Inside The Newest Hotel In Ojai, Which Is Also The Oldest

Downtown Ojai’s newest hotel, which is besides its oldest, stands on Ojai Avenue for illustration a rancher successful his champion drawstring necktie and leather vest.

This property, now known arsenic Hotel El Roblar, has been a fixture connected Ojai’s main thoroughfare for much than a period — statement to aggregate civic dramas, 1 fraud conviction, repeated closures and 4 decades of fittingness retreats. Now, aft years of speech and restoration, a caller squad of owners has reshaped the spot to evoke Old California, observe the Ojai Valley’s chaotic broadside and lure Angelenos looking to flight the city.

“There’s a hitching station outside, adjacent to the motorcycle rack,” edifice partner Jeremy McBride pointed out, noting that horseback visits aren’t retired of the question.

Hotel El Roblar successful Ojai has 2 tortoises connected its grounds.

(Hotel El Roblar)

In a municipality that’s short connected lodging supply, the Roblar stands retired for its size, its spot successful section history and the measurement it wears that history connected its walls. Oh, and the 2 elephantine tortoises retired back.

It went up successful 1919, a blend of Spanish Revival and California Mission Revival styles. Its 2 acres see 39 impermanent rooms, 11 bungalows, a pool, an arena space, a meal edifice (the Condor Bar) and a breakfast-and-lunch edifice (La Cocina). It reopened this summertime pinch nightly rates of $455 and up.

“There are truthful galore trendy creation hotels retired there, and we surely didn’t want to do that,” said Eric Goode, the partner pinch the about longstanding ties to the area. “Ojai is rustic and horsey. It’s not Montecito.”

The edifice entranceway is framed by an arch that echoes those successful Ojai’s downtown arcade building. Most of the bungalows person kiva-style fireplaces. In the Cocina breakfast-and-lunch room, the barroom wall is simply a stack of colored bottles mortared together pinch actual for illustration a shade municipality bottle-house.

The centerpiece of the lobby is simply a stacked-stone fireplace. The walls characteristic a wrap-around mural filled pinch Ojai Valley plants and fauna.

Lobby astatine the Hotel El Roblar.

(Hotel El Roblar)

The room looks for illustration it goes backmost a century. But the fireplace is new, rebuilt to lucifer aged photos. So is the mural, painted by creator Stefano Castronovo past year.

Though Goode, 67, is champion known elsewhere arsenic an entrepreneur and shaper of documentaries, he spent a chunk of his puerility successful the Ojai Valley. While his begetter was school astatine the Thacher School, Goode said, he was “catching horned lizards and rattlesnakes and putting them successful my lunchbox.”

Later, Goode created New York’s Area nightclub/art assemblage successful the 1980s; took ownership roles successful respective hotels and restaurants, including New York’s Bowery Hotel; and co-founded the nonprofit Turtle Conservancy pinch Maurice Rodrigues. Later still, Goode produced and directed the documentary bid “Tiger King” (2020) and “Chimp Crazy” (2024).

For about 35 years, Goode said, he has kept a location successful Ojai and returned frequently. Yet for about of that time, Goode said, “I ne'er thought I’d do a business here.” The key, he said, was uncovering a historical spot whose reopening mightiness consciousness much for illustration a revival than a disruption to section culture.

When Ojai and the Roblar were born

Ojai’s Hotel El Roblar includes a bougainvillea-lined excavation area.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Roblar was calved arsenic modern Ojai was taking style betwixt 1917 and 1920. That’s erstwhile the municipality was renamed from Nordhoff to Ojai and section leader E.D. Libbey hired architects Richard Requa and Frank Mead to efficaciously reshape the metropolis aft a fire.

They designed the city’s agelong arcade on Ojai Avenue; its signature station agency and tower; a religion that became the Ojai Valley Museum; and the Roblar, each crafted pinch Spanish Colonial and Mission Revival features.

While Ojai’s estimation dispersed arsenic a blase mini municipality pinch a belief bent and spectacular setting, the Roblar prospered, faltered, was renamed the Oaks, added a bar, added a excavation and added bungalows. It besides added a neon motion and past subtracted it, yet forsaking overmuch of its original creation arsenic owners and managers came and went.

By 1 account, the hotel’s early managers included a Mr. Canfield from Santa Barbara, followed by Mr. Cromwell from San Francisco, some of whom committed suicide. Later came Frank Keenan, a erstwhile Chicago alderman who bought the edifice successful 1952 and in 1957 was convicted successful Illinois of national income taxation evasion.

“We dream not to travel successful their footsteps,” Goode said.

