Family's history has strong ties to Calabasas

PATRICK SHELBY/Acorn Newspapers FAMILY TRADITION-Don Mitchell displays a hand-held smoker used to calm down a hive of honey bees. Mitchell learned beekeeping from his father-in-law, John Gensley, who kept bees on his Calabasas land. That property, the Orion Ranch, has been in the family since 1942. The Gensley family tree has deep roots in the land of Calabasas.

Robin Gensley-Mitchell, 64, daughter of the late John and Juliana Gensley of Calabasas, knows the history of the area well and that history, she says, is the story of her family.

The Gensley-Mitchell saga begins in 1942 when members of the family bought property in Calabasas to be used as a vacation retreat.

Orion Ranch

Gensley-Mitchell's parents married in 1932 and purchased the site now known as Orion Ranch from the heirs of the Ahlroth family, a group of original Calabasas homesteaders.

"At the time of purchase, it was just raw land," GensleyMitchell said. "Since the mailing address was simply Star Route Calabasas, California, our

Gensley-Mitchell remains an active

THE WAY WE WERE-Calabasas, circa 1928. This historical photo was taken at Brent's Junction, the intersection of Las Virgenes Road and what was then Ventura Boulevard. Today it is the corner of Las Virgenes and Agoura Road and a strip mall has been built there. The photo was submitted by Robin Gensley-Mitchell who is committed to preserving the rich history of the area. voice in the

community parents decided to name their newly acquired property after my mother's favorite constellation, Orion."

John Gensley, who at one time was the senior vice president

in charge of Southern California real estate development for Bank of America, and who financed the development of Westlake Village for Daniel K. Ludwig, built a cabin and other facilities on the 40-acre rural Calabasas property.

His wife, Juliana Gensley, was the daughter of James R. Townsend, a law partner of Henry Hazard, who later became mayor of Los Angeles. Gensley was in the first class to graduate from UCLA's Westwood campus in 1930 and became a teacher in the public school system and at Cal State Long Beach.

As children, Gensley-Mitchell and her brother were told that if ever the family was separated by war-Americans deeply feared another attack following Pearl Harbor-everyone should rendezvous at Orion Ranch in Calabasas. The land became the family's anchor.

"When my brother and I grew up, we found that as adults, our lives did in fact become separated and we found ourselves in many far-flung regions on this planet," GensleyMitchell said. She has lived in Maryland, Japan, Washington, D.C. and Washington state. "At night we would look into the night sky from our different vantage points and the constellation of Orion would be our star route back home to Calabasas," she said.

The family used Orion Ranch as a vacation home up until 1963 when they moved in permanently.

In December 2002 the Orion Ranch-Star Route became the property of Richard Gensley and Robin Gensley-Mitchell following the deaths of their parents.

Though neither GensleyMitchell nor her brother live on Orion Ranch, they visit there frequently.

Sweet memories

Among other things, Orion Ranch is famous for its beekeeping. Gensley-Mitchell's husband, Don Mitchell, is a registered Los Angeles County Beekeeper who continues 64 years of beekeeping on the property. Beekeeping goes back to Gensley-Mitchell's grandfather, who taught the craft to GensleyMitchell's father.

"My grandfather learned beekeeping from the hired hands in Arkansas," Gensley-Mitchell said. "My brother and I learned about beekeeping from our dad, but it was my husband, Don, who is carrying on the family tradition after helping our dad with his hives in our dad's later years."

Trouble in

paradise G e n s l e y Mitchell has played a significant role in the preservation of Calabasas. She's the president of the Calabasas Anza Heritage Association which produces the annual "Anza en Calabasas- 1776" historical celebration. The popular show debuted in 1985.

Gensley-Mitchell also is a board member of the Calabasas Historical Society. Her parents were instrumental in the creation of the Calabasas Historical Society, originally called the Friends of the Leonis Adobe. The adobe is the historical farmhouse that Miguel Leonis built and which stands today as a museum in Old Town Calabasas.

Before the Calabasas Historical Society and before the Friends of the Leonis Adobe, there was the Leonis Adobe board, headed by President Ray Phillips.

"Our dad was on the (Leonis Adobe) board of directors and he constructed the flagpole with a time capsule underneath with the charter board members of the Leonis Adobe," GensleyMitchell said.

According to her account, Phillips, who was president of the Leonis Adobe board between 1963 and 2003, had a falling out with Juliana Gensley in the late 1970s, which gave GensleyMitchell's father the choice to side with Phillips or leave the board of directors of the Leonis Adobe.

"My dad refused to do either," Gensley-Mitchell said. "Ray Phillips dissolved the board of directors and formed a new one, which excluded my dad."

Those excluded from Phillips' new board formed the Friends of the Leonis Adobe, today known as the Calabasas Historical Society. GensleyMitchell's mother was awarded the Lifetime Friends of the Adobe Award for her contributions.

The Leonis Adobe board went on to restore Old Town Calabasas and finished in February 1998, though not to Gensley-Mitchell's liking.

"The original buildings, with the few exceptions of a few buildings, were destroyed and a nostalgic interpretation of that which Ray Philips thought should have been was built," Gensley-Mitchell said. "I don't care to travel through Old Town Calabasas."

Defending diversity

In October of 1990, GensleyMitchell and her family attended a dinner with the Cold Creek Property Owners Association, a social group in the area, and heard complaints that Soka University, the private Japanese Buddhist college planning to move to the community, wasn't the type of rural neighbor that the residents wanted. GensleyMitchell thinks the criticism was provoked by racism.

"This made our parents immediately get involved and personally learn what Soka University was all about," GensleyMitchell said. "After learning the truth, we became strong supporters of the university."

Juliana Gensley learned that other Soka campuses had special gardens and suggested that the Calabasas campus build a native plant garden in the same tradition.

"This would be a garden where people could identify the native plants and then recognize them on the trail or, after hiking could come to the garden and identify what they had seen," Gensley-Mitchell said.

Soka University built the garden and dedicated it to the Gensleys. Today GensleyMitchell is a volunteer at the John and Juliana Gensley Demonstration Native Plant Garden at Soka University of America in Calabasas

"Soka University always maintained that our parents were the first family in the area to reach out to them in friendship," GensleyMitchell said.

Rich in history

Gensley-Mitchell remains an active voice in the community and continues to add to the rich Calabasas history.

"Since my husband was in the (armed forces), we lived in a lot of places that I thought would be really neat to settle down in," GensleyMitchell said. "But they never were home. . . . I loved living in Maryland, I loved living in Japan . . . but Calabasas is my home."

Robin Gensley-Mitchell has 10 grandchildren and her brother, Richard, has one grandchild. She promised Orion Ranch will remain in the family's possession for a long time to come.