One Tank Gang: Olivas Adobe, Ventura

Date: Saturday, October 8, 2011

Starting Point: Arcadia, California

Destination: Olivas Adobe Ventura, California

Routes taken: CA-134, CA-210 and US-101

Total Miles: 150 miles (round trip)

Attendees: Jeanette, DarDar and Heather

The Olivas Adobe, located in Ventura, California, is an adobe built in 1841 by Raymundo Olivas. Olivas received, in recognition of his service at the Presidio of Santa Barbara, approximately 2,250 acres (9 km2) as part of land grant from Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1841, which he named Rancho San Miguel. The land had originally been part of Mission San Buenaventura, but was appropriated during the secularization of the missions. (Excerpt from Wikipedia.)

To keep costs down, we opted for a picnic lunch on the beautiful grounds of Olivas. Little did we realize that Olivas was the place of choice for every wedding photographer between Ventura and Ojai. We were surrounded by wedding after wedding after Quinceañera after Quinceañera.

Docent, Ross Goodman, and staff, Lola Lynch, regaled us fascinating adobe history. Here a few tidbits that we learned: *This is the premier site of California’s Rancho period of history. *As a couple, Raymundo and Theordora had 21 children who all lived. *The Rancho survived during the gold rush when the Olivas family diversified and sold cattle to the miners. *Max Fleischmann, the yeast king, bought the adobe and restored it. He turned it over to the City of Ventura.