Hello all, I am treating this central location [which is really located at our SLO airport] as a…read moregood location to post pictures and maybe some stories that locals can use to give a better view & idea of what our greater SLO area is about. While some places define themselves with city, neighborhood, or even county borders, many locals here relate to both the greater Central Coast Region, as well as, the space between SLO-town/airport and next major cities, which are all quite far away in any direction, especially west! I posted a photo collection of some of the highlights of the greater SLO area, most of which occurred in the past few years, expecially during our new evolving age of the pandemic. It also shows that despite all the challenges, as long as one is careful, people can enjoy all kinds of aspects of this wonderful area, ranging from hiking the mountains & valleys, to enjoying the coast, to savoring all kinds of eats, to preserving nature & history. This is not to say that we live in paradise, but it is to say that we are lucky to live in an area that has a lot going for it. As with Hawaii, the "Price of Paradise" is high here, and we also lack good healthcare or mental healthcare here due to the rural nature of this area. While we lack the huge ethnic & multicultural diversity of major cities like LA, SF, NYC, or Honolulu, we treasure what we have and of course welcome more. Please enjoy my pics and please post pics that reflect daily life here. The airport is a great gateway to our lives here, but of course most will drive here. Most importantly, for all of us, please observe all health & safety guidelines that we view as important here and help to preserve our environment. Thank you!

San Luis Obispo County Public Health officials announced an order on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 for…read moreall county residents to shelter in their homes. The shelter-at-home order goes into effect Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 5 p.m. This order is to aid in preventing the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The order is not a shelter-in-place, which is an order to barricade ones self inside one's home. The shelter-at-home order applies to pubic and private gatherings of any number of people outside a household or living space. This order encourages social distancing at this time, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Social distancing -- a term that epidemiologists are using to refer to a conscious effort to reduce close contact between people and hopefully stymie community transmission of the virus. Activities that residents can still undertake while the order in place include: obtaining food, medications and sanitary items, outdoor activities such as walking, hiking, surfing, etc., helping to care for pets or relatives in other households, as well as going to health care appointments. In the city of SLO, bars, breweries and wine-tasting facilities are to close. Restaurants and coffee shops may only sell food and drinks to go, or for delivery. All essential government operations and businesses will remain open, including grocery stores, gas stations, and banks. According to a county official, residents are encouraged to voluntarily comply, however violations could be considered a misdemeanor. It is anticipated the shelter-at-home order will remain in effect for thirty days.

Friendly, convenient, spacious, nice people. What mark could you ask for thank you, TSA…read more The san luis airport is to be commended for the way they laid things out

The Pismo Beach Chamber of Commerce does a fantastic job supporting our local business community…read more They are always promoting local businesses through ribbon cuttings, networking opportunities, and by working closely with the City to help our community thrive. They also host some of Pismo Beach's best events, including the Wine Walk and Taste of Pismo, which bring residents and visitors together while showcasing local restaurants, wineries, and businesses. Their dedication to supporting and growing our local economy is truly appreciated.

The Pismo Chamber Volunteers are the best to work with. They really care and get the job done. They…read moreare truly an advocate for the businesses in Pismo Beach and the surrounding cities. Thank you for all your support.

