The 200-acre Ojai Valley Country Club had been taken over by first the Army, and then the Navy during WWII. When the war ended what would become of the property? Would it become tract homes, a bedroom community for Ventura? Or could the Country Club be successfully resurrected?
The Ojai Valley Inn is Born
A group of local ranchers was very interested in what would happen to the former Ojai Valley Country Club. Most were avid golfers. Those that didn't play golf, valued the country club as a social hub. The ranchers and their wives got together regularly for poker parties where they discussed the fate of the County Club. Growers, and not developers, they wanted Ojai to stay a rural paradise.
None wanted to see the property carved up into a new subdivision of tract homes. Yet that seemed the property's most likely fate.
Among others, the group included:
- Charles Teague, attorney, Limoneria heir and future Congressman, and his wife Marge of Hitching Post Ranch
- Charles Raymond, heir to the Goodrich Tire fortune, and his wife Valerie of Ladera Ranch
- Fanning and Ann Hearing of Running Ridge Ranch
-Clement Quinn, iron-ore mogul, of Twin Peaks Ranch
-Robert Calder Davis Sr. of Crooked Creek Ranch
also included was
-Rawson B. Harmon, the Libbey estate's representative in Ojai
Rawson B. Harmon was the poker players' ace in the hole. He originally made his fortune developing subdivisions in Detroit during the 1920s boom. He knew exactly how profitable those 200 acres would become during the postwar Southern California boom. As the Libbey estate's representative, he was perfectly positioned to achieve the desired outcome.
Harmon had co-founded Detroit's storied Oakland Hills Country Club in 1916. He knew the Ojai Valley Country Club was another jewel. He would not preside over its demise.
In October 1946, Harmon brokered the sale of the property for a reported $450,000. It sold to two groups of investors, one from Ojai and the other from Beverly Hills.
The Ojai contingent included Harmon, Chuck Teague, Charlie Raymond, Clem Quinn, Bob Davis, and Louis Boyle of Orchidtown.
The Beverly Hills group included the film stars Loretta Young, Irene Dunne, and Randolph Scott.
The project manager for the new resort was Don B. Burger. He was a former Hilton Hotels executive. No one recalls who it was who first alerted Burger to this Ojai opportunity. But he arrived with a plan. The golf course would be restored to its former glory. And the little 25-room hotel would be transformed into a major resort, to be renamed the Ojai Valley Inn.
None wanted to see the property carved up into a new subdivision of tract homes. Yet that seemed the property's most likely fate.
Among others, the group included:
- Charles Teague, attorney, Limoneria heir and future Congressman, and his wife Marge of Hitching Post Ranch
- Charles Raymond, heir to the Goodrich Tire fortune, and his wife Valerie of Ladera Ranch
- Fanning and Ann Hearing of Running Ridge Ranch
-Clement Quinn, iron-ore mogul, of Twin Peaks Ranch
-Robert Calder Davis Sr. of Crooked Creek Ranch
also included was
-Rawson B. Harmon, the Libbey estate's representative in Ojai
Rawson B. Harmon was the poker players' ace in the hole. He originally made his fortune developing subdivisions in Detroit during the 1920s boom. He knew exactly how profitable those 200 acres would become during the postwar Southern California boom. As the Libbey estate's representative, he was perfectly positioned to achieve the desired outcome.
Harmon had co-founded Detroit's storied Oakland Hills Country Club in 1916. He knew the Ojai Valley Country Club was another jewel. He would not preside over its demise.
In October 1946, Harmon brokered the sale of the property for a reported $450,000. It sold to two groups of investors, one from Ojai and the other from Beverly Hills.
The Ojai contingent included Harmon, Chuck Teague, Charlie Raymond, Clem Quinn, Bob Davis, and Louis Boyle of Orchidtown.
The Beverly Hills group included the film stars Loretta Young, Irene Dunne, and Randolph Scott.
The project manager for the new resort was Don B. Burger. He was a former Hilton Hotels executive. No one recalls who it was who first alerted Burger to this Ojai opportunity. But he arrived with a plan. The golf course would be restored to its former glory. And the little 25-room hotel would be transformed into a major resort, to be renamed the Ojai Valley Inn.
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Loretta Young
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Irene Dunn
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Randolph Scott
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Don B. Burger
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1947 brochure
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