Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #47: Canyon Hills Country Club Postcard, 1965

With the recent posts on this blog about the several uses of the property that was, from 1928-1958, Camp Kinder Ring, the Jewish camp of The Workmen's Circle, north of Carbon Canyon Road at Canyon Hills Road, part of which is being developed now as the 76-unit Canyon Hills housing subdivision, this seemed an appropriate time to highlight this postcard.

With the title of "Canyon Hills Country Club," the image shows one of the two swimming pools (the other is partially visible in the background) at the facility with the view looking towards the south and the hills that are now the subject of an application for another large housing project, the 107-unit Hidden Oaks development.

A couple of people are swimming in the foreground pool and a person sits on those cool chairs with the curved stainless steel legs.  To the left are concrete block walled planters and there are a variety of bushes, shrubs and trees in the landscaping around the pool decks.

On the reverse is the name of the facility, its post office address in Brea, the phone number, a list of club activities (the two pools, shuffleboard, ping-pong, archery, badminton, horseback riding, picnic grounds, and a rollerskating rink) and a recommendation for membership section.

This latter is pretty funny, as it begins, "I have recommended and vouched for you as a desirable person for membership in the Canyon Hills Country Club."  It then goes on to say that the membership committee would contact the person "once only" and then offers that Canyon Hills was "a real club for real people."

The name and address of the members are provided along with the recommended addressee, both of whom were from the area (Whittier and La Mirada.)

The card is postmarked from Brea--probably filled out at the club and then mailed by club personnel--and dated 25 October 1965.

This appears to have been at the very end of the lifespan of the club, which appears to have changed names from Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club, which was the successor to Club El Circulo (in turn following Camp Kinder Ring), to Canyon Hills Country Club.

By early 1966, as an upcoming post will detail further, there was another change in use, as the club gave way to one of the wackier concepts in Carbon Canyon's colorful history: Ski Villa.  After the demise of that short-lived project, however, yet another club, the Carbon Canyon Country Club took over--but, more on that later.

Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club

This San Bernardino Sun article, from 1 June 1964, discussed county planning commission approval of the "Canyon Hills Ranch, Swim & Saddle Club," the name of which changed slightly with the removal of "ranch."

The demise of Club El Circulo in the first months of 1964 on the former Camp Kinder Ring property was quickly followed by a new enterprise by the same owners, the Olinda Development Corporation, which incorporated in January 1961 with its business address later shown as in Olinda Village.  This endeavor was christened the Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club and was managed by the Circle C Development Company, a subsidiary of the Olinda Development Corporation.

In late May 1964, the San Bernardino County Planning Commission heard a proposal to remake the El Circulo compound into the new facility, including, as reported in The Champion, the building of new stables and a riding ring, while adjacent land would be marketed for real estate development.

The San Bernardino Sun of 1 June noted that "plans call for facilities for horse shows, training rings, stables, show rings, teen canteen and lodges."  Existing components included "a restaurant, bar and guest cottages and facilities for swimming, tennis and archery."

A photo from the 9 July 1964 edition of the Chino Champion showing Rex Vance, manager of the new Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club posing next to the facility's recently-completed swimming pool, the second at the facility, with the first pool directly behind.  From newspapers.com.

By mid-June, the commission approved the thirty-acre project, conditional upon the state transportation department's requirements that warning signs be erected to warn drivers on Carbon Canyon Road (State Highway 142, which, incidentally, was officially designated by that number around the same time) of horse riders crossing the highway, as well as meeting local fire department stipulations for on-site precautions for preventing wildfires.

"Steady there, young fella!"  This photo, from the same issue as the above photo, shows the new rollerskating rink at the Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club with the rink's manager Barbara Behnke assisting an unidentified boy learning to skate.

In mid-July, a public notice was taken out by the Circle C Development Company's president, Eric Sutton, stipulating the fictitious business name of the Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club was being used, while another notice at the same time verified the previous operating entity of Club El Circulo.

This came on the heels of the first event held at the new club, the inevitable Hawaiian-style luau, a staple of California outdoor events at the time.  Complete with fire-and-sword dancers and "native music," the event, supervised by club manager Rex Vance, highlighted the redecorated clubhouse and second swimming pool, while the stables and arena were under construction.

