Ojai, Calif.: A Valley of Wellness (but No Chain Stores) in Ventura County

Dear NY Times, please have your writers start writing about places without naming them or better yet drop the column. This goes for all small towns across the country that have been swarmed and thus ruined by tourists and day trippers that have zero respect for theses places.

Dear city people, I live in ojai, I’ve lived here my entire life. Sadly I don’t plan on staying. This is because of the gentrification the town has experienced throughout my life. Today you will find that most of Ojai’s businesses have not been open for more than a few years, this is because the original business owners have been driven out. local coffee spots are hotbeds for city people pretending to be more in touch with their spiritual side. My back yard, the Los Padres ntl forest is now Yosemite junior, 5 years ago you could drive up highway 33 and not see a single piece of trash. Now that is sadly not the case. Meanwhile tourists bring in money to businesses making the town “ richer” ,sadly the public schools are not seeing this side of the spectrum, instead they are suffering with poorly ventilated classrooms, classrooms will leak on rainy days, the facilities prior mentioned are the same facilities my dad and grandma also went to school in. The buildings at nordhoff are converted trailers from the Vietnam war era. So why am I writing this? I’m writing to make some type of gesture to anyone reading this to please respect the place I call home and take into consideration the people affected by all of the people coming in here on the weekends

When my writer parents were blacklisted out of Hollywood, they alighted in Ojai when my brothers and I were small children.Our house was a converted barn (still there and nicely fixed up by current owners.) Our childhood infractions would draw a critical "Were you brought up in a barn?" Satisfying to respond "Yes! We were!" Years later our retired parents returned to Ojai to find many of their earlier friends were still resident and it was still a sweet little town. Too expensive now, but still lovely.

"Middle schoolers attend Matilija Junior High, where during the 2018-19 school year, 44 percent of eighth-graders met standards for English and 39 percent met standards for math." Is that real estate agent speak for under performing?

I love Josh Dillard's "Old Ojai."

My husband attended The Thacher School in Ojai for high school. It’s an excellent prep boarding school that’s been in existence since the latter part of the 19th century. Ojai is a delightful town and the Ojai Valley Inn is one of the most relaxing spas I’ve ever visited. Definitely on my top 10 list for potential retirement locations.

I've lived in Ojai for four years now...I lived through the Thomas fire, a house remodel, and the current absurd and soon-to-be-dismissed water law suit. I wish the article had mentioned the five private boarding high schools in Ojai, each distinguished in its own way: Besant Hill School, Thacher, Villanova, Oak Grove, and Ojai Valley School. My favorite things, apart from the enchantment of the pink moment? Bart's Books; the Farmer's Market each Sunday; the entire month of March when we are intoxicated with the scent of orange blossoms filling the valley; the commingling of ranchers, farmers, academics, Theosophists, celebrities we politely ignore, visual and performing artists; and nearly as many good coffee joints as my former damp home of Seattle. Visitors are welcome, but please drive slowly -- we have a lot of pets and kids.

Forgot to mention about how every homeowner is being sued by the city of Ventura for water rights. Or that the pesticides in the citrus cause cancers. Or after the Thomas Fire homeowners insurance increased 200%. I have lived in Ojai for 10+ years and it's wonderful, I know it's a bubble of bohemian privilege but not entirely. Drive around certain neighborhoods and you see Trump flags and the public schools qualify for Title 1 Local Control Funding Formula-which is when more then a certain percentage of family fall below poverty line. There are working people in Ojai, it's not just for the rich. And to echo earlier comments, how dare you say it was magic that the town don't burn, it was the first responders.

I grew up just south of Ojai in Ventura. The whole county is really a wonderful place. And those sunsets are always amazing. I also echo the sentiments of needing to thank all the firefighters during the Thomas fire. They are truly heroes.

Snobsville cake with lotus flower icing.

If you know how to read between the lines with school reports, these grades for the public schools are dismal.

As a resident of Ojai, it is offensive that this article credits a “vortex” for saving us from the Thomas Fire, and doesn’t even mention the 5,000+ firefighters that showed up to fight it. They saved our town.

Welllll look at this lovely bedroom community for beige loving white flight boho rich people! Ojai was nice 10+ years ago before the NYT starting writing about it so much. Now it's just full of traffic loving jerks like the rest of LA and NY. Been really sad to see the swarm of ex-urban newcomers push out the people who have been here for generations, and then try to bring as many tourists to the valley as possible. They seem incapable of understanding why Ojai is a nice place, and are intent on ruining it.

Nice article, but it is not correct to say that Krishnamurti was a theosophist leader. He rejected theosophy as a young man.

Thanks for drawing likely attention to yet another once nice place in California which has been ruined, like so many of the favorite places of my youth in the Golden State, by the wealthy. Great. Just great.

I love Ojai. My dad grew up there. He worked on ranches the on I remember him talking all about it. His mom lived in Ojai until 1985 or 1986. So I grew up coming to Ojai from Camarillo. Granny had a small house on a double lot on Oak Street. She had orange trees. I miss it.

I live in the Ojai Valley and have been a Realtor in this area for nearly 25 years. This is truly a special place. I am always honored to help those that wish to make it their home as well as locals. Some of my past clients are now working with me to help their kids own homes. It’s tough as of course prices have risen, but Ojai has a way of becoming part of you and instilling a desire to find a way to stay.

It's amazing that horses, presumably multiple, can be kept on .75 acres! Many jurisdictions require 3 acres for the first large animal and an extra acre for each additional one. Didn't Ojai have a number of deaths in the flooding and landslides a couple of years ago? Should that have been mentioned?

I live in ojai and have raised four kids into adulthood. I’m a So Cal native and moved here 22 yrs ago. It’s absolutely fantastic, love this town, love the trails, mountains, quick drive to the beach or wilderness, a designated bike path all the way to the beach, beautiful parks, many public tennis courts, great schools. Lots of artisans and the best assortment of regular live music weekly I’ve ever seen. Come check it out. I also love to see happy tourists enjoying the town!

There is also a community of Augustinians there. But not if you gave me the house for free would I live in a place where people would call me to tell me my kid walked home instead of taking the bus.

This article is a good example of how the highly respected NY Times can be so oblivious to the deeper story of a place or person. You mention briefly J. Krishnamurti and Ojai's 'spiritual' side. But you gathered nothing about how deeply Krishnamurti - who lived part time in Ojai for 60 years and died there in 1986 - influenced many of those who lived there, including Beatrice Wood and others. Much of the calmness and peace and order of Ojai is due to his presence there. Your article missed that completely.