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Home California Ventura County County Simi Valley Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village

Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village

4595 Cochran St, Simi Valley, CA , USA

Latitude & Longitude: 35° 34' 4.0008", -121° 5' 50.7372"
  National Register of Historic Places

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
 
Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments (thematic historical marker). Charles Kasling began sculpturing near Andrade in 1967, and his creations now fill a site of approximately two and a half acres. His style, best described as eclectic, was inspired partly by his world travels with the U.S. Navy and partly by the desert terrain. -121.097427

 
StoppingPoints.com Editorial on Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village:
From the NRHP nomination form:

Charlie's World of Lost Art (Happy Villa)

Charles Kasling
William Averett

These two properties lie side by side to form a unique environment of folk art expression. Averett began constructing his plaques, maps and tableaux in 1965, and was joined by Driftwood Charley in 1967. The property was described by Seymour Rosen as "a kind of above-ground archeological dig with bas relief and miniature villages. His fantasy animals, sourdoughs with donkeys and amorphous shaps populate an almost formal garden. When alone, you get the feeling you are the first person ever to stumble on this lost civilization. You are free to fantasize and make up your own history and myths." (Seymour Rosen, In Celebration of Ourselves, page 135) Although the youngest property included in this folk art nomination, it has received national recognition within the short span of its existence. It was featured in Jan Wampler's book, All Their Own: People and the Places They Build, and occupies a prominent portion of Seymour Rosen's In Celebration of Ourselves, which resulted from Rosen's noted Bicentennial exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, In Celebration of Ourselves—California. The property has had some vandalism in the last few years; it is a special, fragile environment which is of exceptional quality and importance, definitely worthy of recognition and preservation.

Last updated: 2/15/2016 21:05:00
 
   
 
 
Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village Historical Marker Location Map, Simi Valley, California Map