505 S Ventura Street, Ojai, CA 93023

Some houses you tour. This one you feel — the moment you step under the heritage oak and through the door. Tucked beneath that magnificent oak on a quarter-acre of established gardens, 505 South Ventura Street is an Ojai original: a 1980 wood-and-adobe home with soaring vaulted wood ceilings, exposed beams and skylights, and not one but two fireplaces — a sculpted adobe hearth in the living room, floor-to-ceiling stone in the family room. The backyard is the main event. A covered patio built for long dinners — built-in barbecue island with a grill plumbed to natural gas (no propane tank to run out mid-dinner), seating for eight, ceiling overhead — looks over the pool and spa, surrounded by mature plantings that make it feel a world away. It isn't. Libbey Bowl, the Arcade, and downtown's restaurants are a short walk from your front door. Inside, the main-level primary bedroom is a private retreat with its own bath. Upstairs, a second suite — a 16'10" × 23'9" bonus room with its own...