Agoura's Sunny Skies Day Camp property sold

33-year-old camp looking for a new home

By Stephanie Bertholdo   bertholdo@theacorn.com

MOVING ON--Sunny Skies Day Camp counselor Samara Perlman takes a boat ride with campers Kellen Roy and Justin Tolchinsky. The day camp will move from its location at Agoura and Triunfo Canyon roads after this summer, but officials say a new home has yet to be found. After 33 years of operation, Sunny Skies Day Camp near Agoura Hills must move, but where it will go is anyone's guess. The camp will operate at its longtime site through summer.

Actress and model Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber are said to have purchased the 23-acre property off Agoura and Triunfo roads for $3.2 million and plan to build a private family compound.

Harold and Marcia Gordon own Sunny Skies Day Camp and nearby Camp Kinneret and have been leasing the land from camp founders Steve Siegal and Terry Siegal Whitney for 15 years.

"When we purchased the camp it was our hope we would be able to purchase the land," Harold Gordon said. "The price of real estate soared so dramatically it wasn't feasible for us to buy."

The Gordons said they hope to find a suitable location for the camp in the Agoura vicinity since so many local families consider the camp a second home for their children during the lazy days of summer.

"Families come back year after year," Gordon said.

Gordon is confident a new site will be found in time for summer of 2008.

Sunny Skies Day Camp was opened in 1974 by Steve and Terry Siegal (now Terry Whitney). From the start, the camp was a haven for campers from 4 to 14, who enjoyed horseback riding, swimming, sports, archery, nature studies, canoeing and a variety of arts and crafts activities.

"The true essence of the camp is the relationships that develop between the campers, their new friends, the staff and the opportunities for growth that exist in the program," Gordon said. "Camp is a place where (children) experience things for the first time . . . shooting an arrow for the first time, riding a horse, making their first lanyard."

Jay Greenlinger spent 21 summers at Sunny Skies, starting out as a shy 5-year-old who quickly learned the joys of performing for a crowd. He finished up as a confident camp staffer.

Now a fifth-grade teacher at Brookside Elementary School in Oak Park, Greenlinger said he enjoyed the camp five days a week for nine weeks every summer until he was 13. He continued to attend as a junior counselor, van and bus driver and eventually as a paid camp counselor.

"Camp is so much more than a fun place for kids," Greenlinger said. "Camp is not about a particular place or special activities; it's about the people."

Greenlinger said he was often the first child to arrive at Sunny Skies in the morning and the last one to be picked up at the end of the day. "I begged my mom for five more minutes or one more game of 'Ga-Ga,'" he said.

As an adult, Greenlinger sees the camp experience as a way for children to gain confidence by trying new activities while feeling safe enough to fail.

"How many of us get a bull's-eye on our first shot?" Greenlinger asked. "Almost none . . . but if our group cheers us on, and our counselor gives us a big high-five for trying, we are going to try again the next time until we get that bull's-eye."

Greenlinger said he experienced the same lessons in confidence over and over again, in horseback riding, swimming, rowing and other activities.

Sunny Skies Day Camp employs a senior staff of 70 people, and 30 high school students in a counselor-in-training program.

Gordon said the camp costs $1,375 for three full days per week for five weeks. Camp hours have been 9:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. daily during two summer sessions (June 25-July 27 and July 30-Aug. 24).

"If anyone happens to have 10 to 20 acres that is appropriate for a camp to rent, call me," he said. "We'd be happy to be wonderful tenants for years and years to come."

Open houses will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday from March 18 to April 22.

Harold Gordon can be reached at (818) 889-8383.