The Conejo Valley Guide "Welcome" blog covers a wide range of topics, local information, highlights of local things to do, compilations and other items. Focus is on information relevant to Ventura County and surrounding areas, including Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Newbury Park, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Malibu, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Moorpark, Somis, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Barbara and Moorpark.
The Conejo Valley Guide® "Welcome" blog covers a wide range of topics, local information, local things to do, holiday event compilations, announcements and more.
After a night of moderate rains (about 1/4 of an inch) in the Conejo Valley, a spectacular rainbow was seen this morning around 8 a.m. What a great start to the month of November!
Rainbow seen from Lynn Road in Newbury Park
A stunning shot of the rainbow from above by Darts Promoter L. David Irete.
And a shot from Malibu by Suzy Demeter of Suzy Demeter Photography.
St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Camarillo by Linda DarkLinda Dark of Camarillo has admired the St. Mary Magdalen Chapel for years, so she decided to put oil paint to canvas in this rendition. The cornerstone for the Chapel was laid on July 1, 1913 and the Chapel was dedicated on July 4, 1914. The Chapel is named after Adolfo Camarillo's oldest sister, Magdalena. The church is located in Old Town Camarillo at 2532 Ventura Boulevard.
Learn more about the church at www.smmcam.org.
Also check out this rendition of El Tecolote Cafe in Camarillo by Linda.
The Conejo Free Clinic (CFC) is 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1976 that provides medical and legal services to those who may have no access to care. The CFC provides services to over 5,000 people annually in our community.
Medical services provided by CFC include primary and preventative general medical services, pediatric clinics, including childhood and school-required immunizations, women's health services such as health exams, mammograms and other tests as well as patient advocacy services when necessary. Legal service clinics take place the first four Tuesday nights of each month.
All CFC providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, RN's, medical assistants, receptionists, etc.) are volunteers. The office is managed by a staff of four employees, supported by a 15 member Board of Directors from the community.
CFC helps those who don't have adequate access to medical car
We frequently run drawings on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page where folks are asked to comment to enter. In one such recent drawing, we asked the question, what is your favorite local breakfast eatery. Within the 9 hour comment deadline prior to the drawing, 140 people responded to the open ended question.
Eggs "N" Things is located in Camarillo (pictured here), Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and VenturaTo me it wasn't a surprise that Eggs "N" Things was the top vote getter. My family has enjoyed Eggs "N" Things for years. With locations in Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Ventura and Simi Valley this local eatery that has served our community since 1974 received an amazing 25% of all votes! A landslide! Learn more about Eggs "N' Things at www.eggsnthings.net.
The next three top vote-getters were Side Street Cafe in Newbury Park (www.sidestreetcafenp.com), Jinky's Cafe in Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks (www.jinkys.com) and Stella's Restaurant in Newbury Park (www.stellasgourmetrestaurant.net). These eateries each received 5 to 8% of the vote.
Closely following, with 4% of the vote, were Country Harvest in Newbury Park (www.countryharvestrestaurant.net) and Breakfast Cafe, with locations in Oak Park and Camarillo (www.facebook.com/pages/The-Breakfast-Cafe/294939383897705).
Honorable mentions go out to the following eateries that were mentioned at least several times: Denny's, Pickles Deli, Brent's Deli, Marmalade Cafe, P&L Burger, Cronies, Harold's House of Omelettes, Mimi's Cafe and Waypoint Cafe.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCOOP ON NEW RESTAURANTS IN AND AROUND VENTURA COUNTY
AND HERE FOR RESTAURANTS THAT HAVE CLOSED THEIR DOORS IN RECENT YEARS
| Denny's |
| Pickles |
| Harold's |
| Mimi's |
| Cronies |
| Waypoint |
| P&L |
| Brent's |
| Marmalade |
Over the last few days I've noticed quite a bit of buzz about a recent blog post on a real estate website called "These Are The 10 Snobbiest Mid-Sized Cities in America." The reason people have been sharing the post is that Thousand Oaks is ranked #2 on the list.
Huh? Snobby? I feel compelled to respond.
How do they define snobby? According to Merriam Webster online, a snob "is someone who tends to criticize, reject, or ignore people who come from a lower social class, have less education, etc."
But how do you actually measure this in order to to determine which cities are the "snobbiest?" The blogger chooses eight "sorts of things snobs would like." She decides that a city is snobbier if residents have higher incomes, higher home prices, more education, private schools, art galleries, performing arts and country clubs and less fast food eateries per capita.
Talk about arbitrary.
