Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #56: Camp Kinder Ring Plunge, 1942

As has been covered in this blog before, the Workmen's Circle, now SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workmen's Circle, an association devoted to the Jewish community, Yiddish culture and social justice (for more here is the organization's website), operated Camp Kinder Ring, which began as a youth camp in 1928 and then served all ages until it closed thirty years later, in 1958, presumably because of a lack of reliable water.  That fall, a massive wildfire swept through Carbon Canyon destroying part of the site and sections of nearby Sleepy Hollow, which lies just to the west.

The facility included a community hall, buildings for lodging, a swimming pool, and much more. Some of these structures survive as part of a horse and cattle facility on the east side of Canyon Hills Road north of Carbon Canyon Road on the Chino Hills side of the canyon.

Incidentally, the elderly owner of the site recently passed away and there are rumors that the property may be sold.  If that happens, expect developers to hungrily eye the property for more homes and for the camp buildings to be destroyed without documentation of their historical value or importance.

That happened not long ago with the ruins and remains of other structures and elements of the camp, wihch were razed a couple of years ago without so much as a report or survey about their existenc as the construction of the Hillcrest housing development, now in its third phase, went underway.

The swimming pool, or plunge, at Camp Kinder Ring, owned and operated by the Workmen's Circle for Jewish youth and others between 1928 and 1958 on the site of today's Hillcrest housing development and a horse and cattle ranch near Sleepy Hollow in the Chino Hills portion of Carbon Canyon.

After the camp closed, the site was used as a country club, as "Ski Villa" utilizing a plastic needle covered run for outdoor, all-year skiing (an idea that, not surprisingly, lasted all of a year in 1966-67), and as the "Purple Haze" counter-culture bar, among others.

Today's entry is a postcard titled "A View of the Workmen's Circle Camp Plunge," the swimming facility for the camp.  It shows the large cement pool, what were likely changing rooms, and nine persons in swimsuits on the pool deck. In the background are a portion of the Chino Hills, where the Oak Tree Downs and Oak Tree Estates developments are today.

On the reverse of the card is the camp's name, mailing address and city (of course, Chino Hills was some fifty years away from incorporation!).  A date stamp from a Los Angeles post office shows the date of 28 July 1942 and there is a stamp encouraging the purchase of defense savings bonds and stamps and a 1-cent mailing stamp "for defense."  The United States had entered World War II, just seven months before after the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor.

A note from "Herbie" to Mrs. Tillie Katz of Glendale mentions that he was swimming and hiking as part of his stay at the camp.

A message written in pencil from "Herbie" to Mrs. Tillie Katz of Glendale notes that "I go swimming 2 times a day" and "I went hiking last Wednesday and am going again today," giving two of the main activities for youth campers like "Herbie," while spending part of their summers at Camp Kinder Ring.

It's extremely rare to find anything about Camp Kinder Ring, so this is a very welcome addition to the documentation about an important element of Carbon Canyon history.

The Latest Carbon Canyon History from The Champion

Today's issue of the Champion features two front page stories highlighting local history.  The first was David Kramer's talk, sponsored by the Chino Hills Historical Society, last Monday night about the history of Los Serranos Country Club, which his father, tennis legend Jack Kramer, purchased over a half century ago.

Kramer wore old-fashioned golf attire for the presentation, which covered the history of the site when it was the "Home Ranch" on the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, through the creation of the country club and the surrounding Los Serranos tract in the mid-1920s, and then through the Kramer family's full ownership since 1961.

Meanwhile, reporter Marianne Napoles, who penned the Kramer piece, also wrote another interesting article on John Klavins, a 100-year old native of the Baltic country of Latvia, near Russia, who has owned a 2.6-acre parcel in Carbon Canyon since 1962 that has been often discussed on this blog.

An ad for the Ponderosa Bar and Motel, Chino Champion, 6 February 1969.

The property still features surviving cabins and the old clubhouse from Camp Kinder Ring, the facility run from 1928 to 1958 by the Workmen's Circle Arbeter Ring organization in Los Angeles.
Later, a succession of social clubs occupied the site, which also housed the Ponderosa bar and motel and the Purple Haze bar, both of which featured nude dancing, during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

With legal problems attached to the operation of both Ponderosa and Purple Haze, Klavins decided not to renew the latter's lease and converted the structures on the property to rental unts, which they have been for the last forty-five years or so and which now accommodate fifteen residents.

