Culture
Ojai's culture is heavily focused on ecology, health and organic agriculture, walking/hiking, spirituality, music and local art. It is often seen as a hippie-friendly city, and many New Age shops exist. Local festivals often promote peace activism and ecological awareness and an understanding of multiculturalism. The benign climate has also fostered subcultures devoted to driving and exhibiting classic cars and there are several motorcycle clubs that regularly tour through Ojai as well. On July 8, 1999 former Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad, one of only twelve men to ever walk on the surface of the moon, tragically died of injuries suffered from a motorcycle accident in forming light rain in Ojai.
The Ojai Music Festival, founded in 1947, is an annual festival of performances by some of the world's top musicians and composers, and occurs on the first weekend after Memorial Day. Notable appearances include Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Pierre Boulez, who was festival director in 2003. The outdoor bookshop Bart's Books, subject of news programs and documentaries, has been in Ojai since 1964. Ojai is home to the annual Ojai Playwrights Conference, a two week playwrights festival that brings professional writers and actors from across the country to Ojai. The community is served by The Ojai and Ventura VIEW, Ojai Valley News and The Ojai Post.
The script for the movie Head was written in Ojai by The Monkees, Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson. Ojai and the surrounding area was used as the backdrop for the 1937 Frank Capra film Lost Horizon.
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