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CONTENTS
THE OUTDOOR COLLECTION
ventana
VOL.15 NO. 2
MARCH 2021
FEA TU R ES
editor’s note
6 Made in Ventura County
Cover Story 8 Hat Trick Hatmaker, artist, sculptor Satya Twena of Ojai.
Profile 19 Wheel of Fortune
Ceramicist Nate Pidduck finds his element in clay.
Culture 26 Surf ’s Their Turf Life’s a beach for Ventura Surf Shop’s Blinky and Mignonne Hubina.
Conversation 32 Seaworthy Custom boat builder Jeff Hull.
Check out the features of our newest styles.
PHOTO BY LUIS CHAVEZ
DEPARTMENTS SHORT LIST 44 A preview of coming attractions
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COVER STORY: Satya Twena at her atelier in Ojai. Photo by Luis Chavez
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EDITOR’S NOTE
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PHOTO BY LUIS CHAVEZ
MADE IN VENTURA COUNTY
M
arch has traditionally been Ventana Monthly’s Style Issue — and since it was first introduced in 2011, it’s been a sticky wicket. First focusing on clothing and the people who wore it (both amazing, of course), it evolved to include interior design, jewelry, perfume, cars and anything else we could manage to shoehorn into the theme. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily — style has always been about more than the clothes we wear on our backs — but it did have us scratching our heads about the very concept. The Style Issue, really, wasn’t simply about how things looked, but who made them: the artisans who crafted by hand the items of everyday living, whether that was a pair of shoes or a table or a glass holding our favorite beverage. What we were really thinking about and inspired by were the makers. Makers who come in all forms and work in any number of media, and contribute to the overall personality, fabric, gestalt (if you will) of Ventura County. There’s no single thing that defines this region. There’s artsy, boho Ojai; beachy, bustling Ventura; vibrant, multicultural and well-connected Oxnard; agricultural yet suburban Camarillo; charming and historical Santa Paula; Hollywood-adjacent Thousand Oaks . . . but like most generalizations, those descriptors are woefully inadequate. They don’t even begin to touch the complexity or diversity of those cities, or the region as a whole.
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The people who live here and add to its many natural resources with beautiful, artisanal, exceptionally crafted objects . . . well, those likewise defy an easy, all-encompassing classification. Which is how it should be: Ventura County is more than the sum of its parts, and we contain multitudes in our 2,000+ square miles. So for now, we’re thinking less about style and more about creation. This month, we debut the Made in Ventura County issue with four stories centered on exceptional craftspeople. On our cover is the anything-but-mad hatter Satya Twena, who first saved a decades-old hat-making enterprise in Manhattan before bringing her talent and flair to Ojai. In Culture, check out Bill “Blinky” Hubina, beloved surfer, board-shaper and shortboard pioneer, and his equally beach-loving wife, Mignonne, who recycles surfboard resin into sea-kissed art. We talk with custom boat builder Jeff Hull in Conversation, and contemplate the personal connection to clay that helped shape ceramicist Nate Pidduck. East to west, north to south, imaginative minds have found Ventura County a rich soil in which to cultivate their seeds of creativity — which are as rich and varied as the produce on display at our farmers markets. Open these pages, and find something to fire up your own inventive tendencies. – Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer nancy@ventanamonthly.com
EDITOR IN CHIEF Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer CONTRIBUTORS Luis Chavez Emily Dodi Karen Lindell Chris O’Neal Alex Wilson GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Bret Hooper Nathalie Proulx ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Warren Barrett ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Barbara Kroon
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COVER STORY
HAT TRICK S Hatmaker, artist, sculptor Satya Twena of Ojai. BY KAREN LINDELL | PHOTOS BY LUIS CHAVEZ
atya Twena’s halo hats go through hell to become heavenly. Most hats begin as a piece of felt — not the stuff used to make kindergarten crafts, but a super-strong fabric that is essentially the compressed, matted and fiercely interlocking hairs of an animal such as a beaver, rabbit or sheep. Machines and human beings vacuum, heat, stretch, roll, press and manipulate the hairs until they become a cone of felt that serves as the bare body of a hat.
The cone-shaped felt is then shipped to the milliner — in this case, Twena and the artisans who work in her Ojai atelier. They use skilled hands and a carved wooden form called a block, plus steam and an iron, to knead, pummel and smooth it into a desired shape. They block the hats by hand, not by using machines the way many hat factories do. For Twena, the details come next: intricate lines of embroidery to create what truly looks like a halo on the brim of the hat, along with other sewn personal details, gathered from talking to the custom-made hat’s owner, including symbols, constellations and a mantra or personal message inside. Hat maker, artist, sculptor. Twena considers herself all three. “We put so much intention, love, power and magic into it,” she said. “It’s not just a hat — each individual thing is a piece of art, a masterpiece. A hat is a canvas, and it has a way of being what it wants to be.” Celebrities including Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey (on two of her magazine covers), Anne Hathaway and Reese Witherspoon all wear her hats. But so do non-famous people, and Twena infuses each hat with the individual wearer’s story and intentions.
F RO M AT H L E T I C S TO A RT Twena’s own story of how she came to love and master the art, craft and spirit of hat-making begins when she was growing up in Newport Beach. Her parents, she said, “were Jewish Buddhists from California, Continued on page 10
SATYA TWENA at her Ojai studio, wearing her Night Sky hat design.
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“It’s not just a hat — each individual thing is a piece of art, a masterpiece. A hat is a canvas, and it has a way of being what it wants to be.” —Satya Twena
SKY’S THE LIMIT: Every hat Twena crafts is made to order, embroidered with symbols, words — anything the customer desires. She does, however, take inspiration from the stars, as shown here in Halo Constellation. and gave me a Sanskrit name (Satya) that means truth.” Hats were a common piece of clothing in their household. “My parents were putting me in hats as long as I can remember,” Twena said. “I had an aunt who was a well-known fashion designer in L.A. in the ‘80s. I was dressed to the nines in gorgeous outfits, including turbans and headbands and headpieces.” For a period during high school, when she was a stand-out soccer athlete, and during her years at Wellesley College in Massachusetts majoring in psychology and women’s studies, she didn’t think much about hats. After graduating from college, she studied interior design at the Parsons School in Manhattan, and landed a job at the high-end home design firm Studio Sofield in New York City. She then started taking art and fashion classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). “I had been a pretty recognized athlete, since the age of 10 until my 20s, and had been running and doing agility activities,” she said. “In New York, I was not doing a lot of athletics, and had a lot of anxiety.” Her mother, Ojai artist Pamela Grau, recommended art classes to offset any trapped nervous energy, so she took knitting, crochet-
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ing and millinery courses at FIT in the evenings. “The millinery class wasn’t anything like I do now,” she said. “It was hats that were more like berets. It made me realize I wanted to sew, so I took a sewing class.” In 2010, soon after taking the millinery course, Twena learned that her mother had cancer. When her mom’s hair started to fall out from chemotherapy, Twena wanted to create something warm, soft and protective for her head. So Twena made her a hat — a wool one with a ribbon band. She brought it to life in her apartment using a Jiffy steamer and kitchen oven to mold and bake it into shape. Grau, now healthy and in remission from cancer, recalled her daughter’s gesture: “I was very sick at the time, but I was really thrilled. It was a lovely hat. It’s hard to go back to that time, but it was so wonderful she would do that for me.”
