Ventura: City & Mission

Simi Valley, Ventura County, CA

    Note that Ventura is actually a contraction of the official name of the city and mission: San Buenaventura. But that's a mouthful to put on a sign. [However, I'm getting some of my own medicine, for it took me several days to realize that Cyn on road signs meant Canyon; my siblings complain that I use too many abbreviations and acronymns in my e-mail....]

    Unlike Santa Barbara, where the mission is about a mile from the the downtown area on a hill, Ventura's mission is on Main Street. While I did walk up to stairs to the right of the mission, one was required to walk through the Gift Shop to access the gardens. The walk from the main branch of the Ventura Library was longer than a librarian had estimated -- while she was thinking, I ventured "three blocks" -- so she agreed. It was actually 7 or 8 blocks. My right foot held up well and it was comfortable walking on the west, or shady, side of the main drag.

    The first photo was taken over a fountain with some very attractive blue tile; in fact, you'll see more of that tile around a planter on the mission-side of the street in the 2nd photo. Note that the mission was founded in 1782; here's Wikipedia's article on the San Buenaventura Mission. The water from the fountain ran through the above-mentioned blue tile toward the ocean.
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    Note that in both photos the mission has only one bell tower rather than the usual triple-node tower as at the San Juan Bautista and San Antonio Missions -- among others.

    As I walked back toward the Library Parking Lot I decided to eschew the main drag and cut up Palm Street. An old brick building, being used as a playhouse or comedy venue and called "The Improv" caught my eye. After taking the photo you see to the right, I crossed the street to read the plaque on the building.
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    The building has functioned as a stable, carriage house, and/or garage from c1875 until the early 1970s. And the brick facade replaced the original wooden front in the early 1900s. [Click once or twice to read the plaque.]

 
    As I walked the street which is to the east of Main Street I happened upon City Hall. The little cherubic faces just below the window sills on the 2nd floor caught my attention. [Incidentally, there is a great deal of free parking, clearly marked, off of Main St -- something which no doubt is strongly supported by local merchants; as I walked by some people eating at tables on the sidewalk, I resisted the temptation to ask, "How does it taste?"]

    Finally, here's a photo taken from in front of the statue of Father Junipero Serra looking toward Venture harbor. [Have you ever noticed that many padres used walking staffs? Is that so they can support themselves after stubbing their toes while wearing sandals. Presumably they didn't use the Anglo-Saxon terms my sergeants used to exhort the troops on to greater levels of performance. Nay, being men of the cloth, they probably vowed to watch their steps more carefully.]

W 26 Jan: Simi Valley - ?? Having refrigerator repaired - Tapo Canyon County RV Park

Mission Santa Barbara Mission

Ojai, Ventura County, CA.

    Am beginning this while sitting in my camper at the Wheeler Gorge Campground, a US Forest Service facility on SR33 8.5 miles north of Ojai, an attractive town of slightly more than 8,000 people. There is an Ojai Mission, but since it's occupied by the Chamber of Commerce, one can assume that it's not one of the original 21 missions built in the late 1700s and early 1800s by Fray Junipero Serra and fellow padres.

    Good thing I climbed into my sleeping bag an hour early. What I thought was a little-used rural road, SR33, is apparently used by many to avoid the traffic on I-5. While the traffic was virtually non-existent overnight, that changed just before dawn this morning as traffic picked up. Of course, another explanation might be that there are pockets of private property within the Los Padres Natl Forest and the traffic is commute traffic.
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    I had intended to skip the Santa Barbara Mission in order to get to the Ojai Library to do some things on-line. But, as you can see from the photos to the right, the Santa Barbara Mission is one of the more beautiful missions -- in large part because of the large lawn and rose garden in front of the mission.

    All of the houses on the other side of the street from which I took these three photos were what I belive is called Mission Revival Architecture -- complete with reddish-orange tile rooves. [Indeed, I thing if someone were to remodel one of those house and replace the tile roof with a tar and gravel roof, he'd be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail; of course, the equivalent of that treatment is likely provided by Santa Barbara's Planning Commission.]

    I stumbled onto a "Rocks" city park on the road which runs in front of the mission-side of the large lawn; it's along a stream which was likely the source of water for the mission. (Actually, I was just looking for a place to turn around and return to the mission to take some photos.)