The life story of Klavins is also remarkable.  Born in 1915, he remained in his native country until the outbreak of the Second World War, when Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and his family's home and farm destroyed in the conflict.  Seized by the Nazis, he was sent to a labor camp in Germany, where he dug ditches for anti-aircraft guns.  His only sibling, a brother, was imprisoned in Siberia by the Soviets and died there.

An article from the San Bernardino Sun, 1 June 1971, about arrests for "marijuana and dangerous drugs" possession at the Purple Haze Bar "and adjacent cabins."

With the end of the war, Klavins was freed by Canadian forces and his fluency in several languages led to a job as a United Nations translator for migrants to America.  On his own arrival here, he got into the construction business and one of his projects was in Carbon Canyon--this being the construction of the Olinda Village shopping center.  Though long retired, he still lives in the same house he built in Orange sixty-five years ago and he intends to keep his Carbon Canyon property as long as he lives.

What happens after that, though, was encapsulated by a comment from one of his tenants, who assumed that, with the recent spate of development in the hills around the property, "like anything else, it's just a matter of time" before he and the other renters would have to leave, providing the Klavins property winds up being sold for more development.

Many thanks to Napoles and the Champion for continuing to promote the history of Carbon Canyon and the general area.

Further (De)Grading at Canyon Hills

A portion of the Canyon Hills project site looking northeast from above the
former Ski Villa ski slope.  Click on any image to see them in an enlarged
view in a separate window.  All photos taken this morning.

A quintet of hikers visited the Canyon Hills development site today to see the further (de)grading of this area of Carbon Canyon within Chino Hills, a short distance east of Sleepy Hollow.

Coming up from the south the walk ascended the hill just to the west of the now largely demolished ski slope from the bizarre late 1960s Ski Villa experiment and continued to the upper reaches of the site, where 360-degree views on a clear day like today are spectacular.  That is, if you can keep your eyes beyond the sheer degradation taking place on the premises.

One image showing the scope of the scraping of the hillsides and tops at
the Canyon Hills project site.

On that first steep ascent up what had been a narrow trail, but is now a slippery path scraped clean through the side of the hill, a long connected above-ground series of pipes lead from the summit down toward a trail that runs along the base of the hill from Sleepy Hollow out to the former ski slope.  The intent of the pipe is not obvious, though there is clearly an intent to drain something from the upper elevations to the lower section of trail, which is just above Carbon [Canyon] Creek.

Acres of oaks, chaparral and other plant material have been scraped clean from huge areas.  Piles of demolished plant material appear to be less obvious than in previous visits, indicating, perhaps, that much of the plant removal involves chipping trees and other items on site and then the chips removed from the project area.

By contrast to the (de)grading at Canyon Hills, a view just to the north and west
 at the St. Joseph's Hill of Hope property shows cattle grazing. 

Remnants of a couple dozen structures built on the site during the years when the Jewish-owned Camp Kinder Ring operated from 1928 to 1958 have been pulverized, save for one small site that is largely covered by chapparal and which appears to be outside of the staked area for grading and will be in open space.

Well, this means, almost certainly, so-called "manufactured" open space, where there will be introduced landscaping, which, in turn, means that the Camp Kinder Ring remnant will also have to go.

The last of the Camp Kinder Ring (1928-1958) building remnants includes
what might have been an outdoor table with an umbrella stand.

Piles of cement, brick, tiles and other construction debris from the Camp Kinder Ring years remain, while other material is likely to be plowed under or pushed to areas that will be covered with fill.

What was also striking were the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of examples of soda cans, plastic water bottles, snack food packages and other trash by grading crews that were simply strewn all through the site and which will likely be covered by future grading work.

Another view of the remaining Camp Kinder Ring remnant with a rock wall,
cement pillars, paved floors and other elements.

It is becoming clearer where some of the major roads on the project site are situated, as well as at least some clusters of building sites, though much work remains to be done.

What is not clear is whether there are still large sections of the premises that will be flattened or lowered in elevation to accommodate flatter building pads.  In some instances, stakes at lower spots in the landscape indicate that this might be the plan.

One of the largest Camp Kinder Ring building sites is now reduced to two large
piles of rubble, just above the remaining site depicted above.

The walk continued to the southwestern corner of the property, where excellent views are had of Sleepy Hollow and points west within the canyon, the Madrona site, the St. Joseph's Hill of Hope religious retreat, and elsewhere.

Moving along the western boundary where new gates to the Hill of Hope tract (and where cattle have been observed grazing amongst the chapparal, wild mustard, and other material) have been installed along chain link fencing, the ramble ventured to the northern end of the site.

