Oxnard () is a city in
Ventura County, California, United States. On California's
South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area.
Geographical
Australia
*South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney
* South Coast (Q ...
, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the
22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west of downtown
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
and is part of the larger
Greater Los Angeles area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino ...
.
It is at the western edge of the fertile
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...
, adjacent to agricultural fields with strawberries,
lima beans and other vegetable crops. Oxnard is also a major transportation hub in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...
, with
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
,
Union Pacific,
Metrolink,
Greyhound, and Intercalifornias stopping there. It also has a small regional airport,
Oxnard Airport (OXR). The town also has significant connections to the nearby oil fields
Oxnard Oil Field
The Oxnard Oil Field is a large and currently productive oil field in and adjacent to the city of Oxnard, California, Oxnard, in Ventura County, California in the United States. Its conventional oil reserves are close to exhaustion, with only an ...
and the
West Montalvo Oil Field. The high density of oil, industry and agricultural activities around the city, have led to several
environmental issues.
Oxnard's population was 202,063 in 2020, and is largely Latino.
It is the most populous city in the
Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
![Carte du Ranch d' El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Carte_du_Ranch_d%27_El_Rio_de_Santa_Clara_o_la_Colonia.jpg)
Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by
Chumash Native Americans. The first European to encounter the area was explorer
João Rodrigues Cabrilho
João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below.
Kings ...
, who claimed it for
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
in 1542. During the
mission period,
Mission San Buenaventura, established in 1782, used the area for raising cattle.
Ranching began to take hold among
Californio
Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there sin ...
settlers, who lost their regional influence when California became a US state in 1850. At about the same time, the area was settled by American farmers, who cultivated
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...
and lima beans.
The Gottfried Maulhardt/Albert Pfeiler Farm site is now an historic farm park.
Henry T. Oxnard
Henry Thomas Oxnard (June 23, 1860 – June 8, 1922) was a French-born, American entrepreneur and namesake of Oxnard, California and its Henry T. Oxnard Historic District. Oxnard was president of both the American Beet Sugar Company (which later ...
, founder of
Moorhead, Minnesota-based
American Crystal Sugar Company
American Crystal Sugar Company is an agricultural cooperative specializing in the production of sugar and related agri-products. American Crystal is owned by nearly 2,800 shareholders who raise approximately one-third of the nation's sugarbeet ac ...
who operated a successful
sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
factory with his three brothers (Benjamin, James, and Robert) in
Chino, California
Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino is adjacent to Chino ...
, was enticed to build a $2 million factory on the plain inland from
Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits.
P ...
. Shortly after the 1897 beet campaign, a new town emerged, now commemorated on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
as the
Henry T. Oxnard Historic District. Oxnard intended to name the settlement after the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word for "sugar", ''zachari'', but frustrated by bureaucracy, named it after himself. Given the potential growth of the town of Oxnard, in the spring of 1898, a railroad station was built to service the plant, which attracted a population of Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican laborers and enough commerce to merit the designation of a town. The Oxnard brothers, who never lived in their namesake city, sold both the Chino and the giant red-brick Oxnard factory in 1899 for nearly $4 million. The Oxnard factory with its landmark twin smokestacks operated from August 19, 1899, until October 26, 1959. Factory operations were interrupted in the
Oxnard Strike of 1903 The Oxnard strike of 1903 was a labor rights dispute in the southern California coastal city of Oxnard between local landowners and the majority Japanese and Mexican labor force.
History
Before the strike
In 1887, Henry, James, Benjamin, and R ...
.
Oxnard was incorporated as a California city on June 30, 1903, and the public library was opened in 1907. Prior to and during World War II, the naval bases of
Point Mugu
Point Mugu (, Chumash: ''Muwu'') is a cape or promontory within Point Mugu State Park on the Pacific Coast in Ventura County, near the city of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian term ...
and
Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits.
P ...
were established in the area to take advantage of the only major navigable port on California's coast between the
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "America's Port", t ...
and
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
, and the bases in turn encouraged the development of the defense-based
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
and communications industries.
In the mid-20th century Oxnard grew and developed the areas outside the downtown with homes, industry, retail, and a new harbor named
Channel Islands Harbor
Channel Islands Harbor is a small craft harbor and shore-protection project in Oxnard, California at the southern end of the Santa Barbara Channel. It is the fifth largest harbor for small-craft recreation in the state of California and is a wat ...
.
Martin V. ("Bud") Smith (1916–2001) became an influential developer. Smith's first enterprise in 1941 was the Colonial House Restaurant (demolished 1988) and then the
Wagon Wheel Junction in 1947, (demolished 2011).
He was also involved in the development of the high-rise towers at the Topa Financial Plaza, the Channel Islands Harbor, Casa Sirena Resort, the Esplanade Shopping Mall, Fisherman's Wharf, the Carriage Square Shopping Center, the Maritime Museum, and many other hotel, restaurant and retail projects.
In June 2004, the Oxnard Police Department and the
Ventura County Sheriff imposed a
gang injunction
A civil gang injunction or CGI is a type of restraining order issued by courts in the United States prohibiting gang members in particular cities from participating in certain specified activities. It is based on the legal theory that gang activi ...
over a area of the
central district of the city, in order to restrict gang activity. The injunction was upheld in the Ventura County Superior Court and made a permanent law in 2005. A similar injunction was imposed in September 2006 over a area of the south side of the city. Prohibited activities include associating with other known gang members,
witness intimidation
Witness tampering is the act of attempting to improperly influence, alter or prevent the testimony of witnesses within criminal or civil proceedings.
Witness tampering and reprisals against witnesses in organized crime cases have been a difficult ...
, possessing firearms or using
gang gestures. Since then, court decisions have made adding people to the civil orders more stringent, stemming from lawsuits in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Judges determined that it was unconstitutional for people to be added to a gang injunction without a due-process hearing. As a result of budget cuts due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the Oxnard police stopped maintaining and enforcing the injunction in 2020.
Geography
Oxnard is located on the Oxnard Plain, an area with fertile soil. With its beaches, dunes, wetlands, creeks and the
Santa Clara River, the area contains a number of important biological communities. Native plant communities include:
coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...
, California Annual Grassland, and Coastal Dune Scrub species; however, most native plants have been eliminated from within the city limits to make way for agriculture and urban and industrial development. Also native to the region is the endangered
Ventura Marsh Milkvetch, and the last self-sustaining population is in Oxnard in the center of an approved housing development.
Rivers
The
Santa Clara River separates Oxnard and Ventura. Tributaries to this river include Sespe Creek, Piru Creek, and Castaic Creek.
Geology
Oxnard is on a
tectonically
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...
active plate, since most of
Coastal California
Coastal California, also known as the California Coastline and the Golden Coast, refers to the coastal regions of the U.S. state of California. The term is not primarily geographical as it also describes an area distinguished by cultural, economic ...
is near the boundaries between the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
and
North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
Plates. The
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...
, which demarcates this boundary, is about 40 miles away.
One active
fault that transverses Oxnard is the
Oak Ridge Fault, which straddles the
Santa Clara River Valley
The Santa Clara River Valley is a rural, mainly agricultural, valley in Ventura County, California that has been given the moniker Heritage Valley by the namesake tourism bureau. The valley includes the communities of Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru ...
westward from the
Santa Susana Mountains
The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in Southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west, separating the San Fernando and Simi valleys on its south from the Santa C ...
, crosses the
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...
through Oxnard, and extends into the
Santa Barbara Channel
The Santa Barbara Channel is a portion of the Southern California Bight and separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the Oxnard Plain in Ventura Count ...
. The coastline is subject to inundation by a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
up to 23 feet in height.
The fault has proven to be a significant contributor to
seismic
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
activity in the Oxnard region and beyond. The 6.7
Northridge earthquake
The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.
The quake had a duration of approximatel ...
that occurred on January 17, 1994, is believed to have occurred in the Santa Clarita extension of the Oak Ridge Fault.
Landslide
Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...
s and ridge-top shattering resulting from the Northridge earthquake were observed above
Moorpark
Moorpark is a city in Ventura County in Southern California. Moorpark was founded in 1900. The town grew from just over 4,000 citizens in 1980 to over 25,000 by 1990. As of 2006, Moorpark was one of the fastest-growing cities in Ventura County.. ...
