Friday Cruise Nite, Sunday Airport Open House
May 30, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Two family-friendly, fun and free events will bookend Saturday when Cruise Nite takes to the streets Friday evening and the Santa Paula Airport takes to the skies for the First Sunday Open House.
Cruise Nite, held in Downtown Santa Paula on the first Friday of the month, starts June 1 at about 5 p.m. for hours of prime viewing of hundreds of pre-1975 cars and trucks, live entertainment and plenty of strolling with - and trolling for - friends. Ventura County’s original Cruise Nite car show is now in its 14th season of offering dazzling cars, great music, socializing and enjoying plenty of fun places to eat along historic East Main Street, a display that spills over onto adjacent side streets.
Held from April to October, Santa Paula’s Cruise Nite has even garnered a top honor when in recent years it was declared Ventura County Reporter’s 25th Annual “Best of” Car Shows. Each Cruise Nite features live entertainment, hundreds of unique and vintage cars and trucks, specialty vehicles and plenty of unique restaurants to balance the overload of automotive eye-candy with a good dinner or snack.
It being a “first” weekend also brings out antique and vintage aircraft at the Santa Paula Airport. On the First Sunday of the month, the Aviation Museum of Santa Paula Airport is the big attraction and is open to the public for tours.
Local aviation history comes alive when the Santa Paula Airport’s famous Chain of Hangars Museum is opened for visitors to explore. There is no admission fee, and each hangar has a unique focus and display. Visitors can take a walking tour or ride the mini-tram from hangar to hangar.
First Sunday at the Santa Paula Airport not only opens the doors to the Chain of Hangars and its dozens of exhibits, but also highlights vintage and unusual airplanes displayed by their proud owners that shows why the venue garnered the nickname Antique Aircraft Capital of the World.
Held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors that enter the airport - located at the intersection of Santa Maria and 8th streets - can pick up a free map from the Aviation Museum’s Gift Hangar, filled with hundreds of unique items, all with an aviation flair.
While visiting the world famous Santa Paula Airport, plan on having breakfast, lunch or even dinner at CAVU Restaurant, where you can get a table overlooking the runway and all the fun of seeing dozens of gorgeous sky-birds in action as they land and takeoff.