For more information as well as additional photos of the Santa Barbara Mission, click here.

W 25 Jan Route: Ojai - Ventura - Simi Valley - ??? Campground

La Purisima Mission, Solvang, Santa Inez Mission and Cachuma Lake

Cachuma Lake, Santa Barbara County, CA.

    As I left Lompoc for Solvang I saw a California Historical Sign pointing to the left for La Pursimia Mission, 1 mile. Made a quick left and, as I approached another road I noticed quite a few vehicles parked on both side of the road -- though not where there were "No Parking" signs at access roads for agriculture fields.

    Looked left and right but saw no sign for the Mission -- so I turned left. Then realized I should have gone straight ahead into the Mission Parking lot. Hung a U and drove up to the kiosk at the entrance to the parking lot. The cost was $6. After I told the woman I was trying to take photos of as many mission as possible, she relented -- but not much. Realizing that I was a Sprung Chicken, she said parking for seniors was $5.

    Said I would pass and turned around in the parking lot before heading back toward SR46, the route to Solvang. I now understand why so many vehicles were parked along the road approaching the entrance to the La Purisima Mission. In any case, when I get to WiFi (likely in Goleta) will check out a web site I found after visiting the San Miguel Mission. Can't find the brief history I read previously; in its stead, here's a Wikipedia piece on La Purisima Mission.

    Solvang was like the former Santa's Village in Scotts Valley near Santa Cruz, but on a much larger scale. Was principally interested in locating the Library to see if they left their WiFi on and then noticed the Santa Inez/Inez Mission on my right. I got there almost excactly at noon as services were ending. So I had to wait for some of the attendees to clear out so that I could get shots such as this first one of the bell tower through the pepper trees. [A woman working at sweeping up dried pepper tree leaves across Mission St at the Senior Center assured me that there were olives on the mission grounds as well; in fact, she had apparently been to Israel for she said there were some trees there which were over a 1000 years old.]

    This second photo was taken from the other end of the building, which was apparently completed in the 1820s even though the mission was founded in 1802 or 1804. Since it's in an area which is fairly heavily populated, it's in the best shape of any of the mission I've visited yet. [While I think of it, I just missed the San Luis Obispo Mission while looking for a gas station last Wednesday, though I was close since a school I passed was called Old Mission School; however, the streets of SLO more like the hilly sections of San Francisco rather than the flatter portions of Santa Cruz. In any case, here's a Wikipedia piece on San Luis Obispo Mission.]
 
    About the only building I saw in Solvang which did have either the mission-style architecture or the Danish Gingerbread House look was a State Farm Office -- and the agent was a woman with a Spanish name. This first shot was taken on the street paralleling the main drag, Mission St., looking to the SW down Copenhagen Avenue or Street.

    The 2d shot was an afterthought as I walked back to my rig since I saw yet another Danish Windmill. Tom Stienstra, author of West Coast RV Camping noted that Solvang had won several awards as one of the cleaner towns in the U.S. Think of Solvang as the Danish version of Carmel -- but without as many art galleries!

 

    Lake Cachuma is on the Santa Ynez/Inez River and is likely the water supply for Santa Barbara since it's unlawful to even think about swimming, water-skiing, or bathing in it. This first photo is the of the water immediately behind the dam.

 

 

    This 2d photo is of the remainder of the lake to the right. If memory serves, the dam was built in 1953, which explains why the trees here in the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area are so large. While most are native species, they've had water during drought years or they wouldn't be as large as they are now. [This RV campground, with 592 sites may well be the biggest I have visited in my travels so far.]

 

    Lastly, here's a sunset from the door of my camper looking NW at the ridge between Santa Ynez Peak and Bald Mtn.

 

 

 

 

M 24 Jan Route: Cachuma Lake - Goleta - Santa Barbara - Ojai - Wheeler Gorge Campground (USFS)

San Luis Obispo Bay & Pismo Beach

Arroyo Grande, CA.

