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Port Hueneme (pronounced
"Y NEE MEE"), is located on the central California coast, 60 miles north
of Los Angeles and 50 miles south of Santa Barbara. Neighboring communities
include Oxnard, Ventura, and Camarillo. This little beach beauty that overlooks
the Channel Islands is small but mighty and well worth the effort to find
and explore. With the force of approximately 2,000 military and civilian
personnel located adjacent to the city at NAVSEA Port Hueneme Surface Warfare
Center Division, Point Mugu Naval Base and California Air National
Guard six miles southeast of Port Hueneme and the
only deep water harbor between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area
at the Port of Hueneme, this community means business.
All work and no play at the beach
is impossible. Port Hueneme contains 4.5 square miles with a beautiful
beach and pier at a 50-acre Hueneme Beach Park. This is where the
community enjoys picnic areas, barbecue pits, a snack
bar building with patio area, public restrooms and ample public parking.
Annual celebrations include a summer Beach Fest and Port
Hueneme Harbor Days, which honors the Thomas Bard and the Bard Family,
recognized as city founders.
Long before the industrial revolution
transformed the coastal landscape, it is believed that Chumash Indians were
the primary inhabitants of this region. Hueneme is a Chumash word
meaning "half-way" or "resting place." Chumash nation Canalinos Indians
likely stopped at Point Hueneme as they passed between today's Point Mugu
and the mouth of the Santa Clara River. The 'Point' is the closest spot
(11 miles) from which to cross the Santa Barbara channel transiting between
the mainland and Anacapa Island.
In 1876, Thomas Bard constructed
a wharf to serve as a port for shipping of food stuffs and goods grown
and produced in this rich agricultural area known as the Gold Coast. Taking
advantage of Hueneme Canyon, a 1500-foot (Bard's) wharf was constructed
in 1872 to lighter goods between the coast and ships off shore.
By the early 1920s, lemons outstripped
lima beans and sugar beets as the number one crop. In 1922, two giant Sunkist
lemon-packing plants were built and Sunkist became one of the port village's
largest employers. A much needed port was crucial in the role
of fulfilling a region's commercial interests. The port finally came to
pass by Thomas Bard's son, Richard, who is credited with leading a charge
for approval and formation of Oxnard Harbor District in 1937.
Since that time, California has
felt the threat of war several times. Only 60 miles away from Port Hueneme
in Santa Barbara, you can see a marker commemorating an actual
Japanese attack. Military presence and remnants of such are visible throughout
the state, with facilities such as NAVSEA Port Hueneme taking its
place as one of five locations that include San Diego, White Sands, New
Mexico; Louisville, Kentucky; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Port Hueneme is home to the only
city-owned and maintained beach park in Ventura County. Compared to Quimby
Act Standards, the city's 90 acres of park land exceeds the statewide norm
by more than one-third. Local facilities include a community center, library,
historical museum, athletic center, and cultural arts center.
Getting to Port Hueneme can be tricky.
Here's how you do it:
Highway
101 - Northbound:
Exit Vineyard Avenue
Turn Left - go over freeway
Continue on Vineyard. Stay in Right
lane.
Straight through light at Oxnard
Blvd.
Continue on Vineyard to Ventura
Road.
Turn Left onto Ventura Road.
Continue on Ventura Road, approximately
8 miles.
Ventura Road ends at a Stop sign.
At the stop sign, turn left and
the beach will be on your right.
Highway 101 - Southbound:
Exit Wagon Wheel Road
Turn right coming off the freeway
at the first light
(yielding to traffic).
Turn left at the second light,
and you will be on Ventura Road.
Continue on Ventura Road, approximately
8 miles.
Ventura Road ends at a Stop sign.
At the stop sign, turn left and
the beach will be on your right.
Hueneme Beach Park and Hueneme Pier are located off HUENEME BEACH PARK
Location: Surfside Drive at Ventura Road and Municipal Pier
(No lifeguards on duty in Fall/Winter)
PORT HUENEME HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Location: 220 Market Street; Port Hueneme, CA
Telephone number: 488-2023
Hours of operation:
Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
FRIENDS OF THE BARD MANSION
Friends of the Thomas R. Bard Mansion Inc. is a
non-profit organization supported solely by gifts,
grants, donations and memberships. Its goal is to
subsidize the preservation and restoration of the T.R.
Bard Mansion, Also known as the Officers Club, and
the surrounding Botanical Gardens. The mansion is a
national historical landmark built in 1912 by Thomas
R. Bard, Port Hueneme’s founding father and Ventura
County’s only elected United States Senator. Members
of Friends of the Bard Mansion may, subject to availability,
and by special arrangement, use the Mansion
for dining, meetings, luncheons, weddings, celebrations,
exhibitions, and group tours. Please call Georgia
Pulos, President, at (805) 986-9665, Orvene Carpenter
at (805) 985-2076 or Jeannette Moranda at (805) 488-
1914 for membership information.
PORT HUENEME HISTORICAL MUSEUM
The Port Hueneme Historical Museum was built in 1925 by architect
Myron
Hunt, who also designed the Bard Mansion, Huntington Library and
Ambassador Hotel. The museum showcases a collection of historical artifacts,
photographs and information about the Hueneme area. Open to the public
Monday through Friday from around 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (call to confirm), it is
located at 220 Market St., Port Hueneme, CA. Call (805) 488-2023.
huenemechamber.com.
HUENEME BEACH SUNDIAL MEMORIAL
Hueneme Beach Sundial Memorial was
designed by renown Santa Barbara sculptor Bud Bottoms and is comprised of
bronze dolphins and gnomon that cast a shadow on the 20-foot diameter dial
face oriented to Pacific Standard Time. Situated in the center of a
36-foot diameter concrete plaza with a curving sand wall and seating area,
this tribute to 88 passengers and crew who lost their lives aboard Alaska
Airlines Flight 261 offshore of Port Hueneme near Anacapa Island on January
31, 2000, lists the name of each victim inscribed on individual bronze
plates mounted on the perimeter of the dial.
The crash site is located between the mainland at Port Hueneme and Anacapa
Island, with the sundial serving as both a memorial to the those who lost
their lives on a flight and crash caused by failure of jackscrews on the
plane worn thin and lacking lubrication, and residents of Port Hueneme for
their help in the recovery effort.
Visitors can see the Sundial Memorial from Hueneme Beach parking lot B off
Surfside Drive near the gazebo. Oxnard
aerial view
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