Los Osos is an unincorporated community located along the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California. The community is part of the 93402 and 93412 ZIP codes and area code 805. The population was 14,276 at the 2010 census.

Los Osos is largely a bedroom community for San Luis Obispo, which is 10.6 miles east, and to a lesser extent, Morro Bay, which is 2.3 miles to the north. There is a small business district concentrated in just a few blocks along Los Osos Valley Road, and several shops servicing the Baywood section of Los Osos, near the bay. The rest of the town is almost entirely residential. Its population is approximately 16,000 and total population at build-out is limited to approximately 26,000.

There are two roads connecting Los Osos to other communities: South Bay Boulevard, which leads to Morro Bay via Highway 1, and Los Osos Valley Road, which leads to San Luis Obispo. Inclement weather and road construction occasionally forces the closure of a route, possibly requiring detours to arrive at one’s destination. This has been much less frequent since the Chorro Bridge replaced the Twin Bridges on South Bay Boulevard.

Los Osos serves as the entrance to Montaña de Oro State Park. Los Osos Valley Road reaches the coast at the south end of Estero Bay and continues south into the state park. Morro Bay State Park borders the northeast of the town. South Bay Boulevard travels through the middle of the park after it leaves Los Osos. Los Osos is also home to the Elfin Forest which sits on the southeast side of the estuary that sits between Los Osos and Morro Bay State Park.

Large groves of eucalyptus trees attract the annually migrating monarch butterflies to Los Osos.

Los Osos’ proximity to the Diablo Canyon Power Plant means that warning sirens are located throughout the town so that the residents will be warned if the power plant should suffer a meltdown or other adverse event. The sirens are also found in other cities nearby, including Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo and Avila Beach. Except for yearly tests, the sirens go largely unused and unnoticed.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 12.8 square miles (33.1 km²), 99.84% of it land, and 0.16% of it water.

Education

Los Osos is part of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, and is served by these public schools:

• Elementary Schools: Baywood Elementary and Monarch Grove Elementary. A third elementary school, Sunnyside Elementary, has been closed and used for other educational purposes since 2004.
• Middle Schools: Los Osos Middle School
• High Schools: Morro Bay High School in Morro Bay or San Luis Obispo High School in San Luis Obispo (Los Osos students are bused to this school in spite of the district generally eliminating high school bus service.)

Total population is in excess of 14,000, making it the most populous coastal community between Point Buchon and Monterey County.

Pre-history

Native American Chumash were the first inhabitants of the local area. These peoples relied partially on the harvesting of fish and shellfish (e.g. Macoma nasuta) from Morro Bay. There is a large Chumash archaeological site on a stabilized sand dune in Los Osos dating to at least as early as 1200 AD.  Cabrillo first encountered the Chumash in the year 1542.

All information courtesy of wikipedia page

Morro Bay is a waterfront city in San Luis Obispo County, California located along California State Route 1 on California’s Central Coast. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,234, down from 10,350 at the 2000 census.

History

The prehistory of Morro Bay relates to Chumash settlement, particularly near the mouth of Morro Creek. At least as early as the Millingstone Horizonthousands of years before present, there was an extensive settlement along the banks and terraces above Morro Creek. A tribal site on present-day Morro Bay was named tsɨtqawɨ, Obispeño for “Place of the Dogs”.

The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portola expedition, came down Los Osos Valley and camped near today’s Morro Bay on September 8, 1769. Franciscanmissionary and expedition member Juan Crespi noted in his diary that “we saw a great rock in the form of a round morro”.^[11]

Morro Rock later gave its name to the town. The descriptive term morro is common to the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian languages, and the word is part of many place names where there is a distinctive and prominent hill-shaped rock formation. Note that the similar Spanish descriptive word “moro” indicates a bluish color rather than a shape.

The first recorded Filipinos to visit America arrived at Morro Bay on October 18, 1587, from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza; one of whom was killed by local Native Americans while scouting ahead.

While governed by Mexico, large land grants split the surrounding area into cattle and dairy ranchos. These ranchos needed shipping to bring in dry goods and to carry their crops, animals, and other farm products to cities.

The town of Morro Bay was founded by Franklin Riley in 1870 as a port for the export of dairy and ranch products. He was instrumental in the building of a wharf which has now become the Embarcadero. During the 1870s, schooners could often be seen at the Embarcadero picking up wool, potatoes, barley, and dairy products.

