SLO County News Blog

SLO Rental Vacancies

Monday, February 28, 2005

More rental openings reduce rents in city of San Luis Obispo. For the first time in years, it's better to be a renter in San Luis Obispo. Landlords, long spoiled in a tight market, have been in the mood to make a deal.

Vacancy rates have risen as Cal Poly students moved onto campus and wealthier renters have taken advantage of low-interest rates to buy homes. Some landlords have been left scrambling. "I am renting to people that I might not have before," said Jackie Turner, San Luis Property Management's general manager. She said she's more likely to accept renters with pets or less-than-perfect credit than she was in the past. Mike McNamara, who runs McNamara Real Estate, expects to see other landlords doing a better job of keeping up properties to woo renters.

The apartment vacancy rate in the city of San Luis Obispo rose to 5.22 percent in September 2004 -- the most recent month for which figures were available -- from 3.61 percent a year before, according to a survey of property managers by the UCSB Economic Forecast Project. In September 2002, apartment vacancies stood at 1.18 percent, according to the project's report.

Now, apartments are said to stay open for months rather than weeks. And, as of September 2004 renters were paying about 5.4 percent less in San Luis Obispo than they did a year before, and 7.1 percent than September 2002.

"When people hand me a notice that they are vacating, I have a panic attack," Turner said. Drops in average rents and jumps in vacancy rates haven't been as big in the rest of the county. Landlords there, economists said, simply aren't facing the same pressures as San Luis Obispo.

The city is home to an 805-bed on-campus apartment complex that opened 18 months ago, and it has some of the county's priciest homes. Students quickly rented rooms in the new Cal Poly project. Neighborhood groups long begged Cal Poly to build more campus housing, arguing that families and students should be separated. But that wish, when granted, hit local landlords. "What you are looking at is one big supply shock," said Larry Souza, chief economist for the California Apartment Association. "The good news is it didn't drive the vacancy rates up to 8 percent." Vacancy rates in the 5 percent range are generally a sign of a stable, healthy rental market, according to the UCSB economic report.

"For rent" signs aren't just staying up longer on cheap student housing, either. More expensive apartments are being passed over as well. Higher-income renters are borrowing from friends and family to buy into the county's sky-rocketing housing market, according to Dan Hamilton, UC Santa Barbara director of economics. "The rental market has been soft relative to housing," he said, "because interest rates are so low. People on the high end are scraping together money to get into a condo."

For landlords, fewer renters means changes to the way they do business. "I think you'll see existing owners keeping things up more because it is just more competitive," McNamara said. "It is a good thing, in a way," Turner said. "It is good for renters. And it is good for owners to keep their property up."

The best part for renters, she said, could be the deals they can get right now. An apartment that would have rented at an average $975 a month in September 2003 could be rented for an average of $923 a month as of September 2004. "Places that used to go for over $1,000 are now going for under," Turner said. "Even with lower prices, things are staying on the market longer than they used to."

While McNamara said he's always advertised open vacancies in the spring -- rather than waiting until students return to town at the end of the summer -- he expects more landlords to follow suit this year. "I think in the past landlords were very spoiled," McNamara said. "You always had your leases end in the summer and you didn't really do any marketing. You would put up a sign and be inundated with calls." Both said they are responding more quickly to residents' concerns, too. "We are very nice," Turner said. "We just have to be a little more accommodating."

With 2,700 more dorm rooms set to open at Cal Poly by 2008, economist Souza said the pressure on landlords won't ease up. "If everything hits in 2008, you are going to look at vacancy rates declining over the next few months," he said, "but as those come on line, you'll see the rate spike up again."

Vacancy rates aid renters' search
The Tribune, Leslie Griffy

To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

SLO County's Tule Elk

Sunday, February 27, 2005

The rolling grasslands and oak woodlands of eastern San Luis Obispo County are the scene of a remarkable success story.

Living here is the state's most robust herd of tule elk, an animal that has rebounded from the brink of extinction to reclaim much of its historic range.

An estimated 750 of the large animals roam from Pozo in the west to the Carrizo Plain and south as far as Santa Barbara County.

It is named the La Panza herd, after the mountain range that runs through the heart of the animals' territory. The population of the La Panza herd has grown steadily since 150 animals were relocated to the county in the early 1980s.

When European Americans arrived in California in large numbers during the Gold Rush of the 1850s, an estimated 500,000 tule (pronounced "too-lee") elk roamed the Central Valley and the mountain ranges of the Central Coast. By the 1870s, unrestricted hunting and habitat loss decimated the elk until all that remained was one tiny herd on a ranch near Buttonwillow in western Kern County.

That herd was protected and the animals began a slow recovery. By the 1970s, there were enough elk for the state Department of Fish and Game to begin relocating them across their former range.

San Luis Obispo County got its first relocated elk in 1983. The rolling oak woodlands of Los Padres National Forest and the open grasslands of the Carrizo Plain proved to be ideal habitat, Fischer said.

Recent aerial surveys counted 602 animals in the La Panza herd. Because not all animals are tallied during surveys, biologists estimate the herd to be from 750 to 800 animals -- about 20 percent of the state's population of about 3,700.

Tule elk herd thriving in eastern SLO County
The Tribune, David Sneed

To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

Record High SLO Home Prices

Saturday, February 26, 2005

An improving economy and a healthy appetite for Central Coast property helped push San Luis Obispo County homes in January nearly to the half- million-dollar mark and further out of reach of working-class families.

The $495,000 median home price set a county record and represents a 21.5 percent increase from the same period a year ago, according to data released Friday by the California Association of Realtors. In December, the median stood at $475,610, a price only 14 percent of local residents could afford.

The last time the median price reached a record high was in September, when the median was $483,900.

The median price is the statistical point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.

"The market is strong, and there are still very attractive mortgage rates," said Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist for the association. "People are still moving in from outside the area. It (San Luis Obispo County) is a lovely place to be. Even at $495,000, the county looks really affordable."

Indeed, wealthy baby boomers searching for investment property or vacation homes are fueling the rise in the county's single-family home prices, which have seen double-digit growth annually since 1999.

Newcomers from the Bay Area, Central Valley and Los Angeles have money to spend on homes that may seem like a bargain in comparison, said Appleton-Young. The 10 cities and communities with the highest median home prices in California during January include Newport Beach, at more than $1 million, the Bay Area's Mill Valley at $937,000, and the south Santa Barbara coast at $1.2 million, according to the association.

Statewide, the median price of an existing home in California in January increased 20.1 percent to $485,700 and sales increased 7.1 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to the association.

Many San Luis Obispo County communities have already soared past the half-million point.

In December, Pismo Beach had the highest price with a median of $730,000, followed by Cayucos, which posted a median price of $685,000. Some areas, such as Oceano with a December median of $397,500, are inching upward.

A local breakdown of January median home prices is not yet available.

Richard Watkins, chairman of the Central Coast Multiple Listing Service, isn't ready to call January's numbers the start of a trend. For one thing, the median price can move up if a cluster of expensive homes sell, even if sales at this time of year are relatively slow.

Sales in the county dipped 17.4 percent from December 2004 and remain unchanged from a year ago.

"This may be a spike, which happens from time to time," he said. "It may very well go down next month. When there's a period of crappy weather and flat sales, that means there's just a few more expensive houses sold, and that tugs the median up."

Still, Watkins and other real-estate observers are confident in the strength of the market. In recent weeks, some have suggested that it's only a matter of time before the housing bubble slams San Luis Obispo County, the Bay Area and Santa Barbara.

"When you start seeing the inventories build and houses not sell, then you can say they're overvalued," Watkins said. "If buyers are willing to pay the money, then it's not overvalued."

Bill Watkins, economist with the UCSB Economist Forecast, said he's not concerned about the month-to-month variation in the median price. The long-term forecast, however, indicates higher prices in the years to come.

In four years, Watkins predicts the median price will be $730,800.

"We're on track," he said.

County home prices reach record high
The Tribune, Julie Lynem

To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

SLO Wine Families

Friday, February 25, 2005

Brian Talley, president of Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande, comes from a family that has farmed the area since 1948.

"I was born and raised in a full-time farming operation," Talley said. "As a kid, I always expected to come back to the farm."

The family grew vegetables but started planting grapes in 1982 on hillside property that couldn't be used for other crops.

At that time, there was a grape glut and Arroyo Grande Valley was relatively unknown, so the Talleys had a hard time selling their grapes. To solve the problem, the family began to make wine, Talley said. The first vintage was 1986.

When Talley graduated in 1988, he returned to the family farm and began to work in the vegetable side of the business. However, as the winery side started to grow, he soon took over that sector. The family built a winery facility in 1991.

Talley's father, Don Talley, continues to oversee vegetable farming. Brian Talley still turns to him for advice.

"I don't make any big decisions without consulting him," Talley said.

Family ties thrive among the vines
The Tribune, Michaela Baltasar

To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

SLO Public Art

Thursday, February 24, 2005

In the past three decades, something remarkable has happened to San Luis Obispo, something unexpected and unusual for a city of its size: It has become a public art Mecca.

