Surrounded by steeply sloped hillsides, Foster Park was a tiny rural community that took shape during the oil boom of the 1920s. It was situated at a bend on Highway 33 adjacent to Foster Memorial Park, for which it was named. Among the 50 or so homes was a thriving business district that most notably included a dance hall hosting musical greats of the time--such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Everly Brothers--and a saloon equipped with a boxing ring. The Ventura River, once loaded with giant steelhead trout, and the Southern Pacific Railroad both ran through the town. It has been described as unreal by some and a rural slum by others. With the makings of a Norman Rockwell portrait, it came to its end in the mid-1960s to make room for the hotly contested extension of the Ojai Freeway. To younger generations and newcomers of the area, Foster Park's former existence is virtually unknown.
Surrounded by steeply sloped hillsides, Foster Park was a tiny rural community that took shape during the oil boom of the 1920s. It was situated at a bend on Highway 33 adjacent to Foster Memorial Park, for which it was named. Among the 50 or so homes was a thriving business district that most notably included a dance hall hosting musical greats of the time--such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Everly Brothers--and a saloon equipped with a boxing ring. The Ventura River, once loaded with giant steelhead trout, and the Southern Pacific Railroad both ran through the town. It has been described as unreal by some and a rural slum by others. With the makings of a Norman Rockwell portrait, it came to its end in the mid-1960s to make room for the hotly contested extension of the Ojai Freeway. To younger generations and newcomers of the area, Foster Park's former existence is virtually unknown.
