Save forest pack station

The Arcadia Historical Society needs your immediate help to save the Adams’ Pack Station and historic general store at Chantry Flat in the forest above Arcadia (see where you can make donations below).

by Scott Hettrick

The Station, the last one in Southern California, is in danger of being forced to close down within a few days due to conflicting regulations and demands by county and federal agencies (see Los Angeles Times story of April 1 and Pasadena Star-News story of March 13 and Star-News editiorial of March 16).

The best hope to save Adams’ Pack Station is to help the owners raise at least $10,000 by the end of April (a temporary reprieve from March deadline) to comply with new demands by the L.A. County Health Department to make modifications to the food storage area, add plumbing fixtures and revamp the drainage system. Please send checks in any amount made out to The Arcadia Historical Society (all donations to the Society are tax deductible), with a note on memo line: Adams’ Pack Station, so that your entire donation will go directly to save the Station. Mail checks to: P.O. Box 60021, Arcadia, CA. 91066-6021, attn: Scott Hettrick.

(Story, including history of the Adams’ Pack Station, continues below the following very short video highlights of activities at the Station):

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Matt Denny’s Ale House Restaurant

The Pack Station is one of the most unique and tranquil holdovers from a bygone era that, since 2006 has answered questions and provided hiking tips to more than 300,000 visitors, fed more than 12,000 hungry hikers, served more than 40,000 bottles of soda, water, Gatorade and juice, distributed 80,000 Forest Adventure passes, handed out 48,000 free trail maps, and coordinated about 175 rescues, not to mention caring for the burros that carry supplies to owners of the cabins in the forest. Besides all that, it’s just a great and quaint place for picnickers and hikers to stop and sit a spell, chatting with fellow forest lovers and watching the burros and other critters in nearby pens. Station owners like to grill and BBQ for visitors and sometimes provide live acoustical music and activities for kids as you can see in the two Arcadia’s Best videos from 2007 — 55-second overview, and a 2-minute hilite of music, BBQ , and activities — both above.

Adams’ Pack Station is adjacent to the Chantry Flat picnic and trail head area at the end of Arcadia’s Santa Anita Ave. three miles up Santa Anita Canyon Road and about 4,000 feet into the Angeles National Forest (see videos and history of station below).

During the quarterly Society program at the Community Center on Sunday (March 21), Mount Lowe Preservation Society founder/president/curator Michael Patris, who gave a terrific presentation on the famous Mt. Lowe Railway of the 1890s – 1930s, including a rare 8-minute video of a camera showing the ride itself, generously and spontaneously pledged to match at least the first $1,000 raised by the Arcadia Historical Society to help save the Pack Station. Within minutes, more than $600 was collected from attendees who have very fond lifelong memories of many activities with friends and family at and around the Pack Station at Chantry Flat, including Ruth Gilb, Floretta Lauber, Carol Libby, Sherry and Sho Tay, Helen Javes, and Edith Slemmon on behalf of Elaine Iverson for whom the area has always been a special, favorite spot. So please join these supporters right away by sending your own donation to help save this historic jewel of the forest. (April 10 update: Sandy Snider and Barb Kovacic each donated $100 and Mickey Segal donated $300 to ensure we earned the $1,000 matching donation from Michael Patris, who immediately made good on that pledge. So far, $2,130 has been donated to the Pack Station by the Arcadia Historical Society, including $1,000 from Patris and his Mount Lowe Preservation Society, but more is needed right away to reach the minimum of $10,000 needed.)

It is this Pack Station that also provides a vital link to the outside world for residents who live in forest cabins. Since vehicles are not allowed down into the steep canyon, supplies can only be delivered by burros that are stabled and operated from the Station.

The Station, which has roots more than a century old, has been in its present location since the 1930s and was owned for more than 60 years (with the exception of a few years in the 1940s) by the same Adams family — Bill Adams bought it in 1938 and sold it shortly after marrying his wife Lila but the couple repurchased it a few years later and ran it together for another 35 years before handing it off to their nephew who ran it until 1999). Since then two different owners have struggled to keep the station alive. Since it barely supports itself even in good times, the challenge becomes great when rains and fires close the access road sometimes for months or years at a time during which no vistors, and thus no income, can get through to the Station.

The current owners, mother and daughter Sue and Deb Burgess, and general manager Richard Conforti, have been doing their best to keep the Station vital and afloat for the past four years. Sue has opted to move to a less challenging environment in her retirement but Deb continues to live at the Station.

— By Scott Hettrick

Here is a brief history of the Station and an update of the current situation from the Adams’ Pack Station website (a more detailed history at bottom):

The Pack Station was located in Sierra Madre until 1936. At that time the paved road was constructed (the same road you drive on today). The Pack Station was moved to its current location at that time. In 1953 a General store was opened that offered cold drinks, ice cream, and hiking information. With the antique emergency phone system in place, rescues were coordinated for injured or lost hikes. The store soon became the focal point of Big Santa Anita Canyon.

In 2006 Deb and Sue Burgess bought the Pack Station and General Store. It was apparent that the store was not a profitable situation and that financial break-even was only possible on a good month. Rather than close the store a Non-Profit organization was formed. “ Friends of The San Gabriels” took over operation of the Store. A large deck and tables were added. The store has become a place to relax with a cold drink or ice cream in the summer or sit around the fire with a cup of hot cider or hot chocolate in the winter. The 175 rescues coordinated by Store staff range from things as minor as a sprained ankle to as serious as fractured bones and life threatening injuries.

The L.A. County Health Department has determined that we must make some changes to the store to stay in business. These changes require modifications to the food storage area, additional plumbing fixtures and a revamp of the existing drainage system. All work must be done by licensed professionals and meet with building department requirements. Estimates for all the work range from $5,000 to $10,000. We hope the final expense will be somewhere in the middle.

A detailed history of the Station can be read at the Adams’ web site.