Ojai, California is a small town located about an hour and a half north from Los Angeles and an hour south of Santa Barbara. It's first inhabitants were the Chumash Indians, who gave it the name of Ojai, which means "Valley of the Moon". Through a grant called the Rancho Ojai Mexican land, Fernando Tico established a cattle ranch in 1837. In 1853, Tico sold the land to those in search of oil, who had little success. The area was settled in 1864 and was eventually laid out by a real estate developer named R.G. Surdam who eventually named it Nordhoff to honor the writer Charles Nordhoff. Due to the anti-German sentiment during World War I, places with German and German-sounding names were changed. Through this, Nordhoff was renamed Ojai once again in 1917.
Edward Libbey's interest was instantly peaked once he saw the valley, in which sparked his ideas for the expansion and beautification of the town. Libbey aided in the designing, financing building of the new downtown after a fire destroyed most of the western-styled Nordhoff/Ojai in 1917. Libbey combined a contemporary style with the Colonial-Revival architecture. The new architecture included Havana-inspired bell-tower, a pergola and a Spanish-styled arcade. The citizens wanted to thank Libbey so they proposed to celebrate "Libbey Day" on March 2nd of each year. Libbey declined the name and changed it to "Ojai Day". This celebration still takes place in October each year. Due to an explosion in 1971, Libbey's pergola was destroyed. In order to maintain the architectural continuity, the pergola was rebuilt in the early 2000s. Along with this, the town added a new park in 2002, called Cluff Vista Park. This park provides a home for several small, themed native California vegetation.
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By Samantha Lydick
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