VENTURA : City Celebrates 129th Year Today
The city of Ventura celebrates its 129th birthday today, marking the date when the state Legislature granted Ventura one of the first city charters in Southern California.
Historians say Ventura was born in 1866 in a room above a saloon. When the first mayor, William Chaffee, wanted to attend a City Council meeting, he simply left the department store he owned, crossed the street at Palm and Main streets, walked through Spears Saloon (now the Rendezvous Room bar), and climbed the stairs to the first city offices.
Ventura’s second mayor, Angel Escandon, was in fact a saloon keeper, historians say.
A bilingual community, Ventura called its council members sindicos , and half of them spoke English and half spoke Spanish, according to historians. “All records for the first few years were kept in English and Spanish,” said Richard Senate, Ventura’s semi-official historian.
According to records, Ventura’s staff of five spent a budget of $7,465 in the city’s first year of existence--as contrasted with a budget of about $103 million this year.
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