MARCH 2013 THE SLO LIFE 9

explore the world of san luis obispo by

immersing yourself in the local culture

discovering slo unique activities to do

in san luis obispo

10 THE SLO LIFE MARCH 2013

Discovering SLO

egie Library which is now home to the San Luis Obispo County Historical Mu s e u m A sculp-ture of a child and bear at the Mission in downtown San Luis Obispo A fish was added after the pho-t o g r a p h was taken Lots of mys-terysurrounds the ldquounder

ground cityrdquo or the se-ries of tunnels that ex-ists beneath the city

One of the largest Mardi Gras p a r a d e s West of the Mississippi used to be held in SanLuis Obis-po but it has been c a n c e l e d r e c e n t l y because of difficulties

related to crowd control and alcohol consumptionCal Polyrsquos open house Poly Royal was held an-nually from 1933 to 1990 It was canceled in 1945 due to war rationing It began as a show-and-tell for students to display their projects It traces its ori-gins to the 1904 Farmerrsquos Institute and Picnic Bas-ket By the 1980s as the college became ldquothe most popularuniversity in the 19-campus CSU systemrdquo Poly Royal began drawing over 100000 people from throughout the state

ldquothere are so many things to do in san luis obispo every single day is an adventurerdquo

The Madonna Inn is a famous local land-mark Established by Alex Madonna in 1958 the inn is famously ec-centric The Fremont Theater a historic Art Deco the-ater from the 1940s still plays first run movies on the huge screen Mu-rals adorn the walls of the main theater while neon swirls light the ceiling The Palm The-atre boasts solar heat-ing and is home to the San Luis Obispo Inter-national Film Festival Another desti-nation is Bubblegum Alley Since about 1960 people have been stick-ing chewed gum on the walls of this alley The doctorrsquos office on the corner of Santa Rosa and Pacific streets is one of very few commercial buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright SanLuis also has a Carn

The Madonna Inn is a must-see for visitorsPHOTO BY WIKIMEDIA

PHOTO BY FLICKR

including 126000 peo-ple in 1985 Concerts parties and other en-tertainment were add-ed and it earned $3ndash4 million in revenue for the city every year Following a ldquomini-riotrdquo in 1989 at an

off-campus apartment during Poly Royal the events in 1990 would cancel the event ldquoindefi-nitelyrdquo Two nights of ri-oting on April 28ndash29 led to 127 arrests over 100 injuries and 14 police in-juries on top of ldquoseveral hundred thousand dol-larsrdquo worth of damage A liquor store near campus Campus Bot-tle was destroyed by-revelers demanding al cohol The second night was much larger than the first as people were leaving a concert

10 THE SLO LIFE MARCH 2013

Discovering SLO

egie Library which is now home to the San Luis Obispo County Historical Mu s e u m A sculp-ture of a child and bear at the Mission in downtown San Luis Obispo A fish was added after the pho-t o g r a p h was taken Lots of mys-terysurrounds the ldquounder

ground cityrdquo or the se-ries of tunnels that ex-ists beneath the city

One of the largest Mardi Gras p a r a d e s West of the Mississippi used to be held in SanLuis Obis-po but it has been c a n c e l e d r e c e n t l y because of difficulties

related to crowd control and alcohol consumptionCal Polyrsquos open house Poly Royal was held an-nually from 1933 to 1990 It was canceled in 1945 due to war rationing It began as a show-and-tell for students to display their projects It traces its ori-gins to the 1904 Farmerrsquos Institute and Picnic Bas-ket By the 1980s as the college became ldquothe most popularuniversity in the 19-campus CSU systemrdquo Poly Royal began drawing over 100000 people from throughout the state

ldquothere are so many things to do in san luis obispo every single day is an adventurerdquo

The Madonna Inn is a famous local land-mark Established by Alex Madonna in 1958 the inn is famously ec-centric The Fremont Theater a historic Art Deco the-ater from the 1940s still plays first run movies on the huge screen Mu-rals adorn the walls of the main theater while neon swirls light the ceiling The Palm The-atre boasts solar heat-ing and is home to the San Luis Obispo Inter-national Film Festival Another desti-nation is Bubblegum Alley Since about 1960 people have been stick-ing chewed gum on the walls of this alley The doctorrsquos office on the corner of Santa Rosa and Pacific streets is one of very few commercial buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright SanLuis also has a Carn

