Ventura

Ventura is the seat of Ventura County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast where the Ventura River reaches the sea. Its official name is San Buenaventura, Spanish for Saint Bonaventure, after the mission at the heart of the old town.

The Chumash lived along this coast and traded with the island Chumash of the Channel Islands, crossing the channel in plank canoes called tomol. Junípero Serra founded Mission San Buenaventura in 1782, his last mission, near a Chumash village. After the missions were secularized, Governor Pío Pico granted the lands to José de Arnaz, and a small town grew around the church. San Buenaventura was incorporated as a city in 1866, and citrus, lima beans and later oil from the hills brought growth.

Patagonia, the outdoor clothing company founded by the climber Yvon Chouinard, keeps its head office in Ventura near the beach. Ventura Harbor is the base of the boats that carry visitors to Channel Islands National Park, whose headquarters stand on the harbor. Erle Stanley Gardner practiced law in Ventura and wrote his first Perry Mason novels in the city.

The Ventura Pier, one of the longest wooden piers in California, reaches out from the beach near downtown. Mission San Buenaventura still serves as a parish church, with a garden and a small museum beside it. Surfers ride the point break at Surfers' Point at the mouth of the Ventura River. The Serra Cross, on a hill above the town, looks out over the fairgrounds to the Channel Islands.