High-Rise Landmark Raises Sights
About 11 years ago Martin “Bud” Smith faced a pleasing problem.
How to use tons of steel and concrete left over from construction of Oxnard’s high-rise Dean Witter building, which Smith built and recently sold.
Smith considered a rooftop pool and a garden-shrouded patio for tenant sunbathing, but there was little money to be made in that.
Instead, he added a couple of extra stories and dedicated the top floor to a cosmopolitan amenity uncommon in a county better known for tractors than trattorie.
Its name: The Tower Club.
“The building was only supposed to have 20 floors, but we had all this stuff left over,” Smith said. “A pool would have been nice, but we thought this would be better for the tenants.”
Over the past decade the Tower Club has grown to be much more than a convenient dining retreat for firms sequestered behind the building’s smoked-glass exterior.
With its plutocratic decor and exclusive memberships, the Tower Club has become the meeting place for business and political leaders, as well as a symbol of moneyed status.
This is where former Republican Assemblyman Nao Takasugi came to host fund-raising fetes. Richard Francis, the activist behind the SOAR growth-control initiative, went there to talk strategy over tiger prawns and filet mignon. And it’s where retired auto mechanic Louis Asimakis came after his wife Geraldine won the lottery.
“I think the status thing is part of the reason why people join, but it’s not the only one,” membership director Sarah Knudsen said. “The club is a one-of-a-kind here in [Ventura County] and it fills a niche that I think a lot of people need.”
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They may need it but too few have taken advantage of the opportunity, so change is on the way for the Tower Club. Because it came of age in an era when corporations and businesses began to rein in expense accounts, it has never reached its membership goals.
In an effort to increase and diversify its membership with a new breed of young members, the club has done the once unthinkable--cut its membership fees.
“I don’t think the club has ever been as successful as we’d hoped it would,” Smith said. “But it still holds its own.”
The Tower Club is in the tallest building between Los Angeles and San Jose, and offers a panoramic view of the spreading Oxnard Plain, Pacific Ocean and the islands beyond. With its polished wainscoting, glass entry doors and a foyer guarded by statues of growling lions, the club offers a level of sophistication to its diners that many say is in short supply in Ventura County. Under each glass on each table is the club’s signature red rose petal.
In addition to the dining room, the club has a bar, spa and private dining area that patrons can use for large business lunches and private dinners.
But its marquee attraction, members say, is the view.
“Eating a sandwich there while looking out at the Channel Islands kind of makes that sandwich taste a whole lot better,” former county Supervisor Hoot Bennett said.
Although the Tower Club lacks the history of a place such as the century-old California Club in Los Angeles, it has become the gathering spot of choice for members who want to rub shoulders with congressional members, bankers and former diplomats.
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Some of its more notable members include Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury, former state Sen. and Congressman Robert Lagomarsino and landowners and farmers Paul and Carolyn Leavens.
“Our members are, for the most part, a fairly sophisticated group who want the kind of service we can provide,” Knudsen said. “What they expect is the best and that’s what we try to provide them.”
The club’s membership is almost evenly divided between men and women. It is also frequented by a more mature clientele.
One-third of the members are over the age of 60, and 30% are between the ages of 41 and 50. Only 9% are below the age of 40.
According to a recent survey conducted by the club’s management staff members, 60% of the club’s members said they joined for purely social reasons. The remainder said they did so for purely business reasons.
Oxnard attorney Marc Charney is among those who joined for business reasons, but he said that recently he and his wife have come to better appreciate the social aspects.
“I needed a place that I could take clients and I don’t think I could have found a better place. . . . It’s got a level of sophistication and elegance that I think surprises people who aren’t from the area,” said Charney, who also sits on the club’s advisory board of governors. “But my wife and I have really started to enjoy the social part of it as well. . . . It’s a wonderful place to meet people and relax.”
Despite praise from people such as Charney, the club has had trouble meeting its membership targets. Although its goal is 1,000 members, the list now stands at just over 600.
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Part of the problem can be traced to broader economic trends. According to a report for the club’s marketing committee, the slump in the early part of this decade “helped change the attitude of free-spending in the business segment.” Although the economy is back on its feet, the report says, those thrifty attitudes remain.
About 18 months ago the club began cutting prices and adding new membership categories and services to bring in a new generation of corporate and political elite, Knudsen said.
Where a corporate membership once fetched $5,000, it now is available at $3,500. The club has also cut the price of general memberships, or those for a couple, from $2,000 to $1,000. Single memberships are $500 and associate memberships for those under the age of 35 are $250.
In addition to the one-time membership fee, members must pay a $75 monthly fee and meet a quarterly spending minimum of $75.
In a further attempt to broaden interest, the club has begun sponsoring outings to Los Angeles art galleries and a number of cultural events.
“I think one of the problems that the club has faced is that not many people know that it’s here, which is something that we’re trying to change,” Knudsen said. “Once that happens I’m sure we’ll [reach our goal].”
