Downtown Ventura, CA- An attractie seaside California Community with a very walkable Historic Downtown Core

My evaluation area includes the heart of Dwtn Ventura and some surrounded streets that have a pretty high level of urbanism and connect well to Downtown. My western boundary is Ventura Ave., Chrisman/Sanjon is my eastern boundary, Poli St to the north and Ventura Freeway/the railroad tracks to the south. The area East of Dwtn Ventura also hosts pretty good urbanism with mostly pre-WWII housing and semi-urban commercial districts. This however felt like a distinct neighborhood from Dwtn.

With the arrival of Spanish missionaries in 1782, Mission San Buenaventura was established by Junípero Serra, giving the city its name. Following the Mexican secularization of the Californian missions a small community arose. Following the American Conquest of California, San Buenaventura eventually incorporated as a city in 1866. The 1920s brought a major oil boom, which along with the post–World War II economic expansion, significantly developed and expanded Ventura. Population steadily grew in the turn of the 20th century reaching 1,300 in 1880, 2,500 in 1900, and 4K in 1920. Population exploded after 1920 reaching 13K in 1940, 30K in 1960, 73K in 1980 and now sits at 110K.

Thanks to Ventura’s decent pre WWII population it hosts an excellent historic core with great urbanism along several blocks of Main Street between Juniper St and Fir St. East of here Main st continues as more of a mixed-use area with lots of residential development. Some decent urban form along Santa Clara and less so along E. Thomas Blvd, which doubles as a state highway 101. Unfortunately a highway separates Dwtn from its waterfront making the connectivity less than ideal. East of Fir St is a solid mixed-use turn of the century walkable residential area with attractive California historic housing. Some nice mixed-use development along Front St, which doubles as a historic wharf district. For Dwtn Ventura to become a top urban district is needs to fill in its remaining surface parking lots and underutilized auto centric spots. It also needs better urban density and a lot more affordable housing. 

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URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid public transit access.
* Consistent sidewalks access. ADA curbs cuts are great in the heart of Dwtn and along Main St but get less consistent on the surrounding residential streets.
* Excellent urban form and streetscaping along the core of Dwtn Ventura along several blocks of Main St. Lots of mix use fabric beyond this but a decent amount of auto centric form mixed in.
* While there are no dedicated bike stations here, a great system of dedicated bike lanes dwtn connecting to the rest of the City.
* Solid racial and economic diversity but not a ton of families with children and median age skews high.
* Excellent historic architecture here.
* High level of pedestrian activity Dwtn especially along Main St.
* One of the safest communities in California apparently. Blight is almost non existent.
* Excellent cultural amenities including a plethora of food & beverage bizs, plenty of art galleries and night clubs, a historic cinema, a live music venue, a performing arts theater, a couple local museums and lots of historic sites including the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura.
* Good park amenities including convenient access to the Beach, the Ventura Botanical Gardens, the excellent plaza park, several attractive plaza spaces, and good access to the Seaside Wilderness Park located just southwest of Dwtn.
* Great retail amenities too including a supermarket and lots of smaller grocerias and gourmet grocery stores, a couple drug stores, tons of local boutiques, gift shops & clothing’s stores, a hardware store, lots of antique and thrift shops, several bank branches, tons of dessert joints & gyms, plenty of salons, a couple book stores and florists, a dwtn post office/public library, several medical offices, & plenty of churches.
* Public Elementary, middle and high school all located in the Dwtn area with pretty good ratings.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Urban density is pretty mediocre.
* Ventura is very far removed from any major Dwtn area in the LA Metro. The closest probably being Santa Monica about 75 minutes away. But Ventura is at least the County seat of which brings a decent amount of Dwtn amenities.
* Good amount of rental product, just very expensive. 1 beds lease anywhere between -3K, 2-beds lease between 2.5K-4K. Limited 3 & 4 bed product and what does exist is very expensive single family homes.
* For sale housing is pretty diverse but even more expensive than rentals. 1-bed condos sell btwn 600k-800K, 2-beds btwn 650K-1 M, 3 & 4 beds range between 800K-2 M.
* So so  tree canopy.