Mud Isolates Ojai for Hours

Residents of this rural enclave sometimes seem as if they want to shut out the rest of the world.

On Monday--with every road in and out of the Ojai Valley closed--they got their wish for a brief few hours.

“The valley is completely cut off,” said Dan Singer, the city’s general services director. “We are stuck here. We like being isolated to some degree. . . . There’s not a lot of people on the road.”

Indeed, with mudslides closing off several key roads, they had nowhere to go.

California 33 to Ventura--closed. California 150 to Santa Paula--closed, even before Monday’s rain. California 150 to Santa Barbara--closed near Lake Casitas.

Secondary streets--Santa Ana Road, Nye Road and others that some Ojai commuters use to avoid traffic--also were shut down.

And it was unclear when Caltrans would clear a previous landslide on California 33 north of Ojai to enable people to reach the Lockwood Valley on the other side of the mountains.

Those trying to get out of the Ojai Valley during Monday morning’s rush hour discovered traffic was backed up for miles. California 33 between Ojai and Ventura was closed by a landslide early in the morning, reopened, then closed again in the afternoon. By evening, authorities had reopened the road but were escorting motorists along the steep Arnaz grade.

Many people opted simply to stay off the roads.

Elaine Bee, a bartender at Ojai’s venerable downtown bar, The Hub, said business had doubled.

“No one can get out of town,” she said. “It’s great. A lot of people are coming in to eat and drink--and going outside to smoke.”

The state banned smoking in bars Jan. 1, even on rainy days.

Hank Cheyne, an actor in the soap opera “Sunset Beach,” was enjoying his day off while drinking tequila Bloody Marys at the bar.

“My wife thinks I went to the store,” he reported happily. “I told her it might be rough getting back. I live a half mile from here--it could be three or four hours.”

At Ojai Valley Community Hospital, a dozen or so staff members were preparing to spend the night if need be, said spokeswoman Suzanne Burens. The 116-bed hospital had no shortage of available beds.

At Nordhoff High School, about 20 teachers and other staffers who live in communities outside the valley were staying with fellow educators.

It’s not often that bad weather cuts off Ojai, said one stranded school staff member, who declined to give her name.

“My husband has worked here 18 years, and I’ve worked here six, and this is a first,” she said.

Local florist and historian Dave Mason said the Ojai Valley has been cut off periodically over the years--for almost a week during a 1969 flood.

But whether Ojai is cut off from the rest of the world--or whether the rest of the world is cut off from Ojai--depends on one’s point of view.

“I think people would prefer to be stuck here rather than be stuck in Ventura and not able to get in,” he said. “We’ve been self-contained up here for years.”

Times staff writer Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.