, a city east of Oxnard.
Climate
Oxnard is the location of the
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
forecast office that serves the Los Angeles area. The city is situated in a
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
(dry
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...
) climate zone, experiencing mild and relatively wet winters, and warm, dry summers, in a climate called the
warm-summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
. Onshore breezes keep the communities of Oxnard cooler in summer and warmer in winter than those further inland. The average mean temperature is 61 °F (16 °C). The average minimum temperature is 52 °F (11 °C) and the average maximum temperature is 69 °F (21 °C). Generally the weather is mild and dry, with around 300 days of sunshine annually. The average annual precipitation is .
Wildlife and ecology
The area contains a number of important biological communities. Native plant communities include
coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...
, California Annual Grassland, and Coastal Dune Scrub species; however, most native plants have been eliminated from within the city limits to make way for development. Also native to the region is the endangered
Ventura Marsh Milkvetch, with the last self-sustaining population in Oxnard being at the center of a housing development.
The balance of wildlife in Oxnard is similar to that of most places in southern California, with small mammals being common in urbanized areas, like squirrels, raccoons, and skunks. Coyotes prey on these smaller mammals. Small birds and mammals can be food for stray, feral, and pet dogs and cats.
Environmental issues
Oxnard has more coastal
power plants
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many pow ...
than any other city in California, with three
fossil-fuel power plant
A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel, such as coal or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, wh ...
s providing energy for cities in both Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) has identified Oxnard as a city excessively burdened by multiple sources of pollution.
Two of the power plants use ocean water cooling. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has categorized much of Oxnard in the top 10 percent of ZIP codes most negatively impacted by pollution in the state.
In May 2015, the Oxnard City Council unanimously voted to extend the city moratorium on power plant construction. This moratorium extension occurred due to NRG/Southern California Edison's proposal, also referred to as the Puente Power Project,
to construct a new fossil-fuel power plant. The next morning, a NRG representative stated their case to replace the old power generation plant at Mandalay beach with a new, hi-tech, much cleaner and more efficient plant.
Pesticides
Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampric ...
are used in the agricultural fields surrounding Oxnard, as the area is one of the nation's leading
strawberry
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
producers, with agriculture being one of the top contributors to Oxnard's economy. Strawberries depend on large applications of fumigants containing pesticides. The Center for Health Journalism reported four ZIP codes with the highest pesticide use in the state clustered around Oxnard.
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
, surrounded by agricultural fields of the Oxnard Plain, has been at the center of a
Title VI Civil Rights Act complaint since 1999, covering three generations.
Title VI prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) routinely awards California pesticide regulators millions of dollars in grants. The EPA is required to ensure the recipients of its funding to be in compliance with Title VI. The plaintiffs argue that California pesticide regulators violated Title VI, by approving permits for toxins that disproportionately impacted Latino schoolchildren, who attended schools adjacent to fields with the highest
methyl bromide levels in the state.
Architecture
The historical architectural styles of Oxnard ranch family homes are Victorian era, Italian style, and
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...
. In the
Henry T. Oxnard Historic District, there are five
Prairie School
Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...
and eight
Tudor Revival
Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
homes.
[ and ] The district includes
Mission/Spanish Revival
In the United States, the National Register of Historic Places classifies its listings by various types of architecture. Listed properties often are given one or more of 40 standard architectural style classifications that appear in the National ...
,
Bungalow/craftsman
In the United States, the National Register of Historic Places classifies its listings by various types of architecture. Listed properties often are given one or more of 40 standard architectural style classifications that appear in the National ...
,
Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...
, and other architecture.
Cityscape
Oxnard is a combination of neighborhoods, and urban development focused on the downtown, coastline, and harbor areas. The city's main land uses are industrial, residential, commercial, and open space. The city is characterized by one and two-story buildings, the only exception being several high rises in the northern part of the city. The city is surrounded by agricultural land and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the
Santa Clara River. The city's primary development lies along Highway 101 and the other main roads.
The
Henry T. Oxnard Historic District is a
historic district that was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in Oxnard. Covering approximately F and G Sts., between Palm and 5th Sts., in the city, the district includes 139
contributing buildings and includes homes mostly built before 1925.
It contains Craftsman and Revival architecture in abundance.
Ormond Beach is a beach along the Oxnard coast. The beach, which stretches for two miles, adjoins the Ormond Wetlands, some farmland, and power plant remains. It covers the area in between Points
Hueneme and
Mugu, and is a well-known birding area. The beach historically contained marshes, salt flat, sloughs, and lagoons, but surrounding agriculture and industry have drained, filled, and degraded the beach and wetlands. However, there is still a dune-transition zone-marsh system along much of the beach.
[Kelley, Daryl (April 29, 2001]
"Illness Forces Environmental Crusader to Sidelines."
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''
Demographics
2010
The
2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
reported that Oxnard had a population of 197,899. The population density was . The racial makeup of Oxnard included 95,346 (48.2%)
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 5,771 (2.9%)
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 2,953 (1.5%)
Native American, 14,550 (7.4%)
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 658 (0.3%)
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 69,527 (35.1%) from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 9,094 (4.6%) from two or more races. In addition, 145,551 people (73.5%) were
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
, of any race.
Non-Hispanic Whites
Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Ame ...
were 14.9% of the population in 2010, compared to 42.6% in 1980.
The Census reported that 196,465 people (99.3% of the population) lived in households, 932 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 502 (0.3%) were institutionalized.
There were 49,797 households, out of which 25,794 (51.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 28,319 (56.9%) were
opposite-sex married couples living together, 7,634 (15.3%) had a female householder with no husband present, 4,043 (8.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 3,316 (6.7%)
unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 395 (0.8%)
same-sex married couples or partnerships. 7,090 households (14.2%) were made up of individuals, and 2,665 (5.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.95. There were 39,996
families
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...
(80.3% of all households); the average family size was 4.20.
The population was spread out, with 59,018 people (29.8%) under the age of 18, 23,913 people (12.1%) aged 18 to 24, 57,966 people (29.3%) aged 25 to 44, 40,584 people (20.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 16,418 people (8.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.4 males.
There were 52,772 housing units at an average density of , of which 27,760 (55.7%) were owner-occupied, and 22,037 (44.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 3.7%. 107,482 people (54.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 88,983 people (45.0%) lived in rental housing units.
2000 census
As of the census
of 2000, there were 170,358 people, 43,576 households, and 34,947 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,729.7 inhabitants per square mile (2,598.8/km
2). There were 45,166 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 42.1%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 3.8%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 1.3%
Native American, 7.4%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.4%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 40.4% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 4.7% from two or more races. Two-thirds of the population (66.2%) was
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race.
There were 43,576 households, out of which 46.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.8% were non-families. 14.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.85 and the average family size was 4.16
In the city, the population was spread out, with 31.8% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $48,603, and the median income for a family was $49,150. Males had a median income of $30,643 versus $25,381 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,288. About 11.4% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.4% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
The
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
of Oxnard includes
defense,
international trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy)
In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...
, agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Oxnard is a manufacturing center in the
Greater Los Angeles Area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
. The Port of Hueneme is the only deep-harbor commercial port between Los Angeles and San Francisco and moves trade within the
Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire.
List of co ...
economies. Companies utilizing the Port include
Del Monte Foods
Del Monte Foods, Inc (trading as Del Monte Foods) is an American food production and distribution company headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest producers, distributors and marketer of br ...
,
Chiquita
Chiquita Brands International Sàrl (), formerly known as Chiquita Brands International Inc. and United Fruit Co., is a Swiss-domiciled American producer and distributor of bananas and other produce. The company operates under a number of ...
,
BMW,
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
, and
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
. Other industries include finance, transportation, the high tech industry, and energy, particularly petroleum. Two large active oil fields underlie the city and adjacent areas: the
Oxnard Oil Field
The Oxnard Oil Field is a large and currently productive oil field in and adjacent to the city of Oxnard, California, Oxnard, in Ventura County, California in the United States. Its conventional oil reserves are close to exhaustion, with only an ...
, east of the city along 5th Street, and the
West Montalvo Oil Field along the coast to the west of town. Tenby Inc.'s Oxnard Refinery, on 5th Street east of Del Norte Avenue, processes oil from both fields.
