Ramon and I took an adventure down to a Saticoy, to see a historical landmark of theirs that is B&J’s Drive In. This drive-in has been in Saticoy forever, but it didn’t earn its name until about 60 years ago. The Jenkins family were the long time owners but it is now owned by Alfredo M. We got to sit down and have an in-depth interview with him that you can watch above ^ He talks about how he came to own B&J’s, restaurant struggles, what he hopes for their future and more! Here’s the food we tried during our visit!
Corn Burritos
Rating —-> Ramon: 7 Valerie: 7.5
These burritos are county famous, they are definitely something that helped put B&J’s on the map! They are a crispy, salty, cheesy treat. The bean filling adds a level of protein that helps make you full off of these alone!
Old Fashioned Combo
Rating —> Ramon: 9.9 Valerie: 9.9
This one was definitely both of our favorites. This burger was packed to the nines with 2 patties, an onion ring, bacon and other traditional burger toppings. Even though it sounds like a lot, it melded together beautifully. Everything complimented each other, it’s definitely big enough that you can share between 2 people!
Lemon Pepper Wings
Rating —> Ramon: 8 Valerie: 7.5
The wings were crispy and tangy from the lemon pepper sauce. Such a chill food to share among with friends. Would’ve loved to have more of a peppery kick to them, more on the mild side.
Chili Cheese Fries
Rating —> Ramon: 8.5 Valerie: 9
These chili cheese fries were very honestly the bomb.com. They are super cheesy, crispy and savory! The crinkle fries have nice ridges to hold the chili so you can get everything in one bite. Everyone I know that knows B&J’s always recommends!
B&J’s is a welcoming family friendly environment! They have annual toy drives and cruise and chill days. They make the Saticoy community proud and continue to carry on the legacy that is B&J’s. Such a variety of food and very affordable. Such an amazing experience! Thank You Alfredo for giving us your time and resources, we wish you the very best of luck!
Image depicts the market’s March event linked from dnfmarket
From nostalgic toys to hip hop dancing, the Dated ‘N Faded night market is not your typical pop-up event. Vendors, performers, and attendees from and around Ventura County come with eagerness looking for the next big thing. Dated ‘N Faded is a free night market open to all ages and is hosted every 3 months at Ventura’s Topa Topa Brewing Co. With about 40 vendors of all sorts, this night market builds its own cultural curation through live entertainment, fashion, music, food, drinks, and more!
Dated ‘N Faded Origins
Established in 2023 and soon approaching their one year anniversary, Dated ‘N Faded is more than just a night market. It is where one brand brings three friends closer together to serve Ventura County, all starting with the South-Oxnard based brand, Retour. Retour is a streetwear clothing brand inspired by Oxnard culture founded by clothing designer Ryan Yere, and co-founders Byron Bucao, and Steve Rivera, all of whom share the same vision for the brand: “Our story, through product, vintage curation”. This mission statement is extended onto the Dated ‘N Faded market, as Ryan Yere described during his time on the Capsul Talk podcast. Retour embodies the story of the city of Oxnard and its culture, bringing forward the talent in the community and strives to carry that purpose with Dated ‘N Faded. While all the creators are multi-hyphenates, this market heavily reflects the creators’ main influences: Ryan in clothing design, Steve in vintage clothing, and Byron in choreography and photography. They venture to showcase the community’s creativity by opening up this platform in collaboration with local talent.
The Experience
After having attended their fourth event, I can confidently say that talent from the Ventura County community reflects identity through their craft. Every event hosted comes with its own unique theme, and coincides with the Retour merch drops posted on their main Instagram accounts dnfmarket and retourco. The announcement of this recent event, which took place on March 16, 2024, featured a Chicano-esque theme along with the market’s reappearing astronaut figure. (see above image)
Navigating through the bustling crowd during the live stream on vcsocialbrand‘s Instagram account, I saw both the revival of old trends and timeless fashion. One of my favorite booths I came across was a ‘90’s/00’s photo-op with airbrushed backdrops, hosted by pdogs00snaps, showcasing this trend that is resurgent, predominantly within the Latino community.
Chiquesfc had a creative storefront display (in collaborations with serhumano.ig and apartworldwide), featuring day-to-day products found in Latino households, to represent a part of their clothing brand De un Campo a Otro. The other part is represented through their clothing designs which highlight the story of hardworking field workers from Oxnard. The word “Chiques” in the brand name refers to an Oxnard nickname coming from the city’s first established neighborhood, La Colonia. As a connection to the mexican community, “Chiques” is a term that has been recoined from being a gang related label to a positive form of identity in which Pacifica High School teacher Cesar Calderon told the VC Star journalist Wendy Leung, “Chiques means Oxnard […] it means that fighting spirit of you making it out and proving them wrong.” All this comes together as a form of empowerment where providing representation for farm workers carries that identity of a fighter who pushes through with resilience.
Of course, we also saw the partnership between the co-founder’s businesses, Retour and Stevescloset99 as they shared the same booth. Besides sharing the same brand vision, story through product, co-founders Ryan and Byron collaborated with Capsul Talk to host a Q&A panel where selected local business owners and creatives got to interact and share answers to the public’s questions.
Multiple booths displayed their best curated streetwear, vintage apparel, jewelry, toothgems, tattoos, dance and music performances, food, drinks, and much more than I could describe here in this blog. Thanks to the teams at Topa Topa Brewing Co., Retour and Dated ‘N Faded who support the mission of providing a platform for cultural curation and storytelling in collaboration with local creatives and small businesses, curating a space for all. If you’ve made it this far into the blog, follow dnfmarket on Instagram, where you can follow along to hear more about their first upcoming anniversary event in May 2024, and connect with the rest of the previous vendors, with their own resilient stories to share.
VC Social 