Paradise in Ventura–Only Slightly Worn

Look up the town of Ojai in any tourist magazine or book, and the first thing you’ll learn is that its landscape was the stand in for Shangri-La in the old movie “Lost Horizon.”   It is a beautiful place, about as close to paradise as you can get.

Except when it’s hot.  It gets really hot there in the summer.

Hot or cold, rain or sun, summer or winter, we’ve been known to make the hour and a half long trek to Ojai simply for the pleasure of shopping at Bart’s Books.   Back when our country’s supply of gas seemed a lot more plentiful, and the economy wasn’t yet the source of scary campfire stories (“and then our mutual fund dropped another thirty percent in less than twenty-four hours!”), we would toss the kids into the car on a Sunday morning, drive through the San Fernando Valley into Thousand Oaks and then up through Ventura and finally head up into the hills and back down again into the Ojai Valley where we’d stop at Bart’s Books (leaving time to get lost–we can never find the street it’s on, first go-round) for a long, leisurely book hunt which always culminated in stacks of books being tossed into our care before we headed off to eat a lazy lunch at one of the many nice little restaurants in town.  Then it would be time for a stroll down the one block that makes up Ojai’s downtown, some play time at the park across the street (maybe a bike ride if we brought the bikes) and then back to LA in time for Sunday family dinner.

We can’t really justify doing all that driving anymore just to go to a bookstore (although anyone reading this blog may well be in sympathy with the impulse), so we’ll have to find reasons to stay in Ojai longer.  Like spending a few days at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, which is a lovely resort and the original draw that brought us to Ojai in the first place.

Back in the blissful lonely and unsatisfying days before we had kids, Rob and I were always looking for excuses to escape whatever small apartment we were living in and spend a romantic mini-vacation somewhere that felt far away but was really within a reasonable driving distance of LA.   So when I read in my “weekend escapes from LA” book that Ojai was the stand-in for Shangri-La (See?  It’s a very effective selling tool), off we went for the weekend.  We liked the resort, we liked the town of Ojai with its pretty little shops filled with artisans’ handwork, we liked the home-made scoops at Ojai Ice Cream, but most of all we liked Bart’s Books.

Bart’s is a used bookstore set in and around what was clearly once someone’s home.  Most of the bookstore is outdoors–fortunately the lot is well shaded with plenty of trees.  Even so, on a hot day, you’ll find a fair number of customers crowded into the original little house, which has air condioning, fans, and a kitchen devoted to–what else?–cookbooks!  Inside the house you’ll also find the rarer books: first editions, leatherbound classics, and signed copies.

Outdoors, the sheer volume of books is staggering.  Bookcases spread in every direction, as far as the eye can see.  Ultimately, if you keep following them around, you will make a full circle, but it feels endless while you’re exploring.  Their literature and fiction section ducks in and out of little entryways–my science teacher would have referred to that as “more surface area,” and since every right angle wall is covered with bookshelves, it does function rather like the villa on your intestinal walls, providing more storage space than you would think possible given the outside dimensions of the place.

There’s also a large children’s section and tons of non-fiction titles, divided into their various subjects.

The last time we were there, the place had been recently cleaned and painted, probably a fairly necessary bit of upkeep given the fact the majority of their books are exposed to the outdoor air, and dirt and bugs tend to settle on outdoor objects, even in Shangri-La.  We spent the morning there with all four kids who completely got into the thrill-of-the-hunt aspect of such a big used bookstore–cries of, “Mom, you’ve GOT to see this!” resounded from every corner of the lot.  (My fourteen-year-old son seriously asked if he could have his birthday party there next spring.)

The kids’ favorite part of the store by far though was what you see when you first drive up to park: shelves set into the outdoor walls that fence off the property, filled with books that you can buy any time of the day or night, all on the honor system (there’s some kind of fixed bucket with a slot, I believe, to receive your payment).  My kids had never seen that kind of trust in a retail store and I honestly think it delighted them in some deep, “people are good” kind of way.

But Rob and I were already sold on the place and had been the very first time we went there, when I, newly married, looked up my new last name on a whim and discovered, to my amazement, that their shelves held several copies of a book that my husband’s grandmother had written (with the help of his father) many decades earlier.

That visit and that find happened a long time ago: now there are tons of online book sites, dedicated to finding obscure used books, but back then used bookstores were few and far between and stumbling on something unexpected and wonderful felt like a little miracle, quite fitting when you’re in a place like Shangri-La.

Bart’s Books

302 West Matlija Street
Ojai, California 93023
Phone: (805) 646-3755

www.bartsbooksojai.com