Look around and you'll see art cropping up everywhere. From Jim Jacobson's simple contemporary "Seven Sisters Railing" on Santa Rosa Street between Marsh and Pacific to Elizabeth MacQueen's classical "Ironroad Pioneers" in Railroad Square - SLO Town's public art policy has fostered a remarkable array of public art pieces throughout our community.

In a city facing tough budget problems, one may ask, "Why spend money on art? Why concern ourselves with aesthetics at all?" Why indeed! Why bother with landscaping city parks? Paying for street sweepers? Enforcing architectural review?

Public art is an extension of who we are, our desire to adorn ourselves with not just sackcloth but with decorative fabrics, jewelry, fashion. It's human nature (at least for most of us) to worry about appearances. Having the same interest in decorating our public environment as we do ourselves and our homes is perfectly natural.

Just how does public art benefit a community? In a town like SLO, where tourism is an important element to our economic vitality, a strong public art program can lead to a memorable visit.

San Luis Obispo is currently the only community in the county to have a comprehensive policy that requires all new development - both public and private - to set aside a percentage of the cost of capital improvements toward public art.

The city has attracted an increasing number of public artists from throughout the country who are requesting notification on public art projects. In the years to come, we'll get some art that's really "out there," and we're already heading that way.

Your art, my art... public art
Glen Starkey, New Times, SLO

A SLO Diablo Makeover?

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

California Lawmaker to Propose Study on Converting Nuclear Plant to Natural Gas
The Tribune, David Sneed

A proposal to study Diablo Canyon's earthquake safety and the potential for converting the nuclear plant to natural gas has positioned Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee as an ambitious and somewhat contrarian freshman Republican.

Blakeslee will submit the bill next Tuesday. On Thursday, a key Democratic lawmaker seemed willing to consider it. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, heads the Utilities and Commerce Committee, which will be among the first to review the proposal.

Levine said he has not seen Blakeslee's bill, but it follows a trend in which the state is moving away from nuclear power and toward alternate forms of energy.

"I am not a big fan of nuclear power," Levine said. "I don't believe anyone is looking at nuclear as a viable option." Blakeslee surprised many in the community last week when he announced his idea for the Diablo studies.

Since then, the proposal has come under criticism from Diablo owner Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Republican state Sen. Abel Maldonado. And it has garnered praise -- and surprise -- from environmentalists.

"This is a perfect time for this study as it pertains to PG&E and the overall state energy plan," Blakeslee said. "Long-term energy issues are the hot topic because there is greater awareness of our economy's vulnerability to energy shortages." Levine said he would like to submit legislation that requires the state to get 20 percent of its power from renewable sources, such as solar, by 2010. Currently, 20 percent of the state's power comes from nuclear power produced by two plants.

Blakeslee's legislation only applies to Diablo Canyon and not to the state's other nuclear plant in San Onofre, in Southern California.

Political observers say it is unusual for a freshman assemblyman to propose such ambitious legislation. New legislators normally start off with more modest proposals, said Bruce Cain, a political scientist at UC Berkeley. "This certainly bucks the trend," he said.

However, term limits that restrict assemblymen to three two-year terms tend to make legislators more aggressive because they have limited time to get things done, Levine said.

"Mr. Blakeslee should be aggressive and move forward," Levine said. "I would never call him foolhardy for pursuing something like this." Blakeslee, a businessman and geophysicist, said the bill doesn't contradict his pro-business, conservative philosophies.

PG&E faces several major decisions at Diablo Canyon, he said, and it would be better for the utility if the studies he proposes are done soon.

The utility plans to spend more than $700 million of ratepayer money to replace the plant's steam generators and is deciding whether to apply to renew the plant's operating licenses, which expire in 2023 and 2025.

"There are business impacts of not moving ahead with this," Blakeslee said.

The bill would mandate state agencies such as the Energy Commission and the Public Utilities Commission to make Diablo Canyon studies a priority. The studies would focus on three issues:

--Independently assess earthquake studies done at the plant to see if new technology and lessons learned by recent local earthquakes can be used to better understand seismic risks to Diablo Canyon;

--Determine the feasibility of converting the plant to natural gas in the event PG&E has trouble with its license renewals; and

--Determine what incentives to PG&E might be needed to facilitate the conversion to natural gas.

"This analysis will be done eventually," Blakeslee said. "We want to do it early enough to create as many options (as possible) now before the community is in a crisis mode." Where utility stands PG&E is opposed to the idea of converting Diablo Canyon to natural gas. At a recent town hall hearing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, PG&E executives said replacing Diablo Canyon's nuclear power with natural gas would be a bad idea because it would reduce the diversity of power sources for the state and increase air pollution.

Company executives also believe that the process of converting the plant would have licensing challenges of its own. PG&E has noted Duke Energy's problems in obtaining a license to revamp its Morro Bay plant, already powered by natural gas. In addition, PG&E has noted that converting Diablo does not solve the problem of where and how to store its radioactive waste, and it requires building a natural gas pipeline to the plant.

"We are not interested in repowering Diablo Canyon with natural gas," said David Oatley, the senior PG&E official at Diablo Canyon.

Pleasantly surprised Environmentalists said they were pleasantly surprised by Blakeslee's bill. They agree that now is the time to look at alternatives to nuclear power before PG&E moves ahead with the steam generator replacement project.

"There's a lot of political risk in this for this guy (Blakeslee)," said Carl Zichella, a legislative analyst for the Sierra Club in Sacramento. "I think he should be rewarded for putting his community before his political aspirations."

Blakeslee has taken on one of the state's most powerful political entities in PG&E, Zichella said. The utility is committed to keeping Diablo Canyon nuclear, in spite of the cost and problems associated with storage of its highly radioactive spent reactor fuel.

"If it weren't for the political clout of PG&E, this would be an easy conversation," he said.

To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

SLO Hearst Deal Final

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

California, Hearst seal sale of land along coast
Associated Press, Lisa Leff

One of the largest land conservation deals in California history became final Friday when the state and two groups closed escrow on a $95 million agreement to preserve Hearst Ranch, the nearly pristine stretch of coastal range that surrounds Hearst Castle.

Under terms of the sale, nearly all of the 82,000-acre ranch midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco will remain undeveloped, while 13 miles of coastline that has been privately held for generations will transfer to the state for public access, according to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office.

"The landscape and the coastline will remain pristine," said Nita Vail, executive director of California Rangeland Trust, one of two private groups that helped secure the deal.

Besides opening miles of rugged beaches along California Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo County, the accord brokered by the trust and the American Land Conservancy provides the state with an easement through the ranch that will be used to complete an 18-mile segment of the California Coastal Trail. An effort seeks to make the entire California coast from Mexico to Oregon publicly accessible.

The state paid the Hearst Corp. $80 million in cash and $15 million in tax credits. In exchange, the company agreed to strictly limit development on the rest of the 128-square mile ranch surrounding the state park at Hearst Castle.

The difference between the fair market price of the property, which the governor's office said was $230 million, and the amount agreed upon in the deal was counted as a charitable donation to the state by Hearst.

Critics of the deal said the property's value was overappraised.

$1 Billion Annual SLO Tourism

Monday, February 21, 2005

Tourism brings in $1 billion annually to county's economy
The Tribune, Leslie E. Stevens

Visitors touring Hearst Castle, and the county's missions, wineries and beaches help make tourism one of San Luis Obispo County' largest industries, contributing more than $1 billion annually to the local economy.

While specific information on international visitors is limited, local hotels and industry experts reported increases in both U.S. and foreign visitors in the past year, particularly in the coastal areas.

Last summer marked the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, that a Japanese airlines tour group returned to Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort in Avila Beach, according to marketing manager Charlie Yates. With the resort's emphasis on spiritual wellness, nearly 20 percent of its visitors arrive from Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

Britons, Germans and Canadians also are starting to return to the county in greater numbers, said Jonni Biaggini, executive director for the county's Visitors & Conference Bureau.

"They are not as likely to be inhibited by threats of terrorism," she said. "The inconvenience (of post September 2001 travel) versus the threat are two different things. I think the inconvenience is making more of an impact on foreign and domestic travelers as well."

Tourism in SLO County by the numbers 17,530 Number of people who are employed in the local tourism industry $981 million Estimated amount that tourism spending generates locally each year 10 percent Estimated percentage of tourists who are from a foreign nation $17.4 million Countywide hotel sales taxes collected during the fiscal year that ended last June.

SLO Charm Jewelry

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Popular TV shows put Pismo artist's jewelry in the spotlight
Steve Fairchild, Times Press Recorder

Television stars have a way of creating buzz. It seems all they need to do is wear or say something about a product in a show or in a photo shoot and -- poof! -- instant popularity.

Amy Peters, a Pismo Beach artist, knows that well. When one of the necklaces she made showed up on the second season of the popular television show "Survivor," orders started flowing in. Now her necklaces and other jewelry are making a regular appearance on the hit show "The OC."

