Casitas Springs in Ventura County was Home to Johnny Cash in the Early 1960s

Casitas Springs is an unincorporated community in Ventura County, located 1.2 miles east of Lake Casitas. Originally it was called Arroyo de Las Casitas (Creek of the Little Houses) in 1864. Its population is just over 1,000, located along State Route 33

All that aside, Casitas Springs is best known as the residence of Johnny Cash from 1961 to 1967. He bought a 5,000 sq ft home on Nye Road in 1961 where he lived with his wife Vivian Liberto and their four daughters. Liberto filed for divorce in 1966.

Driving Ventura Avenue north from Ventura towards Ojai, this sign near the juncture of Nye Road reminds us that the original Man in Black called Casitas Springs home.

Liberto continued to raise her daughters, Rosanne, Kathy, Tara and Cindy and moved from Casitas Springs to Ventura in 1968 after remarrying Ventura police officer Dick Distin in 1968. She passed away in 2005.

Johnny Cash passed away in 2003, four months after the passing of his second wife, June Carter Cash.

The Old "Agoura" Sign on Agoura Road

I was running (literally running) around Agoura Hills, in the vicinity of Agoura Road west of Chesebro Road, when I looked up and saw this distinctly vintage "Agoura" sign displayed at the corner of Agoura and Lewis Roads. While I've driven that stretch of Agoura Road hundreds of times over the years, for whatever reason I never really noticed this interesting sign.

I wondered how long this sign has been there. City of Agoura Historian Cim Castellon was able to help put some of the puzzle together by contacting Brian Rooney of R7 Media, who provided the image below.

This photo shows two women posing for the camera with the Agoura sign and Agoura Market and Gas Station, owned by Harold Neale, in the background.

Photo Credit: R7 Media (www.r7media.com)

On the east side of Lewis Road road is the old Agoura Post Office at 28249 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills. Brian thinks the Agoura sign was put up about the time the post office opened.

The sign is located adjacent to what used to be Center Stage Music, in a building that originally was Fitzgerald's Market in the 1920s and later Agoura Market in the 1940s.

For more local history, be sure to stop by the Reyes Adobe Historical Site, the first home built in Agoura Hills back in 1850.

Chuck E. Cheese's Was Founded in 1977 by the Guy Who Turned Down One Third of Apple

Chuck E. Cheese's was founded by Nolan Bushnell in 1977, the same year he sold his company, Atari (makers of Pong) for $28 million. The previous year, Steve Jobs, who worked briefly for Bushnell at Atari, offered Bushnell a 1/3rd interest in the newly founded Apple Computer, for $50,000. Bushnell said no...ugghh!!

Chuck E. Cheese’s is now 45 years old, with over 600 worldwide locations, including Thousand Oaks and Ventura.

www.chuckecheese.com

City of Fillmore Neon-Lighted Sign From Pre-World War II

You don't see many signs around town like the Fillmore sign at the northeast corner of Highway 126 (E. Telegraph Road) and Central Avenue.

Fillmore sign photo taken as I was waiting at the stoplight driving south on Central Avenue.

The sign was originally constructed in 1940, making it 80 years old. It is designated a historical landmark by the City of Fillmore.

The Fillmore sign is a cool green neon lit up at night

It's not exactly easy getting to Fillmore from the Conejo Valley as you either have to take the winding path of the 23/Grimes Canyon Road via Moorpark or drive out to Ventura via the 101 and take the 126 to Fillmore by way of Santa Paula. Kind of a haul but certainly fun to do every now and then.

At a total area of only 2.8 square miles, Fillmore is the smallest of Ventura County's 10 cities, and its population of roughly 16,000 places it 9th (roughly double the population of Ojai). Fillmore was not named after Millard Fillmore; it was named after Jerome Fillmore, General Superintendent of the Southern Pacific Railroad when they built the line connecting Santa Paula, Fillmore and Castaic.

Quite a quaint little place that is certainly fun to visit, with highlights such as numerous themed train rides at Fillmore & Western Railway, State Fish Hatchery and Railroad Visitor Center, along with an old town feel along Central Avenue.

Fillmore sign as of July 2022

El Tecolote Cafe in Camarillo Captured by Local Artist in Oil Painting

El Tecolote by Linda Dark of Camarillo.

Linda Dark has lived in Camarillo since 1978. For the last 12 years she has captured local scenes in oil paint. Here is her rendition of the historic El Tecolote, located at 333 N. Lewis Road, in the image above. El Tecolote serves up delicious, authentic Mexican food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

According to the El Tecolote website, World War II veteran Mike Loza opened his restaurant in Moorpark in 1946. The owls occupying the trees surrounding the restaurant were the inspiration for the name El Tecolote (The Owl).

The cafe was moved to a small house in Camarillo in 1948. It was so small that a frustrated customer helped finance a move to its current location in 1952. The restaurant is now owned and managed by the Guardado family. Visit www.facebook.com/eltecoloterestaurant or call 805.482.4318 for more information. 

El Tecolate the night of Monday, September 8, 2014.

The Ventura County Fair Has Operated at Seaside Park in Ventura Since 1914

Although the Ventura County Fair traces its roots back 145 years, it commenced operating at its current location at Seaside Park in Ventura in 1914.

Seaside Park was donated to the county by E. P. Foster in 1909 and the first Ventura County Fair to take place there was in 1914.

This ad from 1926 is for the 12th Annual Ventura County Fair at Seaside Park. Fifty cents in 1926 dollars equals about $7.25 in 2020. Back then they had horse races. whippet (dog) races, chariot races and more.

The 2020 and 2021 Ventura County Fair were cancelled as a result of the pandemic, but the VC Fair Board of Directors has announced the fair will be back August 3 to August 14, 2022!

Tortilla Flats Mural in Ventura

The Tortilla Flats Mural is located at the Figueroa Street underpass at the 101 freeway in Ventura. Created in 2008 by artists MB Hanrahan and Moses Mora, this public art project commemorates the community that lived here in and around westside Ventura in the 1920s to the 1950s, when it was displaced by the 101.

Earlier the Tortilla Flats area was known as Tiger Town, Spanish Town and/or Indian Town. The indigenous Chumash named the area "Shisholop."

(The Shisholop Village site at the south end of Figueroa Street - directly on the beach - was named City of Ventura Historic Landmark No. 18 in December 1975. Believed to have been a Chumash provincial capital, Shisholop was first settled shortly after A.D. 1000 and was visited in 1542 by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo while on an exploratory expedition for Spain.)

The mural depicts a series of narratives of historically significant or interesting buildings and pictures of the varied cultural backgrounds in the area - Chumash, Mexican, Spanish, Asian, African American and European - which evolved into Ventura that we now know.

The images were selected from old photographs and were inspired by interviews with former residents.

The underpass is located next to Harbor Boulevard, where just across the street is Seaside Park and the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

More information at www.publicartinpublicplaces.info/public-art-tortilla-flats-2008-by-mb-hanrahan-and-moses-mora.