The Madonna Inn is a must-see for visitorsPHOTO BY WIKIMEDIA

PHOTO BY FLICKR

including 126000 peo-ple in 1985 Concerts parties and other en-tertainment were add-ed and it earned $3ndash4 million in revenue for the city every year Following a ldquomini-riotrdquo in 1989 at an

off-campus apartment during Poly Royal the events in 1990 would cancel the event ldquoindefi-nitelyrdquo Two nights of ri-oting on April 28ndash29 led to 127 arrests over 100 injuries and 14 police in-juries on top of ldquoseveral hundred thousand dol-larsrdquo worth of damage A liquor store near campus Campus Bot-tle was destroyed by-revelers demanding al cohol The second night was much larger than the first as people were leaving a concert

MARCH 2013 THE SLO LIFE 11

where in the world is san luis

obispo

SLO is located on the Central Coast of California

on campus and par-ties off-campus were broken up and revel-ers flooded the streets Mayor Dunin called the events ldquothe worst expe-rience in the history ofSan Luis Obispordquo Af-ter a meeting between Mayor Dunin and University President Warren Baker the following Monday Poly Royal was canceled from that point forward The name Poly Royal returned in 2001 as ldquoOpen House Presents Poly Royalrdquo a scaled down version that was designed for students and parents San Luis Obispo has been home of several other events including

a stop on the way of the Olympic Flame Relay the Tour of Califor-nia bicycle race Cincode Mayo celebrations

PHOTO BY FLICKR

an annual Mozart fes-tival held every July and a long-standing Christmas ParadeAnother attraction is the development of Edna Val-ley into a well-known wine region Just south of thecity people can spend

an afternoon wine tast-ing several wineries inthe area with a very short drive The wine region extends north beyond Paso Robles (30 miles north) and south to Santa Ynez (70 miles south) One of the cul-tural focal centers of San Luis Obispo is the Christopher Cohen Performing Arts Cen-ter built on the Cal Poly Campus which was constructed utilizing the donations of localbusinesses and indi-viduals The Perform-ing Arts Center consists of multi ple venues including the original Spanos Theatre The largest venue Harmon Hall seats 1300 Many high school and college programs are scheduled Local artists perform plays music and dance

PHOTO BY FLICKR

12 THE SLO LIFE MARCH 2013

Discovering SLO

During Summer months local residents and visitors congre-gate in the Mission Plaza for free outdoor concert every Friday eve-ning The event is called Concerts in the Plaza Other noteworthy events include the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival Festival Mosaic and the Plein Air Festival San Luis Obispo hosts a Farmerrsquos Market every

The addition of the Perform-ing Arts Center attracts many tour-ing performances which are usually not found in communities of com-parable size to San Luis Obispo The Summer of 2007 was the opening concert of the Forbes Pipe Organ which was built elevated into a side wall of Harmon Hall and required the donation of a further $3 million for purchase and installation

PHOTO BY FLICR

PHOTO BY BRADY TEUFUL

MARCH 2013 THE SLO LIFE 13

facts about slo Population 45119

home to cal Poly

first jamba juice location ever

happiest place on earth

Thursday night from 6-9PM on Higuera Street between Osos and Ni-pomo Streets During this weekly event the street is closed to vehicle traffic while vendors sell food and goods and various visual and music artists perform for the crowds Since June 2000 the first Thursday of every month is The Bike Happening (also known as Bike Nite) in San Luis Obispo People gather after the Farmerrsquos Market at the Mission Plaza with their bikes The bikers then go around on mul-tiple circuits on the main streets of downtown adhering to the traffic laws (for the most part) The ride is considered a funsocial ride meant to encourage people to get back

on their bikes and to have fun Each Bike Hap-pening has a theme and a large portion of the crowd is in some costume adherent to the theme One of the cul-tural focal centers of San Luis Obispo is the Chris-topher

Cohen Performing Arts Center built on the Cal Poly Campus which was constructed utilizing the donations of local busi-nesses and individuals The Performing Arts Center consists of mul-tiple venues including the original Spanos Theatre

