ventura: the avenue (Pasadena, Santa Barbara: apartments, renters, condos)

[westcoastvp]

for the longest time, the ventura ave area of ventura was a crime infested ghetto. i would like to know how the area really is now. is it still bad or does it just get a bad rap cause of its past. is it an ok place to live?

[Charles]

I sort of understand what you are writing. I just google street viewed Ventura. I think the problem is the mixed zoning (and do I know about that here in Huntsville). You have Joe's equipment rental next door to a house next door to a restaurant next door to a scrap yard next door to a preschool next door to another house next door to a building with no sign on it....No continuity or masterplanning.

However, I see at the north end, a Django's Coffee House, so maybe there is room for retail.

[LadyKLO]

I think it maybe because of the past. Also, some parts of the area are rundown so that doesn't help. There are some nice homes and apartments but I personally do not think I would live there.

[Gidget]

The west end of Ventura is still a pretty rough neighborhood. We have close friends who have lived there quite a while and like the sense of community, at least in their neck of the woods, but some pretty scary stuff goes on there. Like LadyKLO, I would not want to live there.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by Charles

I sort of understand what you are writing. I just google street viewed Ventura. I think the problem is the mixed zoning (and do I know about that here in Huntsville). You have Joe's equipment rental next door to a house next door to a restaurant next door to a scrap yard next door to a preschool next door to another house next door to a building with no sign on it....No continuity or masterplanning.

However, I see at the north end, a Django's Coffee House, so maybe there is room for retail.

I don't agree that mixed-use zoning is the problem on the Avenue. As a matter of fact, mixed-use zoning is a good thing. Part of the problem with so many American cities is single-use zoning, forcing us to build extra roads, drive more, etc. Very inefficient. "New urbanism" is making a comeback all over. Look at the results in downtown Pasadena. Beautiful! But I digress.

The Ventura Avenue area has more mixed use projects in its future. Not sure where things stand with The Village at Crooked Palm near the Brooks Film School at Foster Park Daly Group Inc. | Projects | The Village at Crooked Palm. Seems to be on track still, so expect more mixed use and high-density for the area, not less. It's a good thing!

The Avenue's troubles stems from it being a rough area way back when. It was an industrial area, oil and gas and related industries. The Avenue then became a haven for drugs and gangs -- Hell's Angels, for one.

For whatever reason, the city of Ventura didn't seem compelled to do anything about cleaning up the area until housing skyrocketed in the early 2000s. Renters from Santa Barbara, priced out of that market completely, found delightful 1920s era homes on the Avenue on quaint side streets. The Avenue is the closest most convenient point in Ventura for a daily commute to Santa Barabara.

The Aveune has since seen new construction of very nice homes north of Stanley and some nice condos south of Stanley. As I heard someone say not long ago, "the Avenue isn't so bad any more. It still sucks sometimes, but it's better than it was in the 80s and 90s." Would tend to agree.