A relic of its time, for sure.  Here is the ad from the Champion, also 9 July 1964, for the Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club's authentic "Royal Hawaiian Luau," complete with whole barbequed pigs, fish and poi, chicken and long rice, pineapple, fire-and-sword dancers, "native music" and so on--all for $5.  Now, that's "da kine, brah!" 

Also noted in a Champion article covering the luau was that the complex included the rollerskating rink and children's playground that were holdovers from El Circulo.  But, there were also new horseshoe and shuffleboard courts and a snack bar.  In the works was a clubhouse for horse riders over the arena and a "teenage activities" center.  Upcoming events slated were a horse show and opening party for the arena planned for August, a barbeque, another luau, and "a before school jamboree."

Whether or not these events took place or if the planned improvements were completed, the Canyon Hills Swim and Saddle Club had an existence about as short as that of Club El Circulo.  By early 1966, the club was out of business and the next phase for the site was underway.  This was the bizarre, but notable, development of Ski Villa, the only all-year ski slope in the region.  While Ski Villa has been covered here before, new material has been found for an upcoming post.  So, stay tuned.

Club El Circulo

In 1958, after thirty years, Camp Kinder Ring, operated by the Los Angeles chapter of the leftist Jewish organization, The Workmen's Circle and located on both sides of Canyon Hills Road just north of Carbon Canyon Road, closed down.  Among the reasons given was a lack of water and, later that year, a massive fire tore through Carbon Canyon.

Three years later, on 20 August 1961, the site reopened as Club El Circulo.  A major feature article in the Chino Champion noted that the facility featured, "a swimming pool, lounge, dining room, cocktail lounge, picnic area and children's playground," most left over, probably, from Camp Kinder Ring.

In addition, there were plans for many more amenities, including a square dancing pad outdoors, tennis and basketball courts, a softball diamond, volleyball court, a shuffleboard area, an archery course, a badminton court, ping-pong tables, tetherball poles, horseshoe pits and an outdoor theater.

It was also planned to have a 9-hole "pitch and put" golf course.  More grandiose concepts included a dam with a pool of water behind it for stocking fish, a large auditorium, a miniature golf course, and the development of home sites for members.

The site sat on 100 acres purchased from an unnamed Orange County development group and of this, 45 were intended for immediate use and the remainder set aside for some of those future concepts.  The piece did identify the leading figures of the Club El Circulo [which obviously decided to keep a reference to the Workmen's Circle in the new concept] as Brea resident F.J. Nipp, who was president and sales manager; vice-president George Hacker of Fullerton; and William Rentz of Placentia, who was the secretary and treasurer.

A patio at the Club El Circulo, which opened at the old Camp Kinder Ring site at Canyon Hills Drive and Carbon Canyon Road in August 1961 and lasted about two years until its closure.  From the 17 August 1961 issue of the Chino Champion as found on newspapers.com.  Click on this and the other images to see them enlarged in new windows.

Specific attention in the piece was paid to the fact that water was "a scarce commodity in Carbon Canyon," but that the property had five excellent wells, at least according to the club manager, C.D. Varner, though the club did intend to secure more water from the Chino Basin District.

The two-story main building, which still stands, was considered the heart of the facility with a dining room and lounge on the first floor and a cocktail lounge in the basement or lower floor.  Seating capacity in the dining room was 130, making it desirable for renting to outside groups, as well as for members.

The article continued by noting that there were twenty-eight cabins, with double and twin beds with adjoining bedrooms, intended for members who wanted overnight accommodations.  These were also holdovers from the Camp Kinder Ring area and the remnants of the last of these units have just been razed as the Canyon Hills subdivision grading work continues.

The newest aspect of the facility was a 36'x72' swimming pool, including a diving board, tile deck, walkways and sunbathing area.  A wading pool for children was also completed.  Under construction were a bath house and snack bar.

The children's playground was slated to be located adjacent to the pool area and the picnic grounds were proposed under a huge spreading oak tree.  Notably, the piece continued, "up the hill, a future project calls for the development of a youth center, with dormitories and social hall for tenagers [sic]."

Another crucial component identified in the article was the fact that "the grounds are located in a high fire hazard area," so that "extra precautions are being taken."  This included the clearing of land near the surviving buildings, removal of any chimneys from preexisting structures, the installation of fire hydrants and the fencing off of surplus land within the 100-acre parcel.  Reference was specifically made to the conflagration of 1958.

