California, San Luis Obispo County, Avila Beach
Cal Poly’s Pier has undergone change throughout its history, shifting purpose from industrial use to a center for marine research & education.
For thousands of years the Chumash Native Americans made their home on the Central Coast, including the Avila Beach area.
1867 The town of Avila is established when the Miguel Avila family subdivides Rancho San Miguelito.
1873 John Harford erects the Harford Pier, to facilitate shipping and trading on the Central Coast.
1908 Present day Avila Pier is constructed.
1908 Union Oil and other companies begin building the largest oil pipeline to date. Over 200 miles of oil pipeline is laid from the San Joaquin Valley to Avila. The first oil arrives at Port San Luis in March 1910.
1914 - 1922 The Pacific Coast Railway Co. builds a third pier in San Luis Obispo Bay for commercial shipping. Union Oil Co. of CA (later Unocal) leased the new pier and expands is operations. At this time, Avila becomes one of the largest crude oil shipping ports in the world.
1923 Harford Pier closes to oil shipping. All oil now ships via the Pacific Coast Railway Pier.
1929 The oil facility is abandoned during the Great Depression. 1400 feet of the Harford Pier is demolished to aid navigation in the bay.
1941 Union Oil acquires the Pacific Coast Railway pier and changes its name to the Union Oil Pier. The U.S. Naval fleet fuels the pier during the war years. Union Oil tanker Montebello is sunk by a torpedo near San Simeon, only hours after fueling at the port. Miraculously, no lives are lost.
1942 Lt. General Dwight D. Eisenhower sends Union Oil a telegraph thanking the employees for their efforts during WWII.
1954 The Port San Luis Harbor District is created to revitalize the Harford Pier and surrounding area.
1972 Sustainable goals for Port San Luis are set by the newly founded California Coastal Commission.
1983 A fierce March storm destroys the Union Oil Pier. Three employees are rescued from the collapsing pier by crew of the Paul Revere.
1984 -mid 1990s A modern steel and concrete pier is constructed in the old pier’s original footprints. The new pier extends over 3000 feet into San Luis Obispo Bay. The pier transports an average of 8 to 19 million barrels of oil products per year until Unocal concludes its oil operation at the pier.
2001 On a rainy November day, Unocal donates the pier to Cal Poly’s Center for Coastal Marine Sciences. A beautiful rainbow breaks through the heavy clouds and descends on Avila Beach, an auspicious beginning to Cal Ploy’s new research center.
Cal Poly
Center for Coastal Marine Sciences
Captions:
Unocal Vice President Mark Smith
(right) presents Cal Poly President Baker
(left) with a check representing the estimated value of the new Cal Poly pier.
(upper right);
(lower row of photos, left to right) Late 1870s Harford Pier; 1914 Pacific Coast Railway Pier constructions; A thankful telegraph to Union Oil 1942; Collapsing Union Oil Pier during 1883 storm; 1984 Reconstruction of Unocal Pier; Grateful acceptance of new facility in 2001; Rainbow show during dedication ceremony.
(Science & Medicine • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, GPS coordinates, map.
Cal Poly’s Pier has undergone change throughout its history, shifting purpose from industrial use to a center for marine research & education.
For thousands of years the Chumash Native Americans made their home on the Central Coast, including the Avila Beach area.
1867 The town of Avila is established when the Miguel Avila family subdivides Rancho San Miguelito.
1873 John Harford erects the Harford Pier, to facilitate shipping and trading on the Central Coast.
1908 Present day Avila Pier is constructed.
1908 Union Oil and other companies begin building the largest oil pipeline to date. Over 200 miles of oil pipeline is laid from the San Joaquin Valley to Avila. The first oil arrives at Port San Luis in March 1910.
1914 - 1922 The Pacific Coast Railway Co. builds a third pier in San Luis Obispo Bay for commercial shipping. Union Oil Co. of CA (later Unocal) leased the new pier and expands is operations. At this time, Avila becomes one of the largest crude oil shipping ports in the world.
1923 Harford Pier closes to oil shipping. All oil now ships via the Pacific Coast Railway Pier.
1929 The oil facility is abandoned during the Great Depression. 1400 feet of the Harford Pier is demolished to aid navigation in the bay.
1941 Union Oil acquires the Pacific Coast Railway pier and changes its name to the Union Oil Pier. The U.S. Naval fleet fuels the pier during the war years. Union Oil tanker Montebello is sunk by a torpedo near San Simeon, only hours after fueling at the port. Miraculously, no lives are lost.
