Enclave Evolves as ‘Jewel’ of Ojai

When they moved from New York last November, Jonathan and Linda Lambert knew only a handful of their new Ojai neighbors.

But within a few months, the retired teachers met more people than they had known after 15 years in their old neighborhood north of Manhattan.

Even better, the couple didn’t even need to leave their frontyard.

The Lamberts live on Taormina Lane, a distinctive circular street south of Nordhoff High School where each night residents stroll around the loop and greet everyone they encounter.

“We found it a very warm place,” said Jonathan Lambert, 59. “Taormina is, I think, a jewel of this valley.”

Taormina is a one-street neighborhood of small homes hemmed in on three sides by meadows. Originally built as a low-cost retirement community for theosophists--those who support a philosophy promoting universal brotherhood and tolerance--it is now a mix of believers and nonbelievers drawn to its serenity.

A St. Louis theosophist, Ruth Wilson, bought 21 acres on a barren hillside in 1967 and founded Taormina, said Joseph Ross, a book restorer who has lived on the street for three years and writes about theosophist history.

Construction of the community’s 81 houses began in 1969, Ross said. The neighborhood was designed to resemble a small French village, with gas lamps lining the street. Most of the homes are about 1,000 square feet with one bedroom and one bath, said Ruth Mathews, board president for Taormina Theosophical Community Inc., the nonprofit group that oversees Taormina.

Mathews said the neighborhood’s biggest selling point is its quiet.

North of Taormina is the 58-acre Ojai Meadows Preserve, which the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy purchased and set aside as open space.

To the west is about 90 acres of undeveloped land belonging to the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, another philosophical group.

And south of Taormina is the rambling headquarters for the spiritual movement the Krotona Institute of Theosophy.

“It’s a serene, peaceful place,” Mathews said. “People say they can feel the difference as soon as they come in here.”

Residents say their neighbors are friendly and look after each other. When someone is sick, a neighbor will bring soup. Residents have regular picnics, potlucks and community meetings.

Since the first houses were built, Taormina residents have signed covenants that ban several things, from the building of fences (considered unsightly) to barbecuing (most theosophists are vegetarian), Mathews said.

The community’s original regulations also required that homes be sold only to theosophists 50 or older. The houses were sold at cost by the nonprofit corporation overseeing the community and resold for only slightly more than the original price, Mathews said. If a resident died and the heirs wanted to sell, the corporation automatically received the first opportunity to buy it.

But in the early 1980s, a resident’s family challenged the covenants, Ross said. A state appellate court ruled the requirements discriminatory and that the houses could be sold to anyone, Mathews said.

Since then, prices have increased at least fivefold. The court ruling also means that Taormina Lane now looks more like other parts of Ojai. Although most residents are retirees, younger professionals have moved in, bringing children.

“We’re right now working on developing a renewed sense of community as a community of homes rather than a community of theosophists,” Jonathan Lambert said.