My clients often ask about the "culture" and weather of the different communities within the Central Coast. This blog is to discuss the largest city in San Luis Obispo County and a neighboring town: San Luis Obispo city itself and Avila Beach.
San Luis Obispo
There are really 4 different subsections of San Luis Obispo: the downtown area, east San Luis Obispo, west San Luis Obispo, and north San Luis Obispo.
The Downtown
This is a quaint town that reminds me of what Santa Barbara was 20 years or so ago. It is tree-lined and filled with great boutique shops, exceptional restaurants, cafes, bars, and some larger chain stores like Banana Republic. It has a youthful feel about it because of the influence of the college kids. Cal Poly students seem relatively well-behaved compared to the craziness of some college towns. Don't get me wrong, certainly on a weekend night at 2 am, there can be some noise. But in general the students are repectful and respectable. And the town is just darling. Quaint older homes and condos are what you'll find here.
East San Luis Obispo
This area is filled with vineyards and wineries, large acreage estate homes, and some older homes on acreage mixed in for good measure. The vineyards are beautiful, especially in the spring, and stretch on for miles. There are many exceptional wineries in the area. It is called "Edna Valley" as both the wine region and the residential designation. Fabulous weather, lovely views, and pricey homes.
West San Luis Obispo
This part of town stretches towards Los Osos. It is near large container stores like Target (new to this town) and CostCo. Smaller homes on smaller lots in a suburban type feel is what you'll find here. There are many affordable homes, however, so if you are looking to "break into" living in SLO (what the locals call it), then this is a great place to look. And it is convenient to just about everything. The weather, however, is a bit windy and cooler here, so expect that.
North San Luis Obispo
This is where the college (Cal Poly) is located, so there are many homes that are filled with college kids. Mostly a suburban feel, this is a great place to look for a home for your college student who is attending Cal Poly or Cuesta (the community college). Other than this group of people, most families and coupled-adults don't usually focus their house-hunting here because of the heavy influence of college kids.
Avila
This town is quaint and small. It has perhaps the best weather in SLO County because it gets both an ocean influence while also being in the sunniest, least windy, least foggy part of the coast. The Five Cities (Part 1 of this blog series) can be socked in with fog and Avila will be bright and beautiful. So there is a lot of appeal to live here -- which means the homes are typically more expensive. There is only one road in and out...which for most of the year is fine, but come tourist season it can mean some traffic delays. (Note: traffice "delays" is all relative. If you come from a big city, nothing in SLO County will seem like true traffic!) The homes are divided into two different types: the beach area homes of the downtown and the gated community that is inland a bit. The beach homes can either be old cottages, or newer large ocean view homes (read: expensive!) or some of the new condos along First St. The gated community is filled with newer homes, mostly with valley and hill views, rather than ocean views -- with the exception of the homes on the hill of Heron Crest. These are considered by most to be mansions and have fabulous panoramic ocean views.
That sums up these two areas! If you have more questions, please feel free to call me!
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