For years, a big night at The Collection at RiverPark often meant buying a ticket, finding a seat and watching someone else perform. That ended on August 16, 2026. Over the same months, the center added venues where you do the activity yourself. The evening now runs in a different order. You start by doing something, and Carne, the newest restaurant on Town Center Drive, is where you finish.
None of these changes is surprising alone. Put together, they show how the center plans its evenings now.
The Show Closed, and Nothing Has Replaced It Yet
Levity Live Comedy Club and Copper Blues Rock Pub & Kitchen, which shared 591 Collection Blvd., closed permanently on August 16. The Ventura County Star reported that the closure affected 69 workers. They were the center's live-performance pair, a comedy room next to a rock pub, and their loss leaves the center with no stage.
The Star asked what should go in the space. Community suggestions included Porto's Bakery, an arcade and a live entertainment venue. Those were suggestions, not announcements. As of early October, no replacement tenant has been confirmed for 591 Collection Blvd. Some business pages on The Collection's website still link to the closed venues in their "You May Also Enjoy" sections. Those leftover links are outdated and don't mean either place is open.
The Year Had Already Started Filling In With Places to Play
Comedy clubs and arcades bring in different crowds. Look at which tenants The Collection added this year and you can see it was leaning toward play well before August. Earlier this year, the center announced six new tenants and said they brought it to 95% leased.
The biggest of the six is Activate, an 11,000-square-foot venue on Town Center Drive near H&M. The announcement calls it "the world's first active gaming facility." Players move through interactive challenges built with technology that reacts in real time. The company started in 2017 and now has more than 50 locations across North America, Dubai and the UK.
The Slime Kitchen opened in the same H&M stretch for younger crowds. It offers walk-in slime-making sessions, birthday parties and workshops, and the announcement calls it screen-free fun that mixes art and science. Activate and The Slime Kitchen joined venues that were already there, so the participatory lineup is now one of the deepest in the county.
| Venue | Address | What you're doing |
|---|---|---|
| Activate | 520 Town Center Dr. | Interactive gaming challenges |
| The Slime Kitchen | 502 Town Center Dr. | Making custom slime |
| Lucky Strike | 601 Collection Blvd. | Bowling, arcade, food and drinks |
| The Mighty Axe | 650 Collection Blvd. | Axe throwing, locally crafted ales |
| Red Door Escape Room | The Collection | Escape rooms |
| Century RiverPark 16 & XD | 2766 Seaglass Way | Movies, with a bar on site |
The Collection's Entertainment page currently features Century RiverPark 16 & XD, Activate, Lucky Strike, Red Door Escape Room and The Mighty Axe. The movie theater is the one place left where you sit and watch. Everything else puts you in the game, holding a bowling ball or lining up an axe throw.
The rest of the 2026 tenants follow the same pattern of services and hands-on stops. Phenix Salon Suites opened at 571 Town Center Drive, Hydration Room at 2710 Portico Way, and Pacsun opened a 4,750-square-foot store at 620 Town Center Drive next to The Cheesecake Factory. GoldUnion, a precious metals buyer and seller founded in Paris, was announced for Spring 2026 at 620 Collection Boulevard. Its Collection profile lists that address but doesn't yet say it's open.
Carne Is Where the Evening Lands
A center built around activities needs somewhere to have dinner afterward, and that's the role Carne took on in July. The restaurant held its grand opening on Friday, July 10, at 511 Town Center Dr. According to the West Ventura County Business Alliance, actor Mario Lopez made a special appearance at the ribbon cutting.
The Ventura County Star reported that Carne is owned by Boulevard Hospitality Group, led by CEO and president Freddy Braidi, together with Yamashiro Miami Hospitality Group. It's a Latin live-fire grill. The Business Alliance described the menu as wood-fired premium steaks, fresh seafood and artisan cocktails that draw on Mexico, Spain and the Caribbean. The restaurant's own site describes Argentina-inspired cooking over live fire and handmade tortillas. The menu lists cuts such as picanha, bavette, churrasco and filet mignon.
Carne's happy hour in the bar and on the patio runs Monday through Thursday, 4 to 7 p.m. That window fits the early end of a weeknight, so you can finish a round at Activate or a few frames at Lucky Strike and get a patio table before 7. Hours printed around the grand opening didn't match each other, and The Collection's newer profile says Carne is open seven days a week. Check the restaurant's site before planning a Monday dinner around it.
The center's established drinks options are still within a short walk. Yard House at 501 Collection Blvd. pours imported, craft and specialty ales and lagers. Bottle & Pint at 550 Collection Blvd. has a rotating craft-beer list and an outdoor patio. Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar is at 598 Town Center Drive. Copper Blues used to fill the late-night pub role, and these spots now cover it.
Three Ways to Build the Evening Now
With no stage, the night depends on what you set up yourself. Here's how the pieces above fit together this fall.
- The weeknight version. Book an Activate session or a lane at Lucky Strike. Then walk to Carne's patio for happy hour, which ends at 7.
- The group version. Start at Red Door Escape Room or The Mighty Axe, where groups compete against each other. Afterward, head to Bottle & Pint or Yard House, where there's room for a big table to talk about the results.
- The family version. Give the kids a session at The Slime Kitchen, follow it with a movie at Century RiverPark 16 & XD, and go to Lazy Dog afterward.
Each version starts with an activity and finishes with food. That's the order the center's current tenant list supports.
Two Fall Dates on the Center's Own Calendar
The Collection's seasonal events fit the same pattern, because both of this fall's events ask visitors to take part. A community Día de los Muertos altar opened on October 2 at 6 p.m. with live dance performances and guest speakers. It stays up through November 2 between The Cheesecake Factory and Larsen's Grill. It's within a few storefronts of Pacsun and the rest of Town Center Drive, so you can stop by on your way to dinner.
The second is the Candy Crawl on October 28, from 4 to 6 p.m. It's a free-form family event with trick-or-treating from shop to shop, photo opportunities, a DJ and activities run by nonprofits. No tickets or RSVP are needed. It ends at 6, so families can get to Carne's happy hour or an early movie the same evening.
The Collection's Events page doesn't list any dated holiday events for November or December yet. Earlier years' tree-lighting dates are floating around online, but they shouldn't be taken as this year's schedule until the center posts it.
What Happens at 591 Collection Blvd.
The vacant space is the one big unknown in the center right now. The community ideas the Star collected point in different directions. A Porto's Bakery would add another daytime food stop, an arcade would join the activity venues listed above, and a live entertainment venue would bring back what closed in August. Whichever tenant signs will show whether the center stays focused on play or brings back a stage.
Until then, the most recent opening is Carne at 511 Town Center Dr., where happy hour runs Monday through Thursday until 7 p.m.
Thinking about what changes at The Collection mean for your corner of Oxnard? Juliana Lisheski follows these openings and closings block by block, and she'd be glad to share what she's seeing over dinner on Carne's patio or anywhere else in town. Discover the Ventura Life.