According to the city's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,
the top employers in the city are:
Other major employers include
Naval Base Ventura County
Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a United States Navy base in Ventura County, California. Formed by the merger of NAS Point Mugu and CBC Port Hueneme, NBVC is a diverse installation composed of three main locations — Point Mugu, Port Huenem ...
,
Boskovich Farms
Boskovich Farms is a historic vegetable producer based in Oxnard, California, U.S. It has operations in California, Arizona and Mexico.
History
The company was founded by ethnic Serbian born in Croatia's Dalmatia region Stephen Boskovich in 1915 ...
, PTI Technologies,
Seminis
Seminis is a developer, grower, and marketer of fruit and vegetable seeds. Seminis' hybrids claim to improve nutrition, boost crop yields, limit spoilage and reduce the need for chemicals. Their retail line includes over 3,500 seed varieties.
...
and Gills Onions.
Some of the major companies headquartered in Oxnard are Haas Automation,
Seminis
Seminis is a developer, grower, and marketer of fruit and vegetable seeds. Seminis' hybrids claim to improve nutrition, boost crop yields, limit spoilage and reduce the need for chemicals. Their retail line includes over 3,500 seed varieties.
...
, Raypak,
Drum Workshop
Drum Workshop, Inc. (also known as DW Drums or DW) is an American drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Current products by DW include drum sets, snare drums, and hardware.
History
Drum Workshop was founded ...
, Borla Performance,
Boss Audio,
Seed Beauty
ColourPop Cosmetics, also known as ColourPop, is an American cosmetics brand based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 2014 by siblings Laura and John Nelson. ColourPop products are sold through their website and at Ulta Beauty. ...
, and Robbins Auto Tops Procter & Gamble and
Sysco
Sysco Corporation (short for Systems and Services Company) is an American multinational corporation involved in marketing and distributing food products, smallwares, kitchen equipment and tabletop items to restaurants, healthcare and education ...
maintain their
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
operations in Oxnard.
In October 2020, city officials announced that once a large swath of agricultural land is fully developed into a business park by late 2021, it estimates that up to 8,700 jobs will be created in the area. An
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
fulfillment center opened in 2022 that serves Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo counties.
Agriculture
According to the Camarillo General Plan: "The areas studied showed a high percentage of Group I soils, primarily located on the relatively flat
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...
. The
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...
, because of these high-quality agricultural soils, coupled with a favorable climate, is considered one of the most fertile areas in the world."
In 1995, SOAR (Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources) was initiated by farmers, ranchers and citizens of Ventura County to keep land in the
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...
from development.
Strawberries
![Strawberry field](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Strawberry_field.jpg)
The
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...
is well known for its
strawberries
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
. According to the
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
, Oxnard is California's largest strawberry producer, supplying about one-third of the State's annual strawberry volume. From the end of September through the end of October, strawberries are planted and harvesting occurs from mid-December through mid-July in Oxnard. The peak harvesting season in California runs from April through June, when up to 10 million pint baskets of strawberries are shipped daily. The state of California supplies over 85 percent of U.S. strawberries, with the U.S. supplying a quarter of total world production of strawberries.
Each year Oxnard hosts the
California Strawberry Festival during the summer at College Park next to
Oxnard College
Oxnard College is a public community college in Oxnard, California. It was established in 1975 by the Ventura County Community College District. It serves the Oxnard Plain cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, and Port Hueneme. Oxnard College offers both ...
, featuring vendors as well as food items based on the fruit such as strawberry nachos, strawberry pizza, strawberry funnel cake, strawberry sundaes, and strawberry champagne.
Pests that attack this crop are very economically impactful in this town.
Much of the research and effort is expended here and in
Watsonville
Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self- ...
and
Salinas.
Economically significant insects include the Greenhouse Whitefly (''
Trialeurodes vaporariorum
''Trialeurodes vaporariorum'', commonly known as the glasshouse whitefly or greenhouse whitefly, is an insect that inhabits the world's temperate regions. Like various other whiteflies, it is a primary insect pest of many fruit, vegetable and o ...
'').
Cannabis
In 2018, 80% of the voters approved a cannabis tax. The city council adopted a "go slow" approach upon the legalization of recreational cannabis in California. Companies must be licensed by the local agency and the state to grow, test, or sell cannabis and the city may authorize none or only some of these activities. Local governments may not prohibit adults, who are in compliance with state laws, from growing, using, or transporting marijuana for personal use. After an initial ban, businesses that focus on manufacturing, testing and distributing cannabis were allowed to apply for a permit to operate in July 2019. An initial process in May 2020 to select retail proposals was challenged by unsuccessful applicants. After revising the city ordinance, the council decided in September 2020 to allow 10 retail licences to be issued. A social equity component to maximize the ability for communities of color to benefit from the new industry as owners and investors and managers and employees as allowed by state law was not included. The city requires dispensaries to be a minimum of from schools or daycare centers. A special-use permit was approved for a retail store in an Oxnard Shores neighborhood shopping center in February 2022 amidst organized opposition from the neighborhood. The first dispensary in the city opened in the downtown area in December 2022.
Oil fields
Oxnard
West Montalvo
Arts and culture
![Oxnard Post Office](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Oxnard_Post_Office.jpg)
Oxnard cultural institutions include the
Carnegie Art Museum
The Carnegie Art Museum is a public art museum owned by the City of Oxnard, California in the building originally occupied by the Oxnard Public Library. The Neo-Classical building, located adjacent to Oxnard's Plaza Park, opened in 1907 as the ...
, founded in 1907 as the Oxnard Public Library by philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
; the
Chandler Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife, founded by the late
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
publisher
Otis Chandler
Otis Chandler (November 23, 1927 – February 27, 2006) was the publisher of the ''Los Angeles Times'' between 1960 and 1980, leading a large expansion of the newspaper and its ambitions. He was the fourth and final member of the Chandler fami ...
, the
Murphy Auto Museum
Murphy () ( ga, Ua Murchadha) is an Irish name, Irish surname and the most common surname in the Republic of Ireland.
Origins and variants
The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh" ...
, and the
Channel Islands Maritime Museum. The
Henry T. Oxnard Historic District is adjacent to the commercial downtown area and dates back to the founding of the city.
Heritage Square in downtown is a collection of restored
Victorian and
Craftsman houses that were once owned by Oxnard's pioneer ranching families. Heritage Square is home to the Petit Playhouse and the Elite Theatre Company. The Oxnard Performing Arts and Convention Center is home to the
New West Symphony
The New West Symphony is a regional professional symphony orchestra serving the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was founded in 1995. The orchestra's players are professional musicians drawn from the rich pool of classical musicians in the Los An ...
.
Oxnard also has the Oxnard Independent Film Festival and the annual Channel Islands Tall Ships Festival. The Herzog Winery is based in Oxnard along with other wine tasting rooms. During late July, the annual Salsa Festival is held in downtown Oxnard, featuring a salsa tasting tent, local bands, a large dance floor, local vendors, as well as many salsa based food vendors.
Sports
The
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...
held their pre-season training camp at River Ridge Field in Oxnard in 2001, 2004–06, 2008–10 and 2012-16 (the Cowboys trained at
California Lutheran University
California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It opened in 1960 ...
in nearby
Thousand Oaks
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tree ...
in 1963–89). The
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...
trained in Oxnard in 2011. The
Los Angeles Raiders
The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...
trained at River Ridge in the 1980s and 90s.
On February 4, 2016, the
Los Angeles Rams (an
NFL team) selected Oxnard to be the site of their Official Team Activities and mini camp. On February 19, 2016, the city of Oxnard and the Rams reached a tentative agreement to host official team activities or OTAs and minicamp at River Ridge Playing Fields and on February 23, 2016, the Oxnard City Council voted unanimously 5-0 to allow the Los Angeles Rams to use the River Ridge Playing Fields facility from April 18 to June 17 and the locker room space from March 28 until June 24.
River Ridge Golf Course has two 18-hole courses flanked by housing developments.
Government
Oxnard lies within the
26th congressional district, which is represented by .
Education
The city of Oxnard is served by 54 public school campuses which provide education to more than 53,000 students in grades K–12.
Elementary and junior high schools
The city of Oxnard and surrounding communities are served by four different school districts which oversee education for students grades
K–
8. They are:
*
Hueneme School District
The Hueneme School District ( ) is a school district headquartered in Port Hueneme, California, United States. The district serves elementary and junior high school students (grades K–8) in portions of the cities of Port Hueneme and Oxnard as ...
