All About Ventura, California.

All About Ventura, California.

by Liv | Published on April 26th, 2007, 5:54 pm | Travel

So I'm continuing to set the backdrop for our upcoming cross country blogging adventure that takes Greensboring 2600 miles to California. Sure while we're there we'll say hello to family, but our main purpose in going is "you" the reader of Greensboring.

You might be asking yourself "where the hell is Ventura?" but you may not know you might have already seen it. Ventura is a common backdrop for Hollywood, like the above clip from "Little Miss Sunshine" where they drive off the 101 near downtown Ventura, and end up down by the Holiday Inn which has this huge rotating rotunda on top of it. Ventura has been seen in Erin Brockovich, Terminator 2, Swordfish and about 100 other movies.

Down the road from Ventura is the old mental hospital of the famed song "Hotel California" by the eagles. The hospital has now been turned into the Channel Island's University.

Ventura's history is fairly short even though it's only 50 miles from Los Angeles, it was basically cut off from civilization until the 1960's when the 101 was carved out the mountain ridges now known as the Conejo Grade. Most interesting, and least documented history I ever learned about Ventura while living there was a giant dam breaking and unleashing a 30 foot tidal waves in the early 1900's. Supposedly coffins floated down roadways, and bodies were swept out to sea. Nothing like that happened why I was there, not even a earthquake.

The city's most unique feature is Grant park, a Griffith park want-to-be, that has replaced the Hollywood sign with a giant cross and a gun range. When I say this is the west coast version of Greensboro, I'm not lying.

You Know You're From Ventura When...
you know the real name is San Buenaventura

you've eaten at Denny's at 2 am

you know what the Avenue, Pierpont, Saticoy, and Montalvo are

you've never seen a white Christmas

you hardly ever go to the beaches in Ventura

you know the Santa Clara river is there, it's just always dried up

you know the names of explorers but only because every middle school is named after one

you laugh at the OC and are glad you don't live there cause you know what it's really like

your favorite place to eat is Snapper Jack's

you've seen Kevin Costner at the Buena Ventura game

you avoid the 101 on Sundays because of all the traffic heading into LA

you're darn proud of the landmarks we have, including the two trees, the cross, and the mission

you complain its sooo hot when it reaches above 75

you complain its sooo cold when it reaches below 50

you understand the meaning of cross town rivalry

you love Jamba Juice and Robeks

you love corn burritos from Foster Freeze

you miss the 101 Drive In Theater, but you don' t mind shopping at Kohl's

when people ask where you're from you say between LA and Santa Barbara

you only are in the news if there is a fire, earthquake or mudslide

you see a "storm watch" when it barely sprinkles

you've been to the pier and Eric Ericsson's

you get Telephone and Telegraph mixed up, but know they are completely different

you love ice blocking at Arroyo Verde

you avoid Costco on Sunday's

the nearest Walmart is in the Nard

you know what the Nard is

you think downtown area has steep hills

you can see the Johnson Dr. movie theater from miles away because of the purple neon lights

you think that there is nothing to do in Ventura

you know of the only bowling alley, mini golf course and skating rink are within a block from each other

you refer to miniature golf as "Golf 'N' Stuff" no matter
where you go

you can't tell when the seasons change

you've had school cancelled because of "rain days"

you know the beaches are only good for bonfires because the ocean stays the same temperature of 50 degrees year round

I'm probably one of the few people who hope to encounter an earthquake while in California. Does that sound weird? No I don't want to get hurt, or have people hurt, but I am curious. I lived in Southern California for over 5 years and the closest we ever came to an earthquake was a mild 3.5 rumbling in Oxnard which I dismissed as a large truck. Only from the radio later, would I learn it was actually my first quake.

Earthquakes are something that's interesting to me. In the way a storm chaser hunts down tornadoes and gets a rush from it, I am absolutely excited at the possibility of getting the chance to experience mother nature's truly incredible functions.

North Carolina does get quakes, generally from Tennessee or Kentucky, but very rarely can the impact of the quake cause damage as we've all seen in the Northridge or San Francisco earthquakes.

Ventura is truly a unique environment because it literally sits "on" an extension of the San Andreas fault. On wells road, a road that is directly behind from the house I will be staying in, it has become un-even and split as evidence of the exact fault it parallels beneath it.

Ventura's biggest quake occurred in 1812 with the Santa Barbara Channel Quake. It was a 7.1 earthquake which has been fabled to lift ships up the rocky cliffs of the coast to the Santa Barbara Mission from the ensuing Tsunami. "The ground opened up" beneath Ventura county's citizens, and this is the danger I face in taking my blogging adventure to this hazardous place of Southern California.

