Summerland is a small community just south of Santa Barbara. It’s a great little spot, sheltered, with a beautiful little beach. In fact…. it’s (generally) my favorite beach… but that varies depending on weather and such.
Here’s some photos I took of Summerland beach this last summer.
This is from Summerland Beach looking north (actually West) to Santa Barbara. If you walk along this strand for a few miles you pass many resort areas all the way to SB.
Here are a few random photos of the water…. dogs are allowed on this beach, and it is a great joy to see people and their dogs all enjoying this beach together.
The photo on the far right shows one of the many oil seeps that occur here.
A nearby beach is named ‘Carpenteria’ which means ‘The Carpenter Shop’ in Spanish.
It was named that due to the many Chumash canoes the Spanish saw beached there and being caulked with the heavy oil that seeps from local rock strata.
These oil seeps are the only thing bad about this beach… and they only occur sporadically when the tide uncovers oil-bearing sand deposits or unplug a seep. They smell bad, like kerosene… and the normally clean water gets a dirty foamy and rainbow appearance.
The photo on the left shows a plaque built into a rock commemorating the first oil wells in this area… among the first in the nation. The photo in the middle is another plaque showing various oceanic occurrences off the coast in the last few hundred years.
Here’s a couple of close-ups of the compass, so that you can click-to-embiggen the photos and read the cool things that happened around here. The photo on the right shows the picnic area. There is a little grassy area, a ground-padded playground for the kids… easy access to the beach via a paved ramp, and a shower at the top to rinse off before you get back into the car.
Summerland is more than a pretty beach, it is also a nice little community with a very low crime rate, a cute little shop area right off the highway and some nice architecture much of which was built early in the last century. It’s close enough to Santa Barbara to stay at as a base-of-operations for your Santa Barbara/Ojai/Ventura vacation.
A.G. as it is known locally, is the town north of us. Technically it is the town we are attached to, our phone bill says we are in A.G. But in our canyon, we prefer to say we are in Nipomo, because it is just over the hill.
A.G. is a very nice town. It has a flavor of the West combined with a hint of ‘East Coast’. The people here are really interesting also, there is a very substantial hint of ‘Old Hippie’ in this town…I fit right in.
Arroyo Grande, Grande Avenue
I like AG for the architecture, the old buildings, many from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. False-front Western-style buildings rub shoulders with stone or brick buildings that look like they were brought over from Massachusetts. There is a huge diversity of shops, antique stores and boutiques which will keep many people browsing for hours. There are also some specialty butchers who process the wild game which is taken in the nearby hills, you can get some great sausage made at my favorite butcher shop on this street.
Arroyo Grande, Grande Avenue, Pub
AG also has some fine bars and pubs. The one in this photo is an Irish pub, and has a lion in the front window.
Arroyo Grande suspension bridge
The village of AG has a lot of reasons that tourists and travelers should stop by for a day or two. One of them is the strange ‘Swinging Bridge’ that joins the two sides of the town as it crosses over the arroyo. This bridge was actually originally constructed in 1875 by a fellow named Newton Short who own property on both sides. He built it as a suspension bridge without sides. The sides were added in 1902. When the village of Arroyo Grande was incorporated in 1911, Mr. Short donated the bridge to the city.
Arroyo Grande suspension bridge
It’s fun to walk across this little bridge, it swings and sways, and you have a nice look deep into the gulch it is built over. Even more fun is watching the people who cross it, many people cannot seem to keep from standing in the center and making it swing just a bit side to side. Grown men become little boys when they are on something like this.
The suspension Bridge in Arroyo Grande from the creek
This is a view from the bottom of the gully, looking up over the rushing waters from the recent rain, at the swinging bridge. It is easy to see why Mr. Short would have wanted a bridge to cross over the gully, it would considerably shorten the daily walks back and forth. But having it built without sides is a bit of a perplexing thing. But I suppose after walking over it a few times without sides, it would become a regular part of the day, and not a big worry after all. Much like working alongside a busy freeway or high up in the air on a building. Bit by bit, the human organism becomes accustomed to the things that cause worry and consternation when first introduced.
Arroyo Grande is right on Highway 101, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco (a bit closer to LA), so anytime you are cruising through, do take the time to pull off for a pleasant break in a quaint little town.
