ROAD OF DREAMS ENTREPRENEURS SET UP SHOP ALONG MULHOLLAND.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

A physical therapist in Woodland Hills goes home each night to clean the pastures at the alpaca ranch that is her family's retirement dream.

A retired Los Angeles Police Department officer from Chatsworth runs a Wild West prop house on 12 acres at a bend in the road. An Encino-born businessman dreams of the day his vineyards will produce enough merlot and chardonnay that he can quit his day job.

Entrepreneurs grand and small have set up shop along fabled Mulholland Highway, selling wares from their little slice of the American Dream.

Most are former city dwellers, many from the San Fernando Valley, who left the bright lights and busy streets for a taste of country living just a few miles up the road.

``We never dreamed we'd be able to live up here,'' said physical therapist Ruth Gomez, a native Angeleno from Eagle Rock, who with her husband, David, an electrical engineer in Woodland Hills, bought land in 1990 to build their home and alpaca ranch.

``When you get off of that Ventura Freeway and start heading up in those hills - I almost don't want to talk about it. I don't want people to be jealous or envious - it gives you a chance to get away from the maddening crowds,'' she said.

``I can go home at night and clean pastures and I am OK with that. I can recharge my batteries and be ready in the morning. We're planning to retire on that hill, and expand even more.''

Ruth, David and their college-age daughter moved from their Agoura home to El Corazon en las Nubes - Heart in the Clouds - where they raise and sell alpacas, and have the fleece sheared for yarns and other materials.

The ranch is home to about a dozen alpacas - and another dozen llamas who keep watch over the place, stomping out intruders, Ruth explained - which sell at a starting price of about $1,000 for males, more for females.

The ranch is open on weekends to those who want to stop in and take a peek, or pick up some fleece to knit up some goods.

``They are more than welcome. Our ranch is to be part of the city,'' she said.

While the Los Angeles-city portion of Mulholland allows mostly residential and institutional uses of the land, the county-designated portion out toward the sea allows for broader uses.

Much of the land straddling the highway is publicly-owned open space and parkland, and thus protected from development. Other lots sit on steep, sloping terrain not so easy for building, officials said.

Developable land is primarily zoned for large residential lots and agricultural uses, allowing for a wide range of operations. Another change a few years ago allowed for winemaking in the county, leading to the proliferation of vineyards cropping up across the area.

As part of a coastal plan now under way, the county is considering more restrictions on building, such as setbacks from the road, color schemes and other steps that would further protect the region, said Los Angeles County planner Dave Cowardin.

``We realize this is a special area in total, not just the roadway itself,'' Cowardin said.

Ronnie Semler and his wife moved to their Mulholland Highway address more than 20 years ago, a city dweller from the Valley who wanted to try his long-sought desire to farm.

After growing avocados for two decades - and struggling to afford the water bills - Semler opened Saddlerock Vineyards, whose rows and rows of grapes unfold along the highway like a pretty picture plucked straight from a travel book.

``We really wanted to get into the country and close enough to L.A. for my work,'' said Semler, who manufactured and distributed electrical systems for the military, and now runs a trucking company and family entertainment centers.

``Eventually, our plan is to build a winery here and be able to do everything here,'' said Semler. ``It all comes from the grape. ... There's nothing that's going to make a better wine. That's where it all comes from.''

Around another bend in the road, a 16-foot wooden crocodile takes shape under the crafting of Rio deJarnett wielding his chain saw as cars buzz by.

Other woodcrafter pieces fill his Malibu Mountain Gallery, a roadside stop at Mulholland Highway and Kanan Dume Road that deJarnett - a retired contractor who had a shop in the Valley for a few years - set up after selling art online.

The bears, eagles and other works range in price from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, he said.

``Funny thing about this: I've worked with tools all my life; never with a chain saw,'' said deJarnett. ``When I picked up a chain saw, I knew I could do it.''

Another twist along the highway leads to Dale Rickards' End of Trail Ranch, which he bought more than 45 years ago after his wife saw an ad in the Green Sheet, a precursor to the Daily News.

``We bought it never thinking we'd move up here,'' said the retired Los Angeles police officer, who's had horses all his life and wrangled some for the movies. ``I kept getting zoned out with the horses. ... They were tracking out everything.''

Eventually, he left the city for the 12-acre ranch, setting up his home as well as his what's now his business, selling and renting Western props to Hollywood.

Prop after prop fills the sprawling ranch: A mining operation used in ``City Slickers;'' gear from the ``Planet of the Apes'' movies; windmills and wagon wheels for whoever needs them.

Rickards roams the ranch in his golf cart, his dog Amos - who he says flunked police dog school - in tow; the pet pig Irma - a gift from his daughter, one of his three grown children - just up the way.

At 81, Rickards still takes an extra role when he can get it.

He says he's always collected Western memorabilia, and now picks up his treasures at auctions or swap meets around the area. But he says he's still surprised at what the movie-makers want from his sprawling collection once they arrive.

``It's strange; you never know what they're going to take,'' he said. ``It's feast and famine. If I had to make a living out of it, I'd starve to death in a week.''

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7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lisa and Ron Semler, who moved to Mulholland Highway 20 years ago, grow Syrah grapes at their Saddlerock Vineyard.

(2 -- color) After growing avocados for two decades - and struggling to afford the water bills - Lisa and Ronnie Semler opened Saddlerock Vineyards. A zoning change a few years ago allowed for winemaking in the county, leading to the proliferation of vineyards cropping up across the area.

(3 -- color) David Gomez, an electronics engineer in Woodland Hills, looks over some of the alpacas he and his wife, Ruth, raise on their Mulholland Highway ranch.

(4 -- color) A mechanical horse prop used in Western movies keeps a silent vigil at Dale Rickards' End of Trail Ranch on Mulholland Highway.

(5 -- color) At Saddle Rock Ranch on Mulholland Highway, Samantha Clark, 4, and Ashley Semler, 13, look at Chumash Indian petroglyphs dating back to 1670.

(6 -- color) Dale Rickards' sprawling, 12-acre ranch on Mulholland Highway is filled with props for Western movies, including a wooden Indian statue and a windmill.

(7 -- color) Rio deJarnett, at left, uses a chain saw to craft a wooden crocodile for his Malibu Mountain Gallery at Mulholland Highway and Kanan Dume Road.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer