SIMI VALLEY : Tourist Guide Installed at Reagan Library

Hoping to boost tourism throughout Ventura County, local officials have installed a visitor information computer at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley.

The library and museum, which opened in 1991, attract thousands of visitors annually from throughout the nation.

“I’d like to convince them to stay in our area,” said County Supervisor Vicky Howard, who negotiated with Reagan Library officials to place the computer there.

Howard said county staff members came up with the idea for the computer program, which lists 210 restaurants, hotels, points of interest, recreation areas and shopping centers. Tourists use the keyboard to choose one of the categories, then pick a city or section of Ventura County.

Under points of interest, the list includes the Pleasant Valley Historical Museum in Camarillo and the Unocal Oil Museum in Santa Paula.

Under recreation, the screen suggests fishing at Lake Piru or golf at the Soule Park course in Ojai.

Under performance facilities in Ventura, the computer proposes the Plaza Players Theater and the Ventura College Arts Theater.

The computer, its program and the wooden cabinet cost $5,500, but county officials said no tax dollars were spent. Restaurants, hotels and golf courses initially paid $50 each to advertise for one year. The price has gone up to $75 for new advertisers.

Remaining expenses were covered by county recreation fees collected from businesses that rent space at Channel Islands Harbor or lease county golf courses, Sanders said.

Because the program can easily be installed on other computers, county officials hope to place it at other busy tourist sites.

Reagan library staff members said the computer will help them cope with a deluge of questions posed by visitors.

While visiting the library recently with his family, Amos Schwarz, a teacher from Chatsworth, used the computer to look for restaurants and points of interest. Schwarz said his daughter, Erica, 14, was anxious to call up another category on the computer.

“The magic word,” he said. “Shopping!”