NaturallySan Luis Obispo

TEXT BY BRADY TEUFELWORDS BY WIKIPEDIA

San Luis Obispo (Spanish for St. Louis, the Bish-op) is a city in Califor-

nia, located roughly midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Central Coast. Founded in 1772 by Spanish Fr. Junípero Serra, San Luis Obis-po is one of California’s oldest communities. The city, referred to locally as San Luis or SLO, is the county seat of San Luis Obispo County and is adjacent to California Polytechnic State University. The population was

45,119 at the 2010 census.

Welcome

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Most famous for it’s hikeable peaks, san luis is also home to hidden gems - like this fIeld of wildfLowers.

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History

“”

Discovery consists not

in seeking new lands

but in seeing with new eyes.

- Marcel Proust

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HistoryThe earliest

human in-habitants

of the local area were the Chumash peoples. One of the earliest vil-lages lies south of San Luis Obis-po, and reflects the landscape of the early Holo-cene when estu-aries came far-ther inland. These Chumash people exploited marine resources of the inlets and bays along the Central Coast and inhab-ited a network of villages including

sites at Los Osos and Morro Creek.

San Luis Obispo was also a popu-lar stop on both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 with the rise of car culture. Due to its popu-larity as a stop, it was the location of the first motel, the Milestone Mo-Tel.

Among San Luis Obispo’s historical buildings is the former San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library, located

at 696 Monterey Street. The San Luis Obispo Car-negie Library was built in 1905 with a grant of $10,000 from Andrew Car-negie, who funded the establishment of 142 California libraries in the early 1900s. The Romanesque style building was de-signed by archi-tect W. H. Weeks of Watsonville, California and was built by contractor Joseph Maino of San Luis Obispo.

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DemographicsThe 2010

United States Cen-

sus reported that San Luis Obispo had a population of 45,119. The population density was 3,489.4 people per square mile (1,347.3/km). The racial makeup of San Luis Obispo was 38,117 (84.5%) White, 523 (1.2%) African American, 275 (0.6%) Native American, 2,350 (5.2%) Asian, 65 (0.1%) Pacif-ic Islander, 1,973 (4.4%) from other races, and 1,816

(4.0%) from two

or more races. His-panic or Latino of any race were 6,626 persons (14.7%).The Census re-ported that 43,937 people (97.4% of the popu-lation) lived in house-holds, 967 (2.1%) lived in non-institu-tionalized group quarters, and 215 (0.5%) were insti-tutionalized. There were 19,193 house-

holds, out of which 3,178 (16.6%) had children under the age of

18 living in them, 5,690 (29.6%) were opposite-sex

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SLO’s historic beauty is undeniable.

married couples living together, 1,336 (7.0%) had a female household-er with no hus-band present, 586 (3.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,104 (5.8%) unmar-ried opposite-sex

partnerships, and 124 (0.6%) same-sex married cou-

ples or partner-ships. There were 20,553 housing units at an av-erage density of 1,589.5 per square mile (613.7/km), of which 7,547 (39.3%) were own-er-occupied, and 11,646 (60.7%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner va-cancy rate was

1.6%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.7%. 17,225 peo-ple (38.2% of the population) lived in owner-occu-pied housing units and 26,712 peo-ple (59.2%) lived in rental housing units.

SLO’s historic beauty is undeniable.

San Luis Obispo Racial Makeup

Source: 2010 United States Census

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Culture

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The Madonna Inn is a fa-mous local

landmark. Estab-lished by Alex Ma-donna in 1958, the inn is famously eccentric. The Fre-mont Theater, a

historic Art Deco theater from the 1940s, still plays first run mov-ies on the huge screen. Murals adorn the walls of the main theater while neon swirls

light the ceiling. The Palm Theatre boasts solar heat-ing and is home to the San Luis Obis-po International Film Festival. An-other destination is Bubblegum Al-

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ley. Since about 1960, people have been sticking chewed gum on the walls of this alley. The doctor’s office on the cor-ner of Santa Rosa and Pacific streets is one of very few commercial build-ings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. San Luis

also has a Carne-gie Library which is now home to the San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum. A sculpture of a child and bear at the Mission in downtown San Luis Obispo. A fish was added af-ter the photograph was taken.

