Local Buzz covers new businesses, restaurants, closures, local politics, goings on around town and other buzzworthy items in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County. Have a lead? Contact us. Click here for an archive of Local Buzz postings.
Local Buzz covers new restaurants, closures, local politics, goings on around town and other buzzworthy items in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County. Have a lead? Contact us. Click here for an archive of Local Buzz postings.
Post other items directly to the Community Announcements section of the site.
A new and improved splash pad was set to premier on Friday, May 22nd BUT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO NEXT WEEK at Rancho Tapo Community Park in Simi Valley. The new splash pad is 55% larger, has a water treatment and recycling system and had three different play areas! Yay!
The Ventura County Star reported yesterday that the Wagon Wheel Bowl is set to close at the end of this month. Built in 1953, the Wagon Wheel Bowl was designed by Arthur Froehlich, who also designed Hollywood Park Racetrack and Hanna Barbera Studios in 1962.
We just so happen to have stopped by recently. A blast to the past this place is...soon to be was. As much as the Wagon Wheel is in need of upgrade, we are vary sad to see it go.
You don't see many of these scoring devices in more modern bowling alleys.My bowling shoes had quite a worn in feel at the Wagon Wheel Bowl...
The County of Ventura Environmental Health Division protect public health and the environment by ensuring conformance with State laws and County ordinances pertaining to food protection, hazardous materials, hazardous waste, individual sewage disposal systems, land use, medical waste, ocean water quality monitoring, recreational health, solid waste, underground fuel tanks and vector control.
The EHD publishes food facility closures at www.ventura.org/rma/envhealth/community-services/consumer-food/closures.html.
The following closures were noted in February 2015 through mid-May 2015. Keep in mind when reviewing this that there are many possible reasons for the closures, most of which are very temporary issues.
May 2015
Spring Garden, 1795 South Victoria Avenue #101-A, Ventura;
Cockroach infestation; unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 05/14/15; Date reopened - 05/15/15
Simi Valley High School Football/Gymnasium Snack Bar,
5400 E. Cochran St., Simi Valley;
Rodent infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 05/12/15; no reopen date
Peking Inn, 330 N. Lantana St. # 31, Camarillo;
Serious and repeated violations, failure to adhere to a compliance agreement;
Date closed - 05/11/15; No reopen date
New Flavor Chinese Restaurant, 2950 Johnson Dr #134, Ventura;
No permit to operate; no plans submitted for review and approval;
Date closed - 05/05/15; No reopen date
April 2015
El Asadero, 920 N. Ventura Avenue, Ventura;
Unsanitary conditions; Unsafe temperatures of potentially hazardous foods;
Date closed - 04/29/15; Date reopened - 04/30/15
Carniceria Mexicana El Rio, 2651 Vineyard Ave, Oxnard;
Cockroach infestation; rodent infestation; inoperable warewashing sink; unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 04/29/15; Date reopened - 04/30/15
Gladstone Donuts, 664 Lindero Canyon Road, Oak Park;
Cockroach infestation; unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 04/28/15; Date reopened - 05/01/15
The Vitamin Shoppe, 4860 Telephone Road, Ventura;
No toilet facilties available for employees; no water available at facility;
Date closed - 04/27/15; Date reopened 04/28/15
Top Of The Hill, 530 Ventura Avenue, Oak View;
Rodent infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 04/15/15; Date reopened - 04/22/15
Namaste Spiceland, 2707 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks;
Cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 04/14/15; Date reopened - 04/15/15
La Gloria Market (Independent Food Preparation Area), 430 S. Oxnard Blvd., Oxnard;
Inoperable plumbing;
Date closed - 04/13/15; Date reopened - 04/13/15
Lupita's Restaurant, 616 Cooper Road, Oxnard;