A subspecies of butterfly, the “Morro Bay Blue” or ” Morro Blue” (Aricia icarioides moroensis) was first found at Morro beach, by the entomologist Robert F. Sternitzky, in June 1929.

In the 1940s, Morro Bay developed an abalone fishing industry; it peaked in 1957, and stocks of abalone have declined significantly due to overfishing. Halibut, sole, rockfish, albacore, and many other species are still caught by both commercial and sport vessels. In addition, oysters are aquacultured in the shallow back bay.

A portion of Morro Bay is also designated as a state and national bird sanctuary. It is also a state and national estuary.  Much of Morro Bay is a state wildlife area where waterfowl hunting is conducted during the season and is one of the few areas in California where Pacific brant are pursued. In 2007, the California Fish and Game Commission designated Morro Bay as a marine protected areanamed the Morro Bay State Marine Reserve.

Geography

Morro Bay is located at 35°22′45″N 120°51′12″W (35.379043, −120.853354). Morro Bay 35°20′16″N 120°51′05″W is also the name of the large estuary that is situated along the northern shores of the bay itself. The larger bay on which the local area lies is Estero Bay, which also encompasses the communities of Cayucos and Los Osos. The city of Morro Bay is 20 km (12 mi) northwest of San Luis Obispo and is located on Highway 1. Los Osos Creekdischarges into Morro Bay.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.3 square miles (27 km²), of which, 5.3 square miles (14 km²) of it is land and 5.0 square miles (13 km²) of it (48.63%) is water.

Morro Rock

The town’s most striking feature is Morro Rock, a 576 foot high volcanic plug which stands at the entrance to the harbor. Originally it was surrounded by water, but the northern channel was filled in to make the harbor.  It was quarried from 1889 to 1969,  and in 1968, it was designated a Historical Landmark.

The area around the base of Morro Rock is open to visitors, with parking lots and paths. However, climbing the rock itself is prohibited except with a permit, both due to risk of injury, and because it is a peregrine falcon reserve.

Morro Rock is one in a series of similar plugs that stretch in a line inland called the Nine Sisters. It is possible that the landscape moved over a volcanic hot spot through the ages.

Morro Bay Harbor

Morro Bay is a natural embayment with an artificial harbor constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is the only all-weather small craft commercial and recreational harbor between Santa Barbara and Monterey. Morro Rock was originally surrounded by water, but the Army built a large artificial breakwaterand road across the north end of the harbor, linking Morro Rock and the mainland. Some of the rock used for this and for the artificial breakwaters was quarried from Morro Rock itself. Other rock was imported by barge from Catalina Island. The bay extends inland and parallels the shore for a distance of about 6.4 km (4 miles) south of its entrance at Morro Rock. Morro Bay is recognized for protection by the California Bays and Estuaries Policy.

Only relatively small craft are capable of passing the harbor channel. A large natural sandspit, augmented by breakwaters, protects the harbor from the Pacific Ocean to the west. At its northern end, remains of a bridge that used to connect the shore with the sandspit can be seen. Morro Bay Harbor’s channel silts up and must be dredged every three to four years. Previously, the Shark Inlet connected the back bay to the ocean. Some have proposed reopening it to slow the sedimentation that is filling up the bay. There has also been work on reducing erosion in the Chorro Creek watershed to reduce the amount of sediment coming into the bay to form bottom layers of bay mud. Chorro Creek is the bay’s largest tributary. It forms an estuary in the back bay between Morro Bay and Los Osos. The second largest tributary, and the only other significant one, is Los Osos Creek, which empties into the far south end of the back bay.

Mariners are strongly urged to seek local advice prior to making use of the channel, especially when whitecaps or wind-blown water is evident or a small craft advisory is in effect, which is very often. The United States Coast Guardregards the harbor as one of the most dangerous in the entire nation, while others put it in the top six on the West Coast of the United States. In 1995, the Army Corps of Engineering deepened and expanded the channel to improve safety. From 1979 to 1987, 21 lives were lost in boating accidents alone. However, many additional deaths have resulted from sightseers and fisherman being swept off the rocks of the breakwater surrounding Morro Rock. They often approach too closely to the waves and are caught off guard when a big wave set comes in. The slippery and jagged rocks only add to the danger. Public access to the breakwater has been revoked and those who venture beyond the signs do so at their own peril.

