Growth and a Sense of Community

* Sunday afternoon in Oxnard, I find myself hungry. As I have always enjoyed a good burger, I think of two locations that have been a part of the Oxnard landscape for as long as I can remember: Tasty Burger and Wins Drive In.

This day I go to Tasty Burger, which has been at Ventura Road and 5th Street since the late 1950s. New owners took over about five years ago but they have maintained the taste of the food.

When I was a small boy my mother would take my siblings and me to Tasty’s and load up on five burgers for a $1! The prices are slightly higher now but the food is just as satisfying.

On this visit I spoke with two patrons who seemed to be about my age (late 40s). The first guy asked, “How long have you been coming here?” “Since the early ‘60s,” I replied. He said he was last here in the late 1950s and still remembered the original owner and the taste of the food. He and his wife were visiting from Washington state. He seemed really jazzed that good old Tasty’s was still here.

The next patron arrived and I asked him, “How long have you been coming here?” He replied with a smile that he went to Oxnard High in the late ‘50s and at that time you could leave the campus and come down the street to enjoy a Tasty Burger.

I began to think about what makes a community a special place to live. It boils down to the simple things. As out cities fill out with fast-food franchises we should remind ourselves that, although economic growth is important, what really counts is coming home to something you recognize.

Let’s remember this as our city officials prepare to place their stamp of approval on huge projects that push us closer to the Orange County model.

MICHAEL AITCHISON

Oxnard