Welcome to the Old Neighborhood

The ambition of this new mural is to tell stories of what life was like in the early years of the federal housing projects known as Westview Village starting in 1952 and for the next 60 years. The source of information used will be oral histories and old photographs. The depiction  shows the streets that bordered the community that included No. Olive Street from the east and Riverside Street to the west, running north and south, (Snow Court which also runs north and south came into being in 1960, about 8 years after Westview Village was established). Flint Street represents the north border and Barnett Street the south. Vince and Warner Streets sub-divide the community, all streets just mentioned run east and west.

Aside from describing life living in Westview Village, it will also depict close locations where people shopped like the United Food Market and the Derrick Room and eateries like Macias Mexican Food and the Palm on Ventura Avenue and schools that the youth attended, Sheridan Way School and De Anza, EP Foster, etc. Plus community activities to get involved with like Westpark, the Boys & Girls Club and prior to that the Ventura Police Boys & Girls. A common lesson of growing up in the Projects was that life has great value and Westview Village was a stepping stone to a better future.

A new look and understanding of Ventura’s story: In the late 1940s and early 1950s two sets of plans were taking root and it was two different groups of people with different motives and ambitions at work. One plan was happening all over the U.S.A. after World War II and that was to build freeway systems across the country. One could imagine that it would create a lot of work for soldiers returning to civilian life. It would also create a fast way to get from one city to another, for our purposes let’s consider from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara.

 What that would mean for Ventura is that room would have to be made for the fast, multi-lane, 101 Freeway. Ventura essentially has mountains and the Pacific Ocean walking distance from each other. The 101 would have to come right down the middle of town.

Something comes – something has to go. For Ventura it was an old working class neighborhood commonly referred to as Tortilla Flats. Most, but not all of the residents were renters. Displacing the neighborhood would create a lot of families needing to find somewhere to live. Tortilla Flats was located next to the Ventura County Fairgrounds, in the area where Patagonia is today. Roughly speaking the boundaries were, the Fairgrounds and Front Street to the west and Main Street to the east and then the Ventura River to the north and Figueroa Street to the south. Some may take issue with that description of the boundaries, but people have been arguing for the past 100 years and we’re not going to settle that argument anytime soon.

Now, the other plans, in store and awaiting Ventura. In 1949 and 1950 the Housing Authority for the City of Ventura was established and passed a resolution authorizing an application to the Federal Public Housing Administration requesting funding for100 units of low income housing. In early 1952 the first families started moving into the Projects of Westview Village, several of those families had previously lived in Tortilla Flats. This knowledge was not a secret, but unless one happened to come from one of the displaced families of Tortilla Flats there would be no need to consider it, but that’s where the dots connect and a meaningful and organic relationship is made and the descendants of those families are still here appreciating Ventura.

Known for their sharp understanding and perspective of local history, Hanrahan and Mora achieved a lot from their previous artwork and murals around Ventura. Their Tortilla Flats mural on Figueroa St. in Ventura first appeared in 1994 – 30 years ago. It was the story of some of the best people in Ventura, the people who largely built this city back in the last century. Generations of those same families are still living in Ventura. Tortilla Flats and Westview Village are one short mile away from each other. Their descendants can still buy their groceries at the United Food Market, although it’s now called the Red Barn market and they can still go eat great Mexican food at Macias’ only now it’s called Taqueria Ventura.     6/2024   Moses Mora.