Train Station passenger bridge, San Luis Obispo California
San Luis Obispo Train Station
This is the train station at San Luis Obispo California. This traffic circle (round-about) is decorated with a statue depicting the building of the local railway lines, the majority of which was done by Chinese laborers. The fellows in this statue are Chinese.
Mission San Miguel
or
‘La Misión del Gloriosísimo Príncipe Arcángel, Señor San Miguel’
In: San Miguel California
San Luis Obispo County
in the ‘taint’ of Calif
Halfway ‘tween San Francisco and Los Angeles
‘Tain’t neither Frisco nor El-Lay
Mission San Miguel
Mission San Miguel adobe wall
This close up view of a wall at the mission shows the consistency of adobe. You can see a rocky clay soil was formed into sun-dried bricks, then wet clay was used as a mortar to make the bricks stick together. It is not actually the best material to use in an earthquake prone area. For outdoor walls and animal shelters it is fine. But human quarters should be made with safety as a paramount concern.
Mission San Miguel
A view of one of the side walls of the mission.
Mission San Miguel bell tower
The Belltower at Mission San Miguel.
Mission San Miguel
Side view of the Belltower.
All the plants here are the same types we grow, they are common in this area.
My guess is that these plants are never watered, and yet they survive.
Mission San Miguel La Puerta
La Puerta de la Mission San Miguel
A Mission Wall, with ‘La Puerta’ (the door)
Mission San Miguel
The Belltower and the Gate. A windmill peeks around the bricks.
The unbaked sun dried mud bricks are susceptible to rain and other environmental damage.
It is for this reason the missions used to place the oven-fired red clay
(terra-cotta) roofing tiles on top of the walls,
to protect them. You can see where the roof tiles are missing,
there is serious degradation of the adobe bricks.
Mission San Miguel
A lonely Opuntia cactus climbs the wall in the shade of a lone pine tree.
They share company, and the pine acidifies the soil,
and shades the plant so that it can more easily survive the neglect
of this lonely corner of the world.
Mission San Miguel outbuilding
Bars were put on the mission windows as protection
from the grizzly bears that used to roam this area.
This is State Street in Santa Barbara, it is the main drag of town.
This is the street you must take a few hours to walk up and down from one end of town to the other. It is full of interesting shops and things to see (even for me). There are many shops full of diverse items, there’s even a fossil shop with fossils from all over the world. Now believe me, I am not a ‘window browser’ or someone who enjoys shopping…. I go to a store when something breaks and I need new baling wire and duct-tape.. or if I’m hungry and need some food. I get what I need and I leave… so when I say this is a fine street to stroll and look at things…. it really is something… I compare it to San Antonio’s ‘Riverwalk’ or Santa Monica’s ‘Promenade’ in some respects….. but really, you just can’t beat the ‘Riverwalk’.
Victoria Street in Santa Barbara
Vickie’s name is actually Victoria, and this is her street, Victoria Avenue in Santa Barbara
Any trip to Southern California MUST include the requisite visit to Santa Barbara. SB has kept much of it’s Spanish Mission Days past alive with zoning laws that require the Spanish architecture, as a result it is a very pretty city, comparable to any world city I have seen.
A church in Santa Barbara
A church in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara has a lot of really nice stone work.
There were a lot of stone masons who came from Italy in the early 20th century,
and settled in the Santa Barbara area.
They did a lot of really fine stone work that exists to this day.
‘You’re the reason God made Oklahoma’
~David Frizzel~
Here the city lights out shine the moon
I was just now thinking of you.
Sometimes when the wind blows you can
See the mountains,
And all the way to Malibu.
Everyone’s a star here in L.A. County,
You ought to see the things that they do
All the cowboys down on the Sunset Strip
Wish that they could be like you.
The Santa Monica Freeway,
Sometimes makes a country girl blue
You’re the reason God made Oklahoma,
You’re the reason God made Oklahoma.
And I’m sure missing you.
Santa Monica Mountains, Kanaan Canyon
I’ve spent most of my life (other than a few years in the Prairie) in the hills.
These Santa Monica Mountains are much like the hills I live in.
The topography and the plants are quite similar.
We have a bit more oak trees in our canyon.
This is a view of Kanan Canyon, looking towards Malibu.
Santa Monica Mountains, Kanaan Canyon
Just like home, that could be little Rivenrock at the bottom of that canyon.