Rodent and cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 04/07/15;Date reopened - 04/08/15
Atlas Food Lic. 5K19784, 921 Richmond Avenue, Oxnard;
No approved commissary;
Date closed - 04/01/15; No reopen date
Atlas Food Lic. 6P52618, 921 Richmond Avenue, Oxnard;
No approved commissary;
Date closed - 04/01/15; Date reopened - 04/14/15
March 2015
Shanghai Beer Garden, 34 N. Palm Street, Ventura;
Unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 03/30/15; Date reopened - 04/03/15
Exotic Thai Bistro, 1555 Simi Town Center Way, #770, Simi Valley;
Cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 03/23/15; Date reopened - 03/24/15
Yogurtland, 111 S. Westlake Blvd., Thousand Oaks;
Inoperable refrigeration resulting in unsafe food temperatures;
Date closed - 03/20/15; Date reopened - 03/20/15
Pavilions, 2938 Tapo Canyon Road, Simi Valley;
no toilet facilities;
Date closed - 03/17/15; Date reopened - 03/18/15
Del Taco, 4393 Main Street, Ventura;
Inoperable equipment; unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 03/12/15; Date reopened - 03/13/15
La Placita Restaurant, 305 W. Sixth Street, Oxnard;
Inoperable equipment; cockroach infestation; unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 03/10/15; Date reopened - 03/11/15
Yolie's Mex Grill, 26 South Garden Street, Ventura;
Rodent infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 03/09/15; Date reopened - 03/12/15
Maria's Kitchen Lic. 4JK1290, 2557 Cortez St. Oxnard;
No approved commissary;
Date closed - 03/02/15; Date reopened - 03/19/15
Hot Dog Factory MSU, 921 Richmond Ave., Oxnard;
No approved commissary;
Date closed - 03/02/15; Change of ownerhip
February 2015
3 Steps to Success, 129 Dean Dr. Santa Paula;
Inoperable plumbing, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 02/27/15; Date reopened - 02/27/15
Corrigan's Irish Pub, 75 E. High Street, Moorpark;
Inadequate supply of hot water for hand washing and untensil washing, cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 02/26/15; Date reopened - 02/27/15
Mia's Place, 1129 Petit Avenue, Ventura;
Serious and repeated violations, failure to adhere to a compliance agreement;
Date closed - 02/25/15; Date reopened - 02/26/15
Mupu Grill, 930 E. Main Street, Santa Paula;
Cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 02/24/15; Date reopened - 02/26/15
Mc Donalds, 138 E. Harvard Blvd., Santa Paula;
Sewage overflowing inside the facility, inoperable employee restroom;
Date closed - 02/24/15; Date reopened - 02/24/15
Dona Rosa's Mexican Food, 2801 Wagon Wheel Road, Oxnard;
Serious and repeated violations of Health & Safety Code;
Date closed - 02/23/15; Date reopened - 03/04/15
Montezuma Restaurant, 112 Stroube Street, Oxnard;
Rodent infestation, inoperable warewashing sink, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 02/18/15; Date reopened - 02/20/15
El Rey Cantina, 2302 Ventura Blvd., Camarillo;
Cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 02/18/15; Date reopened - 02/19/15
Wendy's, 2551 Vineyard Avenue, Oxnard;
Inoperable warewashing sink;
Date closed - 02/12/15; Date reopened - 02/12/15
Mercado Numero Uno, 1616 E. Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley;
Rodent infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 02/10/15; Date reopened - 02/13/15
Tacos El Monoraca (Lic. 4LN2781), 2958 Sturgis Rd. Oxnard;
No approved commissary;
Date closed - 02/09/15; Date reopened - 03/20/15
7- Regiones Restaurante (Lic. 1W18274), 2958 Sturgis Rd. Oxnard;
No approved commissary;
Date closed - 02/09/15; Date reopened - 02/23/15
Las Sirenas, 2091 N. Oxnard Blvd., Oxnard;
No valid health permit;
Date closed - 02/04/15; Date reopened - 02/04/15
El Dorado Mexican Restaurant, 601 S. Oxnard Blvd., Oxnard;
No hot water available for utensil washing or hand washing;
Date closed - 02/02/15; Date reopened - 02/03/15
The Tower Club, 300 E. Esplanade Drive #1680, Oxnard;
Inoperable hand wash sink in food preparation area;
Date closed - 02/02/15; Date reopened - 02/02/15
A Camarillo civic and business leader who earned his college degree at 55 will once again don a cap and gown at the CSU Channel Islands (CI) commencement ceremony.