Coast Guard Station Morro Bay operates three 47-foot Motor Lifeboats. Limited transient vessel services are available. Yachtsmen may wish to contact the Morro Bay Yacht Club. A public boat launch ramp is available at the far south end of the Embarcadero.

• Tiny Morro Bay harbor

• A flock of western gulls in Morro Bay, California

• A newborn sea otter in Morro Bay, just offshore from Morro Rock. There is usually a small summer colony of otters in the kelp near the harbor entrance, off Coleman Drive.

• Dawn at Morro Bay

The back bay, roughly anything south of the Morro Bay State Park Marina, is very shallow. However, there is some slightly deeper water in the channels. The largest channel continues from the bay’s main channel, winding its way towards Los Osos, on the southern end of the bay. The second largest breaks off from the largest about halfway to Los Osos and takes an extremely windy route to the sandspit. A few small channels on the landward side formed by runoff meet the largest channel as well. The narrow, unmarked channels are very hard to navigate and are filled with eel grass, which can snag the boat or clog the propeller. They are easiest to find at low tide, but if the tide is too low, the boat may run aground because the channels are only a few feet deeper than the surrounding water. An alternative to searching for the channels is to cross at very high tide.

During World War II, there was a U.S. Navy base on the north side of Morro Rock where sailors were trained to operate LCVPs. The breakwater on the southwest side of the Rock was built in 1944–45 to protect the LCVPs entering and leaving the harbor. Soldiers from Camp San Luis Obispo would come to Morro Bay and practice loading into the LCVPs. Many of those men were at Normandy on D-Day.

Climate

Morro Bay experiences a mild warm-summer Mediterranean climate (KöppenCsb) characteristic of coastal California featuring dry, warm summers and wet, mild winters. The city is located next to the Pacific Ocean, which helps moderate temperatures and create an overall pleasant mild year-round climate, resulting in warmer winters and cooler summers compared with places farther inland, such as Atascadero. Summers in Morro Bay are cool for a city located on the 35th parallel north latitude, with July averaging around 60 °F (16 °C). Winters are mild, with January averaging at 55 °F (13 °C) with around 8 days of measurable precipitation.

Marine Protected Areas

Morro Bay State Marine Recreational Management Area and Morro Bay State Marine Reserve are marine protected areas offshore from Morro Bay. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

Economy

Morro Bay’s economy is based on small businesses, tourism, and retirees. A number of tourist attractions are found along the shoreline and the streets closest to it, especially the Embarcadero, including restaurants, shops and parks.

Tourism is the city’s largest industry, coexisting with the town’s commercial fishery. The most popular beach is on the north side of Morro Rock, north of the harbor. There are also excellent beaches north and south of the town which are owned by the State of California.

All information courtesy of wikipedia page

Cayucos is a census-designated placelocated on the coast in San Luis Obispo County, California along California State Route 1 between Cambria to the north and Morro Bay to the south. The population was 2,592 at the 2010 census, down from 2,943 at the 2000 census.

History

Prehistorically the local area was inhabited by the Chumash people, who settled the coastal San Luis Obispo area approximately 11,000 to 10,000 BC, including a large village to the south of Cayucos at Morro Creek.

The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolà expedition, camped in the vicinity of today’s Cayucos on September 9, 1769. Coming from the previous campsite near Morro Bay, Franciscan missionary and expedition member Juan Crespi noted in his diary that “In the four hours that we traveled, making at the most three leagues, we encountered eight arroyos by which the water from the mountains runs to the sea, along whose edge we traveled. We halted at the eighth watering place in a moderately broad valley, into which enters an estuary fed by an arroyo of good water coming from the mountains.” Crespi translator Herbert Bolton noted the camp location as Ellysley Creek (further along the coast to the northwest), but the description sounds more like Cayucos.

Cayucos is the Hispanicization of a Chumash word for “kayak,” or “canoe,” used by the Chumash people to fish in the bay, particularly in the rich kelp beds just north of the current Cayucos pier. The town took its name from the old Rancho Moro y Cayucos, a Mexican land grant awarded in 1842 that includes the present area of the town.

In 1867, Captain James Cass settled on 320 acres (1.29 km²) of this land, and founded the town of Cayucos. Cass began developing the area with his business partner, Captain Ingals. Cass built a 900-foot pier and a warehouse to house cargo bound for San Francisco or Los Angeles. Eventually Cass returned to life on the sea and in 1875 real estate developer C.H. Phillips subdivided and sold the remaining portions of Rancho Moro y Cayucos. The original pier was swept away by a storm but has since been rebuilt.

