In the crisp clear mountain air, the peaks and ridges of the surrounding ranges seem almost impossibly well defined against the unchanging backdrop of the cloudless blue sky, now and again one more prominent peak glistens with white snow. The setting is of one of rural remoteness, yet the giant sprawl of Los Angeles starts just a few miles away; it’s only forty minutes drive to downtown LA. This is the small all-American community of Acton, founded by gold miners in the 1880s and a world away from the burgeoning metropolis we passed through en route here from the airport. It’s crisp and cold in the bright sunlight but the…