# S AV E M A N H AT TA N Twena enjoyed the experience so much that she started a hat company in her apartment, then opened a studio in Manhattan’s garment district, where she continued to make custom hats by hand. 8
Orders kept coming in, and a friend told her about Makins Hats, a 5,000-square-foot vintage hat-making factory, also in the garment district, that had been creating hats by hand since 1974. For large orders, Twena started working with the factory, and when Makins closed abruptly in 2013, she decided to buy the company and all its equipment. In the process, she helped save one of New York City’s last hat-making factories. By then married, she got financial help from family and friends, and created a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise money to hire back the rest of the factory’s employees. People who pledged Kickstarter funds got rewards like a “How to Wear a Hat” PDF ($1), a vintage hat bow pin ($5), a hat from her collection ($97), or a factory tour and a chance to design a hat ($450). Twena wanted to raise $75,000, and ended up with 1,379 backers pledging $171,966. The campaign’s hashtag was “#SaveManHATtan.” The Kickstarter campaign, and growing appreciation of Twena’s hat handiwork, garnered a lot of press attention, including in the Wall Street Journal, Glamour magazine and on the Today show. Twena credits having a great story to tell — “last hat factory in New York City closing; young entrepreneurial female wants to show that handcrafted things still matter” — and strong marketing for getting the word out. In particular, she found success with support from Instagram influencers, including Stacy London, co-host of the TLC reality show What Not to Wear; and Kelly Framel of “The Glamourai” fashion blog. Twena began selling her hats at Nordstrom and other high-end department stores. Celebrities and models wore her hats in photo shoots or just out and about. The Neiman Marcus store at Hudson Yards carried her hats until it closed in 2020.
“ P E R S O N A L P I E C E S O F A RT ” So how did a New York fashion maven end up in Ojai? Twena is married to chef/creative consultant Jeffrey Zurofsky. When she became pregnant with their first child in 2016, she decided to have the baby in California, where she could spend time with her mother, who had moved to Ojai. “I never thought I was coming back” to SoCal, she said. “I considered myself a displaced Parisian or European. I love the European lifestyle, and Ojai has a similar feel to Tuscany or the Loire Valley outside of Paris.” Wanting to remain close to her mom, and inspired by Ojai’s slower pace and aura, she stayed in Ojai instead of returning to New York, sold the Manhattan factory, and now makes hats out of her home studio. Her hats are still sold in New York City at ABC Carpet & Home, but they aren’t available at retail locations in California. Instead, customers contact her directly to purchase and make a hat.
ORION NEBULA in ethically sourced soft beaver felt, with hand-dyed velvet and chiffon accents and embroidered silver stars.
Continued on page 15
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“I’m now focusing on personal pieces of art, and not doing much wholesale these days,” Twena said. “My gift is talking to someone, finding out what they want — not making hats just to sell hats.” What makes a great hat, she said, is “the symbol and meaning behind how and why the hat was made.” Susan Bruce of Ventura has worked with Twena in her Ojai studio for two years. She applied for the job when Twena put an ad online seeking people who could do basic hand-sewing. Creating hats, Bruce said, is very different from the sewing she became an expert in growing up. “You’re hand-forming this unstructured piece of felt into a beautiful piece of artwork,” she said. “It takes an amazing amount of time.” Most hats on the market, Bruce said, “are more of a manufactured item. But people are looking for something tailored to what they want it to say and be.” Twena has been focusing on her halo collection of hats for the past
several years; the line was inspired by medieval art she saw in Europe. “In Italy I saw these beautiful washed pieces in hallways, of mothers and angels with halos, and thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool to put on a hat?’” She describes her newest collection, “Magic of the Cosmos: From Chaos to Creation,” as an “evolution of the halo/angel energy,” inspired by space, the moon and nebulae.
NIGHT SKY with planets, constellations, stars, moon and elliptical plane (for any moment you choose; Twena will chart it for you) hand embroidered onto western-weight beaver felt.
“I love space and space adventures, and I’m teaching my kids about what’s going on in the universe,” she said. (Twena now has two children, ages 2 and 4). “I get daily photos from NASA on Instagram, which is a spiritual experience. Every time I open a photo, I’m so impressed. I feel so small; we’re so tiny in this universe that’s bigger than we know.” Each hat, even if it follows a particular style from a collection, has thoughtful handmade touches. “Every stitch is different,” Twena said. “Whatever the person wants to stand out will always come through. I have no control over the chaos.” v
For more information about Satya Twena’s hats, visit www.satyatwena.com.
HAT IN HAND: Blocking, finishing, embellishing and embroidering are all done by hand by artisans in Twena’s Ojai atelier.
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WHEEL OF FORTUNE Ceramicist Nate Pidduck finds his element in clay.
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BY EMILY DODI | PHOTOS BY LUIS CHAVEZ
t all started with a mug. Santa Paula-based potter Nate Pidduck recalled the seemingly inauspicious moment that set him on his life’s path. “Around 2003, while on a road trip to Zion National Park, I bought a mug from Greg Worthington’s gallery in Springdale, Utah, and found out it was thrown on a wheel … My friend explained it to me and I thought, ‘wow, that’s fascinating.’ I used the mug and just kept thinking about how it was made and who made it. I started to explore what that meant.” This all happened at an opportune time, a few years after Pidduck graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara, with a degree in environmental studies. “I just wanted to make stuff with my hands … I felt that that was what I was lacking. So, I looked into photography and ceramics night classes at Ventura College. Photography was all full so I took a ceramics class.” Fate had dealt Pidduck a wonderful hand. While at Ventura College, he was influenced by instructors Myra Toth and Deanna Pini and studio manager Will Pettit. They introduced Pidduck to a world that was new to him and yet in some ways felt very familiar. “The three of them were using a clay vocabulary that was new to me and I didn’t fully grasp what they were talking about,” Pidduck recalls, but there were also some things that he understood inherently — “like
NATE PIDDUCK at the pottery wheel in his Santa Paula studio.
Continued on page 22
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there and go, ‘Yeah, I made this,’ and to stand behind something. That’s a really wonderful feeling.” While at Ventura College, his instructors encouraged Pidduck to challenge himself. “In a very positive, encouraging way, they’d be like, ‘You can do better.’ Or they’d ask me, ‘Is this the best you can do, Nate?’ … So, there was always that encouragement to think about, ‘Do you really want to put this out into the world? What’s the purpose of this? Do you really want this to last forever?’ Just because it’s handmade [doesn’t mean it’s] the end-all-be-all. There’s got to be more to it. Learning to think about that and to be critical of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it — I think that’s what has helped me make the items I’m making now.” Pidduck took every class he could at Ventura College. He then began to set up his own studio in Santa Paula. Even after completing his studies, it was still some time before Pidduck felt confident enough to sell his work. “There was a lot of practicing before I could feel like I POLISHED AND PRACTICAL: As refined as it is, Pidduck’s work is made to be held, used and enjoyed, not could sell it.” merely admired. In 2010, Pidduck moved to Chicago and began working at how a mug is the most intimate object we can make because you hold it. Lillstreet Art Center, where he made clay and taught classYou cradle it, sometimes every day. You bring it to your lips … So, just to es. By the time he left in 2012, he was running the Soda hear them talk about it, and with sparkling eyes. It seemed like, ‘oh, my Kiln Firing Program. gosh, this is what I’ve been feeling but I didn’t know how to articulate it or In 2012, he set up his own studio in a detached garage even if it was valid. They were validating everything through their work on his family’s Santa Paula ranch. His mother also has her and through their practice and through what they were sharing. Meeting studio on the property. “In 2015, we moved both studios them sort of felt like it gave me permission to go forward with clay, which to their current location, a larger building on the same may sound weird. They are special people to me. It felt like, ‘Wow, I’m in property that houses both of our studios as well as a retail the right place.’” and gallery area.” Clay, itself, drew Pidduck in. “It’s malleable,” he explains. “When the “After seeing other artists have success with an open potter touches it, [clay] takes in all of those hand marks and holds [them] studio/holiday sale, we decided to give it a try. Now in there … it holds a lot of information. I think that’s what I really liked its 10th year, our open studio event is very popular. It’s about pottery from the beginning. Seeing those little marks left behind on the Thursday and Friday after Thanksgiving and … I don’t know how I’ve made this connection, but I’ve always liked open to everyone.” (The year 2020 was an exception, of old tools. I have my grandpa’s hammer and it’s weathered and used. The course, but hopefully in 2021, the Pidducks can resume handle’s shiny and … it tells his story and records him using it during his the tradition.) whole life as a builder.” Clay is the same way. “It holds stories.” Before the pandemic, Pidduck would put a sign out on When asked if he always knew he wanted to be an artist, Pidduck the road, letting people know that his studio was open to responds, “I never had anything very clear like that, but I did like to make the public. For the time being, however, Pidduck’s studio things. My mom [artist Gail Pidduck] would make our costumes growing is open by appointment only (natepidduck.com/studiogalup. She made birthday cards and illustrated books for us, so I saw that lery). His work is also available to purchase on his website. happening. My grandpa was a woodworker and so I saw that. I’d like to “Lately, I have started doing a new body of work that pretend when I was a kid and [I would] tinker and play.” And yet, Pidis referred to as Kohiki.” Pidduck explains that Kohiki, duck says, “I feel like it took me a long time to feel confident in what I was a traditional Korean technique that was later adopted making in clay. [After] 15 years of practicing [ceramics] it’s neat to stand in Japan, is created by using “a dark iron-rich clay body 8
