Vacations Blog

As mentioned previously, we were on our way to do a whole lotta nothin’ in the town of Ojai, an hour or so outside of Los Angeles.

Before leaving, I had done a quick Google to see what it was known for and here’s a few that caught my eye:

From the cities main website, I discovered that they were making a big push for artists to help out renovating something in town – what it was escapes me now, but I liked that the lead story reached out to the right-brainers in town. Below that, however was a phone glitch affecting city hall’s runnings and that intrigued me even more – a $40,000 purse for whomever had the best eye for making the town better, but in the office of those who ran it, the voicemail wasn’t working properly.

I liked it already.

So, then I clicked on The Ojai Valley News to see what was happening and it informed me that I would need to pay $20 to find out – which meant that it must be something good. I searched the web for cracked codes to enter this, but they’ve done a very tidy job of making sure those didn’t get out.

Now I was intrigued.

A quick photo search turned up Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhall hiking there.

I was sold.

We got there around 5p on a Sunday afternoon and, to no one’s surprise, the place was a ghost town. Even the greasy spoon I had looked forward to was shut – but they were also now closed on Thursday nights, so who’s to say, really. The one place we did find was a nice little Mexican restaurant with a nice, albeit quirky, outdoor patio. It looked open, but no one was there – which is never a good sign. We poked our heads in and asked if they were and all 3 waiters jumped up. They were. And they suggested a pitcher of margaritas.

We felt bad and ordered 2 – only because we felt like we were the only business they’d see all day.

As it turned out, this was the spot in town to be, just not at 5pm. Around 7, however, this became Ojai’s version of The Viper Room. Food was decent, drinks were strong and the music was…well, at least the drinks were strong.

We stumbled out, the 3^rd designated driver of our crew bored with his Diet Coke’s by now and decided to walk back to the car- stopping along the way at one of the nicest old movie theaters I’ve ever seen. Well worth a movie or peak – be sure and ask them about the old note found inside the wall.

Driving out of town though, was really when we found the funnier side of the city – whether they knew it or not.

The signs.

So, visit this town for an evening, hell, stay in one of the numerous B&B’s. It’s nothing that would ever make your Top 10 Travel List, but it’s enough to carry you through a dinner party conversation.

And just think, if enough people visit, they can get those damn phones fixed.

Photos are all original. More here. For no other reason than they’re good.