There's no such thing as a cult-ready town. But Rancho Santa Fe, where the nomadic Heaven's Gate cult set up shop for seven months while members prepared their exit from planet Earth, seems remarkably ill-suited to any true believers but those who hanker for fulfillment through land, horses, golf, and tennis.
"The real bummer about all this is that now everyone knows about Rancho Santa Fe," said James Feldman, a 24-year-old San Franciscan who spent his entire pre-college life in the suburb. "The cool thing was that this was really one of those places where you could get away from it all. I mean, it's got one of the highest per capita incomes in the entire United States."
The oldest planned community in California, the Rancho Santa Fe became an unincorporated township nearly 70 years ago and is still governed by the terms of the "covenant" that formed it. There's no home mail delivery, because most of the lots are so big. Thanks to the covenant, there are no street lights. Only two architectural styles - Spanish Mediterranean and ranch - are permitted.
But 24 hours after the 39 members of Heaven's Gate were found dead in the mansion they rented, the hills around the home were crawling with hordes of journalists gawking at the US$1.6 million spread in which cult members lived four to a room. Police blocked access to civilian gawkers. Polo ponies stared at reporters. The occassional bemused resident clad in madras tennis shorts, chic running attire, or full riding garb wandered by.
Rancho Santa Fe is the wealthiest community in San Diego County and one of the richest in the country. It's a place where carpenters drive '97 Chevy Cheyennes, and everyone else drives BMWs, Mercedes Benzes, and Lexuses. That's when they aren't busy riding their horses or cruising around in limos, as was one passel of immaculately made-up teenage girls demanding Grey Poupon amid howls of giggles Thursday evening.
"There's really only one class of people here," said Feldman, "and the people in that house weren't part of it. I mean, no one ever played tennis or golf with them. That's what people in the community do together. That's what we are."
"It all revolves around the country club," concurred Nancy Sullivan, who moved to Rancho Santa Fe to "get away from the craziness of LA" three years ago. "And the people in that house certainly didn't belong to the country club."