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and then putting a white slip on top of that and then a clear glaze on top of that. Through a unique firing sequence in a gas kiln, the iron breaks through the slip,” resulting in spots and “little peach-colored blushes … It’s very random. I am really intrigued by it. There’s an organic component to it that’s out of my control, so it keeps it interesting.” Another technique that Pidduck has employed is salt firing, which involves throwing rock salt into the kiln at a high temperature. The salt reacts with the materials in the clay and the glazes. “You’ll get one side of the pot that’s shinier than the other,” he says. “In some ways it’s kind of like dancing a fine line between control and letting go.” “It’s intriguing … I need the control in order to replicate and produce a product that is consistent and functional because people like to buy sets of things. I personally like reproducing things. I think I find comfort in that … but I’m also putting in a handful of these slipware pots.” Control is an interesting word to use when speaking about
pottery. After all, as Pidduck explains, things can go wrong at any moment. “There’s so many stages where something can go wrong with a pot before it’s finished. It’s just learning to let go. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. We have expectations each time we open a kiln. I think I’m getting better at not having those expectations or being so rigid. I just kind of enjoy the moment.” Impermanence is part of the story. Pidduck reasons that if a mug, plate or bowl breaks, that means it’s being used — and that’s the whole point. He creates pieces to be used and enjoyed, not solely to be admired or sit on a shelf. Unfortunately, Pidduck’s own lovingly-used mug, the one that inspired him to be a potter in the first place, met with a terrible fate: “I had it in my car and when I opened the door, it fell out and broke.” He loved the mug so much that he got a replacement one from the same gallery. “It looked like the same mug. It was the same shape. It was the same maker. He makes tons of these mugs. It was the same everything, but I picked it up and it was like, ‘huh, this isn’t the same mug.’ It was a neat lesson. Like, what was so [special] about the other mug? Was it because of the moment I bought it? Was it the trip I was on? Or the people I was with? Or did I pick that mug because it felt the best in my hand, and why did it feel good? Was the weight a little more balanced? Was the handle a tiny bit different? It made me realize all the little things in a pot that can make a big difference.” “I love it when people come [to the studio] and they will pick up like 20 mugs before they choose one. I know what they’re doing. They are finding that connection. It’s hard to explain. It’s very personal. I totally get it, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.” v
Nate Pidduck Pottery 546 Rafferty Road, Santa Paula 805.216.3056 natepidduck.com
AFTER 15 YEARS at the pottery wheel, Pidduck says that, “it’s neat to stand there and go, ‘Yeah, I made this.’”
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SURF’S THEIR TURF Life’s a beach for Ventura Surf Shop’s Mignonne and Blinky Hubina.
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PHOTOS BY LUIS CHAVEZ
Ventura husband and wife team who own a legendary downtown surf shop craft surfboards and artwork inspired by the ocean and community. Mignonne and William “Blinky” Hubina both grew up surfing at nearby beaches. Decades later they’re still feeling the positive local vibe that helps Ventura Surf Shop and her art business thrive. Mignonne recalls growing up in the north Ventura Avenue area and carrying her longboard miles to the ocean. She now creates artwork from upcycled surfboard epoxy resin left over from the manufacturing process. Many of her pieces depict seahorses and other ocean themes that retain influences of those early surfing memories. “My inspiration just comes from what I lived. My whole life has surrounded the beach. When I wasn’t in school I was at the beach,” she said.
T H E B I G S H O RT Blinky started hitting the waves as a student at Simi Valley High School in the late 1950s. It wasn’t long before he became a pioneer in the surfboard industry. Blinky says he and his friends made their first surfboard back in 1960. “It was a kit surfboard from a surf magazine. It was quite embarrassing the way it came out,” he recalled. “It was quite a failure.” He started surfing even more while attending college in Ventura during the early 1960s. That’s when he teamed up with other local legends in the surfboard industry. As his surfboard building skills progressed, he played a role in numerous technological advancements. Those included shorter boards than surfers had traditionally ridden, as well as removable fins. The first shortboard Blinky made during the 1960s came about serendipitously. “I had a blank where the nose had been sawed off, so I decided to make a board that was only a 7-foot, 11-inch board, which was just a fluke. I started riding it and all of a sudden I’m making shortboards,” he said. “There was no one making shortboards back then.” 8
“MOST EVERY SURFBOARD we have in here is Ventura area local surfboards,” says Blinky Hubina, master surfboard shaper and owner of Ventura Surf Shop.
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Mignonne says traveling to the best surf spots across the globe has been a muse for her artistic creations, although the materials she’s worked with such as sea glass and seashells have changed over time. “I’ve always wanted to do ocean-inspired art. I started with greeting cards and seashells, traveling around the word making things with
seashells,” she said. But once her artwork sales took off, she could no longer find enough seashells and sea glass to use. That’s when Blinky helped her discover new material for her artwork, collected from a Ventura business that puts the finishing touches on surfboards. “He came up with the idea that resin would work,” she explained. “So we tried it and it works great! And what’s really great about it, is the colors are like jewel tones, so it’s a lot sharper, the colors that can come out of that resin. And it doesn’t fade like art glass that you could buy at a craft store.” Mignonne says they invented their own process to turn leftover epoxy resin from Studio 609 Boardcraft into art. “He gives them Tupperware and lets the runoff go in. So we take it, we break it up, and we throw it into a cement mixer with sand and water. We let it go for seven days to kind of give it a sea glass look and appeal,” she said. Several local stores sell her artwork, including Jellyfish Ventura Vintage Boutique at 309 East Main Street and Mermaid Gallery in the Ventura Harbor Village. Mignonne loves the feeling of sharing her art. “It’s very exciting to see it. In fact I just did a commission piece for a gentleman in Carpinteria. And it was a crab that was huge. To deliver it to him was so exciting because he was so thrilled. He absolutely loved it, which made me feel really good,” she said.
CULTURE
E C O A RT
S U R F ’S U P Ventura Surf Shop was established in 1961 and moved to its current location at 88 East Thompson Boulevard in 1995. It’s even had the same phone number since 1967. The Hubinas bought the business in 2012, which is just blocks from the beach. Blinky says the shop has struggled at Continued on page 29
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GETTING INTO SHAPE: Blinky has been building and shaping surfboards since the 1960s, and helped bring about the popularity of the shortboard. times in the past, but Mignonne rescued it with her social media savvy. “My wife really saved the business. We were just not doing a lot of business. Our business was doing the same amount of sales every year for years. We were just not on top of it,” he said. “We were using the wrong type of media to advertise. Everybody uses social media. So four years ago, she started doing our Instagram, and other social media, which have helped our shop grow.” Blinky says the pandemic also helped create booming business for the surf shop. “Now because of coronavirus everybody’s doing outdoor sports like bicycling or hiking. I saw a thing on snowmobiles going through the roof. So I think we’ve had a 30 percent growth in surfers, because of this pandemic,” he said. “They may not stay surfing after the pandemic ends, but we’ve created a lot of new surfers.” Blinky still gets satisfaction knowing people enjoy the performance of the surfboards he shapes. “I have kids on my surf team and I rely on their feedback and their input. So I make a surfboard, I have a really good person riding it, I go ‘How’s it work?’ Then next time they come in, I make changes to make it better. And so that’s how the surfboard progresses for me. The best reward I get out of it is when kids call me who I made a
Continued on page 30
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MIGNONNE AND BLINKY HUBINA at Ventura Surf Shop.
