FEELS LIKE PARADISE RURAL MOBILE HOME PARK A REFUGE FROM THE CITY.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

CASTAIC - The only road in is narrow and a bit bumpy, the water isn't drinkable and the nearest grocery store is nearly seven miles away.

For 94 families who live in this mobile home park hidden among the trees at the foot of the Grapevine, it is paradise.

The Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park sits on 343 acres of meadows, grassy hills and abundant shade trees. More importantly, it is miles from civilization and sits desolate under blue skies by day and the glitter of millions of stars at night.

Alan Mottes and Angela Zuziak, expecting their first child in August, settled at Paradise in October. A classified ad drew the couple to the mobile home park, where they bought a doublewide for $10,000 and pay about $400 a month to rent their plot.

``I'm used to hearing police helicopters at night, or sirens or gunfire,'' said Zuziak, who moved from Mission Hills in the northern San Fernando Valley. ``This is awesome. It's beautiful here and a great place for kids.''

Across the street is a strip of grassland, shadowed by a hillside.

It troubles Mottes and Zuziak a little that their view will change now that the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission has approved 30 more lots for new homes at Paradise. Thirteen will sit on that grassy strip across the street, the rest will be further up on what is now a storage area on an expanse of land once planned as a resort.

``I can't blame them for wanting to expand,'' Mottes said. ``It's a great place, and you can't find an affordable place like this to live anywhere.''

Newport Beach-based Santiago Associates, LLC, owned by Robert Hill, sought the expansion of Paradise and has big renovation plans. Hill bought Paradise 2 1/2 years ago said he already has poured $1.4 million into the repairs and upgrades.

The park is one of few areas in the booming Santa Clarita area that is still affordable, he said.

``This will create some housing opportunities in an area that really doesn't have much affordable housing,'' Hill said. ``And it's really a nice piece of property with the trees and the mountains.''

Hill bought the property from the heirs of the original owner, Ken Smith.

Built in the 1970s, Paradise was the perfect getaway. Neatly kept low- cost housing, a pool, cabana, tennis court and basketball court were walking distance from the stables. An old brochure tells of plans for a nine-hole golf course.

At the northern end of the property - a privately owned parcel within the Angeles National Forest - are the remnants of a once-thriving equestrian center.

A race track, stables to accommodate about 80 horses, training equipment and an arena are deteriorating. The stables are in need of sanding and paint. Iron fences and other equipment are rusting and tall grass grows unfettered.

The horse operation was abandoned about 10 years ago, said Charlotte Fiala, who manages Paradise Ranch with her husband, Frank. The couple, she said, still get calls from people looking to ride, but renovating the equestrian center is a few years down the road, Hill said.

``With a little bit of work, it could be a very nice horse facility,'' Hill said. ``It seems a waste that the property is sitting there with nobody using it. With some work - maybe a lot of work - somebody could have a nice horse operation there.''

The former owner would bring horse enthusiast friends to Paradise and hold barbecues and square dances in the oversize recreation area, Hill said.

On the dirt roads that wind about the equestrian center are tracks left daily by families who spend their free time off-road riding, safe from the traffic of the big city.

The Fialas said they watch deer in the hills, and count among their neighbors bobcats, raccoons and rattlesnakes. They are thankful that the area will remain untouched because the sit in the middle of federal forest land.

``When we first saw this place, we knew we wanted to be here,'' Frank Fiala said. ``It's close enough to Castaic if we need anything, but far enough away.''

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park sits on 343 acres of meadows, grassy hills and abundant shade trees at the foot of the Grapevine.

(2 -- color) Alan Mottes and Angela Zuziak, expecting their first child in August, moved to Paradise from Mission Hills and enjoy the peace of their new home.

(3 -- color) Frank Fiala, who manages Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park with his wife, Charlotte, surveys the park, one of the few affordable areas in the booming Santa Clarita area.

(4 -- 5) The busy Golden State Freeway hums along near the Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park, above, but residents say the park is an oasis of calm. At right, part of the property was once home to a race track, stables to accommodate about 80 horses, training equipment and an arena.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer