Taormina, the community that has been designated Ojai’s first Historic District, has been chronicled in a
new book by historian Helene Vachet: Taormina’s Historic Past and Continuing Story. The book traces the journey taken by a small group of spiritually inclined individuals, Theosophists, who believed it was possible for a community to grow where people of diverse backgrounds could live together sharing a common set of beliefs. The influence of theosophists in the Ojai Valley coincide with the creation and growth of the Taormina community.
The book is available in Ojai at the Ojai Valley Museum, Bookends, Krotona Quest Bookstore and Meditation Mount and on the web at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.