Ojai Rancho Inn

We love the Ojai Rancho Inn. The newest project of Shelter Social Club (the folks behind the Hamlet Inn in Solvang, the Agave Inn in Santa Barbara and Sama Sama Test Kitchen in Santa Barbara), this Inn doesn't look like much from the outside: A rustic, lodge-like motel, a parking lot and some cacti. But oh! Even the front office is impeccably designed, with old-school thermoses of coffee on the porch, beautiful ceramic light fixtures and lots of handmade, local goods for sale (also, more cacti). The hotel's aesthetic is a perfect mix of modern and rustic, clean and earthy. The rooms each have their own front porch (with vintage camp chairs), plus log bedframes and raised hottubs for an upscale motel experience. There are cruiser bikes for borrowing, a pretty standard pool in back, and a rough-hewn stage and lawn for the growing number of shows and parties on the property. Because here's the deal: the Ojai Rancho Inn is blowing up. It has aesthetically-minded LA folks reserving rooms in droves—the hotel is now booked through November—and Instagramming the crap out of their stay. Dub Club plays pool parties, hipsters get married, etc. It's perfectly styled, pefectly affected—if it becomes any more like the Ace hotel in Palm Springs, we're doomed, but as is, we'd rather not stay anywhere else.