We’re located between Malibu and Santa Barbara on the blue Pacific Ocean, overlooking Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands.

Taking a cruise to the Islands from Ventura Harbor is a fun day trip, you can also take a Whale watching cruise.

San Buenaventura was founded in 1782 by Father Junipero Serra, the ninth of the California missions. He named it after the Italian St. Bonaventure, hence the nickname that Ventura is the "city of good fortune."  

        When Junipero Serra came to the area he found a local tribe of extremely friendly Indians known as the Chumash.  Under the gize of converting them to his faith, he made workers (slaves) of them and used them to build the Mission and other projects he deemed necessary. Today the Chumash are very few in number compared to the days when Serra first came here.

The City of San Buenaventura was incorporated in 1866.  Spears Saloon located in what is now Downtown Ventura served as the first "city hall".  The minutes of the first City Council meetings were recorded in Spanish, which was still the pre-dominant language of its time. Ventura became the County seat when Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties split in 1873. That same year, a courthouse and wharf were built, a bank was opened and the first public library was created. 

Prior to the pier, Venturans had to row out to pick up goods thrown overboard by cargo ships (don’t worry, people were carried).

VENTURA PIER, (WHARF), during storm in 2011

The pier is a great fishing spot and the cities premier tourist destination.  The pier at this time is approx 400 ft shorter because of a massive storm that ripped the end off.  A short distance to the West is Surfers point, one of the premier surfing spots in California.  Many surfing contest are held here each year.

A bit to the South is the Ventura Harbor, another premier tourist destination, filled with many fine shops and restaurants as well as boat docks and fishing boats, the Harbor is a real fun spot to visit.

An oil strike in 1914 fueled rapid growth. In the years following World War II, farmland gave way to outward suburban development. Growth has slowed in recent decades as Ventura has matured into a seaside community known for its scenic coastline and hillsides, rich culture, revitalized historic Downtown and environmental stewardship.

Ventura has been called by many of it's people a "Cow Town" because of the slow, agonizing, way the City Administration has of dealing with anybody that wants to do business here.  Recently however the "dealing" has shortened.

The enviromental groups, known as the NIMBY'S (not in my backyard), and the BANANA'S (build absolutly nothing, anytime, near anything), the Hillsides Conservancy, and S.O.A.R. (Suckering Our Aged Recipents), Are against any person or company that wants to try to bring revenue generating developments in town, or anywhere near town.

The Hillsides Conservancy people are in my humble opinion, a bunch of, I suppose, well meaning people, however they have absolutly no common sense when it comes to supporting or helping the city of Ventura to emerge into the 21st Century.  They want the city to lanquish in the 18th Century where everybody rode cows around town and had outhouses instead of indoor plumbing.  Most of them have no property of their own and feel they should be able to tell other people what to do with their property.

The S.O.A.R. (save our agricultural resources), is the brainchild of a couple of penny-anti politicians.  Richard Frances, (ex Ventura councilman) and Steve Bennett, (ex Ventura councilman and present Ventura county Supervisor).  Steve Bennett used the S.O.A.R. only as a springboard to the County Supervisors seat.  Richard Frances simply followed Steve Bennett like a faithful hound.  These two have done more to demean the economic progress of Ventura County than any other person in the county.