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TEAM VSS: Jourdan Reeder, TK Baum, Lily Givner, Blinky and Mignonne Hubina, Milton Johnson.
surfboard for. And out of the clear blue they ride the board and they call me and go ‘This is the best thing, thank you so much.’” He also notes that Ventura is a great place to own a surf shop. While Santa Cruz and Huntington Beach vie for the title “Surf City,” Ventura has a lot going for it, including locals devoted to the sport and surf culture. “Our location here is great. You can walk from here and go surfing. Everybody from the north comes by our shop to go surfing,” he said. “The
best part about Ventura is that we probably have 20 surf breaks within 10 miles. We have consistent surf here all year round. So people come from everywhere to Ventura because it’s always breaking. We have world class waves in this area.” Blinky figures that only about five percent of their business is tourist related. It’s apparent that locals have bonded with the store that’s played a big role in the surfing community for so long. “We try to be a local business,” he said. “Most every surfboard we have in here is Ventura area local surfboards.” Mignonne says wherever they go, she still feels Ventura is the best place to live, and to be in the surf shop and art business. “Bill and I have traveled all over the world, and there are so many beautiful places, because we go to beaches. We’ve gone to Tortola [British Virgin Islands] and Australia, numbers of places. But when you get home and you look at Ventura, there is no place that I’ve ever been to that I would rather call home.” “I mean this is it,” she continued. “I feel so blessed that we are part of the community, and that we are able to look at that ocean and look at the sunset.” v
Ventura Surf Shop 88 East Thompson Boulevard, Ventura 805.643.1062
shopvss.com @ventura_surf_shop
BEACHY KEEN Mignonne’s epoxy resin art looks like sea glass, but doesn’t fade — and turns what would otherwise be trash into a colorful, creative treasure.
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CONVERSATION
SEAWORTHY Boat builder Jeff Hull talks learning the ropes, being fascinated by a hull, and creating something that’s meant to last.
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BY NANCY D. LACKEY SHAFFER | PHOTOS BY CORBAN CAMPBELL
eff Hull, the owner, designer and driving force behind Jeff Hull Custom Boats in Ventura, is as relentless as the waves his custom boats are designed to ride. Every boat-building project he takes on is made to order, and carefully calibrated to give the owner something that won’t just meet, but exceed, expectations. His specialty: the waveriding, heavy-duty, flexible workhorse known as the Radon boat — designed by Ron Radon Sr. (whose sons Don, Mike and Ron Jr. have continued the tradition) specifically for the notoriously rough and unpredictable waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. Ventura native, current Ojai resident Hull talked to Ventana Monthly about his start
in the surfing business, what makes a hull so mesmerizing, the challenges of creating a better boat and more. Are you from Ventura County originally? Yes, I have spent nearly my whole life in Ventura. I was born on a Navy base in Guam but we moved back to Ventura shortly after. My wife and I moved to Ojai 10 years ago, where we currently live. I graduated from Buena High School and slowly worked my way through a psychology major while I grew my surfboard business. I graduated with a BA in 2007. Have you always been passionate about watersports? Yes. I started surfing when I was young and have always been attracted to the water. I started freediving when we got our first Radon boat and have enjoyed being able to get into the water whenever I have a chance. When did you first begin creating surfboards? I started making surfboards when I was 20. I’ve always been interested in making things, and surfboards are a challenge that held my attention for a long time. I started shaping and glassing in my parents’ garage, but promptly got the boot because of the stink of the chemicals. I had to decide if I wanted to really pursue a business in manufacturing them. By 2004 we had our first fully permitted surfboard factory operating in Ventura. What were some of the surfboard companies that you’ve worked with? I worked for Steve Walden when I was just Continued on page 34
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JEFF HULL working on a custom build in his Ventura boatyard.
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SHIPSHAPE Hull’s specialty is custom Radon boats, which are built to handle the rough and unpredictable waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. learning how to glass and I worked for Damien Raquinio who made shortboards, which was more of what I wanted to do. I opened up a shop with three other buddies all making our own boards and then started taking in glass work from other local shapers in the county and surrounding area. Slowly we got busier and I was able to build my own personal brand as well as make a name for myself as a glasser. The other guys slowly started following other career paths and soon I was running a solo shop shaping and glassing. I was fortunate enough to help finish shape and glass boards for Channel Islands [Surfboards] for seven years, which helped give me capital to build up the boat-building side of the business. Why did you leave surfboards behind for boats? For me, making the switch from surfboards to boats wasn’t a huge leap mentally. It made a lot of sense to me, with my background in glasswork and love of the ocean. The type of boats we make are known for surfing the waves on the way back from the Channel Islands. As my customer base for surfboards grew, more customers would ask me to do small repair work on their boats. The level of finish work quality typical in the boat-building industry is not as high
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as it is for surfboards, so my customers would be pretty happy that I could blend in the repairs, or fabricate new pieces that would match. How does one learn to build a boat? I learned a lot from trial and error. As I worked through various repair jobs, I learned as I went. When it came to doing a full restoration and cabin rebuild, I learned a lot through the local network of boat builders. When a few came out well enough to be taken seriously, I reached out to Ron Radon Jr. and was fortunate enough to be able to go to Oregon and build a plug for a new mold together. He has been doing it all of his life and had learned it from his dad, Ron Radon Sr., so it was pretty awesome to be able to work alongside him and learn from him. I am super thankful that Ron Radon Jr. was willing to pass on the knowledge of how to build Radon boats from scratch. Not many people can build a boat from a pile of plywood. The gift of that knowledge allows us to build boat prototypes like we do surfboards. We can make a boat, try it, make changes and then put it into production because it is what we would want to use.
“The great thing about these boats is the hulls are so thick and well built, it’s not uncommon for the boats to be rebuilt three different times for different fisheries or surfers.” Can you tell us a little bit about what makes Radon boats special? Radon boats were first made by Ron Radon and created from a dream he had about how to make the belly of the boat surf down a wave. We have a pretty gnarly channel to cross from the islands back to the harbor and it can go from flat to windy following swell really fast. He created these boats for the local commercial abalone divers and then for the urchin divers. This meant that they had to be extremely seaworthy boats that could hold 8,000 pounds of urchins and not broach or flip over when coming home in big seas. The shape and ride of the boat is what has captivated me. People still use these boats for commercial fishing, but a lot of people that are devoted to being on the water come for these boats because they have proven themselves to be extremely good at handling our channel. They are also used all up and down the coast, from Baja to Alaska, and over in Hawaii and a few other spots throughout the world. Who is currently part of the Jeff Hull Custom Boats team? We now have nine employees including my wife, Shannon, and I. We have a couple of guys that specialize in glassing, and a couple in carpentry. Mostly everyone has a good assortment of skills needed to build boats, from glassing, woodwork, sanding, painting, and rigging. It’s very much a team effort to build the boat as it cycles through the stages of the build. What are some of the most common problems you find you have to fix when you are restoring a boat? We really focus on Radon-type boats, so most of the rebuilds are on old commercial boats that have been severely beat up. The hull is still good but the cabin and decks usually need to be replaced. The great thing about these boats is the hulls are so thick and well built, it’s not uncommon for the boats to be rebuilt three different times for different fisheries or surfers. Are there any particularly difficult projects you’ve taken on? We have taken on a fair amount of difficult projects, from bad fuel tanks that have leaked and contaminated everything around them, to builds that turn out to be more complicated than originally
SHINING EXAMPLE Hull polishing up a build.
