There is a strange and bizarre monument to a woman's single handed contribution to folk art located in Simi Valley. It is close to the epicenter of the 1994 earthquake that struck the area and suffered heavy damage as a result, but many of the structures remain. They were built from bottles (because cinder blocks proved too expensive) and items obtained entirely from the local dump. These were originally built to house her pencil collection which numbered 17,000. Tens of thousands of bottles were used in this construction effort, starting in 1956 when she was 60 and continuing for 25 years.
Thirteen structures on a 1/3 acre lot comprise Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village. These two pictures show the caretaker's trailer and the Heart Sculpture made from auto headlights and Milk of Magnesia bottles.
| Looking over a bottle wall at the vestiges of a structure that suffered earthquake damage. |
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| Here is Grandma's Leaning Tower of Bottle Village framed with the doorway of the Rumpus Room behind it. |
| This is a section of the Round House made up of 13,000 amber colored beer bottles. |
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| Some of the pencils that the Bottle Village was originally built to house. |
| Embedded in the cement on the walkways are many items found at the local junkyard including toy guns and license plate frames. |
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The Glitter Pole inside the Round House and a wishing well made from more Milk of Magnesia bottles are the artistic finishing touches to this incredible monument.
