Photos of
San Luis Obispo
California
by Jim Zimmerlin
Photos of
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Life on the central coast of California is full of beautiful things to see. Since I'm a photography nut, I've taken a lot of great pictures of San Luis Obispo county's most scenic places. This page focuses on interesting things to see in the city of San Luis Obispo itself. (Us locals call it SLO, or SLOtown.) Most of these photos were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera.
The Fremont Theatre
The art-deco architecture of this theatre (built in 1940) has been preserved over the years
yet inside you will get a state-of-the-art audio and visual movie experience
just like you would in any big-city theatre. There's four screens, too.
One of the things I like about San Luis Obispo is that there are beautiful
old buildings
as well as tastefully designed new buildings. An architectural review committee
makes sure all new construction fits in well with the style of other buildings in the area
Monterey and Osos Street Intersection At Night
The old fashioned clock sits in front of the old county courthouse building
Here's another example of tastefully designed new construction in downtown SLO:
The Court Street Shopping Complex in San Luis Obispo
18-55mm zoom lens, ISO 1600, f3.5, 1/30 sec
If you ever
visit San Luis Obispo, you should try to time your visit so you stay overnight on a Thursday.
Every Thursday night, they close off the main street that runs through the downtown area
and throw a big street party they call "Farmer's Market". The name is a bit of a misnomer...
because it's not like the farmer's market's you may have been to. It's more like a carnival or festival.
One of many barbecues in the middle of Higuera Street, every Thursday night
This is one of the most popular... the one in front of McLintock's restaurant
People lining up to get that great barbecue food from McLintocks
During the day, you'd get run over standing here. But on Thursday nights, the street is full of
food, entertainment, and people
Entertainment at Farmer's Market
There's always music... this was one of three
different musical acts playing on this particular night.
Farmer's Market stretches over several city blocks, so there's plenty of room for multiple bands without any one
interfering with the others.
This is why they call it Farmer's Market
In addition to the barbecued food, entertainment, and displays by local civic groups... you can buy
a wide variety of local produce.
It's a hugely popular event, even in winter
The only time they cancel it is if it rains.
Even in mid-December, people come from all around for this fun weekly event.
By the way, it's one of the friendliest crowds of people you'll ever be in. Small town charm, and all that.
Exterior of the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly
Known to the locals as the "PAC"
I've seen some outstanding concerts here!
The "Downtown Centre" shopping complex
I think of it as San Luis Obispo's answer to Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco.
Nice shopping, food, and even a multi-screen movie theatre.
Plenty of parking in a four-story parking structure across the street, too.
The Madonna Inn
This very unique hotel is a huge tourist draw. No two rooms are the same.
Named after the guy who built it, Alex Madonna... not after the pop singer!
If you've enjoyed these photos and want to see pictures I've shot
with other digital cameras...
Check out the Jim Zim photo gallery
Check out my recommendations for pet-friendly hotels near the beach
My son, Jeff, is a Director at the local NBC television affiliate,
KSBY.
Take a look behind the scenes at KSBY
Most of the photos on this page were taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera. In some other parts of the world, it is known as the EOS 400D. If you'd like to see other pictures I've taken with this camera, or would like to find out more about it, please click here to read a page I wrote all about it.
I'm working on writing a few pages
of things I've learned about digital photography.
I've finished the first one... about compressing images.
Click here to read it.
If there are any images here which you admire, send
an email
jimzim@charter.net
I can always use a few words of encouragement!
If you enjoy digital photography, you'll like one of
my favorite Internet sites, onlinephotographers.com
Be sure to browse the forums there.
There is a LOT more to this web site than just this page...
Please explore the rest of the site by viewing our table of contents,
or by clicking on one of the quick links below.