expected. What it always comes down to is communication with the customer. Changes in the build are always going to come up and what definitely matters most is clear communication. Some of the most difficult projects I have done have been ones where I knew I could make the boat ride better if customers would allow me to change the bottom contours. Those have also been some of most rewarding projects because I told the customer that if it didn’t make the boat perform better and save them fuel economy, they didn’t have to pay the $5,000 bill. Luckily, in both cases, the boats performed as planned and we were able to continue to collect data on how we wanted to build our new boat hull designs. What were some of your favorite or most rewarding projects? Last March we finished and delivered our fist 29-foot boat built from start to finish for our friend Brandon in Hawaii. Laying up a new hull in our mold and doing all finish rigging on motors was huge for us. We also have created a new 22-foot mold (with the help of Ron Radon Jr.) and are working on building the first boat from it now; that will be headed to Maui. We are also finishing up a custom 17-foot boat that we built as a one-off from a stack of plywood in my backyard. It has been a collaboration with a woodworker/artist named Jay Nelson and has been such a good experience, working with a guy with a different background, and being able to be fully creative in what we wanted to see happen with the boat. Continued on page 38
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Extreme Marine Tropical Fish and Koi
Open Monday-Saturday 11-5:30
Sunday 11-5
1495 Palma Drive, Ventura • (805) 644-FISH (3474) www.xtreme-marine.com 36
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The Finest Sustainable Hardwood Shutters
#1 Accounting Accountant in
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Thank you Call Today for a FREE In-Home Estimate
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300 East Esplanade Drive, Suite 1130 Oxnard, CA 93036 300 East Espla (805) 485-7194 300 East Esplanade Drive, Suite 1400Oxna fhhcpas.com Oxnard, CA 93036
(805 (805) 504-8410 fhh TAX PREPARATIONfhhcpas.com • BOOKKEEPING • CONSULTING ACCOUNTING SERVICES • TAX PLANNING
TAX PREPARATION AND PLANNING AUDIT & REVIEW TAXSERVICES PREPARATION • B CONSULTING ACCOUNTING SE MERGER & ACQUISITION MARCH 2021
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Do you work closely with clients on the design and build? We work extremely closely with customers on the design and the build. We have had a number of our customers come in and work alongside us, or drop by weekly to come in and check on the progress and go through the design process in real time. We have made a lot of good friends this way and enjoy it a lot. If the customer is further away, we talk via phone and email regularly and send progress pictures as it comes along. What are people looking for when they come to a custom boat builder? I think most people that come for a custom boat want something that is really built to last and to handle well. The boat itself is made by hand and has a very thick and sturdy hull and we apply that principle to the rest of the build. Most people really just want a well made boat that can be completely customized to their needs, from accommodating the whole family to being used for commercial fishing.
SHANNON AND JEFF HULL in their Ventura boatyard. Tell us a little bit about the custom design side of Jeff Hull. What types of boats do you build? We typically build boats for guys that have a passion for the Channel Islands. From surfing to fishing to freediving, they all are watermen from around California, and a few in Hawaii, that want a boat that will handle in rough water. What I like about designing this kind of boat, is that I build it how I would use it, too. We want them low profile, with plenty of deck space, enough fuel capacity to get us around on an extended trip, and comfortable enough for the family to enjoy. What goes into building a boat? How long does it take? Right now the wait for a boat is about one to two years. The build itself depends on the amount of other projects happening and the crew that we have. With COVID we have had a longer build time as we have lost childcare. We are starting to pick back up a bit now. I’d say the typical build, start to finish, can take six months to a year.
What are the biggest challenges and rewards in your job? The biggest challenge for me is time. Every build is different and every customer is different. I need and like to keep in communication with our customers as the build progresses and I need to manage our crew. We have weekly planning meetings and I am on every job daily to make sure that each one is going according to plan. The greatest reward is being trusted to design something new for a customer and being able to get that design over the finish line and into the water together. What does the future of Jeff Hull Custom Boats look like? Any new designs or plans on tap? Right now, we are planning on purchasing a new boatyard. It is bigger than where we are now, so we really get to put a lot of thought into the design and flow of the new space. This will allow us to increase capacity 10x and shorten the wait period. We’ve got a ton of ideas for that new space and hopefully they’ll be some exciting things in the near future. Hoping to close escrow this week! v
Jeff Hull Custom Boats
2450 Channel Drive, Ventura
805.340.5895
jeffhullfiberglass@gmail.com www.jeffhullcustomboats.com @jeffhullfiberglass
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Home Décor • BatH & BoDy ProDucts • KitcHen • clotHing • Jewelry • rugs • antiques • local artists
KEEP YOUR DISTANCE WITH AN ELECTRIC BIKE
BACK
K C O T IN S
309 E. Main Street AD PROOF Downtown Ventura Ad Executive: Warren Barrett (805) 648-2244 (805) ns clearly. You will have667-8299 a “1st Proof”, “2nd Proof”, and “Final Proof”. If we receive no proof after the 1st or 2nd Proofs, n the 1st proof, check off “FINAL PROOF (APPROVED)” box, date and sign at the bottom. ISSUE: MARCH 2021
CONCESSIONER TO THE NOTICE: AUTHORIZED PLEASE FAX THIS PROOF TO (805) 648-2245 ASAP
Photo: Doug Mangum
Channel Islands National Park
Date: _______________________________ Signature: ___________________________
HIKE CAMP KAYAK WHALE WATCH WILDLIFE CRUISE
805.642.1393 IslandPackers.com Since 1968
DELIVERY AVAILABLE
GREAT SELECTION OF ELECTRIC BIKES 2907 Palma Drive, Ventura, Ca 93003 (805) 667-8658 doglegelectric.com MARCH 2021
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VENTANA HOME SALES INDEX
➡
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS IN PRACTICE! When EXPERIENCE Counts... BETTER CALL BLAKE!
AVERAGE PRICE
➡
HOMES SOLD
+15.7%
+10.6%
FEBRUARY 2020 VS. 2021 CAMARILLO
FEBRUARY ‘20
FEBRUARY ‘21
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE
66 $631.400
59 $801,300
4 $495,700
15 $627,600
33 $870,700
39 $871,500
21 $625,000
34 $834,600
11 $1,123,400
15 $1,057,000
75 $616,700
82 $766,600
20 $434,200
21 $416,500
FILLMORE
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE NEWBURY PARK
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE MOORPARK
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE OJAI
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE OXNARD
COASTAL CALIFORNIA CASUAL! Quality constructed in 2020, this amazing Hobson Heights hillside home boasts ocean, islands & city lite views, plus 3,907+/- SF of living space with 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, plus a 313+/- SF, 1 bedroom, 1 bath guest-quarters for a total 6 bedrooms, 5 baths & 4,220 SF of FUN! Enjoy all your adult living on the main floor with no stairs from the street level gated entry! The natural light-filled 1st floor offers a massive great-room with casual dining & chef’s kitchen with dual refrigs. walk-in pantry & under-lighted, blue Onyx center-island, all of which flow wide~open to the main terrace with glass banisters, fireplace & forever coastal views! Also on this 1st floor is the spacious, ocean view Owner’s Suite with fireplace & inviting en suite bath, featuring separate shower, tub, water-closet & laundry, plus private office/ bedroom! Downstairs is all about the kids, young & old! Featuring a large, 2nd living area with stained concrete floors, climbing wall & rope, monkey bars & your own water-park with auto-covered, salt-water pool with Baja shelf & spa with an always fun, raging waterfall! Also on this 2nd floor you will discover 3 more bedrooms, 2 more baths, a large laundry facility & garage access! Features are too many to outline here, but include high ceilings, numerous skylights, Edison bulb chandeliers, Nucleus smart-home electronics, auto window coverings, loads of storage, A/C & MORE! Hurry! This once in a lifetime property can now be yours!
$1,999,000.
Better Call Blake!
805-856-9350
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • COMMITMENT • RESULTS
CALL TODAY!
805-856-9350
www.BlakeMashburn.com Everest
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All info deemed accurate, but not guaranteed. If your property is currently listed for sale, please disregard our active marketing. DRE# 01065624.
| MARCH 2021
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE PORT HUENEME
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE SANTA PAULA
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE
14 $480,250
SIMI VALLEY
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE
COLLEGE AREA COSMETIC FIXER! 10 Single-level Ranch style! $782,700 Great area & schools! 4BR, 2BA, 1586+/- sq. ft. Price reflects condition!