Cool thing is, if per chance, it happens... you can watch it happen on USGS with their real-time feeds of earthquakes. Yes, that would be me screaming in the middle of that red dot!

Liv wrote:I'm probably one of the few people who hope to encounter an earthquake while in California. Does that sound weird?

Not really. I have been to California only once in my life. After this latest set of tourism ads that they've released, I think I'll never go again.

However, while I was there, my family encountered drought and wildfire. My aunt (who was a parole officer in Watts) took me to Baja and to see some of her "clients." And I got my thumb severely bitten by a kitten. An earthquake would have completed the picture, I think.

You have fun in California. Get "lucky" if you can. I'll never go there, myself.

Being one of the more debated topics on Greensboring is religion, I found an interesting argument about Ventura, the city I'm going to visit in a few weeks. I guess in my absence a huge legal brouhaha has been taking place over the Ventura Cross. The Ventura Cross has always served as a symbol of Ventura as it's been overlooking the city from Grant Park for like, Forever! But the evil atheists decided that since it was in a public park, and that government and religion should be separated then were going to scream and cry about it.

It's a good thing they did, because this religious icon was the center of Ventura's "Lovers lane" and commonly was a meeting place for drug activity and illegal drinking. In essence, more people got pregnant under the lighted presence of this 30 foot cross then anywhere else in the city.

So fast forward a few years and here I am showing my kids airplane videos on you tube to get them comfortable with whats going to happen in a few weeks. I stumble across this video about the litigation of the cross. A little more research and I discover indeed the cross and the land around it has been sold to a private group so it can remain there. The question though I have, has the atheists did more harm then good. Here's a perfect piece of real estate overlooking a city of 250,000 people. Instead of removing the cross, it's still there.... it's just owned by someone else.

Did the atheists accomplish their goal, or did the Christian's take them to the bank getting a prized piece of real-estate? I wonder what would happen if the private organization that owns center-city park erected a 30 foot cross in downtown Greensboro?

Ventura city council agrees to sell cross display in park
Church & State, Oct 2003

Responding to concerns raised by Americans United, the city council of Ventura, Calif., has voted 5-2 to sell a parcel of land in a public park that contains a 24-foot cross.

Stan Kohls, an Americans United member in the area, first raised the issue last spring. Kohls, a semi-retired special education teacher, alerted Americans United to the presence of the cross and volunteered to be a plaintiff if litigation were necessary.

"I've always felt the government has no business pushing religion," Kohls said. "As a non-believer myself, I see it as not fair, not right and illegal."

The origins of the cross are not known. Some historians say crosses in the area date back only to 1912, when a women's club and the Ventura Chamber of Commerce arranged for the religious symbol. At night, the cross, which sits on a hilltop, is illuminated and is visible for miles.

Federal appeals courts have ruled against crosses on government-owned property in other parts of California. In light of those rulings, city officials told Americans United that they wanted to resolve the matter without litigation.

nder the arrangement, the city will sell the cross and some land around it to a private entity. The cross will be sold through an auction process, and the new owner will no longer be able to light it, though ground lighting at the base may still be used. The new owner must also take steps to add historical markers to the site, making it clear that the display is not intended to be state-promoted religion.

The board voted in late July to cement the deal. Hundreds of resident packed the meeting, and several blasted the council for agreeing to the compromise.

Mayor Ray DiGuilio insisted that the city had done the right thing.

"We did everything we could to avoid a costly and ugly legal battle," DiGuilio told the Los Angeles Times. "A suit would have exacerbated the situation tremendously."

Vince Chhabria, a San Francisco attorney who worked with Americans United and the would-be plaintiffs, hailed the agreement.

"The manner in which this was resolved should be viewed as a model for other communities throughout the nation," he said.

That seems like a reasonable compromise. The (presumably) Christian buyer gets a small plot of land and the cross, with restrictive covenants.
The City gets some cash, the park stays, the historical monument stays, but more discretely illuinated, encouraging the free enterprise sales of recreational drugs and sex.

Something for everyone.

The Ventura Pier is a landmark of Ventura. No doubt we'd be making out rounds and visiting this iconic symbol while staying here.

The Pier today is a simple fishing pier that offers a unique stroll or a good meal at it's restaurant called Eric Ericksons.

Ventura's Pier started out like almost any pier as a port of entry for sea going vessels to bring goods into the area. This later would end with the larger barges and the port of Long Beach.

Eventually the pier became a recreation facility, that housed a bath house and skating rink at it's bank. The salt water indoor pool attracted many to the base of the pier.