"My designs fit in with the California lifestyle," Peters said. "It's casual and sleek and, obviously, the OC costume designer agrees."

Retail prices for Peters' jewelry are affordable at about $20 to $50. And that's something unusual for the high-end fashion taste found on "The OC", which could make Peters' products stand out above the rest.

Peters said she is already starting to hear a buzz for her product. When her necklace appeared on "Survivor" a few years ago, it also showed up in stories about the show on the cover of US and People magazines.

Peters' jewelry includes charms and rings with positive, upbeat sayings etched into them, like "Dreams Come True," "Make Waves," "Once in a Blue Moon" and "Dream Big."

Peters said she designs her jewelry to be positive and meaningful for the people who wear it.

"It's simple, with really heartfelt messages," she said. "And I think that is so important today. There's a lot of negative stuff, and we really try to keep it positive and upbeat."

Peters' designs have also been seen on "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and in the movie "Walking Tall."

The company is ready to handle a flood of orders if fans of "The OC" track down her work. There are already a half a dozen mentions on "The OC" fan Web sites, she said.

"Not a problem," she said. "We're waiting for Oprah to call."

Peters, a graduate of San Francisco State University, founded her first art business in Shell Beach in 1995. It was located in a Victorian carriage shed with a dirt floor and no running water. Then she bought a building in Shell Beach at the corner of Vista Del Mar and Shell Beach Road. Her designs are now featured in more than 600 boutiques or galleries and catalogs across the United States.

She recently moved her studio and production company into a new building in Avila Beach Village, a high-class area of businesses and retail stores near the San Luis Bay Health Club.

www.amypetersstudio.com
No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster

SLO Wine Basics

Saturday, February 19, 2005

To further celebrate the proud heritage of our local cuisine, the San Luis Obispo Vintners Association has announced the introduction of a new "Wine Basics 101" educational seminar series to provide information, encouragement, and support for wine education at all levels. The $25 series of oenophilic seminars will be held on Feb. 19 and begins with a vineyard tour through Domaine Alfred, Edna Valley Vineyards, or Tolosa Winery, followed by a course in viticulture vocab, and culminating with a lunch seminar on pairing of wine and food. To learn more about this intoxicating program, contact the SLO Vintners Association at 541-5868.

SLO Sattellite Connections to Schools

Friday, February 18, 2005

School satellite system
Chicago Tribune

The State of Illinois will pay up to $3.8 million over a five-year period to Ground Control, a firm based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., to supply satellite connections to schools in rural parts of the state. The Illinois Department of Central Management Services will supply the satellite connection to the state's broadband network in areas where affordable broadband is unavailable. The department is also exploring ways to make connectivity available to small businesses in rural areas, and to state police and other state agencies.

More Visiting SLO

Thursday, February 17, 2005

SLO County has seen upswing in visitors in the past year
The Tribune, Leslie E. Stevens

Visitors touring Hearst Castle, and the county's missions, wineries and beaches help make tourism one of San Luis Obispo County' largest industries, contributing more than $1 billion annually to the local economy.

While specific information on international visitors is limited, local hotels and industry experts reported increases in both U.S. and foreign visitors in the past year, particularly in the coastal areas.

Last summer marked the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, that a Japanese airlines tour group returned to Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort in Avila Beach, according to marketing manager Charlie Yates. With the resort's emphasis on spiritual wellness, nearly 20 percent of its visitors arrive from Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

Britons, Germans and Canadians also are starting to return to the county in greater numbers, said Jonni Biaggini, executive director for the county's Visitors & Conference Bureau.

"They are not as likely to be inhibited by threats of terrorism," she said. "The inconvenience (of post September 2001 travel) versus the threat are two different things. I think the inconvenience is making more of an impact on foreign and domestic travelers as well."

Surfing SLO

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Pismo Beach Pier

One of the more consistent and shapely of all Central Coast beachbreaks, the Pismo Beach Pier is the hub of south county surfing. Contests are staged regularly, and a few exceptionally talented surfers have emerged from this land of the sand highway and tourist hordes. At 1,250 feet long, the pier itself is lit at night, meaning full-moon sessions are a possibility. Cradled in the lee of Point San Luis and San Luis Obispo Bay, the pier is in a slight northwest swell shadow, so it's usually smaller and less windy than the more exposed sandbars down around Oceano, but bigger than the Avila Beach area to the north.

The land is also warmer due to the wind-blocking hills behind the city. You could compare the surf at Pismo (Chumash Indian word for "tar" or "pismu") to a famous pier like Huntington, only the water's about 10 degrees colder and thonged teenage girls are nonexistent.

Pismo's south side is usually better than the north, and you're liberated to snuff out several miles' worth of white sand beachbreak guaranteed to be devoid of other surfers. But if you're lazy like the rest of us, the pier vicinity will do just fine, thanks.

Juicy rights sometimes form off the south side, but don't expect a Rincon-length wave here -- it can be more walled than China. Bigger, solid groundswells are especially shapeless, so your best bet would be to show up during a peaky windswell or small groundswell in times of light wind and high tide. Since the beach faces southwest, playful summertime swells are desired. The beach slopes gently out from the water's edge, which also means the waves are much softer than, say, somewhere like Jalama Beach or Morro Rock.

SLO Costco Opening Soon

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

SLO Costco could open as soon as June
The Tribune, Cynthia Neff

Environmental tests give a green-light to SLO site

Construction on the proposed Costco warehouse store in San Luis Obispo is likely to start March 1, City Administrator Ken Hampian said Monday.

Work can start because no vernal pool fairy shrimp were found in the last of nine tests by soil scientist Julie Thomas and wildlife biologist John Davis.

That finding removes another obstacle for the 140,000-square-foot Costco, which will be built off Los Osos Valley Road, next to Home Depot.

Hampian estimated that Costco will open in June or July.

In November, city officials feared the search for fairy shrimp would derail the project.

The shrimp were not discovered near the Costco site, but near Tank Farm Road, a fair distance away.

Even so, the Tank Farm Road finding was significant enough to warrant more study of the Calle Joaquin area, biologists said.

"We didn't expect to find anything, although there was standing water out there," Mary Reents, president and project manager for Morro Group, Inc. said of the final tests. "Environmentally speaking, we've covered all the bases."

Today is the "final step in completing the things necessary to allow Costco to proceed," he said, referring to a reimbursement agreement on the City Council's agenda that would allow Costco to go ahead with the realignment of Calle Joaquin south of Los Osos Valley Road.

The company has the responsibility for moving the road west to handle more traffic.

Of the realignment project's $3 million cost, Costco's share is about $910,000.

Currently the north and south ends of Calle Joaquin do not meet at Los Osos Valley Road, forcing drivers to turn down that street before continuing on Calle Joaquin.

Realigning the road would create an intersection at Calle Joaquin and Los Osos Valley Road near the Arco gas station.

Hampian said the realignment could be finished within a year.

The city also recently sought court permission to take less than an acre of land near Motel 6 and the Rose Garden Inn off Calle Joaquin.

Sideways author to visit SLO

Monday, February 14, 2005

Sideways author, Rex Pickett Visits Paso Robles Wine Country
March 19-21 Monday February 14, 11:00 am ET
Appearances Scheduled at Zinfandel Festival and JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery

PASO ROBLES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2005--Sideways' award winning author Rex Pickett will visit Paso Robles Wine Country March 19-21 for official book signing appearances at the 13th Annual Zinfandel Festival and at JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery. The feature film Sideways, winner of two Golden Globe Awards and five Academy Award nominations, was based on Pickett's novel.

Sideways is a story of two friends -- Miles and Jack -- who experience the Central Coast wine region as part of Jack's final days before getting married. For Miles, who divorced his wife and has an uncertain career and a lost passion for living, the weeklong trip through wine country gives him an opportunity to evaluate his past, future and himself. The novel is filled with wonderful details about wine and gives readers a thought provoking and funny book about men, woman and human relationships.

Pickett's first appearance in Paso Robles will be at the 13th Annual Zinfandel Festival, California's second largest Zinfandel tasting event, hosted by the Paso Robles Vintners and Growers Association. As one of the original wine varieties planted in Paso Robles, Zinfandel influenced the early growth and development of the Paso Robles wine industry. Today, there are more than 1,750 acres of Zinfandel planted throughout the Paso Robles AVA making it the fourth largest variety (preceded by Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah) produced in the area.

Wine enthusiasts and book lovers alike can join Pickett in Paso Robles Wine Country at the following appearances.

Saturday, March 19 -- Thirteenth Annual Zinfandel Festival

5 p.m. -- Live Auction featuring Zinfandel Winemaker's Collaborative Blend
7:30-10 p.m. -- Grand Tasting featuring Zinfandel from more than 40 wineries and Sideways book signing
San Luis Obispo Pavilion of the California Mid-State Fairgrounds
2198 Riverside Drive, Paso Robles, CA
$50 Magnum Package -- Grand Tasting and Silent Auction -- Autographed Sideways books available for $14
$75 Jeroboam Package -- Magnum Package plus Live Auction featuring Zinfandel Winemaker's Collaborative Blend
To purchase tickets visit www.pasowine.com or call 805-239-8463.

