112-115 DEST Ojai Valley Inn_SU07 10/23/13 9:14 PM Page 4
(Top left) Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy
Carter with Japanese Prime Minister
Yasuhiro Nakasone at the United StatesJapanese Summit, held at the resort. (Top
right) Ronald and Nancy Reagan were regular visitors to the resort. (Center) In the
1940s, the golf course was flattened to make
way for 1,000 army troops. (Bottom) The
resort sits against the Topa Topa Mountains.
$5.5-million property upgrade celebrated the
resort's 90th anniversary.
Brooke Atkins, who was born in Ojai and
returned with her husband and children as
soon as possible, knows there is a hard-todefine lure to the area.
"I jumped at the chance to come back,"
she says.
In a hall outside the resor t's Mar avilla
restaurant, storyboards depict the history of
the Inn and attempt to explain the allure. One
tells how in the 1920s, tourism brochures
promoted Ojai Valley in the following way:
"You sense the calm, the strange spirit of time
and solitude which hovers about the Valley—
eternal, unforgettable, and indescribable—
truly a Valley of Enchantment."
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa is located at 905 Country
Club Road, Ojai, CA, 93023. 855/697-8780 or
www.ojairestort.com.
C ARMEL
M AG A Z I N E • H O L I D AY
2013
115
