Ventura, California


Ventura, officially the City of San Buenaventura, is a city in and the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States. It is a coastal city located northwest of Los Angeles. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 United States census. Ventura is a popular tourist destination, owing to its historic landmarks, beaches, and resorts.
Ventura has been inhabited by different peoples, including the Chumash Native Americans, for at least 10,000 years. With the arrival of Spanish missionaries in 1782, Mission San Buenaventura was established by Junípero Serra, giving the city its name. Following the Mexican secularization act of 1833, San Buenaventura was granted by Governor Pío Pico to Don José de Arnaz as Rancho Ex-Mission San Buenaventura and a small community arose. Following the American Conquest of California, San Buenaventura was eventually incorporated as a city in 1866. The 1920s brought a major oil boom which significantly developed and expanded Ventura, a growth that continued with the post–World War II economic expansion.

History

Chumash

Archaeological discoveries in the area suggest that humans have populated the region for at least 10,000–12,000 years. Archaeological research demonstrates that the Chumash people have deep roots in central and southern coastal regions of California, and has revealed artifacts from their culture. Shisholop Village, designated Historic Point of Interest #18 by the city, was the site of a Chumash village. They had keen oceanic navigational skills made use of the abundant local resources from sea and land. The Ventura Chumash were in contact with the Channel Islands Chumash; both mainland and island Chumash utilized large plank-sewn seagoing canoes, called Tomol, with the island people bringing shell bead money, island chert, and sea otter pelts to trade for mainland products like acorns and deer meat.

Spanish era

In 1769, the Spanish Portolà expedition, first recorded European visitors to inland areas of California, came down the Santa Clara River Valley from the previous night's encampment near today's Saticoy and camped near the outlet of the Ventura River on August 14. Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan missionary traveling with the expedition, noted that "we saw a regular town, the most populous and best laid-out of all that we had seen on the journey up to the present time." Archaeological records found that the Chumash village they encountered was settled sometime around AD 1000.
Junípero Serra, first leader of the Franciscans in California, founded Mission San Buenaventura in 1782 as his ninth and last mission established near the Chumash village as part of Spain's colonization of Alta California. The mission was named for St. Bonaventure, a 13th-century Franciscan saint and a Doctor of the Church. San Miguel Chapel was the first outpost and center of operations while the first Mission San Buenaventura was being constructed. The first mission burned in 1801 and a replacement building of brick and stone was completed in 1809. The bell tower and facade of the new mission was destroyed by an 1812 earthquake. The Mission was rebuilt and functions as a parish church.

Mexican era

The Mexican secularization act of 1833 was passed twelve years after Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821. Mission land was sold or given away in large grants called ranchos. Rancho Ex-Mission San Buenaventura was a grant that included downtown Ventura. The Battle of San Buenaventura was fought in 1838 between competing armies from northern and southern California. Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado granted Rancho San Miguel to Felipe Lorenzana and Raymundo Olivas, whose Olivas Adobe on the banks of the Santa Clara River was the most magnificent hacienda south of Monterey. Fernando Tico also received a Mexican land grant for Ojai and a parcel near the river in downtown Ventura.

