Mike Nelson

Dec 9, 2024 | ventanamonthly.com | Mike Nelson

By Mike Nelson | Photos courtesy of Gold Coast Veterans FoundationIt’s enough of a tragedy to be hungry, homeless and hopeless. But when you’ve served in the U.S. military and have placed your life on the line to defend American freedom, it is an even greater injustice. Which is why, for nearly 20 years, the Gold Coast Veterans Foundation (GCVF) has worked tirelessly to address and assist those military veterans in Ventura County who have struggled to re-enter civilian life.

Sep 11, 2024 | ventanamonthly.com | Mike Nelson

By Mike Nelson | Photos by Nathan CoolSheriane and Brad Mattocks are busy bank executives who also love good food, good wine, good friends and entertaining in their Newbury Park home. Three years ago, they invited one such friend, senior designer Ronni Fryman of Kitchen Places in Ventura, to enjoy wine and charcuterie — and to announce that they needed a home remodel. Funny, since Fryman had long thought the same thing.

Sep 11, 2024 | ventanamonthly.com | Mike Nelson

By Mike Nelson | Photos by Viktor BudnikBarrie Cohen spent most of her 20s working on farms and exploring America. During her West Coast travels she felt drawn to the Ojai Valley, where she chose to plant roots about two years ago. “I kept on driving through Ojai and, you know, just landed here and stayed,” the native of New York City told Ventana Monthly magazine. “I really love the area because it has just a little bit of everything.

Mar 18, 2024 | ventanamonthly.com | Mike Nelson

By Mike Nelson | Photos by Viktor BudnikIt’s not unusual, driving around greater Los Angeles, to see bright fluorescent signs attached to lamp posts or fences, with notices bearing an arrow and a code word that means, essentially, the same thing: “Parking for the film crew you’re part of is that way.”Chances are good that such parking has been coordinated and arranged by a young former certified nurse’s aide who thought she’d be spending her life caring for the elderly.

Oct 3, 2023 | ventanamonthly.com | Mike Nelson

By Mike Nelson | Photos by Viktor BudnikA farmer with a law degree? Sounds like Oliver Wendell Douglas, the highly successful attorney from the big city who became a highly unsuccessful rural farmer in the 1960s sitcom Green Acres. Except that Evan Graham Arango, the modern-day Ojai farmer with a law degree from UCLA, is nothing like Oliver Wendell Douglas.