Black Friday, I had just spent two days cooking and then enjoying the Thanksgiving meal with family and friends. Now it was me time.
So we drove up the coast to what we call Ventura, everyone calls this town Ventura, except like Los Angeles, it actually has a much longer name. 
Summers here can be overcast and gloomy, this time of year is when the sun is out and very very bright.
Not everyone was shopping, many were out with us enjoying the day. The pier is old, it is from the late 19th c. when Ventura was fighting to become a large port town, topography and Los Angeles changed all that. So now it is a working class coastal town. A little further north, Santa Barbara takes all the glory.
Yes, sea gulls are rats on wings, sort of like pigeons, but they do photograph well.
A number of these rock towers decorated the beach.
We sat for a while and enjoyed watching the surfers…
And got ‘artistic’ images by shooting right into the sun.
Back up to Main street, lovely old Beaux Arts building from 1926, this one is special.
Who knew, that Perry Mason was born here. These days I find that many a crossword clue is looking for the name Erle, but I forgot that he is the one who wrote the Perry Mason books. I still remember the old TV show with Raymond Burr.
The Mission San Buenaventura, what started the community.
A wonderful old restored brick and tile building.
An Art Deco theater, all lit up.
Ahh, but it turns out this is a modern building, built recently as a 10 theater multiplex. I’m willing to accept this as Art Deco, although some purists will say Art Deco ended in the 1940s’, so this is in the style of. I must say, I’ve seen some pretty bad original Art Deco, so I’m happy with the way this one looks.
A fun day trip, so many more little gems like this all around Southern California.
Leah