Museum of Ventura County — Attraction in Ventura

My 4 year old son and I were on a day trip to Santa Paula to see a handful of Passport 2 History Museums (look up that program if you don't know about it!). Our last stop was the excellent Ventura County Museum of Agriculture, and the super nice staff member working there told us that our admission also got us into the Ventura Country Museum of History and Art for free if we went that day! Why not?!?!? It's only 20 minutes away, and we were already over an hour away from home.

I'm so glad we went. My son just turned 4, and it was later in the day and his attention span was starting to waver. However, they had this cool scavenger hunt that was perfect because it wasn't too hard or advanced at all. Not only that, but it was on a lanyard, he could wear around his neck like a necklace, which he LOVED! We enjoyed their current exhibit that had art by high schoolers, middle schoolers and even elementary schoolers! We enjoyed the historic section with the basket and taxidermy coyote. They had some other cool things for kids to do throughout, which I always appreciate.

We went outside and saw the Chumash hut and the cactuses outside. Careful in the Chumash hut if you're tall... spider central! There is a cool dark room that had these hand crafted figures. I wish I could remember the artists' name, but it was pretty cool. My son was thrilled that he got to pick a prize for completing the scavenger hunt!

So there's not a super ton here, but you could definitely make this a part of your day trip to Santa Paula or Ventura. I'm so glad we went! Very...

The museum of Ventura County is in a rather plain looking building across and down from the Mission. Your first tip is to drive about 100 yards north of the mission and park opposite the Museum of Ventura. There are a group of 4 parking spots that are free! Not the park and pay back into old town. Additionally the parking lot at the museum is free. Now back to the museum. I visit a lot of different small museums and the display of the history of photography with a story line about people in Ventura is a knockout. It is a world class display. The layout, lighting, continuity, and story are fabulous. Whoever planned and executed this one get 5 gold stars from me. I hope you can get to see it. There are other displays about Cuba by a wonderful photo journalist, another display of Lincoln and his life – very well done too – and other displays about the local indians. All in all this is a museum I will be checking in on as displays change. Hope to...

I came here a few months ago just on a whim. Looking to kill a couple of hours. The museum isn't very big. It only takes a few minutes to walk the exhibits. What really made it interesting for me was the museum was doing an exhibit of Ventura County comic book creators. So when I walked in right away I saw both Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez (The Hernandez brothers) pictures and art work on the wall. The Hernandez brothers are creator's of a very popular underground comic book series called Love and Rockets. This was something I wasnt expecting when I walked in. I was fortunate to know both Jaime and Gilbert since I was around 16 (I'm 52 now). So this definitely made my...