So how’s your Monday?
Open Thread
Previous post: Zaca Fire Sunday Evening Update
Next post: Zaca Fire Monday Morning Update
The Ojai Post
Thursday February 09, 2012
So how’s your Monday?
Previous post: Zaca Fire Sunday Evening Update
Next post: Zaca Fire Monday Morning Update
{ 44 comments }
couple of power outages here this morning in upper oak view-miramonte on the river bank.
anyone else lose power?
i’m in oak view today too, and also lost power twice this morning…once just briefly, and the second time for longer (though still under an hour). has stayed lit for a couple hours now…
I want to give thanks to the many residents of Drown St/Ave (it is both depending on the sign) for turning out for the block party this weekend, with special kudos to those who put the party on. For a bunch of people who live on a street named after a kind of unfortunate demise, you sure know how to have a neighborly good time.
The word Drown doesn’t just have connotations of “an unfortunate demise.” It can be used to mean serveral other things, some of which turn out to be positives.
Example: The loud swamp cooler in the living room drowned out the noise coming from the all night bingo party at Gray Gables.
The eggplant parmigiana at Boccali’s was drowning in a rich, red marinara sauce.
drown [droun]
verb 1. to engage in casual social interactions with people who live on the same street as one’s self, esp. with music, food, and games, and usually taking place in the street: Once the traffic barricades were set up, dozens of people drowned together.
Oh, sure, Shady Lane, Pleasant, Park and Summer residents can smirk because they live on nice bucolic streets. Whenever a Drown resident gives his address it is met with either disbelief or a sad head shake. If the Gods of street naming had been in a similar foul mood you might live on Choke, Strangle, or maybe Snakebite St.
hahaha, i love it! does anyone know the actual, factual history of Drown St/Ave? there’s GOTTA be a story there (and hopefully not something as mundane as someone’s name or as morbid as a mass drowning).
from creaturesoul.com:
“my current work project is located on drown avenue in ojai. i have been wondering if the avenue was named after someone with an unfortunate last name and if it has some significance in ojai’s historic past, much like indio muerto does santa barbara.
wouldn’t it be a good idea to name streets after methods of death? car crash, heart attack, gastric cancer, etc. not sure if i would want to live on any of those streets but i think they would serve as a good reminder for us to live well.
seize the day.“
Hey Dennis,
How’s your campaign coming to rename the street? It doesn’t seem like it would be to difficult if all the residents agreed? Wasn’t your idea Sage?
Well, it wasn’t much of a campaign. I just spoke to the city manager and then sent a letter to the city council. No response yet. They are either still laughing or they more likely had more pressing things to worry about.
You would think that a town that changed its name from Nordhoff just because it was too German could rally around a simple street change. I even offered to change it to Smith or Olson or Devito. No takers yet.
Mr. Drown was a New Yorker and the master-mind developer behind the block of houses from Ojai Ave. to Oak Street built in the early 50s that all have the identical floor plan, a too-narrow living room with no corners, galley kitchen, and a driveway and side yard too narrow to drive cars through.
Thanks for answering a question that haunted me my entire childhood Leslie. Most every time I would tell someone what street I lived on, I would get some sort of reaction. I always suspected it had to be a name of a developer or someone related to the developer. The next question that is now haunting me is, why would anyone have a last name of Drown. I met a guy once who’s last name was Butt. He was allot bigger than me, needless to say, I never could kick his ****.
Thanks to all of the organizers and volunteers of our Drown Ave, (actually North Drown Ave if you can believe it), block party, we had a safe, fun, incredibly uniting experience. It was a crucial event for our family to experience with everyone since the shooting. Other, nicer-named streets should give it a try.
To add a few notes to what Leslie wrote about Mr. Drown, the book, “The Ojai Valley, An Illustrated History,” by Patricia Fry*, has four entries about Mr. and Mrs. Alton Drown. Page 208 lists Mr. Drown as among Ojai’s earliest mayors. In the 1920′s and 30′s the Drown family lived across from Rainbow Bridge (which ofcourse was still in the ethers), in the former brick school house at 210 E. Matilija (which became the Ojai Manor Hotel and then the Moon’s Nest Inn and now the lovely Lavender Inn.
Alas, no word on the origin of the name “Drown” in this book but being that he was an early mayor, all the more reason not to rename the street. Just think, old man Drown was probably drowning in money after selling the Drown tract!
