ventura: the avenue (Oxnard, Pasadena, Santa Barbara: 2013, apartments, renters)

[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.

[rgb123]

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

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.

I'm resurrecting this thread.....what are thoughts now in 2013? What about the parts closer to the Von's (i.e. closer to downtown)?

It seems to me things are going up but are the police doing anything about the vacrancy issues around Vons? (I thought I read awhile back that they were) but I recall being quite scared there in the parking lot a few times and stopped going at night for the most part even though it was closest to my house.

[sponger42]

Originally Posted by rgb123

I'm resurrecting this thread.....what are thoughts now in 2013? What about the parts closer to the Von's (i.e. closer to downtown)?

It seems to me things are going up but are the police doing anything about the vacrancy issues around Vons? (I thought I read awhile back that they were) but I recall being quite scared there in the parking lot a few times and stopped going at night for the most part even though it was closest to my house.

IMO, the Avenue is still a "no" for families with children. It's sorta okay for young professional singletons, but better for guys than gals.

It's a real shame, because the Avenue is so convenient to downtown. However, I wouldn't live north of Prospect St., and no matter where you live, the schools are absolute crapola. That doesn't stop people from trying to sell houses there for 400K+

There's a pocket of gentrification on the West End around Patagonia HQ, but it only extends a few blocks North of Vons, and I wouldn't invest in those hip "mixed-use" developments like Pacifica. It was struggling when we left in 2008, and it's still looking pretty empty .

[rgb123]

Do you mean Pacific Pointe?

[bznavyveteran]

You need to dig a little deeper to put the Avenue in proper context. Cattle, oil, and agriculture were the industries that this place was built upon. From the 1840’s into the 1870s all of Ventura County was cattle ranches with some agriculture coming in number 2. Then drought killed off the cattle and the ranches were split up. Farming crops and citrus became big business and never left. Oil was discovered and developed and was very big for a while. Ships have been calling on the port of San Buenaventura since the 1840’s. Those two trees (used to be five) served as a beacon for ships to steer by. They would drop anchor in Pierpont Bay so ranchers could row out in boats to barter cow hides for goods. Ventura had longshoremen, sailors, China town, saloons, cowboys, oil fields, and farmers. I cannot imagine not having several fights downtown every Saturday night.

In more modern times, we have had an Air Force base at the Camarillo airport, a Navy Seabee base at Port Hueneme, the Navy Civil Engineering Laboratory at Pt Hue, and a Naval Air Station at Point Mugu. Pt Mugu serves as the HQ of the Pacific Missile Range which covers hundreds of square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The CA Air National Guard has recently established a base at Pt Mugu. The Naval Surface Warfare (a weapons engineering station) is located on the Sea Bee base. Those bases (and the technical contracting companies that work for them) provide a lot of high paying jobs with steady work.

So, you never know who your neighbors are going to be or deep their roots (family) are in the community. There are a lot of good hard working people who live on the Avenue. The Avenue had the first Community Council formed in the city (West Side CC). These are concerned citizens who meet with city officials and strive to keep their neighborhood a safe place to live and raise families.

I have lived in South Oxnard, North Oxnard, behind Ventura college, and out on the east end of Ventura. I am a retired Navy sailor, also retired from NSWC, and was a part of the East Ventura Community Council. Oh, I was a docent at the Olivas Adobe, an 1841 Spanish ranch house (could you tell?) for 9 years.

[rgb123]

yes, I can tell

I'm one of those people that ended up out here working at one of those bases.