By Boyd Lemon / Guest columnist
Sometimes after weeks or months of the weekly grind, you just need to get away from your everyday life — to recharge. If you live in the 805 outside downtown Ventura, the perfect weekend getaway is an hour or less away — downtown Ventura. It has everything: beautiful beaches, elegant wine bars, fine restaurants, great shopping and even history. I recommend staying two nights.
If Malibu represents the Southern California glitz, Ventura represents small town Southern California, but still with most of the good things that people enjoy about Southern California. It is one of Southern California’s least glitzy beach towns, even though it is only 70 miles from downtown Los Angeles and half that from the San Fernando Valley, and it isn’t nearly as crowded as other beach towns. It isn’t set off from the urban sprawl, but it feels like it is.
If you live near an Amtrak Station, you can even avoid the drive and travel green. The Amtrak stops three blocks from downtown. With one exception (when you can take a taxi), you don’t need a car, if you can walk. Leave on a Friday if you normally work Monday through Friday, and don’t rush. This is your break from rushing. If you can take Friday, or at least Friday afternoon off, leave in the late morning, stopping for lunch somewhere on the way, unless you opt to take the train. If you drive, take the 101, get off at California Street, and turn right. You’re in the center of downtown Ventura,
I recommend staying at the Bella Maggiore Inn, a funky, good value bed and breakfast with a lovely restaurant downstairs that serves fabulous breakfasts included in the rates. The rates vary from $75 to $150 per night depending on the room, the season and days of the week. It is on California Street on the left in the next block from the freeway exit. If it turns out too pricey for you, it is difficult to find an alternative in or near the downtown area. The only other possibility is the Vagabond (756 E. Thompson Blvd.), a low-end chain, and you get what you pay for — about $70 a night, not that much less than the Bella Maggiori on week days, off season. I would avoid the Crown Plaza. It has gorgeous ocean views, but nothing else can be recommended, including the rates.
After you check in, walk up California Street, away from the beach and take a look at the old courthouse at the top of California Street. It’s now the City Hall and is a beautiful, old California building. If it’s open, the second floor art is worth a look. Then just walk through the downtown area and look around. The corner of California and Main Street is the center, and downtown extends about a half mile on either side of California and just a block or two on either side of Main. As you will discover, Ventura is a very old town by California standards, having been settled by the Spanish in the late 1700’s. The Chumash Native Americans lived there for thousands of years before that.
If you feel like walking some more, turn left facing the city hall, walk down Poli Street for a few blocks and ascend into the hills as far as you want to go. You’ll get some panoramic views of the Pacific up there.
Before you return to your lodgings, walk a block toward the beach from the Maggiori and check out the Visitor’s Center. There you can get a map, brochures on things to do and what is going on downtown. There are often art and always music events in town. For music Zoey’s on Santa Clara Street is usually a good bet. Ask about live music at your hotel, or the Visitor’s Center.
Among the most pleasurable activities in downtown Ventura are eating and drinking wine. There are three nice venues for wine tasting. My favorite is The Wine Rack on California a few doors toward the ocean from Main Street (14 California). West Side Cellars is at 222 E. Main St. The third wine tasting venue, less fancy, but still nice and with some excellent cheeses to sample is Paradise Wine Pantry (677 E. Main St., about six blocks down). You’ll pass The Truffle Hound, if you can, a superb purveyor of homemade chocolate truffles.
Near West Side Cellars is Jonathan’s (204 E. Main St.), a Mediterranean restaurant in a 150 year-old building that housed the town grocery store in the 1700’s. It’s adjacent to a fountain and patio, where they offer outdoor dinning in the summer. I recommend Jonathan’s for dinner or lunch. The bar (called J’s) is next door, offers tasty specialty drinks and good wines and hosts live music some nights.
The San Buenaventura Mission is across the street from Jonathan’s. Don’t miss it and its lovely garden. And a couple hundred yards west is the Museum of Ventura County, where you’ll find interesting art and history of the area.
Another fine restaurant is the Watermark, 598 W. Main St., a block east of California. It is a little pricey. Tuttties, 35 N. Palm St., around the corner from Main is another excellent restaurant with a lovely outdoor patio.
The best restaurant in Ventura, in my opinion, The Side Car, requires a ten minute drive. It’s too far to walk from your hotel (25 blocks), unless you’re an ambitious walker. If you arrived on the train, taxis are available. The ambiance at The Side Car is unique. It is at 3029 E. Main St. Chef Tim, who cooks primarily using the best local ingredients, will take good care of you. And they have live music some nights.
Of course, you must go to the beach. Walk back to California Street and head for the beach. There is a long, paved walkway along the beach, if you don’t want to walk on the sand. Walk east (left from California Street), hang out, and enjoy the sea and fresh air.
A walk to the end of the pier is worthwhile, as is a drink, but not the food, at Eric Erikssons, the restaurant on the pier. There are benches on the pier to sit and relax. Sometimes people watching is excellent on the benches in the square in front of the Crown Plaza Hotel, especially if the weather is warm. If you’re a hearty walker, or you can drive, walk the other direction and enjoy the surfers at surfer’s point and the serenity to the west, away from the crowds.
I usually don’t recommend places to shop, because I am not a shopper, but for nice gifts, check out Palermo and The Wine Rack. Many of the shops along Main Street are worth a look.
Enjoy San Buenaventura!
— Boyd Lemon is a retired lawyer, who re-invented himself as a writer, living in Ventura. He recently returned from a year in France and Italy. His memoir, “Digging Deep: A Writer Uncovers His Marriages,” has just been published. It is about his journey to understand his role in the destruction of his three marriages. He believes it will help others to deal with their own relationship issues. Excerpts are on his website, http://www.BoydLemon-Writer.com