From Turtle King to "Tiger King" with Eric Goode

Eric Goode knew that he had an amazing show on his hands with "Tiger King," the seven-episode documentary series about Joe Exotic, the gay polygamist zookeeper in Oklahoma who is now serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison for a murder-for-hire plot against his chief critic, animal activist Carole Baskin. The Netflix show's colorful cast of eccentrics helped the show capture the cultural moment. "We had a captive audience for a show about captive tigers," he said. Goode has his own colorful past, which we explore in our wide-ranging talk. But it's his deep love for Ojai which informs much of his work. The founder of the Ojai Turtle Conservancy, Goode is a globe-trotting conservationist with a keen interest in preserving and protecting endangered species, especially the turtles and tortoises. He spent a portion of his childhood roaming the Sespe backcountry, when his father Frederick taught at Thacher School. We talk about how turtles, which have been around more than 200 million years -  before dinosaurs entered the scene even - surviving apocalyptic events like meteor strikes and ice ages, are now up against their most formidable foe, a strange primate which evolved out of the Great Rift Valley less than 200,000 years ago, which now number 7.7 billion. Of the 350 or so turtle and tortoise species, half are endangered. We also talk about the southwestern pond turtle, native to Ojai's beautiful backcountry, was identified as a separate species in 2014, and how the Turtle Conservancy is working the Thacher School students for their science program. Goode emphasizes the Ojai's incredible natural beauty is intact only because of generations of environmentalists and activists who have staved off existential threats like uranium mines and landfills. But the coast is far from clear as the Trump Administration opened the Carrizo Plain, the last intact San Joaquin Valley eco-system, to oil drilling.  Goode says that this pandemic is a stark warning to mankind. When we intrude and disrupt wild places,  zoonotic pathogens, like Covid-19, make the jump to humans and kill millions. We also talk about Goode's other artistic enterprises, including the club Area, a New York City hotspot that combined art with nightlife in an innovative way that created its own community of important artists like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquait, Julian Schnabel and was mentored by the ever-evolving Andy Warhol. It was a time of amazing brilliance and creativity, and Goode was in the middle of it all.  Goode and two partners have bought the Oaks at Ojai from the Cluff family, which has owned the 60-room hotel since the 1970s. Closed since the Thomas Fire in late 2017, the downtown community is eager to see the hotel restored to its former glory by these experienced hoteliers. Goode owns several hotels in New York City, including the well-known Bowery Hotel and the Waverly Inn.