More cleared areas for future building lots with great views of the San
Gabriel Mountains to the north and east.

Towards this locale, another large pile of cement, brick and other construction debris from the camp were observed, including a large piece of painted cement (looking almost like a mini Stonehenge) propped up in the overturned soil.

Descending from this point, a road steeply ventures down towards another large cleared area, with more plant material in piles, and then back to where the phalanx of huge Caterpillar earth-movers are parked, readied for their further work of degradation.  From there it was back to Canyon Hills Road and the end of the journey.

At the southwestern corner of the parcel a large oak tree, which survived
numerous fires, as evidenced by the charred trunk pieces, but could not
withstand the onslaught of development, lies in pieces.

Second is that when the Chino Hills General Plan was drafted a few years prior to that, back in the early 1980s, the entire area was subject to what is called a "negative declaration."

A few points seem worth mentioning here.  One is that this project was approved by the County of San Bernardino in the late 1980s.  The vesting of tract maps for decades, even when conditions change dramatically, as they most assuredly have with respect to traffic, water supply, further loss of oak and walnut woodland habitat and so forth, is something that seems totally anachronistic.

From the same southwestern corner is another view looking east towards
Mount San Jacinto.

From a handbook applying to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is this statement about this development "tool."

A Negative Declaration or a Mitigated Negative Declaration should be prepared for a project when there is no substantial evidence that the project or any of its aspects could result in significant adverse impacts CEQA Guidelines Section 15063(b)(2)).

The assumption being that, nearly thirty-five years ago, the Chino Hills area was in such a rural condition that no "significant adverse impacts," as defined in CEQA relative to pollution from grading, habitat destruction, increased traffic and the like, were in evidence.

Amid the (de)grading and destruction, a few flowering plants and wild
mustard are growing in some areas, though not for long.

Well, again, that was in, say, 1980 or 1982--but things have changed significantly since then.  We do have more traffic on Carbon Canyon Road, we do have more loss of oak and walnut woodland habitat and so forth.

Projects like Oak Tree Downs and Estates, the second phase of Summit Ranch, Carriage Hills and Pine Valley Estates have all been completed since then.  Further, development eastward that affects the canyon in terms of traffic has increased astronomically.

More cleared areas towards that southwestern part of the property.

Yet, the old tract map standards and negative declaration findings from decades past are still considered relevant now?  Maybe someone in a position of local (city, county) and state authority could explain why this is allowed to happen--other than that the Building Industry Association and other vested interests have lobbied hard and donated lots of campaign money to make this continue to happen?

Just in the last couple of days, a new study released suggests a strong likelihood of a megadrought of thirty to forty years duration in the Southwest.  Whether this extreme drought condition, which could be the worst experienced in the region in something on the order of 1,000 years (yes, a millenium), is of natural variation, human-caused climate change or both, water supply will become the main issue of our future sustainability.

In a strange way, this looked almost artistic, with the circular shapes,
tire tracks, and various colors of soil making for a striking effect.  This is
looking southwest towards Orange County.

So, meantime, as we're all being asked to cut our water use with increasing severity as each year of the current drought continues, it somehow makes sense to someone that we should continue allowing development of the type embodied in Canyon Hills?  That is, larger homes and lots than average, which, in turn, means more water consumption is somehow in line with conservation efforts?

Our extraordinarily hot, dry weather since the first of the year should also spark (hah!) concern about fire risk.

At the northwest part of Canyon Hills, another leveled site from the Camp
Kinder Ring period, featuring many concrete pieces, iron pipes and so on.

A sidenote here, in case readers did not hear--San Francisco experienced no rain at all in January, which last happened in 1850.  Santa Cruz had no rain in the same month for the first time since 1893.  Our own rainfall was negligible.  While the amount of the state in severe drought did drop from 75% to 67% because of winter rains, that's still two-thirds of the state.  As soils dry out and chaparral become drier, the fuel that feeds fire becomes more dangerous.

When the hiking quintet stood at the upper elevations of the project site, a brisk wind blew--and today was a low wind day compared to several days ago when Santa Anas blew through the area--the kind of winds that fan the flames that race up the steep hillsides and gullies that surround the Canyon Hills (and Madrona and Hidden Oaks) sites.

Like a mini Stonehenge, this piece of concrete, which appeared to have a brick
like veneer on it was propped up at the southwest corner of the site.

Our conditions are changing.  Our development codes and standards (and attitudes, as embodied recently in published statements by Chino Hills council member Ed Graham and others) have not.  While the economy is good (at least for a few), the pressure to build increases, which is why Canyon Hills is being graded now.

