The Bodger acreage at Ocean Avenue and V Street has been snarled in bureaucracy for years. Bodger heirs want to do something with it. It lies just outside Lompoc city limits. Some people foresee urban sprawl. All parties wonder what gives.
First, the history: Bodger Seed Company grew flower seeds in the Lompoc Valley for 90 years. Five times it planted thousands of flowers to create enormous living American flags.
Lompoc’s 200,000 red, white, and blue larkspur appeared in national newspapers and magazines and on TV. They were photographed from space and drew uncounted tourists, much like rumbles of launches draw them today. Lompoc became Valley of the Flowers and the Bodger flags a destination.