What’s Old (West) is New Again in Ojai

You can feel settled in pretty quicly at ojai’s Hotel El Roblar.

The Sense of Place Begins in the Old West-STYLE LOBBY, WHERE A PAIR OF AGED LEATHER COUCHES BECKON NEAR The ROUGH-HEWN STONE FIREPLACE. The Spanish Revival-Style Property-Comprsing 31 Rooms in the Main Building and 11 One-Bedroom Bungalows-HAS BEEN DESIGNED As an Artistic Hamen Nrthh. Moment ”Sunsets and Avocado and Citrus Orchards. Near the Check-in Desk, Old Photographs of the Place Line the Hallway. Custom-Made Pendleton Blankets Lie at the Foot of Everi Bed, Woven With The Words “Hotel El Roblar. Ojai, California 1919.”

“IT’s Ojai’s Longest-Standing Hotel, and IT’s Been AROUND for 105 Years,” Says Producer and Entrepreneur Jeremy McBRIDE, ONE OF FOUR CO-LUSHNERS OF HOTHSERACER, WHERE Adds Fellow Owner Ramin Shamshshiri, One of the Hotel’s Designers, “It’s in The Center of Town, and It Wound Be The Central Meeting Point Where Everyone Wound Go to TRESS

But that Centrality Had Long Fallen to the Wayside. For DECADES, The PROPERTY HAD OPERATED AAKS at OJAI, WHICH SHAMSHIRI EXPLAINS WAS “A Long-Term-Stay Spa and Health Center. It Wasn’t Terribly Open.

NOW McBRIDE, Shamshiri and Their Partners, Tiger King CO-CREATOR Eric Goode (The Hotel’s Lead Designer) and Restauaureur Warner Ebbink, Have retirned the 2-Akre Property to ITS Old California Roots, Reviving the Original Nama They restored the white stucco archway that about the Fronted the Street as Well As the Lobby’s Fireplace and Wood Paneling. Archival Research, Conducted at the Ojai Valley Museum, The Warner Bros. ‘ Studio Library, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (A Natural History Museum at the University of California, Berkeley), Informed. “WHEN WE STARTED TO DO THE RECEARCH OF EXACTLY WAT WAS, We Found The Old Photography and Drawings of the Place and Just Really to Recapture ITS ORIGINAL GLORY, Says “The Whole Property is Meant to Feel Like It’s Always Been There.”

Soft-Opped in June, The Lushly Landsaped Hotel El Roblar Boasts Private Garden Terraces for Many of the Rooms and Outdoor Garden Patios for All of the Bungalows; An Inviting Pool Bedecked with Sage Green Umbrellas and Yellow-Striped Loungers; And Two Restaurants, Daytime Café La Cocina and Mexican Restaurant Condor Bar, Where Must-Try Dishhes Include the Duck Leg Carnitas and the Beef Cheek Vampiro (a Type.

Hotel El Roblar is Already Become A Bit of A Scene. On a recent weekday, The Condor Room Was Humming at Dinnertime: Among of Other GlitTerati, Thr Spotted Fashion Designers Anna Getty and Heidi Merrick and A-List Photographer Stewart Shining at Various Tables. The Buzz Is Hardly Surpring Given the Owners’ Pedigree: Shamshshiri, Who’s Married to Nbcuniversal Entertainment & Studios Chairman Donna Langley, is an a-List Designen. Projects in la ebbink is the co-o camener of Hollywood-Beloved Little Dom’s Restaurant in Los Feliz and the New Bar Lou Bistro in Montecito. Goode is the Nyc Nightlife and Restaurant Impresario Who Created the Famed ’80s Nightclub Area and Co-Renews The waverly inn with Graydon Carter; in recent years, he’s enjoyed a second life as a successful docurentary Director and Producer (He Also Created The 2024 DOCUSERIESSERIES Chimp Crazy). McBRIDE AND GOODE Are Partners in Goody Films and Produced Both of His Hit Netflix Shows.

“IT’s not every day of the Oldst Hotel in Ojai Comes Up for Sale,” Says Goode, Who Is Also The Founder of the Turtle Conservance, Who Protects Endangered Turtles And Torto. Conservation Center in Ojai. .

“I SPENT THERE INDELIBLE YEARS AS A CHILD IN OJAI IN THE LATE ’60S, WHERE I FIRST Fell In Love With The Back Country and the Natural World,“ Adds Goode, Whos Love of Fauna and Hotel. EveryWhere You Look, Elements of the Natural World Surround You, MOST NOTABLY REFERENCES to the California Condor, Once Widespread Across North American. “By the 1980s,” Says Goode, “Only 22 Remated, Surviving in the Sespe Wilderness Just Beyind Ojai. As the Last Refuge for this iconic species here. ” (Goode’s and McBRIDE’S NEXT Entertainment Project Is, Says The Former, A Docuseries About the “Multimillion-Dollar World of Exotic Reptile Smuggling.”)

The Property Also Reflects Ojai’s Artistic DNA. In Guest Rooms, You’ll Find Vintage Ojai Music Festival Posters, Paintings by Local Artists and Treasures Unearthed at Local Estate Sales. Even the Wraparound Mural in the Hotel’s Lobby Nods to Ojai’s Past, Depicting Figures Such as Edward Libbey, The Developer of The Town’s Downtown Area, Ceramist Jodrice Woodrice Wow. KrishNamurti.

Despite the Efforts to Honor the Town, not every local was on Board with the Owner’s Plans. Amid Municipal Maneuvering to Block the Hotel’s Plans for Valet Parking, IT Took Three Years to Win Permitting Approval from The City, Whose Past and Present Celebrity Residents Income Hathaway, Ellen Degeneres and Reese withrspoon.

There ARE A FEW ELEments Still in the Works, Including A SPA and The Soon-To-Oen Sycamore House, A Board-Ae-Batten Structure that Will Include Eight Additional Guest Rooms. The Owners Also Have Plans for Music and Event Programming.

Within Walking Distance of the Hotel Are Downtown Spots Like The OJAI PLAYHOUSE (recently restored by musical Industry Impresario David Berger); Popular Restaurant Rory’s Place; Ojai Ice Cream (Owned by Producer Jonathan Berg and His Wife, Kodi Kitchen Berg, and Director Will Gluck and Writer Trista Gladden); and the Chaparral Auditorium, WHERE JON BERNTHAL RECENTLY LAUNCHED The OJAI Theater Festival. “It’s Become This Great Spot Finally in Town That You Can Go to As A Destination and Be Part of Of A Little, Small Community,“ Says McBRIDE OF The Hotel. “There’s Nothing Really Like It That Exists Right Now.”

This Story Appeared in the Sept. 10 Issue of the Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Click Here to Subscribe.