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TAKE A TRIP TO (REALLY!) HISTORIC ENCINO.


Looking for Looking for

In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with.
 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
For the neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, see Flatlands, Brooklyn.


Flatlands is a type of terrain similar to savanna and grassland.
 of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley

Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills.
,'' 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 Merino sheep (mərē`nō), breed intermediate in body size having fine wool, developed in Spain. These sheep are noted for their hardiness and their herding instincts and have been used as parents of several other breeds, notably the  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 rac·y  
adj. rac·i·er, rac·i·est
1. Having a distinctive and characteristic quality or taste.

2. Strong and sharp in flavor or odor; piquant or pungent.

3. Risqué; ribald.

4.
 history through its limestone bricks.

Initially a Basque sheep-shearers' residence (rather cushy cush·y  
adj. cush·i·er, cush·i·est Informal
Making few demands; comfortable: a cushy job.



[Origin unknown.
 quarters in those days), the building later housed a restaurant, a speakeasy Speakeasy - Simple array-oriented language with numerical integration and differentiation, graphical output, aimed at statistical analysis.

["Speakeasy", S. Cohen, SIGPLAN Notices 9(4), (Apr 1974)].

["Speakeasy-3 Reference Manual", S. Cohen et al. 1976].
 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 Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified"
meantime, meanwhile
, 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 artifacts

see specimen artifacts.
. For information, call (818) 784-4849.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

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
COPYRIGHT 1996 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1996, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:L.A. LIFE
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Aug 20, 1996
Words:522
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