Never30

It was a sight that no one had ever seen and that few believed could be accomplished. In February of 1940, a decades-old wooden lighthouse, a gorgeous Victorian that weighed more than 100 tons, was loaded on a barge and floated across the newly constructed Port of Hueneme where it was supposed to become a yacht club. So what happened?

Like other towns that popped up throughout the United States in the late 1800s, sugar beets are the roots of Oxnard. They gave the town its name, determined where the trains went and lured workers to the area — many of whom stayed and raised families in the growing city.

Halfway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, a road veers inland toward the picturesque town of Ojai. It’s a place that some see as a spiritual center, a place that holds hidden properties that can’t be explained – only felt.

Tucked between condominiums and some older homes in Simi Valley, California, sits a third-acre lot filled with odd structures and sculptures made of glass bottles and cement. Bottle Village, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was a labor of love that was partially destroyed in the 1994 Northridge quake. Today what's left is loved by some as a valuable piece of folk art, testament to the tenacity and perseverance of the human spirit. But not everyone feels that way.

The Camarillo White Horses are famous for their smooth gait and pearl white luster. The story of how they came to be known begins with a wealthy rancher named Adolfo Camarillo, who was looking for a strong horse for his family's expansive Rancho Calleguas in 1921.

The St. Francis Dam above modern-day Santa Clarita, five miles northeast of Magic Mountain, broke apart 2½ minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928. In the 5½ hours it took for that water to reach the ocean, more than 400 lives would be lost as the mud, concrete and debris made its way through Piru, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Saticoy as it passed through the Santa Clara River Valley. Hosted by Andrea Howry, Ventura County Star.

Surrounded by lima bean fields in Southern California, a small airstrip used mostly by cropdusters suddenly became a key player in World War II. A flight school was built just outside of Oxnard's city limit in 1940, and when war broke out, hundreds of young men from all across the United States descended upon the Mira Loma Flight Academy. Some of those cadets would go on to fly bombers over Europe, others would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their participation in the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.

Lost stories of the once thriving community of Tortilla Flats, razed by the expansion of Highway 101 in the 1950s, resurface when an artist and a neighborhood descendant join forces to investigate the nearly forgotten town.

It was the 1940s when a charismatic cult leader known as Krishna Venta settled in an isolated area of Simi Valley, California, with a flock of followers who referred to themselves as the Fountain of the World. They were a peaceful people, until one day in 1958 when two of those followers suspected that their leader was up to no good.

Before the bright neon sign and western-themed buildings at Wagon Wheel faded into obscurity, the once-popular roadside attraction was home to an amusement park, skating rink, bowling alley and a number of restaurants where travelers and celebrities alike were enticed to stop in at the junction of Highway 101 and Highway 1 in Oxnard.

In a largely undeveloped corner of Moorpark, California, where paintball warriors do battle on an otherwise empty hillside, there once stood the largest egg producing farm in the nation. This week, Host Andrea Howry explores the rise and fall of Egg City.

Guests remember the ups and downs of growing up during the Great Depression, a period from 1929 to 1939 often described as the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. Reflecting on that time period, we also explore the cultural lessons learned and the impacts on society that we continue to see today. Hosted by Andrea Howry. 11/15/2017

On April 13, 1970 a luxury liner was pulled by a heavy storm from its anchor near the Port of Hueneme and came to rest on the south end of Silverstrand Beach, where it now serves as part of a jetty at the entrance to the port. But before that fateful day, the ship had its own storied past saving lives and delivering passengers to new beginnings. Join host Andrea Howry as she explores the history of La Jenelle and and a unique discovery by one local family.

If you venture out to the shoreline of Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura when the tide is low – very low – you’ll see two mysterious concrete circles that make up this episode of “Never 30.” Join me as I walk out to the water with California State Parks Ranger Tyson Butzke, who'll talk about these disappearing relics — what they are and why they're important to not only those who lived through a specific time in Ventura County history, but to all of us who live on the West Coast.

Who's haunting some of the spookiest places in Ventura County, California? Local historians answer some of these questions and share their own experiences encountering visitors from beyond the grave. 10/25/2017