Irma Cabrera and daughter Vanessa Pivaral are leaving their downtown Oceanside business home after 29 years.

Irma Cabrera has seen major changes in downtown Oceanside since her hair salon opened 29 years ago.

Vanessa’s Hair Salon, named for her then four-year-old daughter, was right across the street from the newly-built Oceanside City Hall.

“You could find places to park all up and down the street,” recalls Cabrera. “Now some days I can’t even find a place to park myself.”

Cabrera says she always paid rent on time, and made over $10,000 in building improvements. “We asked to get reimbursed but they only gave us a check for $1,000,” says daughter Vanessa Pivaral who helps her mom on the business end. She said they just accepted their landlord was just not into making repairs.

The City of Oceanside gives free rent to the Chamber of Commerce.

Pivaral knew the four-unit building, at 510-512 Civic Center Drive used to be the home of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce. But she says she was never clear who her landlord was. “Appraisers [recently] walked through the building but they never identified themselves, They kept everything secret. We always dealt with Doug Thompson of Pacific Coast Real Estate. That’s who we paid rent to.”

In April Pivaral says she and her mom were told by Thompson that the building might be sold. “He told us that it wasn’t set in stone but that he thought we would be given six months to find a new place to move. We thought we would have until the end of the year to find a new place.”

On May 19, Vanessa and her mom were served with a 30-day eviction notice. “We were blind sided.” Not only by the surprise eviction, but by who owned the building. “No one here knew it was owned by the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce. The other three tenants including an irrigation company and a sign company were also sent packing with a 30-day notice sent by the chamber.

Oceanside Chamber of Commerce executive director Scott Ashton would not say if his PAC gives campaign donations to city council candidates to insure free rent.

“It was all a big secret what was going on,” says Pivaral. “We were all given different stories about what was going to happen. We also heard it might be preserved because it is a historical building.”

Records show that the 5,000 square foot property was purchased by Thomas Weese of Pacific Palisades for $1.5-million. Weese did not return a request for comment about his plans for the 5000-square-foot lot. The Oceanside planning department shows that zoning rules would allow the property, roughly one-tenth of an acre, to be replaced with four stories of residential/commercial mixed-use buildings.

Property manager Doug Thompson said all questions about the property and the evictions could only be answered by Scott Ashton, CEO/executive director of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce.

The mission statement of the Oceanside Chamber says it exists to provide resources to “help businesses and our community thrive.” So how could the Chamber as a landlord treat four tenant businesses with such seeming disrespect?

Ashton was specifically asked via email why the chamber only gave a 30-day notice and kept things so secret. He would not answer.

Roddy Browning is a member of the Oceanside Chamber who owns commercial property in downtown Oceanside. His Mission Avenue property formerly housed a gift store and currently is home to his own Flying Pig restaurant. "I'm sure [the 30-day eviction] is legal," he says. "But me personally, if I was a tenant landlord, I would have given them 60 days if not more. I can't imagine relocating my business in two months much less one.”

Ashton ducked this question: What did the Chamber do with $269,000 it took out in loans against the 510-512 Civic Center Drive property since, according to its tenants, none of that money was used for improvements for that property.

One irony is that the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce does not itself have to pay rent. The city of Oceanside Chamber gets free rent at its home for the last 20 years at 928 North Coast Highway. “Their promotion of the city and operation of the [adjacent] Welcome Center is considered rent paid,” says city attorney John Mullen about the 6000 square-foot property that houses the visitor center

The chamber has increasingly become political since Ashton took the reins in 2016. The chamber’s PAC has become active under Ashton as it has contributed campaign cash to a majority of the city council. It gave $6000 each to Peter Weiss and Ryan Keim, and $2500 to Rick Robinson.

The city council will vote in two years whether to re-up the chamber’s free-rent status.

In December 2018 Ashton lobbied to get a member of the chamber’s board of Directors, Kevin Witowich, appointed to the city council. That effort was not successful

Ashton regularly shows up to speak at city council meetings on behalf of high-density developments as they come before the council. Some of those developers contributed to the chamber and/or its PAC including the the controversial North River Farms. Ashton had no comment if there was a quid pro quo connection between his support for projects tied to donations from their proponents.

Meanwhile some of Irma’s regulars had thoughts about the closure of Vanessa’s Beauty Salon home of nearly 30 years: “This makes me cry,” says Annette Marie. “Your mom did my first homecoming updo in ‘09, She is a wonderful lady and a great asset to the Oceanside community. I drive by her shop every day and always admired how long she has stayed in business.”

“I’m sorry to hear the situation you are forced into,” says Kirsten Helle Sandoval. “There are so many longtime, original local-owned Oceanside businesses being forced into this situation and it makes me very sad…The city needs to find a balance between progress and keeping the heart of Oceanside alive.”

Irma says she will serve her customers at My Salon Suites on Oceanside Boulevard until she find a new home for her shop.

“We have people who were brought in here as kids who are now coming back bringing their parents and grandparents,” says Pivaral. “I don’t want to sound negative. We are thankful to have been such a part of the community for so long. But people are seeing change. They are starting to eliminate the heart of Oceanside.”