(*Patricia Fry is a fifth generation Ojai resident. She has been writing about the Ojai Valley for over 30 years. Her books should be required reading for all city staff, commissioners and elected officials! )
PS To Dennis, I may be mistaken, but it might not be so simple to change the name of a street. Wouldn’t you have to change all the maps –both published and on the internet? Plus phone directorie, deeds, real-estate listings, etc. And I don’t think the Drown family would approve.
The slueth in me just had to search the origin of the name Drown. It appears that originally the word was “Drouin”
Drown
English (Cornwall and Devon): unexplained.
Possibly a reflex of French Drouin.
Drouin
French: from a pet form of Droue, an unattested variant of the personal name Dreue. This is from the Germanic personal name Drogo (see Drew 2).
All sorts of interesting meanings…for any Drown residents who are curious…just do a search…now I really must get back to work!
On the other hand, if you search “Alton Drown”, you will find references to drowning in the town of Alton…and many, many other strange things.
Thanks for the research, Suza.Cities all over the state have renamed streets and boulevards for politicians, heroes. (My own hometown created an MLK and a Chavez and the map folks just had to deal with it.) I guess that the residents of Drown would put up with changing the address on their checks if they sensed that their property values would rise 5-10%. Of course, a cheaper alternative is to go out one night with a small can of white paint and we could all be living on Brown St…not the greatest color, but an improvement.
Or maybe we should form a coalition with the folks on Bald St.
Thank you Dennis, your correction is most educational! My apologies. I should have researched more before I posted those comments about renaming streets.
in looking myself for the origins of Drown Street, i learned that Signal Street has been known as Empire Street, Green Street, Cesar Street and Wolf Street. so, it’s not only been done before, but many times to the same street!
Well, Tyler, it’s Tuesday now but I’ll comment anyway. Perhaps the good citizens of Drown Street could strike a blow for free speech and civil rights by naming it after Sydney Street who was arrested in 1966 for burning a flag in protest at the news of the shooting of civil rights hero James Meredith. His famous case, Street vs. New York, led to the Supreme Court decision in 1969 upholding the right to burn the flag in protest. Then again, maybe that wouldn’t be such a popular stance on Drown. Too bad. Ojai could be the first city to have a Street Street.
In Philadelphia, we have a road named Street. We also have a mayor named street. Not too many people like Mayor Street. Many, if they could would Drown Street.
Very funny!!!
I don’t mean to hijack the discussion on Drown, but since Tyler gave us an open forum I thought I’d use it to ask a question from ya’ll. This really is a question, not a grip ‘cause every year I go through this same argument with myself. What is the mission statement of the Ojai Valley News (OVN)? Is their mission to provide a paper to promote visitors to our town or is their mission to provide residents with ‘hard’ news on what is happening in our area? Each year (when I renew my subscription) I go through this debate that the OVN is just the social/entertainment paper – fluff, and I shouldn’t renew. Then I talk myself into renewing telling myself it will eventually have ads tell me where to buy my firewood that year, and renew. This year only one person advertised firewood, and I had to ask my chimney sweep where to buy wood (sigh).
I received my paper today, and they finally ran one article on the Zaca (‘bout time). I wasn’t surprised ‘cause they didn’t run info on the flood or Day until after they happened – and the Piru never made the paper (at least that I can remember). The article tonight was a rehash of what is posted on the Inciweb (and less then Tyler has given us) – they could have just posted a picture and provided the link and saved the ink/space. Most papers would have thought this was prime chance to make money. #2 fire in CA history in their backyard – mega sales – personal interviews, one-on ones with Matilija residents, Animal Control warning residents of rat infestations and wildlife visits, personal stories from some of the local firefighters and contractors, pics of HWY 33, and more…but no just a rehash of Inciweb and then more fluff.
I truly believe I just don’t understand their purpose, and their real goal is to be a tourist paper. Is there another local paper out there I don’t know about that is reporting the ‘hard’ news of the area. If there is please let me know ‘cause I’m back in the same old argument with myself, and I’m close to the renewal time again. From my experience with the OVN – I now know why in the ‘olden’ days they said newspapers were only good for lining bird cages and wrapping fish (sigh). My current use of the OVN is to scan the front page (and reading any pertinent articles), occasionally looking at the real estate section to gage what my property is worth, the want ads for firewood in the winter – and then the recycle bin.
Help! Am I just expecting to much from the OVN and there really is another paper out there that has what I’m looking for? I’m really serious and am not trying to bash the OVN – I just don’t think I understand what their purpose (mission) is for the community.
Newspapers are no more for infoming anyone of important events, than schools are for education.
Newspapers are no more for informing anyone of important events, than schools are for education.
