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.
Suzy Demeter of Suzy Demeter Photography noticed this bright tangerine colored sunset over the Pacific tonight from her vantage point in Malibu. It started with a simple yellow and ended with blazing fiery red. Welcome to December in Southern California!
Channel Islands seen in the distance
After a long day of cooking, football games, eating, drinking, eating more and enjoying time with our families, most of us, well, me at least, just wants to sleep. But for others, post-Thanksgiving nighttime activities commence with Midnight Madness...looking for bargains around town while others snooze.
Here's what's going in the wee hours of the night when the leftovers are safely wrapped in the fridge at the start of the 2013 shopping season. Note that a number of stores are opening on Thanksgiving Day, while others are holding out for midnight on Black Friday.
Camarillo Premium Outlets: The Outlets are getting a jump on Midnight Madness as nearly 40 stores open at 6pm Thanksgiving Day, another 10 at 8pm, 5 more at 9pm, 4 at 10pm and the final 2 at 11pm. Then on Friday, stores will be open from midnight until 10pm. Visit www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/sales.asp?id=20 for details.
The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks: Select stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, including nearly 20 stores at 8pm, including JCPenney and Macy's, then another few open at 10pm. When the clock strikes midnight on Friday morning, another 32 stores and eateries open (hey, how cool would it be to order a Hot Dog on a Stick at 3am...well, now's your chance). Then there are some stragglers, including Swimspot at 5am, another 7 stores (including Paciugo Gelato...yum!) at 6am, then not but not least Nordstrom opens at sleep-friendly 8am along with 7 other stores. Details at shoptheoaksmall.com/Events/Details/188700.
Most Toys“R”Us stores nationwide will open at 5pm on Thanksgiving Day, and will remain open until 10pm on Friday. Local area Toys"R"Us stores in Thousand Oaks (Janss Marketplace), Calabasas, Oxnard, Simi Valley (Simi Valley Town Center), Ventura and Woodland Hills.
The Pacific View Mall in Ventura follows suit on Thanksgiving Day with 18 stores opening at 8pm, including Macy's, Target, JCPenney and Sears and a handful of others at 9pm to 10pm. Then all stores open at midnight. I want to know...who's going to be chowing down at Panda Express at 9pm after a big turkey dinner!? Well, I guess the good thing is that they don't serve turkey there! More details at shoppacificview.com/events/BlackFriday_2013.
Most Macy's stores across the country open at 8pm on Thanksgiving Day until 10pm on Friday. Imagine spending 14 hours straight in a Macy's! Now's your chance! There are Macy's at The Oaks in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley Town Center, as well as in Woodland Hills. More at www.macys.com/index.ognc.
At The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard, Century Theaters are open from 10am to 10:30pm on Thanksgiving Day and Target and ULTA open at 9pm. Then at midnight, several more stores open for business.
Best Buy Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, Woodland Hills and Simi Valley Town Center locations open at 6pm on Thanksgiving night and stay open until 10pm on Friday. The Oaks Mall Best Buy hours are 8pm on Thursday to 9pm on Friday.
Walmart has Black Friday specials starting at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day news.walmart.com/news-archive/2013/11/12/walmart-announces-plans-for-black-friday-2013.
That should be enough to start your holiday spending sprees early in the game!
Suzy Demeter of Suzy Demeter Photography found tonight's sunset at the Ventura County Line a worthy subject and I would agree with that assessment. You can see part of the Channel Islands in the right center of the image.
We also enjoyed the oranged-hued sunset here in the Conejo Valley. This one was taken from the top of Tarantula Hill in the heart of Thousand Oaks.
Scattered clouds always seem to make epic sunsets here in Ventura County.
Suzy Demeter of Suzy Demeter Photography captured this photo of the sunset tonight in Malibu. The overlay of clouds across the sun gave it a Jupiter-like appearance. The cropped closer-up image of the sun below shows seagulls taking part in the end-of-day activities.
The real Jupiter for comparative purposes
I have been an active Twitter user under the name @ConejoJoe since November 21, 2008. Twiiter users are also referred to as Twitterers and Tweeters. Are you on Twitter yet? Should you be?