Sunday, March 20 -- JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery

3:30 p.m. -- Wine and cheese reception and book signing
JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery ISOCELES Center
11680 Chimney Rock Road, Paso Robles, CA 93446
$30 -- includes autographed Sideways book and wine and cheese reception
For reservations please call 800-726-0049 ext. 300.

Paso Robles Wine Country is centrally located between San Francisco and Los Angeles along California's Central Coast. As California's fastest growing wine region, the 40-mile territory encompasses 25,000 vineyard acres and nearly 90 wineries. With a greater day-to-night temperature swing than any other appellation in California, Paso Robles is an optimal area for producing more than 16 wine varieties. For more information, visit www.pasowine.com.
Contact:

Paso Robles Vintners and Growers Association
Stacie Jacob, 805-239-8463 ext. 202
sjacob@pasowine.com

California's other Wine County

Sunday, February 13, 2005

California's other wine country - Central Coast
Sunset, Sept 1996, David Lansing

Central Coast vintners from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara are producing wines that Napa Valley vintners covet

The silver horse vineyards tasting room sits in a converted pole barn. Outside, lazing in the sun, Tigger and R.D. (short for Ranch Dog) wait for the infrequent visitor to the 77-acre ranch tucked away in the rolling hills north of Paso Robles.

When R.D., a border collie-Australian shepherd mix, hears the distant hum of a car driving slowly up Pleasant Road, his ears snap to attention. If the car turns off the narrow, twisting country lane and onto the winery's gravel road, R.D. announces the arrival with a couple of short piercing yips.

The dog's barks alert Silver Horse owners Rich and Kristen Simons that they've got company. The Simonses are relative newcomers to the Central Coast wine scene, having bought their ranch in 1989 and produced their first wines in 1992. They fit right in. Pouring a barrel-fermented Chardonnay for a visitor, Rich notes that the wine is "unpretentious, but has lots of character." He might just as easily be referring to the dozens of wineries that, like Silver Horse, are hidden in the brown hills and oak-shaded valleys between Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, the heart and soul of the Central Coast wine appellation's southern end.

Many of these wineries, including Silver Horse, produce fewer than 4,000 cases of wine a year, selling their accomplished vintages out of old barns, former living rooms, and - in at least one case - a trailer. Though the names of most Central Coast wineries are not exactly household words (few people have even heard of Norman, Qupe, and Talley), the wines they produce are as fine as any being made in California.

Especially of late. "The '94 vintage was good, and a number of Central Coast wineries have been very good for quite a while," says David Russell, wine buyer for Santa Barbara's Wine Cask. "These are very impressive and very successful wines," he says. "And I think the best is yet to come."

With success, of course, has come change. The old barns and ranch houses are steadily giving way to million-dollar showpieces, such as the copper-roofed tasting room at Fess Parker Winery or Eberle Winery's underground caves (complete with a private dining room for special events).

Other changes go beyond cosmetics. Take the case of winemaker Byron "Ken" Brown, who founded the Santa Maria Valley's Byron Vineyard & Winery in 1984 after five years of making award-winning wines for nearby Zaca Mesa. To grow and keep pace with the competition - and to avoid being marginalized as a mere "boutique" winery - Brown sold Byron in 1990 to the Robert Mondavi Winery, Brown, who has stayed on as general manager and winemaker of Byron Winery, believes that Mondavi's resources will allow Byron's line of Burgundy-style wines - Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris - to compete with not only the best wines from Napa and Sonoma, but also those from France. "With Mondavi's backing, I sleep a lot better at night," he says.

Robert Mondavi's interest in the Central Coast is not limited to Byron. Recently, the winery acquired the nearby Tepusquet and Sierra Madre vineyards, as well as a 360-acre farm near Santa Maria that will soon be planted with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. All told, Robert Mondavi Winery owns about 1,700 acres of vineyards in Santa Maria Valley. And it has just built a state-of-the-art Byron winery, whose sleek, humidity- and temperature-controlled facilities seem as distant from the Simonses' simple pole-barn tasting room as Byron's exquisite Pinot Gris is from unfermented grape juice.

Nor is Mondavi the only big-name vintner moving into the neighborhood. Beringer Wine Estates owns the Paso Robles winery Meridian Vineyards, whose almost 3,000 acres of vines makes Beringer one of the area's largest owners. Beringer is also a partner with French champagne maker Maison Deutz in Arroyo Grande, producing San Luis Obispo County's only sparkling wines.

Another French winemaker, Chateau de Beaucastel, has popped up down the road from John and Andree Munch, who moved to Paso Robles from San Francisco in 1981 to found Adelaida Cellars. John Munch welcomes his new French-speaking neighbors, even as they eye the uncultivated hills around him. He plans to follow their lead and plant more of Adelaida's vineyards with Syrah and other Rhone varietals.

"The Central Coast is like Provence - not Nice or Napa," says Munch. "Everything is very down-to-earth. The appearances of what we do may be lowbrow, but the presentation is exquisite. The quality of our wine is very high. That's why the French have come here."

It would be simple, but inaccurate, to say that the Central Coast wine region is refreshingly un-Napa-like. Certainly there's a good dollop of "aw-shucks" in many of the region's vintners. Take Tobin James Shumrick of Tobin James Cellars. Like a lot of other winemakers in the area, Shumrick got his start working for Gary Eberle (who many consider the godfather of the region) at Eberle Winery. Shumrick's first crush came from a gondola of grapes that Eberle refused to take because he didn't have room for it. Shumrick talked Eberle into letting him take the grapes instead of spilling them. Thus were born Tobin James wines. Today, Shumrick mischievously slaps exotic nicknames, such as Huevos or Wild Child, onto the labels of his bold red wines.

Shumrick is definitely a character (rumor has it he's a distant relative of Jesse James, a claim not made by Shumrick). John Munch is something of a character, too. How many winemakers can you name who used to play in a rock band with a late member of the Grateful Dead? But more important than its characters is the Central Coast's isolation. Situated midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and bounded by the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the Coast Ranges to the north, much of the Central Coast's sleepy-eyed reputation comes from being "just far enough," as John Munch says, from the Big City.

Looking for hot spots? Pull into Paso Robles on a Friday night. One of the busiest places in town is the A&W drive-in on Spring Street, where, in a scene straight out of American Graffiti, carhops pick up your burger tray when you flash your headlights. A block away is the Paso Robles Vintners & Growers Association, housed in an old, green '40s-style California bungalow. It's right next to the Farm Credit office. At the opposite end of town, Takken's still sells Red Wings boots to young farmworkers, just as it's done for almost 60 years.

Sixty miles south lies Santa Maria, which has suffered from a growth spurt that has brought on miles of ticky-tacky strip malls. In Santa Maria, you can still get a great sandwich made of thin slices of seasoned tri-tip and fresh salsa from the portable barbecue stands that line Broadway most weekends. Farther south is Los Olivos - gateway to the Foxen Canyon wineries of Santa Barbara County. The scene is tonier here, but an old stagecoach stop, Mattei's Tavern, continues to lure hungry travelers off the scenic San Marcos Pass, as it did years ago when Clark Gable used to dine here while on hunting trips in the Santa Ynez hills.

Ken Brown of Byron Vineyards appreciates these simple pleasures but wonders how much longer the area can stay at arm's length from its relentless suitor to the north, Napa, which, along with other Northern California regions, purchases 75 to 80 percent of all the grapes grown between Paso Robles and Santa Barbara. Central Coast wineries like Silver Horse and Adelaida may be on a road less traveled today, but they probably won't be for long. To paraphrase an old saying, if the grapes won't go to Napa, Napa, it seems, will go to the grapes. And when that happens, don't expect the Simonses' ranch dogs to greet you at the barn.

SLO Home Affordability

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Affordability gauge flat
The Tribune, Leslie E. Stevens

The ability of local residents to afford a San Luis Obispo County home remained unchanged in December at 14 percent, the same level it's been for most of the year, according to figures released Thursday by the California Association of Realtors.

The index, which measures the percentage of households that can afford to purchase the county's median-priced home, has fluctuated between a low of 13 percent in September to an annual high of 20 percent in March and April when median prices briefly dipped below $400,000.

Homebuyers would need an income of almost $111,000 to afford the county's $475,610 median-priced home in December based on a traditional 30-year mortgage at 5.76 percent interest, assuming a 20 percent down payment.

That's nearly twice the county's median family income of $61,700 last year. One result has been a slowdown in the number of county home sales. While December's median home price rose 15 percent year-to-year, the number of home sales dropped 18.5 percent in the same period, according to the state association.

Home prices and affordability also vary greatly around the county. Pismo Beach is home to the county's steepest prices with a median of $730,000 in December, while Oceano was most affordable at $397,500, according to local multiple listing service figures.

