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OJAI MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2022
The hair salon on Signal Street with a history and a future
A CUT ABOVE THE REST
by JESSICA CIENCIN HENRIQUEZ
in a town as rapidly changing as ojai, some things remain the same. the post office bell tolls on the hour, the sunsets stay divine, and 312 north signal street has always been a hair salon. The building was completed in 1968 by Tom and Agnes Montgomery, a husband and wife team who wanted to work together, have lunch together, but still have enough room to maintain their sanity. The front half of the building became Montgomery’s Barber Shop, and the building’s side entrance led into the beauty salon. Their son, Duane, worked as a cosmetologist in the salon until his father’s death, at which point he took over as a barber. In the years since, Duane has retired, and the keys have changed hands to several stylists, but its newest storefront, Bohéme, looks like it’s here to stay. In the summer of 2020, Bohéme was enthusiastically welcomed into the neighborhood, earning the spot of Ojai’s Best Salon in its first year of business. Bohéme’s owner and Ojai native, Jen Keeler, confessed she’d been eyeing the space for
School. In her 20s she had her sights set on the stage and thought she might pursue acting, a profession not hard to imagine with Keeler’s ocean-blue eyes, flawless smile, and bubbly energy. “I loved theater; I met my husband doing a play together. But, I had an acting teacher who said, ‘If you ever find anything else in the world you love, that fills your cup, do that instead,’ and that’s what I’m doing now.” After Keeler made a name for herself in the Los Angeles beauty scene, securing a steady list of high-profile clientele on Melrose, she returned to her hometown to give her daughters the same roots that helped shape her. “I had the most magical childhood here, and I wanted to recreate it for my girls. It’s a total dream come true to watch them grow up where I did, play in the same parks, walk down the same school path my friends and I used to run down when we were kids.” Though Keeler’s plan for Bohéme was years in the making, the opening came with its share of unexpected snags. As COVID-19 swept through the country and California residents entered lockdown, Keeler locked in the lease, unsure when it would be safe to open. “We were told a couple of weeks, but none of us knew back then how long this would last. I decided to use that time to renovate the space and make it our own.”
years before it finally became available. “There’s history in those walls and hair in the floorboards — to me, that makes this place incredibly unique.”
Keeler brought her childhood friend and interior-design powerhouse Lilly Walton on board to help execute her vision. “Jen’s always dreamt of having her own salon, so it was always in the back of our minds that when the time came I’d be right there to help her bring it to life.” Though the pair had been friends since they were 4 years old, there were details of Keeler’s vision Walton couldn’t have known until they stood in the stripped space together. “It was important for Jen to have one big open room for the stylists to work side-by-side, feeding off of each other’s energy. She wanted to be able to kick open the doors with her foot if her hands were full or if her gloves were covered in color. These were things only Jen knew, so I took notes on the details and demands of her job and worked them into the design.” The remodel took six weeks, and Keeler was there with her team every step of the way.
History is important to Keeler, not only Ojai’s history but her own. She grew up in Ojai and graduated from Oak Grove
“This project gave me purpose during the pandemic. It got me out of the house and gave me something to do every day. My