: Serves 7,600 students at 11 campuses in South Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Oxnard beach neighborhoods.
*
Oxnard School District: Serves 18,000 students at 21 campuses throughout Oxnard.
*
Ocean View Elementary School District
Ocean View Elementary School District is a school district in Ventura County, California, USA. It is located towards the south of Oxnard and encompasses of land on the coast west of Malibu. The District currently enrolls about 2,500 students ...
: Serves 3,000 students at 6 campuses in South Oxnard.
*
Rio School District: Serves 5,000 students at 8 campuses in North Oxnard and El Rio.
On February 12, 2008, a shooting involving students occurred at
E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard.
Larry King
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...
was shot in one of the classrooms where he was later taken to St. John's Hospital and died.
There are a number of private K–8 schools in Oxnard. These include several Catholic schools which are administered by the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles ( la, Archidiœcesis Angelorum in California, es, Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in th ...
and the non-denominational Mary Law Private School.
High schools
![Oxnard High School](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Oxnard_High_School.jpg)
All public high schools in Oxnard are operated by the
Oxnard Union High School District
The Oxnard Union High School District (OUHSD) is a union high school district in Ventura County, California. The district serves students in grades 9–12 on the Oxnard Plain, including the cities of Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and Camarillo, Californ ...
(OUHSD), which provides high school education to 20,000 students at 10 campuses in three cities (Oxnard,
Camarillo
Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...
and
Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits.
P ...
) as well as the unincorporated areas of
El Rio,
Somis,
Silver Strand, and
Hollywood Beach. OUHSD campuses in and around Oxnard include
Channel Islands High School
Channel Islands High School (CIHS) is a secondary school located in Oxnard, California, United States. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District. CIHS had a student population of 2,596 during the 2018–19 school year.
History
C ...
,
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
,
Oxnard High School
Oxnard High School (OHS) is a public four-year high school serving grades 9–12 in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the western portion of the city of Oxnard, north Port Hue ...
,
Pacifica High School, Oxnard Middle College High School, and
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
, as well as Oxnard Adult School. Additionally, construction of a new high school has been begun,
Del Sol High School.
Santa Clara High School is a private Catholic high school.
Colleges and universities
![Cal lutheran university oxnard center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Cal_lutheran_university_oxnard_center.jpg)
Oxnard is served on the collegiate level by
Oxnard College
Oxnard College is a public community college in Oxnard, California. It was established in 1975 by the Ventura County Community College District. It serves the Oxnard Plain cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, and Port Hueneme. Oxnard College offers both ...
and nearby
California State University Channel Islands
California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI, CSU Channel Islands) is a public university in Camarillo, California. It opened in 2002 as the 23rd campus in the California State University system. CSUCI is located on the Central Coast of Cal ...
. Additionally,
California Lutheran University
California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It opened in 1960 ...
,
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...
,
University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree level ...
,
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
,
National University
A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state.
Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...
, and
Azusa Pacific University
Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private, evangelical Christian university in Azusa, California. The university was founded in 1899, with classes opening on March 3, 1900, in Whittier, California, and began offering degrees in 1939. The uni ...
have satellite campuses in Oxnard.
Library
A free
public library system is operated by the city with three locations: the Downtown Main Library, the Colonia Branch Library, and the South Oxnard Branch Library. Some library sites include a Homework Center and an adjacent daycare center.
Infrastructure
Sanitation
Oxnard collects and processes
trash
Trash may refer to:
Garbage
* Garbage, unwanted or undesired waste material
** Litter, material discarded in inappropriate places
** Municipal solid waste, unwanted or undesired waste material generated in a municipal environment
Arts, enter ...
,
recyclable
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
s, and
green waste
Green waste, also known as "biological waste", is any organic waste that can be composted. It is most usually composed of refuse from gardens such as grass clippings or leaves, and domestic or industrial kitchen wastes. Green waste does not inclu ...
for its citizens and businesses. The city also has a large treatment plant for the collection of
wastewater
Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industr ...
through the
sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is an underground pipe or tunnel system for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings (but not stormwater) to a sewage treatment plant or disposal. Sanitary sewers are a type of gravity sewer and are part of an ...
.
Transportation
Road
The
Ventura Freeway
The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California, United States, running from the Santa Barbara/ Ventura county line to Pasadena in Los Angeles County. It is the principal east-west route (designated north-south) through Ventura Count ...
(
US 101
U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...
) is the major highway running through Oxnard, connecting
Ventura and
Santa Barbara to the northwest, and Los Angeles to the southeast. The
Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1) heads down the coast south to
Malibu.
Highway 34 (Fifth Street) connects downtown Oxnard with Camarillo by running east parallel with the
Southern Pacific Coast Line, which carries ''
Coast Starlight
The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's format ...
'', ''
Pacific Surfliner
The ''Pacific Surfliner'' is a passenger train service serving the communities on the coast of Southern California between San Diego and San Luis Obispo.
The service carried 2,924,117 passengers during fiscal year 2016, a 3.4% increase from F ...
'' and
Metrolink ''Ventura County'' Line passenger trains.
Highway 232 (Vineyard Avenue), heads northeast, providing connections to
California State Route 118
State Route 118 (SR 118) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs west to east through Ventura and Los Angeles counties. It travels from State Route 126 at the eastern edge of Ventura immediately northwest of Saticoy, then ...
to
Saticoy and the junction with
California State Route 126
State Route 126 (SR 126) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The route runs from U.S. Route 101 in Ventura to Interstate 5 in Santa Clarita through the Santa Clara River Valley. The ...
which goes to
Santa Paula
Santa Paula ( Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa P ...
,
Fillmore and
Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17t ...
.
Port
The Port of Hueneme is located south of Oxnard in the city of
Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits.
P ...
and is jointly operated by the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
and the Oxnard Harbor District. The port is the only deep water port between the
Port of Long Beach
The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land wit ...
and the
Port of San Francisco
The Port of San Francisco is a semi-independent organization that oversees the port facilities at San Francisco, California, United States. It is run by a five-member commission, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Supervisors. Th ...
as well as the only military deep water port between
San Diego Bay and
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
.
The Port of Hueneme is a shipping and receiving point for a wide variety of resources with destinations in the larger population centers of the
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountai ...
. Resources include automobiles,
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...
s, and bananas. Agricultural products such as onions,
strawberries
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
, and flowers are shipped.
The
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
maintains a facility at Port Hueneme, in support of the naval air station at
Point Mugu
Point Mugu (, Chumash: ''Muwu'') is a cape or promontory within Point Mugu State Park on the Pacific Coast in Ventura County, near the city of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian term ...
to the south, with which it comprises
Naval Base Ventura County
Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a United States Navy base in Ventura County, California. Formed by the merger of NAS Point Mugu and CBC Port Hueneme, NBVC is a diverse installation composed of three main locations — Point Mugu, Port Huenem ...
.
Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits.
P ...
is the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
home of the Naval Construction Force, the "
Seabees", as well as a link in the coastal radar system.
Harbor
Channel Islands Harbor
Channel Islands Harbor is a small craft harbor and shore-protection project in Oxnard, California at the southern end of the Santa Barbara Channel. It is the fifth largest harbor for small-craft recreation in the state of California and is a wat ...
provides moorings for both recreational boating and commercial fishing. It shares the nickname "Gateway to the Channel Islands" with
Ventura Harbor
Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist ...
seven miles (11 km) to the north because operations that sail to the islands out of the harbors. Both harbors are vital
fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...
harbors.
Airport
Oxnard Airport is a general aviation airport within the city that is owned and operated by the County of Ventura. While commercial service was offered in the past, no airlines currently provide service.
Public transit
![Oxnard Transportation Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Oxnard_Transportation_Center.jpg)
The
Oxnard Transit Center serves as a major transit hub for the city, as well as the west county.
Rail
;
Metrolink: Six round-trip trains from
Ventura County Line
The Metrolink Ventura County Line is a commuter rail line serving Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, in the Southern California system. The line is the successor of the short lived CalTr ...
provide commuter service to Los Angeles on weekdays during peak hours.
;
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
: Ten round-trip
Pacific Surfliner
The ''Pacific Surfliner'' is a passenger train service serving the communities on the coast of Southern California between San Diego and San Luis Obispo.