Statewide, the median home cost $474,480 in December and was affordable for 19 percent of California households. At 41 percent, the High Desert was the state's most affordable region, while Santa Barbara came in as the least affordable at 9 percent.

Nationally, 55 percent of Americans earned the $44,000 income needed to purchase the country's median-priced home of $188,900.

Prices rise in most towns

Median prices of previously owned homes in San Luis Obispo County increased an average 15 percent between December 2003 and December 2004, according to the California Association of Realtors. Following is a breakdown of how individual cities and communities fared during the same time period.

Location Median price, Percent
Dec. '03 vs. Dec. '04 change

Cambria $769,000/$577,500 - 25%
Cayucos $652,000/$685,000 +5%
Morro Bay $492,000/$515,000 +4.7%
Los Osos $419,750/$419,900 unchanged
San Luis Obispo $523,000/$593,500 +13.5%
Pismo Beach $600,000/$730,000 +21.7%
Grover Beach $435,975/$462,000 +6%
Arroyo Grande $575,000/$662,425 +15.2%
Oceano $383,500/$397,500 +3.7%
Nipomo $459,900/$512,000 +11.3%
Atascadero $387,000/$459,950 +18.9%
Templeton $414,000/$550,000 +32.9%
Paso Robles $376,200/$430,000 +14.3%
Countywide $413,640/$475,610 +15%

SLO's Generosity towards Woods

Friday, February 11, 2005

Tales of emotion
Times Press Recorder, April Charlton

Donations for Woods' new shelter come from young, old

SAN LUIS OBISPO: A recent community drive to raise $500,000 to help Woods Humane Society move into its new digs this summer had shelter staffers making daily bank runs.

"We had so many gifts coming in (during December), we were overwhelmed," said Yvon Gresser, Woods capital campaign manager. "We were going to the bank three to four times a day (to make deposits). It added up to generous amounts."

Last year, the shelter, which will celebrate 50 years of service to the county's homeless animals in May, received a $500,000 anonymous matching challenge donation.

The match had to be met by Dec. 31, with all the funding to be used for building a new shelter near the County Division of Animal Services facility.

"At this point, we're over $400,000, which is wonderful," said Carol Schreiber, Woods community relations director. "The campaign was extremely successful. We had donations of $5 to $50,000 and everything in between.

"This (campaign) spoke volumes to the importance of Woods and how much people in the community value the humane treatment of animals."

In addition to the monetary rewards the campaign brought, Gresser also found rewards -- and some tears -- in the many letters, pictures and personal visits that the community shared when they donated.

"It really showed the love affair that people have with their animals," Gresser said, adding donors often brought their pets, usually dogs, to the shelter's business office when making a donation. "It so touched your heart."

She teared up as she told the story of a South County family that had just lost their daughter and decided to give the young girl's last paycheck to the campaign in her honor.

"They said, 'She loved animals and would've wanted that.' It just so touched your heart," an emotional Gresser said. "I can't even begin to tell you how honored I am."

In yet more donation tales, Gresser told of a young boy from Nipomo who decided to give up his allowance so his parents could donate the money to the campaign, a Pismo Beach woman who collected aluminum cans for donations and students who held fund-raisers across the county.

"The effort was so far spread" she added. "The gifts were generous and many. It was so heartwarming."

"People gave to the cause (of) helping to get us home," Schreiber added.

Schreiber hadn't calculated the exact dollar amount of donations given during the campaign, as the shelter is still receiving contributions that are earmarked for the matching challenge.

Once all the contributions have been counted, the anonymous donors will match the amount up to $500,000.

Woods, which debuted as a small farm in Nipomo in 1955, is considered a low-kill shelter, meaning animals are only euthanized as a last resort. Due to a planned expansion of the county airport, the shelter's current Broad Street facility, which was constructed in 1959, needs to relocate.

The new 23,729-square-foot shelter will showcase a cattery as well as dog, kitten and puppy kennels, a spay/neuter site, veterinary examination rooms, multiple get-acquainted rooms, nine outdoor exercise yards, a public reception area, grooming areas and a crematory, among other features.

The new facility, located at 875 Oklahoma Ave., is set to open in June and will accommodate up to 60 cats, 30 kittens, 83 dogs and 20 puppies, almost doubling what the current shelter can board.

Woods is still raising funds to keep the construction and opening of the new shelter on schedule, and its staff hopes the community will keep giving.

"We can't say we're done yet; we have a lot more work to do," Gresser said. "We're really hoping that our fans out there will keep helping."

SLO's Beach Towns

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Beach town classics: check out vintage California style in the Central Coast's Pismo Beach and newly revived Avila Beach
Sunset, Matthew Jaffe

It's morning at Avila Beach, and the sounds of the sea provide the day's first impressions. In the silence between the rhythmic plunging of waves onto the beach, the calls of shorebirds and the barks of sea lions drift across San Luis Obispo Bay.

Farther south along the bay at Pismo Beach, the sands are busy with walkers and joggers. Foraging curlews and godwits take off at the beachgoers' approach and fly a few hundred feet downshore, only to be displaced again.

Such morning scenes are a reminder that, first and foremost, a beach town is about the beach. Pismo and Avila are communities that are dedicated to this simple proposition, even as change has come to both. Pismo is enhancing its waterfront and has added a new city park, while Avila, after essentially being closed down for several years during an oil-spill cleanup, is back in business with a new beachfront and an eye toward the future.

Timeless Pismo Beach

The city is upgrading lighting and paving, but downtown Pismo Beach is still a classic beach town. Hints of fish and chips and saltwater taffy drift through the air, and clam chowder is ubiquitous on local menus.

There's a bit of a feeling that this is where the Pacific Coast meets the Jersey Shore. A new beachfront boardwalk connects to the town's popular 1,250-foot-long pier. And the East Coast feel is further enhanced by the section of beach south of Grand Avenue in the hamlet of Grover Beach--the only beach on the California coast where you can drive a car.

A big part of Pismo's atmosphere comes from another influence. "This is the Central Valley's beach," says Don Day, a resident, general contractor, and downtown property owner. "You stand on a corner and the crowd all knows each other. They're all from their valley. For generations and generations, this has been their beach town."

The Pismo oceanfront is definitely one-of-a-kind on the California coast. It's notable as one of the greatest walking beaches anywhere. Wide, flat, and well packed, the sands extend for miles south of the pier, and it feels as if you can walk forever.

Head inland, and a different experience awaits. California's largest coastal dune field begins just south of town. It's worth forsaking the hard pack along the oceanfront to challenge the shifting sands of the Pismo State Beach Dune Preserve, especially in spring when the bush lupine and beach primrose are in bloom.

North of town, the beach's perfect flatness quickly changes, as a line of cliffs fronted by sea stacks and cut by coves rises from the ocean. One of the more intriguing spots is Dinosaur Caves Park, a paleontological misnomer. The name actually comes from a large dinosaur statue that attracted 1940s visitors to an amusement park perched on nearby cliffs.

Once slated for a hotel development, the Dinosaur Caves area became a city park last year. Dinosaurs are conspicuously absent, but there are colonies of pelicans and gulls, as well as harbor seals hauled out along the rocks.

Avila Beach reborn

About 7 miles north of Pismo, Avila Beach is a cul-de-sac of a beach town. The city has no through roads, so unless you're aiming for it, you're not likely to get there.

It might sound like a dead end, but there's new life here. A decades-long underground oil spill from a Unocal pipeline led to an $18 million cleanup project financed by the company. A good portion of Avila was torn down and rebuilt, and while many historic buildings were preserved, Avila gained a spruced-up waterfront promenade. Some people love the facelift for such touches as the swirling tile time line that portrays the town's history, while others feel that their beach town has been Botoxed.

"One of the admonitions to the designers was to keep the funky feel of Avila Beach," Avila Beach Community Foundation executive director Boyd Horne explains. "I think most everyone is pleased." But given that local land prices have skyrocketed after the recovery, Horne acknowledges that change is inevitable. "'Funky' is probably not a good description of what's going to take place," he says.

But plenty remains the same at Avila Beach. Locals still tout the protected microclimate, where temperatures tend to be warmer and days more fog-free than at Pismo and other Central Coast spots. And at the Harford Pier just north of town, you can still watch fishing boats unload, then look through the windows at the Olde Port Fisheries as the catch is filleted and processed.

As hard as it is to leave the coast behind, Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, set in a wooded canyon a few miles outside of town, has its own allure. The resort traces its origins to 1886, when oil workers discovered the area's thermal hot springs. Several nearby trails wander beneath the sycamores along San Luis Obispo Creek and ascend the canyon's slopes.

The essence of the Sycamore experience is a soak in one of the resort's fancifully named redwood tubs. The one called Shangri La requires a long climb up several sets of stairs to a secluded spot in the forest. The twisting limbs of oak trees are silhouetted against a darkening sky as a nearly full moon rises in the east. The air is cool, the tub is hot, and the last bit of sun glows through the mouth of the canyon as a beautiful day becomes a beautiful night.

