Rural Enclave of Ondulando Offers Majestic Views in Peaceful Setting

Tucked away in the Ventura foothills, overlooking lemon and avocado groves, a tranquil neighborhood lies secluded from the rest of the city of Ventura.

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First developed in the 1950s, the upper-middle-class enclave has remained rural. There are no sidewalks or street lights here. Coyotes howl at night. Skunks and bobcats prowl the streets.

This is Ondulando--a quiet, low-crime area, set against the backdrop of the Ventura foothills, featuring brush-covered canyons and hillsides. On a clear day, residents have panoramic views of the Conejo Grade, the Moorpark hills and the Pacific Ocean.

North of Foothill Road, bordered by Via Cielito on the west and Colina Vista on the east, the Ondulando neighborhood contains about 1,010 houses, with a population of about 2,840.

Residents say the drawbacks of hillside living--occasional mudslides, brush fires and marauding coyotes--are outweighed by the peaceful atmosphere and majestic views the neighborhood offers.

“It hasn’t changed much,” said Ruth Larsen, who moved into Ondulando in 1964. “It’s quiet, private and the view is just magnificent.”

Larsen and her husband, Lloyd, were attracted to Ondulando by the view of the Pacific. Their house rests on one of the undulating hills for which the area apparently was named. The Larsens have added a patio out back so they can easily enjoy the vista, and one wall of their one-story house is made of glass.

“If you get your binoculars out, you can see my ship come in,” said Lloyd Larsen, a retired Navy captain. “On a clear day, you can see out to the Channel Islands.”

Those who have houses with expansive views tend to add patios, French doors and large windows to show them off, said interior designer Jone Pence, who has worked on several houses in the Ondulando neighborhood.

“The contractors were not thinking of the view when they built these houses,” Pence said.

Mary Gallagher, who has lived on Via Cielito for 17 years, said she has long been frustrated by the fact that her house, which has an ocean view, has few windows facing west.

“It had one window in the back that overlooked the neighbor’s house,” Gallagher said.

Consequently, the 60-year-old homemaker is investing thousands of dollars in an extensive remodeling project. Contractors are installing four French doors, a large bay window in the kitchen and another large window in the dining room.

“Views are important,” said Gallagher, looking out at the Ventura flatlands and the Pacific Ocean from her back yard. “I was brought up on a ranch, so I’m not used to living closed in.”

Sandy Gateley, a real estate agent who has lived in Ondulando for more than three years, says the neighborhood also is blessed with pleasant weather.

“The sun is up here,” Gateley said. “There aren’t a lot of foggy days. This place has an ambience all its own. You have a wooded feeling up here.”

Although Gateley said property values in the neighborhood have decreased the past two years because of the recession, houses have dramatically increased in value during the past few decades, longtime residents said.

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The Larsens, who bought their house for $29,500 in 1964, estimate it is now worth more than $300,000. According tS. Census figures, the median value for a house in Ondulando is $380,600.

But hillside luxury comes at a price.

Gallagher remembers one particularly intense rainy season that caused half of her back yard to tumble down the hill.

“We had to have a tractor come and bring all this dirt back up,” she said. After that, “We planted the entire back with several rows of oleanders to help stabilize the soil. We haven’t had any troubles since.”

Residents say mudslides have not been a big problem lately because, during the drought, the brush on the hillsides sprouted heavily and rooted the soil firmly.

Flooding isn’t the neighbors’ only fear. Residents worry about fires sweeping down the hillsides and burning their homes, especially when the Santa Ana winds blow. During the Steckel Park fire in October, many residents eyed their hillsides anxiously, hoping the Santa Paula blaze would not come too close. Some watered down their roofs, just in case.

Fire Department officials say they pay special attention to the Ondulando area because it has a high number of wood shake roofs and highly flammable trees such as eucalyptus and pine.

“We had to get special insurance for our roof,” said Karen Ruznicka, who has a wood shake roof on her two-story house. “These houses were built before they outlawed wood shake roofs.”

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Residents are required to clear their roofs of needles, twigs and other combustibles. They also must clear a 100-foot area around their homes and trim shrubs and trees that hang over their houses.

Kathy Taylor, the city’s weed abatement officer, says Ondulando residents have a very high compliance rate. If homeowners do not clear their brush properly, Fire Department officials will do it and bill residents, she said.

“We only did six mandatory weed abatements last year,” Taylor said. “Ondulando is unique in that it has so many pine trees. They’re very, very combustible.”

Ruznicka, a manager for a greeting card company who moved into the neighborhood in 1988, said coyotes are more of a threat than fires.

“We lost a cat to coyotes, and our next-door neighbor lost a dog,” Ruznicka said.

Ondulando residents, many of whom keep their pets indoors, say they can hear the coyotes howling most nights. Bobcats occasionally have been seen roaming the streets.

