Bottle Village May Get Some Liquid Assets

Simi Valley Councilwoman Barbra Williamson said a sizable amount of money may be on the way to help restore the city’s quirky testament to folk art, Bottle Village.

Williamson told the council this week that some “very serious money” may be on the way to help restore Bottle Village, which was damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Contacted later, Williamson said she could not comment on how much money might be funneled toward a restoration project other than it could be enough to complete all the work and that it is coming from a private source.

“I’m trying to do some housecleaning around here and the sooner this gets put together, the better,” she said. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy, so there’s not too much more I can say about it.”

Bottle Village supporters said they have not heard of the possible grant.

An architectural folly to some and a whimsical model of American folk art to others, Bottle Village was built by the late Tressa “Grandma” Prisbrey on a parcel off Cochran Street in the east part of Simi Valley.

She spent almost three decades cobbling together the 33 buildings made with beer bottles and decorated withdollheads, toothbrushes and other material scrounged from scrap yards or collected by friends before she died in 1988 at age 92.

Six years later, the Northridge quake toppled a few of the glass buildings and severely damaged the rest.

FEMA pledged $447,000 to restore the site, which has been classified a historic landmark.

But after a hard-nosed petition drive by Councilwoman Sandi Webb and Congressman Elton Gallegly, the FEMA grant was revoked. Gallegly went so far as to promise to raise $5,000 to raze Bottle Village.

Though Bottle Village supporters vowed to appeal FEMA’s revocation, their request was turned down.

But a grant would go a long way toward repairing the damage in hopes of opening Bottle Village again to the public.

“The quicker we can get this cleaned up, the better,” Williamson said.