Ventra County is wonderful. The weather is great year-round. Oxnard is famous for its strawberries.
I grew up in nearby Camarillo. Its a nicer town, and now very expensive. Oxnard was the fast growing big city in the area. Other cities had stronger growth controls.
Oxnard does have a more Latino population. Camarillo is less economically and ethically diverse. Oxnard began as a farming community and still is to a large degree. You will likely see a lot of migrant farm workers in the Oxnard area.
Venura is great. I would love to live there. The history of settlement of the area revolves around the mission in downtown Ventura. The shops on Main Street Ventura are very nice for strolling around. The pier and the city hall are nice too.
The Dallas Cowboys have training camp in Oxnard in the summer if you like that kind of thing.
The beaches are great. I seem to recall 5th Street Beach and Silver Strand being the better beaches in Oxnard. Point Mugu is a nice day trip, or any drive along PCH (Highway 1).
Santa Barbara is another nice day trip. The beaches are nice, and State Street is an interesting shopping experience. However, I prefer Ventura to Santa Barbara. I like it, but just about all the architecture in downtown Santa Barbara is mission style adobe type stuff. Some people find it monotonous. Also, Santa Barbara seems more snooty rich than Ventura. The Santa Barbara mission and courthouse are also nice.
Ventura is officially San Buenaventura (Saint Bonaventure) by the way. I seem to recall that the name was unofficially shortened in the late 1800s because it would not fit on the train schedule.
DO NOT equate Ventura with “L.A.” You will make enemies quickly. 
The mess that is LA begins roughly in Calabasas or Woodland Hills. The Santa Monica Mountains separate LA and Ventura areas.
A nice thing to do is to go bike riding along the Old PCH near Seacliff exit off Highway 101.
One thing to know is that when you drive toward LA from Camarillo and Highway 101 climbs up a mountainside from Camarillo to Thousand Oaks, that climb is called the Conejo Grade or simply “The Grade.” When you hit The Grade with a small engine, it’s a good idea to pick up some momentum just before you start your climb. It’s not unusual to come up quickly at 60 MPH behind small cars going 40 MPH approaching the top of the hill.
Oh, and I would say that Ventura County is the southern part of the Central Coast or “Gold Coast.” Ventura is not generally considered to be the northern part of SoCal. The dividing line for SoCal is generally considered the Tehachapi Mountains. On the coast, this means San Luis Obispo (aka “SLO” pronounced “slow”) is generally considered the northern part of SoCal or the Central part of the Central Coast. SLO is also a very nice place to visit with another nice historic mission.
Port Huneme = Port Why-Knee-Me
Paraquat Kelley was on KLOS
Oxnard’s Chamber of Commerce used to say, “Oxnard, more than just a pretty name.”
but I adapt fairly well.