Ventura Walking Tour
This afternoon we had a walking tour of downtown Ventura, led by local historian Richard Senate. Downtown is a short walk across the Freeway bridge from our hotel.
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| View of Downtown Ventura from our hotel room balcony |
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| Local Historian Richard Senate |
We started our tour at the Post Office where large murals by depression era painter Gordon Grant, funded under a grant from the WPA, covers the lobby walls. These large murals are oil on canvas and depict industry in Ventura county.
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| WPA painting by Gordon Grant |
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The offices of author Erle Stanley Gardner, author of the Perry Mason series, are immortalized in this former bank building.
Erle Stanley Gardner entrance
Downtown Ventura architecture is unique and colorful occasionally used by movie studios for filming TV and movie productions.
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| City Hall |
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| Former Greyhound Bus Terminal |
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| Victorian, one of several remaining |
On a return visit, we walked to the Mission church, San Buenaventura Mission and returned under the Freeway through a public art project commemorating the Tortilla Flat neighborhood which was demolished in the 60s to make room for the 101 Freeway. John Steinbeck wrote about the Tortilla Flats of Monterey and Carmel, not related to the Tortilla Flat of Ventura. This was a poor neighborhood notable for the smells of rotting produce and lettuce spilled by passing produce trucks winding their way through the curves to the ports.
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| San Buenaventura Mission |
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| San Buenaventura Mission |
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| Tortilla Flat Art Project |
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| Tortilla Flat Art Project under the Freeway |
Passing under the Freeway art project leads us to Surfers Point on the Pacific, a short walk down the promenade back to our hotel.
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| Crowne Plaze in the distance |
Proceed to Churchill Pixie Tangerine Orchard
