201 Barnard Way

201 Barnard Way

Abram Lincoln Hobson’s Sol Y Mar

201 Barnard Way, Ventura  - Abraham Lincoln Hobson’s Sol Y Mar

You are standing in front of what was once called Sol y Mar, a name chosen by Abram and Helen Hobson, meaning sun and sea, a fitting title for this cottage retreat. More than 100 years ago when this house was built, these hillsides were nothing more than a dirt road, rolling land, native brush, and a lone pepper tree near the Sanjon Barranca. 

After Ventura’s oil boom, Abram Lincoln Hobson saw a need for a premier residential neighborhood where the new merchant class—shopkeepers, professionals, and business owners—could live. In 1923, his spark of an idea became Hobson Heights. This street is now named Barnard, Helen’s maiden name.  

In the historic photo, you can see how small the Hobson’s cottage was connected by a long colonnade to a large stable. This design was no accident—the colonnade mirrored the grand one at the Hobsons’ Craftsman estate in Ojai, today’s Ojai City Hall. Just as in Ojai, the colonnade here created a sense of elegance, linking daily life to Hobson’s great passion: his horses.

Although the colonnade has long since disappeared and the land was eventually divided and sold off, but the stable still exists in a different form. If you study the surrounding homes carefully, can you find the one that was once part of the stables? The proportions give it away.

For Hobson, this cottage was more than a home; it was a place to ride and enjoy his horses. His most famous was Walter H., a coal-black stallion bred on the family’s Horse and Kettle Ranch near Santa Paula. Walter H was a champion, sweeping county fairs and appearing in parades near and far—the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the Santa Barbara Fiesta, San Francisco’s Diamond Jubilee, and even the Elks Convention in Los Angeles.

After Hobson’s death in 1929, Walter H. passed to his son-in-law Fred Smith, who rode him in the 1930 Ventura County Fair parade—his final appearance. The horse lived to 29 years old and was so beloved he received his own obituary in the local paper before being buried at the Willoughby Ranch on the west side of Ventura. Part of that land is now owned by the Ventura Land Trust. 

✨ So when you stand here today, picture the modest cottage of Sol y mar, a colonnade stretching to a grand stable, and Walter H. waiting for his master. From this retreat, A.L. Hobson planted the idea for Hobson Heights, Ventura’s very first premier neighborhood.