Editor’s note: This story is part of a series to celebrate the Ventura County Star’s 100th anniversary. Please pick up the June 15 edition in newsstands for our commemorative edition.
The Ventura County Star has grown and changed with its community for a century.
It changed its name, then changed it back. From 1936 to 1994, it was known as the Ventura County Star-Free Press, due to its acquisition of the Ventura Free Press, one of its early competitors.
It changed ownership a few times, and is now on its fourth corporate owner after starting out as an independent small business. In 100 years, though, The Star has had only nine top editors.
It changed its home, cycling through a few office locations in Ventura and two in Camarillo.
It started as a six-day-per-week, afternoon newspaper. Sunday editions were added in 1966, and in 1990, The Star went from afternoon to morning delivery.
The Star was distributed entirely on paper for the first 72 years of its existence, until its first website debuted in 1997. Now, The Star has more readers and more paying subscribers online than it does in print.
The Star always had a mission to cover the entire county, but at first, it was firmly rooted in Ventura. Over 70 years, it gradually realized its founding ambitions by expanding and acquiring other publications, and in 1995 it began publishing a single newspaper for the whole county.
One thing has been constant: The Star has chronicled every major milestone in the last 100 years of Ventura County’s history. Here is a selection of them:
Ventura County Star prints first edition
On June 15, 1925, The Ventura County Star printed its first edition. A front-page note from the editor, Roy Pinkerton, informed readers that they were getting “an absolutely ‘spontaneous’ product.” Most brand-new newspapers would write and print a limited run of test copies for a few days before their debuts. The Star didn’t get the chance, since the delivery of its printing press was delayed and the machine was not completely assembled and installed until the last possible day.
Magnitude 6.5 earthquake devastates Santa Barbara
On June 29, 1925, an earthquake estimated at a magnitude of at least 6.5 devastated Santa Barbara, killing 13 people and leveling much of the downtown. In the years after, the post-quake rebuilding project would give the city its visual identity as the land of red tile roofs. The Star reported that Ventura County was shaken but largely undamaged.
St. Francis Dam collapses
Two minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam north of Santa Clarita collapsed. Flood waters rushed down San Francisquito Canyon and into the Santa Clara River, all the way to the ocean in Ventura. More than 400 people in Ventura County were killed in the flood, most of them in Santa Paula and Fillmore.
Highway 101 opens over Conejo Grade
On May 1, 1937, Highway 101 opened over the Conejo Grade, enabling highway access between the eastern and western halves of Ventura County. Just hours after the grand opening, a man from Los Angeles died after his car plunged off the road near the summit.
Port of Hueneme opens
On July 4, 1940, the Port of Hueneme, Ventura County’s first and only deep-water commercial port, opened for business. The next year, the U.S. would enter World War II, and the U.S. Navy would make the port the home of its Seabee construction regiments. After the war, the port welcomed back commercial ships under a joint use agreement with the Navy.
Port Hueneme incorporated
On March 24, 1948, Port Hueneme was incorporated and its first City Council is sworn in, making it Ventura County’s sixth city.
Elizabeth ‘Ma’ Duncan sentenced to death
On March 21, 1959, one of the most famous trials in Ventura County history ends, when Elizabeth “Ma” Duncan was sentenced to death for the murder of her pregnant daughter-in-law. Motivated by jealously and possessiveness toward her son, Frank, Duncan hired two men to kill Olga Kupczyk, a nurse Frank had married the previous summer. Duncan and the two men she hired were executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin on Aug. 8, 1962, making Duncan the last woman to be executed by the state of California.
Nuclear reactor partially melts down at Santa Susana Field Laboratory
On July 1959, a nuclear reactor partially melted down at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, near Simi Valley. The exact date is unknown, and the incident was kept secret for 20 years. In 2009, at the 50th anniversary of the meltdown, The Star reported on a study tying hundreds of cancer cases to the incident.
Camarillo, Thousand Oaks voters approve cityhood
On Sept. 29, 1964, in separate elections, voters in Camarillo and Thousand Oaks approved cityhood for their communities.
Jungleland USA wild animal park in Thousand Oaks closes
On Oct. 8, 1969, the wild animal park in Thousand Oaks known as Jungleland USA closed, and its animals and other property were sold at a public auction. The park had opened in 1926 and was the home base for the world-famous tiger trainer Mabel Stark. In 1966, the actress Jayne Mansfield’s young son was injured in a lion attack during the family’s visit to Jungleland.
Simi Valley becomes a city
On Oct. 10, 1969, Simi Valley became Ventura County’s ninth city.
Ventura County Government Center opens
On March 20, 1978, county employees started working in the new Ventura County Government Center, a complex on Victoria Avenue housing the county’s courthouses and administrative offices. The previous courthouse, in downtown Ventura, had become Ventura City Hall in 1973 after a major renovation and seismic retrofit.
Channel Islands National Park established
On Aug. 5, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation establishing Channel Islands National Park. The park’s visitor center in Ventura opened two years later.
Moorpark incorporated
On March 8, 1983, voters in Moorpark approved incorporation, establishing Ventura County’s 10th city.
