SIMI VALLEY : Tax Payment Spares Folk Art Landmark

History almost repeated itself in Bottle Village on Monday.

The owners of the Simi Valley folk art landmark, auctioned off in 1981 amid much controversy, avoided the same fate Monday with just 24 hours to spare.

The village is a unique collection of 13 buildings and 20 sculptures constructed from thousands of used bottles, license plates, tools and anything else Tressa (Grandma) Prisbrey could drag from the city dump. The property was donated in 1986 to a committee dedicated to its preservation, and Prisbrey died in 1988.

County tax collectors had set a Tuesday deadline for the payment of back taxes.

“They came in and paid $1,112.05, which was all the prior taxes they owed,” said Cynthia Simmons, manager of the public service division of the Ventura County Tax Collector’s office. “That puts them out of jeopardy of being sold, but they didn’t pay this year’s. They still have about $900 in current year’s taxes.”

The delinquent taxes dated back to 1982. If the payment had not been made by 5 p.m. today, Bottle Village would have been auctioned off in the spring of 1991, county officials said.

Grandma Prisbrey, who was described in her 1988 obituary as a “wiry, cantankerous woman,” started her famed Bottle Village in 1955 and worked on it for more than two decades.

What has been described as an eyesore by some neighbors also has received international acclaim as folk art. The village occupies a third of an acre at 4595 Cochran St., including a house made from shot glasses, a wishing well made of milk of magnesia bottles and a dollhouse made from 6,000 bottles.

The property and Prisbrey’s legacy was auctioned off in 1981 because the owner had defaulted on a mortgage. After changing hands several times, the site was donated in 1986 to a committee dedicated to its preservation. Back taxes had not been paid, and continued to accumulate, according to Helen Dennert, president of the preservation committee.

The tax payment was made about 3 p.m. Monday, Dennert said, leaving the committee with no funds and debts of $2,745.

Bottle Village has been closed to the public since 1982, when the city of Simi Valley shut it down for violating safety codes. Dennert said it will reopen if the city grants a special use permit, allowing tourists to walk around the site, but not enter the buildings. But costly renovations are needed, she said.

If a long-sought tax exemption is not secured for Bottle Village, another $1,800 in taxes will be due next year.