American era

Following the American Conquest of California in the Mexican–American War, California became a U.S. territory in 1848 and a U.S. state in 1850. After the American Civil War, settlers came to the area, buying land from the Mexicans, or simply as squatters. Vast holdings were later acquired by Easterners, including railroad magnate Thomas A. Scott. He sent Thomas R. Bard to handle Scott's property.
Ventura had a flourishing Chinese settlement in the early 1880s. The largest concentration of activity, known as China Alley, was just across Main Street from the Mission San Buenaventura.
Ventura Pier was built in 1872 at a cost of $45,000 and was the longest wooden pier in California. By 1917, it had been rebuilt to a length of. Much of the pier was destroyed by a storm in 1995, but it was subsequently rebuilt.
In 1913, the Rincon Sea Level Road and the Ventura River Bridge opened.
The large Ventura Oil Field was first drilled in 1919 and at its peak produced. The development of the oil fields in the 1920s, along with the building of better roads to Los Angeles and the affordability of automobiles, enabled a major real estate boom. Symphony concerts and Little League teams were sponsored by the oil companies. Contemporary downtown Ventura is defined by extant buildings from this period. Landmarks built during the oil boom include Ventura Theatre, the First Baptist Church of Ventura, the Ventura Hotel, and the Mission Theatre.
On March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam, inland, failed catastrophically, creating a flood that took more than 600 lives as it flowed down the Santa Clara River to the ocean.
From the south, travel by auto was slow and hazardous, until the completion of a four-lane freeway over the Conejo Grade in 1959. This route, which was widened and improved by 1969, is known as the Ventura Freeway, which directly links Ventura with the rest of the Greater Los Angeles.
In 2017, the Thomas Fire started north of Ventura in Santa Paula. Propelled by the Santa Ana Winds, the fire spread into hillside neighborhoods of Ventura and the area above downtown. The fire burned down 504 residences burned in the city.
Main Street in the downtown was closed to vehicle traffic in June 2020 in an effort to boost business and keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2025, the Ventura City Council voted to keep Main Street closed and proceed with its designation of a formal pedestrian mall.

Geography

Ventura is located northwest of Los Angeles on the California coast. The western portion of the city stretches north along the Ventura River which is characterized by a narrow valley with steeply sloped areas along both sides. The steep slopes of the Ventura foothills abut the northern portion of the community. Much of the eastern portion is on a relatively flat alluvial coastal plain lying along the western edge of the Oxnard Plain. Several Barrancas extend from the foothills to the Santa Clara River which forms the city's southerly boundary. The city extends up to the beginning of the Santa Clara River Valley at the historic community of Saticoy.
Ventura is within a seismically active region like much of California and is crossed by several potentially active fault systems. The Ventura Fault is capable of an 8.0 earthquake and a local tsunami up to 23 feet in height. According to the United States Census Bureau, Ventura has a total area of, of which is land and, comprising 32.23%, is water.

Climate

Ventura has a Mediterranean climate, typical of most coastal California cities, with the sea breeze off the Pacific Ocean moderating temperatures. It is not uncommon for the city to be affected by Santa Ana winds off the Transverse Ranges on occasion, which increase temperatures dramatically.

Demographics

The community is registered in the census as San Buenaventura .File:Mission San Buenaventura, Ventura, California LCCN2013631959.tif|left|thumb|Founded in 1782, the Mission Basilica of San Buenaventura is a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 2020, Pope Francis elevated it to the category of basilica.
Race / Ethnicity Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010
White alone 68,71063,87959,42568.09%60.02%53.65%
Black or African American alone 1,2841,4661,7431.27%1.38%1.57%
Native American or Alaska Native alone 6315453990.63%0.51%0.36%
Asian alone 2,9333,5234,2672.91%3.31%3.85%
Pacific Islander alone 1341671630.13%0.16%0.15%
Other Race alone 1521816610.15%0.17%0.60%
Mixed race or Multiracial 2,4992,7985,2032.48%2.63%4.70%
Hispanic or Latino 24,57333,87438,90224.35%31.83%35.12%
Total100,916106,433110,763100.00%100.00%100.00%

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Ventura had a population of 110,763. The population density was. The racial makeup of Ventura was 61.5% White, 1.8% African American, 1.5% Native American, 4.0% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 14.2% from other races, and 16.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 35.1% of the population.
The census reported that 97.5% of the population lived in households, 1.7% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.8% were institutionalized.
There were 42,214 households, out of which 28.9% included children under the age of 18, 46.3% were married-couple households, 7.9% were cohabiting couple households, 28.2% had a female householder with no partner present, and 17.6% had a male householder with no partner present. 26.5% of households were one person, and 12.5% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.56. There were 27,462 families.
The age distribution was 20.1% under the age of 18, 7.7% aged 18 to 24, 26.6% aged 25 to 44, 26.9% aged 45 to 64, and 18.7% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 41.4years. For every 100 females, there were 94.4 males.
There were 44,612 housing units at an average density of, of which 42,214 were occupied. Of these, 55.3% were owner-occupied, and 44.7% were occupied by renters.
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $100,407, and the per capita income was $49,411. About 6.4% of families and 10.4% of the population were below the poverty line.