SUMMONED TO THE CASTLE REGAL EVENT PLANNED FOR NEWMAN CAMP FUNDRAISER.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A stone castle built 81 years ago by a rich Los Angeles real estate developer will be used for a party to benefit actor Paul Newman's Painted Turtle summer camp for chronically ill children.

Shea's Castle - which has been a setting for movies and television shows but which few people have seen up close - will be decorated in the style of a 19th-century Spanish estate for a party called ``A Night of Zorro.''

``How amazing is it for people to get an opportunity to visit this?'' said event chairman Tom DiPrima, who is KB Home's Los Angeles-Ventura Division president, as he stood on the building's stone steps.

Hidden in a shallow valley in the rolling foothills south of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, the turreted castle was built by Richard Peter Shea - also know as John Shea - in 1924, supposedly inspired by a painting of an Irish castle.

Legend has it that Shea built the castle with its eight bedrooms, seven baths, seven fireplaces and a wine cellar for his ailing wife, Ellen, as a testament of his love. He hoped his wife would fare better in the dry desert climate.

Instead, Shea was ruined by the 1929 stock market crash, he lost the castle to a bank, and his wife died in 1932.

According to the story, the brokenhearted Shea killed himself by jumping off the Santa Monica Pier while embracing a canister containing his wife's ashes.

A succession of owners followed. The present owner is Genz Development, which bought the castle and surrounding acreage in 1985 intending to develop it into estate homes.

Genz's owner Ramin Zomorodi gave his permission to use the castle for the fundraiser, said Sherry Lasagna, a former aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

As a girl, Lasagna was a friend of the castle caretaker's daughter, and the girls rode horses around the property, which contains an American-Indian burial ground.

``You can imagine 7- or 8-year-old girls with the wind coming through these unsealed windows at night and how we could scare ourselves to sleep,'' Lasagna said.

``A Night of Zorro'' is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1. Tickets are $125 a person. Attendance will be limited to 650 people. Tickets will be available to purchase late this month, but a waiting list has been established. People can call Amanda Johnson at [phone], Ext. 101.

A mariachi band and rock group Mid-Life Crisis will perform outside. Mexican food, margaritas and sangria will be served.

The party will benefit Newman's sixth Hole in the Wall Gang camp - named after the outlaw gang in ``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.''

Opened last year in a former recreational vehicle campground in Lake Hughes, each year Painted Turtle Camp will take in 1,000 youngsters too sick to attend conventional camps.

The camp includes a whale-shape, wheelchair-accessible swimming pool, its own clinic, cabins designed for youngsters with medical needs, and gardens planted to minimize allergens.

``The children go to the camp for free. That's what the dollars we are raising are for,'' said Cherie Bryant, one of the party organizers.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Event organizers Cherie Bryant and Tom DiPrima stand in front of Shea's Castle, which will be decorated in the style of a 19th-century Spanish estate.

(2 -- ran in AV edition only) The interior of the turreted 81-year-old building, supposedly inspired by a painting, is also in the style of an ancient fortress.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer