Central CA Beach Remains Untouched By Development – For Now
In Hermosa Beach, where I live, five out of 10 old beach houses along the beachfront path have been torn down and replaced by $10 million personality-less spec homes. A few blocks away the decades-old Mermaid bar is now a personality-less Slaters 50/50 burgers and beer restaurant where the brews are $8.25 a pop.
Next door in Manhattan Beach, high-end shops are lining the downtown streets surrounded by restaurants I cannot afford (one place sells a basic Greek salad, with no meat in it, for $15).
I was driving through Long Beach the other day and noticed a big, modern (ugly) glass building was going up at the corner of Ocean and Shoreline, no doubt an expensive apartment/condo complex.
I could go on an on about how modernism and money is taking over the our beach cities but there is at least one place along the California coast where time has stood still.
It’s Cayucos in Central California, half an hour down Highway 1 from Hearst Castle and about 40 minutes from the robust wine country of Paso Robles.
Actually, maybe time hasn’t forgotten Cayucos; perhaps it just can’t find it!
Compared to Cayucos, Morro Bay and Pismo Beach, two small towns just to the south, are virtual thriving metropolises. They have stoplights, for example.
You can walk from one end of Cayucos to the other in 15 minutes. It has a great taco shop in a gas station. It has a saloon for a bar (Old Cayucos Tavern) and an old fashioned breakfast place that has trucker hats hanging from the ceiling (The Sea Shanty). It has motels, not high-rise hotels.
And, as far as I could tell, no greedy real estate companies buying up old houses and turning them into multi-million spec homes or condos.
If you put this town in the South, it would be a redneck speed trap along a back highway. But in Central California, it’s a jewel by the sea.
It has an ocean. A beach. Sunsets.
And it has its luxury side, too. The On The Beach Bed & Breakfast is nice. Very nice. Across the street is another B&B, Cass House. Its Cass House Grill is close to 5-star dining.
The Butter Brown Cookie Company is so famous for its salt cookies people order them from all over America.
But it’s not overcome with these type of businesses. Hey, I like luxury. I just don’t like it to be the only option, certainly not in places that were once full of character instead of cash.
Like Hermosa Beach.
Cheers!
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• Central California Coast, Hearst Castle, Wine Tasting & More
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