Many magical miles

Boyhood memories of former Lake Enchanto amusement park



COLORFUL PAST—Richard Alba with the old kiddie cars he rescued from a 1970s amusement park ride that was destined for demolition at Lake Enchanto in the Santa Monica Mountains. Courtesy of Brian Rooney

COLORFUL PAST—Richard Alba with the old kiddie cars he rescued from a 1970s amusement park ride that was destined for demolition at Lake Enchanto in the Santa Monica Mountains. Courtesy of Brian Rooney

Richard Alba first laid eyes on Lake Enchanto in 1957 when he and his family attended a picnic at the popular playground in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Only 9 years old at the time, the boy from Van Nuys was awed by the sight of the mountains, but it was the distinctive, 64-acre amusement park with its variety of rides, animals and performances— and a giant round swimming pool that Alba remembers as being filled with the “bluest of water”—that left him with the memories of a lifetime.

Later in life, Alba obtained several kiddie cars from a ride that was destined for demolition in the 1970s after Lake Enchanto owner Charles Hinman failed in his attempt to revive the dying theme park and turn it into an even grander family destination featuring replicas of the Great Pyramids, the Great Wall of China and other wonders of the world.

When it fell into disrepair, the ranch was purchased and renovated by actor Peter Strauss, who lived there until 1983 when he sold the property to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The National Park Service bought the ranch in 1987.

After nearly five decades in storage, the kiddie cars were retrieved by Alba, who gave them to Tim Skogstrom, owner of Cornell Winery and Tasting Room on Mulholland Highway across the street from the former Lake Enchanto property.

“The cars are hanging and they make such an amazing addition to our storytelling here at the winery,” Skogstrom said.

“We have been utilizing a script that we have devised from our interactions with many of the old-timers in the area, many of our friends that live in historic landmarks, like the Cornell Schoolhouse, or perhaps the first cabin built on Malibou Lake and even many of the countless movie stars that are featured in movies that are and have been produced in the area,” Skogstrom said.

Local historian Brian Rooney, documented the history of Lake Enchanto in his book, “Three Magical Miles.”

“In the 1970s, (Alba) was part of an effort to reopen the park, but it wasn’t going well,” Rooney said. “Believing bulldozers would arrive any day and flatten the remaining rides, Richard rescued three cars from the kiddie car ride and put them in storage, where they have been for (almost) 50 years.”

A longtime resident of Homer, AK, the 69-year-old Alba shared memories of Lake Enchanto with The Acorn through a series of emails.

“We drove up from Van Nuys where we lived,” Alba recalled about his first and only trip to the park as a child.

“The first sight was the mountains and all

HISTORY—One of the old cars hangs from the Cornell Winery ceiling. Courtesy of Brian Rooney

HISTORY—One of the old cars hangs from the Cornell Winery ceiling. Courtesy of Brian Rooney

the trees, the grass fields and ball fields, stages with stone seats, terrazzo floor, the lake, amusement rides, and pony rides, animals in cages, birds, houses built of rocks, and of course, that huge round swimming pool.”

He fondly remembers the crowds of people he saw that day.

“So many people, happy, laughing, running, eating,” he said. “This place was a far cry from the area and neighborhood we grew up in. This was a magical place.”

Despite only visiting the park once, Alba never forgot it.

“In my teens we would drive by Lake Enchanto on our way to the beach and saw that it had closed down,” he said.

During a visit with friends in Agoura around 1973, Alba learned that some of Lake Enchanto’s cabins off Mulholland Highway sat empty. He hightailed it to the ranch and spoke with a longtime caretaker of the property who invited him to move in rent-free if he was willing to do some work around the ranch.

Hinman, the owner, was still living in the main house on the property, but there were several smaller homes and cabins at the main site and off Mulholland near the Old Place restaurant. The cabins, Alba said, were used by people who worked at the theme park during its heyday.

Alba has fond memories of Hinman.

“Charlie would gather us together and tell us his plans for Lake Enchanto,” Alba said. “He would point up to the mountains behind Lake Enchanto and point to a ridge and would say that is where . . . the (replica of the) Great Wall of China was to start, and next to that the Great Pyramids.

“He would want us to grab some hand tool and start making a trail up to the ridge. Charlie was obsessed with getting Lake Enchanto back to what is used to be. We could sense that it was a losing battle . . . and the end was near.”

Alba said he was happy to return the kiddie cars to Cornell, the rural community where Lake Enchanto had enchanted so many children during its heyday.

Skogstrom is equally happy that the kiddie cars were pulled out of storage after many decades. He said his winery promotes the history of the area through talks from Rooney and other people with knowledge about local lore.

“We are collaborating with Brian on several displays that will be put on permanent display here at Cornell,” Skogstrom said. “The first one, which will encompass Malibou Lake, should be going up in July. Lake Enchanto Amusement Park will be the next one we will be working on.”

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