Ojai Attractions

Ventura County

Location and origin

Ojai (pronounced "oohigh"), founded in 1874, lies in the valley of the same name where cattle are reared and citrus fruits cultivated. Originally named after the Californian writer Charles Nordhoff, it received in 1916 the name of the valley which had been taken from the language of the Chumash Indians (meaning "moon"). The town impresses the visitor because of its remoteness (take the U.S. 101 and turn off onto the CA 150 south of Carpentaria), and the harmony of the architecture, unusual in Californian townships of this size.

Artists' town

Countless artists, musicians and writers have lived here, either permanently or temporarily, including the conductor Leopold Stokowski and the Indian mystic Krishnamurti. Each year a music festival is held at the end of May/beginning of June, and a Shakespeare festival at the end of June. At the end of April Ojai is the venue for a tennis tournament which claims to have been the first held anywhere in America. In 1937 Frank Capra filmed "Lost Horizon" in Ojai, based on the novel by James Hilton; not too far away from Hollywood, it seemed to him to be the most fitting arena, his "Shangri-La" (perhaps also because the name sounded somewhat similar).