It’s Spring time… which for me means early morning surfs when we get a south swell in the water.

This past Monday there was a south swell running up the coast so with fingers crossed I headed down to the point just before first light so I could get a parking spot and check the surf for a go out.

Well, there was a nice swell hitting us here but the conditions were junk. That was due to winds that had blown the whole night down the Santa Barbara Channel. It happens more times than not this time of year spring through summer months. Can be frustrating for sure. Down south, L.A. and  Orange County will be fine but above Point Magu the situation changes because of the channel winds.

South swells generated in the southern hemisphere take a number of days to reach California. You know they are on the way and forecasting can estimate arrival days. I monitor the channel buoys to see how the winds are behaving, and generally know when the channel gets roughed up with winds when a south swell is coming our way. This past Monday was no different.  But like I said… fingers crossed… I went down with magical thoughts that the channel junk wouldn’t over take the swell… no such luck.

So I walked up the promenade to the Fair Grounds. On the way back I stopped at the free lot on the point to see the new pay machines that have been installed. Yeah, the free lot is not free any more. Which means all the beach parking areas in Ventura are pay to play. The free lot cost $1 per hour with a 4 hour max. And if I remember correctly no parking after 10 p.m.

It’s so odd to think back to a time when the free lot area at the end of Figaroa St. was dirt. And the time me and a couple other guys with VW vans circled the wagons and spent the night right there on the point. Never to be bothered or harassed… shoot, we wouldn’t even see another soul until morning when the morning crew would come for a surf check.

Back then you had to know something was up with the land from the Fair Grounds to the pier. All the houses were razed, big giant rocks were brought in and stacked along the mean tide line, back filled with dirt and graded flat all the way back to Harbor Blvd.  Nothing but dirt from California St. to the Fair Grounds.

With the satellite pic of the beach at the point imagine this… From Shoreline parking at the left of the pic to the pier on the right there was nothing but dirt. No Shoreline parking… the free lot. No Beachfronter apartments, no Paseo de Playa, no Crown Plaza, no Aloha Steak House, no parking structure or Harbor Blvd parking for that matter. Just dirt from Harbor Blvd to the ocean and the Fair Grounds to the pier. Of course no Promenade either.

If you weren’t there you really missed it.

D.R.

Ventura Point

 Enlarge for detail.