page_title: Wagon Wheel, Oxnard, California
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Wagon Wheel, Oxnard, California / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Wagon Wheel Motel, Oxnard CA, USA. Office and restaurant with motel rooms at rear. 2005 photo by schafphoto.
context_page_description: Wagon Wheel, Oxnard, California was originally developed as an office, motel and restaurant complex located in Oxnard, California, at the intersection of U.S. Route 101 and Pacific Coast Highway. Wagon Wheel Junction's convenient roadside location near the historic community of El Rio, California made it a popular stop for travelers between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, particularly during its heyday in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It was demolished in 2011 as the area is being developed into 1500 residential units.
  The Wagon Wheel Bowling Alley was a 32-lane bowling alley built in the Wagon Wheel Junction across the street from the Wagon Wheel Motel in 1953. Designed by the Beverly Hills architect, Arthur Froehlich, known for his mid-century supermarkets and racetracks including the Hollywood Park Racetrack, and the Hanna Barbera Studio in Los Angeles 1962. The building had planer wall surfaces, an over-scaled wing wall and plate glass windows; the bowling alley included a restaurant and banquet room and was an example of the type of reductive Modernism that enjoyed great popularity in the mid-century. The bowling alley was known as Hoberg's after its proprietor, Ed Hoberg.
context_section_description: Constructed in 1947, it was the first development by Oxnard developer Martin V. ("Bud") Smith. The Wagon Wheel Motel and Restaurant were part of a 40-acre (16 ha) mid-century real estate development in north Oxnard, California called the Wagon Wheel Junction. Before Smith purchased the land in 1945, it was prone to flooding, and was not actually in the city of Oxnard, but situated four miles (6 km) north of Oxnard and six miles (10 km) south of Ventura. After its completion, it became mid-century roadside attraction on the 101 Ventura Freeway in Ventura County.
  During excavation of the site, Smith uncovered branding irons from the Hobson Brothers' feed lot operations in the area in the 1920s, and he used this as the basis for his western theme. He began with the repurposing of surplus Seabee barracks won at auction in Port Hueneme, which he relocated in the typical sweeping U shape of period motels. It was the pre-pool era so the rooms all faced a grassy play area with picnic tables. He cut some of the barracks in half and transformed others into a restaurant and office with a western ranch style.
  He hired Hollywood set designer and carpenter Roy Beatty to design and create wrought iron lamps from branding irons and spurs, and furnish the original rooms with rustic wood beds, chairs and lamps. The theme for the property was typical of the then popular cowboy movies, with windows made from wagon wheels, and cowhide chairs in the restaurant. Along the highway real wagon wheels were placed in the median next to a rustic wooden sign that read:
  WAGON WHEEL MOTEL
  NEW AND MODERN
  BREAKFAST SERVICE DAY AND NIGHT
  SINGLE $3 DOUBLE $4
  FAMILY SUITES
  Smith had 40 acres (16 ha) to develop, and the area soon had a bowling alley, shopping center, roller skating rink, industrial units, and a row of restaurants. These were all located on streets with wild-west names like Winchester Dr., Petticoat Lane, Saddle Ave., and Buckaroo Dr. His restaurant row included the Wagon Wheel Steakhouse, the El Ranchito and the Trade Winds Polynesian restaurant.
  When Bud Smith shifted into semi-retirement in the mid 1990s, his company, Martin V. Smith and Associates was the biggest developer and landlord in Oxnard with some 4500 tenants and over 200 properties from Calabasas to Santa Maria. Rather than retire and vacate his office on the 21st story of the Financial Plaza tower, he divested himself of most of his properties, but he kept the Wagon Wheel.
caption: The Wagon Wheel's Office and Restaurant as viewed from the 101 freeway before being closed in 2005.
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