OUR IDEAL OJAI DAY
With Celeste Matesevac & Marcia Doty, Book Ends Bookstore
Celeste Matesevac with Willa and Read Those of us who live in the Ojai Valley are truly blessed. Inspired by fascinating people with incredible and varied talents, surrounded by stunning natural beauty and enriched by a city more like a village with a fabled artistic history, we find ourselves expanding our own boundaries, making new friends daily and living a life that sparkles with the intensity of Ojai’s own “Pink Moment.” At BookEnds, the morning starts early. Our two self-winding alarm clocks, Willa and Read (BookEnds’ canine component) welcome the sun by ensuring that their human companions are also awake and ready to explore the delights of the day. Once the pooches are settled after some serious squirrel sniffing, Celeste Matesevac and I leave to pick up our friend from The Gables for “Breakfast at
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Bonnie Lu’s” where we are greeted with hugs by the staff, enjoy a delicious meal and catch up on the local news. From there, a stop to visit with Meg Goodwin at her “Ojai House” and see what’s new in her unique shop. (There is always something new and wonderful there!) Then a quick stop at Stacey Jones’ Ojai Coffee Roasting Company just to check in on her. Well, to check in on her AND get a delicious coffee to help us start OUR workday! Then it’s time to head back to Meiners Oaks and open BookEnds Bookstore & Curiosities! First though, Celeste performs the daily ceremonial “dusting of the books” while I make room for more books on the shelves. Celeste begins to open the three book shop areas: the 125-year-old door to our beautiful bookstore reimagined within
OM — December 2019
a 1943 church, followed by the 1961 Airstream (The Addendum) and the Tiny House Out Post (DIY). Each filled with fun and interesting books. As the morning gets underway, Celeste repairs and stacks books so yours truly, Marcia Doty, can distribute them in their appropriate places among the various genres for discovery by our customers. Throughout the day, we have the opportunity to chat with local customers and visitors from all over the world as they explore Meiners Oaks on foot, by car and by trolley. You can see BookEnds Bookstore is part of Ojai Museum’s newest exhibit: “Legacy: Krishnamurti & Ojai.” It runs until January and is a spectacular history of our valley in relation to Krishnamurti’s incredible influence which is a large part of how BookEnds came to be in Ojai.