Simi Valley Is Changing. Which Parts Are Still Worth Holding On To?
Daniel Jordan 
(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — Drive through Simi Valley and you’ll notice it. Something feels different. More and more places we thought would always be there are suddenly gone. Just recently, we found out Corner Bakery has permanently closed. And a few months ago we saw Black Bear Diner, Party City, and even TGI Fridays become boarded up.
Even the streets feel quieter some days, like the volume has been turned down on a town that, just a few years ago, seemed much livelier.
There’s no question, Simi is changing. Some of that change is good — new faces, new businesses, new energy. But some of it feels like something important is slipping away. Not in some dramatic, movie-ending kind of way, but quietly, in small bits. A store here. A restaurant there. A neighbor picking up suddenly, to move out of state. That’s the kind of change that sneaks up on a place.
At CLAIR, we’ve been paying attention to this for a long time. And it’s exactly the reason why we started this publication.
Do you remember when the Elephant Bar first opened? People, at the time, thought it was the coolest new restaurant ever. It had the same grand opening energy Cork & Batter had a few months ago.
Alphy’s Coffee Shop
And going waaaay back – What about Alphy’s Coffee Shop? In the spot where Beeps Diner sits right now. Back in the day, everyone ate breakfast at Alphy’s. They even had a smoking section.
Golden Phoenix Low
And by far, the best Chinese food restaurant Simi has ever known was Golden Phoenix Low. It was run by Leon Mah, famous for saying, “You like my food, you come back. You don’t, you go to the other guy.” – Did you know, there is an attic in Simi Valley where much of the old decor and furniture from the Golden Phoenix still sits in storage?
And it’s not just the surface-level stuff that Simi people think about — it’s the emotional stuff too. The moments and so many other places that we still remember.
Share your Simi Story
That’s what CLAIR is here for. Not to be the loudest voice in town, or the first to break hard news, but to help us remember — and talk about some of the people before their stories are completely forgotten.
My wife and I moved here in 1968, into a Larwin home, for $24,000.00. It was a beautiful community of historic families and new families like us. Today, Simi Valley is a town (or City) we don’t recognize. The question raised frequently is why don’t citizens support businesses here and go outside the Valley to shop and eat? The opinions are many but a good answer has never been accepted by anyone. Clair has been a welcome addition to our community and is very much appreciated. Thank you.
Some are corporate locations, some are small businesses. The reasons are both many and few at the same time. In the here and now, the two I lend the most weight to; fickle, easily bored customers looking for something new to families feeling the price of everything going up while salaries stagnate. Anyone could write a multi-volume thesis on the issue.