The service carried 2,924,117 passengers during fiscal year 2016, a 3.4% increase from F ...
s daily through Los Angeles to San Diego. Some northbound trains to Santa Barbara continue on to
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...
. The
Coast Starlight
The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's format ...
, that travels from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
stops twice a day (once going north, once going south), make the west Ventura County stop here (east county stop is
Simi Valley
Simi Valley (; Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in the valley of the same name in the southeast region of Ventura County, California, United States. Simi Valley is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. The ...
).
Bus
;
Gold Coast Transit District: Operates local bus service in the city of Oxnard,
Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits.
P ...
,
Ventura, and
Ojai
Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...
. Its hub is the Oxnard Transit Center.
;
VCTC Intercity: Operates three Conejo Connection buses during peak hours, towards the
Warner Center Transit Hub in the San Fernando Valley, connecting with the
Metro G Line. The Conejo Connection does not go to the Oxnard Transit Center, but instead stops at the
Esplanade Shopping Center near Highway 101. VCTC also operates the Coastal Connection through
Ventura towards
Santa Barbara and
Goleta
Goleta or La Goleta may refer to:
* ''Goleta'' (spider), a spider genus
* Goleta, California, United States, a suburban city in Santa Barbara County
* La Goleta, the Spanish and Portuguese name for La Goulette
La Goulette (, it, La Goletta), i ...
from the Esplanade.
A smaller transfer center at the Centerpoint Mall on C Street for Gold Coast Transit serves South Oxnard and Port Hueneme routes. VCTC also operates the Oxnard-CSUCI route to
California State University, Channel Islands
California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI, CSU Channel Islands) is a public university in Camarillo, California. It opened in 2002 as the 23rd campus in the California State University system. CSUCI is located on the Central Coast of C ...
and
Oxnard College
Oxnard College is a public community college in Oxnard, California. It was established in 1975 by the Ventura County Community College District. It serves the Oxnard Plain cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, and Port Hueneme. Oxnard College offers both ...
from this transfer center.
Notable people
Political and cultural
![Cesar chavez crop2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Cesar_chavez_crop2.jpg)
*
Lucy Hicks Anderson
Lucy Hicks Anderson (; 1886–1954) was an American socialite and chef, best known for her time in Oxnard, California, from 1920 to 1946. Assigned male at birth, she was adamant from an early age that she was a girl. Her parents, based on advice ...
: trans-woman, socialite, and chef, most notable for being tried in the Ventura County court for perjury for marrying a man while "masquerading" as a woman in 1945.
*
Lupe Anguiano: former nun and civil rights activist known for her work on women's rights, the rights of the poor, and the protection of the environment.
*
John L. Canley: retired
United States Marine
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
and recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
.
*
César Chávez
Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merg ...
: farm worker, political activist and union leader, lived in the
Colonia area of Oxnard during his childhood. Several streets and schools in the Oxnard area and surrounding areas bear his name. A home he lived in is on Wright Road in the El Rio neighborhood, northwest of Highway 101 and Rose Avenue, where Chavez lived with his family in the late 1950s while working as an advocate for local farmworkers. Also the office of the National Farm Workers Association - which later became
United Farm Workers
The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...
— on Cooper Road, east of Garfield Avenue in the
Colonia neighborhood. The Oxnard office opened in 1966, the year of a historic march from Delano to Sacramento.
*
William P. Clark
William Patrick Clark Jr. (October 23, 1931August 10, 2013) was an American rancher, judge, and public servant who served under President Ronald Reagan as the Deputy Secretary of State from 1981 to 1982, United States National Security Advisor fr ...
: politician, served under President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
as the
Deputy Secretary of State
The deputy secretary of state of the United States is the principal deputy to the secretary of state. The current deputy secretary of state is Wendy Ruth Sherman, serving since April 2021 under secretary of state Antony Blinken. If the secretary ...
from 1981 to 1982, United States
National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils.
National sec ...
from 1982 to 1983, and the
Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to:
* Secretary of the Interior (Mexico)
* Interior Secretary of Pakistan
* Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines)
* United States Secretary of the Interior
See also
*Interior ministry ...
from 1983 until 1985.
*
Alicia Cuarón
Sister Alicia Valladolid Cuarón (born March 1, 1939) is an American educator, human rights activist, women's rights activist, leadership development specialist, and Franciscan nun. Since the 1970s, she has crafted numerous initiatives benefiting ...
: Mexican-American educator, human rights activist, and Franciscan nun
*
Jean Harris
Jean Struven Harris (April 27, 1923 – December 23, 2012) was the headmistress of The Madeira School for girls in McLean, Virginia, who made national news in the early 1980s when she was tried and convicted of the murder of her ex-lover, Her ...
: credited with protecting Ormond Beach Wetlands and
Oxnard State Beach
Oxnard Beach Park is a public beach, playground, and picnic area operated by the city of Oxnard, California at the edge of the Oxnard Plain.
Description
The park is located along the California Coastal Trail and the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route. ...
*
Meagan Hockaday: killed by police
*
Maria Gulovich Liu
Maria Gulovich Liu (October 19, 1921 - September 25, 2009) was a Slovak schoolteacher who joined the underground resistance during World War II. She was awarded the Bronze Star for her "heroic and meritorious" service in aiding agents of the Ameri ...
: Ventura County real estate agent,
OSS agent in WWII
*
Armando Xavier Ochoa
Armando Xavier Ochoa, D.D., (born April 9, 1943) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Fresno in California (2011 to 2019), bishop of the Diocese of El Paso in Texas (1996 to 2011) and auxil ...
: was the Bishop of Fresno and was formerly the Bishop of El Paso.
*
Carmen Perez
Carmen Beatrice Perez (born January 21, 1977) is an American activist and Chicana feminist who has worked on issues of civil rights including mass incarceration, women's rights and gender equity, violence prevention, racial healing and community ...
is an activist on issues of civil rights, including mass incarceration, women's rights and gender equity, violence prevention, racial healing and community policing.
*
Alfred V. Rascon
Alfred Velazquez Rascon (born September 10, 1945) is a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel. In 2000, he was awarded the Medal of Honor—the United States' highest military decoration—for his actions as a medic near Long Khánh Provin ...
: awarded the Medal of Honor—the United States' highest military decoration.
*
James Sumner: awarded the Medal of Honor—the United States' highest military decoration, after military service, he resided in Oxnard.
*
Nao Takasugi
Nao Takasugi (April 5, 1922 – November 19, 2009) was an American politician from California, a member of the Republican Party, and a survivor of the Japanese American internment camps.
Early life
Born and raised in Oxnard, California, Takasug ...
:
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
The A ...
and mayor of Oxnard.
Authors
*
Gilbert Gilbert may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Gilbert (surname), including a list of people
Places Australia
* Gilbert River (Queensland)
* Gilbert River (South ...
,
Jaime
Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and i ...
, and
Mario Hernandez: creators of the black-and-white independent
comic ''
Love and Rockets''.
*
Joyce La Mers
Joyce La Mers (1920 – October 2013) was an American writer of light poetry.
Biography
La Mers was born Joyce Duncan in Billings, Montana in 1920, the third child and only daughter of a successful livestock dealer. The Duncan family was devas ...
, author of
light poetry
Light poetry or light verse is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Light poems are usually brief, can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play including puns, adventurous rhyme, and heavy alliteration. Typically, light ...
.
*
Michele Serros, American author, poet, comedic social commentator and writer for the ''
George Lopez
George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian and actor. He is known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture. Lopez has rece ...
'' TV series.
Musicians and entertainers
*
DJ Babu
Chris Oroc a.k.a. Melvin Babu (born September 17, 1974), better known as DJ Babu or DJ Babu the Dilated Junkie, is a Filipino-American DJ and producer. He is a member of the hip hop trio Dilated Peoples, with Rakaa Iriscience and Evidence an ...
:
Filipino American
Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...
disc jockey for the
Beat Junkies
The Beat Junkies is an American hip hop crew of DJs specializing in turntablism.
Established in 1992 in Orange County, California by J. Rocc. As of 2014, The Beat Junkie Crew also host their own record pool, clothing line and radio station. ...
and
Dilated Peoples
Dilated Peoples is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. They have had little mainstream success in the US, with the exception of the song " This Way", a 2004 collaboration with Kanye West. Better known in the UK, they reached t ...
