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.
DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse is opening at the Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks on Thursday, September 10th. It is located on the Hillcrest Drive side of the mall near the Nordstrom Rack store that is slated to open on October 1, 2015. DSW is currently hiring for this new store.
Westlake Village Community Park construction well underway
Westlake Village Community Park is located on a hilltop at 31107 Thousand Oaks Blvd (just west of Lindero Canyon Road). There is a one-way entrance and a one-way exit off of Thousand Oaks Blvd that can be accessed by vehicle, bicycle, or sidewalk during park hours.
This is a 19 acre site that includes the park as well as the 55,000 sq ft Triunfo YMCA facility slated to open in early 2016.
View of the Triunfo Y facility under construction
Once completed, Westlake Village Community Park will contain eight acres of lighted synthetic turf athletic fields for soccer, baseball, softball, and other sports, a walking/jogging trail, skate park, picnic areas, outdoor volleyball and basketball courts, fitness equipment, restroom/concession facilities, and children’s play areas.
Ball fields 1 and 2 as well as the skate park are currently open to the public.
Skate park at Westlake Village Community Park is open to the public
Update Oct 2019: General Chow is now closed. Ouch, that didn’t last long.
Update Mar 2018: General Chow is now open.
Update Mar 2017: Luna Grill is now open.
Update Dec 2016: No updates, other than both eateries are still listed as "coming soon."
The Collection at RiverPark recently announced that Luna Grill and General Chow will be coming to the retail center next year.
Luna Grill offers Near East and Mediterranean cuisine, including juicy and tender kabobs served with fluffy Basmati rice and grilled tomato, gyros and falafel wraps and more. Luna Grill is scheduled to open in the summer of 2016.
General Chow is a modern Chinese restaurant with full bar and a menu that includes dumplings, soup, noodles, fresh seafood, and Szechwan spicy food. General Chow is the newest concept by restauranteur, Michael Kwan, who currently owns and operates 21 restaurants with eight different concepts in the Southern California area. General Chow is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016.
Seen near the Newbury park location on labor day
Haggen announced today that it is closing 27 stores in California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington over the next 60 days as part of a restructuring. Local stores that will be operating as they wind down operations over the next 60 days are in Newbury Park (Newbury Road) and two in Simi Valley (Cochran St and Madera, 660 E. Los Angeles Ave).
38 staff will lose their jobs at the Newbury Park location. 53 at the Los Angeles Ave location.
Earlier this year, the Haggen grocery store chain acquired 146 stores as part of the Albertsons/Safeway merger. Prior to the acquisition, Haggen operated 18 stores in Oregon and Washington.
Of the 146 stores, eight are based on Ventura County. After the closures, that leaves five Haggen stores operating in the local area.
Remaining local area Haggen stores in Westlake Village (Lindero Canyon), Thousand Oaks (Arboles), Simi Valley (E. Los Angeles), Camarillo (Las Posas), Oxnard (Ventura Rd) and Ventura (Telegraph Rd). www.haggen.com/find-our-stores
Operation Take Back the Pumps is a collaborative effort by Ventura County law enforcement agencies, businesses, and Federal agencies to combat credit/debit card fraud and identity theft facilitated through the illegal use of credit card skimming devices placed on gasoline/fuel pumps.
Identity theft is a national problem that is significantly affecting citizens in Ventura County. One way thieves are obtaining victim’s credit and debit card information is through the use of illegal card skimming devices being surreptitiously placed in fuel pumps. When an unsuspecting customer swipes their debit or credit card into the pay station on the fuel pump, these illegal devices capture the card and pin information. The thieves then use this stolen information to commit identity theft and other fraud related crimes. Losses from a single illegal skimming device on a fuel pump usually averages between $50,000 and $100,000.
Operation Take Back the Pumps consists of multiple phases designed to combat identity theft perpetuated by the use of illegal card skimming devices on fuel pumps. The phases consists of training law enforcement and gasoline station personnel on prevention methods and the identification/detection of illegal skimming devices; Programs that promote regular inspections of the pumps for tampering and/or illegal card skimming devices, if the agency should decide; And finally, education of the public on practices that will help keep them from becoming victims of identity theft.
Operation Take Back the Pumps was coordinated by the Moorpark Police Department and launched on August 13, 2015, beginning with a joint effort by all of the involved agencies/businesses coming together in an attempt to inspect all fuel pumps in Ventura County. This proved to be successful as 1,512 fuel pumps were inspected and three (3) illegal skimming devices were discovered and removed. These devices will be used as evidence in an attempt to identify and prosecute the suspect(s) responsible for these crimes.
The following is a breakdown by city of pumps inspected and the number of illegal card skimming devices found:
City of Camarillo - 155 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Fillmore - 76 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Moorpark - 72 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Ojai - 44 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Oxnard - 335 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Port Hueneme - 8 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Santa Paula - 42 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Simi Valley - 173 pumps inspected and no devices found
City of Thousand Oaks - 272 pumps inspected and three (3) devices found
City of Ventura – 335 pumps inspected and no devices found
Law enforcement and participants in this operation encourage the public to consider the following steps when purchasing fuel. Following these steps will significantly reduce the risk of being victimized by identity thieves.
Source of Release: Ventura County Sheriff's Office
Every Picture Tells a Story - From Presidents to Pop Stars
Personal Collection of Journalist Ivor Davis
August 3 - December 18, 2015
Monday- Thursday, 8 am to 8:30 pm
Ventura College Santa Paula Campus
957 Faulkner Road, Rm 106, Santa Paula, CA 93060
Reception with Ivor Davis and Book Signing
Thursday, September 24 - 6 to 8 pm
UPDATE: Mama's Hummus Camarillo opened for business today, Sunday, August 9th.
Mama's Hummus announced yesterday that it will be opening a 2nd Ventura County location soon. Its original location in Newbury Park opened February 20, 2014, bringing local residents delicous, made from scratch Mediterranean food, including falafel, hummus, kababs and more. The new location will be at the former home of Tacone Flavor Grill at 5021 Verdugo Way, Suite C108 in Camarillo. We'll announce updates right here and you can check the MH Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mamashummus.
Water Wings Swim School is opening very soon at the Agoura Hills Town Center, 30135 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills, directly across from Future Track Running Center. Nearly four years ago, this was Terri's Cafe. FOLLOW-UP: They opened in August!
Water Wings is a year round swim school founded in 2003 with locations in Las Vegas and Northridge...and soon, Agoura Hills. I was shocked when I discovered this today. Quite a massive, heated pool completely full of water. Water wings provides private and group lessons to children and adults of all ages, starting at 3 months.
For more information, visit www.waterwingsswimschool.com or visit the Water Wings Agoura Hills Facebook page at www.facebook.com/waterwingsah. They are also currently hiring for this new location.
KidCloud was a supervised play space located on the 2nd floor of The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks that opened in July 2014. It is now one year later and they closed their doors early this month. No word yet on a replacement for that spot.
Click THIS LINK for over 40 other indoor play activities in and around Ventura County.
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