Fillmore & Western Railway Murder Mystery dinner train tickets for two and a barbecue for 10 prepared at the lucky bidder’s home by award-winning BBQ Champion Dan Diaz are also among the auction items.There will be a 50-50 raffle and a raffle for a sketch portrait by noted artist Judy Klement, “who will actually do the portrait right there during the evening,” said Nelson.Jimmy Calire, who toured many years with “America,” will entertain in the park playing soulful jazz.But the real star of the show is the building, a favorite of amateur and professional photographers.“It is one of the best preserved examples,” of its design noted Nelson. “Most commercial buildings of this vintage were torn down many years ago when electricity came in. The museum building is a fairly unique entity as well preserved as it is.”But the reality is that the building is not impervious to aging and the need for repairs that will continue to prolong its useful life “a long, long time. We need a lot of routine maintenance,” including painting and roofing as well as work to maintain its bay windows and corner tower.“Repairs are ongoing year in and year out,” for the building whose designer remains a mystery in spite of extensive research into its origins.“It is believed that the plans burned in a Santa Paula fire not long after the building,” was completed in 1890, said Nelson.Advance tickets for “A Museum Garden Party” are available at the museum (1001 E. Main St.), Santa Paula Times (944 E. Main St.) and at the Community Center (corner of West Main Street and Steckel Drive).For more information call 933-0076.
Garden Party to benefit California Oil Museum building fund
October 11, 2006
Santa Paula News
The stately Victorian influenced Queen Anne located on the corner of 10th and Main streets, home to the Santa Paula California Oil Museum, needs your help...and all she asks is that you come for a visit and a have a really good time.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe stately Victorian influenced Queen Anne located on the corner of 10th and Main streets, home to the Santa Paula California Oil Museum, needs your help...and all she asks is that you come for a visit and a have a really good time.This lovely lady - in need of a bit of fixing up from more than a century of wear and tear - will be the scene of her own first-ever fundraiser, “A Museum Garden Party” on Saturday, October 14 from 5 to 8 p.m.Tickets are $35 each and include the tasting of fine wine, elegant hors d’ ouevres, live jazz music and both a silent and live auction set in the Lundgren Garden of the museum.More than a museum, the building, constructed in 1890 and the birthplace of the then Union Oil Co., is an officially designated National, State and Ventura County landmark, one of the rare commercial buildings to be so designated.“This is the first time we have done a fundraiser specifically for the building,” although others’ have raised funds using the museum as a backdrop and in, turn, given donations to SPCOM, said Executive Director Mike Nelson.“A Museum Garden Party” is being staged “specifically for renovation and restoration of the building and exhibit upgrading...it’s always in need of,” fixing and sprucing up. “It’s a treasure for the city, for the county and for the region,” he noted.“We want people to attend and have a good time,” and take advantage of the opportunity to go home with a silent or live auction item.The major live auction will feature about 10 items including a five-day ocean view Baja cruise; the silent auction will feature “another 25 items or so...” noted Nelson.Auction items range from a fine art ship model of the HMS Endeavor to a three-night Rincon Beach vacation to two passes to Ojai’s Oaks Spa to an Elkins Ranch Golf Package to a gourmet lunch basket to be enjoyed on the beach at Rincon Point to a Tea Party for Six by Pamela’s.
