Neptune's Net and County Line Beach in Malibu are Local-Area "Must Do's"

Neptune's Net is a Malibu icon, located across from County Line Beach in Malibu at 42505 Pacific Coast Highway. Everyone who lives in the local area just has to experience this favorite eatery overlooking the Pacific. 

Originally built in 1956, the location of the fryer and grill have not changed. However, it was originally a gas station, real estate office and restaurant called "Panorama Pacific at Solimar" but locals called it Jake's Diner (after Eastman "Jake" Jacobs, its owner). In 1974 it was sold and the new owners renamed it Neptune's Net. The current owners purchased it in 1991.

Some of our favorites at Neptune's Net are everything fried (fish & chips, shrimp, scallops, clam strips and calamari), fresh seafood (lobster, crab, shrimp and oysters), burgers and more. Quite a popular biker hangout but at the same time, family friendly.

If you're newbie, check out the menu and then find the back of the ordering line, which often stretches back to the refrigerated drinks area. Grab your drink first as you wait in line. Order. Grab a seat, either in the front patio overlooking PCH, the side patio adjacent to the parking lot or the indoor seating area. Learn more at neptunesnet.com.

After (or before) you've dined, park or re-park (it's nice to clear your spot at Neptune's Net for other folks) your car across the street at County Line Beach, a casual, perhaps 1/3 mile stretch of beach surrounded by residences on each side.

There are no facilities at this beach other than three porta-johns in the parking area. No parking fees. 

County Line Beach is popular with surfers and folks generally hanging out and jumping into the water. There are some rocks to explore on the west side of the beach too. And well-behaved dogs can often be seen at this beach.

Rocks about on the west side of the beach, which stretches around to residences.

MORE LOCAL AREA BEACHES AT THIS LINK

Hillside Letters "SP" on South Mountain in Santa Paula

When driving southbound in Santa Paula, look up towards the mountain south of the city (aptly named South Mountain) and you’ll see the letters SP boldly emblazoned high up on the hill that overlooks the Santa Paula Airport.

According to the Santa Paula Times, the letters are 125 feet long and 25 feet wide and originated in the 1922 time frame when a group of high schoolers made the trek up the mountain to carve the letters.

The brush was cleared annually over the years until the 1970s; for decades thereafter, the brush overgrew the letters and made them difficult to see.

Then, as part of the city’s centennial celebration in 2002, the Times noted that Limoneira Co. and other volunteers and donors worked to clean up the letters for all to see.

Santa Paula is not alone in its mountain monogram. Other local area cities with monograms include Agoura Hills (there’s a letter A in the hill north of Agoura High School), the letters CLU emblazoned on the hill overlooking Cal Lutheran University, the letter F in the hills east of Fillmore, the letter V in the hills above Ventura High School and the letters VC in the hills above Ventura College.

Of course, the most prominent icon landscaped into a hill in Ventura County is Happy Face Hill seen by westbound drivers on the 118 near Kuehner Drive.

Happy Face Hill in Simi Valley - sure to bring a smile to your face.

Spanish Flu "Do Not Do's" in the 1918 Los Angeles Times

As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic is not the first pandemic we’ve experienced. The 1918 influenza pandemic, called the Spanish flu, was caused by an H1N1 virus that originated in birds. It infected half a billion people, or about a third of the world’s population, between February 1918 to April 1920. It killed between 17 million to as many as 100 million people.

This image from the L.A. Times in December 1928, “Don’t Kiss Her Now!” provided advice to readers. Advice has evolved quite a bit since then during our own pandemic. :)

DON’T DO THESE THINGS

• Don’t kiss your sweetheart while “Spanish flu” or pneumonic plague is on!

• You might kill her - or him, by passing a deadly germ along.

KISSING SPREADS FLU

• Don’t sneeze or cough in anybody’s face. Use your handkerchief to cover nose and mouth.

• Don’t neglect or laugh at a “common cold.” It may be the first symptom of “flu!”

• Don’t worry. Worry is weakening.

• Don’t visit “flu” victims unless you really must do so. Then wear a “flu” mask.

• Don’t use a common drinking cup anywhere.

• Don’t use a common towel anywhere.

• Don’t put pencil or penholder in your mouth. There may be “flu” germs on it!

• Don’t put money in your mouth. Put it in your pocket.

• Last but not least…Don’t pet dogs or cats. They carry germs in their hair.

And there you have it.

Wildwood Park Scene in Thousand Oaks in the 1960s and Today

A then and now comparison in Wildwood Park, with Mountclef Ridge in the background. The black and white shot from the T.O. Library's Conejo Through the Lens collection I believe is from the 1960s - a movie set with a corral, jail and adobe house.

Some of the TV shows and movies filmed in Wildwood Park in the 50s/60s included Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Bonanza, The Big Valley, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, How the West Was Won and Davy Crockett.

Pederson Ranch House and Water Tower at Cal Lutheran is a Ventura County Historical Landmark

Pederson Ranch House and Water Tower on CLU campus. (Photo courtesy CLU)

The Pederson Ranch house, built in 1913, is a Ventura County and Thousand Oaks Historical Landmark. This house originally was built for the Lars and Karn Pederson family, Norwegian immigrants who were part of a group in 1890 that settled in the Conejo Valley.

The nearby water tower, built at the same time, provided plumbing for the residence.

It was donated to CLU in 1967 and has been moved several times. It is now located at the corner of Regent Ave and Faculty Street in Thousand Oaks and is used by the school's music department.

Sherwood Homes in Newbury Hills in the Conejo Valley in 1969

Sherwood Homes in the delightful new community of Newbury Hills offered 3 and 4 bedroom homes in 1969 with pass thru service bars, ceramic tile kitchens, double door entries and more. Starting at $21,820. Walter Avenue and Wendy Drive. See you there!

Today (2021) these homes are in the $700K to $800K range. That outpaces the inflation rate over that period by a five!

1964 - The First Christmas Season in the City of Thousand Oaks

The City of Thousand Oaks was incorporated in the fall of 1964, thus making December 1964 the city’s first Christmas season. Here are some advertisements from that year.

Christmas gifts at the local Conejo Village Camera store.

Double feature at the Fox Conejo includes Roustabout (starring Elvis Presley and Barbara Stanwyck) and Looking for Love, starring Connie Francis. Roustabout featured scenes shot in the Conejo Valley, including Elvis’ “Wheels on my Heels” scene in local Hidden Valley.

The perfect head to toe Christmas gift from the Los Robles Greens Gift and Golf Shop.

Talk to Santa Claus, courtesy of the Conejo Village (now Janss Marketplace) Shopping Center. KNJO “Conejo” signed on in 1963, whose claim to fame was that it was the first FM station on the west coast to broadcast in stereo. The original owner of KNJO apparently was Sandy Koufax!

Santa appearances at Jungleland every Saturday and Sunday!