This Chumash dwelling was constructed by Devin Kress (with some help) for his Eagle Scout merit at the Museum of Ventura County. Councilwoman Heitmann is seen checking it out.

Summarized from the Channel Islands National Park Service

Archeological evidence indicates that there has been a human presence in the northern Channel Islands for thousands of years. Human remains excavated by archeologist Phil Orr from Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island in 1959, recently yielded a radio-carbon date of over 13,000 years of age. Archeological sites on San Miguel Island show continuous occupation from 8,000 – 11,000 years ago.

The native populations of the Channel Islands were primarily Chumash. The word Michumash, from which the name Chumash is derived, means “makers of shell bead money” and is the term mainland Chumash used to refer to those inhabiting the islands. Traditionally the Chumash people lived in an area extending from San Luis Obispo to Malibu, including the four Northern Channel Islands. Approximately 148 historic village sites have been identified, including 11 on Santa Cruz Island, eight on Santa Rosa Island, and two on San Miguel Island. Due to the lack of a consistent water source, Anacapa Island was likely inhabited on a seasonal basis. A true maritime culture, the Chumash hunted and gathered natural resources from both the ocean and the coastal mountains to maintain a highly developed way of life.

Hundreds of years ago, the native island Chumash traveled these ancient waters for hunting, fishing, and trading. They built canoes, called tomols, from redwood trees that drifted down the coast, fastening the cut planks together with animal sinews and sealed with a tar-like substance called yop. Yop is a combination of pine pitch and asphaltum which occurs naturally in the Channel and along the coast from oil seeping into the water from below the earth’s surface. The tomol remains the oldest example of an ocean-going watercraft in North America.

By the time European explorers arrived in the Santa Barbara Channel, there were some 21 villages on the three largest islands of San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz, with highly developed social hierarchies that featured an upper class of chiefs, shamans, boat builders, and artisans, a middle class of workers, fisherman, and hunters, and a lower class of the poor and outcast. Because of the scarcity of fresh water, Anacapa and Santa Barbara islands did not support permanent habitation.

However, diseases introduced by the European explorers began a decline in the native population. As European colonists began to settle along the coast, introducing new economic enterprises, exploiting the marine resources, and establishing Catholic missions, the native food sources were depleted, native economies were altered, and island populations declined even further.

The mission system depended on the use of native labor to propel industry and the economy. The social organization of Chumash society was restructured, leading to the erosion of previous power bases and further assimilation.

Today, Chumash community members continue to move forward in their efforts to revive what was becoming a forgotten way of life. Much has been lost, but Chumash community members take pride in their heritage and culture.

With a current population nearly 5,000 strong, some Chumash people can trace their ancestors to the five islands of Channel Islands National Park. The Chumash reservation in Santa Ynez represents the only federally recognized band, though it is important to note that several other organized Chumash groups exist.

Painting of  Walton Jue from an historical photograph painted by Pang Qi the artist of the Chinese mural on Figueroa Street. 

by Karen Helen Szatkowski

Even before California incorporated San Buenaventura as a city in 1866, immigrants from foreign lands decided this was a worthy landing to improve their lives and prospects. The first early years in the mid-19th Century saw single men and whole families arriving from the Pearl River Delta in Southeast China. They were escaping wars, hunger, chaos and death. They came with all their resources and sought employment and survival.

Progress was popping in Ventura by 1860 and the town and environs needed workers. The Chinese migrants arrived with their farming skills and found initial employment in the fields. Chinese laborers also built a water canal for Ventura and worked in construction all over town. Chinese owned businesses sprung up as well.  Figueroa Street from Santa Clara to Main Street was an active part of the Mission area scene and possibly 200 people lived in this one block along with small livestock and their own firehouse.

In 1905 the street was sold to development and the Chinese were made to find new land for homes and businesses. Anti-Chinese animosity was building and a federal law barred further immigration after 1882 with only few exceptions. Ventura was not immune to this animosity with accusations that the Chinese were driving down the wages of American workers. A Chinese Rights Organization fought such injustice as well as the claim by some that the Chinese would not assimilate and they were carrying disease. By 1920 the second Chinese community’s land was sold by the last landowning Chinese family and the demise of China Town Ventura was fully realized.

Fast forward from those years to the next generation of Chinese immigrants which arrived in the persons of Walton and Bob Jue. After a few years in the central valley an opportunity blossomed via a letter from a landowner in Ventura and they opened a grocery across from the Mission in 1927 and a real Jue dynasty was born. Hailing from the Hoiping area of China many of the clan developed in businesses and farming throughout the county.  Walton’s wife, Mary, was finally allowed a visit to the United States, she remained and the two eventually had five children together.

By the late years of the 1920s and 1930s the animosity towards the Chinese diminished somewhat and Walton Jue and his family were welcomed as successful business owners and good neighbors. In 1946 Walton moved his store to bigger quarters at the corner of Santa Cruz and Main Street and Walton had his Grand Opening on a Thursday in September of that year because Friday was the 13th; not a man to tempt fate. The store meant many things to the city, not the least of which was the opportunity for part time work for teens in the neighborhood. To paraphrase first born daughter Dorothy Jue Lee: They could learn some financial responsibility and sharpen their math skills to boot.

Jue’s Market was the second grocery in Ventura after Peirano’s and became a veritable landmark. The annual fair parade was a real event at the store and the accompanying picture shows Walton with the Budweiser Clydesdales sometime during the 1950s. Jue’s Market business was sold in 2001 after all the decades of serving farmers, customers and the city itself. The Jue family and the branches brought forth from that original root have accomplished many successes in academics and business and have earned friendship and respect from the city and beyond.

The Ventura County Historical Society has published a journal by Linda Bentz with far more detailed and interesting information which can be found in the Ventura County Museum’s library on Main Street across from the Mission where, coincidentally, Ventura’s China Town was and the original market was opened by the Jue Brothers.

Volunteers replanted the Peace Garden located in Plaza Park.

The Ventura Botanical Gardens (VBG) in partnership with the City of Ventura began the dirty but rewarding work of replanting the Peace Garden at Plaza Park, in celebration of the City’s 150th Anniversary.

Volunteers came out for the new dig, planting yellow Nemesia in two hundred square feet of newly turned dirt. The Nemesia is a drought-tolerant plant that thrives without daily irrigation. The planting design took the shape of the numbers “150” in commemoration of the City’s anniversary.

The Peace Garden, originally planted in 2008, was created as a symbol of hope for the future, in honor of those who have given their lives to protect our freedom.

Bob Warnagieris, board member of VBG stated “Digging in the dirt is part of the fun of the Ventura Botanical Gardens. Seeing the wonderful results of our hard work and the community engagement makes it so worthwhile.”

Joe Cahill, VBG Executive Director said, “With our City partners, we worked together to beautify this area at Plaza Park. In keeping with our mission and with a focus on sustainability and being green, this project ties in well with the vision for the future of the VBG.”

The Ventura Botanical Gardens and the City of Ventura hope that the new Peace Garden will provide a place for remembrance, inspiration and reflection.