Ojai, California

Ojai is a small city in Ventura County, California, set in the Ojai Valley northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east-west trending Western Transverse Ranges, roughly ten miles long and three miles wide, and is split into a lower and an upper valley with the Los Padres National Forest along its northern edge. The name comes from Rancho Ojai, a Mexican-era land grant, which in turn took its name from the Ventureno Chumash word for the moon. The town was laid out in 1874 as Nordhoff, named for the writer Charles Nordhoff, and drew settlers who came for the valley's reputation for healthy air. The 2020 census counted 7,637 residents. Ojai is known for boutique hotels, hiking, a farmers market of local organic produce and small businesses in art and design, and a city ordinance prohibits chain stores to protect that character. Its self-styled nickname is Shangri-La, after the sanctuary in the 1937 film adaptation of Lost Horizon.