Kate Rodarty, who has lived in the neighborhood 17 years, said she smelled a skunk about two weeks ago and has seen snakes and possums in her yard.

“It’s weird, you don’t even see birds in L. A., much less wildlife like coyotes,” said Susan Outwater, a 34-year-old homemaker who moved from Van Nuys into Ondulando two years ago.

An urban refugee, Outwater says she enjoys the quiet neighborhood and the low crime rate.

Mary Vomund, a 57-year-old surgical nurse, said, “I have no qualms about walking my dog after dark.”

Residents said the most recent violent incident occurred about a year ago when a 16-year-old killed a jogger on Via Arroyo while driving under the influence of a drug.

Teresa Ryan, who moved in five years ago, said she doesn’t permit her children to play on the street because many motorists take the winding streets in Ondulando too quickly.

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Although there is no formal Neighborhood Watch program, residents say they watch out for each other and call police if they see suspicious strangers in their community. Police say there have only been six reported residential burglaries in Ondulando this year.

“Ondulando is not accessible to burglars,” said Maxine Allen, Ventura police crime analyst. “There are only two streets in and out of the neighborhood, and burglars want to make a quick getaway. Calls for service are relatively low there.”

Many of the houses in Ondulando have security systems, which may also deter burglars, Allen said.

The neighborhood, on the average, is more affluent than the rest of Ventura. Median household income is near $66,000, and 40% of the households have annual incomes over $75,000, according to U. S. Census figures. Citywide, median household income is $40,307, and 15% have incomes over $75,000.

The Ondulando Club, a small clubhouse built in the 1950s, has a membership of about 100 from the neighborhood and about 80 from outside Ondulando. Neighborhood residents pay a one-time initiation fee of $350 and monthly dues of $40; non-residents are charged a $400 initiation fee and monthly dues of $50.

The club has tennis courts, volleyball courts and a swimming pool. It is a popular neighborhood spot for birthday parties, pool parties and other social gatherings, club President Ed Keay said.

“The reason I moved into the Ondulando neighborhood is that it has a family feeling, and the clubhouse is part of that,” Keay said. “The newer neighborhoods are kind of sterile and give you that development feel.”

Jim Hawk, a 35-year-old carpenter who has lived in Ondulando for five years, described his neighbors as “more white collar than blue collar.”

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According to census figures, 48.7% of those employed are professionals. Education levels in the neighborhood are also higher than the rest of the city. Census data shows 96.6% of residents 25 and older have high school diplomas, and 43% have bachelor’s degrees. Citywide, 84% have high school diplomas and 24% have bachelor’s degrees.

Beverly Benton, a local political consultant, said the Ondulando neighborhood historically has a reputation for being politically active.

Virginia Weber, who lives in the neighborhood, ran unsuccessfully for City Council in November. Councilman Jim Monahan, who has been elected to the council five times, has lived there since 1971.

“All the Republicans try to get the Ondulando vote,” Benton said. “The pro-business candidates always walk the Ondulando area.”

Poinsettia Elementary School, where many Ondulando parents send their children, has one of the most active parent organizations in the city, said Arlene Miro, director of administrative services for the Ventura Unified School District.

She also said children at Poinsettia have scored higher than the citywide average on reading and math tests. “Research shows that when parents are interested in what their children are doing, their children tend to do better,” Miro said.

In April, 1991, parents at Poinsettia--some of them from the Ondulando neighborhood--persuaded school district officials to exempt the elementary school from a sweeping realignment plan. Hillside residents were allowed to keep their children at Buena High School instead of busing them across town to Ventura High.

Parents from the Montalvo community--who must send their children past Buena to Ventura High--accused the school board of catering to the wishes of the affluent hillside communities, but Miro said it was not a politically motivated decision.

The busing fuss was one of the few political issues that have stirred the normally sedate neighborhood recently.

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In fact, Phyllis Luyken, a 72-year-old retired elementary school teacher, calls her neighborhood dull.

“It’s boring,” said Luyken, who has lived there 17 years. “When you go on a walk, you don’t see a soul. And there’s absolutely no public transportation. If you don’t have a car, you’re dead.”

Luyken, a widow, said she is thinking about selling her two-story house because it is too large for her. But she acknowledged that she would miss her quiet neighborhood if she moved.

Her house is the edge of a hill, with views of the valley below and the ocean, which Luyken looks at when she practices tai chi.

“The view is uplifting, it’s magnificent,” Luyken said, pointing at the horizon. “That’s why people move here.”

Ondulando at a Glance

Population: 2,837

Racial Breakdown

White: 88.3%

Latino: 6.7%

Asian: 4.2%

Black: .3%

Other: .5%

Education

(25 years and older)

High school diplomas:96.6%

College degrees:43%

Household Income

Median household:$65,991

Under $15,000:2.9%

Over $75,000:40%

Source: 1990 U. S. Census