He was the Man in Black. And from 1961 to 1966, Johnny Cash was also the man in Casitas Springs.
The iconic performer designed and built a 4,500-square-foot ranch-style house in the small town north of Ventura with his first wife, Vivian, as a secluded retreat from fame.
"Elvis was doing movies at the time," explained Lisa Kenton, who is the current owner of the property. "So they're like, 'Johnny, you're gonna do movies. We're flying you and your whole family out to Los Angeles'. He hated L.A., so the real estate agent brought him up, starting to go up to Ojai. And before he even got to Ojai, he saw this little town of Casita Springs. And he's like, 'Wait, wait, wait, wait, what's this town?'"
"So they said, 'Oh, Johnny, this is where the oil workers are'. And he goes, 'Well, that's where I wanna be. That's exactly where I want to be. I wanna to be with the oil workers,'" said Kenton.
A couple of years ago, Kenton bought the house for the asking price, just under $1.8 million.
She recruited a local designer, who also happens to be her best friend, Alicia Beaty, and they spent over a year restoring the property that Cash poured his heart and spirit into.
"We brought it back to the glory as much as we could," said Kenton,
"We felt like it was like a time capsule where we wanted to save as much of Johnny Cash as possible," added Beaty. "These are all the original stairs. They were all falling apart, and so this was one of the first parts of the renovations that we did."
Kenton pointed to an outdoor barbecue area.
"It's so exciting, because this was his man cave," she explained.
Kenton raved about the view from Cash's bedroom windows, a room in which they had meticulously restored the black popcorn ceiling, a feature that had been glittered.
The kitchen has two refrigerators, just as it did in Cash's time.
"So there were always two refrigerators. They liked to party," commented Kenton.
She delighted in showing a unique record player that opens out from the wall. One can almost feel the presence of the Cash family, picturing them blowing dust from a Patsy Cline record and placing it on the machine to play.
Cline wasn't just on the turntable; she was also a regular visitor at the Cash house.
"Apparently, a lot of Patsy Cline played on this. I think Vivian was feeling the blues a lot when she was here," said Kenton.
Johnny and Vivian had four daughters while they lived here. Kenton confirmed that some of them returned more recently for a visit.
"When [daughter] Cindy came in, she just froze, and she's like, 'I feel like this house just hugged me'. And then she just cried," she said.
Outside are the Cypress trees he planted, the pool they swam in, and the playhouse that Cash constructed for his daughters.
"Johnny built this," said Kenton. "This was a playhouse for the girls. When we got here, we asked Cindy and the girls, 'Is it okay if we change it into a bar?' And they were like, 'Noooo. Well...okay."
What’s the plan for the house that's been called the West Coast’s Graceland?
Kenton conducts private tours of the ranch, for the first time, as well as events.
"It is kind of like a mini Graceland. Patsy Cline was here. June Carter was even here. It's like a museum, you know, but it's comfortable," said Kenton.
