FEMA Allots Funds to Fix Bottle Village

With $434,000 in FEMA funds almost in hand, art preservationists are laying plans to finally repair the earthquake damage at Simi Valley’s quirky folk-art landmark, Bottle Village.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake shattered the late Tressa “Grandma” Prisbrey’s vision, toppling an estimated 15% of the 78,000 bottles that she had cemented together over the years into a fantasy village of 13 buildings in eastern Simi Valley.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency “was well satisfied” with the preservationists’ aid request, and so signed the documents authorizing the money just last month, FEMA senior analyst Randolph Langenbach said Thursday.

And structural engineer Bud Goldstone said the repair work should begin by February, with workers cleaning up trash from the site and a photographer recording Bottle Village on huge sheets of film.

“At that point, we will have a set of conservators who will go around and identify from their examination--and from a lot of the photos we had from the past--which bottles went with which structures and which artifacts went with the different collections,” Goldstone said. “Grandma Prisbrey collected a lot of things--dolls, pencils, bottles, TV tubes, you name it--and each of those artifacts will wind up going back into the installation.”

A work crew of 12 to 15 people will spend at least a year restoring the site, said Goldstone, who was engineer for restoration of the visionary Watts Towers in Los Angeles.

“It’s truly not very much of a beautiful thing now,” he said of Bottle Village. “But when we’re done, the property is going to be something dashing and attractive and wonderful, and something the people in Simi Valley can be proud of.”