Ginny, there are good local small town papers. Check out the Anderson Valley Advertiser, for example, in Boonville – you will get your firewood suppliers, plus a whole lot more, in fact people subscribe to that paper all over the world.
The OVN unfortunately just does a terrible job. There is plenty of news to report in depth here in our valley, and we would be a better town if the OVN would take seriously its duties as paper of record. Heck, if they actually covered what has happened in the last year alone, they could be getting Pulitzers and have stories picked up all over the world.
Ginny, I want to suggest that you copy your comments above and send them as a Letter to the Editor. I think it’s important to recognize that we are fortunate to have a small town newspaper at all. For what it’s worth, my recollection is that the OVN’s is an Award Winning Newspaper…
PS The OVN’s Opinion page, Mission Statement says:
“To inform you about the issues and events in our community with diligence and dedication.”
A few years back there was another Editor/Publisher who tried to get a more hard hitting local paper going, but the cost and work involved was just too much!
Ginny, why don’t you ask the OVN? I wonder if these pages have gone a little overboard with the fire.
Dear Anonymous -
I think you are saying that we might be covering the fire too extensively here on the Post?
Perhaps, but we established ourselves in the community last year with our Day Fire coverage, which was second to none.
I’d rather put too much information out there, and let the readers choose what they like to read. We don’t have space constraints, so its not like extra fire coverage means fewer obits.
Thanks everyone! – like I said my question was ‘for real’ and not a bash on the OVN. Thank You! Anonymous, I will check out the Anderson Valley Advertiser. And yes – I will pose the question (as written) to the OVN. The only problem is I have posed questions to them in the past and have received no response (sigh) or posting in their paper. If I do receive a response I’ll let you all know what they say.
But…isn’t there another paper up here? Doesn’t Oak View, Meiner Oaks or anyone have a publication? I know we’re not LA, and I’m not looking for ‘death and destruction’ news. The smallest town I ever lived in was in Elbert County CO, and they had a local paper. What a kick it was to read and look forward to each week – like the 1920′s with all the local gossip, rumors, and events. Maybe Ojai is to sophisticated for such a paper, but hearing news that ‘Joe’ had a bumper crop of tomatoes and would be opening up a veg stand or ‘Steve’ got a new tractor and would be cutting trees – cheap firewood for sale, or ‘Suzie’ just had a major surgery and needed help or the VFW was throwing a party – gave the reader the warm feeling they were part of a community that cared about them. OK, this sounds crazy and like something from by-gone days, but my experience in Elbert isn’t the distant past – just a few years ago and the paper is still active – and yes they had multi-million dollar estates to ‘affordable’ housing (like Ojai). It just gave me a connection with the community, and a warm fuzzy. It was a ‘common folks’ paper covering the everyday people and events.
Expecting such a ‘local’ paper in Ojai may be to much, but I dream of a paper with less filters on the news than the OVN appears to have, and a little more ‘down-to-earth’ reporting for the common ‘working man’. Something that would offer (those of us) who work 24×7 a chance to connect with the community vicariously or who don’t have the $$ to attend the mega-events. I know there are several of us out there that fall into one (or both) of these categories, but I can dream (smile). I’m not looking for Pulitzer’s just down to earth news about the community. …and now I’ll shut-up. Thanks for your patience with me.
OK folks – I just emailed Letters to the Editor at the OVN. I made a few tweeks to the initial post I made here, but for the most part it is word-for-word. Stay tuned and let’s see if the OVN prints or responds to it (smile). My bets are on they hit the delete key (chuckle).
A little bit of trivia here on the OVNs. It seems I recollect Johnny Carson from time to time would read from the Ojai Valley News’s police blotter section, eliciting some laughter. The police blotter back then was a little more detailed. We as kids would do stuff just so we could read about it the next week. Nothing bad really, but probably very annoying to others.
One thing I like to see/read more of, conversational quotes from the leaders of Ojai on many of the issues of the day in Ojai. I don’t want to see the OVNs become a political rag. I can understand why some leaders avoid this(O.P.) forum, (I wish they wouldn’t) but the OVNs could put these folks on record so we know clearly where they stand. I really don’t know much about any of these people other than Mr. Olsen.
When I watch the city council meetings, I see strangers up there. I don’t feel a connection with them. I don’t think that is my fault. I never met Steve Bennett, yet, I feel I know him allot more than I do the members of the council. ?Why?
Is it because he is more engaging to the press, to others.
So as I said, I would like more contact between the paper of record and the leaders, where all can see where they are at on the issues, and what they want to do next.
