Hummingbird Nest Ranch

Expansion Where: Hummingbird Nest Ranch, 2940 Kuehner Drive, Santa Susana When: Saturday Price: $15 presale, $22 at the door Info: http://www.hummingbirdranchmusic.com

Expansion Where: Hummingbird Nest Ranch, 2940 Kuehner Drive, Santa Susana When: Saturday Price: $15 presale, $22 at the door Info: http://www.hummingbirdranchmusic.com

A clubhouse and swimming pool, miles of manicured trails, a 24-hour video monitoring system and a helipad for last-minute getaways. Sounds like a luxurious day spa where the rich and famous go to unwind. In fact, Hummingbird Nest Ranch is a home for horses.

L.A. club-goers have to do a little extra work to find Expansion. First, unless you're a die-hard of the local electronic dance music scene, you might not know it exists. Then there's a 40-minute drive out of L.A. to the quiet mountains of Simi Valley, and a few extra minutes creeping up a valley of winding roads to a mansion resort that's hardly well known. Over the last year at remote Hummingbird Nest Ranch, a resort tucked into the cactus-strewn Santa Susana Mountains, the monthly Expansion event has gained cachet with DJs and fans.

L.A. club-goers have to do a little extra work to find Expansion. First, unless you're a die-hard of the local electronic dance music scene, you might not know it exists. Then there's a 40-minute drive out of L.A. to the quiet mountains of Simi Valley, and a few extra minutes creeping up a valley of winding roads to a mansion resort that's hardly well known. Over the last year at remote Hummingbird Nest Ranch, a resort tucked into the cactus-strewn Santa Susana Mountains, the monthly Expansion event has gained cachet with DJs and fans.

Don't be misled by the name. Hummingbird Nest Ranch, the Simi Valley equestrian estate of Metro Networks founder David I. Saperstein, is one ranch that is definitely not for the birds. Saperstein and his then-wife, Suzanne, bought the 123-acre property in the 1990s, then remodeled and rebuilt the buildings, including the horse facilities. In addition to serving as a residence, the functioning ranch was used by the Sapersteins for riding competitions until they were divorced this year.

Cellphones barely get signals in parts of Los Angeles, yet it seemed appropriate that Edward James Olmos, formerly Adm. William Adama of "Battlestar Galactica," spent the cocktail hour at the Griffith Observatory's 75th birthday party sending text-messages into space. Olmos had been contacting a friend, Atlantis astronaut Garrett Reisman, and periodically checking his BlackBerry for a response. More than 400 Friends of the Observatory came to the May 15 gala, highlighted by the premiere of "Light of the Valkyries."

ON NBC's whip-'em-into-shape weight-loss show, "The Biggest Loser," the contestants spill an ocean of tears. Tears of frustration and tears of joy. Lips quiver. Chests heave. Noses run as tears well up then flow down dirt-streaked cheeks. And that's just the men. But the physical and emotional shellacking that the morbidly obese contestants undergo while dieting and exercising their way to dazzling new figures is only part of the show's can't-look-away formula.

A clubhouse and swimming pool, miles of manicured trails, a 24-hour video monitoring system and a helipad for last-minute getaways. Sounds like a luxurious day spa where the rich and famous go to unwind. In fact, Hummingbird Nest Ranch is a home for horses.