Vintage Postcards of Santa Paula on exhibit at Ventura Museum

Santa Paula is prominently featured in a scenic tour of the past through hundreds of postcards from the early 1900s through the 1970s, on exhibit at the Ventura County Museum of History & Art’s Greetings From Ventura: Cruising the County in Postcards. The exhibit runs through September 4, 2006, and also features early 20th Century editions of Touring Topics (now called Westways) and Sunset magazines. Some of these vintage postcards have been enlarged on both sides, and the backs include messages which are often funny and personal. Postcard images acclaim Ventura County’s sweetest oranges, most productive oil wells, sunniest beaches, prettiest towns, and most perfect climate. Visitors to the exhibit are often surprised to see that early postcards were often addressed only to a person and a city-and they arrived at their destination with no problem!Greetings from Ventura looks back to the early 20th Century, when roads weren’t crowded and views were just a little more scenic. The museum exhibit includes magazines from that era, such as Touring Topics (which was published by the Automobile Club of Southern California and later renamed Westways) and Sunset, which both promoted road trips along California’s then-modern highways.The Ventura County Museum of History & Art is located at 100 East Main Street in historic downtown Ventura, across from Mission San Buenaventura. Hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children over 5. Museum members are free. For more information, call (805) 653-0323, or visit www.venturamuseum.org.