Cal Lutheran Opens Access to Gallegly Archive at the Pearson Library in Thousand Oaks

(Photo credit: Karen Quincy)

At California Lutheran University, 356 storage boxes, in view behind glass walls, are filled with the archived papers of Ventura County’s longest-serving congressman, Elton W. Gallegly, a member of the House of Representatives from 1987 to 2013. The Gallegly Center Archive and Collection, housed within Cal Lutheran’s Pearson Library, is now open.

The extensive collection includes correspondence, reports, bills, testimonies, voting records, invoices, photographs, newspaper clippings, constituent requests and more from Gallegly’s long career in public service as congressman for three different congressional districts that cover Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and the San Fernando Valley.

Highlights of the archive, donated in 2017, include records related to his work on immigration, European Union expansion, the 9/11 Commission, the Good Friday Agreement, the Clinton impeachment hearings, the U.S. Patriot Act and the fight against cruelty to animals. Of local interest are materials that address his efforts associated with Ventura County child welfare, agriculture, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) at Naval Base Ventura County, development of the Port of Hueneme, California redistricting, and cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

The collection is generally divided by Gallegly’s three congressional districts, with subcategories for administrative, legislative, constituent, media and voting record files. Access is available by appointment.

To request an appointment, or to explore the archive’s finding aid, visit www.callutheran.edu/centers/gallegly/archive.html. Appointment requests are also available by sending an email to CLUlibrary@callutheran.edu. Note that the Pearson Library will be closed due to renovations through the summer; access to the archives will begin in the fall.  

Progress Slow But Steady at the Former Corrigan's Steak House in Thousand Oaks

UPDATE 4/16/24: Signs are up at the remodeled building - “Old Oaks Steakhouse.” No specific timing at this point, but stay tuned.

Corrigan’s Steakhouse was originally opened in 1982 by Tom Corrigan, the son of legendary stuntman/actor Ray “Crash” Corrigan. Crash Corrigan passed away on August 10, 1976. Tom Corrigan passed away on March 14, 2018.

Corrigan’s Steakhouse, located at 556 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard, closed its doors later that year in 2018 and it changed ownership. Since then, over the last four years, there has been slow, and more recently very steady, progress in the remodeling of the site.

Rumor has it that the new place will also be a steakhouse, with a cigar room in the back. “Old Oaks Steakhouse” is one name that has mentioned as a possibility. We shall see.

Corrigan’s Steak House did not originate at this location. Its roots were in the Park Oaks Shopping Center at Janss and Moorpark Roads in Thousand Oaks. It relocated to Thousand Oaks Blvd at Long Ct in 1990. This location has a bit of history in it, so it is good to see, as you can tell in the photos below, that some of that history has been retained.

House of Orlando Italian Restaurant operated here from 1960 to 1977. It subsequently became Le Normandie French Restaurant for awhile. Then in 1990 it became Corrigan’s.

Here is a view of Hosue of Orlando Italian Restaurant at 556 East Thousand Oaks Blvd during the 1966 Conejo Valley Days parade. (Photo from the Thousand Oaks Library Conejo Through the Lens Collection.)

Corrigan’s Steak House in 2018, before it closed.

A view from the side - Corrigan’s Steak House - Seafood, Burgers & Chili

A view of the inside of Corrigan’s after it closed.

Side view while undergoing reconstruction in October 2021

Progress continuing in December 2021

April 2022

Christmas Eve 2022

History Repeats Itself as Nordstrom Rack Premieres Today at Janss Marketplace

I didn't do a count, but there were easily hundreds and hundreds of folks on hand today for the grand opening of the new Nordstrom Rack at Janss Marketplace, in a space on Hillcrest Drive previously occupied by Sears (which now occupies less space). It was pretty crazy, yet casual, as locals enjoyed special treats, music, raffle and a first look at this new store, barely a half mile walk from the Nordstrom store at The Oaks mall across the street.

Funny how history repeats itself. Fifty five (yes 55) years ago, the headline of a Thousand Oaks Journal news story on Wednesday, November 16, 1960 was "THRIFTY DRUG OPENS NEW 1000 OAKS STORE THURSDAY" and further noted "Giant Throng Expected at Ventura Blvd & Moorpark Rd For Thurs. Grand Opening."  Ventura Blvd is now Thousand Oaks Blvd, the Conejo Village Shopping Center is now Janss Marketplace, and Thrifty Drug Store became Rite Aid many years ago, but that store is still there!

Image courtesy of Thousand Oaks Library Special Collections

Lots of excitement about that new Thrifty store apparently because they awarded Blue Chip Stamps on over 20,000 items!! I'm dating myself by remembering Blue Chip Stamps, a customer loyalty program that went by the wayside in the 1980s. Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, acquired Blue Chip Stamps as a company in the 1970s. Sales were $126 million in 1970 but dropped to pretty much nothing by the 1990s.