95 119 $609,000. Better Call Blake! $605,100 $682,100
805-856-9350
THOUSAND OAKS
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE
49 $1,269,100
53 $962,100
59 $638,300
82 $820,400
457
529
VENTURA
# HOMES SOLD AVERAGE PRICE TOTAL # OF SALES
Ventana Monthly Home Sales Index is presented each month as part of the real estate section. The figures are sourced from sales reported to MLS for the period of 2/1/21 to 2/28/21. Ventana Monthly Home Sales Index © Ventana Monthly, 2021.
Your Window & Door Installation Experts From the way we install your windows Exterior Color Options and patio doors to the way we stand Love the look of your home right down to the color of your behind – Anlin, weyou’ve look forward to windowthem frames. With got a lot of choices! creating an exceptional experience. Local Anlin dealer! White Vinyl
Tan Vinyl
Exterior and Interior
Exterior and Interior
Exterior Color Options Love the look of your home right down to the color of your window frames. With Anlin, you’ve got a lot of choices! Exterior colors that bring out the designer in you.
Architectural Black
Architectural Silver
Architectural Bronze
Classic Gray
Exterior Color Options Love the look of your home right down to the color of your window frames. With Anlin, you’ve got a lot of choices! Espresso
Red Pepper
Taupe
White Vinyl
Desert Tan
Sandstone Exterior and Interior
Rose Wood
Tan Vinyl
Divine Wine Exterior and InteriorForest Green
AD PROOF Call us today for a free estimate billmorriscontracting.com Client: DMD Construction Ad Executive: Barbara Kroon (805) 648-2244 (805) 302-9575 • 4882 McGrath St #340 Ventura Gridreceive Styles Please check this proof over carefully and indicate all corrections clearly. You will have a “1st Proof”, “2nd Proof”, and “Final Proof”. If we no proof after the 1st or 2nd Proofs, AD WILL RUN
F I N E
L I V I N G
I N
V E N T U R A
C O U N T Y
m o n t h l y
Colors shown are printed representations of ThermaCoat™ Solar Reflective Colors for comparison purposes only. For actual color, view ThermaCoat™ vinyl samples (provided by dealer) in natural daylight.
and Patterns
AS IS. If this proof meets your approval on the 1st proof, check off “FINAL PROOF (APPROVED)” box, date and sign at the bottom.
Over 25 years experience
Exterior Grids allow you to create just the right architectural look that you want for your home.
� G rid ISSUE: MARCH colorsStyles that bring out the designer in you.
2021
5/8” Sculptured
5/8” Flat
1” Scu
DMD Construction is Rebuilding Your Ventura... 9
his proof is to check for accuracy and is not tended to show quality of reproduction.
NOTICE: PLEASE FAX THIS PROOF Date: _____________________________ Architectural Architectural Architectural Classic Gray Silver Bronze Signature: ________________________ TO (805) 648-2245 ASAP Black
Let Us Help!
Espresso
Taupe
Red Pepper
Rose Wood
Desert Tan
Sandstone
Divine Wine
Forest Green
Colors shown are printed representations of ThermaCoat™ Solar Reflective Colors for comparison purposes only. For actual color, view ThermaCoat™ vinyl samples (provided by dealer) in natural daylight.
Grid Styles and Patterns
Grids allow you to create just the right architectural look that you want for your home.
DMD Construction General Contractors
• New Construction David Dunlap - Owner License # 903106
www.rebuilding–ventura.com
•
9
• Additions
G rid Styles
�
805-625-4161 5/8” Flat
• Insurance
www.dmd-construction.com
5/8” Sculptured
• Remodels facebook.com/dmdconst
MARCH 2021
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Date: ______________________________
Decks can add appeal for both owners and buyers!
Visit
DanaSteeleConstruction.com
or just call Dana at (805) 640-0685 F I N E
L I V I N G
I N
V E N T U R A
C O U N T Y
m o n t h l y
Client: Macs Tree Trimming
Indoor and Outdoor Makeovers
Ad Executive: Warren DANA STEELE CONSTRUCTION Lic. #711930
Please check this proof over carefully and indicate all corrections clearly. You will have a “1st Proof”, “2nd Proof”, and “Final Proof”. If we receive no proof af AS IS. If this proof meets your approval on the 1st proof, check off “FINAL PROOF (APPROVED)” box,Contractor date and sign at • theOjai bottom. • General & Ventura
This proof is to check for accuracy and is not intended to show quality of reproduction.
Mac’s
NOTICE: PLEASE FAX THIS PROOF TO (805) 648-2245 ASAP
Date: ______
TREE
Signature: __
SERVICE
& STUMP REMOVAL Locally owned & operated
No Job Too Small!
Call Today for Free Quote! Call For a Free Consultation General Building Contractor Owner: Eber N Canelas Canelasconstruction@gmail.com www.canelasconstruction.com Instagram: @canelas_construction 42
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License :1035601 C 818.675.2246 O 805.200.2393
Free backfill grade chips. Quality chips available must be ordered.
(805) 649-2782
Specializing in all phases of tree trimming, cutting & removals. Frank Macarone CA Lic. 809115
Certified Arborist
| MARCH 2021
Date: ______
HOMES Ideal Homes ideal
THE COLONY AT MANDALAY BEACH
Enjoy sweeping ocean views from this upper-level villa in The Colony at Mandalay Beach! The highly-upgraded home has two bedrooms and an enclosed loft, which is currently used as a third bedroom. The top-level loft has newer tile floors, a stylish Murphy bed, and plenty of built-ins. The well-designed kitchen is an entertainer’s delight with cathedral ceilings, granite counters, stainless steel appliances, a large island, and soft-closing cabinets. The
main-floor bedrooms have dramatic ocean views and the two bathrooms have granite counters, travertine floors, and custom cabinetry. There are three large decks for entertaining, enjoying the beautiful sunsets, or relaxing to the sounds of the ocean. One of the decks leads to the conveniently attached two-car garage with laundry area and ample storage. Whether for weekend getaways or full-time living, this home can make your beach house dream
come true! The Colony features tennis, pickle ball, racquetball, fitness center, and multiple pools and spas, all in a gated community across from the sandy shores of Mandalay Beach! Contact Juliet Esquibias, Coldwell Banker Realty. 805-616-4040. BEDROOMS:
2
BATHROOMS:
2
PRICE:
$1,299,000
COASTAL CALIFORNIA CASUAL!
Quality constructed in 2020, this amazing Hobson Heights hillside home boasts ocean, islands & city lite views, plus 3,907+/- SF of living space, plus a 313+/- SF, 1 bedroom, 1 bath guest-quarters for a total 6 bedrooms, 5 baths & 4,220 SF of FUN! Enjoy all your adult living on the main floor with no stairs from the street level gated entry! The natural light-filled 1st floor offers a massive great-room with casual dining & chef’s kitchen with dual refrigs. walk-in pantry & under-lighted, blue Onyx center-island, all of which flow wide~open to the main terrace
with glass banisters, fireplace & forever coastal views! Also on this 1st floor is the spacious, ocean view Owner’s Suite with fireplace & inviting en suite bath, featuring separate shower, tub, water-closet & laundry, plus private office/bedroom! Downstairs is all about the kids, young & old! Featuring a large, 2nd living area with stained concrete floors, climbing wall & rope, monkey bars & your own water-park with autocovered, salt-water pool with Baja shelf & spa with an always fun, raging waterfall! Also on this 2nd floor you will discover a large laundry fa-
cility & garage access! Features are too many to outline here, but include high ceilings, numerous skylights, Edison bulb chandeliers, Nucleus smart-home electronics, auto window coverings, loads of storage, A/C & MORE! Contact Blake
Mashburn. 805-856-9350. Century 21 Everest, DRE #01065624 BEDROOMS:
5
BATHROOMS:
4
PRICE:
$1,999,000
Your Guide To Luxury Living Throughout Ventura County
ENJOY YOUR OWN PRIVATE HACIENDA IN THE SANTA PAULA FOOTHILLS!
