1932 – Adolfo Camarillo hosts a barbecue at the Wren’s Nest. The Wren’s NestThere was at one time an improved picnic ground near the base of the east Casitas grade called the Wren’s Nest. It was located outside and just north of the northern boundary of Rancho Casitas and was a popular location for barbecues during the years of the Great Depression.
The Wren’s Nest was a well-known location in 1931. In that year, improvements were made to the highway extending from the
Ojai Valley to Carpinteria over Casitas Pass. A news report of November 30, 1931, stated that, “Bids are now being
advertised for grading a three-mile connection down Santa Ana Creek to the
Wren’s Nest.” The Wren’s
Nest, at the base of the Casitas Grade, was a convenient geographic reference
point.
A fund-raising barbecue to benefit the parochial school at the San Buenaventura
Mission was staged at the Wren’s Nest in 1932. Music was provided by the Happy Mountaineers. “Steer meat for steaks was donated by Adolfo Camarillo and
Hugo McGrath, from their ranches; and the cooking will be supervised by John
Lagomarsino, noted barbecue artist, and a corps of county chefs. Preparations are being made to take care of 500 persons.”
An indication of the exact location of the Wren’s Nest comes from a news
article published in 1935. The
article described a lake that would be created if Coyote Creek were to be
dammed. The description included the following:
Up the Casitas Creek, the water would extend more than half a mile behind the first unit of the dam, which would be 87 feet above bedrock. The next branch would reach a few hundred feet further up Willow Creek to the Wren’s Nest.
This proposed dam was never constructed. It
is apparent from the description that the Wren’s Nest was nestled along Willow
Creek at the base of the Casitas Grade.
The
Wren’s Nest was located on the Wren’s Nest Ranch, owned for a time by Bert
and Francis Hamilton. Bert Hamilton
was owner of the Ventura Manufacturing & Implement Company, and he
originally purchased the property in the 1920s in company with his brother
Chester. Bert later bought out
Chester’s interest.
At
the time the Hamilton’s owned the ranch, there was a cabin there with a large
screened porch, capable of seating fifty persons for a meal. There was also a dance pavilion. Very large barbecues could be staged there, reportedly to a capacity of
5,000 people. Shell Oil Company and
the Elks were among those who held events at the Wren’s Nest.
22 by Richard Hoye
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