Ojai

It’s beautiful and a great getaway! Camping at Lake Casitas is the best!

There are book stores and then there are book stores… It would be hard for any booklover not to wander among the maze of bookshelves here and not be giddy… My first thought when I entered was what a cool place to get married —or have your ashes spread!

Bart’s Books is quite the antidote to the sterile chain bookstore. A written desciption would hardly do it justice; maybe someone will post a youtube video of the place someday…

It also acts as a counterwight to the pretentiousness that is so prevalent among those enclaves of the Central Coast where ordinary people are being slowly squeezed out. Others may go to any number of the frou frou spas and resorts around Ojai for rejuvenation, but I got all I need wandering among the asiles of Bart’s, thank you very much.

We were on vacation. My mother’s best friend while growing up, Lorraine, lived here. We stopped by to visit one day. I was just a kid. Visiting with a bunch of grownups that you don’t know can be pretty boring.

4-8-2007

On my motorcycle trip on the way back from Paso Robles, we gassed up at this burg.

I’ve lived here since the age of 2 and a half and I can honestly say that it’s by far my favorite spot in all of Sounthern California. Aside from boiling summers, easily escapeable by a 20 minute drive (and 20 degree temperature drop) to the sea, the climate is ideal. Plently of beautiful weather and the green grass in the spring the most beautiful thing in the world. Occasional forays into Los Angeles remind me that everyone doesn’t come from a place where you can walk into town and see at least five people you know every time and make me all the more grateful.

I recommend Ojai to artists and theater-lovers, yoga enthusiasts and writers, backpackers and ramblers. Ojai offers food, music, art, theater, hiking, nature—everything I love in life is here. I constantly meet amazing, beautiful people who inspire and encourage me in my life, and it is an honor to know that I will always be able to call this place home.