On December 7, 1987, Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771, bound from Los Angeles International Airport to San Francisco, was cruising above the central California coast when a recently terminated disgruntled USAir employee aboard the plane shot his ex-supervisor, both pilots, a flight attendant and presumably PSA’s chief pilot, causing the airplane to enter a steep nosedive. The aircraft slammed into a hillside just east of Cayucos at 770 mph (1,239 km/h). All 43 passengers and crew aboard perished.

In October 2009, Arthur Frommer‘s Budget Travel Magazine listed Cayucos as one of the “Coolest Small Towns in America”.

Geography

Cayucos is located at 35°26′18″N 120°53′26″W (35.438390, -120.890647).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.5 square miles (9.1 km²), of which, 3.1 square miles (8.0 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) of it (10.85%) is water.

Cayucos is home to Cayucos State Beach.

All information courtesy of wikipedia

San Luis Obispo ; Spanish for “St. Louis, Bishop [of Toulouse]”, or SLO  for short, is a city in the U.S. state of California, located 190 miles north of Los Angeles in Southern California’sCentral Coast region. The population was 45,119 at the 2010 census. The population of San Luis Obispo County was 269,637 in 2010.

Founded in 1772 by Spanish Franciscan Junípero Serra, San Luis Obispo is one of California’s oldest European-founded communities. Serra’s original mission was named after the 13th-century saint and bishop Louis of Toulouse. The city, locally referred to as San Luis, SLO, or SLO Town (as its county is also referred to as SLO) is the county seat of San Luis Obispo County and is adjacent to California Polytechnic State University.

The earliest human inhabitants of the local area were the Chumash people. One of the earliest villages lies south of San Luis Obispo and reflects the landscape of the early Holocene when estuaries came farther inland. The Chumash people used marine resources of the inlets and bays along the Central Coast and inhabited a network of villages, including sites at Los Osos and Morro Creek.^[13] The tribal site on present-day San Luis Obispo was named tiłhini, Obispeño for “Place of the full moon”.^[14]

Mission Period

During the Spanish Empire expansion throughout the world, specifically in 1769, Franciscan Junípero Serra received orders from Spain to bring the Catholic faith to the natives of (Alta California); the idea was to unify the empire under the same religion and language. Mission San Diego was the first Spanish mission founded in Alta California that same year.

On September 7, 1769, an expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá entered the San Luis Obispo area from coastal areas around today’s Pismo Beach. One of the expedition’s three diarists, padre Juan Crespí, recorded the name given to this area by the soldiers as Cañada de Los Osos (“cañada” translates as “valley” or “canyon”). The party traveled north along San Luis Obispo Creek, turned west through Los Osos Valley, and reached Morro Bay on September 9.

In 1770, Portola established the Presidio of Monterey and Junípero Serra founded the second mission, San Carlos Borromeo, in Monterey. The mission was moved to Carmel the following year. As supplies dwindled in 1772 at the mission and Presidio, the people faced starvation. Remembering the Valley of the Bears, Presidio of Monterey commander Pedro Fages (a member of the Portolà expedition) led a hunting expedition to bring back food. Over twenty-five mule loads of dried bear meat and seed were sent north to relieve the missionaries, soldiers, and neophytes (baptized natives). The natives were impressed at the ease by which the Spaniards could take down the huge grizzlies with their weapons. Some of the bear meat was traded with the local people in exchange for edible seed. It was after this that Junípero Serra decided that La Cañada de Los Osos would be an ideal place for the fifth mission.

The area had abundant supplies of food and water, the climate was also very mild, and the local Chumash were very friendly. With soldiers, muleteers, and pack animals carrying mission supplies, Junípero Serra set out from Carmel to reach the Valley of the Bears. On September 1, 1772, Junípero Serra celebrated the first Mass with a cross erected near San Luis Creek. The very next day, he departed for San Diego leaving Fr. José Cavaller, with the difficult task of building the mission. Fr. José Cavaller, five soldiers and two neophytes began building Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, which would later become the town of San Luis Obispo.

