Martin V. Smith

In 1941, he ventured into business when he traded a collection of jukeboxes for a failing hamburger drive-in on Oxnard Boulevard that he remodeled into the Colonial House Restaurant; he was 23 years old.

After returning from military service in the South Pacific during World War II, Smith transformed the Colonial House into the most popular restaurant in Ventura County.

The Trade Winds restaurant was built in 1964, designed by Fred Moniger of 20th Century Fox and decorator Ione Keenan, had a lagoon with a Chinese junk.

The shortline railroad, Ventura County Railway, that links the coastal line, constructed by Southern Pacific, with the Port of Hueneme was acquired in 1958.

[2] Smith went on to develop a number of restaurants, motels, shopping centers, and finally the high-rise Financial Plaza Towers in Oxnard, the tallest buildings between Los Angeles and San Jose.

Oxnard Financial Plaza was developed by Martin V. Smith & Associates.
Smith owned the Ventura County Railway for a time.