Neighbors

Sheree Parnell arrived at the Sand Dune Park in Manhattan Beach, expecting to march up the popular 100-yard dune for what friends had told her was the ultimate cardiovascular workout. Instead, she found the dune closed Friday and bulldozers scooping up mounds of sand. The towering sand dune has been around since 1965, but only in the last few years have people from across Southern California flocked there for the kind of workout you can't get at a gym. Walking or running up the dune amid the shifting sand is a cardio exercise as well as a test of agility.

Maria Freyre could not believe her eyes last week when she pulled onto the Lincoln Heights street where she has lived for 45 years. A neighbor had erected a steel gate across Forest Park Drive, blocking 18 residents' access to their homes. A simmering neighborhood dispute had prompted Gardner Compton's barricade. Forest Park Drive crosses private property, Compton said -- his. He was willing to let his neighbors walk on foot along the narrow dirt road, but cars were no longer allowed.

A gated domain of sports stars, A-list actors, media billionaires and nouveau riche Angelenos -- where 11,000 square feet constitutes a "cozy" house and a developer once built a $20-million manse on spec -- is embroiled in a legal fracas that shows once and for all that money can't buy happiness. The court battle began in May, when residents of South Beverly Park sued their confreres in North Beverly Park. These aren't just any residents.

The parents had the best of intentions. They planted 80 palm trees to spruce up a forlorn hillside at Malibu High School, between the athletic field and the asphalt parking lot. A number of volunteers spent two days over the Thanksgiving weekend putting in the tropical Queen palms. Now, it looks as if they are going to remove them after a raft of Malibu Park neighbors weighed in with complaints about obscured views and fire danger.

Harmony is what's eluding Hollywood's Elusive Drive. An escalating squabble between a celebrity photographer and an actor who live across from each other on the narrow hillside street has led to a flurry of city investigations, lawsuits and finger-pointing. On one side is Jim Steinfeldt, who is known for his album cover and magazine fashion and entertainment industry advertising photos. On the other is Michael Massee, a well-known character actor who portrays villains and heavies.

What do most homeowners do about a neighbor's overgrown yard or a rusted-car eyesore in the driveway down the street? Not much, according to a recent survey conducted by ServiceMagic.com, a website that matches homeowners with prescreened home-service professionals. Of the 900 respondents questioned, 63% said they have had neighbors who failed to maintain their homes' exteriors, yet 41% said they had not reported the blighters to the authorities or homeowners associations.

Sometime in the next 24 hours, Paris Hilton will walk out of the women's jail in Lynwood a free woman after serving 23 days behind bars, in what was one of L.A.'s most bizarre and closely watched incarcerations. Whether the working-class town southeast of downtown Los Angeles will miss the hotel heiress remains to be seen. But some of Hilton's neighbors in the Hollywood Hills say they are dreading her return.

RottenNeighbor.com has been in existence for less than two months, and a cursory inspection of the site reveals it to be little used so far. However, the Web page has a powerful draw: It lets irate homeowners show America everything they hate about the people next door. By entering an address and a statement of grievances, users tap into Google's mapping technology to rate their neighbors.

A landscaping dispute on a quiet Anaheim Hills street turned violent Sunday afternoon when a 65-year-old woman shot her neighbor in the shoulder and then barricaded herself in her house before surrendering, authorities said. Police said the argument began about 3 p.m. when Anita Spriggs apparently started trimming a hedge she shares with her next-door neighbor, 64-year-old Gary Hall. "Spriggs then grabbed a handgun and shot the victim in the shoulder," said Sgt.

Few know about Trails End, a community burrowed in the pines of the San Bernardino National Forest where twisting forest service roads are the only way out. That's how folks here like it. It's a place for risk takers and renegades, so secluded that it barely shows on a map. With the solitude comes a deeply felt conviction that, if things turn bad, the people who live here can go it alone.