 
    This first shot is of San Luis Obispo Bay and was taken from the northern end of the Wal-Mart parking lot on West Branch St. in Arroyo Grande. If you click once or twice on the photo, you may be able to make out some of the towns on SLO Bay; from the north, they are Avila Beach, Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, and Oceano. (Arroyo Grande sits somewhat inland on US101 whereas SR1 run through the latter three towns.)
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    The Reference Librarian at the Arroyo Grande said she thought the cemetery in the foreground of the photo of SLO Bay was a Catholic cemetery named Saint Patrick -- but she suggested I drive by to double-check. I did -- and she was indeed correct. However, it appears that have been no burials for some time; further, it appears part of the cemetery to the north was sold to a developer who built an office building which remains vacant.

    The second photo was taken at the end of a street in Pismo Beach which had a circular turn-around. I parked in a "Loading Zone Only" spot and quickly took this photo looking approximately NW over SLO Bay.
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    I think the houses you see on the most distant shore of SLO Bay are Avila Beach while those on the point jutting out from the right are the northern portions of Pismo Beach.

    Since a pickup was headed down the street toward the beach I took a quick snapshot of the pier and headed back to my rig. Note the swings to keep the young'uns out of the surf.
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    As I was driving toward US101 I passed an older house on a corner which house had a sign in the window proclaiming "Psychic"! Then I began to think just how similar Pismo Beach is to Santa Cruz -- except that the small surf only seems to attract a few surfers (most of whom were walking toward the beach with their boards).

Su 23 Jan Route: Lompoc - Solvang - Lake Cuchuma
 

San Miguel Mission & An Obituary for Dr. William Poytress

Arroyo Grande, CA.

    This photo was taken from "the other side of the tracks" to give some idea of the large size of Mission San Miguel.

    While it's not evident from this perspective, a great deal of restoration work is underway on the back of the mission, especially the roof. But a somewhat newer building to the rear of the mission had a good-sized crowd for Tuesday-night Bingo as I drove to the local branch of the San Luis Obispo Library.

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William H. POYTRESS
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Obituary
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Thursday 28 January 1987 San Jose Mercury News, p. 7B
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William Poytress, Former SJS Prof
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    William H. Poytress, 95, a professor at San Jose State for 40 years who headed the social science department in the 1940s and 1950s, died Monday at a San Jose convalescent hospital after a brief illness.
    An economics professor, he retired form the faculty in 1963. He came to San Jose from San Mateo, where he had taught at San Mateo Junior College.
    He was born in Birmingham, England, and came to America in 1905 with his parents. They settled in the Fresno area and farmed.
    Highly regarded as a political scientist, Prof. Poytress was often called upon by business people and others to speak on current events. He would, during the four decades he taught at San Jose State, speak out on controversial issues at the drop of a hat. Many of his public remarks were reported in the newspapers.
    For example, on the evening of Feb. 18, 1941, Dr Poytress was called upon to address a Junior Chamber of Commerce "Americanism Banquet" in Hollister, at which he declared, "Let's be realistic. We are in a war now." He was to prove prophetic. Ten months later the United States was, indeed, in war with Japan, Italy, and Germany.
    Dr. Poytress held degrees from the University of California and did his post-graduate work at Stanford University. A scholar, he had studied Latin for 13 years and Greek for five years.
    He is credited with estabishing SJS's public relations curriculum in 1948.
    Dr. Poytress was well-liked by SJS students, and in 1966, three years after he had retired, he was named the San Jose State College's homecoming grand marshal by the SJS student body. On homecoming day he led the parade through downtown San Jose and presided over half-time activities in the football clash between Idaho and State.
    He was a memnber of scores of professional organizations during his tenure, but was also proud of being a leader of the Villages Garden Club. He became an avid gardner upon retirement, at one time expressing a fondness for the shovel, a tool he often used during the days he grew up on a ranch near Fresno.
    "I never pull weeds," he reported in a 1978 interview published in the Mercury News. "I shovel them out. None of this bending."
    He is survived by his wife, Maude Horn Poytress of San Jose, a son, Dr. Richard W. Poytress, a Los Gatos anesthesiologist; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were handled by the Neptune Society of San Jose.
    Memorial services are pending.

