Tuesday, November 10, 2009

From Lynne Bell #3


bill of sale4, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

bill of sale 4

Posted by Buckles at 11/10/2009 06:22:00 AM

1 comments:

Roger Smith said...

Note here that as late as 1946, Louie Goebel was still using the post office in Camarillo. His letterhead states "Ventura Blvd. at Thousand Oaks", but first-time visitors almost had to be led to the compound, or get lost trying to find it in Camarillo, 10 miles North. The Goebel farm originated in Thousand Oaks when Carl Laemmle, Sr., head of Universal Studios, divested the company of its private zoo, and Goebel bought him out. LA County refused him a wild animal permit, but Ventura County said "God-forsaken" Thousand Oaks was fine, and "nobody will bother you out there". He opened to the public in 1927, provided the first fire station and pump truck, a dance hall, and the Goebel Senior Center. From his wells, he donated all the water used in construction of that stretch of the new Ventura Freeway, which bordered the Compound on the West. He is often credited with establishing the first post office, but this was achieved by Oaks pioneer Norm Morrison, in 1937, in a corner of the Oakdale Market. This former grocery store, now a home decor venue, still stands at TO Blvd. and Crescent Way, on which street Mabel Stark and I lived.

Goebel's use of the Camarillo mail route drew many wry comments from local wags, as that city was home to the notorious state asylum for the criminally insane. Down into my day, we were accused of recruiting certain employees from there. We replied, "No--just these current owners." The subsequent events of 1968 and 1969 proved we weren't that far wrong.

11 November, 2009 16:47

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