TITLE Boxing Club Newbury Park is Opening in Mid-September

TITLE Boxing Club Newbury Park closed its doors in late March 2019.

TITLE Boxing Club Newbury Park has announced it will be opening its new location at 1714 Newbury Road, Suite S, (above Road Runner Sports and next to The Natural Cafe) in mid-September 2013. TITLE Boxing Club will offer a combination of boxing and kickboxing classes for people of all fitness levels. Kickboxing classes utilize a combination of kicking, punching and heavy bag action.  Visit newbury-park.titleboxingclub.com or call 805.716.6033 for more information.

Buenaventura Art Association Seeks Entries for 5th Annual Watercolor Competition

Buenaventura Art Association Announces Call for Entries for 5th Annual Watercolor and Aqua Media Open Competition
Restful Mooring, by Rex Kochel, Best of Show winner 2012

The Buenaventura Art Association, in partnership with the California Gold Coast Watercolor Society, is announcing a call for entries for its 5th annual Watercolor & Aqua Media Open competition. This competition is open to professional and amateur artists from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles counties. The exhibition of selected entries will run from October 2 to October 28, 2013 at BAA’s Harbor Village Gallery, 1591 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura.  Entries must be submitted online via the art association's website, www.buenaventuragallery.org, no later than midnight, Monday, September 21.
 
Cash prizes and a one-year, non-volunteering membership will be awarded to one Best of Show and two First Place winners, one in the Watercolor category and one in the Aqua Media category. Two Second Place winners will receive cash prizes and a 6-month membership; two Third Place winners will receive cash prizes and a 3-month membership, and two Honorable Mention winners will receive 3-month memberships. A reception and awards ceremony will be held Saturday, October 5, from 5pm to 8pm at the gallery.

Specifications:

Transparent Watercolor – On a single piece of untreated watercolor paper.
Aqua Media – All paintings must be executed only in water-based media. Water-based media on watercolor canvas, acrylic canvas, paper, illustration board, watercolor board, clayboard, or yupo may be entered. If collage is incorporated, only paper painted in water media will be accepted. No 3-D work, commercially printed material, or gold leaf.
 
Z.L. Feng will be the juror for this competition.  Feng is an artist-signature member of the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, and the Pastel Society of America (as master pastelist). His work has been featured in The Artist’s Magazine, American Artist, Watercolor 90, Watercolor Highlight, Omni Magazine, Watercolor Magic, and the Chinese National Magazine, China-Watercolor. Before coming to the U.S. in 1986, Feng received his BFA degree from Shanghai Teacher’s University and taught in its art department for four years. He completed his MFA degree at Radford University in 1989 where he is currently a Professor of Art.
 
More information about the Buenaventura Art Association and its merger with the Gold Coast Watercolor Society, as well as the prospectus for this competition, can be found on the association's website, www.buenaventuragallery.org or by calling 805-648-1235.

Panera Bread Opening Soon in Westlake Village

Final Update 8/23/13: Panera Bread officially joins the Westlake Village community on August 26 and is teaming up with FOOD Share to help raise funds to fight local hunger. Westlake Village Panera Bread will donate customer Community Breadbox™ donations at the new bakery-cafe to FOOD Share, which distributes over 9 million pounds of food every year and feeds over 73,000 people struggling with hunger in Ventura County every month.

The new Westlake Village bakery-cafe at 5784 Lindero Canyon Rd, Westlake Village will feature menu favorites such as the Strawberry Poppyseed and Chicken Salad, Bacon Turkey Bravo Sandwich, Cuban Chicken Panini, and new offerings like the Roasted Turkey Harvest Wheatberry Salad and Vegetarian Autumn Squash Soup, all in a welcoming environment with free WiFi.

Regular store hours: Monday – Saturday (6 a.m. – 9 p.m.) and Sunday (7 a.m. – 8 p.m.) Call (818) 991-3100 for more information.

Update 8/6/13: Melissa W had reported that the new Panera Bread will be opening on August 26th. Apparently there are a lot of Panera fans around town!

Posted 7/29/13: Not one, not two, but three Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Page friendly followers (thanks Jessica J, Lauren R and Kelly H) have duly noted that Panera Bread is opening soon at 5784 Lindero Canyon Road, Suite A, next to Michaels Craft Store and in what used to be the Ig Boarding Shop.

There are other local Panera locations at Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo. Learn more about Panera at www.panerabread.com.

Panera was established in 1981 and currently operates nearly 1,700 bakery-cafes in 44 states and Ontario, Canada. Panera is a publicly-traded company under stock symbol PNRA, with a current market cap of $5.5 BILLION! Now that's a lot of dough!