She looks at these factors only "for 100 mid-sized cities." Why just 100 cities? What is mid-sized? 50,000 people? 100,000? She doesn't say. Given there are well over 9,000 cities in the U.S., limiting yourself to just 100 is also arbitrary. From what I could gather, the 100 cities are roughly in the range of 125,000 to 210,000 residents. That leaves out cities like Beverly Hills, Calabasas and Santa Barbara. And well over 9,000 other cities.
If I were measuring snobbyness, a survey of residents would be in order. This blogger did no such thing. Fast food restaurants? Somehow out of the 100 cities on the list, Thousand Oaks ranked 16th lowest in terms of fast food eateries per capita. But the underlying data from "the 2010 Census" is not provided. I can count at least 50 fast food places in the Conejo Valley. I'd love to see her underlying data. Heck, we've got 3 McDonald's,10 Subways, 2 Chick-fil-A's. How is that snobby?
How could a city with a Chuck E. Cheese's be called the 2nd snobbiest "mid-size" city!!??And how could a city with both a Chuck E Cheese's and a Hooters be the 2nd snobbiest city?
Each of the eight factors are equally ranked. Thousand Oaks ranked 3rd out of 100 in median home price and household income. Yes, it costs a lot to live here in paradise, which means we need to earn more to pay for it. Does that make us snobbier? Fully 25% of the ranking is based on these two factors. Six of the "top 10" cities on this "snobbiest" list are in California...largely because, yes, it costs more to live here. Does that make us snobby?
One of the 8 factors is "country clubs per capita." Sheesh, most people I know have never been to the Sherwood Country Club or North Ranch Country Club. Yet we are called snobby because they are situated here.
And of course we are ranked 8th lowest in terms of percentage of residents with college degrees. Obviously more education equals snobby, right? Most college graduates I know show no signs of snobbyness. Heck, I don't think I became a snob, or snobbier, when I received my master's degree. Or maybe I did!? Hmm, I'll have to ponder that as I look for my Grey Poupon.
Movoto is a real estate website that generates traffic with nonsense posts like this one. The fact that I'm writing about it means they are doing a great job at attracting attention.
Recently we ran a drawing on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page where we asked folks to indicate their favorite "date night" restaurant in the Conejo Valley or anywhere in Ventura County. There were nearly 150 entries in the one day drawing and the following restaurants were the top 10 mentions.
Top vote getters in a recent survey for "date night" eatery were Mastro's and The Melting Pot!1st Place: Mastro's Steakhouse and The Melting Pot (tied with 11 votes each)
3rd Place: Holdren's Steakhouse (10 votes)
4th Place: Paul Martin's (9 votes)
5th Place: Wood Ranch BBQ (8 votes)
6th Place: Blue Stove at Nordstrom (7 votes)
7th Place: Lure Fish House (6 votes)
8th Place: Bandits BBQ, Cho Cho San and Café Firenze (5 votes apiece)
Honorable mentions with 2 or more votes include Cheesecake Factory, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, Ladyface Alehouse, The Grill on the Alley, Buca di Beppo, Outback Steakhouse and PF Changs.
Mastro's was no surprise to me. The Melting Pot had a surprisingly solid showing, with some very strong supporters. Paul Martin's, which opened in Westlake Village in December 2012, also has a very healthy showing of fans. Lure Fish House originated in Camarillo in December 2010 and has expanded into Westlake Village and Ventura. Cafe Firenze in Moorpark made a solid showing too.
Previously we ran a separate drawing asking followers their favorite family restaurants. Check it out at this link.
The Ventura County Environmental Health Division Food Protection Program (FPP) performs periodic inspections of over 4,000 retail food facilities* in Ventura County that serve or sell food to the public. Inspectors look for things like:
* Retail food facilities include restaurants, markets that serve food, bakeries, mobile food, donut shops, retail stores like Target that serve food, coffee shops, gas stations, produce stands, bars, etc.
The FPP maintains an online, searchable database of food facility inspection reports since January 2004! CLICK HERE to explore. You can find out about all sorts of violations the facility has had in the past, be it vermin infestation, improper equipment sanitation, no soap or paper towels in the restroom, inoperable equipment, improper storage, you name it! All the restaurants I frequent are on the list and all of them have had violations. The good thing is that these inspections keep them on their toes, so I keep eating.
The FPP also publishes an online Food Facilities Closure Report of places where violations are significant enough to shut down the place until they are resolved. Usually the resolution takes place same day or up to 1 or 2 days, though at times as much as weeks depending on the issue. This is even more fun to look at! Some of the noted issues in recent closures have been
Conejo Valley Guide covers events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County and surrounding areas.
Conejo Valley Guide® covers thousands of events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County, California and surrounding areas.
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