A look at Ojai in the late 1960s
Including: a historic rain year, thoughts on life and death, Ojai hippies, and animal photos.
Hello folks! Yesterday, I spent most of my day in the Ojai Valley Museum looking through 1968 and 1969 editions of the Ojai Valley News. As I flipped through the aging pages, I got completely distracted from my original mission1 and began taking photos of interesting headlines, initially just to share with a history buff friend.2 Ultimately, I found a wild mix of interesting/hilarious/heartrending stories that are worthy of a larger audience. As you cruise through, remember this: local news is invaluable.
Since the valley received some rain today, let’s begin with precipitation. 1968-1969 was an unbelievable rain year.
Here’s a quote from the February 26, 1969 edition of the OVN:
“On January 19th (1969), Ojai’s season total was six inches (of precipitation). In eight days two major storms dumped 24 inches and resulted in the valley being declared a national disaster area… That was a prelude to this week. Nine inches in the valley and up to 15 inches in the…
