Oxnard's Heritage Square - Hidden Gem of saved history !

So I'm so excited to be we're in Oxnard at the Heritage Square and I'm with Brittany Hendricks with Visit Oxnard. Brittany you got us here and this is so exciting so so tell me a little bit about your experience with Heritage Square. So this is a hidden gem in the heart of downtown Oxnard and we are so thrilled to have this beautiful piece of history here with us. We have a gathering of the original farm homes from the Oxnard Plain so what better way to celebrate our history and our heritage than by gathering these homes together in one beautiful square. Let's go for a walk show me around. Sounds great. Oxnard is an agricultural community. We were founded on a sugar beet enterprise by Henry T. Oxnard and we just have such rich heritage and history and roots in farming and so we have a huge history with migrant workers. Cesar Chavez actually led the NFWA out of Oxnard in the 60s and 70s and was a rights activist for labor. So we're very proud of that history here and this is just such a beautiful location to be able to kind of visualize what life might have been like. What's the primary crop now? So strawberries and Oxnard is the strawberry capital of the world. We are one of the largest exporters of strawberries in the entire world. In the entire world? Correct. That's incredible. Part of California's agricultural history and and tell me a little bit about how that culture has influenced the city overall. Yeah, Oxnard is such a melting pot. You walk around town and you will see people from all walks of life. Everybody looks different. We're all from different backgrounds but we all have so much in common and we all share this love and passion for the community. It's funny when you're driving down highway 101 you'll look off and you'll see the fields and the Oxnard plain but you drive just seven miles down the road and you're on the coast and we have seven miles of pristine uncrowded coastline. Unbelievable beaches. Yeah, just beyond Malibu on the coast. And tell me that you said that the people can have weddings here. Tell me a little bit about that. Yes, so if you're looking to celebrate your big day we have this gorgeous plaza where you can have a wedding, you can have baby showers, all kinds of events, work, networking, lunches. We actually accepted an award from the chamber of commerce here recently. Wow, that's incredible. And you also mentioned that one of the businesses will cater. What's the name of that business? Yes, so right in front of us is the 1901 and it's an amazing restaurant and in the basement of the 1901 is probably my favorite business of Heritage Square and that's the 1901 Speakeasy. We are headed down into the 1901 Speakeasy. Speakeasy. I remember from the movies you have to knock first. You do. What's the password? Visit Oxnard. All right, come on in. So Brittany, this place is incredible. The Speakeasy. What an atmosphere. Tell me a little bit about the business. Yes, so we are in the basement of the 1901 on B Street and there's a restaurant upstairs with Italian American Fusion and down here you can get really incredible cocktails, old fashions, Manhattans, you name it. And you can order the restaurant. There's a banquet room upstairs and I mean this is like one-stop shopping. Tell me a little bit about the chef. I know he's been doing this a long time. Yes, so Steve Sokol has been in the business for about 35 to 40 years and he manages incredible catering and we're just so fortunate to have him here in Oxnard. Tell me the unique story about this house. So they say this house has been moved not once but twice. It was originally on a farm. They moved it here to downtown and then the McGrath family bought it and moved it to their ranch and now it's made its way back to Heritage Square. That's incredible. That's incredible. Well here's to the 1901. Cheers. And I'm with Gary Blum, site superintendent of this incredible place and this may be one of the best preserved heritage areas I've seen anywhere in California. We're pretty proud of it. It's rather unique here in Oxnard and we hope you get to learn more about it. Yeah, so how did this happen? How did this start? About 35 years ago the city of Oxnard had acquired a couple buildings that they wanted to preserve. They had to be relocated and so they decided to actually build out an entire block of relocated buildings so private investors can move their family home or their whatever home they acquired and reutilize them here for commercial use. So this was a private public enterprise? Yeah. So these are still individually owned? They are. Almost every one of them is privately owned. The city owns a couple of them and but they're mostly all driven by an owner's association and all those owners work together to maintain the site. So when you drive down here in beautiful Oxnard, suddenly you're in the past. You're in this Victorian past which I love and but they're not stuffy old museums about the old days on the farm. They're adding to the community with businesses and providing people with a living. That's such a unique model. Yeah, we think it is and it's proven successful for us. Yeah, now you have a personal connection I know to this house behind us. Tell me about that. Yeah, that was my great-grandparents house and I was a participant in the project relocating it here. Wow, so you actually brought this house. Was it heavy? It was 29 tons. Yeah, about two and a half miles. I bet you're like tired out. Yeah, I didn't spend as much time in my relatives. I just think this is such an important thing. That's what Vista California is all about is preserving California history but here's a way that's preserving California history and giving back to the community. Oxnard has figured it out. Yeah, they did a good job. Yeah, so this is a model. You guys do this out here. We need more of this. So Gary Blum, thank you. Come visit Heritage Square and thank you so much. Thank you.