1983 Was the Last Year You Could Watch Drive-In Movies in the Conejo Valley

The Thousand Oaks Drive-In, located behind the current site of the Kohl's Department Store in Newbury Park at 1960 Newbury Road, was closed in 1983. This picture, courtesy of the Thousand Oaks Library Special Collections, was taken by local photographer Scott Harrison on October 11, 1983, shortly after the Drive-In was closed that year.

Thousand Oaks Library Special Collections, News Chronicle Collection. Photo by Scott Harrison.

As you can tell from the sign in the picture, the last two films shown at the Drive-In were "Risky Business" and "Private School." The theater was torn down and eventually Kohl's opened in March 2004.

According to an August 4, 1997 Ventura County Star article, the Thousand Oaks Drive-In opened the first week of August 1967.  Seeing this picture certainly brings back childhood memories for me. There are over 150 other movie screens in the Conejo Valley and Ventura County today, but nothing compares to watching a movie while sitting in the comfort (arguably) of your own car!

Grand opening of the Thousand Oaks Drive-In Theatre in August 1967

Throwback Moment: Price-Costco Store Opened in Westlake Village in August 1996

Costco Westlake Village seen from the North Ranch Open Space

Let’s face it…the Westlake Village Costco is one of the most popular places to go in the Conejo Valley. Always teeming with shoppers and sample hunters, it seems the local community would be lost without this store.

Let’s go back in time to when it opened…

The store opened its doors as PriceCostco on Thursday, August 8, 1996 at 5700 Lindero Canyon Road. Price-Costco was formed in 1993 with the merger of Price Club (which opened its first location on July 12, 1976 in San Diego) and Costco (which opened its first warehouse in Seattle on September 15, 1983).

One of my guilty pleasures…the $1.50 Costco Hot Dog and Soda deal.

Who remembers PriceCostco? The merger between the two companies took place in 1993. Price Club was being pursued by Walmart to merge with the Sam’s Club warehouse store chain. Price opted to merge with Costco instead. And wallah…PriceCostco was created. At the time, there were 206 locations. As of August 2022, there are 838 Costco locations worldwide.

The prior management team from Price Club, the Price brothers, left the company in 1994 and in 1997, “Price” was dropped from the name and it became Costco.

According to a 1/4/96 VC Star article, PriceCostco purchased the 30 acre site at Lindero Canyon Road and Westlake Boulevard in Westlake Village for $9.3 million, with plans for a 136,000 sq ft Price Club.

Local residents were against the addition of the warehouse club to the community. City Council approved the project as it was allowed as part of a long-term commercial development agreement in place with owners of the property. However, the city stipulated approval was required for specifics like exterior color scheme, roofing materials in earth tone colors, etc.

Flashback to 2009: There were high hopes for a 2nd Conejo Valley Costco location in Newbury Park at the corner of Grande Vista Drive and Academy Drive. But according to a T.O. Acorn article on 1/29/09, Costco could not make the project economically feasible as it was “unable to finalize a lease for the site.”

It is clear that Costco prefers to own its land and buildings, not lease them. In Costco’s annual Form 10-K filing for the fiscal year ended August 29, 2021, fully 79% of its 815 warehouses around the world were owned; the remaining 19% were leased.

Lowe’s and LA Fitness were able to work a deal with owners of the property in Newbury Park and the City of Thousand Oaks Planning Commission approved the project to build locations there at a meeting on 12/13/10. Lowe’s Newbury Park opened on July 4, 2019.

Caspar Borchard and Family Have a Permanent Presence in the Conejo Valley

Caspar Borchard was born in 1842 in Werxhausen, Germany. He sailed to the U.S. with his uncle Christian Borchard in 1867. He liked it so much here that he went back to Germany to get funds (Bitcoin wasn't around back then apparently) to buy land. While back in Germany, he married Theresa Diedrich, who died 3 years later. Within a year he married Theresa Maring. They came back to the U.S. and he bought 205 acres in what is now El Rio (Oxnard).

In 1882, Caspar bought 3,285 acres in the Conejo Valley after his brother Johannes bought 4,000 acres. Theresa Maring died in 1898 at age 49. Their youngest daughter (8 total kids) was also named Theresa. Caspar retired in 1918 and died in 1930. leaving a large family and a permanent presence in the Conejo Valley (Borchard Road, Borchard Park and Community Center). Theresa Drive parallels Borchard from Wendy to Sequoia Middle School in Newbury Park.

This is an undated photo from Thousand Oaks Library archives. Pictured: Back row: Caspar, Rosa, Mary, and Leo. Middle row: Frank, Theresa Maring, holding Charles, Caspar holding Theresa, Antone.

Farm motif playground at Borchard Park in Newbury Park

Borchard Park Labyrinth and Fitness Equipment Area

Borchard Skate Park

Borchard Community Park

Dos Vientos Ranch Twenty Five Years Ago Compared to Today in Newbury Park

Dos Vientos Ranch in August 1997

Dennis Bronk of Newbury Park sent over this old photo of the Dos Vientos Ranch (or Two Winds Ranch) development in its early stages in August 1997. That's Cypress Elementary near the bottom right side of the photo. The body of water east of the school is Conejo Mountain Creek Detention Basin No. 1. The photo below is the view today.

