Ventura, California - Points of Interest

Points of Interest

Ventura is famed for the quality and frequency of the surfing conditions at spots such as Surfer's Point at Ventura County Fairgrounds.

Downtown Ventura is home to the Mission San Buenaventura, museums, galleries, dining, and shopping. Primary areas of activity include California Street and Main Street between Ventura Avenue and Fir Street. Located in downtown is the historic Ortega Adobe, once home to the Ortega family, now famous for their chili products. Numerous thrift stores contrast with high-end shops and restaurants. Downtown Ventura is home to Ventura's ornate city hall with its statue of Junipero Serra. Downtown now features numerous restaurants, winebars and the internationally acclaimed Rubicon Theatre Company.

The 4,300-square-foot (400 m2) Ventura Visitors Center, at 101 South California Street, has exhibits on the Heritage Valley, Channel Islands National park, the local arts scene, and maps and brochures about the area.

Downtown's Majestic Ventura Theater is an early 20th-century landmark. A venue for concerts, it has seen performances from legendary artists such as The Doors, Pearl Jam, Van Halen, X, Ray Charles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, Fugazi, Incubus, Tom Petty, They Might Be Giants, and Johnny Cash, as well as some of the city's most successful homegrown artists like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Army of Freshmen.

One of the most recognizable landmarks in Ventura is "the Two Trees". These are two lone trees on a hill, visible from most of Ventura.

In Plaza Park (Chestnut and Santa Clara Streets, downtown) stands one of the nation's largest Moreton Bay Fig Trees. Across the street, the main post office has Works Projects Administration murals on interior walls.

The Ventura Harbor has fishing boats, seafood restaurants and a retail center, Ventura Harbor Village. The Channel Islands National Park Headquarters is also located in the harbor, and boats to the Channel Islands depart from there daily.

Pierpont Bay (Pierpont) is a residential neighborhood in the one-mile stretch between the Ventura Harbor and San Buenaventura State Beach. Reclaimed marshland was subdivided in 1925 and houses were built in fits of development interrupted by years of economic depression, war, and coastal floods (in 1937 and 1962). Long a hodge-podge of rental dwellings, weekend cottages and vacant lots, it was transformed by successive California real estate booms into a fashionable but eclectic mix of newer large homes and older modest beach cottages, now mostly owner-occupied. Piecemeal development, not overly burdened by planning efforts or regulatory attentions, left Pierpont with widely varying architectural styles, a spotty retail district Seaward Avenue, newer residents' demands for increased municipal maintenance, and continuing disputes about the proper regulation of the neighborhood's public beaches. Recently plans have been announced for high-density development on some streets, and state authorities have begun to more actively manage beaches that were mostly self-regulated for eighty years.

The Ventura County Fairgrounds is the home of the annual Ventura County Fair, and over the years has hosted such acts as Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Smokey Robinson, and All American Rejects.

The Derby Club at the Ventura County Fairgrounds offers Horse Racing Live via Satellite, and full service bars and restaurants.

The Ventura County Fairgrounds is also the home of Ventura Raceway, "The best little dirt track in America".

The Ventura County Fairgrounds also serves as a Train Station for Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner route

The Vans Warped Tour also stops yearly at the Ventura County Fairgrounds with line ups including bands such as Yellowcard, Pepper and Avenged Sevenfold.

The Olivas Adobe, one of the early California Rancho homes, is operated today as a museum and performing arts venue. Located adjacent to the Olivas Park Golf Course, the home is one of the most visited historic sites on the central coast. Living history reinactments, demonstrations of Rancho life, and wonderful ghost stories abound. A summer music series of performances held in the old home's courtyard feature an eclectic assortment of artists from blues to jazz to country.

Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner had a law practice and did much of his early writing in Downtown Ventura. The building where his law offices were housed, at California and Main Street bears his name on a historical marker.

The Ventura Film Festival shows over 200 films each year. The films Swordfish, Little Miss Sunshine, Chinatown, Erin Brockovich, The Aviator, and The Rock were partly filmed in Ventura, and most of the 2011 release Bellflower was shot in Ventura.

The headquarters for outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia is located downtown. The eco-designer Stewart+Brown has their factory just a few blocks from the ocean. Chic diaper bag manufacturer Petunia Pickle Bottom is headquartered near downtown Ventura. Ventura is a course in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. It was called 'Skatestreet Ventura'.