*
Ritchie Blackmore
Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guita ...
: guitarist with
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
and founder of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.
*
Sonny Bono
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...
&
Cher
Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...
: Record producers, singers, actors; famous for
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector.
The pair f ...
pop duo and TV series, had a beach home in Oxnard Shores, Oxnard
*
Cola Boyy
Matthew Urango, known professionally as Cola Boyy, is a musician and activist based in Oxnard, California. His music has been described as belonging to the disco genre. ''NME'' compared his sound to “a disco ball melting or the after-effects of s ...
: (Matthew Urango) musician and activist
*
Brooke Candy: rapper
*
Dave Carter: American folk singer-songwriter
*
Down AKA Kilo
Juan Martinez (born 1985), better known by his stage name Down AKA Kilo, is an American rapper from Oxnard, California.
Martinez was born in Oxnard; his parents were undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Growing up, he listened to Cypress Hill an ...
: rapper
*
Dave Grohl
David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...
: musician
*
Ill Repute
Ill Repute is an American hardcore punk band from Oxnard, California, United States, formed in 1981. They are noted for popularizing the "Nardcore" sound in the mid-1980s hardcore punk scene, and recorded for Mystic Records.
Their record ''What ...
: hardcore punk band and leaders of the
Nardcore
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda Cou ...
movement
*
Kankick
Kankick (also spelled as Kan Kick, real name Ted Hughes) is an American hip-hop producer from Oxnard, Los Angeles.
Career
Kan Kick grew up in the city of Oxnard, along with several fellow hip-hop musicians including Madlib, Oh No (musician), Oh ...
: American hip-hop producer
*
Homer Keller
Homer T. Keller (b. Oxnard, California, February 17, 1915; d. Upland, California May 12, 1996) was an American composer of contemporary classical music.
He graduated from Oxnard Union High School in Oxnard, California in 1933, after which he ...
: composer (1915–1996)
*
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), ...
: Oxnard-based record producer, musician, rapper, and DJ noted for his work and collaborations in the jazz and hip-hop scenes
*
Rich Moore
Rich Moore is an American film and television animation director, screenwriter and voice actor. He has directed the films ''Wreck-It Ralph'' (2012) and co-directed ''Zootopia'' (2016) and ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' (2018) for Walt Disney A ...
:
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning animation director (''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
''), and co-owner of
Rough Draft Studios
Rough Draft Studios, Inc. is an American animation production studio based in Glendale, California, with a second studio in Glendale and its sister studio Rough Draft Korea located in Seoul, South Korea. The studio was founded in Van Nuys, Lo ...
, Inc.
*
Nails:
powerviolence
Powerviolence (sometimes written as power violence) is an extremely dissonant and fast subgenre of hardcore punk which is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore. In contrast with grindcore, which is a "crossover" idiom containing musical ...
band
*
Oh No: hip-hop rapper, producer and brother of Madlib who is signed to
Stones Throw Records
*
Anderson .Paak: rapper, singer, songwriter, and drummer famous for reviving west coast soul and R&B
*
Dudley Perkins: rapper, singer, songwriter, producer
*
Ryan Seaman
Ryan Eric Seaman (born September 23, 1983) is an American musician and singer, best known as the longest tenured drummer for the band Falling in Reverse. He also serves as the drummer and backing vocalist of the rock duo I Dont Know How But They ...
: drummer
*
Shirley Verrett
Shirley Verrett (May 31, 1931 – November 5, 2010) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles, i.e. soprano sfogato. Verrett enjoyed great fame from the late 1960s through the 1990s, particularly we ...
: operatic mezzo-soprano, 1931–2010
*
The Warriors: hardcore band
*
Steve Zaragoza
Esteban "Steve" Zaragoza (born June 9, 1982) is an American online personality, singer-songwriter, musician and web series host, notable for his work on the current events and news series '' SourceFed''. Zaragoza became a host on the series in 201 ...
: internet personality, comedian, and host on ''
SourceFed
SourceFed was a YouTube channel and news website created by Philip DeFranco in January 2012 as part of YouTube's original channel initiative, and was originally produced by James Haffner.
The main SourceFed channel mainly focused on popular cu ...
''.
Scholars and scientists
*
William Bright
William O. Bright (August 13, 1928 – October 15, 2006) was an American linguist and toponymist who specialized in Native American and South Asian languages and descriptive linguistics.
Biography
Bright earned a bachelor's degree in lingui ...
: Linguist, who specialized in Native American and South Asian languages
*
J. Richard Chase
J. Richard Chase (1930–2010) was the sixth president of Biola University in California from 1970 to 1982 and the sixth President of Wheaton College in Illinois from 1982 to 1993.
Early life and education
J. Richard Chase grew up on a dairy farm ...
: President of
Biola University
Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor's ...
and
Wheaton College
*
Robert P. Sharp
Robert Phillip Sharp (24 June 1911 – 25 May 2004) was an American geomorphologist and expert on the geological surfaces of the Earth and the planet Mars. Sharp served as the chairman of the Division of Geological Sciences at California Ins ...
: An American
geomorphologist
Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or ...
and expert on the geological surfaces of the Earth and the planet Mars, born and raised in Oxnard.
Business people
*
Martin V. ("Bud") Smith: developer and philanthropist. The most significant developer in the Oxnard area. Built the Financial Plaza Towers and financed construction of
CSUCI's school of business and economics. His first real estate project was the
Wagon Wheel Motel & Restaurant and Wagon Wheel Junction.
*
Charles C. Lynch
Charles C. Lynch is the former owner of a city sanctioned medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, California. Lynch obtained a medical marijuana dispensary business license, a medical marijuana nursery permit and was a member of the local ch ...
: is the former owner of a city-sanctioned, awarded in 2006, medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, California. Lynch obtained a Medical marijuana dispensary Business License, a Medical Marijuana Nursery Permit and was a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, he was born in Oxnard.
*
Stanley Clark Meston
Stanley Clark Meston (7 January 1910 — 30 December 1992) was an American architect most famous for designing the original golden arches of McDonald's restaurants. In an article about the origin of McDonald's golden arches, architectura ...
: was an American architect, most famous for designing the original golden arches of McDonald's restaurants, he was born in Oxnard.
*
Ben Rich: was Director of Lockheed
Skunk Works
Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, beginning with the P-38 Lightning in 1 ...
from 1975 to 1991 and retired to Oxnard.
Actors and TV personalities
*
Walter Brennan
Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...
, actor, three-time winner of
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, star of TV series ''
The Real McCoys
''The Real McCoys'' is an American situation comedy starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Company, ...
'' and ''
The Guns of Will Sonnett
''The Guns of Will Sonnett'' is a Western television series set in the 1870s that was broadcast in color on the ABC television network from 1967 to 1969. The series, which began with the working title, "Two Rode West", was the first production c ...
'', died in Oxnard.
*
Miles Brown, actor who is best known for his role as Jack Johnson on the sitcom
Black-ish
''Black-ish'' (stylized as black·''ish'', `black·''ish'', and black''ish'') is an American sitcom television series created by Kenya Barris. It aired on ABC from September 24, 2014, to April 19, 2022, running for eight seasons. ''Black-ish'' ...
.
*
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...
, actor, lived in Oxnard for many years.
*
Lee Van Cleef
Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of Italian Spaghetti Westerns, parti ...
, actor, died in Oxnard.
*
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for starring in horror films, such as ''Re-Animator'', and appearances playing a number of characters in the ''Star Trek'' and the DC animated universe television fr ...
, actor, born in Oxnard.
*
Brandon Cruz
Brandon Edwin Cruz (born May 28, 1962) is an American actor and singer best known for his role as Eddie Corbett, son of widower Tom Corbett (played by Bill Bixby) on the television series ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father''. Cruz is also a pun ...
, child actor and lead singer of the punk band
Dr. Know, has family and a beach home in Oxnard.
*
Brad Garrett
Bradley Henry Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Possessing a distinctive deep voice, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles in both live-action and ...
, actor, born in Oxnard.
*
John Curtis Holmes, pornographic film star of the 1970s, had ashes scattered at sea off the coast of Oxnard in 1988.