Today the bath house is gone, and the pier which has had a horrid history of getting washed away, and rammed by boats, has been rebuilt several times over. It's latest incarnation in 2002 extended the length of the pier to it's original length using steal pylons that were driven almost 30 feet deep into the ocean to support the structure.

I have had the luxury of walking on piers on both the east and west coast, and I don't believe the east coast can match the ambiance of a sunset stroll down the Ventura Pier. It's the history, and the belief that here is history that you're standing on. Here in a time gone by, the first oil tanker pulled up to the pier to dock, and immediately caught on fire. Perhaps it's for Ventura's Pier's History, I see a little of my own life in the structure. Always trying to fulfill a purpose, but always being destroyed by those around me.

After a few hours of sleep, and a wonderful broadband connection, I can now officially tell you about my trip! Here's a video we shot down on the Ventura Boardwalk at Surfer's Point. Ventura's Surfer's Point AKA C-Street is a unique set of breaks in the coastline the give surfers a distinct and unusual area for surfing. For years it was a secret to California Surfers; however today it's world renowned and many Surfing competitions are held in this area.

As you can tell from this video I shot from the cell phone there are about 10-20 surfers out in this one location. It's about 60 degrees there that day, and I imagine the water is about 10-15 degrees cooler then that.

Ventura's surfing is made up 3 unique districts, defined by these unusual breaks in the coast.

C-Street (California Street) AKA Surfer's Point:
Located in front of the Ventura County Fairgrounds, it ranges from mild to wild offering some of the best long-board waves.

The Pipe: Located at the Ventura River where it meets the Pacific Ocean, it's an ever-changing configuration of sand and cobblestone.

The Stables: located in front of the livestock stables at the fairgrounds, it connects C-Street to the Pipe.

Although I did try wind surfing once, I doubt I will ever be a surfer. C-Street is a metaphor for everything California. Lazy tourists watch on as surfers catch waves, and then cascade into downtown for nightlife and dinner.

Reminds me of a movie ad I saw as a kid: "WHEN HELL IS FULL, THE DEAD WILL WALK THE EARTH!!!" :wink:

http://news.aol.com/article/the-ground-sizzles-in-california-hot/125510?icid=100214839x1207142773x1200388242

Use to happen all the time out there.... One time it happened at a gas station.... One week it was a gas station, the next it was smoldering pile of black dirt....

Liv wrote:Use to happen all the time out there.... One time it happened at a gas station.... One week it was a gas station, the next it was smoldering pile of black dirt....

Sheesh. With all the potential for natural catastrophes - wildfire, flood, earthquakes, etc. - HTF did you people ever manage to sleep peacefully ? :wink:

I never had a problem at all. I'm a bit of a freak though. I was hopeful of an earthquake. I had never been in one, and being from the east coast I had a genuine curiosity. I was actually quite disappointed when we moved from California as not getting to experience an earthquake. Since Ventura, doesn't really have any high-rise buildings, and the area I stayed in was basically single level homes, even if it was large, I figured survival was probably pretty high.

Unfortunately the biggest thing we had was a 3.3 at a very shallow depth, and I was basically at the the epicenter when it happened. We were actually laying in bed, and it felt like a huge semi trailer was going down the street.... actually, I ignored it, assuming this was the case. Shannon did the scene in Transformers and ran over to the doorway to which I exclaimed "How did you get over there so quick?" She swore it was an earthquake, and was eventually proved correct as a few minutes later the local radio station announced so.

Other then that, the worst things that existed where the mudslides. PCH, and HWY 33 going up towards Ojai was always closed off but rarely did we "have" to go up there. There are other ways around, but often enough you just don't go if you need to. Shan's father who worked up near Santa Barabara got in a bind when he had to work up in Santa Barabara but the 101 was closed for awhile. He was forced to take a 40 mile detour up the 33 to the 150. Worst thing that ever happened to us was a blown tire on the Camaro from a massive rock.

The fires often make things smokey, but it was never a major inconvenience where we lived. We also didn't own a house, so even if the fires did come our way... We'd just go to someone else's house.

The first year I was in California, we had alot of flooding. They're about as equipped for the rain, as we are here for the snow. Schools, and businesses just closed down, and I spent a few weeks inside my apartment watching the swift water rescue team pluck Mexicans from the aqueducts. Eventually it stopped, and everything went back to normal.

Coincidentally, when we moved here, Shan had some major fears of our weather on the East Coast.... Hurricanes and Tornadoes, etc. She's sort of in the same boat as I was with earthquakes (although she's not excited to experience one) on tornadoes. She's yet to experience a large one, and gets a little nervous when we get warnings.