The trip up and down from the San Fernando Valley to the coast goes quickly (less than an hour) and I hit downtown Ventura to visit Mission San Buenaventura. The mission is in the heart of downtown, surrounded by retail and a school, and so the grounds are not large. As always, parking in urban areas can be difficult and particularly challenging in towns like Ventura that have head in parking. Fortunately it’s not busy and down the street I find plenty of space. I pull in and take up three spaces so, being a very good boy, I pay at all three meters and turn to head to the mission.
But, not so fast! I look up to see the long arm of the bearing down on me. Two parking officers stop me and ask (rather abruptly) “How many spaces did you pay for?” Using my usually humorous approach, I jokingly say “I’m not a bad person, I paid for all three.” Unfortunately officer Ramon did not share my sense of humor and shot back “I didn’t say you were a bad person”. His sidekick, Officer Obrega, stood by silently. Admittedly a bit flustered and picturing myself beginning to be dragged away in chains, I tried to backtrack and said “I was just trying to be funny…” He cut me off and then asked “Are you in the handicapped parking spot?” I respectfully said no and he whirled around to check it out. He then turned back to me as said “You can go now.” I thanked them and turned away. To my quickly retreating back, he repeated “I never said you were a bad person.” I kept walking. At the end of the block across the street stood the mission. I stepped back to take the picture and noticed that they were trailing me. In my best journalistic fashion I loitered a bit, waiting until I could memorialize the moment in a picture. If you look closely at the foreground of my mission picture, say “hi” to officers Ramon and Obrega.
The mission took nearly 15 years to complete but was not dedicated until 1809. It was small, but successful with water coming via an aqueduct from 7 miles away on the Ventura River. The church and several work buildings enclosed a small central plaza. Note that the sun was till shining despite all the weather reports of impending doom! Again, the mission is right in the middle of downtown Ventura and so all that rmains of the original grounds are within the walls of the quadrangle.
The familiar pattern of significant events (earthquake of 1812, seizure by Mexican government in 1834, restoration to Catholic Church in 1865) unfolded along with other natural disasters that lead to repeated “rebuilding efforts” over the years. However much of the artwork and the carved altar survive.
Still working to stay head of the looming storm, I leave Ventura and head up the coast to the paradise that is Santa Barbara.
Mission Santa Barbara sits high on a hill overlooking the coastal strip along the bay and out to sea to the west. From its’ founding as the 10th of the 21 missions in 1786 the building as seen today was completed in 1820 (after the original being destroyed in the 1812 earthquake). It is one of the few missions that were barely impacted by the Mexican takeover in 1834, being returned to Franciscans shortly thereafter and even after the mission lands were sold, the fathers were allowed to remain in the mission and continue their services. Full rights were restored to the church by President Lincoln in 1865. The actual mission is relatively small and simple, still an active parish today. Rather than the plastered adobe surface, the main church is made of stone and mortar tinted pink.
Behind the columned structure to the left is an interior plaza quadrangle that is surrounded by buildings housing the current fathers and their work. This was originally used as the work area for the mission.
The side of the church is to the right, the other buildings were workshops for various trades and business of the mission. Again, this was not a large missions and this quadrangle composed most of the structures. The design of the church was taken from “The Ten Books of Architecture”, written by the Roman architect Vitruvius around 28 B.C.
The mission kitchen basically survives as built and is filled with original equipment.
I wasn’t able to see the interior of the church as it was closed to the public. Remember, these are actual working parishes and other than the museum parts (which are not the majority of the buildings and rooms); the rest of the mission is still very much in active use. Just north of Santa Barbara, El Camino Real (the king’s highway) turns inland from the coast to weave through the coastal mountains as it heads north to the Bay area.
Next stop: Mission Santa Ines in Solvang.
.
Post a Comment