Ranch

Harry Eisen, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor who founded Norco Ranch Inc. in western Riverside County in the 1950s and built it into one of the state's leading egg producers, processors and distributors, has died. He was 95. Eisen died July 19 of complications of lung disease at his home in Beverly Hills, said his daughter, Frances Miller. When Eisen and his Polish-born wife, Hilda, immigrated to Los Angeles in 1948, they had no money and spoke no English. Eisen had managed a sausage factory and three outlets in Warsaw before World War II, but with his lack of English he could only get a job cleaning out meat barrels in a hot-dog factory in Vernon.

I know, I'm on a rosé kick, but I just can't help it. There's the weather for one thing, and then this year's extraordinary crop of delicious rosés. Here's another I just discovered from Martian Ranch & Vineyard in Santa Maria. "From sky to ground to grape to barrel to bottle and straight into your glass" reads the back label on its delightful "Down to Earth" Grenache rosé. It's the palest dusty peach in color, and it tastes alive. It's crisp and soft at the same time, smells like wild strawberries and has quite a finish.

A favorite fishing hole Wow! My favorite columnist went to my favorite place - Hot Creek Ranch ["No Frills, Just Fishing Thrills" by Chris Erskine, July 15]. I did have to chuckle when he said to book early because it fills up fast. Reservations are usually made two years in advance, unless there are cancellations, and the same people, like my husband and me, go year after year. When we were there in June, there were only a couple of days available this season, and a man who had caught a 25-plus-inch trout was booking them hoping to catch it again.

Park officials have reopened a south Orange County wilderness park after state wildlife officials lured and trapped a male mountain lion repeatedly seen roaming the same area in recent days. The 100-pound mountain lion, which was captured in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park early Tuesday, will be kept in captivity indefinitely, though officials hope to eventually relocate the animal. "We didn't feel comfortable leaving it," said Capt. Dan Sforza of the Department of Fish and Game, who said the mountain lion was exhibiting "very unusual behavior" and appeared abnormally unfazed by humans.

This isn't one of those cushy Fish-Carltons like those über-expensive Montana trout resorts. Hot Creek Ranch in Mammoth Lakes has nine no-frills cabins whose biggest amenity is one of the sweetest spring-fed creeks you'll ever see, right out your front door. You and other guests will have a two-mile stretch of it all to yourselves. Isn't that the ultimate VIP perk, anyway? Plus, it's an easy five-hour drive from L.A. The bed As noted, nothing fancy. The two-room cabins come in various configurations, but most sleep four if you include sleeper-couches.

MUSIC The annual hot-rods and hot-guitars festival Hootenanny is an O.C. staple and has attracted increasing attention for pairing the gods of pre-Beatles rock and rockabilly with younger punky adherents. This year is headlined by Rancid, Lucero and Reverend Horton Heat. Oak Canyon Ranch, 4700 Santiago Canyon Road, Silverado Canyon. Noon Sat. $39.50-$100. thehootenanny.com.

Closing a deal that underscores the potential of Southern California's housing recovery, luxury builder Toll Bros. Inc. snapped up a big chunk of land in south Orange County and said it will begin work on a massive master-planned community. Toll Bros. will partner with builder Shea Homes to construct more than 2,000 homes and apartments in the Baker Ranch development in Lake Forest. Economists and analysts said the involvement of Pennsylvania-based Toll Bros., the largest builder in the luxury niche, was an encouraging sign for the market, jump-starting a long-planned development and infusing it with some high-end cachet.

The bank-owned Santa Paula ranch that screen star Steve McQueen and his third wife, Barbara Minty, once owned has sold for $660,000. The property was listed in 2009 at $1.95 million but after multiple price reductions was lost to foreclosure in November at $699,283. The pair moved to the 15.3-acre Ventura County ranch in 1979 and were married in the home's living room in January 1980. The Victorian-style house, built in 1892, contains some of its original Victorian features, antique stained-glass windows and fireplaces in the family room and kitchen.

The improbable playoff run for the Corona High baseball team has led to a trip to Dodger Stadium to play in the Southern Section Division 1 championship game. The Panthers (19-14), who began the playoffs as the fifth-place team from the Big VIII League and a lowly wild-card team, won their semifinal game against Valencia West Ranch, 2-1, on Tuesday at Blair Field in Long Beach. Senior right-hander Daniel Pena gave up six hits, struck out four and walked one. In five playoff games, Pena has been the winning pitcher in three games and has saved two. "He deserves a lot of credit," Coach Andy Wise said.

Half a century ago, Walt Disney leased a horse ranch in Placerita Canyon to shoot episodes of "The Adventures of Spin and Marty" from the classic ABC series "The Mickey Mouse Club. " Disney liked the property so much, with its rich variety of meadows, oak groves and mountains, that his production company began buying up land, eventually accumulating 890 acres. Over the decades, the storied Golden Oak Ranch, located in an unincorporated area of northeast Los Angeles County, has been used as backdrop for countless Disney TV shows and movies, including "Old Yeller" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. " Now Walt Disney Co. is moving closer to transforming part of the historic movie ranch into one of the largest high-tech production developments in Los Angeles in the last decade -- and the public will soon get its first say on the project.