Privacy, spectacular mountain, valley and ocean views await in this amazing Spanish Style mini-estate. Featuring over 3400sf with a gourmet kitchen with Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, soaring ceilings & windows,
and striking architecture throughout. A resort like pool, separate spa, and outdoor grilling and entertainment area overlooking the valley. Presented by Laurie Rutledge & Derek Berthold, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury. Visit
535Ridgecrest.com today! 805.340.4854 BEDROOMS: BATHROOMS: PRICE:
3 2.5
$1,495,000
SHORT LIST THROUGH MARCH 28 SVETLANA SMOLINA AND GULIA GUREVICH
ALL EVENTS SUBJECT TO CANCELLATION DUE TO THE ONGOING COVID-19 PANDEMIC CLASSICAL CONCERTS ON THE HILL: SVETLANA SMOLINA AND GULIA GUREVICH
Through March 28 | ONLINE Classical Concerts on the Hill presents Svetlana Smolina, pianist, with violinist Gulia Gurevich in a streaming concert filmed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Hillcrest Center for the Arts. The concert is available on demand, and the link will remain valid beginning at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 1, through March 28, 2021, regardless of the date on the tickets. Musical selections for this concert include F. Liszt’s Liebestraum No 3 in A flat major, Chopin’s Ballade Op. 23 No 1 in G minor, and Brahms’s Sonata No.1 in G major op.78, to name a few. Tickets: $20. For more information, visit www.hillcrestarts.com.
GEORGE STOLL: CAMOUFLAGE, TUPPERWARE, PRIME NUMBERS AND CATENARY CURVES
MARCH 17
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE! FEATS OF FILMMAKING
Through March 31 | Ojai George Stoll is a sculptor who has been showing his work internationally since 1994, including one-person shows around the world. Stoll’s installations incorporate mass-produced items such as cups, toilet paper and sponges and investigate the relationship between high art and consumerism, taking them beyond their everyday domestic function. Stoll’s work may appear simple, but this proves the challenges of achieving perfection which Stoll exemplifies. Porch Gallery, 310 E. Matilija St., Ojai. For more information, visit www.porchgalleryojai.com.
VENTURA HARBOR VILLAGE MERMAID MONTH
Through March 31 | Ventura The whimsical mermaid is celebrated in all of its forms at this month-long, harbor-wide event. Grab a pair of mermaid socks at Lost in Socks with a special discount, have a bite to eat with a mermaid friend at the harbor’s various eateries, find “Treasures from the Sea” at the Ventura Pottery Gallery, go whale watching with a chance to spot a mermaid via Island Packers or get up close and personal with a Swan Pedal Boat as you cruise around the harbor. Whether you’re on the hunt for a mermaid or merman, you’ll find it at the Ventura Harbor in March. Ventura Harbor Village, 1583 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura. For more information, visit www.venturaharborvillage.com.
STUDIO CHANNEL ISLANDS COLLECTORS CHOICE 2021
MARCH 20 – APRIL 11
SPRINGTIME ON THE FARM
Through May 22 | Camarillo The annual spring fundraising spectacular returns for the seventh year with another chance to get your hands on a masterpiece while supporting Studio Channel Islands. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, March 27 (subject to change), with host Sean Patrick in a game show-style lottery. Participants will be able to choose from donated artworks by contemporary artists from across the country. This year’s juror, Jo Lauria, is a Los Angeles-based curator, author and educator who received her curatorial training at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She is a specialist in the fields of craft, design and decorative arts. Studio Channel Islands, 2222 E. Ventura Blvd., Camarillo. For more information, visit www.studiochannelislands.org.
DEAD RECKONING: THE HONDA POINT DISASTER
March 17 | ONLINE Authors Therese Vannier and Michael Corbin Ray will speak on their research into the disaster at Honda Point and the process of blending fiction and reality for their novel Dead Reckoning. The book incorporates the true story of the Honda Point Disaster, an incident which took place in 1923 involving the grounding of seven U.S. Navy destroyers on Point Arguello in Santa Barbara County due to navigational errors.
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As a result, 23 sailors died. The authors will discuss how they used the factual event as a basis for their novel as part of the Channel Islands Maritime Museum’s Virtual Speaker Series. For more information, visit www.cimmvc.org.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE! FEATS OF FILMMAKING
March 17 | ONLINE Go behind the scenes with filmmakers Bryan Smith and Keith Ladzinski as they reveal how they capture extreme feats of adventure in some of the world’s most remote and inhospitable environments. Based out of British Columbia, Smith brings stories of adventure to the screen from the South Pacific’s deepest canyons to the frozen waters of Niagara Falls, while Ladzinski takes on the seemingly impossible from chasing tornadoes, hanging from massive natural arches, and swimming with alligators to documenting the endeavors of the world’s most elite adventurers. Tickets $25. For more information, visit www.bapacthousandoaks.com.
SPRINGTIME ON THE FARM
March 20 – April 11 | Moorpark Celebrate the arrival of spring at Underwood Family Farms. Included with admission are socially distanced visits with the Easter Bunny, a humongous Easter egg basket, tractor-drawn wagon rides, hay pyramids and much more. Ticketed events include a spacious Easter egg hunt, a cow train, a bee train, a grain train and many more trains from your wildest imagination. Tickets: $8-12. Underwood Family Farms, 3370 Sunset Valley Road, Moorpark. For more information, visit www. underwoodfamilyfarms.com.
EQUINOX: WOMEN’S EXHIBITION
March 20 – April 25 | Ventura This exhibition will feature a mixed group of work created by contemporary women artists from Latin America and Southern California. Spring is a time for renewal and thus an exhibition featuring the eclectic work of artists from women, people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-conforming artists will be held on the astronomical first day of the new season. This exhibition will explore ideas relating to gender equality and balance over multiple artwork mediums including installations and live performances, curated by artist Maria Adela Diaz. Art City Gallery, 197 Dubbers St., Ventura. For more information, visit www.artcitystudios.com.
WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (A MUSICAL EXPLORATION OF RELATIONSHIPS) DRIVE-IN THEATRE
March 26-28 | Thousand Oaks Join the Conejo Players and an all-star lineup of singers and dancers for this performance celebrating all kinds of love. From romantic, friendship, love of a passion or hobby, family, and even chocolate, all will be honored at this socially distant, drive-in concert. Watch from the safety of your car, and enjoy the sound over your FM radio. This show is perfect for a night out with the kids, or just a romantic evening. Tickets: $20-60. Conejo Players Theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks. For more information, visit www.conejoplayers.org.
AIDS WALK VENTURA COUNTY
March 27 | Virtual Diversity Collective Ventura County is taking the 2021 AIDS Walk virtual. Support the Collective’s programs which include offering safe sex kits and education, free anonymous HIV testing and PEP & PrEP navigation for LGBTQ+ members of the community. For more information, including how to get involved, visit www.diversitycollectivevc.org.
The Rutledge Results Team
From the Eastside to the Westside, And the Hillside to the Seaside
LAURIE RUTLEDGE
DEREK BERTHOLD
CalRE#01156115
CalRE#02038434
805.340.4854
805.869.8005
Laurie4Homes@aol.com
Derek@VenturaRE.com
REALTOR® / B.S. Industrial Design
REALTOR / M.B.A. ®
www.VenturaRE.com
www.LaurieRutledge.com
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535RIDGECREST.COM
Sunny Santa Paula Mini-Estate ~ Ventura and Beach Close
WEST SANTA PAULA FOOTHILLS | $1,495,000 COMING SOON! Privacy, spectacular mountain, valley and ocean views await in this amazing Spanish Style mini-estate. Featuring over 3400sf with a gourmet kitchen with Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, three large bedroom suites, soaring ceilings & windows, and striking architecture throughout. A resort like pool, separate spa, granite topped outdoor grilling and entertainment areas.
5501RAINIER.COM
685CREEKMONT.COM
LD
SO
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ST
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ST JU 5br+2.5ba Clearpoint Oasis
4br+2.5ba Clearpoint Value
VENTURA | $1,210,000 OVER ASKING!
