German-born businessman Josef Bischof — who built Old World Huntington Beach and Alpine Village in Torrance as replica European villages that hosted Oktoberfest celebrations drawing revelers from across Southern California — died last week. He was 95.
Bischof remained active at Old World Huntington, his residence and workplace, when a fall on the property about five years ago led to a long recuperation that ended the morning of Sept. 10, when the nonagenarian passed away under the care of home health nurses and surrounded by family.
“He was taken care of like a king. They just doted over him like no other,” daughter Cyndie Tasko said Tuesday of her father’s caregivers, Nilda and Angie. “They filled the house with music, and he loved his German polkas.”
Bischof’s death comes nearly 15 years to the day after the passing of his wife, Dolores, on Sept. 18, 2010 and three days into this year’s Oktoberfest celebration at the Old World’s Biergarten.
An at-times contentious figure, the German developer made headlines in the 1980s and ’90s over controversial actions, disputes with a Jewish tenant and reportedly allowing Nazi sympathizers to book events at the Orange County complex.
His upbringing and culture lent Bischof’s business ventures an authenticity that continues to attract visitors to the 9-acre Huntington Beach site and its shops, markets, restaurants and venues.
Born on Christmas Day in 1929 to a family of farmers who maintained lands in the Bavarian village of Gaukönigshofen, a young Bischof’s dream of tailoring high-end fashions was thwarted by the economic realities of post-World War II Germany.
So, in 1952, he and a friend immigrated to the United States and eventually settled in the Los Angeles area, where Bischof was able to ply his trade with wealthy customers. He fell in with other German expatriates, bonding over a love of club soccer and going to dances on the weekends, according to Kasko.
That’s how he met Dolores MacGee, the American-born daughter of a German family who’d also lived there during the war. They were wed in 1955 and, four years later, had a son, Bern.
The young family was visiting Ports O’ Call Village in San Pedro when Bischof was struck by an idea, according to his daughter.
She said he fell in love with the imitation fishing village that was popular with tourists and locals alike and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to build a German town,” Kasko recalled.
He and Dolores drafted plans for what would become Alpine Village — a Bavarian-inspired marketplace of shops with products designed for a German clientele. On a handshake deal, they’d secured a $1-million loan and, in 1964, the 14-acre site opened in Torrance.
Wanting to duplicate the success of Alpine Village, while adding a residential component, Bischof later purchased 9 acres of farmland off the 405 Freeway and created Old World Village, which hosted its first Oktoberfest in 1975 and officially opened one year later.
The Bischof family sold Alpine Village in 2023 but still retains ownership of Old World Huntington and a house on the property, where Kasko and older brother Bernie continue to live and work.
In addition to an annual Oktoberfest, the site hosts concerts and annual festivals for plums, pretzels and sausages as well as a German Christmas Market and wiener dog races, organized and staffed by Bischof’s children, grandchildren and a core group of employees. Several events raise funds for local organizations, including the Kiwanis Club of Huntington Beach.
Kasko said her father seemed aware in his final days his passing would coincide with Oktoberfest.
“I think he was bummed he wasn’t going to make it — it was his favorite time of year,” she said Tuesday. “But God was calling, so he had to go home.”
Bischof is preceded in death by wife Dolores Rose Bischof. He is survived by children Bern Bischof and Cyndie Kasko, along with grandsons Markus and Matthaeus Bischof, Ronin (and Carly) Kasko and Victoria Ava (and James) Vandesteeg.
A memorial service is planned for Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. at Old World Church, 7561 Center Ave., in Huntington Beach, to be followed by that day’s Oktoberfest activities at 6 p.m.