Oxnard is a growing coastal community west of the San Fernando Valley, known for its uncrowded beaches and the easy access it (and neighboring Ventura) affords to Channel Islands National Park. The city has no less than twenty miles of shoreline, the sand is soft and the surf is excellent, even if, unfortunately, the wildest breaks are only accessible to members of Point Mugu's Navy base.
What Oxnard is especially known for, ocean swell aside, is its agriculture. This is the lima bean and strawberry capital of the world, a fact celebrated by the California Strawberry Festival every summer (lima beans, although very healthy, rarely inspire festivals). The soil here is some of the most fertile in the world and the climate is downright temperate which translates loosely into an abundance of Farmers Markets and the smell of earth in the air.
Culturally, Oxnard might surprise those who dismiss the place as yet another simple agrarian destination; Oxnard has its share of professional theatres and musicians, as evidenced by the excellent New West Symphony and the Elite Theatre Company, but it's also home to thriving punk and hip hop scenes. Indeed, the "Nerdcore" punk movement originated here. Check out the city's modest museum facilities like the local Carnegie Art Museum and the Seebee Museum, before trotting off to catch a beachside sunset or hopping a boat bound on to Channel Islands National Park, a popular spot to scuba dive, kayak, hike and soak up sea airs.
Oxnard is located on the southwest California coast, about 35 miles east of Santa Barbara and 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