As an active user in both Twitter as well as Facebook (www.facebook.com/ConejoValleyGuide) my observation is that Facebook users are more interactive and engaged. Facebook allows for more organized, easy to follow dialogues among users, while Twitter is geared towards brief interactions. With over 1.1 billion registered users, Facebook has over double the number of users as Twitter.
That said, Twitter can be a great source for breaking news and other items of interest. Whether or not you Tweet, consider creating a Twitter account and following some of these local Twitter accounts (as well as @ConejoJoe but of course):
I've discovered that many people are confused about Twitter and its lingo, so how about a little refresher course for those still considering taking the plunge.
Here's an example of an information sharing Tweet about local wedding reception venues in Ventura County with a link back to the posting here on Conejo Valley Guide
The Five Man Electrical Band said it best in their 1970 song "Sign" - Sign, sign, everywhere a sign; Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind; Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign. Some signs provide more comic relief than others around Ventura County.
The Community Pool at Samuelson Aquatics Center is a pristine, 82 degree heated community pool at Cal Lutheran University that is located adjacent to the George "Sparky" Anderson Field & Ullman Stadium. As a result, flying baseballs can be an issue for poolgoers who dare to swim during CLU home games!
Dos Vientos Community Park in Newbury Park is popular with local soccer, baseball and other sports teams. The sign below indicates that perhaps too many local sports enthusiasts were using the walls of the snack bar/restroom facility at the park in their ball playing endeavors.
According to City of Oxnard Ordinance 2708, section 7-86(A), "It shall be unlawful for any person to have in his or her possession any adhesive sticker, etching tool, indelible marker, paint stick, or graffiti stick while in or upon any public facility, park, playground, swimming pool, beach, recreational facility, or other public building owned or operated by the city where signs forbidding such possession without valid authorization are displayed in a reasonable location or locations." So watch your stickers in public facilities in Oxnard! It is unlawful to have one in your possession!
Each year the FBI releases its annual Uniform Crime Report that compiles crime data from law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The data includes violent crimes, consisting of murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and property crimes such as burglaries and thefts. Overall, the data has shown continuous improvement since 1993, with a violent crime rate that has dropped by nearly 50% in 20 years (3.87 incidents per 1,000 people last year) and property crime rate drop of 40% (28.59 incidents per 1,000 people in 2012).
Based on this FBI data, the City of Thousand Oaks recently announced that for 2012, the City was ranked the #1 safest city in California and the 4th safest city in the United States out of 279 cities with a population over 100,000. Great news! Simi Valley ranked 3rd in California (Irvine was 2nd) and 7th in the U.S. Oxnard was the 34th safest large city in the country! Nice!
But WAIT! The FBI published 2012 crime data for nearly 9,500 cities throughout the U.S. and, guess what...there are other cities in Ventura County with crime rates that are even lower than Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley!*
Moorpark: 10.57 (total crimes per 1,000 residents)
Fillmore: 14.51
Camarillo: 15.28
Thousand Oaks: 15.44
Simi Valley: 16.24
Santa Paula: 22.78
Ojai: 23.01
Oxnard: 23.16
Port Hueneme: 24.03
Ventura: 38.66
Overall, in 2012 the 10 cities of Ventura County had an average of 21.43 total crimes for every 1,000 residents, which is about 33% lower than California and U.S. rates. And in 2012, violent crimes stood at 2.03 occurrences for every 1,000 residents, roughly half the California and national rates. Always room for improvement but, way to go, Ventura County!
Nearby cities of Calabasas (10.71 crimes per 1,000 residents), Agoura Hills (12.00) and Westlake Village (the L.A. County side) (18.68) also fared well. Interestingly, in 2012 Santa Barbara was higher than the national average for both violent crime and property crime rates perhaps because it is such a popular tourist destination.
* The FBI cautions comparative use of this data for drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities. Comparisons lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Keep this in mind when reviewing this data, which is summed up here for informational purposes only.
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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