Castaic Lake State Recreation Area

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a motion urging state officials to turn over to the county a vacant visitors' center at the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area. The state Department of Water Resources has been trying to sell the facility to government agencies for more than a year. County officials are attempting to acquire the property at no cost before bidding is opened to the public.

Budget cuts have forced Los Angeles County parks officials to restrict swimming at three lakes this summer. Starting Monday, parks officials are closing beaches at Castaic Lake State Recreation Area in Castaic, Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas and Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays through Sept. 7. Beach closure signs will be posted at park entrances, parking lots and shorelines, a parks spokesman said.

Budget cuts have forced Los Angeles County parks officials to restrict swimming at three lakes this summer. Starting Monday, parks officials are closing beaches at Castaic Lake State Recreation Area in Castaic, Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas and Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays through Sept. 7. Beach closure signs will be posted at park entrances, parking lots and shorelines, a parks spokesman said.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a motion urging state officials to turn over to the county a vacant visitors' center at the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area. The state Department of Water Resources has been trying to sell the facility to government agencies for more than a year. County officials are attempting to acquire the property at no cost before bidding is opened to the public.

An Alhambra man, described by police as a weak swimmer, drowned Monday after becoming separated from a paddle boat he rented during a Labor Day outing on Castaic Lake, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman said. Deputy Bill Wehner said Thi Binh Lam, 25, lowered himself into the water about 2:30 p.m. and was hanging on to the edge of the paddle boat when wind and choppy water separated him from the boat. A friend tried unsuccessfully to rescue Lam.

A 19-year-old man drowned in a swimming lake Wednesday afternoon, despite the efforts of lifeguards to save him, authorities said. The drowning, which authorities said appeared to have been an accident, occurred at 2:30 p.m. in the lower lagoon at Castaic Lake State Recreation Area, a popular spot for swimming and sailing.

The family of a 3-year-old boy who wandered away from a picnic at the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area looked in vain for the youth on land before lifeguards were contacted and the boy was found in the lake, authorities said Tuesday. Joe Guzman of Los Angeles was pronounced dead at 8 p.m. Monday at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia after he was pulled from the lake bottom by a diver who found him in 7 to 10 feet of water, authorities said.

The skeletal remains of two people inside a car were retrieved Friday from a remote area below Lake Hughes Road near Castaic Lake State Recreation Area, authorities said, adding that foul play was not suspected. The car, which appeared to have crashed, was discovered at 3 p.m.

With neither the state nor Los Angeles County stepping forward to pay operating costs, parks officials are reluctantly facing the reality that the popular Castaic Lake State Recreation Area may close indefinitely on Aug. 31 -- the day before the crowded Labor Day holiday.

A motion that would keep Castaic Lake State Recreation Area open until the state could work out a long-term solution is expected to be approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday meeting. The motion, introduced by Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Yvonne Braithwaite Burke and also supported by Supervisor Don Knabe, calls for fee increases at the recreation spot north of Santa Clarita to offset operating costs.

Fireworks displays are scheduled Friday at various sites in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. Some locations offer daylong festivities including carnival rides and live entertainment. Admission is either free or tickets are still available at the gate at the following locations. * Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, at Division Street and Avenue I, Lancaster. Gates open at 6 p.m., entertainment begins at 6:15 p.m., fireworks at 9 p.m. Free. Information: (805) 723-6077.

Sweaty legs stick to plastic seats. Sun-baked steering wheels require oven mitts. Hair wilts and frizzes. Yes, summer weather is back. Temperatures in the San Fernando Valley climbed into the high 90s again Friday, dipping only a degree or two from the day before and heralding the start of sun-splashed days and balmy evenings that will last for months.