Embrace Santa Barbara

My friend Terry and I went on a field trip yesterday to the Santa Maria Valley. We are docents on the Central Coast Flyer which travels between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo once or twice a month. Passengers enjoy traveling along the Gaviota Coast, through Hollister Ranch, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Jalama, Casmalia, the Santa Maria Valley, the Edna Valley, and stopping in SLO for about an hour before heading back to Santa Barbara.

California Highway 101 cuts away from the coast at Gaviota and does not deliver a coastal view until Pismo Beach, so train riders see sights not commonly seen. Not only is it a treat to see Pt. Conception and Point Arguello, but the area looks like it did thousands of years ago and allows one to step back in time. Terry and I have done extensive research on the history of the many Chumash villages that thrived along the Central Coast, and have collected stories handed down from J.J. Hollister, great-grandson of Colonel W.W. Hollister and some from present and past military personnel stationed at Vandenberg.

A few months back an elderly passenger told us about her childhood growing up in the Santa Maria Valley. Betteravia, a derivation of the French word for sugar beets is presently the name of a road but was once also the name of a tiny town. It housed the Union Sugar Company to process those sugar beets. As a high school student on her way to Santa Maria High, the factory would be boiling the tops of the sugar beets so the cows could more easily digest them. Unfortunately, the stench that came with this process was almost unbearable, so a clear memory of hers was of every passenger having to hold their nose as the bus passed the factory!

We exited the freeway on Betteravia and headed to a gathering of the “Friends of the Santa Maria Railroad”, a short line that travels to and from Gemco near Van Nuys. Our guide, Nathan, explained to us that incoming trains bring freight such as John Deere tractors, liquid fertilizer, propane, lumber, and drywall. Outgoing freight other than empty containers can be frozen strawberries, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, and artichokes, but most of the vegetables are shipped on trucks.

After that enjoyable visit we headed to the small town of Guadalupe (population 7,500). Our goal was to visit the Dune Center so we could be more informed about the dunes we ride past on the trains, and where a few movies had been filmed such as The Ten Commandments in 1921. To our dismay, the Center was closed due to plumbing problems. Terry suggested we instead walk through the cemetery we had passed earlier. What surprised us the most was the number of cultures that were represented and how they were all mixed together rather than in separate sections as we had both seen elsewhere. We saw names representative of Swiss-Italians (Tognazini, Pezzoni, Tomasini, Morgani, Spazzadeschi), Japanese, Norwegian, Chinese, Danish, Mexican, and Philippino!

We then headed over to the Guadalupe Historical Museum where three local men (all in their nineties) warmly welcomed us while tending their bi-monthly Saturday barbecue. Inside the museum we were greeted by Dolores and Richard. Dolores had lived her entire life in Guadalupe and spent the next 45 minutes showing us historical artifacts and photos on the history of the town.

We then headed to the Oso Flaco Preserve, once a thriving Chumash settlement and visited by Spanish Explorer Portola. We saw white pelicans and other wildlife as we walked along a man-made boardwalk that stretched at least half a mile to the Dunes. At the beach one can see Pt. Sal to the left and Pt. San Luis to the right along with the “five cities” (Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, Oceano, Shell Beach) and Avila Beach and its pier.

After we left Oso Flaco we took a quick drive back through Guadalupe to get a glimpse of the original K-8 Guadalupe Union School (kids went to Santa Maria High School until Righetti was built), designed in the gorgeous Spanish Revival Style (it is now the City Hall). We then found highway 138 and headed to Orcutt, where Terry promised an unforgetable meal at the Far Western Tavern, an establishment that originated in Guadalupe. (It was moved to Orcutt in 2012 by the children of the founders because of retrofitting issues on the building in Guadalupe).

The meal was incredible, not to mention the homemade potato chips served as a free appetizer. We headed home exhausted but thrilled to have spent the day learning so much about our northern county. We look forward to our next train trip on Saturday, September 3 with Chocolatier Maya who will give us a history on chocolate, where she purchases hers, and will of course indulge on samples of her chocolate. Any interested parties for this trip or future vintage rail car trips contact Terry at 680-0397.