Editors' Picks: Best of Recreation

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Best spawning ground

 

 

Fillmore Fish Hatchery

612 E. Telegraph Road, Fillmore (actually, 1 mile east of town)

 

I always thought the concept of stocking fish was a strange one. How natural is it if our lakes and streams are full of fish that spent their formative years (or weeks? Someone call a biologist) crammed together in little pools and coddled by tourists? I suppose it's probably better than losing certain species of fish for good, and it's probably a good way of getting fish into some of California's man-made lakes.

Despite my confusion, over the years I have found one of Ventura County's more offbeat escapes at the Fillmore Fish Hatchery. Just off Highway 126, the hatchery is a nondescript, unadvertised landmark worth at least one visit in a lifetime.

Set amid a lush expanse of trees and creeks, a few rows of concrete encase pools teeming with trout. Run by the state department of fish and game, the hatchery is free and open 365 days a year. According to a listing at #www.heritagevalley.net#, fishing is not allowed. I really hope society hasn't reached a point where that isn't obvious, but perhaps it has.

Meanwhile, another the Web site also mentions that this is a "non-picnic" facility. Perhaps for the humans. But anyone who's visited the hatchery knows it houses some pretty gluttonous trout. If you visit, sacrifice a load of laundry and bring a handful of quarters. They'll cover the fish food for sale at the hatchery. Buy a few pellets and you will have a good understanding of the phrase "feeding frenzy."

— Bill Lascher

 

Best zip line

 

 

Marina Park

Ventura

 

No one knows when it showed up or how it got there — well, I’m sure #someone# does, but for the sake of local mythology, let’s pretend it just washed up on the beach one day. Anyway, it’s a big concrete Spanish galleon, sitting there in Marina Park near Pierpont in Ventura. But that’s not the most notable aspect of this local recreational landmark: It has a friggin’ zip line. A zip line! Basically, it’s a rope attached to a long steel cable, on which fun-seekers can slide roughly 100 feet as if they were a competitor on #Survivor# or something. Now, as much as this sounds like a purely adolescent pursuit, I didn’t find out about the existence of this thing until I was about 18 years old. So, to make up for lost time, I spent an entire afternoon zippin’ (as the kids call it), waiting behind 9-year-olds. It seems like it would get old quickly, but it doesn’t. There is a freeing quality to flying through the air, suspended, oh, six feet off the ground. It’s like a fountain of youth — which must’ve been what that galleon was looking for when it washed ashore.

— Matthew Singer

 

Best ultra-specific business

 

 

3-2-Go The Trike Store

1813 E. Main St.,
Ventura

 

Let’s face it: Ventura may be a city on the grow, but it will always be a small town — meaning, this will never be a place where every conceivable hobby and interest is represented in the business sector. It is amazing to me that some of these little mom-and-pop shops stay open as long as they do. We are not the proverbial communal salad bowl. The people who live here are of a specific breed. Which isn’t to say we’re all the same person. It’s just that we are all looking, more or less, for the same thing.

And what is that, exactly? Tricycles, apparently.

Oh, yes. According to its Web site, 3-2-GO The Trike Store, located in midtown, specializes in “high-quality sports touring adult recumbent tricycles.” No Big Wheels here. And biped enthusiasts need not apply. This store is for the serious three-wheel aficionado only. Or, as owner Wayne Leggett refers to them on his site, “trikeys.”

In any other city of Ventura’s size, a business with such a specific patronage as this would probably not survive. But there is something about reclining while simultaneously pedaling that speaks to the residents of a beachside community. Go to the beach on a warm weekend and you’ll see tons of trikeys cruising the sidewalks. And yet, not a single unicycle. That must be an east coast thing.

— Matthew Singer

 

Best place to ice your bum

 

 

The Lakes, Thousand Oaks

2200 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.,
(818)222-3444. Rink opens in November.

 

When holiday season approaches and most of the country digs out the snow shovels and sleds, The Lakes at Thousand Oaks brings the idea of dreaming of a white Christmas one step closer to reality.

By transforming one of the lakes into an outdoor ice skating rink, the winter past-time comes to life in an area where the temperature averages around 75 year-round. Complete with seasonal decorations, holiday music and the hustle and bustle of patrons searching for the perfect gifts, the rink is one of only a few in sunny Southern California created outdoors from an existing lake.

Bulking up in layers and heavy jackets and dusting off those rarely used mittens and scarves to go ice skating on a pond brings a charm to the holiday season otherwise only experienced here through pictures and movies. Kids and adults alike get the opportunity to see what it’s like to slip on skates and show their stuff on the ice — or, as the case may be for those more accustomed to warm, beach activities, attempt to skate for a few feet and fall on your butt, laugh at yourself, get up and repeat.

Even if you’re just stopping by to watch the fun, you still feel like you’ve slipped into one of those “real” winters you hear about in all those songs, so make sure to bundle up. When you’re done with your spin on the ice, the hot cocoa for sale gets a chance to work its magic by melting away the chill in the air as it warms your hands.

And the best part? Being able to go home and listen to your relatives in colder climates complain about the freezing temperatures as you tell them you’re headed to the beach.

- Lindsay Foster

 

Best place to stop and smell the flowers

 

 

Figueroa Mall Historic Rose Garden

Figueroa Street at Santa Clara Street

 

At some point in the past few years, someone decided that the best lure for Downtown Ventura is copious bars packed with identical hordes of frat boy and sorority girl wannabes and 30-, 40-, and morety-something yuppies trying to pretend the city is just as sophisticated as Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. In a neighborhood of derivative watering holes trying to either out-dive, out-slut, or out-martini the competition, few seem to notice that one of the city's best pleasures is a simple stroll.

Without perambulating through Downtown I wouldn't have noticed one of its most peaceful spots. Perhaps the Figueroa Mall Historic Rose Garden isn't new to anyone else, given its location at the intersection of Figueroa and Santa Clara and at the opposite end of the fountain by Mission San Buenaventura, but I recommend it to anyone who needs a breather from sweaty nightclubs or long days at the office, or someone who just wants to wander around carefully maintained rose bushes, easter lillies and other plants. According to Ventura's public works department, the garden features 120 roses with specimens dating from before 1633 to the present.

Corny as it may be, I imagine the garden would be an excellent place to propose, or, better yet, a first kiss, with the picturesque setting and the trellised benches somehow shrouding the location from passersby, despite being relatively open. What better evening than to walk with your love, lead her (or him) by the hand into the garden and declare your love amidst the scent of roses while serenaded by the thumping inanity of The Pussycat Dolls next door?

— Bill Lascher

 

Best place to be contemplative

 

 

Mandalay Beach

 

Large bodies of water just lend themselves to deep self-reflection. Watch any reality show and at least once during the season a cast member will be shown on a beach, staring pensively at the ocean, while a voiceover narrates their inner turmoil. On #Seinfeld#, any significant internal revelation would take place at a pier, with George or Jerry then charging back toward the city, sending a flock of pigeons flying. At Mandalay Beach, in the stretch of sand in front of the Embassy Suites Hotel, there are several sea-facing benches designed specifically for this kind of ponderificness. Plop down on one of those things near sundown, let the sound of the gently crashing surf massage your hippocampus, allow your senses to be hypnotized by the sight of the sun slowly dipping beneath the horizon, and before long, everything in your life will suddenly make sense.

Plus, sitting on a bench decreases the chance of being run over by an Oxnard police officer, so it’s actually a wise safety precaution, too.

— Matthew Singer