Home » southern california » A City Named After a Raven?

A City Named After a Raven?

Posted on by
Martine Communing with Bob’s Big Boy

Martine Communing with Bob’s Big Boy

For those of us who grew up in Cleveland, Oxnard is the name of TV Host Ghoulardi’s pet raven. For residents of Southern California, it is also a nondescript agrarian city in nearby Ventura County famous for its strawberries, and home to the Murphy Auto Museum.

Now that tax season is over, Martine and I decided to take a road trip to Oxnard, driving along the coast through Malibu past Point Mugu until we reached distant Oxnard. There, we located the Murphy Auto Museum near the corner of Statham and Oxnard and spent three hours looking at the old cars, exhibits of nostalgic memorabilia, and a huge HO model railroad setup that made me green with envy. (Of course, if I had a model railroad setup in my apartment, I would have to construct tunnels consisting of books.)

1930s Packard Hood Ornament

1930s Packard Hood Ornament

Unlike the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar and the Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A., the Murphy has cars that are more likely to have been driven: There is no “Mint in Box” feeling about the displays. There is no plethora of Rolls Royces, Talbot Lagos, Duesenbergs, Bugattis, and Bentleys—but there are lots of great American cars from the 1920s onward, plus specialty items such as early camping trailers and an intriguing collection of Volkswagens.

My guess is that we’ll probably be back later this year. I guess we were swayed by the charms of Oxnard.

4 thoughts on “A City Named After a Raven?”

  2. Somewhere there is a raven
    Named Bob’s Big Boy
    I would name one here
    but the crows are so large
    I can’t tell the difference
    And then Mickey D’s
    is about the only burger franchise
    and that only because
    tourist kids would starve
    and the phantasm town council
    would have nowhere to meet :)

  3. Two of my cousins had a huge model railroad set up as kids. The house had a large enough attic that you could stand up in most of it and their trains too it over. I used to love watching – probably they were thrilled to show it off too.

  4. Erin – He said Caw Caw, but he caused problems by relieving himself on top of Ghoulardi’s WJM colleagues.

    Tom – Alas, Mickey D’s. Yech.

    Dagny – I used to have a Lionel O-Gauge set-up, and I used it intensively for about twelve years when it just stopped running.

Comments are closed.