Molski Scolded for SLO lawsuits

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Paraplegic scolded for lawsuits
Monterey Herald

The paraplegic who has taken dozens of Central Coast businesses to federal court for alleged Americans with Disabilities Act violations was berated by a judge who said he can now only sue in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Rafeedie on Monday told plaintiff Jarek Molski, who has sued more than 50 SLO County businesses and several in Monterey County, that he cannot file any more suits in Los Angeles federal court unless they have merit and get a judge's approval.

Rafeedie called him a "hit-and-run plaintiff" whose credibility is questionable because he claimed 16 identical injuries at separate businesses in the span of four days. Molski alleges that he visits restaurants and wineries and then suffers injuries because of ADA violations.

By filing in federal court, Rafeedie said, Molski takes advantage of defendants by telling them to quickly settle cases and thereby avoid costly litigation and travel costs to Los Angeles. Rafeedie called Molski's actions a "scheme of systematic extortion."

Los Angeles lawyer Stephen Yagman, who represents Molski's attorney, said he will appeal Rafeedie's ruling.

"Rafeedie's mean-spiritedness, cruelty and contempt for civil rights makes Hitler look like a humanitarian," Yagman said. "This judge is trying to bar the door to the federal courthouse."

Molski's lawsuit against Roy's Drive-In, a popular restaurant in North Salinas, forced its closure in September. In May he sued in federal court, claiming the drive-in's 6-inch curbs and narrow restroom doors violated the ADA.

Roy's owner Roger Patterson decided to close the restaurant rather than fight the lawsuit. Patterson said he was willing to spend $10,000 to make the necessary repairs, but the prospect of extensive legal fees and damages pushed him to close the business.

Molski, 34, who became a paraplegic after injuring himself in a 1988 motorcycle accident, refuses to talk to the news media.

SLO's Makeover

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

The new face of San Luis Obispo
Sunset, 1996, David Lansing

Higuera Street does Main Street one better in this central California town

San Luis Obispo has always been one of the central coast's most eccentric towns. For years its unusual landmarks have lured people from the road between San Francisco and Los Angeles. There's the Madonna Inn, with its campy pink exterior and rock-waterfall bathroom fixtures; the Dorn pyramid, a 25-foot-tall granite monument towering over the Odd Fellows Cemetery; and narrow Bubble Gum Alley, where for almost 40 years, San Luis Obispoans have festooned a 50-yard-long brick wall with the collected works of Wrigley, Chiclet, and Dentyne, to name but a few.

Both the mystical pyramid and sticky alley are on Higuera Street, home to the city's flourishing Thursday night Farmers' Market, from 6:30 to 9 between Nipomo and Osos streets. Higuera also borders Downtown Centre. Plaza, a new paseo-style mall where you can watch cartoons and the Three Stooges projected on the outside wall of a movie theater, sip an orange-zinger smoothie, or browse the wares of a handful of upscale rag merchants catering to the Cal Poly crowd.

Even if you can't visit San Luis (the locals beg you not to pronounce it San Loo-ey) on a Farmers' Market night, you'll find Higuera Street a lively experience most evenings, particularly on weekends, thanks to a crop of new coffeehouses, taverns, and specialty shops.

Hands Gallery (in a new location at 777 Higuera; 805/543-1921) showcases local art, including the whimsical bird-houses and clocks of Atascadero artist Laurel Tyler, and the slightly neurotic-looking teapots and stoneware of David Gurney from Arroyo Grande.

Another fresh presence is Mother's Tavern (725 Higuera; 541-8733), which looks very much the way a saloon in San Luis might have looked in the days when area ranchers rode their horses into town to enjoy a fresh brew and a hearty meal. Try the Red-Headed Stepchild - spicy sausage in marinara sauce over fresh spaghetti. Live jazz or R&B begins nightly around 9.

As in many downtown shopping districts, Higuera's redevelopment has been fueled by caffeine. The oldest coffee-house on the street, Koffee Klatsch (778 Higuera; 544-1228), has been around for 15 years. Naturally, this cozy European-style cafe makes a mean espresso, but it is also known for its fine selection of teas, from special blends such as Russian Caravan to decaffeinated brews such as apricot.

Two Higuera Street bookstores are worth a visit. The Novel Experience (787 Higuera; 544-0150) is best known for its extensive selection of genre novels - romance, mystery, and science fiction among them. Leon's Book Store (659 Higuera; 543-5039) has thousands of used books stacked from floor to ceiling.

Most public parking lots around Higuera are metered. More convenient are the two public parking garages, one at the corner of Chorro and Marsh streets, the other at Chorro and Palm streets, both within a block or two of Higuera. Parking is free for the first 90 minutes at either garage. For more information, or for a list of places to stay if you are planning an overnight visit, call the San Luis Obispo County Visitors & Conference Bureau at (800) 634-1414.

Encouraging SLO Economic Outlook

Monday, February 07, 2005

Upturn?
The Tribune, Leslie E. Stevens and Julie Lynem

Economic growth, which has lagged here in the past several years, is expected to gain momentum, though roadblocks remain

San Luis Obispo County's economy has had its share of rough patches. The state budget crisis, declining tourism and the December 2003 San Simeon Earthquake all helped to clamp down on growth for the past two years.

But 2005 will tell a different story, say local business and community leaders.

"The commonality is this feeling of optimism," said Dave Garth, president and chief executive officer of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber, which celebrates its centennial this year, isn't the only group that's more upbeat.

The county Visitors & Conference Bureau, cities and local vintners organizations say an improving economy and cooperative marketing efforts are luring more tourists to the area.

Agriculture, the county's second largest industry, also is expected to remain strong in 2005, said Bob Lilley, the county's ag commissioner. A diminishing wine glut and increased demand for the county's vegetables and cattle promise higher prices for local farmers and ranchers, he said.

As well, wealthy baby boomers and retirees will continue to support the local real estate market, despite an anticipated rise in interest rates this year. New homebuyers and equity-rich homeowners also are contributing to the local economy with their furniture purchases and home renovations.

"We are very bullish about the local economy this year," said Jim Stathos, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Mid-State Bank & Trust. "We see no significant weaknesses. Customers are more confident in their jobs, individual financial situations and their ability to buy a home."

Bill Watkins, economist with the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, said new economic figures prove that this year will be better than the last.

Recent state economic revisions show that California's economy did substantially better between 2001 and 2004 than previously indicated -- averaging 2.3 percent growth rather than 0.2 percent. The county's economic growth also was revised upward during the period, doubling to 1.6 percent from 0.8 percent.

"New economic data and revisions indicate the county is doing a little better than we thought in November," Watkins said. "The figures are showing a small amount of growth, but we expect it to be held down a bit because of state budget issues."

Indeed, business owners will continue to be impacted by the state's fiscal woes and a host of other issues this year, including rising workers' compensation and health-care costs. Competition with nearby counties and from large chain stores also could put more pressure on smaller, local merchants, leaders say.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle for business is the lack of affordable housing for workers. Demand for the county's homes has led to six years of double-digit price increases, pushing the median home price near $500,000 - well beyond the reach of the average working family.

Edna and Arroyo Grande Valley Wines

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Edna Valley: pleasure, pure and simple - San Luis Obispo County
Wines & Vines, Richard Paul Hinkle

One small pocket of inestimable pleasure is tucked into the southernmost aspect of San Luis Obispo County. While Paso Robles gets most of the county's accolades, it would be an egregious mistake to pass over its southern sidepocket, Edna Valley (and it's own little hip pocket, Arroyo Grande). Though demand and climate make Chardonnay this region's leading light, there remains a wide variety of varietals and styles in this limited loci, from the opulent Zinfandel of Saucelito Canyon to the oily Viognier of Alban, from Talley's stylish Chardonnay to Edna Valley Vineyard's supple Pinots, from the crisp sparklers of Maison Deutz to the memorable dry Gewurztraminers of Claiborne & Churchill.

The biggest danger to this wonderfully diverse region is residential pressure. But that, like additional vineyard development, is contingent upon the availability of water, historically scarce in this neck of the woods. "We are concerned about the San Jose syndrome," remarks John Niven, as we tour the silent rural roads of Edna Valley's shallow natural bowl. "Land with water, for row crops, was going for fifteen to twenty thousand an acres, but the same land without water sold for maybe three or four thousand an acre."

Money concerns aside, this troy little pocket of pleasure is home to interestingly interested people who, not surprisingly, produce a delightful array of interesting and distinctive wines. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Not at all.

Hi-tech SLO Wine Tasting Room

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Vintners group will bring high-tech taster to SLO
The Tribune, Michaela Baltasar

Call it wine shopping with a high-tech twist.

The San Luis Obispo Vintners Association plans to purchase a self-dispensing machine for its new tasting room, which will likely open this summer. Part of the Court Street project in downtown San Luis Obispo, the tasting room will be at Osos and Monterey streets. It will feature up to 72 wines from SLOVA member wineries. Only one other tasting room in the country -- VinoVenue in San Francisco -- is using these machines.