Lots of mystery surrounds the “un-derground city”, or the series of tunnels that exists beneath the city.

One of the largest Mardi Gras pa-rades West of the Mississippi used to be held in San Luis Obispo, but it has been canceled

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“ ”The sea, once it casts it’s

spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever

- Jacques cousteau

recently because of difficulties re-lated to crowd control and alco-hol consumption.

Cal Poly’s open house, Poly Royal, was held annually

from 1933 to 1990. It was can-

celed in 1945 due to war ra-tioning. It began as a show-and-tell for students to display their projects. It trac-es its origins to the 1904 Farm-er’s Institute and Picnic Basket. By the 1980s, as the college became “the most popular...university in the 19-campus CSU system”, Poly Royal began drawing over

100,000 people from throughout the state, including 126,000 people in 1985. Concerts, parties, and oth-er entertainment were added and it earned $3–4 mil-lion in revenue for the city every

year.

Following a “mini-riot” in 1989 at an off-campus apartment during Poly Royal, the events in 1990 would cancel the event “indefinite-ly.” Two nights of rioting on April 28–29 led to 127 arrests, over 100 injuries and 14 police injuries on top of “several hundred thousand dollars” worth of damage. A liquor store near campus, Campus Bottle, was destroyed by revelers demand-ing alcohol. The second night was much larger than the first as peo-ple were leaving a concert on cam-pus and parties

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ANOTHER HIDDEN TREASURE.

SLO SUNSETS HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO TAKE INSTAGRAM BY STORM.

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off-campus were broken up and revelers flooded the streets. Mayor Dunin called the events “the worst experience in the history of San Luis Obispo.” Af-

ter a meeting be-tween Mayor Dun-in and University President Warren Baker the follow-ing Monday, Poly Royal was can-celed from that point forward. The

name Poly Royal returned in 2001 as “Open House Presents Poly Roy-al”, a scaled down version that was designed for stu-dents and parents.

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San Luis Obispo has been home of several other events, including a stop on the way of the Olympic Flame Relay, the Tour of California bicycle race, Cinco

de Mayo celebra-tions, an annual Mozart festival, held every July, and a long-stand-ing Christmas

Parade. Another attraction

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. The wine region ex-tends north be-yond Paso Robles (30 miles north) and south to San-ta Ynez (70 miles south).

During Summer months, local res-idents and visi-tors congregate in the Mission Plaza for a free outdoor concert every Friday eve-ning. The event is

called Concerts in the Plaza. Other noteworthy events include the San Luis Obispo Inter-national Film Fes-tival, Festival Mo-saic, and the Plein Air Festival.

beauty can even be found during slo’s dry season.

beauty can even be found during slo’s dry season.

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San Luis Obispo hosts a Farmer’s Market every Thursday night from 6-9PM on Higuera Street, between Osos and Nipomo Streets. During this weekly event, the street is closed to vehi-cle traffic while vendors sell food and goods and various visual and music artists perform for the crowds.

Since June 2000, the first Thurs-day of every month is The Bike Happening (also known as Bike Nite) in San Luis Obispo. Peo-ple gather af-ter the Farmer’s Market at the

Mission Plaza with their bikes. The bikers then go around on multiple circuits on the main streets of down-town adhering to the traffic laws (for the most part). The ride is considered a fun/social ride meant to en-courage people to get back on their bikes and to have fun. Each Bike Happening has a theme and a large portion of the crowd is in some costume adherent to the theme.

One of the cul-tural focal cen-ters of San Luis Obispo is the Christopher Co-

hen Performing Arts Center built on the Cal Poly Campus, which was construct-ed utilizing the donations of lo-cal businesses and individuals. The Performing Arts Center con-sists of multiple venues, includ-ing the original Spanos The-atre. The larg-est venue, Har-mon Hall, seats 1,300. Many high school and col-lege programs are scheduled. Local artists per-form plays, mu-sic and dance. The addition of the Performing Arts Center at-tracts many touring per-formances

which are usually not found in communities of compara-ble size to San Luis Obispo. The Summer of 2007 was the opening concert of the Forbes Pipe Organ, which was built elevated into a side wall of Harmon Hall and required the donation of a further $3 million for purchase and installation.

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“ ”happy are those who dream

dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come

true- tupac shakur

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