High Times in Ojai

For more than a century, Ojai has been a favored retreat for Southern Californians anxious to shed the concrete confines of Los Angeles and points farther south for a few days of small-town solitude.

And according to recent statistics, the town is becoming even more popular.

Since November 1997, hotel and motel room revenues have increased by more than 31%, generating about $3.4 million in taxable sales, up from $2.6 million the year before.

“I can tell from the amount of hours I’m working these days that our business has increased,” said Scott McGregor, assistant manager for the newly refurbished Ojai Valley Inn. “It’s been tremendous. . . . It used to be a golf resort, but now we’re seeing families and groups of people coming up for parties.”

Many have credited the Ojai Valley Inn’s recent expansion with boosting the town’s popularity among tourists.

The 76-year-old inn, which once catered mainly to golfers, expanded earlier this decade into a full-service resort and spa, catering to a broad mix of clients including couples, families and tour groups.

The inn has added mud baths set up according to Chumash tradition, massage therapists, herbal gardens and even a labyrinth used to “center oneself.”

“They’re really the ones who’ve opened the place up,” said City Manager Andrew Belknap. “They recognized the potential and went with it, and so far it’s been good.”

Total revenues at Ojai’s two hotels, six motels and three bed and breakfasts fall behind comparable income in larger cities such as Ventura and Oxnard, which together have earned about $10.3 million over the past year. But the town, population 8,200, has set a blistering pace that other communities are hard-pressed to match, and it could soon lead the county in room revenues.

Room revenues in Ventura and Simi Valley have also grown through the year, by 12% and 11%, respectively.

Reservation rates at most Ojai hostelries run at or above 90% most weeks, with virtually every weekend booked.

“It’s been so busy,” said Lia Dalidd, manager of the Blue Iguana motel, which has been open for a little more than a year and a half. “We sell out every weekend with people escaping from the big city.”

McGregor said the next weekend opening at the Ojai Valley Inn isn’t until late December.

Area businesses such as the Ranch House Restaurant have also seen an increase in business with hotel visitors trickling in.

“It’s like people are just starting to discover this place,” said restaurant manager David Skaggs. “The past year here has been great with all the people.”

Ojai has always been an anomaly in the Southern California megalopolis.

Resting in a wooded valley hemmed in by the Topatopa and Santa Ynez mountains, the town straddles the 19th and 20th centuries with an almost even mix of old and new.

Along with appliance stores are horse supply retailers and blacksmiths.

Many of the buildings on the town’s main street are more than a century old, but instead of housing feed stores and sundry merchants, they contain chic boutiques and bistros.

“I think one of Ojai’s greatest assets is its sense of place,” said Belknap. “Everything here is unique and distinctive.”

And lucrative.

Tourism is Ojai’s largest industry, with taxable revenue accounting for almost half of the city’s annual budget. In fact, bed-tax revenues collected by the city are almost twice as large as its allotment of property taxes.

Last year, the city collected about $952,000 from the bed tax, money that went into funding city services ranging from police and fire protection to street maintenance and administration.

In the first 10 months of 1998, the city collected more than $1 million, and officials expect to end the year at 20% or more above last year’s total.

“I think all that speaks to how important tourism is for the city,” Belknap said. “For a small town like Ojai, it would be very hard to provide the kind of service we do without tourism.”

And despite a feeling among some residents that tourists are, in some way, invading their quiet and secluded slice of life, it would be difficult to maintain that quality without them.

Mary Rynsoever, however, said residents are starting to understand how important tourists are to the local economy.

As an employee of the Kindred Spirits Boutique, she’s seen their numbers and the store’s sales grow.

“People used to make a big deal out of all these people coming to town. . . . Nobody liked it,” she said. “But now, everyone kind of understands that it’s good for business and good for the town.”