"People will have the opportunity to try our wines without feeling intimidated," said Grant Raeside, executive director of the SLOVA. "And for the first time ever, we'll have a place where you can taste all of our wines. No liquor store or wine shop has that."

The automated tasting stations work like this: Visitors to the tasting room will purchase a "smartcard" with a specific dollar amount of credit. Customers then insert the card into the self-serve machine, select the wine they wish to sample and push a button. The machine automatically pours an ounce of wine from a spout into the taster's wine glass.

Each pour is individually priced, and all wines offered will be available for purchase at the tasting room.

The smartcard will also record each of the taster's selections. If someone forgets the name of a wine he or she enjoyed, the card can be used to recall that selection and possibly make future recommendations on other wines the taster may like, Raeside said.

Education will also be part of the experience, Raeside said. In addition to wine, the SLOVA's new venture will have maps to local wineries, historical photographs of the area and extensive tasting notes. Employees will be on hand to answer guests' questions.

The machines are expected to cost at least $250,000.

Head to Paso for Merlot

Friday, February 04, 2005

Head to the Central Coast for merlot and the Mid-State Fair
VIA Magazine, Christopher Hall

For years Paso Robles was a sleepy ranch town best known as a rest stop for motorists half-way between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. In 1954, two of the town's most famous visitors, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, spent the first night of their honeymoon in Paso Robles's Clifton Motel while en route from San Francisco to a lodge near Palm Springs.

These days, though, Paso Robles—or Paso, as the locals call it—is a destination unto itself. Located north of San Luis Obispo on Highway 101 and about 25 miles from the coast, it is the center of one of California's fastest-growing wine regions. People now come to taste a slew of award-winning vintages and discover plenty of other pleasures, from antiquing and Western trail rides to a big country fair and bandstand concerts in a shaded park.

Officially named El Paso de Robles (the pass of the oaks), the town had its origins in the mid-19th century as a hot springs resort. By the early 1900s, the Hotel El Paso de Robles and its bathhouse drew such notables as Polish statesman and pianist Ignacy Paderewski and the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, which for nearly a dozen seasons in the 1920s and '30s, made the El Paso its home during spring training. After the hotel burned down in 1940, it was replaced by the Paso Robles Inn.

Though wine plays a starring role in the economy of Paso Robles today, viticul-ture isn't new to this region. Franciscan padres planted grapes at Mission San Miguel (founded in 1797), about eight miles north of Paso Robles, and their huge stone-and-mortar fermentation vat can be seen in the mission's small museum. Commercial winemaking began in 1882, but nearly 100 more years would pass before wine grapes were planted on a large scale. Some 17,000 acres of them now grow in the Paso Robles viticultural area, home to more than 60 wineries. Nearly all of them have a tasting room, and there's also a good selection of local vintages for sale at the Hot Springs Deli & Wine Vault, a former bank which now houses vino.

Many vineyards, espe-cially to the west of Paso, are along country roads lined with poppies and lupines, and daytime temperatures are far milder in spring than in summer. In terms of size and style, the wineries offer something for everyone—from EOS Estate, with its large visitor center and high-end gift shop, to tiny Garretson, whose award- winning Rhône-style wines are made in a prefab metal building adjacent to busy Highway 46 West. Meridian has a fragrant herb garden as well as a handsome tasting room, and its picnic area boasts a view overlooking the surrounding vineyards.

No matter what the time of year, you'll find a full calendar of winery events, including acoustic concerts at Castoro Cellars and winemaker dinners at Eberle Winery. At this popular event, five-course meals prepared by well-known guest chefs like Susan Spicer and Joyce Goldstein are paired with wines and served in a candlelit cellar.

When you're done with wine touring, stop for a long soak and a massage at Paso Robles Hot Springs & Spa or hunt for treasures at Pearly Gates Antique Mall, housed in an old church. To get a feel for Paso Robles's past, wander around Pioneer Museum, with its display of 989 different types of barbed wire and a 1922 Maytag washing machine complete with the original butter-churning attachment. At the end of July, don't miss the California Mid-State Fair—the self-described "Biggest Little Fair Anywhere"—featuring 4-H displays and concerts by musicians, who in the past have included Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keyes, and Alan Jackson.

In the downtown district around Spring Street, the town's main drag, a lively mix of restaurants and shops still occupies late-19th- and early-20th-century buildings. One beauty with a clock tower resembling an acorn overlooks grassy City Park, where the Vintners and Growers Association hosts the Wine Festival in May.

Downtown also offers a number of fine dining options. Bistro Laurent, for example, serves French specialties like bouillabaisse in its cozy, brick-walled dining room. At Alloro, Italian dishes such as agnolotti stuffed with wild mushrooms are complemented by a wine list that includes many hard-to-find local vintages. About five miles south of Paso Robles, in the tiny Old West town of Templeton, McPhee's Grill features an eclectic menu you might find in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

If you hanker for the cowboy life, outfit yourself in Western wear at the Boot Barn and then sign on for a horseback ride at the Work Family Guest Ranch, which also offers overnight trail rides. For another look at real cowboys, head to the livestock market in Templeton or, in summer, watch free weekly demonstrations of team roping and penning.

The fact that you can still encounter working cowboys around Paso Robles says a lot about the pace of change here. Vintner Gary Eberle, a former Penn State defensive tackle who arrived in 1973, feels that despite its charm, Paso Robles is probably too far from major population centers to become a year-round tourist draw. "And for those of us who like things a little slower," he adds, "that's not necessarily bad."

Visiting SLO

Thursday, February 03, 2005

SLO, bureau place ads in state tourism guide
The Tribune, Leslie E. Stevens

The city of San Luis Obispo and the county's Visitors & Conference Bureau have joined forces in an unprecedented statewide advertising campaign to bolster local tourism, which is rebounding after a disappointing summer season.

Each organization purchased colorful, full-page ads in the state's newly released 2005 Official Visitor's Guide extolling the charms of the area's beaches, vineyards, golf courses, lodgings and Hearst Castle.

"The state publication has been our best response tool," said Jonni Biaggini, executive director of the county's VCB. "We are confident that expanding our ad to a full page, with placement next to San Luis Obispo's full page ad will produce solid results."

The state prints 500,000 copies of the guide, distributed to state destination marketing organizations and visitor centers, through its Web site and at travel trade shows worldwide. Guides also will be available on newsstands in the western United States beginning in April.

To order a free copy, call 877-225-436-7642 or visit www.visitcalifornia.com.

While tourism officials are excited about the new ads, the city is already reaping the benefits of an improving economy and broader tourism marketing efforts.

Its transient occupancy tax receipts rose 6.8 percent in December, the fourth consecutive month the city has experienced solid gains compared to the previous year.

The city's December TOT report called the recent results "some of the most stable and significantly positive returns that we have seen in a long while..." The report also noted that the city's "quiet dance of joy" could "turn into a visible jig" if the remainder of the year follows suit.

For the first six months of the city's fiscal year, which began in July, lodging tax receipts are up 3.1 percent, putting the city on target to reach its goal of a 3 percent annual increase. Transient occupancy taxes totaled $3.9 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, representing 10 percent of annual city revenues.

SLO Bells

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

A mission town presents a classic image of early California: a graceful, centuries-old adobe or stone church fronted by a town plaza, perhaps with several stately pepper or olive trees. A few such villages have managed to preserve the spirit of the early mission era. Their missions paint a picture of the past--and so do a handful of restaurants and hotels whose aesthetic recaptures that time.

On a Sunday morning in San Luis Obispo, the sound of the mission bells cascades over town--first the low-pitched, solemn-sounding Gloria Bell, then the higher tones of the smaller Joyful Bell. The bells are the symbol of this community: They're seen on signs coming into town and on the town logo. It's fitting, since this is one of only six missions that still ring their bells; many San Luis residents listen for the mellifluous sound every weekend.

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa sits in the middle of a busy college town; of its 44,000 residents, many are students at California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly. To the west, long beaches beckon; to the northeast lies an emerging wine region.

But the bells of San Luis Obispo are just part of the town's history. To get to know old San Luis (known to locals as SLO-town), nothing beats a stop at the San Luis Obispo County Museum & History Center. Housed in a 1905 Carnegie Library, it was recently restored and reopened. (Through March, the main exhibit highlights the area's rancho period.) Pick up a free, self-guided walking tour brochure, then roam downtown's 20 or so historic sites.

Part of the walk will take you along San Luis Creek, which supplied water to the early mission. The shady path wanders past shops, art galleries, and restaurants like the popular Mission Grill, where you can sit at a window-side table looking over the creek and beyond to the mission.