Dues were set at $65 a year with a $10 initiation fee and it was reported that 200 people signed up in the pre-registration period.

About 1 1/2 years later, in a January 1963 spread about recreational opportunities in Carbon Canyon, the Champion gave further information about Club El Circulo.  For example, some $90,000 had been expended on further improvements since the opening.  General manager Jack Winter noted that a driving range was slated for a summer opening, the tennis court was about finished with a remodeling, and the baseball diamond had been completed.  A children's recreation area and amphitheater were said to be in the planning stages.

The entrance to Club El Circulo from the 10 January 1963 edition of the Champion.  The two-story clubhouse at the center still stands.

Of particular note was the fact that grass was being planted in abundance at the driving range and elsewhere on the site, including the entrance, with other landscaping readied for planting.  This was because the new feeder line of the Metropolitan Water District was finished and expected to be connected to the club in a few weeks.  As discussed in this blog before, the line extended from the Inland Empire through Tonner Canyon and over the hills into Carbon Canyon before moving up to the Diemer treatment plant next to the Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center in Yorba Linda.

Naturally, the celebration just over a half-century ago about the bringing in of what seemed, at the time, to be a limitless supply of water can be compared to our current condition!

Returning to the club, the article also pointed out that there was "Las Vegas entertainment" offered, including comedian and trumpeter Bob Hart, who headlined the club's New Year's Eve party.  Other entertainment plans included twice-annual luaus (which was a very popular deal back in the 1950s and 1960s when you think of the connection to Polynesian-themed motels and hotels, restaurants like Don the Beachcombers and Bahooka, and other aspects) and outdoor Western barbeques.

The remaking of an amphitheater with a blue roof and white sides, the color pattern of the facility's buildings, was said to have been underway in a few months, providing a venue for children's programs, like puppet shows.  The location was north of the clubhouse and next to the oak-shaded picnic grounds.

While most of the site was only accessible to members, the dining room (evidently expanded to seat up to 250, double the number stated in 1961) and cocktail lounge in the two-story main structure were temporarily open to the public.

The large stone fireplace was the centerpiece of the Club El Circulo clubhouse, as shown in the Champion, 10 January 1963.

It was also stated that new management were recently brought in by the owners, listed as the Circle C Development Company, indicating that the club was under-subscribed and utilized since its August 1961 opening.

Winter was spotlighted for his fourteen years experience managing clubs, such as the Quail Valley Country Club near Lake Elsinore and Menifee, and Azusa's Rainbow Country Club.  Likewise, the restaurant and bar manager, Dottie Benson, had much experience in that line, including at the Rainbow Club and West Covina's Coffee Dan.

The change in management, expanded facilities, and imported water, however, could not keep Club El Circulo from folding, however, by June 1964.  There was, however, another enterprise on the way, which will be highlighted here soon.

Personal Recollections of La Vida Mineral Springs

Recently, correspondence with Roberta Wright, whose family operated the La Vida Mineral Springs resort on the Brea side of Carbon Canyon for nearly fifty years, included information that helps provide a fuller picture of the history of that facility.

Mrs. Wright's grandfather, William Newton Miller, was the owner of La Vida from about 1924, as first noted here from an Orange County Register history timeline.  The source, however, stated that Miller operated the resort from that date with an unnamed son-in-law.  What Mrs. Wright clarified was that the son-in-law was, in fact, her father Robert L. Dickenson, who, with his wife, Lois Miller, owned La Vida with the other Miller children and managed the site for some thirty years.  A post on this blog showing a 1960s postcard of one of the pools at La Vida included mention of a 1957 Los Angeles Times article that quoted "R.L. Dickenson" talking to the paper about the opening of the second pool at the resort.  At the same time, some online references to Brea city council meetings from 1963-1967 included material about Dickenson petitioning the council for hearings about issues like property tax valuation and costs for new water delivery systems at La Vida.



This 1951 photo provided by Roberta Wright looks from near the hotel at La Vida Mineral Springs westward across the pedestrian footbridge and towards the restaurant, in front of which are some parked cars.  Visible is the light snowfall that was remembered vividly by Mrs. Wright, whose grandfather became owner of the resort in the 1920s and whose parents managed the facility until it was sold in 1973 or 1974.

