Oak View, CA

Oak View Map

Oak View is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ventura County, California, United States located in the western portion of the Ojai Valley situated between the towns of Casitas Springs (south) and Mira Monte (north). At the 2010 census, the population of Oak View was 4,066, down from 4,199 at the 2000 census, making it the third largest town in the Ojai Valley. The town is adjacent to the Ventura River and nearby Lake Casitas.

The town of Oak View "sprang up" in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a bedroom community primarily, although not exclusively, for those who worked in the oil industry in nearby Ventura. Besides nearby downtown Ojai, Oak View is the only other town in the Ojai Valley with a discernible "downtown", which has developed along the Ventura Avenue/Highway 33 corridor, and includes a post office, a grocery store and a grocery mart, one bank, a Thai restaurant, a coffee house/restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, a pizza parlor, two automobile repair shops, two tire shops, two self-serve gasoline stations, two coffee shops, a computer repair shop, an equipment rental yard, several hair stylists, a pet supplies store, a bar, a liquor store, a walk-in medical office, a real estate office, a car wash, a laundromat, a used car dealership, a tanning salon, a Sheriff's post, a video store, and other service and retail oriented businesses.

At various times the citizens of Oak View have contemplated incorporation as an alternative to being governed by the County of Ventura. But because the town lacks the ability to provide the same services of an incorporated city, and due to the lack of interest to self govern, those attempts have been short lived. At one time the citizens contemplated incorporation and a name change to "River City", which also failed to garner much local interest.

Nearby cities include Carpinteria, Santa Paula, Oxnard, Summerland, Port Hueneme.