Panera Bread bakery-cafes showcase the art and craft of bread making, helping customers truly appreciate and enjoy a great loaf of bread by studying its crust, crumb and craft. Panera Bread understands that great bread makes great meals, from made-to-order sandwiches to tossed-to-order salads and soup served in bread bowls.

Thousand Oaks Transit to Add Saturday Bus Service on August 17th

Effective August 17, 2013, Thousand Oaks Transit (TOT) will begin Saturday bus service from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the same four routes as weekday service.

Saturday service will be free to all riders though October 12.

The Thousand Oaks Transportation Center at 265 South Rancho Road will be open Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. with ticket sales available between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. 

The City was recently awarded a $600,000 Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant which help make the addition of Saturday service possible as part of a three year demonstration project.  Saturday bus service is expected to attract up to 400 riders per day.

TOT is the fourth largest transit system in the County with over 150,000 bus riders per year and TOT provides nearly 90,000 Dial-a-Ride trips to seniors and the disabled annually, more than any service provider in Ventura County.

TOT uses clean-burning compressed natural gas buses that are fully accessible to riders with mobility devices and are equipped with free Wi-Fi and easy to use bike racks. For additional information and schedules, please visit www.TOTransit.org or call the bus information line at 805-375-5473.

Source: City of Thousand Oaks website at toaks.org.

Los Agaves Mexican Grill Recently Closed and Reopened as Portofino Italian Bistro

UPDATE 2/10/14: Los Agaves subsequently opened again at this location but in February 2014 closed their doors again.

As posted to the Portofino Italian Bistro Facebook Page (page subsequently removed) on June 29th, the owner of Los Agaves Restaurant and Grill decided to transform the restaurant into the Portofino Italian Bistro.

"Using the freshest ingredients, the best qualified professional staff under supervision of Chef Ricardo, it is a new destination for all the Italian Food Lovers....Seasonal menus, catering, private parties, etc. The restaurant offers a full license bar, extensive wine list, a calendar of events with coming up, Dinner and Guitar, 5 Course Wine Pairing Dinners, and more....We invite you to join us for Lunch or Dinner or just for a drink and appetizers."

Sounds interesting! The new Portofino Italian Bistro is located at 2350 East Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, smack dab in between Donut Depot and Rhineland Deli (good sandwiches there!), right across the street from The Lakes at Thousand Oaks. Their phone number is 805.777.7532.

From Frozen Yogurt to Burgers to the "Best Chinese Food" in Thousand Oaks (Golden Dragon)

Originally posted 7/23/13. Update 8/13/13: The Best Chinese Food's actual name is Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant. I like that because I was born in the Year of the Dragon. Thanks for the heads up again, Melissa W.

"Best Chinese Food" is what the sign says at 2416 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks. Thanks to the eagle eyes of CVG Facebook follower Lauren T. of Thousand Oaks, we've learned that Village Burgers, which opened its doors last fall in the former home of Yozen Frogurt Express) is closed and that some time next month, "Best Chinese Food" is coming to our little town of Thousand Oaks.

What is not clear to me just yet is, will the new restaurant literally be called Best Chinese Food or is that just a teaser for the possibly to be announced new Chinese food restaurant that will be opening here. Well the smaller sign on the door shown below gives no clues (though I do like the small letter o's).

But wait, maybe it does. It does not say "Best Chinese Food" - just "Chinese Food." So maybe it will be called something else. Who knows. Well someone knows. But it ain't me. Yet. But one thing I do know is that I love Chinese food. And since this place will be situated across the street from the Toyota dealership, I might have to bring my car in for servicing, once the Best Chinese Food, Good Chinese Food or simply, Chinese Food, is open for business.

And Village Burgers, we are sorry to see you go. Although I never did get around to trying you out, I had intended to. At some point. But I'll have to cross that thought off the bucket list. That is all.

Ventura County Residents Sought for Cancer Prevention Study Starting in September

Image Courtesy of American Cancer SocietyVentura County Supervisor Kathy Long recently announced that beginning this September, Ventura County residents have the chance to participate in research through the American Cancer Society to help identify ways to prevent cancer. This study is called the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) and is for individuals who are between the ages of 30 and 65 years old and have never been diagnosed with cancer.

The American Cancer Society’s goal is to enroll at least 300,000 adults from various racial/ethnic backgrounds from across the U.S. in CPS-3. The purpose of CPS-3 is to better understand the lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer and to ultimately eliminate cancer as a major health problem for this and future generations.

Enrollment will be taking place from September 11th to September 24th at various locations, including Ventura County Government Center, International Brotherhood of Electrical Worker’s Union, St. John’s Regional Medical Center, Ventura County Medical Center and St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital. But first, visit THIS LINK to learn more and schedule your initial appointment. 

For more information about CPS-3, visit www.cancer.org/cps3 or email cps3@cancer.org or call toll-free at 1-888-604-5888.