1942 Lt. General Dwight D. Eisenhower sends Union Oil a telegraph thanking the employees for their efforts during WWII.
1954 The Port San Luis Harbor District is created to revitalize the Harford Pier and surrounding area.
1972 Sustainable goals for Port San Luis are set by the newly founded California Coastal Commission.
1983 A fierce March storm destroys the Union Oil Pier. Three employees are rescued from the collapsing pier by crew of the Paul Revere.
1984 -mid 1990s A modern steel and concrete pier is constructed in the old pier’s original footprints. The new pier extends over 3000 feet into San Luis Obispo Bay. The pier transports an average of 8 to 19 million barrels of oil products per year until Unocal concludes its oil operation at the pier.
2001 On a rainy November day, Unocal donates the pier to Cal Poly’s Center for Coastal Marine Sciences. A beautiful rainbow breaks through the heavy clouds and descends on Avila Beach, an auspicious beginning to Cal Ploy’s new research center.
Cal Poly
Center for Coastal Marine Sciences
Captions:
Unocal Vice President Mark Smith
(right) presents Cal Poly President Baker
(left) with a check representing the estimated value of the new Cal Poly pier.
(upper right);
(lower row of photos, left to right) Late 1870s Harford Pier; 1914 Pacific Coast Railway Pier constructions; A thankful telegraph to Union Oil 1942; Collapsing Union Oil Pier during 1883 storm; 1984 Reconstruction of Unocal Pier; Grateful acceptance of new facility in 2001; Rainbow show during dedication ceremony.
(Science & Medicine • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, GPS coordinates, map.
and his command of 430 men of the Navy Battalion of Mounted Riflemen encamped near this site December 14-15 1846, on their march, which ended the Mexican regime in California.
Creek rises up in Cuesta Canyon and is joined by a creek from Reservoir Canyon. It meanders through the city until its (sic) covered by business buildings. It reappears at Mission Plaza. It was the first source of water for the mission. It flows into Pacific Ocean at Avila Beach. 
The historic Southern Pacific Water Tower is located directly across the tracks from where you are standing. It looks much as it did when built in 1940 at a cost of $2,130. The Water Tower is located in it original position, across from the City’s “new” Mission-style railroad depot built during World War II. The Water Tower was built to save time during train stops in San Luis Obispo. At that time, up to 10 passenger trains per day stopped in San Luis Obispo, and steam locomotives has to stop twice: once at the roundhouse to take on water and again at the depot to load and unload passengers. The 65,000 gallon steel tank allowed locomotives to take on water while stopped at the depot. The Water Tower was in service until 1956 when Southern Pacific retired the last of the steal locomotive on the coast line.
Built in 1890 as part of the original light station, this building combined the lighthouse (tower structure) and the residence/office of the head keeper and his family.
From a narrow, two story brick house in the 1850s, to an expansive hotel with a 167 foot frontage, the Franco American Hotel became one of the largest and finest inns in Northern California. Started by the Frenchman Leon Marniesse in 1855, the hotel housed a restaurant, Wells Fargo & Company Express Office, saloon and other businesses, and was a well-known stage stop. Through the years improvements consisted of a “piazza” or balcony across the front, additional suites of sleeping rooms upstairs and a two-story brick dining room. Among prominent hotel guests were Vice President Colfax, General and Mrs. Philip Sheridan and President Hayes.
330 Two buildings rested on this site in the 1850s, one a brewery and the other a bakery that advertised 12 loaves of bread of $1.00. Fire broke out in the bakery in 1864 destroying all of its contents and much of the surrounding structures. The brewery, however, reopened a week later. Other businesses, including a photographic studio, opened and closed until 1897 when Godfrey Peters and Robert DeWitt constructed a new two-story Richardsonian Romanesque-inspired brick and stone building on that lot. DeWitt’s Bee Hive grocery store moved in the downstairs corner while the upper story served the Knights of Pythias lodge and several dentists’ parlors. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks bought the building in 1960.
332 Godfrey Peters converted the east half of this building into a theater in 1904. The Peter’s Opera House, complete with sloped floor, stage and two balconies, opened to a packed house with the showing of a five-act play. A bandstand was built over the sidewalk for outdoor music and a speaker forum. The Home Market purchased the theater in 1946 and renovated it to expand their grocery business. When the Elks purchased the building in 1960, this half of the downstairs was remodeled into a banquet hall.
