INDIAN GUIDES, PRINCESSES ON COMEBACK IN VALLEY.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

On his 31st birthday Sunday, Howard Weinstein indulged in a little nostalgia and invested in a lot of bonding with his 6-year-old son Daniel at Shadow Ranch Park in West Hills.

The Weinsteins were among 300 people signing up for the West Valley Family YMCA's Indian Guide, Indian Princess, Trailblazer and Trailmate programs for children and their fathers during an open house at the park Sunday.

For Weinstein, the event was a chance to dip back into his own childhood in Woodland Hills, where he still lives. When Weinstein was in his first few years of school, he and his father were in the Indian Guides, even leading a ``tribe'' of several father-son pairs for a year.

``It was a great experience for me,'' Weinstein said. ``My father was a businessman, a working man, and this was a good way to get us together. I didn't even know (the Guides) still existed. Then I heard about this and thought I'd see what it was like now.''

Boys in Indian Guides and girls in Indian Princesses are between kindergarten and third grade. The Trailblazers and Trailmates are for older children, with more ambitious trips, community service and crafts projects than those of the Guides and Princesses.

At the time Weinstein was growing up, the West Valley had one of the biggest Guide and Princess programs in the country, with as many as 1,500 families involved, group officials said. But the group fell on hard times, shrinking dramatically and slipping from the minds of many in the '80s and early '90s.

Most recently, however, the program has begun a comeback, drawing alums from its glory years, such as Weinstein, who are now becoming parents themselves, and seeking ways to connect to their children while meeting their other responsibilities. At least 300 families are involved in the program now, with hopes of substantial growth again this year.

``I got involved strictly for more daddy-daughter interaction,'' said Andrew Reich, a stock brokerage manager who is ``chief'' of the Princesses' Aztec Nation, or group of tribes. ``I work the standard 50, 60 hours a week. This is a specific time my daughter and I have scheduled to be together. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 58.''

The program costs $120 for a father and child, though scholarships are available for poorer families through the West Valley Family YMCA, Reich said.

Families can continue to sign up for the program for several weeks, and the YMCA is hoping to get enough interest to restart a similar program for mothers and their children.

For more information, contact the program through a special voice-mail number at the YMCA, [phone].

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PHOTO The Aztec fire dance was performed Sunday for fathers and children at a West Hills YMCA event.

Phil McCarten/Daily News