Oxnard USO Proposed as Children’s Museum Site

Children on field trips may soon replace sailors on shore leave at Oxnard’s USO building.

The Oxnard Redevelopment Commission next month will consider giving a proposed children’s museum a temporary home in the city-owned building vacated earlier this year by the service organization for military personnel, said Oxnard redevelopment director Steven L. Kinney.

He said the nonprofit Gull Wings Museum, the only facility of its kind in Ventura County, could occupy the West 4th Street building as soon as the spring.

At 7,400 square feet, the building is “less than what the museum wants for its permanent location, but it will serve well as an interim setting,” Kinney said. “It’s available and it’s city-owned.”

The proposed attraction, which city officials hope will draw visitors to Oxnard’s beleaguered downtown, was proposed 2 years ago by the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission as “a supplement to what goes on in school” with science, historical and ethnic heritage exhibits, said Pat James, a retired junior high school teacher who has been leading the effort.

‘Granny’s Attic’

Aimed at children between 4 and 12, the museum will include such exhibits as “Granny’s Attic,” featuring old clothing and artifacts from Ventura County; “Heritage Wing,” showcasing the native crafts of different ethnic groups in the county, and “Just Suppose,” a series of displays designed to encourage understanding of the disabled.

“These are the sort of things that enrich children but that the schools just don’t have money to provide,” James said.

Tentatively scheduled to open March 17, the museum eventually wants a display area of 15,000 to 30,000 square feet, she said. It will be funded through private donations, grants and possible support from other cities in the county, she added.

The city of Oxnard already has earmarked $5,000 for a museum publicity campaign and up to $25,000 for a feasibility study.

Museum boosters had sought to occupy the former J.C. Penney building on A Street--which the city also owns--but the Oxnard Redevelopment Commission in September turned down the proposal in favor of one by a commercial developer, who plans to convert the store into an office building.

Charter Revoked

“We’ve been struggling all this time to find a site,” James said.

The Oxnard USO closed after the organization’s national Board of Governors voted to revoke the Oxnard charter in May because the quality of services wasn’t “up to par,” said Richard Henry, staff director of the World USO, which oversees the operations of 160 chapters in the United States and abroad.

Henry blamed the Oxnard USO’s demise on dwindling community support and lagging interest among members of the military on the two bases it served--the Navy’s Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme and the U.S. Pacific Missile Test Center at Point Mugu.

“It was closed because we have a certain set of standards that have to be adhered to . . . and they weren’t up to par,” Henry said. “There seemed to be very little life or vibrancy” to the program.

The former director of the Oxnard USO, Ruth Green, could not be reached for comment.

Seabee Base Entertainment

Green notified city officials that a Sept. 5 bingo game would be the organization’s last function. However, as early as last month, Green said the USO had still planned to hold its annual Christmas party on Dec. 18.

Anne Milkes, executive director of USO activities for the Los Angeles area, said the Bob Hope USO in Hollywood would continue to occasionally stage entertainment at the Seabee base in Port Hueneme.

A civilian-operated charity, the USO offered support to members of the local military community since the early 1950s, city officials said. In recent years, the organization had shifted its focus from single servicemen to the families of enlisted men and women.

Still, Mary Jean Owens, an assistant in the Department of Social Services at the Seabee base, predicted that the USO will not be missed.

“There weren’t really that many people going to the USO,” she said. “We never had any people asking about it. We didn’t even know it was closed until months afterward.”