Where in the World is San Luis Obispo?
We are here! We are here! We are here!
I live in San Luis Obispo, a relatively smallish city (population just under 50,000) on California’s Central Coast—the long stretch of coastline north of Los Angeles and south of San Francisco. I say San Luis Obispo is “relatively smallish” in comparison to San Francisco, with a population of over 800,000, and Los Angeles, with a population of 4 million.
Still, San Luis Obispo has nearly twice the population of Monterey (30,000). You have to drive right through San Luis Obispo on the 101 to get to pretty much anywhere in California. And yet everyone has heard of Monterey, and no one has ever heard of SLO.
Mostly, we’re okay with that. But I, for one, am not okay with it when I have to drive 4 hours south to LA or 4 hours north to San Francisco to catch a flight or see a concert—bands don’t stop here on tour. (Note: our airport is growing by leaps and bounds and now has nonstop flights to 8 cities! In case you’re a tour manager looking to book a show.)
A little geography lesson. This is the Central Coast:
This is San Luis Obispo County:
San Luis Obispo (“SLO” to locals) is getting more attention recently due to this article in CNN’s Travel section naming it No. 5 on its list of America’s Best Towns to Visit in 2024: The town that is pure California perfection. (That’s us.)
A recent reel on Instagram pointed out the delights of San Luis Obispo proper, which is about 10 miles inland and is home to the world-famous Madonna Inn. But that’s not all SLO County has to offer. There’s also the proximity of several little SLO County beach towns, including Avila Beach and Pismo Beach to the south and Cayucos (my favorite place to hunt for antiques, shop for cookies, and explore tidepools) to the north.
Plus there’s the fact that we’re only an hour away from some pretty cool things, like Hearst Castle and the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery. (The comeback of the elephant seal from the brink of extinction is a fascinating story. I wrote about it here: The Elephant Seals of San Simeon.)
Post-CNN travelogue, am I worried that visitors are going to storm our little paradise and everyone’s going to want to move here? Not really. This isn’t our first rodeo. Oprah Winfrey dubbed San Luis Obispo “America’s Happiest City” nearly 15 years ago, and it barely moved the needle. Hollywood has long known about SLO and enjoyed it as an escape: My friend Wendy and I spotted Brad Pitt strolling downtown once. William H. Macy and I once passed one another on the sidewalk when I was walking home from work. Kelly Preston used to shop downtown. I spotted Bob Balaban dining at the Granada Bistro once.
Visitors come, but they don’t stay—they go home to their busy lives in more crowded cities. And they keep our little secret.
No matter how much publicity San Luis Obispo gets, it seems to stay its sweet and humble self. Which is what I love about it most of all.