The largest venue Har-mon Hall seats 1300 Many high school and college programs are scheduled Local artists perform plays music and dance The addition of the Performing Arts Cen-ter attracts many tour-ing performances which are usually not found in communities of com-parable size to San Luis Obispo The Summer of 2007 was the opening concert of the Forbes Pipe Organ which was built elevated into a side wall of Harmon Hall and required the donation of a further $3 million for purchase and installation

bull Article obtained from Wikipedia

bull All photos from Wikimedia Flickr or Brady Teuful

PHOTO BY FLICR

12 THE SLO LIFE MARCH 2013

Discovering SLO

During Summer months local residents and visitors congre-gate in the Mission Plaza for free outdoor concert every Friday eve-ning The event is called Concerts in the Plaza Other noteworthy events include the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival Festival Mosaic and the Plein Air Festival San Luis Obispo hosts a Farmerrsquos Market every

The addition of the Perform-ing Arts Center attracts many tour-ing performances which are usually not found in communities of com-parable size to San Luis Obispo The Summer of 2007 was the opening concert of the Forbes Pipe Organ which was built elevated into a side wall of Harmon Hall and required the donation of a further $3 million for purchase and installation

PHOTO BY FLICR

PHOTO BY BRADY TEUFUL

MARCH 2013 THE SLO LIFE 13

facts about slo Population 45119

home to cal Poly

first jamba juice location ever

happiest place on earth

Thursday night from 6-9PM on Higuera Street between Osos and Ni-pomo Streets During this weekly event the street is closed to vehicle traffic while vendors sell food and goods and various visual and music artists perform for the crowds Since June 2000 the first Thursday of every month is The Bike Happening (also known as Bike Nite) in San Luis Obispo People gather after the Farmerrsquos Market at the Mission Plaza with their bikes The bikers then go around on mul-tiple circuits on the main streets of downtown adhering to the traffic laws (for the most part) The ride is considered a funsocial ride meant to encourage people to get back

on their bikes and to have fun Each Bike Hap-pening has a theme and a large portion of the crowd is in some costume adherent to the theme One of the cul-tural focal centers of San Luis Obispo is the Chris-topher

Cohen Performing Arts Center built on the Cal Poly Campus which was constructed utilizing the donations of local busi-nesses and individuals The Performing Arts Center consists of mul-tiple venues including the original Spanos Theatre

The largest venue Har-mon Hall seats 1300 Many high school and college programs are scheduled Local artists perform plays music and dance The addition of the Performing Arts Cen-ter attracts many tour-ing performances which are usually not found in communities of com-parable size to San Luis Obispo The Summer of 2007 was the opening concert of the Forbes Pipe Organ which was built elevated into a side wall of Harmon Hall and required the donation of a further $3 million for purchase and installation

bull Article obtained from Wikipedia

bull All photos from Wikimedia Flickr or Brady Teuful

PHOTO BY FLICR

MARCH 2013 THE SLO LIFE 13

facts about slo Population 45119

home to cal Poly

first jamba juice location ever

happiest place on earth

Thursday night from 6-9PM on Higuera Street between Osos and Ni-pomo Streets During this weekly event the street is closed to vehicle traffic while vendors sell food and goods and various visual and music artists perform for the crowds Since June 2000 the first Thursday of every month is The Bike Happening (also known as Bike Nite) in San Luis Obispo People gather after the Farmerrsquos Market at the Mission Plaza with their bikes The bikers then go around on mul-tiple circuits on the main streets of downtown adhering to the traffic laws (for the most part) The ride is considered a funsocial ride meant to encourage people to get back

on their bikes and to have fun Each Bike Hap-pening has a theme and a large portion of the crowd is in some costume adherent to the theme One of the cul-tural focal centers of San Luis Obispo is the Chris-topher

Cohen Performing Arts Center built on the Cal Poly Campus which was constructed utilizing the donations of local busi-nesses and individuals The Performing Arts Center consists of mul-tiple venues including the original Spanos Theatre

The largest venue Har-mon Hall seats 1300 Many high school and college programs are scheduled Local artists perform plays music and dance The addition of the Performing Arts Cen-ter attracts many tour-ing performances which are usually not found in communities of com-parable size to San Luis Obispo The Summer of 2007 was the opening concert of the Forbes Pipe Organ which was built elevated into a side wall of Harmon Hall and required the donation of a further $3 million for purchase and installation

bull Article obtained from Wikipedia

bull All photos from Wikimedia Flickr or Brady Teuful

PHOTO BY FLICR