Local Eval: Little did I know, that as a kid staying with my mom in a rustic dive motel in…read morePennsylvania, that 3,000 miles away, in the little town of SLO, was it's first ancestor....and that 1/2 century later, I would call the SLO/Pismo area home. The "Milestone Mo-Tel Inn" was built in 1925 [closed in 1991] & the main building is a historic landmark, which is possibly owned by next doors "Apple Inn". While there were plans to rehab this area, is still not redeveloped yet & is not open to the public. But one can still stop, just before the N101 ramp, & marvel at these testaments to early visionaries of what we have long taken for granted, for almost a century. While there are numerous local and national accounts, I do favor the one done by Smithsonian Magazine in DECEMBER 12, 2016, as follows: "The World's First Motel Was a Luxury Establishment, Not a Dive The first motel was supposed to turn into a chain, but it was quickly overtaken by cheaper competitors. By Kat Eschner SMITHSONIANMAG.COM The year was 1925. Across the country, thousands were touring in their cars. Auto travel was becoming normal. But on this day in San Luis Obispo, a town roughly between Los Angeles and San Francisco in California, something totally new was happening. An architect and developer named Arthur Heineman had spotted a niche in the market. His response: the Milestone Mo-Tel Inn. Heineman created a hotel designed specifically for drivers, writes Eric Zorn for the Chicago Tribune. It had small garages next to several dozen bungalows. Use of one cost a motorist $1.25 per night, about $17.00 in today's money. Heineman shortened "motor hotel" down to "Mo-Tel," and a term was born. It was luxurious for the 1920s, wrote Kristin Jackson for the The Seattle Times two years after the motel closed in 1991. "It cost $80,000 to build in its ornate Spanish-mission style, with a three-tiered bell tower, white pillars, and a tree-fringed courtyard," she wrote. "In those days most American car travelers still were staying in campgrounds or tiny wood cabins (some about the size and style of chicken coops) that were clustered by a gas station or general store." Up to 160 people could stay at the motel. According to David Middlecamp of the Tribune, units had modern conveniences like showers, central heating and carpet, he writes, and there were even rooms for chauffeurs. Jackson spoke to Marcella Faust, who as a young woman was one of the establishment's first waitresses. Faust described how the waitresses were dressed--"Spanish-style," including a vest and a "big hat with roses on it"--and their varied tasks, which included handing out brochures at the roadside. "We'd stand out there on the road in our big hats," she said. "My girlfriend would work the cars going north, I'd work the ones going south. They were Model A's and Model T's back then, so they'd have to go pretty slow up the steep hill there. We'd just stand there and wave and hand them the booklets as they went past." It wasn't long before the Milestone had competition from other motels. Heineman had originally planned to open a chain with 18 California locations, Jackson wrote, but he wasn't successful. The Great Depression meant that motel chains opted for less luxe styling, Zorn writes. The Milestone, eventually renamed the Motel Inn, closed in 1991 and then the site fell into disrepair. Even the word "motel" has been slipping out of favor, he writes. But across the country, motels remain part of American road culture. "Motels opened up the American road to those who were neither rugged enough for car camping nor wealthy enough to stay in 'real' hotels," Zorn writes. "In a way that's largely unsung, they aided our transformation to a mobile culture." Hopefully, one day, this wonderful landmark will be rehabbed into a fascinating & historic place to stay, minus Model T cars and chauffeurs!

This wonderful vestige of local history serves to mark on the "right of ways…read more" of the old functional, but not scenic, Pacific Coast Railway. In other words, that old now defunct railroad was the very first railroad in the Central Valley & predates the wider rail that the Coast Starlight Express/ Amtrak uses from WA to OR, to CA, & then the SF Bay area then all the way down the coast to SB then LA, much of which either hugs the coast or parallels various sections of roads such as 101, El Camino Real, Hwy #1, etc. Since SLO & Santa Barbara Counties were essentially landlocked by geography back then, the first rails were actually started at Hanford Pier in Avila Beach. People would take a steamship from SF to Avila. The first Tram was built by Ah Louis, a SLO-town Chinese gentlemen of great distinction. The Tram was power by horses & then people transferred to a coach to get to SLO. Ah Louis, who's building still stands in downtown SLO, also later organized Chinese laborers to later build the rail system that first went from Avila to SLO. The later amazing tunnels & more advance railroad by yet another company [the Southern Pacific Railroad which today handles more familiar Amtrack trains] with wider gauge/rails was extended down from Santa Margarita down the Cuesta Grade and later competed with PCR, was also built by Ah Louis & Chinese laborers. Indeed there is a large bronze stylized statue of two Chinese railroad workers, laboring on the railroad at today's Amtrak station, in SLO. The Ah Louis store still stands as a historic building with a plaque, but it is used for purposes other than history. In fact, much of SLO's downtown so-called Chinatown has been progressive destroyed over many decades, & little remains beyond the Ah Louis building, an obscure mural on the side of a parking lot, and a absurd Chop Suey Neon sign [at a hotel that does not serve Chop Suey], which obviously did not exist in Ah Louis's time. All excavated artifacts are either stored somewhere else or have been forgotten. I am not aware of any display of Chinese historic artifacts from that era in SLO. Anyway, the earlier narrow gauge rail system was gradually extended first down to Arroyo Grande, to Nipomo [which formed the nucleus of this town], to Santa Maria, Los Alamos, & finally to Los Olivos. Passengers at the end of the line back then would stay overnight at the Mattie Tavern [still in use] & Hotel in Los Olivos & then take a stagecoach to Santa Barbara the next day. Branches of this narrow gauge [or 3 foot wide narrow rail] would also extend to Guadalupe & Betteravia, westward on the Coast & toward Sisquoc East. Much later the Sugar Factory & Co. town of Betteravia became a rare ghost town in 1966. After much of the oil was exhausted in other areas, they also declined. The West branch was used for all kinds of things ranging from Sugar Beets/Sugar to Oil. Sisquoc had lots of oil fields which were discovered all over, but like so many other places that discovered Gold, Black Gold, or precious materials, it was often boom and then bust. While there is one building said to have been at one time a depot for the PCR train system a few block away from this landmark, I cannot confirm it. There appears to be dozens of past & present rail systems in CA alone. There is even a Santa Maria Valley rail system & an organization that keep that information alive. https://friends-smvrr.org/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_Valley_Railroad Sadly, not much remains of the Pacific Coast Railway, except for maybe one lone locomotive that may be in Oregon, the remains of a station, and right of ways, that have been repurposed as gas line right of ways. Here & there, old rails may be buried under roads & can be still detected by metal detectors. Sometimes erosion of new roads, reveal underlying rails, but the vast majority of metal artifacts was used as scrap long ago. Here and there such groups as the SMVRR do go on outings to see what traces that they can find and get special permission to go onto private lands to explore. The SLO Railway Museum near the Amtrak station is helpful. Ref. : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Coast_Railway https://www.thirdrail.com/ttrpcrr.htm [..."Oil was first struck in March of 1900 in the Husna Valley. Later again in Arroyo Grande at 500 feet, but these strikes were insufficient to be profitable until 1901 when the Western Oil Company brought in a well on the Careaga Ranch at 200 barrels a day. So great was the activity around Graciosa Station that a new town was laid out one mile to the North. The town was named "Orcutt" in honor of W. W. Orcutt the Chief Geologist for the Union Oil Company...."]. I am by no means knowledgable on these historical topics. Sadly, as time goes on, more is forgotten, destroyed, or even distorted. At least some take it upon themselves to preserve some history. To those individuals, I thank you!

