Story From Wikipediaphotos by Brady Teufel

San Luis Obispo (Spanish for St. Louis, the Bishop) is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast. The city, referred to locally as SLO or “San Luis,” is the county seat of San Luis Obispo County and is adjacent to California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). As of the 2000 census, the city population was 44,174. The city is home to San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport that offers private and commercial air service to several major cities in the west. Amtrak provides daily rail service here as the terminus of the Pacific Surfliner line and a stop on the Coast Starlight line. Greyhound also maintains a bus terminal in San Luis Obispo. Public transportation includes the citywide SLO Transit bus lines as well as the countywide SLO Regional Transit system. Rideshare encourages the use of the lo-cal public transit, as well as carpooling and biking. Cycling is occasionally used as a mode of transportation in San Luis Obispo. Bike lanes are maintained on a few of the streets and the numbers of bike stands are increasing, especially in the downtown area. Parking in the downtown area can be a challenge for those inter-ested in finding a spot directly in front of their final destination. The city provides parking in three multistory parking structures throughout downtown at: Chorro and Marsh street intersection; Palm Street be-tween Chorro and Morro streets; on Palm Street between Chorro and Osos streets. Street parking downtown is metered. The structures are free for the first hour and 75 cents per hour thereafter. Since San Luis Obispo’s located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, it has long been a stopping point for travelers. In fact, the word motel was coined here when the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo was estab-

lished in 1925. Since then, the pleasant year-round climate, pretty scenery, and well preserved, walk able downtown have made the city a tourist desti-nation in itself.Downtown San Luis Obispo is centered around the carefully restored Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, originally built in 1772. It is one of the best-preserved examples of Spanish Mission architecture and among the oldest buildings in California. Its bells are unique in that, unlike other California missions, the bell ringer stands in the bell room with the bells when ringing the cadenc-es. The downtown area also boasts many eclectic shops and boutiques.Another big tourist attraction is Hearst Castle, the vast estate of publishing magnate William Ran-dolph Hearst, 43 miles to the north of San Luis

Obispo. The Madonna Inn is another famous local landmark. Established by Alex Madonna in 1958, the inn is a famously eccentric building known for its generous helping of pink, wildly kitschy decor, themed guest rooms, and a waterfall urinal in a men’s restroom. The Fremont Theater is a historic Art Deco theater from the 1940s. It has appeared in many movies including a three second clip in My Blue Heaven.One famous tourist destination is Bubble Gum Al-ley. Since about 1960, people have been sticking their chewed gum on the wall of this alley located on Higuera Street, between Broad and Garden streets. Bubble Gum Alley has even appeared on national television.Another big attraction is the development of Edna

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Valley into a well-known wine region. Just south of the city, people can spend an afternoon wine tasting several wineries in the area with a very short drive. Some of these wineries have won awards and acclaim for their vintages. The wine region extends north beyond Paso Robles (30 miles north) and Santa Ynez (70 miles south). A field station of the Marine Mammal Cen-ter is located in San Luis Obispo to support sea rescue and beach stranding rescue operations for this section of the California coast. One of the main draws is Farmers’ Market, a large festival held downtown on Higuera Street every Thursday evening year-round from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.. About three-quarters of a mile of the street is closed to cars. Live entertainment is featured and local farmers and vendors sell goods and pro-duce. The Farmers’ Market was created in 1983 to

Map from San Luis Obispo Vintners Association

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Highway 1 is famous for running along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world.

make use of downtown streets blocked off to end a tradition of teen/collegiate cruising. Farmers and vendors were allowed to set up between barricades as a way to bring people back to the downtown area. Later, all traf-fic was blocked off, making the downtown Farmers’ Market one long “mall,” even rerouting part of a state highway to accom-modate the street closures. The Farmers’ Market brought a great deal of revenue and has become internationally known. San Luis Obispo has been home of several other events, including a stop on the way of the Olympic Torch, the Tour of Cali-fornia bicycle race, Cinco de Mayo celebra-tions, as well as a long-standing Christmas Parade. A Mardi Gras parade that was well attended has been fraught with difficul-ties related to crowd control and alcohol consumption. Debate about the cost of the parade, and the associated crowd control, continues.Mardi Gras has not been the only local event reined in after gaining acceptance. Cal Poly’s open house, Poly Royal, was held every April until a 1990 riot of drunk-en revelers, many visitors to town, caused damage throughout residential neighbor-hoods and the business district. The univer-

sity cancelled the event for several years before reintroducing a scaled-down Open House. While Poly Royal welcomed the community for hikes, carnivals, “magic” shows put on by the Chemistry Depart-ment, and other public performances, the revamped version is designed for students and parents. Jamba Juice, famous for its fruit smoothies, was founded in this town. For-merly called Juice Club, Jamba Juice is now a national chain. Although Juice Club was not a Cal Poly senior project, three of the four co-founders, Joe Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Olds did graduate from the university. Jamba Juice still exists at the original Juice Club location. City ordinance prevents businesses of any sort (fast-food restaurants) from constructing new drive-up or drive-through windows or services. Two branches of one local bank are the only locations in the en-tire city with drive-up service; their drive-up service existed before the ordinance became law. The dentist office on the corner of Santa Rosa and Pacific streets is one of very few commercial buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

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A glass of Chardonnay while watching the sunset with your significant other is a great end to a wonderful day.

A horse race on turf named the San Luis Obispo Handicap is run at the Santa Anita Park in honor of this city. San Luis Obispo was the first American town to ban indoor smoking in all locations, in-cluding bars and restaurants. The dentist office on the corner of Santa Rosa and Pacific streets is one of very few com-mercial buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. A horse race on turf named the San Luis Obispo Handicap is run at the Santa Anita Park in honor of this city. San Luis Obispo was the first American town to ban indoor smoking in all locations, in-cluding bars and restaurants.

Oprah Winfrey San Luis Obispo is claimed to be the “happiest place in the world.” There is a lot of great wine, hikes and people to enjoy this wonderful area of the Central Coast!

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