In the summer of 1926, Ventura didn’t just celebrate the nation’s 150th anniversary—it staged a three-day extravaganza so spectacular it has yet to be matched.

It was 3 a.m. on July 5, 1890. On Ventura’s dark Main Street, a team of laborers moved quietly but quickly along the dirt roadway, guided only by the flickering glow of handheld lanterns.

For thousands of years, they’ve shared the land, but over the past 175 years, as ranches, towns, and cities spread, the shrinking wild left little room for coexistence, often with deadly results for the lions.

The story of Juan Marion, a burglar who robbed dozens of homes, stores and railroad cars in the 1920s while evading the law in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

A brave shopkeeper named Walter Chaffee guarded the American flag outside his store, even when others tried to steal it away. During the Civil War, it was hard to be a Union supporter in California, but Walter and his friends secretly met to stand up for freedom and fairness for everyone.