?Am I the only one who feels/thinks this way?
—————
I wanted to say that I’m grateful the Mayor’s husband is Okay after such an awful experience. Larry Yuva, Carrol Smith’s husband, survived for days hanging upside down in his red pickup after going over an embankment in Yellow Stone. Had his truck been brown or some other neutral colour, he probably would not have been found in time. An amazing story of survival and luck.(OVNs source)
I also remember the days when Johnny Carson would read the Ojai Police Blotter. It was a kick to have him laugh about the Bald Street (or Blanche – I never can remember) woman that would call in the silliest complaints to the Police Department. I think those were the days in which Fred Volz was the editor? Also, reading the Police Blotter was educational back then – we would find out which of our friends got busted for swiping plants off porchs or toilet papering houses! Ojai was fairly tame back in the ’70s
Hi Dana and Alyeska, Those were the good old days when Johnny Carson read the Ojai Police Blotter, when things like cats stuck in trees and the woman on Bald Street who called regularly about suspicious noises, made the news!
About Steve, you probably meant to type in Steve Olsen who is the friendly face (usually)on the Ojai City Council. Steve Bennett is a great Ventura County Supervisor who works very hard for Ojai(Steve Olsen is an Ojai native. We went to local schools the same years.)
About the OVN’s, I’m proud to say I was a columnist for 15 years back when Ojai’s beloved editor Fred Volz ran the paper. He wrote prophetic editorials and put forth visionary ideas like Ojai should have the same status as a National Park. When I was elected to the City Council the Citizens to Preserve the Ojai gave me three humongous scrap books with riveting articles on all the environmental battles and editorials on preserving Ojai, going way back to the 60′s. When the time is right I’ll copy and Post some timeless quotes in these revealing books…
Hi Donna, Looks like our Posts crossed in cyberspace. We are on the same wave length!
Hi Suza – looks like we both have fond memories of how the OVN used to be!
Hi Suza and all:
I would agree Steve Olsen, (I have a hard time calling him Steve) is a friendly face(usually) of Ojai’s past and present. I did in fact mean Steve Bennett, I should have distinguished so more clearly, being there is a Steve on the Council. My point being that I never met him, I don’t even know where he lives, yet, I know more about him and his philosophy than I do by and from those on the City Council save Steve Olsen. My theme being that I don’t read or hear from our leaders enough in the local paper of record to feel a connection, an understanding of their philosophy.
I voted for Steve this last election and was proud to. My friends and I remember him during our high-school days, and we had nothing but respect for him. He was nice, but you were not going to get over on him. Also his mother tutored me in Spanish at her home.
Back to the blotter. As Donna said, it was educational to read the police blotter, sometimes to our embarrassment. It was a fun time. A crazy time.
Sometimes, it is good to go back and look at how things were done, because you may find what is missing in how you(possibly the OVNs) are doing things now. I have found that to be true in the trades, we try out new stuff all the time, but eventually, you come back to the tried and true techniques when you find some of the new ones just are not delivering.
Ahhh – You’re posts are great and I’m getting that ‘warm fuzzy’ feeling back – the connected with a community feeling. It sounds like the OVN was the type of paper I am looking for and dream of, but alas I fear it has moved on. Without a local paper, maybe this site is where I should be getting my local news?! You folks sound like you know a lot more about the community and what is happening then the OVN. Plus your posts are a pleasure to read (smile).
Amerikanische Firma „ACG Logistics“ sucht nach Mitarbeiter in Europa fuer die Arbeit im Logistikbereich. Interessanter Job mit guter Verdienstmoeglichkeit.
Schicken Sie bitte Ihre Bewerbung an info@acglogistics.biz
I have in the past witnessed two occasions of County Official Abuse.
The most recent occurred today. It scared me to hear what I heard. That is why I am anon in this post.
I overheard a conversation between a homeowner and an animal control officer. The animal control officer in response to the homeowners questions said that animal control could enter and take animals any time it liked from private property. This is without cause, due process, warrants, or other. Does animal control now have a type of immediate eminent domain over personal property that bypasses all civil rights and law?
If so, we should be very afraid of our county officials.
Anon.
Dear Anon, My limited experience has been that with things like barking dogs, animal control requires formal complaints (or signatures) from at least three neighbors before taking action. Animal control is so swamped, I have a hard time believing they would enter private property without legitimate cause. Also, are you saying that animals are “personal property”? Having lived next door to people who abused and neglected their animals, I do not relegate living creatures as “personal property.”
Comments on this entry are closed.