On Hwy-101/Hwy-1, 32 miles South of Santa Barbara/64 miles North of Los Angeles. A large oil refinery does substantially less for Ventura’s scenery than it does for the town’s economy, but several miles of beaches patronized by surfers and water-sports enthusiasts give the town some appeal – as do the historical remnants found around Mission San Buenaventura, 211 E. Main Street, from which Ventura derived its name.

Of the mission buildings, only the small church, completed in 1809, survives intact. More promising are the numerous finds from the time of Spanish settlement and Native American items dated to 1600 BC (predating the better-known Chumash peoples), unearthed on local archaeological digs, and on display at the Albinger Archaeological Museum (http://www.ventura.com/points_of_interest/archeosite/), 113 E. Main Street. The Ventura County Museum of History & Art (http://venturamuseum.org), 100 E. Main Street, documents the diverse nationalities who settled in and farmed the Ventura region from the late 19thC. From a slightly earlier period, when California was still a Mexican possession and divided into vast ranchos, stand the Ortega Adobe, 215 W. Main Street, and, across town, the Olivas Adobe Historical Park, 4200 Olivas Park Drive, with a Monterey-style adobe home packed with fixtures and fittings of the time.

Also in Ventura, the Channel Islands National Park Visitors Center (https://www.nps.gov/chis/index.htm), provides useful background on the Channel Islands National Park.