The edifice entered a different era successful 1977, erstwhile fittingness entrepreneur Sheila Cluff remade it arsenic a health-oriented retreat, later passing activity to her daughter, Cathy Cluff. The Oaks closed successful 2017 aft suffering fume harm successful the Thomas occurrence — and erstwhile the Cluff family put the spot up for sale, the caller owners stepped in.

New rooms, caller art, roaming reptiles

Guest room astatine the Hotel El Roblar.

(Hotel El Roblar)

Nobody will correction El Roblar for a fittingness retreat now. Though its excavation and gym are apt to get plentifulness of use, the caller owners are intelligibly focused connected comfort, style and history.

Besides Goode and McBride, who has a inheritance arsenic an entrepreneur and filmmaker, the partners see designer Ramin Shamshiri and restaurateur Warner Ebbink (who co-owns the Little Dom’s restaurants successful Los Feliz and Carpinteria and Bar Lou successful Montecito).

The waste closed successful September 2019. Then the pandemic arrived. It took six years of design, licence negotiations pinch the city, restoration and construction earlier the edifice reopened nether its original name.

Because the the Oaks was tally arsenic a mostly backstage fittingness retreat, McBride said, the restart of the edifice intends “it’s really unfastened to the organization for the first clip successful 50 years.”

The barroom successful La Cocina edifice astatine Hotel El Roblar.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Its meal restaurant, the Condor Bar, led by executive cook Brandon Boudet, opened July 17, serving “California Mexican” cuisine and utilizing a Santa Maria-style wood-fired grill. Work continues connected the 8 impermanent rooms successful the hotel’s Sycamore building, scheduled to unfastened successful mid-September.

Across Ventura Street from the hotel, the caller owners person besides bought a spot that erstwhile housed World University (which closed successful 2017). Their scheme still needs metropolis approval, but the edifice owners person said they purpose to unfastened a 9,000-square-foot spa and wellness installation “to complement the hotel” successful the adjacent 18 to 24 months.

The overarching idea, McBride said, is for the Roblar abstraction to consciousness “not for illustration a new, fancy hotel, but thing that’s ever been here.”

The nationalist areas and impermanent rooms are filled pinch civilization and ancient furnishings and much than 1,000 pieces of art, galore of them from California Auctioneers successful Casitas Springs and Early California Antiques successful Oxnard. The walls of the edifice are crowded afloat of condor images and artifacts — “like you’re having meal successful your favourite earthy history museum,” McBride said.

In the walled plot by the hotel’s bungalows, 2 Aldabra elephantine tortoises, Abra and Cadabra, creep betwixt sun and shade. (They’re connected indebtedness from the Turtle Conservancy. For $100 per adult, Roblar guests could motion up for a circuit of the conservancy’s Ojai property, which includes about 500 turtles and tortoises.)

The hotel’s website notes that the spot and its fireplaces, balconies and lifeguard-less excavation are “designed for adults” and that “we discourage children [as overnight guests] for information reasons.” Dogs nether 60 pounds are invited (with a $250 fee). Also, photography and video signaling “are not permitted successful shared spaces,” though a prohibition connected selfies mightiness beryllium difficult to enforce.

The Roblar’s rates hint astatine the short proviso of lodging successful Ojai, which has drawn galore intermezo manufacture figures yet guards its small-town characteristic aggressively.

Two of the partners down Ojai’s Hotel El Roblar are Jeremy McBride and Eric Goode.

(Dave Allocca / Starpix for HBO)

The metropolis has about 7,600 residents and a twelve hotels. It levies 1 of the state’s highest edifice taxation rates (15%), forbids short-term picnic rentals and bans chain businesses pinch 5 aliases much locations. The largest edifice successful municipality is the 303-room Ojai Valley Inn, which has its ain play people and summertime rates that commencement about $780.

In 2022, the schoolhouse committee turned down a scheme to person a schoolhouse territory tract into a 200-room hotel. Last year, Mayor Andy Gilman’s winning run called for civilian sermon and unfastened minds, but warned of “our over-dependence connected tourism.”

Parking mightiness beryllium the about arguable portion of the Roblar’s rebirth. To make room for different elements, the caller owners sewage support to return retired the hotel’s nationalist parking lot, unafraid off-site parking and require that guests usage valet work ($50 nightly). This satisfied metropolis officials, but not immoderate neighbors.

“Just different sickening show of LA $$$$. No existent parking,” 1 Ojai resident complained connected Facebook.

Awkward arsenic these debates could be, McBride said, it’s the protective cognition of Ojai residents that has helped support the city’s personality successful place.

“This spot is still truthful special,” he said. “There’s a logic why group who are present want to sphere it.”