San Luis Obispo, Cambria featured in two new books

Cambria and San Luis Obispo. They were just naturals to be the next two books in my Century Cities series.

They say “write about what you know,” so I thought, why not? Besides, I couldn’t think of two more fascinating places to include in my growing series that chronicles small- and midsized American cities and towns in the 20th century.

Cambria Century

I first visited Cambria as a child, when my parents took me there in 1970s and 1980s. I ate at Linn’s on Main Street and visited the Toy Soldier Factory and the kite store. I never imagined I’d return in 2015 to run the weekly newspaper.

I spent three years as managing editor of The Cambrian, and during that time, I learned a lot about the town’s history and background. I walked up and down Main Street more times than I could count, visiting antique stores and attending performances at the Pewter Plough Playhouse. I have fond memories of the merchants’ open-house Hospitality Night during the Christmas season; of judging Pinedorado floats and chili contests.

I covered sporting events and graduations; health district, school board, and community services district meetings. I listened to and reported on debates about water and tourism. And I made a number of friends.

A learned a lot during that time, but I learned even more during my research.

For a little village, a lot has happened in Cambria. It’s on the road to Hearst Castle and the most scenic stretch of Highway 1, where you can see zebras roaming beside the freeway and elephant seals lounging in the sun. But it’s also a destination in its own right, where a rare stand of Monterey pines meets the sea, and where dozens of lively shops and galleries lie nestled at the base of the green Santa Lucia foothills.

Before doing my research, I didn’t know much about the quicksilver mines and old saloons that made Cambria part of the wild, wild West. I’d visited the Rodeo Grounds, but I didn’t know how big a draw rodeos were in the 1920s and ’30s, when thousands of people would show up from the community and beyond to take part in festivities like “Raising Helldorado” (years before the annual Pinedorado festival was born).  

Cambria is relatively isolated at what was once the end of the highway, but it’s also the gateway to San Simeon, which in turn is at the doorstep to Hearst Castle. Then there’s Harmony, the former dairy town and arts enclave just to the south that’s had 18 residents for as long as anyone can remember. I included events from those communities, too.

Did you know Cambria once had its own movie house and (despite an aversion to national chains), a tiny park on Main Street, and an A&W Drive-In?

Cambria Century will take you to William Randolph Hearst’s castle and Art Beal’s anti-castle overlooking the West Village. You’ll return to the Toy Soldier Factory, the Pewter Plough Playhouse, the Chuck Wagon, Exotic Gardens, Lyons’ Red & White store, Camozzi’s, the Rigdon Building, Bank of America, and the Bluebird Inn.

San Luis Obispo Century

I was introduced to San Luis Obispo on a trip to the coast with a buddy just after graduation, and my lasting memory of that trip was a visit to Leon’s used books on Higuera (now sadly gone).

I applied for — and didn’t get — a job in The Tribune’s sports department back around 1990. Then, a couple of decades later, I applied for — and did get — a job on the copy desk there. The newspaper had moved in the meantime, from a downtown cinder-block to perhaps the nicest building I’ve ever worked in, a modern, naturally lit office on South Higuera.

I worked there for six years as a copy editor, columnist, and assistant news editor. In that time, I got to know that city pretty well, and it struck my as one of the few places that had actually figured out how to do downtown revitalization right.

But as with Cambria, I discovered a lot more that I didn’t know when I decided to look back on a century of history.

From the historic Mission to the one-of-a-kind Madonna Inn, from Ozzie Smith’s heroics to Weird Al’s weirdness, San Luis Obispo has seen its share of landmarks and highlights in the 20th century. It’s home to the world’s first motel and one of the West Coast’s most vibrant classic theaters. It’s a university town and home to one of the oddest attractions you’ll find anywhere: “Bubblegum Alley.”

San Luis Obispo has played the stand-in for My Blue Heaven and has been dubbed “The Happiest Place in America,” but it’s also been the scene of less-than-happy events like kidnappings and drunken riots.

San Luis Obispo Century takes you back to the building that once housed a garage, William Randolph Hearst’s personal taxi service, a hotel annex, and newspaper offices before it was torn down to make room for Mission Plaza. It includes the story of a mostly forgotten raceway where speed records fell, revisits the exploits of Ah Louis and the history of U.S. 101.

You’ll visit one of nation’s the few surviving drive-in theaters, and relive traditions like Riley’s Department Store, Scrubby and Lloyd’s Burgers, and Foster’s Freeze.

Each of these new volumes includes more than 100 images, both historic from across the years and modern from my own camera lens.

As with all my Century Cities books, the events are presented in chronological order so readers can see how the community grew and changed over the years. The timeline includes a mix of major happenings, quirky events, and slice-of-life vignettes. 

I’m living on the opposite coast in Virginia now, but these books were my way of revisiting and paying tribute to two towns that played a big part in my life through much of the 2010s. Like my other Century Cities books, and my entire catalogue, they’re available on Amazon. I hope you enjoy them and, if you do, that you take a moment to leave a rating or a review.

As Bob Hope would have said, thanks for the memory.