On May 16, Camarillo Chamber of Commerce CEO and CI graduate Gary Cushing, now 60, will accept CI's Distinguished Alumnus Award for his success and generosity in a number of different arenas.
"Gary is the definition of the CI Way," said Tania Garcia, Director of Development, Alumni Relations. "He gives back to the community on a regular basis. He is on so many different boards I can't even name them all. He is the community go-to guy because everyone knows they can trust him, and no matter how busy he is, he gets the job done."
CI gives the award to an alumnus who has had success in his or her career field, is active in the community and contributes time, talent and other resources back to CI.
Cushing says receiving this award is "very special" to him, adding that he does all he can to promote CI because he believes it provides an opportunity for a higher education for a population that wouldn't otherwise be able to pursue a degree.
Cushing offers himself as a perfect example.
His life was going well at age 52. He had worked his way up through the restaurant ranks—starting as a teen busboy in Burbank—to become the owner of three Marie Callender's restaurants in Ventura County and one in Santa Barbara. He still owns the restaurant in Camarillo, which opened in 1989.
He had a wonderful wife, eight children and 13 grandchil
After five years in the making, a bronze statue of the farmer who donated his land for the California Lutheran University campus in Thousand Oaks will be dedicated at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 18.
The statue of Richard Pederson, a son of Norwegian immigrants, will be dedicated during the Scandinavian Festival, but the site will be accessible to people who are not attending the event. The statue stands next to Soiland Humanities Center near the flagpoles on Memorial Parkway. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
Cal Lutheran President Chris Kimball will preside over the event. Pederson’s niece, Janet Pederson Reeling of Bishop, plans to attend.
While serving as an artist-in-residence during Cal Lutheran’s 50th anniversary in 2009, Paul Lucchesi of West Virginia decided to sculpt a statue of Pederson based on a black-and-white photograph of him looking out over his ranch. With the statue now at the top of an incline near the center of campus, Pederson will forever look out over the university he made possible.
The original clay sculpture sat in storage until last spring, when the Cal Lutheran Community Leaders Association, Artists and Speakers Committee and University Advancement paid for Lucchesi to return to campus to create a wax mold and prepare it for casting in bronze.
Pederson had been ready to retire a bachelor when he donated his 130-acre ranch in 1957 so California Lutheran College could be built. The ranch’s chicken coops were converted into the first offices and classrooms. Classes began in 1961 with 330 students. Today, the university has 2,800 undergraduate and 1,350 graduate students who come from around the world and represent a diversity of faiths and cultures.
Pederson’s parents, Lars and Karn Pederson, had paid $3 an acre for the ranch land and $2 an acre for the hillside in 1890 when they became one of the founding families of the Norwegian Colony.
After Lars Pederson died, the family moved to Santa Barbara, but Richard and his brother Peder returned in 1913 and their mother later joined them. They lived in a Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog kit house, which today is the home of the Music Department. They grew alfalfa, hay, tomatoes and grapefruit and raised chickens, selling about 9,000 eggs a day. Pederson died in 1976 at the age of 81.
Mountains Restoration Trust (MRT) has received a $94,469 grant from the Ventura County Tree Mitigation Fund and will work closely with the National Park Service (NPS) to to revive native trees and plants at Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park. Rancho Sierra Vista is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Elementary school students plant native plants at Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park. The National Park Service and Mountains Restoration Trust are seeking volunteers to help plant nearly 5,000 native plants and trees. (Credit: National Park Service)The project encompasses 24 acres and consists of planting, monitoring and regular maintenance of 2,000 trees, including coastal live oaks, valley oaks, walnuts and sycamores. In addition, there will be 3,000 understory plants, including shrubs such as sage, bunchgrass and herbs. All plants and trees will be maintained and monitored over a 10-year period.
"This is an exciting and important restoration because we are connecting to 10 acres we planted last year in the upper reaches of Potrero Creek," said Irina Irvine, a restoration ecologist for the National Park Service. "We will be creating a functioning, self-sustaining riparian corridor which will benefit overall watershed health, reduce flashy fuel loads and provide water, forage and shelter to wildlife."
The public is invited to volunteer either a few hours or on a more long-term basis to help with planting and weeding. More information is available at www.volunteermatch.orgsearch/opp1943238.jsp.
