HOME FRONT : The Mecca-Makers

Everybody knows that when you find an undiscovered spot, whether it’s a fishing hole or a secluded stretch of beach, the last thing you do is tell anyone about it. But what if it’s your job to do just that?

That’s the dilemma at the Greener Pastures Institute, a company that has been helping Angelenos escape their crush of urban troubles by directing them to places where they can get “back to small-town values and lifestyles.”

Areas promoted as “perfect small towns,” notes Bill Seavers, founder of the Sierra Madre-based institute, quickly become “meccas” and meccas soon become overcrowded with urban refugees.

He points to several examples of what an invasion of urbanites can do to the perfect town. Bend, Ore., for example, now has “serious growth problems, inflated house prices and wood-stove smoke pollution,” he says. As for Seattle, “the blush on the rose is definitely off,” and if you’re still thinking about Washington, “steer clear of Tacoma and Olympia--there’s no work.” In the Southwest, he warns, “Tucson is badly overcrowded” and you can just forget anything near Santa Fe.

To do his part to avoid overpopulating paradise, Seavers no longer reveals his top picks of small towns “on the record to the media.” Of course, that means you have to be a client to get his tips. Prices for that vary; the company does everything from merely giving advice to arranging guided tours of potential sites to planning the entire relocation of a family.

Seavers advises Angelenos just beginning their small-town search to avoid towns approaching 200,000 in population because at that critical mass, life gets ugly.

“Our message is, move to the smallest place you can that has the things you must have,” Seavers says. “A lot of small places in the Midwest have cable TV and small airports if you need mobility, and they offer pluses like free public concerts. We’re also seeing a shift to the inter-mountain West, remote towns away from the cities and the coasts.”

Could he be more specific? Sorry. Not for the record.