*
Isiah Mustafa
Isaiah Amir Mustafa (born February 11, 1974) is an American actor and former American football wide receiver. Mustafa is widely known as the main character in a series of Old Spice television commercials, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like". He ...
, the "Old Spice Guy," former NFL player.
*
Jamal Mixon
Jamal Mixon (born June 17, 1983) is an American comedy actor. He is best known for his role as Ernie Klump Jr. in the film '' The Nutty Professor'', and its sequel, '' Nutty Professor II: The Klumps''. He is the younger brother of actor Jerod ...
, actor.
*
Bob Stephenson, actor, film producer and screenwriter.
*
Tricia Takasugi, reporter for KTTV Fox 11 News in Los Angeles.
*
Dan Tullis Jr.
Dan Tullis Jr. (born July 8, 1951) is an American actor. He has played the recurring role of Officer Dan on the sitcom ''Married... with Children''. He also has made an appearance in shows such as ''227 (TV series), 227'', ''The Drew Carey Show ...
, an actor most notable for his role on the sitcom Married... with Children.
Athletes and sportspeople
*
Bobby Ayala
Robert Joseph Ayala (born July 8, 1969) is an American former professional baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos.
Career
Ayala went to high school at Rio Mesa in Oxnard, California. He was bro ...
: former
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
pitcher for the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
,
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...
,
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
and
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
; graduated from
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
.
*
Mark Berry: coach for the Cincinnati Reds; graduated from
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
.
*
The Bryan brothers
The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...
: professional
ATP tennis doubles players who have graduated from
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
.
*
Lorenzo Booker
Lorenzo Adarryll Booker (born June 14, 1984) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State.
Booker has also been a member o ...
: NFL running back.
*
Graciela Casillas
Graciela Casillas (born 1957) is an American former boxer and kickboxer who competed in the bantamweight division. After training in several traditional martial arts, Casillas began competing as a kickboxer in 1976, and in 1979 she became the f ...
: boxer and kickboxer.
*
Hugo Centeno Jr.
Hugo Centeno Jr. (born February 19, 1991) is an American professional boxer. He is managed by Al Haymon.
Amateur career
Centeno had a record of 90-9 as an amateur.
Professional career
On September 17, 2010 Centeno beat the veteran Hector River ...
: boxer in the Middleweight division.
*
Keary Colbert
Patrick Keary Jerel Colbert (born May 21, 1982) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the wide receivers coach at the University of Florida.
Colbert played as a wide receiver and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers ...
: wide receiver for the
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...
; all-time reception leader for
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...
; graduated from
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
.
*
Jacob Cruz
Jacob Cruz (born January 28, 1973), is an American professional baseball former outfielder and current coach. He is an assistant hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB) and previously played professionally in Sout ...
: outfielder for the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
; graduated from
Channel Islands High School
Channel Islands High School (CIHS) is a secondary school located in Oxnard, California, United States. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District. CIHS had a student population of 2,596 during the 2018–19 school year.
History
C ...
.
*
Tim Curran: professional surfer; graduated from
Oxnard High School
Oxnard High School (OHS) is a public four-year high school serving grades 9–12 in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the western portion of the city of Oxnard, north Port Hue ...
.
*
Lou Cvijanovich: winningest coach in California high school history; coached
Santa Clara High School to 829 wins 1958–1999.
*
Maxim Dadashev
Maxim Kaibkhanovich Dadashev (russian: Максим Каибханович Дадашев; lez, Дадашрин Къаибханан хва Максим; September 30, 1990 – July 23, 2019) was a Russian boxer who competed in the light-wel ...
trained in Oxnard with former world champion
Buddy McGirt
James Walter "Buddy" McGirt (born January 17, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1997, and has since worked as a boxing trainer. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF junior w ...
*
Justin De Fratus
Justin Andrew De Fratus (born October 21, 1987), is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, from (–).
De Fratus grew up in Oxnard, California and played b ...
: relief pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, grew up in Oxnard, attended Rio Mesa High and Ventura Junior College.
*
Charles Dillon: wide receiver for
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
; played for
Ventura College
Ventura College is a public community college in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a campus with an enrollment of 13,763 students. It is part of the Ventura County Community College District.
History
Ventura College ...
and
Washington State
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
; graduated from
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
in '04
*
Terrance Dotsy: football player.
*
Justin Dumais
Justin Dumais (born August 13, 1978, in Oxnard, California) is a former Olympic diver and current commercial airline pilot. He represented the United States in the 2004 Summer Olympics and placed 6th in the 3-meter synchronized spring board w ...
: diver of 2004 Summer Olympics.
*
Beverly Dustrude
Beverly "Dusty" Dustrude (later Roberson; October 24, 1926 – December 1, 2008) was an American second basewoman who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
Born in Beloit, Wisconsin, ...
: was a second base-woman who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
*
Tony Ferguson
Anthony Armand Ferguson Padilla (born February 12, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former Interim UFC Lightweight C ...
: a professional
mixed martial artist
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...
in the lightweight division of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
(UFC); born in Oxnard.
*
Scott Fujita
Scott Anthony Fujita (; born April 28, 1979) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), and current Head of School at All Saints' Day School. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fifth round of the ...
:
NFL linebacker for the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
; graduated from
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
and
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
*
Mikey Garcia
Miguel Angel Garcia Cortez (born December 15, 1987), best known as Mikey Garcia, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2021. He held multiple world championships in four weight classes from featherweight to light w ...
: boxer
*
Robert Garcia: retired professional boxer; former
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
Super Featherweight Champion.
*
Phil Giebler
Philip Giebler (born March 5, 1979 in Oxnard, California) is an American race car driver.
Giebler was considered a top American prospect with an opportunity to race in Formula One early in his career. Following years in various Formula Three ...
: race car driver, won Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award for 2007.
*
Herculez Gomez
Herculez Gomez (born April 6, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He currently works as a commentator in both English and Spanish for ESPN.
Early life
Gomez, the oldest of five children, was born in ...
: soccer player
*
Jim Hall: race car driver; two-time winning car owner of the
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
.
*
Lemuel Clarence "Bud" Houser: was a track athlete and won multiple Olympic gold medals; track athlete at Oxnard High School.
*
Jeremy Jackson
Jeremy Dunn Jackson (born October 16, 1980) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Hobie Buchannon on the television show ''Baywatch''.
Career Television
Jackson appeared in 159 episodes of the TV series ''Baywatch' ...
: pro UFC fighter, winner of King of the Mountain 2004, contestant in ''Ultimate Fighter 4 : The Comeback''.
*
Ronney Jenkins
Ronney Jenkins (born May 25, 1977) is a former American football player from Los Angeles, California, who played four seasons in the NFL, primarily as a kick return specialist.
High school career
Jenkins had an outstanding prep career while pla ...
: 2001
NFL Pro Bowl
The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players.
The format has changed thro ...
kick returner for the
San Diego Chargers; graduated from
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
.
*
Nicole Johnson:
Monster Jam
Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some additiona ...
monster truck driver; graduated from
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
*
Marion Jones
Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 200 ...
: athlete, disqualified multiple Olympic gold medalist, attended and ran for
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
*
Eric King: former Major League Baseball pitcher; born in Oxnard.
*
Tim Laker
Timothy John Laker (born November 27, 1969) is an American professional baseball catcher and coach. He was most recently the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Montreal Expos, Baltimor ...
: former Major League Baseball catcher; played college baseball at Oxnard Community College.
*
Dave Laut
David Lester Laut (December 21, 1956 – August 27, 2009) was an American shot putter. He was born in Findlay, Ohio, and grew up in Oxnard, California. Laut attended Art Haycox Elementary School, E. O. Green Junior High School, Santa Clara H ...
:
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
graduate won Olympic Bronze at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
for
shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...
.
*
Whitney Lewis
Whitney Lewis (born August 13, 1985) is a former American college football player. Lewis started his college career at University of Southern California in 2003, but transferred to the University of Northern Iowa after his sophomore season. Lewi ...
: former
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...
and
University of Northern Iowa
The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and gr ...
wide receiver; won 2003
Glenn Davis Award
The Glenn Davis Award is given annually since 1987 by the ''Los Angeles Times'' to the best high school football player in the Los Angeles area. It is named after Glenn Davis, the 1946 Heisman Trophy winner, who prepped at Bonita High School in L ...
for top player in Southern California
*
Tony Malinosky
Anthony Francis Malinosky (October 7, 1909 – February 8, 2011) was an American baseball player. He played third baseman and shortstop in Major League baseball in 35 games for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the season. Listed at 5' 10", Weight: 165&nbs ...
