Where a RiverPark Night Out Goes After Levity Live

"Money's hard right now for people," Troy Garcia said in the weeks before the lights went off at Levity Live. "Everyone's struggling and you see it day to day. So it just gets really hard to sell tickets and fill up a showroom for live bands." Garcia had started as a host about ten years earlier and worked his way up to general manager of both Levity Live and Copper Blues. His explanation also describes where evenings at The Collection at RiverPark are heading this fall. The draw is moving away from a ticket at the door and toward a dinner reservation, a rooftop seat at sunset, and a calendar that mostly asks for nothing more than showing up.

The room that held the late hours

The comedy club and its neighbor shared 591 Collection Blvd. They opened in the summer of 2016, taking over the space that had been Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill. Levity Live seated 420 people, and the Ojai Valley News reported that some people were surprised by the closure because the club was seen as an essential entertainment venue for Ventura County. Garcia described what Copper Blues held on a typical night: bands, DJs, dancing, anniversary dinners and weddings.

The last show was Gary Owen on Aug. 16. The Ventura County Star reported that both venues closed permanently that day and that 69 workers were affected. The staff had plenty of warning. A WARN notice went in on June 17, and employees said they had heard about three months ahead of time.

Why the lease ending matters for what comes next

The operator called the closure "the conclusion of our current lease agreement." According to the VC Reporter, CenterCal's director of property management said the lease expired July 31 and the businesses stayed on into August under an extension. She also said the landlord was still in the early stages of planning for the space.

Neither that report nor the Star's Aug. 17 follow-up named a replacement. Readers who answered the Star suggested Porto's Bakery, an arcade or another live entertainment venue. Those are wishes, not plans. The space could end up hosting something to eat, something to play or something to watch, and that open question is why the rest of this fall's changes are worth paying attention to. The evening crowd hasn't gone anywhere. It has simply been spreading out to other spots.

Dinner moved a few doors over to Town Center Drive

The biggest evening addition this year is Carne, a modern Latin steakhouse. It celebrated its grand opening with a West Ventura County Business Alliance ribbon cutting on Friday, July 10, about five weeks before Levity Live closed. The center's listing gives the address as 511 Town Center Drive. Carne serves dinner every day, and on weekends lunch starts at 11:30 a.m.

That puts a sit-down dinner on the same stretch of The Collection that used to fill up for showtimes. It also changes what a night out there looks like. The old plan was dinner first, then a show next door. Now dinner is the main event, and it runs on the restaurant's hours rather than a ticketing schedule.

Five stories up, at the edge of the center

The other new evening spot sits above The Collection. Flora Loca Rooftop Cantina is on the roof of the SpringHill Suites by Marriott Ventura Oxnard, a 121-suite hotel at 801 Town Center Drive that opened Feb. 24, 2026. The opening announcement said the rooftop would open "this summer." In its feature on the cantina, the VC Reporter confirmed it opened in June and said the space was busy "even on a Wednesday evening."

The rooftop is five stories up and open to the air, and it was designed around the view to the west.

"At sunset, the colors really stand out. We definitely designed it with that location in mind." Shaun Sweeney, director of food and beverage for DKN Hotels, which owns both the hotel and Flora Loca

The decor uses terracotta orange, ochre yellow, jungle green and ocean blue. Seating is a mix of tables, couches and club chairs. One practical note: the published hours disagree. Flora Loca's own website lists noon to 9 p.m. every day, while the hotel's Marriott page lists 4 to 9 p.m. every day. Call ahead if you're planning a lunch visit. Either way, the last seating is around 9 p.m., so Flora Loca belongs to the sunset hours rather than late night.

A fall calendar built mostly on free events

Over the summer, The Collection ran Rock the Collection, a free series of tribute concerts held 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Collection Park. The K-Tel All Stars played July 29, DSB on Aug. 12, Twisted Gypsy on Aug. 26, and That's What I Like closed the series on Sept. 9. While ticket sales were getting harder inside the showroom, according to Garcia, live music was happening outdoors across the center for free.

This fall's schedule follows the same pattern:

Visit Oxnard says the tree lighting usually features stage performances, a visit from Santa and, in many years, fireworks. The center's event pages are the place to check for this year's date.

The new tenants lean toward weekday and daytime visits

The newest arrivals at The Collection point the same way as the calendar. The center announced six new tenants for 2026 under a headline saying it had reached 95 percent leased occupancy. The center's directory now shows these as open:

• Hydration Room, a wellness tenant
• Activate, an activity tenant
• Phenix Salon Suites
• Pacsun
• The Slime Kitchen

GoldUnion was announced along with them for spring 2026, but its listing doesn't say it has opened yet. None of the six is a late-night business. With salon appointments, wellness visits, retail and a kids' craft spot, the center's busiest hours are moving earlier in the day, and the single largest vacancy is the space that used to keep the center busy latest at night.

Around the block this fall

Two smaller changes nearby will affect how you get around RiverPark this season.

1. The Central Park fountain is still off. The City of Oxnard finished renovating it in February 2026, replacing the control system and upgrading the lights to LED. During the warranty period, the new material lining the basin began peeling off the old concrete. The city is investigating the cause, and the fountain will stay off until that work is done. The city's project page posts updates, and the Special Districts office can be reached at 805-385-7578.
2. Vineyard Avenue is being repaved. Caltrans is resurfacing more than 14 lane-miles of SR 232 between US 101 and SR 118. Completion is expected in winter 2026/2027. Expect lane work on the main route into RiverPark through the holidays.

Garcia didn't treat the closure as the end of comedy in Ventura County. He said opportunities for comics in the area will keep coming as long as people need to laugh. Whatever goes into 591 Collection Blvd. will be the next sign of where nights out in RiverPark are heading.

At Palmieri Stein Group, we follow changes like the next tenant at 591 Collection Blvd. and what's planned for The Collection because they affect daily life around RiverPark and the golf course communities. If you'd like to hear how these changes look from your own street, let's talk.