Perris, California (CNN) Before the sensational "house or horrors" news exploded here and around the world with the discovery of the Turpin family -- 13 siblings allegedly held captive by their own parents in a Perris house -- whatever national publicity this city of 76,000 received was focused on the sky, like its ever-present flock of skydivers.

The Riverside County municipality some 80 miles north of San Diego is a well-known mecca for free-falling parachutists who come here to defy gravity, if only for seconds before landing at a private airport that boasts a pool, restaurant and the "Bombshelter Sports Bar & Grill," where they can ratchet-down their soaring adrenalin with a post-jump cocktail.

Neighborhood volunteers in Perris, California, packed duffel bags for the Turpin children, who the volunteers dubbed the "Magnificent 13."

During free falls, skydivers can look down on a neighborhood called Monument Park, now known to the outside world as the Turpin neighborhood, about a mile from the airport.

Perris is in the headlines these days as the city where the Turpin children, aged 2 to 29, were allegedly beaten, starved and tied up by their parents, David and Louise.

The parents have pleaded not guilty to 37 charges. David Turpin also pleaded not guilty to one count of lewd conduct with a minor.

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