Ojai: Talk of the Town

The Ojai Studio Artists Tour (Oct. 12-14) kicks off this year with a reception on Friday, Oct. 11th from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Ojai Valley Museum. Then on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Columbus Day holiday) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 63 local artists open their homes to the public. Tickets are only $20 and go to fund scholarships for aspiring young artists. Painter Christopher Noxon and ceramicist Suze G...

Bart’s Books, the world’s largest outdoor bookstore, has been a beloved Ojai institution for decades. However, it wasn’t until Emma Bailey, who started selling books there as a teenager, took the helm of their event programming that Bart’s began hosting regular author conversations. Since launching the series in June 2022, Emma has organized over 30 live events, gathering writers and local experts...

lona Saari, born in Bayside, Queens, and later a freelance writer in Manhattan, has always had a deep passion for food and mysteries. After moving from New York to Los Angeles to work in TV and film, she eventually found herself and her husband settling in the peaceful village of Ojai. Now the culinary columnist for  Ojai Quarterly , her love for food has become a central theme in her life and wri...

With Magic Hour relocating to an expanded downtown location on East Matilija Street, adjacent to Rainbow Bridge, it's a good time to repost this fan favorite from 2022: Zhena Muzyka is an acclaimed author "Life by the Cup," a social entrepreneur, teacher, executive coach, public speaker, and former publisher of Enliven Books, a new Mind-Body-Spirit imprint from Atria/Simon and Schust...

In this episode of Ojai Talk of the Town , I had the pleasure of sitting down with two key figures from the Gables of Ojai as the beloved senior living facility celebrates its 70th anniversary. Matteo DiGrigoli, the Gables’ executive director, and David Brown, CEO of Somera Capital Management, joined me to reflect on the institution's rich history and its future. The Gables has long been an in...

Dr. Vander was well on his way to a career in as a medical doctor, when a random encounter with a series of physiology experiments about kidneys intrigued him, and led him into a half century of scientific studies and authoring books at the University of Michigan. He became a leading expert on kidney function and much more, literally writing the textbook. He is still keeping up-to-date with the la...

David Odorisio, an Ojai resident and Pacifica Graduate Institute professor, recently compiled a collection of essays from Thomas Merton, the mystic, monk, philosopher and author, titled, "Merton in California: The Redwood Conferences & Letters." He was featured by Kit Stolz in the Summer issue of Ojai Quarterly. Odorisio talked about his lifelong fascination with Merton, the Trappist...

Rainer F. Buschmann is a professor of history at California State University, Channel Islands, and has just published "Hoarding New Guinea," about the German obsession for collecting through their Pacific imperialist years in 1880s to World War I. We talked about the European and U.S. desires for overseas empires, and the subsequent carving up large swathes of the globe. The Germans help...

Louise Sandhaus is a distinguished author, professor and founder of her eponymous design studio. She won the American Institute of Graphic Arts medal in 2022 for her exceptional achievements. Most recently, she founded "The People's Graphic Design Archive," which she describes as a "crowd-sourced virtual archive" to preserve the ephemeral nature of beautiful design. Her book, "Earthquakes, Mudslid...

Executive Director Jeremy Cohen returns to the podcast to talk about this year's Ojai Playwrights Conference, in which 8 playwrights are selected from among hundreds of submissions to develop their work with a dedicated crew of dramaturgs, theater directors, actors and fellow writers in an intensive two-week workshop, which culminates in a weekend of live public readings (August 1 - 4). This y...

Alexander "Sandy" Treadwell found Ojai when his wife Libby took out a compass and drew a circle around a map, looking for a new home within 90 miles of Los Angeles, close enough for their LA grandchildren, rural for their farm animals, and with a thriving arts community. Treadwell's varied career included covering college football at Sports Illustrated , state GOP Chair in New York,...

Author Ivor Davis has written seven books, "The Devil in my Friend" is the latest, co-written with his late wife, Sally. It's a stirring account of his neighbor in Malibu in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Fred Roehler, who worked as a diver and engineer for the U.S. Navy. When Roehler survived a boating accident that claimed the life of his wife, Verna, and step-son, Doug, people be...

