Virtual Tours
Historic
By-Ways
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Oceano Depot
13 - Oceano: From Halcyon, go south on Halcyon Rd 0.5 miles to Hwy 1 (Cienaga
St). Turn right and proceed 1.5 miles to depot.
By
1895, Southern Pacific Railroad track had reached as far as Oceano on
its way south along the coast. The town was formed and subdivided at
about the same time, and a wooden boardwalk connected the depot, built
in 1896, with the Oceano Hotel. The current 2-story Southern Pacific
Railroad Station was built in 1904, after the original depot burned
down. It included quarters for the station master’s family upstairs,
and a waiting room, baggage and freight room, and agent’s office
downstairs. The depot is currently being restored after serving the
communities of Oceano, Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, and Grover Beach
for so many years.
The Coffee Rice mansion, built in 1885, is located at the end of Beach
Street on 25th Street. The 20-room mansion was later purchased by the
Temple of the People, the Theosophical group who founded nearby
Halcyon, and used as a sanatorium. On the eastern edge of the plain
stands the colorful Rose Victorian Inn, erected in 1886 as a residence
for Charles Pitkin. Both of these extravagant Victorians, designed and
built by the same architect, are reminders of an age that saw
pavilions on the beach and a horse racing track on the flats.
Dana Adobe
14 - Nipomo: From Hwy 101, take Tefft St. exit east to South Oakglen,
turn right. Watch for the gate and red mail box marking the entrance
to the adobe at 671 South Oakglen.
In
1837, the Mexican government awarded Rancho Nipomo, a land grant of
almost 40,000 acres, to William Goodwin Dana, a former Yankee sea
captain, and his wife María Josefa Carrillo. They began building an
adobe home on the rancho in 1839, gradually adding to it as their
family expanded to include 21 children, 13 of whom reached adulthood.
Finally completed in 1851, the adobe was the focal point of a large
and virtually self-sustaining ranch complex. Strategically situated
along El Camino Real, the Dana Adobe became an important wayside stop
for travelers. By 1887 the town of Nipomo had grown up around the
adobe. Today the community has joined together and formed the Dana
Adobe Nipomo Amigos, dedicated to restoring this historic building and
making it accessible to the public.
The
narrow-gauge Pacific Coast Railway ran along the low ground at the
foot of the mesa, connecting Los Alamos to the south with Port Harford
in Avila and picking up the farm goods produced along the way to be
shipped to coastal markets north and south.
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County Map of Areas and Sites on This Tour
