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A guide to San Luis Obispo
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NAVIGATE: Transportation page 3 || Location 4 || History & Tourism 5 || Events 6
LIVING IN
A L L P H O T O S B Y B R A D Y T E U F E L
By Brady Teufel (AKA WIKIPEIDA)
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). 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 bellroom with theells when ringing the cadences.
Bike lanes are maintained on a few of the streets and the number of bike stands are increasing, especially in the downtown area. Parking in the downtown area can
be a challenge for those interested in finding a spot di-rectly 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 between Chorro and Morro streets; on Palm
2
There are 44,174 residents in San Luis Obispo according to the 2000 census.
QUICK FACT!
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ABOVE: A bike trail in Los Osos. BELOW: Panorama from Poly Canyon Village
TransportationThe city is home to San Luis
Obispo County Regional Airport
which offers private and commer-
cial air service to several major
cities in the west. Amtrak provides
daily rail service here as the ter-
minus of the Pacific Surfliner line
and a stop on the Coast Starlight
line. Greyhound also maintains a
bus terminal in San Luis Obispo.
Cycling is occasionally used as a
mode of transportation in San Luis
Obispo.
3
San Luis Obispo was the first American town to ban indoor smoking in all locations, including bars and restaurants.
QUICK FACT!
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ABOVE: A bike trail in Los Osos. BELOW: Panorama from Poly Canyon Village
ABOVE: A truck drives on a back road in northern SLO county
ABOVE: A bus makes its stop at Perimeter Ave. on Cal Poly SLO’s campus.
4
LocationBecause of San Luis Obispo’s
location 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
established in 1925. Since then,
the pleasant year-round climate,
pretty scenery, and well-pre-
served, walkable downtown have
made the city a tourist destina-
tion in itself.
Jamba Juice, famous for its fruit smoothies, was founded in this town. Formerly called Juice Club, Jamba Juice is now a national chain. Although Juice Club was not a Cal Poly senior project as some claim, three of the four co-founders, Joe Ver-gara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Olds did gradu-ate from the univer-sity. Jamba Juice still exists at the original Juice Club location: 17 Chorro Street #C.
QUICK FACT!
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ABOVE: The view of Pismo Beach from Avila ridge
5
History & Tourism
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The
Ah
Loiu
s S
tore
on
Pal
m S
t.
Bridge above the railroad station.
Another big tourist attraction is
Hearst Castle, the vast estate of pub-
lishing magnate William Randolph
Hearst, 43 miles to the north of San
Luis Obispo. The Madonna Inn is
another famous local landmark. Es-
tablished by Alex Madonna in 1958,
the inn is a famously eccentric build-
ing 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 includ-
ing a three second clip in My Blue
Heaven.
One famous tourist destination
is Bubble Gum Alley. Since about
1960, people have been sticking
their chewed gum on the walls of
this alley located on Higuera Street,
between Broad and Garden streets.
Bubble Gum Alley has even ap-
peared on national television.
Another big attraction is the de-
velopment of Edna 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 Center is located in San
Luis Obispo to support sea rescue
and beach stranding rescue opera-
tions for this section of the California
coast.
EvEnts One of the main draws is Farmers’ Market,
a large festival held downtown on Higuera Street
every T Media Entrepreneurs Alliance hursday
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 produce. The Farmers’ Market
was created in 1983 to 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 traffic was blocked
off, making the downtown Farmers’ Market one long
“mall,” even rerouting part of a state highway to ac-
commodate the street closures. The Farmers’ Market
brought a great deal of revenue and has become
6
City ordinance prevents businesses of any sort (including fast-food restaurants) from con-structing new drive-up or drive-through win-dows or services. Two branches of one local bank are the only loca-tions in the entire city with drive-up service; their drive-up service existed before the ordi-nance became law.
QUICK FACT!
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ABOVE: Community members dance to the tunes of Siko at the Mission. RIGHT: Drummer from the local band Siko plays in the Mission Plaza
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 California
bicycle race, Cinco de Mayo
celebrations, as well as a
long-standing Christmas Pa-
rade. 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 drunken
revellers, many visitors
to town, caused damage
throughout residential
neighborhoods and the
business district. The uni-
versity cancelled the event
for several years before
reintroducing a scaled-down
Open House. While Poly
Royal welcomed the com-
munity for hikes, carnivals,
“magic” shows put on by the
Chemistry Department, and
other public performances,
the revamped version is
designed for students and
parents.
7 YO U R G U I D E T O L I V I N G I N S A N L U I S O B I S P O n o v e m b e r 2 0 0 9
ABOVE: SLO residents unite every Friday in the summer for Concerts in the Plaza.
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