Recent Comments

I agree! Feels like we keep getting the same genre of restaurants (expensive also) opening up in Montecito and I would love to have a linden square/public market kind of casual dining with different cuisines open up in that part of town.

I love Ojai Rotie! Lucky Carpinteria!!!

Spot on, Brad. Unfortunately, in SB, all the blue-striped toothpaste is out of the tube...

Love the history of this ranch.! Thanks for sharing.

Biergarden, Funkzone

Affordable units? Land is expensive, construction is expensive,…. How do we burden a private party trying to provide housing with a mandated loss to address an issue they did not create? This will result is less housing and higher prices …. Do the leaders wanting these policies ever look this reality or just roll with the emotional ideas that sound so good and don’t work?

Yes!

I agree 110% . Kindness, please. Siteline is a treasure.

By the time the SB Biltmore opens, it would have been closed for a decade. Hard to believe this was permitted by the County, let alone the indicator about TW's mental health.

Agreed. We have Nextdoor and Edhat for that crap, let's keep Siteline sane and civil.

I'm noticing that lately there has been a change in tone to the comments skewing nastier and negative here on Siteline. For me, that tone is completely against why most of us are here. This is a fun, smart, and hyperlocal site that is very much appreciated.

I just walked through the hotel last week and it has such an authentic, rustic, old-world vibe. The exterior is lovely and the interior is exquisite! I was surprised at how much I liked the dark, moody lobby. It's a stark transition from the outdoors, but it works! It transports you right away to another era...another place and time, which is perfect for a getaway. And everything from the rugs to the furniture, the light fixtures to the art...all have been selected so mindfully and tastefully. And the brass and leather keyring! WOW! I would like to know the name of the artist that made those beauties. I also would like to know who painted the gorgeous mural on the interior of the hotel lobby depicting scenes of the Sespe Wilderness, local wildlife, iconic Ojai architecture, Chumash history and much more. Erik, did you happen to ask them who the artist was/is when you were there? Also, I couldn't help laughing out-loud reading about the closets being "on the sad side of quaint." Because, well, that is just a very funny description. Like something David Sedaris would say! There was also one other detail that I thought was very intriguing in the hotel restaurant...the La Cantina. It was the terra cotta tile on the walls. It looks like they used the back side of the tile instead of the front side creating a rustic, corrugated, adobe brick-like feel. I'll have to ask about that design decision next time I pop in. It makes the restaurant walls look so earthy and unique with the feel of old brick walls, but much more interesting! Thank you for the great photos, Erik. Especially the view from the second floor patio overlooking the Ojai Playhouse and Rory's Other Place. That is a view that I will never see myself, so it's nice to live vicariously through you! p.s. I loooooooved seeing the giant tortoise on the property being cared for so beautifully with GIANT piles of kale for snacking and terra cotta saucers filled with water for hydration. A fantastic invitation to The Turtle Conservancy on the east end of Ojai, which is a MUST see! Manci Rasmussen was our educator and guide and she was fantastic! So generous with her knowledge about the turtles and TRULY a lover of nature and animals. If I remember correctly I think she mentioned having a degree in Zoology. You can tell that she LOVES her job, which makes the tour of that gorgeous property with it's MAGICAL turtles even MORE delightful!