TAKE A TRIP TO (REALLY!) HISTORIC ENCINO.

Looking for a tiny oasis of peace, serenity and California history? Try Encino's business district.

The five-acre Los Encinos State Historic Park, at 16756 Moorpark St., was the center of a 4,460-acre rancho in the 19th century. The de la Ossa adobe, Garnier House, blacksmith's shop and food-storage shed - limestone structures built from 1849 to the 1870s - have been closed since they were heavily damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

But there are other enticements.

Visitors walk in under a shady canopy of oak trees at the Ventura Boulevard entrance to the Garnier Reservoir, a dammed-up ancient water spring that naturally runs 80 degrees.

This is home to flocks of ducks and gaggles of geese. Mallards, greyline geese, China geese, Peking ducks and Russian Muscovy ducks - some pure white, others varying shades of brown - inhabit the park. The winter and spring seasons bring as many as 200 ducks to Los Encinos, according to park ranger Russ Kimura.

Nearby, picnic tables are surrounded by prickly pear cactuses, pepper trees and five of the rancho's original olive trees. Parents like to bring children to chase pigeons, feed the ducks and learn some history. Duck food is sold for 25 cents a bag.

Outside food, especially bread, is discouraged because it is bad for their health.

``It's very serene here, very calming and beautiful,'' said Jo Reitkopp of Encino.

Rancho El Encino, as it was called, is a mini-repository of 19th-century California history. The Spanish de la Ossa family bought the property in 1849 as a cattle ranch and built the adobe that year as a family home and inn.

``This was considered one of the earliest (single-family homes) on the flatlands of the San Fernando Valley,'' Kimura said.

Eugene and Phillipe Garnier, French Basques from the Pyrenees mountain range that separates France from Spain, acquired the property in 1870, launching both a merino sheep ranch and the defining era of Los Encinos.

One of their additions was the Garnier House, a two-story structure that breathes a century of colorful and sometimes racy history through its limestone bricks.

Initially a Basque sheep-shearers' residence (rather cushy quarters in those days), the building later housed a restaurant, a speakeasy and a bordello.

Later owners were the Oxararts and Amestoys, also French Basques.

``They were a real close-knit society,'' Kimura said. ``I don't think there's another state park that's so reflective of that culture in California history.''

The adobe and Garnier House were museums before the quake. Visitors' donations and 1870s living-history events - the next one planned for October - help raise funds for repairs.

In the meantime, the park beckons. ``It's like a little hidden treasure in the San Fernando Valley,'' Kimura said.

Los Encinos is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Near the Moorpark Street entrance, pamphlets for self-guided tours are provided in a trailer, which Kimura is turning into a temporary mini-museum of old photographs and artifacts. For information, call [phone].

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Photo: Los Encinos State Historic Park's Garnier House serv ed as a sheep-shearers' residence, a restaurant, a speakeasy and a bordello.

Bob Halvorsen/Daily News