Downtown Ventura is the area of town from Mission San Buenaventura down to Sanjon Barranca (which runs under Cabrillo Middle School). Downtown boasts a large selection of Antique Shops and Thrift Stores, as well as a variety of Restaurants and Bars. We don't have the same kind of upscale shops and department stores as Santa Barbara, but you can always go to Pacific View Mall to finish up your shopping.
And if you get tired of shopping, the beach is just a short walk away.
In the 1990s, there was a big stir about removing the large ficus trees downtown, and replacing them with queen palm trees in an attempt to make more attractive to visitors. Despite some public outcry (not on the scale of ![[berkeley]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/inter.png){kind=small}
Berkeley, though), the trees were removed and downtown got its more touristy look. This actually restores an even older look of Ventura, which was once nicknamed Palm City.
