Awards Given for Show-Stopping Street Scenes : Thousand Oaks: City’s most beautiful buildings are rewarded in competition. Winners will be honored by council members tonight.

If this had been the Academy Awards, Mohammad Sheshebor would have been accepting one of those relatively obscure awards like “Best Performance by a Drinking Fountain.”

But this wasn’t Oscar time. It was the moment of truth in deciding the most beautiful things in Thousand Oaks. Even gas stations.

And Sheshebor’s Newbury Park Chevron was not to be overlooked when the final honors were handed out--officially dubbed “Most Beautiful Service Station” in the city.

Sheshebor was among 15 winners who emerged from 24 nominees in 12 sometimes unlikely categories of beauty, including “Most Beautiful Business or Industrial Center” and “Most Beautiful Apartment Complex.”

Happy and not the least bit modest about taking honors in the City Beautiful Competition for the second year in a row, Sheshebor pointed Monday to the landscaping he installed after buying the station in 1990.

He compared it to a tropical paradise.

“It looks like Hawaii when you drive in here,” he said.

To prove his worthiness, Sheshebor proudly pointed to thick potted ferns at the store entrance and eight-foot potted trees between the pump islands. Outside of the service garage, customers can sit on a wooden park bench with a pot of ferns and flowers at either end.

“We call this our Hawaiian garden,” Sheshebor said, smiling.

Sheshebor said he’s confident about his chances for a third win.

“I think I’ve taken the hard-core image out of the gas station,” he said.

City Councilman Frank Schillo initiated the idea of sponsoring competition among property owners to encourage them to spruce up their homes or storefronts. “I think people move here for the ambience of our community,” Schillo said.

Nominees are judged on how their properties look from the curb. For purposes of the competition, the city was divided into east, west, north-central and central.

Winners will be honored tonight at a reception by the Thousand Oaks City Council. Honorees range from the Charter Oaks Apartments (Most Beautiful Apartment Complex--Central) to Los Robles Estates (Most Beautiful Townhouse or Condominium Complex--West).

Bill and Karin O’Neil won for “Most Improved Exterior Maintenance of a Single Family Home” in the north-central area. Improvements at the O’Neils’ home on Rutger Drive took 10 years, Karin O’Neil said.

The family’s gray ranch-style home has a lush green lawn and professional stone work around the perimeter. O’Neil joked that the award could be a gentle hint to some of the neighbors who haven’t invested in improvements.

“Some of the homes in this area look like the ‘Addams Family’ house, so maybe they compared us to that,” she said, referring to the television sitcom’s haunted-house setting.

Kathy Aguirre nominated the shopping center that won “Most Beautiful Business or Industrial Center” in the central region. She had no trouble explaining why she finds beauty in the North Star Plaza on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Her favorite deli sits at the entrance to the shopping center. The center consists of a tan U-shaped building around a parking lot. She said the store fronts made from half brick and half wood give the shops a comfortable feel.

“It’s Conejo country,” she said of the center’s style. “It’s a country feeling, not like the center of L.A., where it’s all concrete and steel and glass.”

Another winner, Betty Horner, had two of her east entries chosen. The wife of former Thousand Oaks Mayor Larry Horner, she won for “Most Beautiful Single Family Home” and “Most Beautiful Residential Block,” two of the most competitive categories, city officials said.

Showing off flowery landscaping at her elegant Tudor-styled home in the White Hawk development, Horner laughingly denied politics played a role in her award.

“I lost last year,” she said.

Other winners from the north-central area included the home of Marie-Alaina Schneider-Allen on Calle Narcisco (Most Beautiful Single Family Home); Northwood Townhomes (Most Beautiful Townhome or Condominium Complex); Oakbrook Townhomes (Most Improved Exterior Maintenance of a Townhome or Condominium Complex); and Chanteclair complex (Most Beautiful Residential Block).

In the central area, the home of Albert and Shirley Polzer on Westbury Street won “Most Improved Exterior Maintenance.” In the west, other winners included Rockwell International Science Center (Most Beautiful Business or Industrial Center); and the home of Stephen and Pricilia Lee on Daniel Street (Most Environmentally Sensitive Landscaping).

In the east, Northgate won for “Most Beautiful Townhome or Condominium Complex.”