The Moon's Nest Inn was originally built in 1874 as a single-story schoolhouse and community center the first in the Ojai Valley. After a series of additions, it was used as a residence and then a public boarding house. In 1982 the building was improved and became the Ojai Manor Hotel, a small inn with six rooms and two baths. Some 15 years later, with many structural and mechanical problems, the building once again needed a major renovation to survive.

Rich and Joan Assenberg purchased the building in June of 1997. They closed the inn for a year to correct the structural problems and add heating and air conditioning, private baths, and balconies. "We loved the downtown location but wanted to give our guests a sense of quiet and privacy." They enclosed the new gardens and pond with walls and vines that accent the property and the magnificent old oak trees.