San Luis Obispo County, SLO as it is know by the locals, was a great place to visit during our mini…read morevay-cay. Visited San Luis Obispo and the surrounding area. Found lots of great restaurantes and stores to do some shopping. Their downtown area offers something for every with all different tastes and styles. Walking throght the this quaint little town we enjoyed lots of great architecture and historical homes and buildings. It was a well spent weekend here. Will be returning in the futrue to see what we missed this time around. Highly recomend a visit to SLOw down from the big city hustle and bustle. SLOw down and enjoy the views and surounding areas, you wont regrete it. Some places to vist are: San Miguel Morro Bay Pismo Beach Avila Beach Hearst Castle Maddona Inn Botanicle Gardens Bubblegum Alley Old Town San Luis Obispo Misson Rail Road Museum Atr Museum Childrens Museum

This is a monument hiding in plain sight, right next to the Amtrak RR in SLO. It has been here for…read moreyears and is dedicated to the Chinese Railworkers that built much of the rail system near & far. For some reason, I do not see a listing for this landmark. I wanted my little nephews to try to appreciate it, but they are too young. In this area, there are very few landmarks or other places that note Asian history here. There is only one intact building [Ah Louis] in what is left of Chinatown. There is a small Chinese [Cheung] Park & an even tinier Japanese [Eto] Park in SLO...and that is pretty much it for many miles. What is even cooler is the little town of Guadalupe which is near Santa Maria, and still has intact buildings from when it was a Japantown. There is also an old Chinese community house in the Cambria area, which was used long ago by Chinese Seaweed Farmers. For now, I will copy a good reference from the Atlas Obscura on this monument in SLO, as follows: " COUNTLESS TOWNS OWE THEIR VERY existence (and survival) to being a stop on one of the many train routes across America. San Luis Obispo, some 185 miles or so northwest of Los Angeles, California, is one of them. Today, the city honors the often overlooked role that Chinese immigrants played in the construction of America's railways with the monument known as "The Iron Road Pioneers." At least 20,000 Chinese immigrants helped with the superhuman task of constructing the Transcontinental Railroad. Often living and working in an atmosphere of open discrimination, their contribution was largely ignored in the congratulations. These workers have sometimes been referred to as "silent spikes." "The Iron Road Pioneers," the small statue outside the San Luis Obispo Amtrak station, pays tribute to these nameless workers who toiled on the rails. It also memorializes the many who died in the process, buried in unmarked graves. Unveiled in 2003, this bronze statue was created by Elizabeth MacQueen. It features two traditionally dressed men standing opposite each other levering tracks into position, a pile of rivets alongside ready to complete the next small stage of their endless task." In addition, there is a plaque right across from the monument that tells the story. The monument and plaque were contributed in great part due to the local Chinese community, including local organizations that are also affiliated with long-time local residents, a Chinese Church, and people from Cal-Poly University. There is a small population of Chinese who have periodic events and activities throughout the year. Every so often, we also get involved, but the pandemic has put a damper on many things.

Wonderful city and team to work with. I have enjoyed my membership with this chamber more than…read moremost. Great communication on events and about other businesses. Local schedules, calendars, things to do, etc. networking events are also a big bonus. Thank you.

Working with the office manager Ligia was a very fun experience. I am convinced that having a…read moreprofessional relationship with the chamber and my business "Heartland Payment Systems" only serves to benefit both us and the community.