: former Major League Baseball shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers; longtime resident of Oxnard.
*
Kristal Marshall
Kristal Melisa Marshall (born November 11, 1983) is an American model, beauty queen and retired professional wrestler who is best known for her time in World Wrestling Entertainment on its SmackDown brand and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA ...
:
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
formerly with the
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...
.
*
Sergio Martínez: boxer, based in Oxnard.
*
Paul McAnulty
Paul Michael McAnulty (born February 24, 1981) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He played college baseball at Long Beach State.
Major League Baseball
San Diego Padres
McAnulty gained the attention of San Diego Padres GM Kevin Tower ...
:
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
outfielder with the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...
.
*
Ken McMullen: former
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
third baseman with the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
; was born in Oxnard.
*
Victor Ortíz
Victor Ortiz (born January 31, 1987) is an American professional boxer and film actor. He held the WBC welterweight title in 2011, and was formerly rated as one of the world's top three active welterweights by most sporting news and boxing web ...
: professional boxer.
*
Mike Parrott
Michael Everett Arch Parrott (born December 6, 1954), nicknamed "Bird," is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Parrott graduated from Adolfo Camarillo High School in Camarillo, California in 1973. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in th ...
: professional baseball player and coach; born in Oxnard.
*
Corey Pavin
Corey Allen Pavin (born November 16, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and currently on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent over 150 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1986 and 1997 ...
: professional golfer; winner of many tournaments including 1995
U.S. Open; graduated from
Oxnard High School
Oxnard High School (OHS) is a public four-year high school serving grades 9–12 in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the western portion of the city of Oxnard, north Port Hue ...
.
*
Terry Pendleton
Terry Lee Pendleton (born July 16, 1960) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played primarily for the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves, but he also spent time with the Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, and Kansas C ...
: retired baseball player, 1991
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
MVP
In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
; graduated from
Channel Islands High School
Channel Islands High School (CIHS) is a secondary school located in Oxnard, California, United States. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District. CIHS had a student population of 2,596 during the 2018–19 school year.
History
C ...
.
*
Josh Pinkard
Josh Pinkard (born April 2, 1986) is a former American football cornerback. He was signed by the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League as an undrafted free agent. He played high school football at Hueneme High School in Oxnard, Californ ...
: free safety for two-time national champion
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
football team; graduated from
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
.
*
Brandon Rios
Brandon may refer to:
Names and people
*Brandon (given name), a male given name
*Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins
Places
Australia
*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales
* Brandon, ...
: professional boxer, the current
WBA World lightweight champion.
*
Jacob Rogers
Jacob Dwight Rogers (born August 17, 1981) is a former American football offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Southern California.
Early years
Rogers was ...
: offensive tackle for the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...
, three-year starter and All-American at USC; graduated from
Oxnard High School
Oxnard High School (OHS) is a public four-year high school serving grades 9–12 in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the western portion of the city of Oxnard, north Port Hue ...
.
*
Blaine Saipaia
Blaine Saipaia (born August 25, 1978) is a former American football offensive lineman. He was originally signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2000. He played college football at Colorado State.
After retiring from ...
: football player for the
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994.
The arr ...
; graduated from
Channel Islands High School
Channel Islands High School (CIHS) is a secondary school located in Oxnard, California, United States. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District. CIHS had a student population of 2,596 during the 2018–19 school year.
History
C ...
.
*
Aaron Small
Aaron James Small (born November 23, 1971) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher.
Small played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Florida Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves. Regarded as a ...
: former Major League Baseball pitcher
*
Paul Stankowski
}
Paul Francis Stankowski (born December 2, 1969) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he won one event, and the PGA Tour, where he was a two-time cham ...
: professional golfer; graduated from
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
.
*
Kevin Thomas: former
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
cornerback for the
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...
, graduated from
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
.
*
Josh Towers
Joshua Eric Towers (born February 26, 1977) is a former right-handed professional baseball pitcher. Towers stands at 6 ft 1 in tall, and weighs 188 lb.
Professional career
Baltimore Orioles
Towers was drafted by the Baltimore Orio ...
: pitcher for the
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
; graduated from
Hueneme High School
Hueneme High School (HHS) ( ) is a public high school in Oxnard, California. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in the southern portion of the city of Oxnard and most of Port Hueneme including part of ...
and
Oxnard College
Oxnard College is a public community college in Oxnard, California. It was established in 1975 by the Ventura County Community College District. It serves the Oxnard Plain cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, and Port Hueneme. Oxnard College offers both ...
.
*
Steve Trachsel
Stephen Christopher Trachsel (born October 31, 1970) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher with the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles between 1993 and 2008. He batted and t ...
: pitcher for the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
and
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
was born in Oxnard and attended Hathaway Elementary.
*
Fernando Vargas
Fernando Javier Vargas (born December 7, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2007. He was a two-time light middleweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 1998 to 2000, and the WBA title from 200 ...
: retired boxer, two-time light-middleweight
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
champion; graduated from
Channel Islands High School
Channel Islands High School (CIHS) is a secondary school located in Oxnard, California, United States. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District. CIHS had a student population of 2,596 during the 2018–19 school year.
History
C ...
.
*
Dmitri Young
Dmitri Dell Young (born October 11, 1973) is an American former professional baseball player. He played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left fielder, first baseman, and designated hitter, for the St. Louis Cardinals ...
: baseball player for the
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...
; graduated from
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
.
*
Blake Wingle
Blake Leo Wingle (born April 17, 1960) is a former guard in the National Football League (NFL) who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns. Wingle played collegiate ball for Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Ventu ...
: offensive guard for the
Pittsburgh Steelers,
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
and the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
; graduated from
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...
.
*
Cierre Wood
Cierre Marcelle Wood (born February 21, 1991) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Notre Dame. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Houston Texans in 2013.
High school career
Wood attended Santa ...
: a running back of the Canadian Football League (CFL); former member of the Houston Texans, the New England Patriots, and the Buffalo Bills. Graduated from Santa Clara High School.
*
David Ochoa
David Ochoa (born January 16, 2001) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga MX club Atlético San Luis. Born in the United States, he has represented both the Mexico national under-21 team and U.S. national youth teams ...
: Soccer player in the MLS for Real Salt Lake and the Mexico Men's National Team. Born in Oxnard.
*
Jeremiah Valoaga
Jeremiah Isaiah Valoaga (born November 15, 1994) is an American football defensive end for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at UNLV, and was signed by the Detroit Lions as an undrafte ...
: NFL defensive end; graduated from
Channel Islands High School
Channel Islands High School (CIHS) is a secondary school located in Oxnard, California, United States. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District. CIHS had a student population of 2,596 during the 2018–19 school year.
History
C ...
.
Sister cities
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Ocotlán, Jalisco
Ocotlán is a city and municipality in Jalisco, Mexico. Its industry includes furniture production. Is the seat of the Región Ciénega.
Etymology
''Ocotlán'' means "near the pines" or "place of the ocote (pines)". Ocote is from Nahuatl ''ocōt ...
(Mexico)
See also
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Largest cities in Southern California
This is a list of the 100 largest cities in the U.S. state of California ranked by population, based on estimates for July 1, 2021, by the United States Census Bureau.
Note: The population figures are for the incorporated areas of the listed cit ...
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Oxnard Air Force Base
Oxnard Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base, located in the city of Camarillo, California.
History
Camarillo Airport was originally established in 1942 when the California State Highway Department constructed an auxiliary la ...
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References
Further reading
* Barajas, Frank P. ''Curious Unions: Mexican American Workers and Resistance in Oxnard, California, 1898-1961.'' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
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* Gutleben, Dan, ''The Oxnard Beet Sugar Factory, Oxnard, California'', 1959 – Revised 1960, page 1, Book available at the Oxnard Public Library
External links
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Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau
{{Authority control
1903 establishments in California
Cities in Ventura County, California
Incorporated cities and towns in California
Populated coastal places in California
Populated places established in 1903
Port cities in California
Seaside resorts in California
Santa Clara River (California)