WISH YOU WERE HERE : TIME-TRAVEL TO OXNARD HISTORY LIVES IN CITY'S LOVINGLY RESTORED SPACES.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

In a world of dazzling resort towns, Oxnard has always been a sort of municipal Rodney Dangerfield. Teased and tormented by everybody from Johnny Carson to ALF because of its name - the Oxnard brothers operated the sugar beet factory that helped put the town on the map - it got no respect at all.

But all that's in the past, at least for people in the know - people who like clean beaches, strawberries with whipped cream, Victorian houses and top-drawer artwork. Thousands of visitors will head to Oxnard for the 13th annual California Strawberry Festival on May 18 and 19.

The town's centerpiece attraction is Heritage Square, a block of Victorian homes rescued from developers' bulldozers and moved to a once-vacant lot bordered by A, B, Seventh and Eighth streets. A combination of private funding and city redevelopment money turned 15 shabby buildings into stunning showpieces that house offices, shops, a wedding chapel, a reception and banquet hall, and a little theater company.

Two California bungalows recently were rescued and restored on a site across Seventh Street, ``and we're hoping we can restore the old Oxnard Hotel and turn it into offices,'' said Gary Blum, site manager and the great-grandson of one of the farming families whose restored home is in the square. Blum leads 45-minute tours of the square, giving visitors a glimpse of beveled and stained-glass windows, fancy woodwork, mantelpieces and chandeliers - plus some tidbits about the people who built and lived in the farmhouse and mansions.

For example, the 1896 Queen Anne-style Petit House, which Blum restored, was so run-down that the builder's heir planned to let the fire department burn it down for firefighting practice.

Today, the old home is perhaps the finest in the square, with its gray and white paint, its turret and its fancy porch railings. Inside, Blum shares office space with an insurance company and other businesses; the basement houses the Elite Theatre Company's 48-seat theater.

Across the brick courtyard stands Heritage Square Hall, built in 1906 in the Carpenter Gothic style and restored to act as a chapel for weddings and other services and ceremonies. ``We average about a wedding a weekend during the high season,'' Blum said.

A Queen Anne home built in 1887 by David Todd Perkins, who would become president of Union Oil Co. and a state assemblyman, now houses a Christian Science Reading Room and offices.

The John Scarlett home, a one-story bungalow with new, but antique-looking, beveled glass and an impressive porch, was one of the homes moved into Oxnard about 1900 because the demand for houses was greater than builders could supply.

Not far from Heritage Square is the town's other favorite spot for tourists - Fisherman's Village at Channel Islands Harbor. The Cape Cod structures at the harbor were carefully crafted to look like an old East Coast seaport - complete with its own Maritime Museum. There's even a lighthouse, but it's just for looks.

The village lines the harbor's northern shore, featuring a half-dozen seafood restaurants, art galleries and shops, and visitors can stroll a cobblestone walkway that skirts the inlets where the fishing boats tie up with their catches at the end of the day while hungry gulls screech and swoop overhead.

The Maritime Museum, which houses models of ships - from man's earliest effort at sailing the seas to the men-of-war of the English Navy - also includes a gallery of sea and ship paintings, a model-building workshop and its own library.

MEMO: If you've got a favorite getaway you'd like to share with Daily News readers, drop us a postcard. Include your name and a daytime telephone number. Send it to: Wish You Were Here L.A. Life Daily News P.O. Box 4200 Woodland Hills, Calif. 91365-4200

Art, architecture and strawberries

Heritage Square tours are given between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays; tours meet at the Visitors Center, 715 S. A St., next to the water tower. Suggested donation is $2 per person.

Local florists and growers will decorate homes and the museum with spring flowers. Refreshments include a selection of gourmet strawberry desserts, coffee and tea. A silent auction of the flower arrangements will close the tours at 4 p.m. at Heritage Square.

The Carnegie Art Museum, one of many libraries built in the early 1900s by a Carnegie grant, is now the county's only museum solely dedicated to fine arts. Exhibits change regularly. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $2 for adults, $1.50 for seniors, $1 for children ages 6-16. Information: [phone].

The Maritime Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday. There is no admission fee, but donations are suggested. Information: [phone].

The Oxnard area produces more than 260 million pounds of the sweet, red berries annually, and plates and bowls of them will be ready to tempt appetites at the 13th annual California Strawberry Festival, which runs May 18 and 19 in Oxnard's College Park, 3250 Rose Ave.

The festival also offers more than 240 booths displaying and selling paintings, sculptures, photography, ceramics, jewelry and clothing as well as music, dancing, clowns, a petting zoo, puppet shows, jugglers and train rides on the Strawberry Express.

Tickets are available at the gate for $6 for adults and $4 for children ages 2-12; parking is free. Information: [phone].

For more information, call the Oxnard Tourism Bureau at [phone] or Heritage Square at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: In Oxnard's Heritage Square, refurbished Victor ian homes have been turned into shops and offices.

Box: Art, architecture and strawberries (See text)