We’re just as isolated as those people down there, the funny thing is, they are only a half hour from the bustle of the big city, while it takes us half an hour just to get to our mailbox ten miles away. The postman won’t deliver to our area, it’s just too remote for them to go.
Kanan Road goes from Hwy 101 to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, Hwy 1) at Malibu.
I was going through Agoura Hills on the 101, in ninety degree heat, and decided that since this canyon runs to Malibu, and the temperatures are cooler there due to the ocean, I’d go and cool myself down some. So I turned left, and went down the canyon, and continued my trip running alongside the cool sandy beaches of Malibu and Dume.
The Santa Monica Mountains are pretty impressive, and full of twists and turns on the road.
Kanan road carries an oddity for California, tunnels. There are three tunnels through the rock one must go through.
I was chasin sun on 101
Somewhere around Ventura
I lost a universal joint and I had to use my finger
This tall lady stopped and asked
If I had plans for dinner
I said “no thanks Ma’am, back home
We like the girls that sing soprano”Cause where I come from
Its cornbread and chicken
Where I come from a lotta front porch sittin’
Where I come from tryin’ to make a livin’
And workin’ hard to get to heaven, Where I come from
pre-runner in Ventura
I was heading through Ventura when I passed this Pre-Runner
rolling on its modified chassis.
It was so impressive a vehicle in terms of engineering
that I had to take a photo of it as I passed.
An old article I wrote a couple of years ago…
the yellow house is still sitting vacant
as far as I can tell
April 14, 2007
The Big Yellow House
An Empty House Remembers ~Russell Collier~
The empty house around me ticks and creaks,
A moody end to evening’s gentle rains,
A brooding quiet as the daylight wanes,
The secret language empty houses speak.
What stories might this house preserve entire
In rhythmic code composed of click and groan?
Does House recall a sadness with each moan?
Is laughter stored in every plank and wire?
And how might I, a fleeting visitor,
Acquire an ear for stories trapped in time,
And wrap a tale or two in words and rhyme?
How can I tap the House’s secret lore?
In silence soft the house slips off to sleep.
Alone I sit, in darkness vast and deep.
Old Yeller House in Santa Barbara
‘The Big Yellow House‘ is an easily noticed big yeller house on the side of the highway 101 just south of Santa Barbara. It was a fine dining establishment. I’ve never eaten there, but always seemed to notice it when I passed, I suppose it’d be hard not to notice a big yeller house on the side of the road.
The Big Yellow House has now closed it’s doors, this huge bastion of family style dining is no more, and many people are saddened to see this old friend locked up. But the foundation and structure are still there, the old beams support the floors without complaint, and the interior plaster and paint sit quietly, waiting for the pitter-patter of tiny feet, the delighted shrieks of laughter and the clatter of silverware and the clanking of celebratory glasses being raised. Yes, this old house knows that someone will come along and fill it with warmth and family, and it will again host monumental parties and celebrations.
The house is ever patient, it sits, gazing with it’s hollow eyes out over the azure pacific, the Riviera of California as it patiently awaits new people to shelter, and a new business with caring considerate owners to build up.
Pismo Beach is famous for its ‘Pismo Clams’.
Early in the last century many people would wander the beach
and collect clams using special clam forks, like little pitchforks.
Many people would get drunk while camping over holiday weekends,
and would spear their feet with the clam-forks while trying to dig clams.
That never happened to me… spearing my feet I mean.
Pismo is so happy to show off their clams,
they even have on up at the end of town to welcome everyone….
Pismo's Giant Clam
Pismo also has a number of Car Shows that are put on each year.
Pismo Beach Police Department
This is a Pismo Beach Police car.
I imagine they are a pretty small department. But they have nice cars.
Pismo is known for some good surfing…..
the best surfing there often is right along the pier
Avila Trolley
Avila Beach is a bit north of Pismo. Avila Canyon is a spot that has some ‘rifts’ and cracks into the earth, so hot springs are ‘here-and-there’ along a couple of miles of canyon. So the spots that have hot springs have turned into little ‘resorts’ where you can soak in hot water from the ground. There are also several spots where people can rent cottages, trailers and cabins. Anywhere along the canyon is a good spot, because the whole complex is tied together by both a good road, and a great walking/riding trail that is paved… the Bob Jones Bikepath.
An Avila Beach Resort
This is the first Avila Resort you’ll find as you leave the 101 to go to Avila.
There are a good number more, each one a quarter to a half mile from the next.
