Less than a two-hour drive up the California coast from Los Angeles, you arrive at what the 8,000-odd locals refer to—for good reason—as “Shangri-La.” It was the setting for Frank Capra’s 1937 film adaptation of James Hilton’s Lost Horizon.
The crown of this Californian jewel is the Hotel El Roblar—the oldest hotel in Ojai. And now, following years of civil negotiations and meticulous renovations, it has been restored to its former glory by the new owners, Eric Goode, Jeremy McBride, Ramin Shamshiri, and Warner Ebbink. Goode, a transplant from New York, is the co-creator of all sorts of downtown fixtures, like the 1980s nightclub Area and the Bowery Hotel.