In the mission's lush garden, gnarled vines of original mission grape stocks wind around a trellis, and original olive trees--more than 200 years old--arch overhead. The church itself was recently renovated, repainted with colors and decorative motifs similar to those of the original church interior. Patterns of olive leaves, golden scallop shells, and intricate pastel designs ramble over the walls. Here you might encounter Greg Dillman on one of his frequent strolls around the mission grounds. Dillman is a docent and senior bell ringer for Mission San Luis Obispo. Explaining the goal of the renovation, he says, "We tried to re-create the mission's 1820s period and the style of work done by the local Native Americans who built the mission."

If you look carefully, you might notice some walls don't meet at perfect angles, windows don't align exactly and some arches are charmingly off center. According to Dillman, any asymmetry reflects the original work; walls and windows with perfect angles are proof of later restoration.

"The unique handiwork of the Native Americans is what makes this mission most interesting," says Dillman, "That and, of course, the bells."

Three walkable towns welcome you into California's rich mission past
Sunset, Lora J. Finnegan

Nipomo Dunes - Sea of Sand

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

California's ultimate sea of sand - Nipomo Dunes
Matthew Jaffe, Sunset, 1992

Early-morning hikers in the Nipomo Dunes on California's central coast have long noticed some weird, tiny tracks. They are wormlike, elongated, slightly raised in the dawn's undisturbed sand. It would be nice to describe the tracks in poetic terms, but most people who see them think immediately of varicose veins.

Until recently, however, the cause of the tracks to nowhere remained a mystery. Then one day about a year ago, local entomologist Dennis Sheridan discovered a beetle, a water beetle to be exact, basically swimming through the sand, gobbling up microscopic bits of food between the grains.

Clearly this beetle's ancestors had millennia ago made a discovery about California's largest coastal dune system that humans continue to make: the sand here is like water. Running and tumbling on Nipomo's soft, forgiving, and warm dunes can feel like diving or swimming. The greatest risk to humans is, in fact, the water-turned-sand beetle's driving ambition: a mouthful of sand.

The beetle is probably too busy with its microscopic buffet to notice, but these dunes are waterlike in another way. Seen from the highest spot, the 500-foot-tall Mussel Rock Dunes, the sand flows like a terrestrial sea, 18 miles long and about 2 miles wide, toward Pismo Beach. Later, in the isolation of a deep trough, miles from any road, the feeling is of being on open water but surrounded by the swells.

It's no wonder that one of the dunes' stewards, The Nature Conservancy, has dubbed this stretch "one of the last great places in America." The dunes have drawn visual artists from Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, who shot one of his most famous photographs near Oceano, to Cecil B. De Mille, who built massive sets for the original Ten Commandments near Guadalupe--sets another Hollywood filmmaker is now trying to unearth from their sandy grave.

The dunes have been a private altar for locals and a cathedral for dreamers, like the Dunites, a group of intellectuals who created a dune utopia here in the 1930s. Today, the dunes still provide a place to walk--for an hour or a whole day--to simply lose yourself and find something more.

OUR LADY OF THE DUNES

Geologically, the dunes are young. About 18,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age, severe storms caused erosion of the Santa Lucia Range, visible to the north. Streams carried the material to the ocean, and currents pushed it southward, where it piled up as sand along this curving coastline. Then the wind took over, spreading the sand inland. Sand still sometimes wisps down streets in Santa Maria, some 12 miles from the ocean.

The picture windows in Kathleen Goddard Jones's home in Arroyo Grande look out over farmland to the dunes south of Oceano. For many, the 85-year-old Jones and this landscape are inseparable. One day in the early 1960s, she noticed a newspaper item announcing that Pacific Gas & Electric had acquired some dune land for a nuclear power plant. That began a two-year round of meetings, field trips, and dinners as Jones led the effort to acquaint PG&E officials with why the dunes should be saved.

"None of them had seen the dunes, so I took them out there," she recalls. PG&E's eventual decision to build its plant in a little-known spot farther north, Diablo Canyon, led to criticism of Jones by both environmentalists (who opposed all nuclear power plants) and locals (who were angry about the loss of tax revenue and building contracts). But the process of saving the dunes had begun.

That effort to preserve what Jones describes as "this incomparable coast" now includes players from a wide philosophical and administrative spectrum; among them are The Nature Conservancy, oil companies, off-road-vehicle advocates, the U.S. Air Force, and local farmers.

The politics of compromise plays out in the way the dunes are used. North of Oso Flaco Lake, where revegetation efforts are under way to stabilize denuded dunes, off-road vehicles race through a fenced area. Along the beach, equestrians ride--harmlessly or heavily depending on whom you talk to. And in a scene worthy of Mad Max, an oil operation pumps away in the sands south of Main Street. Yet the bulk of the dunes has been set aside for use by hikers only.

THESE DUNES ARE MADE FOR WALKING

The dunes are still their own best argument: introduce people to the land and they will understand its importance, says Jones, who still leads walks here.

The wind has created a complex world of ridges and valleys. In the bowls, take a few moments and your eyes begin to pick up lizard tracks, gentle contours, a tiny flower pushing its way through the sand. Rare plants and animals have found a haven in this remarkably diverse terrain, where three separate species of sand verbena can grow in distinct microclimates within yards of each other.

Climb a ridge, and the view of sculpted sand edges and deep parabolic bowls may linger as long in your memory as your first view of a great mountain range. But here, the land can shift 20 feet in a year. This is grandeur on the go.

Just about anyone, including dune veterans like Jones, gets happily lost on occasion. But it's an outing to a familiar area that brings her to tears.

"I brought a group of 25 kids up to Coreopsis Hill," she says. "It was a beautiful sight: the kids scrambling through the sand, the great golden flowers. We worked our way through the white sand to an old Chumash midden. I told the children that the shell mound was made by the people who came before us. The children all dropped to their knees. Spontaneously. Like they had a feeling of awe."

The dunes' mystical quality can hit visitors at any time. For some, the trigger might be the yips of coyotes over the crashing of waves. For others, it's the finely etched line of a dune scarp at dawn.

"I guess it goes back to the old belief in Gaea, Mother Earth," says San Luis Obispo firefighter Norm Hammond, who 20 years ago discovered a hermit who was the last of the Dunites. "It just seems like there are some places more open to get that feeling. I've backpacked in the Sierra and in the desert, but I was more on guard there. In the mountains, you can freeze to death; in the desert, you can die of thirst. In these dunes, I feel that nothing can hurt me. It's womblike."

The five best places to wander in the Nipomo Dunes

1. Pismo Dunes Preserve

This is a spot close to State 1 to wander tall dunes. From the free parking lot at the end of Pier Avenue in Oceano, walk south 1/2 mile past the mouth of Arroyo Grande Creek and start climbing.

2. Oso Flaco Lake area

Drive to the end of Oso Flaco Lake Road; pick up a map at The Nature Conservancy's kiosk, then park ($4). There's a short signed walk to freshwater Oso Flaco Lake, where you can watch ruddy ducks, mallards, herons, and (during the winter) white pelicans. From there, take the boardwalk 1.3 miles across dunes to the beach.

3. Coreopsis Hill

From the boardwalk's end, walk toward the ocean and cross Oso Flaco Creek. Then turn inland across vast dunes toward the distant green hill (covered in spring with yellow coreopsis blossoms). It's about a 5-mile round trip from your car.

4. Mobil Coastal Preserve

To get to this unmarked 2,500-acre area, follow directions (#2, above) from Oso Flaco Lake across the creek to the beach. Then go south along the beach about a mile to the state park boundary sign, and turn inland into the deep dune hollows. To avoid the chance of getting (pleasantly) lost in the preserve, take a guided all-day, 7-mile roundtrip hike (see below) to Hidden Willow Valley, a secluded spot with willow woodlands tucked between steep dunes.

5. Mussel Rock Dunes

It'll take energy and more than half a day, but the walk to Nipomo's largest dunes gets you great views of the wild coastline. From the free parking lot at the end of W. Main Street, walk south along the beach 2 1/2 miles to Mussel Rock. Be warned that the wind will likely be in your face for the return. And you'll be tired.

Basic dune advice. Wear comfortable shoes, like high-tops, that don't take in sand. For protection against the sun and wind, bring a broad-brimmed hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses, and consider long sleeves, long pants, and a windbreaker.

The best time to go is early morning, when the undisturbed dunes are shadowy, golden, and dotted with tracks. Late afternoon's shadows and rosy hue are lovely, too. While none are epic, the hikes can all be difficult, so bring enough water and food to maintain your energy.

If you want to run and tumble, avoid areas (usually marked) undergoing revegetation. In general, limit romping to unvegetated areas.

Dogs are not allowed.

Organized hikes. The Nature Conservancy. Along with People For The Nipomo Dunes and other local groups, the Conservancy offers occasional hikes to Coreopsis Hill, Hidden Willow Valley, Oso Flaco Lake, and other areas. During CoastWeeks (September 19 through October 12), more hikes are scheduled than usual. Call (805) 545-9925 for details.

Bill Denneen. A local naturalist and a dune institution himself, Denneen offers 10 to 15 hikes monthly. For information, call him at 929-3647.

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