But, what about the future of Carbon Canyon and its viability?  Prospective buyers of what will surely be million dollar plus homes will be showered with pretty marketing materials and shown model homes that will play up the rural nature of the canyon--but at what cost?

How many of these buyers will be told (spoiler alert: none) that the project site has burned several times in recent decades?  Even if their homes are "fire protected," is living amidst a scorched landscape that belies what the marketing machine feeds them what they paid the $1,000,000 (or whatever the cost of the homes will be) for?

Will these owners feel free to install lawns and lush plantings and use water the way we've been told for decades we can?

A large cleared area leading from the southwest corner of Canyon Hills
down towards the eastern end--this may be where the main street will
traverse the property.

Will these owners enjoy their admittedly jaw-dropping vistas on Saturday and Sunday and then drive down to an increasingly-congested Carbon Canyon Road on Monday morning and then do the same every morning and night and wonder why it is so bad?

Moreover, when they enter the Orange County portion of the canyon and see CalTrans District 12's recently-installed signs reading "Entering Hazardous Fire Area," will they assume that this only applies to the area only a mile from their homes or will District 8, covering Chino Hills, wind up making a similar declaration?

Just to the right of the above future road as it descends towards the bottom
is this roadway wending through a fairly dense area of oaks and other plants,
perhaps set aside for open space.

Conditions are changing.  When will our response catch up?  It's not that there should be zero development within Carbon Canyon (though during extreme drought, there probably should be some consideration of that as long as it persists), but the massive number of houses approved or proposed (Canyon Hills, 76 units; Stonefield, 24; Madrona, 162; Hidden Oaks, 107) is truly game-changing (canyon-changing?)

Isn't it reasonable to ask our local leaders why this makes sense?

The last view from the property, at the main entrance gate from Canyon Hills
Road, looking towards the construction trailer, earth-moving equipment,
discarded drain pipes installed by the previous owner, Forestar Development,
and other elements of the project.

Carbon Canyon Fire History: The Sleepy Hollow Blaze of 1958

Tonight, a light rain is falling and it would be nice to think that enough moisture will fall to hold off another dangerous brush fire in Carbon Canyon this Fall.  We shall see.

Following the last post about the near-disastrous Olinda fire of 1929 is one that was, by any standard, not near, but fully disastrous.  This was a conflagration that swept through Sleepy Hollow on the San Bernardino side of the Canyon in mid-October 1958.

As headlined in the Los Angeles Times:  "Carbon Canyon Blaze Checked; 32 Homes Lost."  And the subhead: "Fire Burns Over 260 Acres Before Being Controlled; Patrols in Area to Continue."
On a Friday morning, the fire erupted somewhere under conditions not evidently known.  While 260 acres seems quite small, compared to the many thousands that have been consumed in other incidents, this fire happened to roar through "the fringes of Sleepy Hollow" and destroyed those nearly three-dozen "homes and small cabins" noted in the headline.

Notably, the biggest damage was on the northeastern section of that community and then further out, including "at least 15 of 32 small cabins on the grounds of Workman's Circle [sic], a rest camp."  What this refers to, actually, is Camp Kinder Ring, the children's camp of the Workmen's Circle, a Jewish community association based in Los Angeles, which bought the land and built the camp in 1928 and afterward. 

Ironically, the article went on to report, "the camp was sold recently to a Los Angeles group for a reported $250,000."  This camp, located at the northeast corner of Carbon Canyon Road and Canyon Hills Road, is a horse and cattle ranch facility and some of the original surviving structures from the Jewish youth camp days are still on site.

The fire also caused injuries to several fire personnel who responded, including "four firemen hospitalized for heat exhaustion and excessive smoke" and a bulldozer operator, Ray Smith, "who was overcome by the heat and smoke" and remained longer in hospitalization than the others.

There was more to Smith's story, however, as revealed by San Bernardino County's State Forest Ranger, W. W. Skinner.  It turned out Smith "had suffered minor burns battling a fire in Santa Ana Canyon Thursday and collapsed during the height of the Carbon Canyon fire Friday."  Talk about dedication to duty and heroism among firefighters!

After a couple of days, the fire was finally contained and then extinguished, with a hundred or more firefighters from the State Division of Foresty and the Chino Fire Protection District, forerunner to the Chino Valley Independent Fire District, at work with patrol work continuing beyond that to check for flare-ups.

Future posts will cover later major conflagrations in Carbon Canyon.