All trees and plants will be grown locally at native plant nurseries operated by the two agencies.
Mountains Restoration Trust is a non-profit land trust dedicated to preserving natural land in the Santa Monica Mountains through restoration, education and land acquisition. Founded in 1981, MRT collaborates with government agencies in an ongoing effort to maintain a cooperative relationship between urbanization and native land. More information is available at www.mountainstrust.org.
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the largest urban national park in the country, encompassing more than 150,000 acres of mountains and coastline in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. A unit of the National Park Service, it encompasses a seamless network of local, state and federal parks interwoven with private lands and communities. As one of only five Mediterranean ecosystems in the world, SMMNRA preserves the rich biological diversity of more than 450 animal species and 26 distinct plant communities. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/samo.
The Ventura County Tree Mitigation Fund distributes funds for projects that result in the planting and maintenance of protected trees, including restoration and/or maintenance of their associated habitat. The program is administered by the Ventura County Planning Department.
Former City of Thousand Oaks City Councilmember Jacqui Irwin resigned from City Council on November 25, 2014 to assume her newly elected role as California District 44 Assemblymember.
As a result, the City of Thousand Oaks is holding a Special Municipal Vacancy Election on Tuesday, June 2nd to fill her term that expires in November 2016.
The estimated cost of the election to be incurred by the Ventura County Clerk's Office is $200,000 and will be reimbursed by the City of Thousand Oaks.
The City Clerk's office started accepting nomination papers for the special election on February 9th and will continue accepting them until 5 p.m. on Friday, March 6th.
To run for office, you must be a registered voter in the City at the time of nomination, must be a City resident and at least age 18. You must also obtain a minimum of 20 valid signatures of other City of Thousand Oaks registered voters to run.
The newly elected councilmember will start his/her new role in the June/July timeframe, after election results are certified.
Contact the Thousand Oaks City Clerk at 805.449.2151 or visit toaks.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=2677 with questions.
So when will start seeing political signs around town? Signs may be posted starting 45 days prior to the election, which will be April 18th.
The last day to register to vote in this election is May 18th.
More on the City Council:
The City Council has five elected members that serve four year staggered terms. Elections are normally held in November of even-numbered years. The Council's meets at least two Tuesday night each month, except for August and its duties include appointing a City Manager, City Attorney and members of City Boards and Commissions, adopting a two year budget, enacting legislaton and establishing City policy. The Council also appoints one of its members as Mayor each year to preside over its meetings.
Councilmember compensation is currently $1,750 per month. Benefits include health insurance, vision and dental insurance, 7% retirement plan contribution and other benefits highlighted in City Council Resolution 2011-070.
The winner of this Special Election will be joining councilmembers Al Adam (Mayor), Joel Price (Mayor Pro Tem), Andy Fox and Claudia Bill-de la Pena.
The County of Ventura Environmental Health Division protect public health and the environment by ensuring conformance with State laws and County ordinances pertaining to food protection, hazardous materials, hazardous waste, individual sewage disposal systems, land use, medical waste, ocean water quality monitoring, recreational health, solid waste, underground fuel tanks and vector control.
The EHD publishes food facility closures at www.ventura.org/rma/envhealth/community-services/consumer-food/closures.html.
The following closures were noted in August through October. Keep in mind when reviewing this that there are many possible reasons for the closures, most of which are very temporary issues.
January 2015
Guido's Pizza and Pasta, 1877 Royal Avenue, Simi Valley;
Rodent infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 01/27/15; Date reopened - No reopen date
Chuy's, 311 Carmen Drive, Camarillo;
Cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 01/27/15; Date reopened - 01/28/15
Wendy's, 2010 N. Rose Avenue, Oxnard;
No toilet facilities available for employees;
Date closed - 01/20/15; Date reopened - 01/20/15
Azu, 457 E. Ojai Avenue, Ojai;
Rodent infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 01/14/15; Date reopened - 01/15/15
Guido's Pizza and Pasta, 1877 Royal Avenue, Simi Valley;
Rodent infestation, cockroach infestation, unsanitary conditions;
Date closed - 01/12/15; Date reopened - 01/13/15
Marie Callender's, 1295 S. Victoria Avenue, Vent
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