Banana Grower Slipped Up by Legal Wrangling

The owner of a banana plantation that has proved a popular tourist attraction in this seaside community is being evicted from his tropical paradise, entangled in a rent dispute that could shut down the Ventura County landmark for good.

Doug Richardson, owner of Seaside Banana Gardens, said Tuesday that he is caught in a legal tangle with the property owner, La Conchita Ranch Co., stemming from a landslide 2 1/2 years ago that unleashed a wall of mud on the coastal enclave.

Unless the dispute can be resolved, Richardson said he will soon be forced to uproot his 50,000 banana plants and fruit trees and set off for another exotic farming locale.

“I would like to stay somehow, but that’s such a longshot,” said Richardson, who began cultivating the 11-acre banana farm about a dozen years ago.

Finding another place like La Conchita won’t be easy, Richardson concedes.

The banana field, sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and 300-foot-high bluffs along the Ventura Freeway, is thought to be one of only two commercial banana plantations in the continental United States.

The banana farm not only survived but flourished, bolstered by a unique tropical climate that combines balmy ocean breezes and frost-free weather.

For many years, La Conchita was very good for bananas. A busy weekend would bring hundreds of tourists to the tropical outpost.

Although perfect weather blessed banana production, it was foul weather that signaled the beginning of the end for the farm.

A violent winter storm in early 1995 unleashed a torrent of mud on La Conchita and cut off access to the area for more than a month. Richardson said he suffered about $250,000 in lost sales and damage.

And like many residents, Richardson said he held La Conchita Ranch Co. partly responsible, but would not elaborate .

In an effort to recoup some losses, Richardson said, he began withholding rent shortly after the landslide. He said he now owes $30,000 to $35,000 in back rent and was served about 1 1/2 months ago with a legal notice to pay up or leave.

A spokesman for La Conchita Ranch Co. refused to comment on the matter.

However, Richardson said he has been working with ranch officials to cut a deal to give him time to find a new place. He’s hoping to settle that issue within the next week.

Richardson said he has found a similar parcel in nearby Summerland, in Santa Barbara County. But there is no guarantee that he would be able to duplicate his success.

“I wanted to show people what I could do with a piece of land like this,” Richardson said. “But I never imagined that they would be so intrigued, that they would think that this place was so special.”

Times correspondent Brenda Loree contributed to this story.