VENTURA | $1,005,000 OVER ASKING!
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LD SO
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One of the best views in Pierpont! 4 Bedrooms ~ 5 Baths
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7021ETNA.COM
Multiple Offers ~ Over List Price VENTURA | $1,225,000 OVER ASK! Gorgeous 3br+2ba single level inboard at Ventura Keys! Loads of upgrades.
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1047WESTRIDGE.COM
We Represented Both Seller & Buyers! VENTURA | $2,100,000
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Fabulous Stonehedge with both upper and lower master suites. Remodeled kitchen/baths. Central A/C. Lap pool & spa.
ST
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LD SO ST Clearpoint Views!
VENTURA | $900,000 Exceptional Clearpoint Views priced to make it your own. Oversized lot!
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1276 SEAFARER STREET
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Coming Soon! 3+3 Stonehedge VENTURA | $749,000
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2901PIERPONT.COM
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598 HIGH POINT DRIVE
ON
8059 DENVER STREET
3br+2.5ba Skyline Pool Home OVER ASKING!
VENTURA | $935,000
Spectacular English Country House VENTURA | $1,295,000 FULL PRICE!
The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2021 Coldwell Banker. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. The Coldwell Banker® System is comprised of company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Brokerage Group LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. The Coldwell Banker System fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.
SPRING HOUSING TRENDS FOR 2021 Now Prop.19 allows you to transfer your property tax base statewide*, so when you move, you take your low tax basis with you! It’s still a great time to move up or down to fit your lifestyle needs.
Tina Comden
*Always check with your tax professional before buying or selling a home.
ACT
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SOL
2513 Hillrose, Oxnard 5 BR + 4 BTH Masterfully expanded St. Tropez pool home featuring a remodeled kitchen and 3 car garage. Contact Bob Ridgway to set an appointment for viewing. 805-320-1811
805 218 5926
SOL
1215 Anchors Way #52, Ventura 3 BR + 2 BTH Beautiful, open floor plan on a quiet corner lot with expansive deck and tip-toe views of the ocean. This is fine beach living at the Ventura Marina Mobile Home Park ( A 55+ senior living community). Contact Albert Barosso to set an appointment for viewing. 805-901-3654
1118 Capello, Ojai 3 BR + 2 BTH Without question one of the finest remodeled homes in the neighborhood. Expansive kitchen with large island, large pantry, enclosed patio, and upgraded baths. A must see! Call Bob Ridgway for a private viewing. 805-320-1811
Bob Ridgway 805 320 1811
Call us for a free real estate market analysis JF F I N E
L I V I N G
I N
V E N T U R A
C O U N T Y
805 901 3654
AD PROO
EXCELLENCE IN REAL ESTATE
m o n t h l y
Client: Coastlands
CRBRealEstate.com
805-351-3500
Albert Barosso
Ad Executive: Warren Barrett
(805) 648-224
Please check this proof over carefully and indicate all corrections clearly. You will have a “1st Proof”, “2nd Proof”, and “Final Proof”. If we receive no proof after the 1st or 2nd Proofs, AD WILL RUN AS IS. If this proof meets your approval on the 1st proof, check off “FINAL DRE#01060428 PROOF (APPROVED)” box, date and sign at the bottom. ISSUE: MARCH 2021
Change homes, Change Lives
his proof is to check for accuracy and is not tended to show quality of reproduction.
NOTICE: PLEASE FAX THIS PROOF TO (805) 648-2245 ASAP
Coastlands Real Estate Group is proud Date: ____________________________ to give back to our community on Signature: behalf of every_______________________ real estate transaction.
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5566 Lafayette, Ventura $1550 donated to James Storehouse
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We are a local real estate group with a passion for giving back to our community. For every home bought or sold through us, we will “give back” a portion of our commission to one of our local partner charities who are helping to change the world!
Eric & Janet Baucom
5886 Santa Lucia, Ventura $3250 donated to The City Center & Tender Life Maternity Home
1013 Woodland, Santa Paula $1350 donated to Project Bicycle Love
DRE #01253080 / DRE #02045585
(805) 795-2001 • eric@coastlandsgroup.com • www.coastlandsgroup.com 46
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ventana
| MARCH 2021
Welcome Home
Ariel Palmieri CalDRE #01501968
Karen Stein
CalDRE #01505059
Juliet Esquibias Linda Parizo
CalDRE #01831073
CalDRE #01509547
Exceptional Real Estate within Ventura, Santa Barbara & Los Angeles counties! www.ArielandKaren.com ArielandKaren.com NEW LISTING
www.LindaParizoHomes.com www.JulietReviews.com JulietReviews.com NEW LISTING
1985 San Sebastian Dr., Oxnard
A prestigious gated community, The Colony at Mandalay offers coastal living with wonderful amenities, including pools, spas, tennis, pickleball, racquetball and more. Enjoy sweeping views of Mandalay Beach! Highly upgraded, ocean view condo with three decks, an entertainer’s kitchen, cathedral ceilings, and more! 2 + 2 + loft. Listed for $1,299,000
SALE PENDING
SALE PENDING
4218 Flintlock Lane, Westlake Village
Upgraded end-unit townhome in the gated Colony community of Westlake Village. Beautiful private yard. 3+3 with more than 1700 SF. Oversized primary suite with fireplace. Attached 2-car garage. The gated community offers tennis, pool and spa and is ideally located. Listed for $749,000
SALE PENDING
4858 Paseo Montelena, Camarillo
Located in sought-after Mission Oaks with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms on an oversized lot! Vaulted ceilings, formal living and dining areas, and an open staircase. Large master suite with en-suite, walk-in closet, and a deck with stairs leading to the private yard. Approx 2,213 sq ft. Listed for $829,900
SOLD
SALE PENDING
2175 Eastridge Trail, River Ridge
Lovely 4 bedroom 2.5 bath gated Paseo Verde home in the prestigious River Ridge Golf Course community of North Oxnard. Approximately 2172 square feet with open concept living. Listed for $750,000
SOLD
607 Chesapeake Place, Ventura
Beautiful single-story Santa Rosa Walk home with more than 2600 square feet. 3 + 3 plus an oversized loft overlooking the family room. Terrific location in East Ventura. Represented the buyer. Sold for $860,000
1930 Anchor Avenue, Oxnard
Gorgeous and highly-upgraded townhome-style condo in The Westerlies. Carrara marble counters in the gourmet kitchen and all bathrooms, and beautiful wood-look tile in main living areas. The attached two-car garage will store your vehicles or your harbor and beach toys, as the nearest marina is one half-mile away, and Hollywood Beach is a 1.4 mile drive or bike ride. Listed for $625,000
285 N. Ventura Avenue, #8, Ventura
Two-story condo. Approximately 945 square feet, with 1 bedroom and 1 bath. Well-located property less than a half mile from Downtown Ventura and less than one mile to the beach and promenade. Kitchen with island and full-size laundry area. One designated spot in gated parking garage beneath residence. Listed for $429,900
SOLD
1002 Ayers Ave, Ojai
Beautifully upgraded 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with approx 1,193 sq ft of living space. Corner lot with gorgeous mountain views. Represented the buyer. Sold for $850,000
2044 Spyglass Trail West, River Ridge
This River Ridge Golf Course 3-bedroom, 2.5 bath home is located on the 15th tee and has spectacular views from almost every room. Remodeled gourmet kitchen. HOA has pool and spa. 3 bedrooms + 2.5 baths – 2,390 SF Sold for $805,000
(805) 746-2070 (805) 824-2004 (805) 312-4654 (805) 616-4040 Ariel Palmieri
Karen Stein
Linda Parizo
Juliet Esquibias
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Lynnsjewelry.com
Quality Repairs • Professional Restorations • Custom Design • Appraisals • Gold, Silver & Estate Purchasing
805.642.5500
All our custom designs have been made from 100% recycled gold for more than 40 years. Respect for the earth is not a new idea at Lynns.
4572 Telephone Road, #906, Ventura
John Muscarella Master Jeweler