Toni Guy moved to Ventura’s Hobson Heights about 15 years ago after the successful real estate agent was drawn to the historic character of the century-old neighborhood. The hillside enclave of 220 stately homes east of Cemetery Memorial Park between Main and Poli streets would have been near the eastern edge of Ventura at the start of the 20th century. Prominent residents of the day preferred Victorian homes off Ventura Avenue, an area that’s sometimes sunnier than closer to the coastline.
An oil boom led Abram Lincoln Hobson to envision a new neighborhood with luxurious ocean-view homes built in a Mediterranean style, then referred to as Italian, which was considered more stylish than the Victorian architecture which was going out of style. Modern amenities would include paved roads, underground utilities and newly invented electric street lights.
Guy noticed her neighborhood has three artistically tiled monument signs near the entrances that read “HOBSON HEIGHTS ESTABLISHED C. 1923.” She told the Ventura County Reporter that the signs made her want to explore her neighborhood’s history even more…