I first met you in 1965 when I arrived to begin work as a young reporter for the Ventura Star-Free Press, which today is The Ventura County Star.

City Hall was on Santa Clara Street, a block from the old Star-Free Press building. The county government center was in the old courthouse at the peak of California Street.

Your population was less than 50,000.  It has more than doubled to 106,000-plus, but you have retained that small town charm that reminds me of "Cheers" where everyone knows your name.

I worked for the Star-Free Press for 24 years, the last 17 as managing editor. Our old downtown office no longer exists, having given way to a city parking garage.

You haven't been without controversies, such as the move of the county government center from Downtown to East Ventura, or the effort to establish a four-year university on the Taylor Ranch hillside overlooking Downtown. The university effort was quashed by slow-growth council members but, fortunately, the county got a university anyway, on the former Camarillo State Hospital property.  The old courthouse became a new city hall.  The old city hall site became a new U.S. post office building. In Ventura, things have a way of working out for the best.

You have also had your share of disasters, the most significant being the great floods of 1969, occurring exactly one month apart on Jan. 25 and Feb. 25. The first flood severely damaged Olivas Park Golf Course and Ventura Harbor. The second flood completed the destruction of both.  In between, on Jan. 28, the horrendous blowout of Platform A occurred, causing an oil spill that lasted for days, spewing some 100,000 barrels of oil into the sea, onto your beaches and into the harbor. The spill killed an estimated 3,500 sea birds and countless marine animals including dolphins, elephant seals and sea lions.

Then-councilman Dave Eaton and I played Olivas Golf Course the day before it was put out of commission by the first flood.  Later that year, he and I co-founded the R&A Golf Association, which is active to this day. The group's average age is 75, but we are still swinging clubs on Thursday afternoons, often at either Olivas Links or Buenaventura Golf Course.

You've had many impressive citizens over the years. One of the more interesting was Myra Harrison, co-founder of E.J. Harrison & Sons. She was a Venturan for two-thirds of your existence before she died in 2014, a few months shy of her hundredth birthday. Mrs. Harrison was born in Ventura just 49 years after your birth and baptized in the chapel of the San Buenaventura Mission, where her funeral services were held a century later.  She was a direct descendent of Lt. Jose Moraga, founder of the city of San Jose.

Her father, Elias Velarde, was superintendent of the wharf for almost 15 years in the early 1900s. The Ventura Pier was an active wharf for 64 years. It was built in 1872 at a cost of $45,000 and was the longest wooden pier in California. The pier has been severely damaged many times, but your proud citizens keep rallying on its behalf and it continues to stand firm against a sometimes angry ocean.

Like many long-time Venturans, I've found it hard to say no when asked to serve in this fair city. Over the years I've served on the boards of directors of the Ventura Chamber, the Ventura Boys & Girls Club, United Way, Ventura Yacht Club and as a commissioner on the Ventura Port District. 

Whenever we had visitors from outside the area, I would take them up to the Ventura cross where they could enjoy one of the more majestic views in the United States. A second stop would be to Ventura Harbor, which I consider your greatest asset.

I moved to Oxnard a year ago to fulfill a dream of living on a golf course (River Ridge Vineyard course).  But I will always consider myself a Venturan. After all, I was a resident for 50 years, a third of your existence. You're still a fine city and despite being 150, you wear your age well. May the next 150 years be good to you and your residents as the last 150.