The Call of a Life Like Jack London’s : Ojai: ‘Marginally homeless,’ his wood shop out of business, a 46-year-old carpenter and ex-sailor is an authority on the California author.

Marvin L. Holloway lives in a camper in the Ojai Valley, a former Ventura wood-shop owner who now describes himself as marginally homeless.

But economic reversals alone do not explain his current lifestyle, Holloway says. He cites the writings of Jack London as having inspired him to simplify his life.

Now his knowledge of London’s life and works has turned him into a local celebrity among Ojai book lovers.

London enthusiasts celebrated the native California author’s 115th birthday in Ojai over the weekend with a cake and readings by Holloway, 46, who says he hopes to give more lectures in the future to schools and other groups. “He’s an articulate, well-spoken man,” said Ojai librarian Ann Crozier, who invited Holloway to lecture on London to a group of 30 residents at the Ojai Library.

In previous years, Holloway said, he has joined several hundred other London fans who celebrate the author’s birth at ceremonies held by the Jack London Foundation in Glen Ellen, Calif., the author’s former home.

But this year Holloway’s circumstances kept him in the Ojai Valley.

Holloway prefers to play down what he calls his own “marginally homeless” lifestyle, but acknowledges that there are some parallels between his life and London’s.

London was, at various times, a social outcast, oyster thief, hobo, gold miner, sailor and experimental farmer as well as the author of 52 books in 18 years, Holloway said.

“He is an inspiration to me of someone with a lot of obstacles to overcome,” Holloway said. “One of the reasons he will be loved for a long time is because he gave us the truth.”

Holloway too was once a sailor, serving as a ship’s cook for the U. S. Navy in the South Pacific during Vietnam. He has traveled the states, enjoys hiking and fishing, and looks for work whenever he can, which London began to do at the age of 11 to support his family.

When London died in 1916 at the age of 41, he had earned $1.6 million from his writings and was a celebrity. Some of his best known books are “The Call of the Wild,” “The Sea Wolf” and “White Fang.”

Throughout many of London’s works is a running theme of “the keen intellect of the ragged revolutionary challenging the stodginess of bourgeois minds,” Holloway said. Holloway said he has found similar challenges in the business world.

He was working as a carpenter for a railroad company about 15 years ago when London’s books took on a new meaning for him, he said.

“I too was at a job for six years that I found took care of the physical needs. But I was suffering from spiritual anemia,” he said. “The whole idea of someone himself who struggled with those conflicts in his life . . . was a real inspiration to me.”

Holloway quit the railroad and turned his carpentry skills to a furniture repair and wood-shop business that he ran on Ventura Avenue. He lived with his malamute dog in a loft above the shop. When the business failed, he said, he got behind on the $700-a-month rent and had to move out in February.

“I just had trouble with people paying and the shop didn’t do as well as I wanted it to. The resources I had just ran out,” he said. “I quickly put together a camper out of plywood I had. I stayed a couple nights in the parking lot at the beach and then went up into the mountains and camped out.”

In March, his dog was killed on the side of the road and depression set in until he found a place near Oak View to park his truck in exchange for painting fences and taking care of animals.

Holloway has since worked as a tree-trimmer, gardener and handyman. Last week, he joined 150 other people as extras for a golf-ball commercial that was shot in Ojai, earning $75 a day plus meals at a local resort.

“He’s a philosopher more than businessman,” said friend Virgil Nelson, a former Baptist minister in Oak View who describes himself as an occasional advocate for Holloway. Nelson is a director of Habitat for Humanity and a former director of Project Understanding, which provides services for the homeless. But he said he met Holloway through the antique refinishing business.

Nelson said Holloway just needs a chance to get back on his feet, to perhaps use his carpentry skills for steady employment. And Holloway says he would like a carpentry job two days a week, leaving him time for other pursuits.

His knowledge of Jack London offers another option.

He has recently been approached by an Ojai talent agent who thinks that he has a future on the lecture circuit as an expert not only on London, but other subjects related to the history of carpentry, another hobby. “He’s very sincere and unpretentious,” said the agent, Robert Frank. “He has a lot to offer.”