Ventura ran a citywide historic survey in 2024, and it called the shopping center at Seaward Avenue and Harbor Boulevard "an excellent intact example of a 1960s commercial shopping center in Ventura." That's the center with the Vons and the Black Bear Diner. It also has a Starbucks.
Marina Village is about to turn 60. Its restaurant and its bank both opened in 1966, and its grocery store opened in January 1967. The survey's historic resource record says the property appears eligible for designation as a City of Ventura Landmark. Six decades on, most of the center still works the way it was planned to. The two-story former bank in the back corner is the exception, and on July 20, 2026 the city approved tearing it down.
A Shopping Center Built for the Keys
The center went up for the neighborhood around it. According to the survey record, the $2 million Marina Village "emerged directly from the development of the Marina Keys and the presence of the new Ventura Freeway." It was built on an eight-acre parcel at Seaward and Harbor as a new shopping district near the marina. The city's 2026 staff report describes the same era. Ventura was growing east after World War II, and new neighborhood centers were built for the homes around them and for drivers on the new freeway.
The developers were from an old Ventura family. Mr. and Mrs. Walter W. Hoffman of Camarillo and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Haley owned and developed the site. Walter Hoffman was the son of Edith Hobson Hoffman, and the survey calls him a scion of the Hobson family that pioneered Ventura's development. Robert Haley was related to Hoffman by marriage. The owner of record today is Hoffman/Haley Marina Village, LLC, so the founding families' names are still on the property.
Their architects were the Ventura firm Fisher & Wilde. In 1965 to 1967 the firm designed the center in a style that was called "rustic contemporary" at the time. Today it would be called Late Modern midcentury. The firm worked on other civic buildings too. The University of Washington's Pacific Coast Architecture Database credits Ted Fisher of Fisher and Wilde with work on the remodel, around 1970, that turned the old Ventura County Courthouse into Ventura City Hall.
The design details are still visible. The record describes one- and two-story buildings finished in brick, smooth cement plaster and board-and-batten, with low-pitched roofs and metal storefronts. The shop fronts on either side of the grocery store repeat the same slumpstone pillars.
The 1967 Errand List and Today's
The survey lists the center's original businesses. Today's tenants line up with them closely:
| What opened in 1966–67 | What occupies the role now |
|---|---|
| Thriftimart supermarket, the anchor, opened January 1967 | Vons, 2433 Harbor Blvd |
| Colony Kitchen, a freestanding restaurant, opened 1966 | Black Bear Diner, 2401 E Harbor Blvd |
| Drug store | The pharmacy counter inside Vons |
| Barber shop and beauty salon | Pierpont Nail Spa, 2449 E Harbor Blvd |
| Bank of A. Levy, opened 1966 | Vacant, approved for demolition in July 2026 |
| Laundromat and dry cleaners | Coffee and donuts at Starbucks, 2453 Harbor Blvd, and Good Time Donut, 2445 E Harbor Blvd |
Most of the original plan still holds. The building that opened as Colony Kitchen has gone through more than one restaurant. The Ventura County Star reported in January 2022 that Black Bear Diner was opening in the former Carrows there after construction delays. The city's 2026 staff report says the 2022 remodel "significantly altered" that building. The drug store's job now happens at the Vons pharmacy. Pierpont Nail Spa carries on the personal-care side of the original lineup.
Good Time Donut has also become a stop for City Hall. On November 21, 2025, the city's Community Development team held a "Coffee Chats with Community Development" session there, according to the City of Ventura's November 13, 2025 newsletter.
The bank is the one original use the center has no tenant for.
The Corner That Is Coming Out
The building at 2497 Harbor Blvd was built for the Bank of A. Levy in 1966. It is a two-story office building with slumpstone piers, a low front gable combined with a mansard roof, and a board-and-batten band running between the floors. A porte-cochere was added on the west side in the early 1980s. The upstairs had a second life as an office. The Hoffman, Vance and Worthington Land Management Co. worked from the second floor until 1979. When the bank expanded, Fisher & Wilde designed an addition, and the land company moved into it.
The building was most recently a Chase branch. The city's hearing minutes call the item the "Marina Village Chase Bank Demo." By October 2025 the two-story office building was described as vacant. The approval went through several steps:
- 2025. The owner applied to demolish the building. The site is in the Coastal Zone, so a coastal development permit was needed before any demolition permit could be issued. The building is more than 40 years old, so it also had to be reviewed for historic significance.
- June 11, 2026. The Historic Preservation Committee held a public hearing. It concluded that demolishing the bank would not affect any potential historic resource.
- July 10, 2026. Notices were mailed to property owners and tenants within 300 feet and published in the newspaper.
- July 20, 2026. The hearing officer approved the project with conditions. According to the hearing minutes, no one spoke, no public comments were made and no emails were received.
The approval does not demolish anything by itself. The resolution says a separate demolition permit from the city's Permit Services Division is still required. No replacement building has been proposed. The staff report requires the empty pad to be planted with a native hydroseed mix and maintained "in perpetuity until future development is approved and constructed." It also says the center's sidewalks and drive aisles will stay as they are, so the walk from the parking lot to Vons won't change.
Old Enough to Argue Over
Some people objected when the citywide survey called Marina Village landmark-eligible. A resident emailed the city in October 2025, and the city included the email in its survey feedback spreadsheet:
"It bears no relation to its original tenants or uses. Just because something is old doesn't make it historical."
The same email noted that Black Bear Diner had been remodeled and no longer matched the rest of the center. It also pointed out that a newer two-story building in a different style had been added after the original construction. The city's response was "No change." It kept the property's status, saying the center as a whole "retains sufficient integrity overall to convey its significance as a 1960s commercial shopping center in Ventura" despite some alterations to individual buildings.
The center has seven buildings, and Fisher & Wilde designed five of them in the 1960s. The city's position is that the center counts as a whole, while the bank on its own can go. Its grocery store, diner and row of small shops reflect the original 1960s plan, and the city made its decision about the bank based on that.
Running Errands There This Fall
The bank corner may be fenced off and then seeded over at some point, but the rest of the center keeps its usual hours. These are the hours each business lists on its own page. Call ahead around the holidays.
- Vons, 2433 Harbor Blvd: store open daily 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Vons Pharmacy: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 to 5 p.m.
- Black Bear Diner, 2401 E Harbor Blvd: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
- Pierpont Nail Spa, 2449 E Harbor Blvd: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
- Starbucks, 2453 Harbor Blvd, and Good Time Donut, 2445 E Harbor Blvd: the two coffee stops on the center's main row.
The grocery anchor turns 60 in January 2027. Thriftimart opened on this site in January 1967, and Vons now has the space.
At Juliana Lisheski, we follow changes like the one at Harbor and Seaward because they're part of Pierpont's story. If you have a question about the neighborhood or a memory of the old Colony Kitchen, reach out and Discover the Ventura Life with us.