The first mission structures were built with whatever materials could be found nearby. Later, more permanent buildings were constructed with adobe walls, wood timber roof beams and tile roofs. The completed mission compound included: the church, the priests’ residence, the convento, storerooms, neophyte and visitor residences, soldiers’ barracks and other structures. The mission also had a grist mill, tannery, water supply system, land for farming and pastures for livestock. The whole community of priests, natives and soldiers needed to produce goods for their own livelihood.

When the Mexican War of Independence from Spain broke out in 1810, all California missions had to become virtually self-sufficient, receiving few funds or supplies from Spanish sources. Beginning soon after Mexico won her independence from Spain in 1821, anti-Spanish feelings led to calls for expulsion of the Spanish Franciscans and secularization of the missions. Because the fledgling Mexican government had many more important problems to deal with than far-off California, actual secularization didn’t happen until the mid-1830s.

Rancho and Town

After 1834, the mission became an ordinary parish, and most of its huge land holdings were broken up into land grants called ranchos. The ranchos were given by Mexican land grant from 1837–1846, with the mission itself being granted in the final year. The central community, however, remained in the same location and formed the nucleus of today’s city of San Luis Obispo.

After the Mexican–American War annexed California to the United States, San Luis Obispo was the first town incorporated in the newly formed San Luis Obispo County. It remained the center of the county to the present. Early in the American period, the region was well known for lawlessness. It gained a reputation as “Barrio del Tigre” (or Tiger-Town) because of the endemic problem. Robberies and murders that left no witnesses were carried out on along the El Camino Real and elsewhere around San Luis Obispo for several years. Finally a gang of eight men committed a robbery with three murders and a kidnapping at the Rancho San Juan Capistrano del Camote in May 1858, that uncharacteristically left two witnesses alive. This brought about the formation of a vigilance committee in the County that killed one, the suspected leader of the gang Pio Linares, and lynched six others, a total of seven men suspected of such misdeeds (the most lethal in California history). Members of the committee remained influential members of the community for decades.

The ranchos remained focused on cattle after the conquest of California. With the discovery of gold, the county experienced a major economic surge with the rising price of beef, with the highest prices coming in 1851. The county remained focused on cattle until 1863, when a drought left most ranchos devastated. Residents quickly turned to other venues, leading to the breaking up of many of the ranchos and a major change in the economic climate of the town, which focused less on cattle ranching and more on dairies, agriculture, and mined goods from then onward.

San Luis Obispo once had a burgeoning Chinatown in the vicinity of Palm St. and Chorro Street. Laborers were brought from China by Ah Louis in order to construct the Pacific Coast Railway, roads connecting San Luis Obispo to Paso Roblesand Paso Robles to Cambria, and also the 1884 to 1894 tunneling through Cuesta Ridge for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The town’s Chinatown revolved around Ah Louis Store and other Palm Street businesses owned and run by Chinese business people. Today, Mee Heng Low chop suey shop is all that remains of the culture, although a slightly Chinatown-themed commercial development has been planned. A display of some of the unearthed relics from this period can be seen on the first floor of the Palm Street parking garage, which was built over the location where Chinatown once stood. The San Luis Obispo Historical Society (adjacent to the Mission) also contains rotating historical exhibits.

San Luis Obispo was also a popular stop when people are on the way to Los Angeles. U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 with the rise of car culture. Due to its popularity as a stop, it was the location of the first motel, the Milestone Mo-Tel.

San Luis Obispo’s largest and oldest voluntary organization is the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, which also is the oldest and largest voluntary organization in San Luis Obispo County.

Historic Buildings and Districts

San Luis Obispo has more than 180 historic buildings that have been designated as City of San Luis Obispo Historic Resources. Three of the City’s designated historic resources have also been designated as California Historic Landmarks. They are: Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (CHL 325); Dallidet Adobe (CHL 720); and Ah Louis Store (CHL 802). In addition, eight of the City’s designated historic resources have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). They are: Myron Angel House (NRHP 11/22/82); Pacific Coast Railway Company Grain Warehouse (NRHP 6/23/88); Robert Jack House (NRHP 4/13/92); Tribune-Republic Building (NRHP 6/24/93); San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library (NRHP 3/30/95); Ah Louis Store(NRHP 3/26/08); William Shipsey House (NRHP 3/31/10); and Monday Club of San Luis Obispo (NRHP 5/10/16). The Carnegie Library, located at 696 Monterey Street, is home to the San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum which includes a research center with information on the City’s other historical resources.

