LANDMARKS: COUNTY HISTORICAL SITES

Foster Park Lion Markers, Foster Bowl

* HISTORY: The lion entrance markers were dedicated in 1908 at the entrance to Foster Park in Casitas Springs; Foster Park Bowl was built in 1928. Both were gifts of Ventura County pioneers and philanthropists Eugene Preston Foster and Orpha Woods Foster, as was much of the land for the 205-acre park. Foster initiated the idea of a county park system in 1904 and helped establish several parks in the area.

* LOCATION: 438 Casitas Vista Road. Exit Ojai Freeway at Casitas Vista Road and follow signs to Foster Park. The bowl is about three-quarters of a mile beyond the markers.

* HOURS: Foster Park is open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Camping facilities are also available. For information or reservations, call Ventura County Recreation Services at 654-3934.

Two majestic stone lions, now somewhat the worse for weather and vandals, have marked the entrance to Foster Park in Casitas since 1908.

Each sits atop a 10-foot-high pillar on opposite sides of the road. Seven-foot-square towers, rising to 16 feet, abut the pillars.

Constructed of either Sespe sandstone quarried from the nearby hillside or of brownstone mined in the Ventura River bluffs, the markers were dedicated in 1908 by the County Board of Supervisors.

A tablet on the north marker reads “E. P. Foster and Wife, to Ventura County, January 26, 1907.” The south marker is inscribed “Eugene C. Foster Memorial Park, 1908.” He was the son of E. P. and Orpha Foster and died at age 6. It is in better condition than the north marker, where the lion’s face has been smashed by vandals.

Foster Park Bowl, a gray concrete amphitheater built in 1928 in a small ravine, rises against the hillside and is shaded by 50-foot-tall live oak trees.

The bowl, which cost $1,300 to construct, can seat about 1,000 people. The plans were proposed by Sadie Brown, a local real estate agent; it was designed by Roy Wilson, a Santa Paula architect.

On May 7, 1930, the bowl opened to a capacity crowd attending a community sing. The first symphony concert held in Ventura County was presented at the bowl in 1936 by the Santa Barbara Symphony. Until the 1960s, the open-air auditorium regularly was the scene of plays and concerts.

“In the early days, Foster Park was a county gathering place. It was used practically every Sunday,” said Robert Pfeiler, a member of the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board.

He explained that in the 1960s and ‘70s, interest switched to Libbey Bowl in Ojai and sponsors of Foster Park Bowl disappeared.

In recent years, it has been used only sporadically and now is in disrepair. “The county didn’t have funds to maintain and keep it up,” Pfeiler said. In 1988, the county applied for, but did not receive, a state grant to restore the bowl.

One difficulty with using Foster Bowl is the lack of parking--it was built to accommodate 1,000 horses, not 1,000 cars.