgrade his flagship store and the company’s corporate offices. Some of the offices, including Olberz’s, are in storefronts on Foothill.

That proposal died, partly because the local economy in the 1980s wasn’t considered strong enough to support the project.

Several years ago, Olberz proposed a $32-million shopping center to revitalize a portion of Foothill east of Angeles Crest. The City Council approved the project, but many in town revolted by ousting the council members who had supported it.

The reconstituted council reversed course, agreeing with opponents who said the project went against the small-town atmosphere that many say makes La Canada Flintridge a perfect place to live. They wanted to ensure no project would block the spectacular view of the mountains from Foothill.

In an attempt to settle the matter, the most divisive in town since the freeway was built, the council in November approved a downtown village-specific plan for Foothill, setting the perimeters for projects intended for the area. Among its key points is the creation of a new road to alleviate traffic on Foothill; the creation of two city parks; and the construction of a Civic Center complex to replace the city’s current municipal facilities.

The plan, some in town say, still figures to be a hot campaign issue in the upcoming city election.

That notwithstanding, Angeles Crest and Foothill is a welcoming sign that an escape from urban life is just up the highway.

That is, except for a few days in the past week when avalanches closed Angeles Crest Highway to outside traffic less than 2 1/2 miles from the intersection. Much of the road was cleared, but it remains closed above the 6,000-foot level because of the slide. Normally, the road is closed at higher elevations in the winter.

“I didn’t know the road closed,” said Naila Nora of Torrance, who had hoped to drive Father Vincenzo Gallotta, visiting from Brazil, to see the snow. They had to content themselves with taking photos of each other holding snow at the closure barrier on Angeles Crest.

“Eventually, we’ll get to the snow,” Nora promised.