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    My late father's favorite story about "Wild Bill" Poytress, as he called him, came from an economics class in 1937. [Recall that the stock market topped in 1929, bottomed in 1932, and topped again in 1937.] After apparently listening to a radio broadcast as to what the stock market was doing late in 1937, Dr. Poytress entered the classroom and announced, "The Bears have the Bulls by the balls." Presumably there were few if any women in the class. I'm certain that the many talks I saw announced in the Santa Cruz Sentinel by Dr. Poytress before civic clubs, many of them women's clubs, were done in a different verbiage; for the women at some of his talks would have been aghast at such a description of the stock market struggles between the Bulls and the Bears.

    Even though Dr. Poytress was still teaching while I was an undergraduate (1957-61) he still sought other venues at which to express himself. I recall hearing him talk about events of the day at a San Jose junior high school which was part of the adult evening education program.

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    While it's somewhat unclear whether Dr. Poytress was an adviser to Tau Delta Phi, he is shown in 1938 and 1939 La Torres as if he were a student member with no label other than his name next to his photo. My guess is that "Wild Bill" Poytress was indeed the TDP adviser in the late 1930s.

F 21 Jan Route: Morro Bay - San Luis Obispo - Arroyo Grande - Pismo Beach

Morro Rock & A New "House Battery"

Morro Bay, CA.

    The handout of Morro Dunes Travel Trailer and Resort Campgound, whose web site is here, describes Morro Rock in 5 or so paragraphs.

    "There is a towering 576 foot guard standing watch over Morro Bay Harbor. Some have dubbed it "The Gibralter of the Pacific." Locally it is known as Morro Rock and is the last in a chain of long-extinct volcanoes know as "The Morros. [I noted another Morro somewhat inland during my drive south to/from San Luis Obispo today; for more on the Morros, click here.]

    "Long before any white men set foot on this coast, the Chumash Indians hunted and fished in the shadow of Morro Rock. Archaelogical study had dated their Indian artifacts as early as 47 centuries before Christ.

    "In 1542 during his voyage of discovery up the coast, Juan Cabrillo named Morro Rock for it dome-like structure. The harbor soon became a frequent stop for Spanish galleons sailing along the coast. In 1587, the captain of one of these vessels, Pedro de Unumuno, put into Morro Bay and claimed it for Spain.

    "From the late 1800s, Morro Rock had been used as a source of materials for breakwaters throughout the state. The years of quarrying have forever changed the shape of the monolith, although it still covers 50 acres at it base. In 1968, after extensive citizen effort and outcry, Morro Rock was declared State Historical Landmark No. 821. It is now also a refuge for the endangered Peregrine Falcon, and climbing onh the rock itself is illegal.

    "The waters around Morro Bay offer abundant fishing for both commercial and sports fishermen. The saltwater angler can haul in boccaccio, red snapper, ling cod, red rock cod, widow bass, blue bass, and cabezon. The king salmon run from February to November, the albacore from September to November, and the halibut from July to December."

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    Now have a new battery for my camper (at a cost of $125). It's called the "house battery" and allows me to camp in campgrounds or campsites which don't have electrical connections. (Most US Forest Services campgrounds have tables and fire pits and usually water and some type of toilet, but few have the ubiquitous 30amp electrical connections or hookups.)

    This will allow me to cut the costs of traveling in Southern California since the 2 highest cost are for fuel (gas or diesel) and RV campgrounds. Of course, one must make sure his freshwater tank is full and the holding tanks for gray water (from the sink and shower) and black water (sewage) are either empty or, at least, not very full. [Only a few USFS camp sites have dump stations where one can empty his RV or camper's holding tanks.]

    Perry Ford in San Luis Obispo was booked with service appoints for today and tomorrow; hence, I'll try another Ford dealer further south.

F 21 Jan Route: Morro Bay - San Luis Obispo - Arroyo Grande - Pismo Beach

A Few Photos Taken Yesterday

Morro Dunes RV Park

    Just a few comments and a few of the photos I took yesterday while driving from King City to Jolon to near Cambria on SR1 and finally to Morro Bay.

 

Mission San Antonia de Padua near Jolon, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An arm of Lake Nacimiento.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morro Rock from SR1 north of Cayucos, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Th 20 Jan Route: Morro Bay - San Luis Obispo (Perry Ford) - ?