The City also has five designated historic districts as follows:

• Downtown Historic District – Covers 61.5 acres generally bounded by Palm Street to the north, Marsh Street to the south, Osos Street to the east, and Nipomo Street to the west, plus Dana Street in the northwest. The Downtown Historic District covers the oldest part of the City, including the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and many commercial structures from the city’s boom era from the 1890s to the 1910s.^[21]
• Chinatown Historic District – Covers 4.4 acres along both sides of Palm Street between Chorro and Morrow Streets. Established in 1995 to recognize the contributions of the City’s Chinese community.^[22]
• Old Town Historic District – Covers 86 acres generally bounded by Pacific Street on the north, Islay Street on the south, Santa Rosa Street on the east, and Beach Street on the west. Established in 1987, the district is located in the City’s oldest residential neighborhoods with historic homes dating from the 1880s to the turn of the century.^[23]
• Mill Street Historic District – Covers 20 acres from Peach Street on the north, Palm Street on the south, Pepper Street on the east and Toro Street on the west Established in 1987, the area consists of early 20th century homes in the Tudor Revival, Craftsman, Mission Revival, Prairie Colonial, and Shingle styles. Sometimes referred to as Fremont Heights.^[24]
• Railroad Historic District – Covers 80.7 acres bounded by the railroad right-of-way on the east, Johnson Avenue on the north, Orcutt Road on the south, Leff Street on the northwest, and Broad Street on the west. Established in 1998 along the historic boundaries of the Southern Pacific rail yard. It includes residential and commercial resources constructed following the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1894.^[25]

Geography

San Luis Obispo is located on U.S. Route 101 about 31 miles (50 km) north of Santa Maria.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.93 square miles (33.5 km²), of which, 12.78 square miles (33.1 km²) is land and 0.15 square miles (0.39 km²) (1.18%) is water.

San Luis Obispo is on the West Coast of the United States and in the Central Coast of California. The Pacific Ocean is about 11 miles (18 km) west of San Luis Obispo. The Santa Lucia Mountains lie just east of San Luis Obispo. These mountains are the headwaters for San Luis Obispo Creek, whose watershed encompasses 84 square miles (220 km²) surrounding the city and flows to the Pacific Ocean at Avila Beach.

San Luis Obispo is a seismically active area; there are a number of nearby faults including the San Andreas Fault. The Nine Sisters are a string of hills that partially run through San Luis Obispo. They are geologically noteworthy for being volcanic plugs. Six of the nine peaks are open to the public for recreation.

Climate

San Luis Obispo experiences a cool Mediterranean climate . On average it has 50 days with measurable rain per year – mostly during winter months. Summers are generally warm and sunny, often with morning fog from the Pacific coast. Winters are generally mild, though below freezing lows may be expected four nights per year. Measurable snowfall in San Luis Obispo has not officially been recorded since records began in 1870, although photos show about 0.3 inches fell in 1922 and snow flurries were reported in both 1988 and 2006. Temperatures do, however, vary widely at any time of the year, with 80 °F (27 °C) readings in January and February not uncommon. Although heat extremes in the 110s have been recorded, the maritime moderation is generally strong due to the proximity to the cool ocean waters.

Government

San Luis Obispo is incorporated as a charter city. It is also the county seat of San Luis Obispo County. The city charter provides for a “Council-Mayor-City Manager” form of municipal government. The City Council has five members, a mayor who is elected to two-year terms, with each mayor limited to serving no more than four consecutive terms, and four city council members who are elected to four-year terms, with each council member limited to serving no more than two consecutive terms.

Fire Department

The fire department of San Luis Obispo was first organized in 1872 and now has 45 full-time firefighters and four fire stations (as of 2007). The SLO City Fire Stations are staffed with three-man ALS engine companies and a four-man ALS Truck company. Each apparatus has at least one paramedic on duty each day. The department responds to over 4,500 calls each year. The San Luis Obispo City Fire Department also maintains a bike medic program which is used at the Farmers’ Market and other special events throughout the city. Four members of the Fire Department are also on the San Luis Obispo SWAT Team as SWAT Medics and respond using Squad 1 (an ALS equipped ambulance which also carries some light rescue gear and other specialty tools) The front-line members of the department are represented by the San Luis Obispo City Firefighters’ IAFF Local 3523.

All information courtesy of wikipedia