How did the Valley’s main drag get its name? You have to go back to Easter Sunday, 1782, when Junípero Serra established a mission near the California coast and named it in honor of San Buenaventura, a.k.a. Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274), a Franciscan bigwig from Italy who was canonized in 1482. The town that sprung up around this mission shortened its name to “Ventura” sometime in the mid-19th century. Back then, Ventura Boulevard was indeed the road to Ventura – a segment of the old El Camino Real (the King’s Highway) that connected all the California missions. It was informally known as “the Ventura County road” until 1911-1912, when locals started calling it Ventura Boulevard. The name was made official on October 30th, 1916. It was probably not a coincidence that, earlier that year, other east-west SFV streets were also named for Ventura County towns: see Saticoy Street for more.
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