Many of the homes in this area date back to the early 1900’s. They created charming abodes in places like the Simpson Tract, the city’s first historic housing tract. They cultivated citrus, walnut, and apricot orchards. Many of Ventura’s pioneer families settled on the Westside as they helped build our great city. It was here where several major oil companies were formed. As the gold rush began to fade, thousands of people, looking for work came to the Ventura Basin. The seeds of our city were planted here, with its history rooted in its Chumash ancestors, the historic Tortilla Flats memoirs, and the oil boom of the late early 1900s.
The FOTM Archive contains more information about this artist.Nestled between the Ventura River, the Pacific Ocean and Ventura hills, The Westside of Ventura, also known as “The Avenue”, has a rich history that’s reflected in the mosaic of diverse residents, businesses, and eclectic interests in this vibrant community. The images were derived from photos and oral histories obtained during the course of interviews conducted with former neighborhood residents. Mora and Hanrahan, the 500’ painting depicts people, buildings, and businesses from the Tortilla Flats neighborhood that was condemned and displaced when the 101 Freeway came through Ventura, California during the 1950’s. Among her most respected works is the Tortilla Flats Mural and Reunion Project. The opportunities for awareness-expansion and innovation exist primarily in the process of bringing her works to life. For Hanrahan, money and mediums are a means to an effect. The idea, the message, and the intended audience determine the art medium she employs on each project. Hanrahan uses large scale, site specific, public painting as a communication device, and as a vehicle for community-based activism and involvement. It was during that time that she began painting. Nearly 10 years later, she moved to Los Angeles to consciously pursue a career as a display artist and prop maker. “I could imagine my art there,” Hanrahan claims.
Later that day, staring at the awesome billboards as the bus made its way down Sunset Boulevard, she remembers being struck by the communication potential of image and scale. While attending a field trip from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, Mary Beth toured the Foster & Kleiser Billboard manufacturing facility.