SIMI VALLEY : Historical Park Celebrates New Visitors Center

A historical park that contains some of Simi Valley’s oldest structures is celebrating the opening of a new one, a visitors center and exhibit hall.

The 3,600-square-foot building, the latest addition to Strathearn Historical Park, opened last month but will be officially christened at an invitation-only reception July 2. It includes display areas, seating for 35 to 40, and office space for the park.

City historian Pat Havens said it is a badly needed addition.

“We had kept growing and growing and we had all these historical buildings, but no place for offices and exhibits,” she said. “Now we can bring a whole school class in and give them our 20-minute presentation before we begin the tour. We used to have to break them up into smaller groups and do it in the gift shop.”

The building was a gift from the city to the Simi Valley Historical Society, but Havens said the society and park district spent $90,000 to $100,000 getting the center up and running.

And the investment was worth it, Havens said, giving her the chance to dust off old photographs, maps and artifacts that for lack of exhibit space had been stuck in storage for years.

Lining the walls of the center are photographs of Simi Valley’s first hotel, general store and school. Also on display are items from the city’s past, including handmade soap, clothes and furniture.

But Havens said some of the most popular features among the residents who have visited the center have been the aerial photographs of the city taken in 1965 and 1974.

“People are having so much fun coming in here and finding where they live and what it looked like back then,” she said. Also on display is a 1941 map that includes the names of all property owners in the area.

The visitors center, at 137 Strathearn Place, is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, Havens said. Also, one tour is given each weekday at 1 p.m. The suggested donation is $2, she said. The park will be closed July 4.