Mrs. Wright observed that, "in 1924 the property was owned by a boxer named Archie Rosenbaum.  Some time after that my grandfather came into the picture."  Earlier posts here discussed that Rosenbaum, a native of Russia, was a restaurant owner in Los Angeles and could be tracked as being at La Vida from 1926 until the early 1940s.  It turns out that this corresponds for the most part with William Newton Miller's tenure at the resort.  Perhaps Rosenbaum bought the resort and then Miller came in shortly afterward, because much of Rosenbaum's years specifically identified him with the café at La Vida, while Miller, then, managed the mineral springs and lodging side--the 1940 census showed Miller as "manager" of the springs.  Mrs. Wright stated that "we did not move there until 1944," to counter the misinformation in the timeline that her father, who was born in 1914, helped Miller open the site in 1924 (Dickenson was only 10 years old then!)

She also commented that "my grampa was in the oil business and lost a fortune when the crash hit.  The only thing he came away with was the springs, very sad time for the family."  She noted that Miller, who was listed in the 1930 census as an "oil operator" was a partner in the Pugh-Miller Drilling Company and was a trustee in the Bank of America, as well as being involved in other organizations.  Recent poking around found maps showing that the firm had oil wells near Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains and, more importantly, in Signal Hill near Long Beach, which was a hugely successful oil field in the 1920s and afterward.  The crash of the stock market in 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression is what Mrs. Wright referred to as affecting Miller's financial situation, leaving him with only La Vida.

Later, her account continued "my grandfather's shares were distributed evenly among the 4 siblings.  The older 3 had also purchased some shares but my mom and dad had the most after grampa died."  William Newton Miller, who was born in 1889, died in 1974, so those shares came some fifty years after he first became owner of La Vida. 

She went on to say that "there were also 3 cabins across the street from the parking lot many years before me, but when I was young there were still remnants of the cabins on the ground.  There also was a cabin on the hill across from the lower bath house which was below the restaurants about 20 yards of more.  I used to work at the old bath house."  As for this information, the first part seems to refer to structures, including one noted in several older (1920s or 1930s) real photo postcards of La Vida and one of these was lived in by the family of James Williams, who operated the resort from about 1915, a decade or more before Miller.  William's descendant, Nick, shared some of that history and some photos of the family house perched on the hill across Carbon Canyon Road from the facility.

As for the old bath house, this is another structure found on La Vida postcards from the 1920s through the 1940s or 1950s, of which several examples have been posted here.  Mrs. Wright recalled that "in the old bath house each tub had its own little room."  One of the posts quoted from a Los Angeles Times report in the late 1950s about a disastrous boiler explosion that destroyed the original bath house and seriously wounded several persons.  In the newer bath house, she remembered, "families would come in and go into the tub area and all of them would get in the tub together.  The tubs were Roman sunken and you went down a few steps to get fully in."  There is also a 1960s postcard, highlighted here in the past, that showed these tubs in the new bath house.

Mrs. Wright also stated that "there used to be a bottling plant down by where the old water tank sits on the hill and they bottled soda pop."  This location would be on the far west side of the property where the tank, still sporting the La Vida logo, is the last major physical reminder, aside from bridge support bases and sidewalk remnants, of the facility.  There was, however, also a La Vida plant in downtown Fullerton, as noted in some of the previous posts here.

She went on to say that, "around 1945-48 the soda pop company was sold to a man named Charley Shook (or Shuck)" who had once worked for Dr. Pepper.  The earliest indications of the existence of the La Vida bottling company is from the late 1920s, about the time Miller became identified with the site, and there was a considerable expansion of the business during that era and well into the 1930s, when La Vida products were also bottled in northern California.  Other posts here have featured La Vida bottles from such places as Sacramento and have spotlighted advertising efforts from the company in magazines and newspapers in the western states.  Mrs. Wright then said that, "after that [the mid to late 1940s] they only bottled the spring water for a time and then that was also abandoned."  Again, there are other posts here that feature La Vida bottles that appear to be from late 1940s to early 1950s era, when Shook (Shuck) appears to have expanded his efforts to market the soda.

