New look for Old World

Josef Bischof can move mountains — and he has the plans to prove it. The founder and original constructor of Old World Village in Huntington Beach is in the process of filing building permits with the city to reconstruct the snow-capped rocky façade adorning the village entrance on Center Street.

After nearly 30 years as a city icon, the time for change has arrived.

The home of the city’s Oktoberfest celebrations needs sprucing up, daughter Cyndie Kasko said. This includes the beer garden and hall, where bands like No Doubt got their start more than a decade ago.

“This was the home of KROQ, where they used to have all of their live events,” Kasko said. “The goal is to get live bands back in here.” Part of the remodel includes sound-proofing the hall so that such concerts can happen again.

Kasko has posted advertisements in several papers to lure some modern shops their way. So far she has hooked a vintage clothing store and a new coffee shop.

Cobantigua, which is currently under it’s own construction at the opposite end of the village, will offer outdoor seating and longer hours, not closing shop until 11 p.m. most nights — a very uncommon concept in Old World.

Most village shops close early, something else Kasko has set in her mind to change.

Five businesses have committed to staying open later, and hopefully they will inspire everyone else to jump on board, Kasko said.

Classy Collectibles owner Don Rand fully supports the longer hours. The remodeling will make the village more prominent and the location more visible because of the influx of traffic generated by Bella Terra, Rand said.

“Because we don’t have any traffic now, it’s hard to stay open longer hours, but if this works, then I think longer hours would be a necessity,” Rand said.

What inspired the change? Well, according to Bischof and Kasko, the little Italy across the street did.

During the Bella Terra construction in 2005, Bischof could be found wandering around the site daydreaming and cooking up plans for his own small slice of Germany.

Village homeowners and the city voted for the project, “now we just [have to] get the plans approved,” Bischof said.

Blueprints were submitted a couple of months ago, and only one thing stands in their way from getting the project rolling, city engineers said.

“The issue from our side is the plans that were brought in needed a structural engineer to be involved, and those plans did not have that,” said Jason Kwak, plan check engineer for the city.

That will be no problem, since homeowners have been trying to get Bischof to tear the mountain down for years, Rand said.

So if you want to see the old village front one last time, bring a camera. It could come down any day now.

“As soon as they tell us we can start, my dad is going to knock it down. And once he starts something, he doesn’t stop until it’s done,” Kasko said.