With Mesa Farms opening to its first residents this month, it's a good time to re-post our interview with Dan Parziale from 2022. --- Dan Parziale and co-founder Kyle Thompson came together early in the pandemic around the idea that young adults aging out of the foster care system are basically thrown out on their own with few resources or information. No wonder so many end up homeless, perpet...

Ojai author and playwright Robin Gerber recently returned from New York City where her play about Katherine Graham's tumultuous and consequential life was performed by the inimitable Sharon Lawrence. Afterwards, Robin hosted a panel discussion about domestic violence with Gloria Steinem. It's been quite a journey for Gerber, whose one-woman work about Graham was developed at the Ojai Playw...

Artist & illustrator Daren Thomas Magee has seen his career explode since moving to Ojai, and it all started with a simple postcard that he created and started passing around. He has since amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram where he delves into life's big question while moving merchandise. The conversation ranged around many topics, beginning with his making a move int...

Nigel Chisholm, with his gregarious nature and forward-facing businesses (The Village Jester and now Feros Ferio Winery), has been a local fixture for decades. He also has a deep humanitarian focus, inspired by his father and uncles who braved Hitler's bombs during World War II. So when in February 2022, Putin's Russia launched a massive invasion of Ukraine, Chisholm felt compelled to help...

Adam Gallegos' roundabout journey from Washington, D.C. to Ojai was filled with serendipitous encounters and unexpected detours, but he's happily ensconced in our smiling vale, 9 years and counting as founder and proprietor of Revel Kombucha, famous for its clean taste and healthful deliciousness. Gallegos' Jun-style Kombucha is brewed from organic honey and green tea, imparting a mild...

Tobi Jo Greene's own experiences as a girl growing up in Ojai inspired her to start the Girls Empowerment Workshop nearly 20 years ago. Now expanded to the Empowerment Workshop, teaching girls, and now all youth, skills to help them navigate adolescence and other crisis moments in their lives in a social-media saturated era of identity crisis and confusion. The goal is to help children learn a...

Ojai Music Festival Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian brings his customary wisdom, wit and insight into a preview for this year's festival (June 6-9) with renowned pianist and conductor Mitsuko Uchida returning for her third time. Ojai, known for its daring programming, promises to stretch boundaries this year with a mix of familiar music (Haydn, Mozart) and modernists Webern, John Adams and Jo...

Franz Lidz returns to the podcast to talk about his recent bylines in the New York Times, where he covers the science and archaeology beat. He takes complex topics and distills them down to highly informative, entertaining and useful narratives. The NYT published his story, headlined "They Shoot Owls in California" about the invasive Barred Owls, which are displacing the endangered Spotted Owl thr...

Mesa Farm is an innovative program designed to help kids aging out of the foster system, run by Ojai-born-and-raised Dan Parziale. They recently brought in ten tiny homes and are within days of welcoming their first residents. The Farm gives these youth, ages 18-24, the skills to succeed in life, from job training partnerships with local businesses, farming opportunities on the farm itself, to lea...

The Ojai that renowned architect Marc Whitman grew up in is very different than it is now. And in the ways that it is better, Marc can take some of the credit, through his prolific career with residential and commercial buildings, such as Saddle Mountain and the Iguana Hotels. Recently, Marc proposed a plan to convert the 7.5 acres in downtown Ojai to an arts academy and live-work space, literally...

This episode we're joined by Besant Hill's Head of School Portia Johnson, and senior Eden Munster to talk about this weekend's Spring Arts Festival (April 19-20). This event showcases the students' projects but also the legendary school's focus on creativity. With its motto, "Aun Auprendo" - Always Learning - Besant Hill School stays true to its conception as a place...

Cary Odes has been a standup comic for 45 years, coming up through the ranks at the legendary Comedy Store in Los Angeles, sharing the stage with David Letterman, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams, under the tutelage of Mitzi Shore, where he was the very first paid regular. More importantly to Ojai, he's been teaching standup comedy here in Ojai for more than 20 years, turning a bunch of boring...

When not raising children, horses and rabbits at her home in our city, Ojai Police Chief Trina Newman runs the Ojai substation with its 25 Ventura County Sheriff's Deputies, patrolling the Ojai and Lockwood Valleys. Capt. Newman is a 26-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and has held several positions in her tenure with the Sheriff’s Office including as a school resource offic...