I’ve written about Ventura before, but this city has been a big part of my life for the last 8-10 years. It may even be where I spend much of my retirement years, if I continue to live in a van. The weather is so much to my liking, since the ocean tempers the highs and lows. The old downtown is a pleasure to explore and is easily walkable. The police don’t run vehicle-dwellers out of town unless they are causing issues. The locals are also tolerant of us. If I want to stay in the same parking spot for days and walk everywhere, that’s not a problem as long as my van isn’t effecting a business or local resident. I never get tired of looking at the ocean and beaches. There are enough discount stores and cheaper restaurants that there is no need to overspend on food. A local movie theater only charges $3.50 for second-run movies and its concession prices aren’t outrageous. The public library has extended hours and a decent selection. It’s a 12-15 minute drive to the closest Planet Fitness, but a new one will open soon that is closer.
There have been numerous changes since my first visit, plus some local features took time to notice. When covid hit 3 years ago, that effected everything and many businesses never recovered. The downtown area was already teetering, largely because of street parking fees and not enough parking lots. The city decided to close Main St for ten blocks, making it pedestrian use only. They also closed or blocked off sections of side streets. I like that, but it’s hurting many businesses. Now, there’s even less parking available and it is more difficult for drivers to navigate the streets. A lot of people forget about certain businesses unless they see them while driving by. Some that are suffering are furniture stores, real estate offices, a movie theater, thrift stores, and some eating establishments. I think that more bars and restaurants have opened, but they are fighting for the same limited amount of customers. Some are doing well and others have so few diners, that I don’t know how they survive. Prices are mostly out of my comfort zone, though I occasionally treat myself to Thai or Mexican food. A couple odd notes about downtown. A few bars serve nothing but alcohol, no food at all. In Oregon, all bars have to serve at least 5 choices in food. The other odd thing is, most of the stores, restaurants, and bars don’t have public bathrooms. I would think that would be illegal. I understand that owners don’t want the homeless to come in just to use the restrooms. But I would think regular customers should be allowed to use them. Maybe the old buildings don’t have handicap user-friendly bathrooms and the expense is too much for the business owners to change them.
Just north of downtown is a more gritty, working-class neighborhood. Ventura St is where all the businesses are located, with the other streets being mostly residential. It’s nearly 100% Hispanic and I rarely see whites or blacks there. Food is more affordable, especially at the food trucks. Plenty of mechanic shops, beauty shops, bike stores, convenience stores, 2nd hand shops, churches, and so on. I like to walk that street and see what there is to see. It’s more lively, with many families out and about. It feels like Mexico.
Asian massage parlors do enormous business in California and Ventura has many of them. Never been to any of them here, but thought about it sometimes when my body is hurting. Asian women seem to have a knack for locating and working out all the sore spots. Now, are these places legit or just fronts for prostitution? I’m not sure, though I’ve read many reviews that seem to say they are legit. Covid hurt them and I noticed that a few went out of business, mostly downtown. But a couple new ones have opened on the more southern part of Main Street. Just something I noticed in passing. They aren’t in my budget. $60-75 for an hour, plus tip, is a needless extravagance unless I’m really sore and have spare money. I miss the $3 massages that I used to get in Thailand.
In 2020, there were homeless folk everywhere. Covid seemed to drive them out of the shadows. They were pooping in the streets, leaving trash, vandalizing, doing graffiti, breaking windows, being aggressive, starting fires in brushy areas, and just making nuisances of themselves. There’s still a homeless problem but Ventura has housed most of them. A huge mental housing facility has many living there, though I think they are allowed to leave during the day. The Vagabond Inn gives homeless people free motel rooms (a fitting name), once they’ve been approved. I think a couple other motels do the same. Lots of drug use and dealing in the rooms, from what I’ve heard. There are still some hard-core homeless that refuse any rules and want to sleep outside, but I’m guessing less than a quarter of how it was 3 years ago. Salvation Army has a shelter and some services. Catholic Charities serves a couple meals per week and has a food bank. There’s probably more that serve food, but I haven’t checked.
There is a big industrial area in the southern part of Ventura, behind a couple malls. I sometimes park there, just for a change of scenery. My favorite spot is clear at the back, next to the Amtrak train tracks. A farm is on the other side of the tracks. Traffic is light and I’m usually the only one sleeping there. Many other vehicle dwellers are scattered throughout the whole business park. One spot has a bunch of crappy vehicles and druggies. I parked there by accident and kept getting woke up by music or loud talking. So now I steer clear of the junkies. But I like my spot and will sometimes stay a couple nights. The cheap theater is a short drive away, lots of stores in the malls to check out, Winco Foods is there, and it’s not far to the gym. But I prefer downtown most of the time; because park bathrooms are available nearby, the beaches are close, and there are so many places to walk. An industrial park is not much fun to walk around.
I discovered a botanical garden up in the hills 3 years ago, that seemed abandoned. It’s called Grant Park. The city started a very ambitious idea but apparently didn’t have the money to maintain it. The entrance road had a locked gate but I could hike past it. Most of the plants and trees were surviving, but were choked with weeds and the sprinkler system was shut off. The bathrooms were torn out, the parking lots had grass and brush growing out of cracks, and there were signs up, telling people to stay out. Well, it was in the early days of the covid lock-down, so I figured no one would notice me up there. I love plants and hiking steep hills, so this was heaven for me. I returned there this year and things have definitely changed, some good and some bad. It’s open to the public again, but costs $7 to get in. Some garden society is running it. But I hike in the back way, on the old abandoned entrance road. So it’s free for me, unless I go out the main entrance. The garden club has greatly improved certain areas, clearing the weeds and adding plants. Most of the trees had died from lack of water, but not all. The shrubs and perennials did much better. A lot of the park was allowed to return to nature, since it was too much to care for everything. Some trails were blocked off and are now overgrown. Still no bathrooms and two large parking lots are still blocked off. So it’s a work in progress. But I love the exercise of hiking up the steep hills, and seeing the views of the city and ocean from there.
A shady place to park is valuable real estate on a warm day, and there aren’t nearly enough parking spaces like that. Anything over 70°F gets the van uncomfortable in full sun. If I know it’s going to be a hot day, it is necessary to get up early to snag a good parking spot. Even then, I might have to move later in the day, as the sun changes position. It’s actually not hard to find parking, if it’s not Friday night-Sunday night, and if you don’t mind parking in full sun or a couple blocks off of Main Street. There is one parking lot that has a lot of tree shade, but it is very popular and no vehicles can park there at night. A couple parking garages have shade in them, but my van is too tall to go in. A few other places have some shade if I am lucky or very up early enough. This is an ongoing issue for me. Luckily the van has the roof vent that I can leave open. If I’m in the van, I can also open the side door for more ventilation.
I should venture further out of this city, and check out more of the towns and beaches nearby. But I’ve been content here for now. Plus I’ve been watching my budget lately, especially food and gas, until I know for sure if I’ll have a job this summer. One thing that I may splurge on is a day-trip on Amtrak, maybe to Oceanside. Doesn’t cost that much and the station is a short walk for me. It’s a different view, seeing things from a train. I’ve done that once before and really enjoyed that day. Well it’s getting late, so I’ll post this before falling asleep. It feels good to do more writing.
iggyvandweller 