Summer Olympics come to Ventura County
On July 30, 1984, Ventura County hosted the Summer Olympics — or part of it, anyway. The rowing events of the Los Angeles-based 1984 Olympic Games were held at Lake Casitas, before nearly 10,000 spectators.
Reagan library dedicated
On Nov. 4, 1991, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was dedicated on a hilltop in Simi Valley. Then-president George H.W. Bush attended the ceremony, along with four former presidents: Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon. According to the New York Times, it was the first time in U.S. history that five presidents gathered together in the same place.
Jury finds officers not guilty in Rodney King trial
On April 29, 1992, in Simi Valley, a jury of Ventura County residents returned not guilty verdicts in the trial of four White Los Angeles police officers caught on video beating Rodney King, a Black man they had pulled over. Riots broke out in Los Angeles, while in Ventura County, The Star reported, observers, including top law enforcement officials, were shocked at the outcome. The next year, two of the officers were convicted on federal civil rights charges.
Ventura County’s first mass shooting
On Dec. 3, 1993, in what The Star reported was Ventura County’s first mass shooting, a Ventura man shot and killed three people in a state unemployment office in Oxnard, then shot and killed an Oxnard police officer during the subsequent car chase. The pursuit ended when the man killed himself. Before going to the unemployment office, the man had visited The Star’s offices, where he dropped off a box of files documenting his seven years of unemployment and job hunting.
Magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Southern California
On Jan. 17, 1994, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Southern California, centered in Northridge. The worst damage in Ventura County was in Fillmore, where much of the historic downtown was reduced to rubble.
Ventura voters pass growth-control law
On Nov. 7, 1995, voters in the city of Ventura passed a measure requiring voter approval for new development in certain areas, one of the nation’s strictest growth-control laws. Over the next few years, cities in almost all of Ventura County would adopt similar measures, known collectively as SOAR, or Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources.
Plane crashes near Anacapa Island
On Jan. 31, 2000, an Alaska Airlines jet headed from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco crashed off the coast of Ventura County, near Anacapa Island, killing all 88 people on board.
CSU Channel Islands opens
On Aug. 16, 2002, CSU Channel Islands, Ventura County’s first public four-year university, opened on the former grounds of Camarillo State Mental Hospital. Planning for the university began in the 1960s, and the state settled on the Camarillo site after considering properties in Simi Valley and Ventura.
‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ finds cosmetics-fortune heir who jumped bail
On June 18, 2003, Andrew Luster, an heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, was arrested in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after jumping bail during his rape trial in Ventura County. He is found by Duane “Dog The Bounty Hunter” Chapman, in the case that launched Chapman’s reality television career.
President Ronald Reagan dies
On June 5, 2004, former President Ronald Reagan dies at the age of 93. Two days later, his casket is driven in a motorcade to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, where it is viewed by more than 100,000 people. After state funeral services in Washington, D.C., Reagan is buried at his presidential library.
Landslide buries homes in La Conchita
On Jan. 10, 2005, after two weeks of heavy rain, a landslide buried homes in La Conchita, the small seaside community northwest of Ventura. Ten people are killed. The rain also flooded areas throughout Ventura County and forced the closure of Highway 101 and other major roads for days on end.
25 people killed in train crash
On Sept. 12, 2008, a Metrolink commuter train headed to Ventura County collided head-on with a freight train in Chatsworth, killing 25 people on board. Twenty-one of the victims were from Ventura County, including 10 from Simi Valley.
Thomas Fire erupts in Ventura County
On Dec. 4, 2017, a brush fire began near Santa Paula and burned all the way to Ventura in a matter of hours. The Thomas Fire would eventually consume 440 square miles, making it the biggest wildfire in California history up to that point. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed, most of them in Ventura. A month later, heavy rains in fire-damaged areas would trigger massive landslides in Santa Barbara County, killing 23 people in Montecito.
Thousand Oaks mass shooting kills 12; Woolsey Fire kills 3
On Nov. 7, 2018, in the worst mass shooting in Ventura County’s history, a gunman killed 12 people, then himself, at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks. The next day, the Woolsey Fire began near Simi Valley, and it soon killed three people and destroyed more than 1,600 structures in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
COVID-19 pandemic closes Ventura County business, government offices
On March 18, 2020, with COVID-19 spreading across the United States, public health officials in Ventura County ordered many business and government offices closed, while the state and local districts closed most schools. The closures would continue on and off through 2020 and into 2021.
Spanish missionary statue removed from Ventura City Hall
On July 23, 2020, a statue of Spanish missionary Junipero Serra, a replica built in 1989 to replace the original from 1936, was removed from in front of Ventura City Hall. In 1782, Serra founded the first European settlement in Ventura County with Mission San Buenaventura. His statue, removed from public property after much controversy and debate, is placed into storage and relocated to the nearby mission in 2024.
Mountain Fire erupts in Somis
On Nov. 6, 2024, during extreme Santa Ana winds, a fire breaks out in Somis. The Mountain Fire grew quickly and destroyed 182 structures, most of them single-family homes in and around Camarillo.
Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Take a look back at a century of Ventura County history as seen in the pages of The Star
Reporting by Tony Biasotti, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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