Go with the SLO“America’s Happiest City” revealed from a student’s perspective

By Lewis O. Bispo

San Luis Obispo (Span-ish for St.

Louis, the Bishop) is a city in Califor-nia, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Cen-tral 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 Polytech-nic 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 which offers private and commercial air service to several major cities in the west. Amtrak provides daily rail service here as the

San Luis Obispo is Known for its happy

people, productive land, and beautiful scenery.

Photo by Brent Lowrey

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terminus of the Pacific Surfliner line and a stop on the Coast Starlight line. Greyhound also maintains a bus termi-nal in San Luis Obispo. Public transportation includes the city-wide SLO Transit bus lines as well as the county-wide SLO Regional Transit system. Ride-share encourages the use of the local public transit, as well as car-pooling and biking.

Cycling is occasion-ally used as a mode of transportation in San Luis Obispo. Bike lanes are maintained on a few of the streets and the number of bike stands are increasing, espe-cially in the downtown area.

Parking in the downtown area can be a challenge for those interested in finding a

spot directly in front of their final destina-tion. The city pro-vides parking in three multistory parking structures throughout downtown at: Chorro and Marsh street intersection; Palm Street between 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. Because of San Luis Obispo’s loca-tion 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-preserved,

“I normally don’t agree with Oprah, but she’s ab-solutely right about this one.”

-Joe Schmo

Photo by Brent Lowrey

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walkable downtown have made the city a tourist destination 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 mis-sions, the bell ringer stands in the bellroom with the bells when ringing the cadences.

The downtown area also boasts many eclectic shops and boutiques.

Another big tourist attraction is Hearst Castle, the vast estate of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, 43 miles to the north of San Luis

Obispo. The Ma-donna Inn is another famous local landmark. Established by Alex Madonna in 1958, the inn is a famously ec-centric building known for its generous helping of pink, wildly kitschy decor, themed guest rooms, and a waterfall urinal in a men’s rest-room.

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 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 appeared on national television.

Another big attrac-tion is the development 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.

Farmers’ Market draws people of all ages every Thurs-

day evening.

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Some of these wineries have won awards and acclaim for their vin-tages. 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.

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 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

Always expect the unexpected in

downtown San Luis Obispo.

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 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 bicy-cle race, Cinco de Mayo

celebrations, as well as a long-standing Christ-mas Parade. A Mardi Gras parade that was well attended has been fraught with difficulties related to crowd control and alcohol consump-

tion. 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 revel-lers, many visitors to town, caused damage throughout residential neighborhoods and the business district. The university 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. 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 Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Olds did graduate from the uni-versity. Jamba Juice still exists at the original Juice Club location: 17 Chorro Street #C.

City ordinance prevents businesses

Photo by Brent Lowrey

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of any sort (including 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 entire 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 com-mercial buildings de-signed 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, includ-ing bars and restau-rants.

San Luis Obispo is a city of great

history.

A Labyinth in Avila Beach.

The Pacific Ocean

lies just miles west of the

beautiful hills. Photo by Brent Lowrey

Photo by Brent Lowrey

Photo by Brent Lowrey

Notable Cal Poly AlumniBrent LowreyJason Hilford

Scott & Laci PetersonJohn Madden

Ozzie Smith

“Weird” Al Yankovic

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