KOCT Camera Crew Focuses on Downtown Oceanside

Could anyone really spend an entire day enjoying downtown Oceanside?

A lot of people, who haven't been in the area for a while, wouldn't think so, says Janene Possell Shepherd, producer of a new half-hour television show, “Discover Downtown.”

The show sets out to show just how it could be done.

Shepherd shot most of the show, to air on public-broadcasting station , last week, taking cameras from restaurants to theaters to a clothing store to an old church.

In the evening, there were night shots to get of the neon at the movie theaters.

And, of course, she wanted to photograph MainStreet Oceanside's iconic on Thursday night.

The program is the brainchild of Rick Wright, chief executive officer of .  He approached Tom Reeser, KOCT's chief exec, who liked the idea – but didn't have a budget to produce it.

So, MainStreet is providing about $5,000 for the production costs.

The program, Wright said, helps meet the nonprofit MainStreet's goal for 2012 to promote downtown Oceanside businesses.

“It's a significant investment on our part,” he said.

Wright chose the first locations: , , , boutique and and arranged with their owners for televised interviews.

The idea, Shepherd said, is that a visitor can have a meal at the diner, stop by the coffee shop for a drink or dessert, shop at the boutique, visit an historic church with a beautiful rose window and go to the theater - all in one day of visiting downtown Oceanside

“It's eclectic,” Shepherd said, “but then downtown Oceanside is eclectic.”

Matt Bayer at Pier View Coffee said after his session before the new cameras of KOCT's Jake Rush that “it was a good experience.”

At first, Bayer said, he was “freaking out a little bit” at the sight of the television crews and equipment, but he got through the 10-minute interview where he was asked why he had decided to open in downtown Oceanside and what kinds of products he provided.

The cameras also shot scenes of drinks being prepared and sandwiches being made, Bayer said, and were on site at Pier View Way and Cleveland Street about 45 minutes.

Sharon Olloqui at Ensemble, 301 Mission Ave.,  said being on camera isn't her thing.

But, she said, she's willing to do ”anything to promote my business. I like to sell my (women's and men's) clothes”.  The store has been downtown almost four years.

 Other interviews were with Perry Roumbos at the Breakfast Club Diner California restaurant, Pier View and Coast Highway; the Rev. Michael Diaz (“Father Mike”) at the church, Pier View and Ditmar Street; and with David Schulz and Sandra Kopitzke, managing artistic director and resident music director respectively, at the Star Theatre, Civic Center Drive and Coast Highway.

Meanwhile, Shepherd said, the was holding a ribbon-breaking activity at the nearby , so that is included in the show as well.

While at the Brooks, the cameras captured a couple of lines of the once viral, to use a new term, song “Downtown,” a worldwide hit in late 1964-1965 after it had been recorded by British chanteuse Petula Clark.

Shepherd said she is trying to clear permission to use the snippet of the song with its British composer, Tony Hatch.

Wright said he isn't sure when the editing will be done and the show will be broadcast.

However, he said he's really looking forward to its success, and he would like to produce a total of six shows throughout the year.

But he admitted that “putting these things together can get extremely complicated.”

Shepherd already can think of “a whole lot of other places” such as the and the where visitors can come to spend another day in downtown Oceanside.

And, she said, the aim is not just to entice out-of-area tourists but to interest residents of North County, who may not have ventured to downtown Oceanside in years. 

Article by Lola Sherman. Photos by Janene Shepherd and Rick Wright