Ventura, Riders Bid Adieu to the Little Green Trolley

For 2 1/2 years, Dillard (Foxy) Fox has driven the little green Ventura trolley around town, telling tall tales and little-known historical facts to passengers.

But as of today, Ventura has no more trolley, and Fox is out of a job.

“It sure is a sad day for me,” Fox said over the loudspeaker to an animated group, some of whom showed up to ride the trolley once before it closed.

“I really don’t understand it. I don’t think this city realizes what it’s losing.”

According to Dave Taylor, general manager of Buenaventura Trolley Co., the future of the trolley in Ventura depends on whether the City Council or the Chamber of Commerce agree to help fund it.

“In the next 30 days, somebody has got to get serious,” he said.

If no agreement is reached, the company will sell its three trolleys, perhaps to a shopping center developer for use in Oxnard, he said.

Taylor said his company has been losing an average of $4,000 a month since it began operating in Ventura, adding that a $48,000 subsidy rejected Monday by the City Council would have covered past losses.

In Ventura, two of the cars have traveled a seven-mile loop between downtown and the beach every day except Monday, and one was chartered to tour groups, Taylor said.

Since the trolley began operating in 1988, ridership has consistently increased, with more people riding during the tourist season in the summer, according to company figures.

Even so, on the average, the trolleys were only 23% full for the $2 rides in 1989-90.

But on Thursday, there were few empty seats.

“I’m just here to say goodby to our beloved trolley,” said Yetive Hendrick, a docent at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art.

Hendrick said she often rides the trolley to the harbor to avoid parking hassles and expenses.

Ventura resident Kathe Ernst and her son Jeffery, 5, were riding for the first time.

“I thought I’d better do it before it’s gone. We thought we’d make a day of it,” she said.

The two went out to breakfast before the ride and planned to do more sightseeing afterward.

During the 1 1/2-hour round trip, Fox, 66, kept up a constant narrative.

He said the County Jail was formerly behind the Ventura City Hall, which was the county sheriff’s station and courthouse until the late 1970s.

Elizabeth Duncan, the first woman executed in California, was locked in the jail and her trial held in the building, he said.

Charles Manson and Johnny Cash also spent time in the County Jail, he said.

He pointed out actor John Ritter’s house off Seaward Road, and a ship in the Ventura Harbor that he said used to belong to James Cagney and was used in World War II.

As the trolley passed a field at East Santa Clara and Figueroa streets, he said bullfights were held there in the 19th Century.

Fox reminisced about several German tourists who rode the trolley back and forth several times one week.

“They couldn’t understand me, but we just had a jolly time,” he said.

“I’m just hoping the tour will go back into business. I really, really liked it.”