Image: la.curbed.com
Located just an hour up the coast from Malibu is Ventura County’s Oxnard area, a new destination for entertainment industry-types who want a quieter beach scene.
Dubbed the “Montauk of Southern California”, Oxnard is just an hour north of Los Angeles and features a coastline of idyllic spots such as Mandalay Shores, Hollywood Beach and Silver Strand. Numerous Hollywood insiders own property in the lesser-known quieter beach community such as Dave Grohl, Pat Sajak and attorney Warren Dern. Humphrey Bogar and Lauren Bacall are also rumored to have own beachfront property in the area.
According to Shelley Browning, CEO of management firm Magnolia Entertainment, “It’s fantastic, quiet, beautiful. Here you have none of the nonsense of other beach towns – the noise and traffic and parking issues and headaches. If this were back east, Oxnard would be Montauk and Malibu would be East Hampton.”
The area is known for its wide beaches, good value and sparsely populated shorelines. Houses here are traditionally located on narrow 20-30-foot-wide lots and range from midcentury A-frame surf shacks to contemporary homes.
Hotel designer Darrell Schmitt owns a house on Hollywood Beach and says, “It’s the last undiscovered, or at least underappreciated, beach along the Southern California coast.”
Ariel Palmieri of Coldwell Banker added, “You can buy a stunning home in Oxnard for $2.5 million to $3 million versus $8 million to $10 million in Maliby. Plus, you are not going to run into your boss, or someone who is going to pitch something to you. You can be totally incognito. Yet at the same time it’s very accessible: You can rise early on a Monday morning and still get into work back in L.A. if you want to.”
Situated along the Pacific coastline, Oxnard is the largest city in Ventura County. Located approximately 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles and 35 miles south of Santa Barbara, Oxnard enjoys temperate weather throughout the year. The area is known for being the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco. There are many shopping areas in the town and Heritage Square, a collection of historic houses that have been relocated and refurbished.
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