Tropical Fish Store Owner Still Keeping His Head Above Water

Valley resident Mark Weitz opened on Ventura Place way back in 1981. He’s been in the business for 42 years and when he settled here, he joked, they used to call the street “Dead Place” because there was so little traffic on the one block-long street compared with Ventura Boulevard.

Nowadays, the Place is a busy cut-through for traffic but on Sundays the Farmers Market fills it up with produce stalls, food stands and pony rides, blocking all the parking. Between the market and the recession, Weitz’s store has been taking a beating.

The video recorded inside the store reveals the rows upon rows of fresh and saltwater aquariums and gets in close on the glimmering swimmers within. It’s a serene blue zone filled with the sound of bubbling filters. One woman came in just to watch the fish.

In Weitz will not hold back his feelings about a proposal to make Ventura Place into a pedestrians only park.

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