Mrs, Wright  continued that, regarding the water, it "is not sulphur, but mineral.  There was a small sulphur stream that came out the canyon wall just down from the restaurant but it wa sclose to the water line of the creek.  The spring is in a sort of a cave and was not drilled out by oil seekers."  This is an interesting tidbit about the two types of volcanically-derived water found not just at La Vida but elsewhere in Carbon Canyon.  Paul Nolan Hyde, a longtime resident in Sleepy Hollow, shared some of his remembrances for this blog in its early days, and specifically remembered the sulphuric content of the water in Carbon [Canyon] Creek when he was a boy back in the 1940s.

Another remarkable photo of the unusual snowfall at La Vida Mineral Springs in the winter of 1951.  Roberta Wright, who supplied the image and her recollections of her family's long ownership of the resort, stands in the parking lot near the restaurant.  In the background, behind the cars, is the pedestrian footbridge to the hotel and bath house, which dated from the 1920s and was destroyed by a boiler explosion in the later 1950s.

There was another notable tidbit shared by Mrs. Wright, namely that "we had a heavy snow in 1951 that covered everything, very pretty, it was the only snow storm ever recorded at La Vida."  This was, indeed, a rare phenomenon, when snow, albeit in small amounts, got to so low an elevation.  Mrs. Wright provided the photograph shown here documenting the snowfall over sixty years ago.

She also had an important correction regarding the pools, mentioned briefly above.  She noted that "the pools are not described properly.  The one in front with the fountain is the wading pool.  It was the original pool and was at first deep in one end, but my dad had it filled to be a wading pool and installed the fountain when they built the big one behind it."  This can be seen in the postcard here, highlighted in a previous post.

There was one other interesting Carbon Canyon tidbit shared by Mrs. Wright, namely that "my parents were part owners in the El Circulo, which was the place where the skiing ramp is."  This was the "Club El Circulo," which Allen McCombs, publisher emeritus of the local Champion newspaper, stated was opened about 1963 where the old Camp Kinder Ring was operated from 1928 to 1958 by a Jewish organization in Los Angeles. 

This new resort, Mrs. Wright went on to relate, "probably would have done well" except that there were some management issues "and the whole thing fell apart."  She went to say that "even if the skiing ramp had not worked the rest of the project was a great idea and a lot of people came there to picnic and have dinner.  There was a nice bar and restaurant and they had very good food."  El Circulo later turned into the "Purple Haze," which had a colorful history in the late 1960s/early 1970s.  The site has been, for many years, a horse stable and cattle sales facility.

The skiing ramp was known as "Ski Villa" and one of the more popular posts on this blog is about the short history of this unusual all-weather ski ramp with white needles as the base surface and the cement remains of which still are on the hillside off Canyon Hills Road just north of Carbon Canyon Road.  With, however, indications that work on the long-gestating Canyon Hills subdivision of 76 houses is finally starting, the remains of the ramp are likely to removed in the very near future.

Here is a detail showing two iron chairs, which had the La Vida name imprinted on them, in the lawn near the hotel and bath house, with part of the pedestrian footbridge in the background.  This is again from the winter of 1951 when an unusual snow storm dropped powder on the resort.  Courtesy of Roberta Wright, whose grandfather William Newton Miller purchased La Vida in the 1920s and whose parents Robert and Lois Dickenson ran the facility until it was sold in 1974.

Mrs. Wright's offer to provide some memories and information about the Miller/Dickenson family's ownership and management of La Vida for over a half-century fills in many gaps in this blog about the history of Carbon Canyon's most notable site.  She ended by noting that it was about Noon on 4 December 1988 when the hotel, located on the eastern side of the resort, burned down.  By then, the facility had been sold about 1974 to Leo and June Hayashi, who continued to own the site until it was purchased by Tadayao Hata, who owned a large mineral springs spa in Japan. 

Hata still retains ownership of La Vida, though his late 1990s plans to reconstitute La Vida in a modern spa remains unrealized.  Leo Hayashi also retains ownership of land within Carbon Canyon, though some 400 acres of steep hill lands on the south side of Carbon Canyon Road just east of Hollydale Mobile Home Estates was purchases from him by the Orange County Transportation Authority and transferred to Chino Hills State Park in a deal involving transportation mitigation funds elsewhere in the county.