Keep in mind that in the late 1800s/early 1900s there was almost no residential development throughout the Conejo Valley. The Dos Vientos development was the last of the large developments we will ever see in the Conejo Valley.

A view of Dos Vientos Ranch looking towards the Oxnard Plain in the 1950s.

The Chumash House at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa and Other Conejo Valley Locations

The Chumash home, or 'Ap, at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in June 2017 (it was subsequently taken down and rebuilt (see video below). unfortunately the newly built one also came down since then.

In front of the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in Newbury Park is a replica Chumash home called an 'ap. An 'ap is shaped like half an orange and is made by setting willow poles in the ground in a circle, bending them into shape at the top to form a dome.

What is obviously missing from the 'ap above is the outer, vertical layers, cattails laid out like shingles. The 'aps in the Chumash Indian Village at the Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks display what those look like, as does the video below from June 2020 showing the rebuilt Satwiwa ‘ap.

'Aps at Chumash Indian Museum's demonstration village. These were destroyed by the Woolsey Fire of 2018 but will be rebuilt.

Oakbrook Regional Park in March 2023 with two rebuilt ‘aps.

There is a hole at the top of the 'ap to allow for air circulation that was covered with an animal skin when it was raining.

The 'ap at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in June 2017. I spoke with the ranger about this 'ap, which is quite past its prime and has become misshapen. At some point what the Chumash do, when an 'ap is no longer of use and needs to be re-built, is take the willow poles down and burn them in a ceremony.

Funny that many folks, my kids included, wonder why the Chumash did not live in teepees (or tipis). Teepees are cone-shaped tents made of animal skins on wooden poles that were used primarily by Native Americans in the Great Plains section of the U.S. (Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and portions of other prairie states). The Chumash did not live in teepees. 

There is also a Chumash 'ap on display as part of a Chumash Village exhibit at the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park.

The teepee structure at Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks is fun to hike to and sit under but is not something the Chumash Indians would ever have lived in.

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An informational sign describing an ‘ap anis (village) at Oakbrook Regional Park in March 2023.

Former Olympia Farms Property on the Rancho Potrero Open Space

The Rancho Potrero Open Space area is located in Newbury Park off of Lynn Road, just east of the intersection with Rancho Dos Vientos. The area includes an equestrian center where Rancho Potrero Community Equestrian Center is located and is adjacent to the Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa area in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

On the west end of the space is a a property that used to be called Olympia Farms, which was owned by Greek immigrant, textile businessman and Arabian horse breeder George Patarias Huck. (Huck was tragically shot and killed in front of his home in Mt. Olympus in August 1984 at age 46.)

Huck's 638 acre property was sold to the Mountains Recreation and Conservancy, City of Thousand Oaks, Conejo Recreation and Park District and National Park Service for $4.2 million in 1993. 312 acres were carved out as an addition to Rancho Sierra Vista. The remainder is part of Rancho Potrero, which is maintained by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA).

In the 2021-2022 time frame, the Olympia Farms space was redeveloped and improved to include, pedestrian paths, a horse corral, drinking fountain for people and animals, picnic benches and a small amphitheater area. More info and footage at THIS LINK.

NOTE: THE SITE WAS REDEVELOPED IN 2021-2022 AND THE OLD RANCH BUILDING LUMBER DISCUSSED BELOW I BELIEVE IS IN STORAGE WITH THE CRPD.

These old ranch buildings are actually a Ventura County historical point of interest that was designated as such in May 1986. According to the City of Thousand Oaks, there were two large barns built in 1930 on the Dos Vientos Ranch. Joseph Lewis, business partner of City of Camarillo namesake Adolfo Camarillo, farmed 8,000 acres of land in this area. The barns were dismantled to make room for home development in Dos Vientos and the lumber currently resides here. The Conejo Recreation & Park District is working with the Conejo Valley Historical Society in finding other appropriate uses for these materials, such as displays at the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park.

Tex Ward Point and Olympia Farms Area in the Rancho Potrero Open Space

Small amphitheater in the former Olympia Farms section of Rancho Potrero.

The Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority (MRCA) purchased 638 acres of former Broome Ranch property in the Santa Monica Mountains in 1993. It transferred half the property to the National Park Service that is now part of Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa and the other half to the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA). The COSCA portion of the parcel, which was funded through contributions from the Conejo Recreation & Park District and City of Thousand Oaks, is the Rancho Potrero Open Space.

Rancho Potrero is mostly unimproved grasslands and coastal sage scrub but contains miles of maintained trails used by hikers, cyclists and equestrians. The property also houses the 20 acre Rancho Potrero Community Equestrian Center, which boards horses and offers guided trail rides.

This footage shows a picnic site on a hilltop that overlooks the former Olympia Farms facility. There is an old asphalt road leading from Lynn/Potrero Road to this site that used to be the home of the caretaker of Olympia Farms. This site is dedicated to Tex Ward, who served as General Manager for 38 years and fought hard to develop parks and maintain open space in the Conejo Valley.

The second part of the footage shows development at the former Olympia Farms site that includes an area for horses, a drinking fountain (for people and horses) and a small amphitheater. Learn more about Rancho Potrero at THIS LINK.

Tex Ward Point at Rancho Potrero. Ward was General Manager of CRPD from 1968 to 2006 and was instrumental in helping create the Conejo Valley’s public recreation programs, park system and conservation of open space.