Founded in March 1851 with the discovery of Gold in the nearby “flats”, Yreka quickly became the commercial and transportation hub for the surrounding communities and mining camps. Yreka’s tents and shanties gave way to more substantial commercial and residential buildings seen on West Miner and Third Streets which remain as tangible evidence of the town’s 19th century regional prominence.
There are two plaques located at the kiosk next to the Yreka Chinese Cemetery.
Southern sympathizers George and Ridgely Greathouse purchased this lot in 1858, and then resold it for $700 a year later. The ground floor of this presently existing building was constructed in 1859 of locally kilned brick, and housed new owner R.O. DeWitt’s pharmacy. The second floor was added two years later. W.G. Grant (a tailor) and J.W. Bird (a printer) partnered in 1901, and opened the Bird and Grant grocery store here. Offering home delivery twice a day, the proprietors also purchased much of the store’s produce from local gardeners, and acquired hides and furs from area trappers. The store closed in 1943, and was later remodeled for a fancy bar and eatery.
I.O.O.F. Yreka Lodge #19 was instituted in 1853 and has been at this location since that date. Multiple transactions in ownership and lot size and shape occurred before two, one-story brick buildings were erected on this site. These buildings provided the foundations for the I.O.O.F.’s second story meeting hall. After the fire of 1871, the entire building was rebuilt using the undamaged brick walls. The vault in McConnell and McManus’ ground level store provided a safe place to keep several kegs of powder that escaped the blaze without igniting. The Odd Fellows acquired sole ownership of the entire building in 1897 and rented space to may different establishments through the years, including a drug store business, which commenced in 1935 and operated under various owners until it finally closed in early 1990.
219 A one-story business house initially owned by J.P. Smith occupied this site until the fire of 1871. Rebuilt in 1875, the structure witnessed a myriad of business ventures including several general merchandise stores and a Greek restaurant. The second-story false front, pressed-metal facade was added by new owners Morrison and Lash in 1896. The most notable business was Con Brown’s Billiard Parlor which operated 21 years in this section. During WW II, Conley Brown gave his billiard tables to the Tulelake Japanese Relocation Center.
Built in 1854, this one-story “fireproof” brick building immediately became a general merchandise store that operated under several owners until 1865 when the Forest House Fruit and Cider Store opened for business, sharing space with the California/Oregon Stage Company. Later, A.E. Raynes bought the building and joined forces the C.H. Pyle to run a bookstore and the post office. The most notable 20th century business began in 1920 when the Pollock Brothers established a dry goods store at the site that lasted 35 years. A jewelry store, dry cleaning outfit, and stationary business followed making use of the building’s spacious interiors for the purveyance if goods and services.
The City Meat Market was owned and operated by various individuals since its first owner, Charles Herzog, put up the building in 1854. Through the years innovations such as a horsepower apparatus to run the sausage machine (1867), lowered the price to reduce competition (1875), screens on the doors to keep flies out (1892), and the addition of an ice plant in 1897 helped to keep business thriving and modern. The great fire of 1871 did not destroy the market, but the explosion of a coal oil lamp ignited a blaze in 1899 that caused major damage. Owners Wurster and Metzger hired traveling artist A. Cedros in 1911 to paint wall murals to enhance the interior. These paintings exist today even though the City Meat Market closed its doors to the public in 1973.
This market has been in
Between 1956 and 1866 this building housed a general merchandise store, tin shop, and grocery business. Sometime before the turn-of-the-century, however, it became known as Turner Hall, meeting place for Yreka social and business groups. This included the Turnverien Club organized in the 1860s by a group of early pioneers who came to the area during the gold rush. (Turnerien is a German word for ‘athletic’ or ‘gymnastic.’) The Club arched the ceiling, put a new roof on the “Hall” and hung large chandeliers for lighting. Planners for the Yreka Western Railroad also met here from 1882-1890.
Witherill Bldg. 
The citizens of Siskiyou County and California hereby honor Senator Randolph Collier, the “Father of the Freeway.” Born in Etna, educated in Yreka’s schools, Senator Collier began his long political career as a Police Judge in Yreka in 1925. In 1938, “Randy” was elected to the California State Senate and remained in office until 1976 – the longest tenure in the history of the California Legislature. Regarded as the “Dean of the Legislature” during his time, Senator Collier became “one of its three or four most powerful men” to ever serve in the California State Senate. Called “a master buttonholer and backroom persuader,” Randolph Collier used his skills to become the architect of the California Freeway System – a system that inspired the building of the Interstate Highway network across the United States. His authorship of the historic Collier-Burns Act of 1947 led to the California freeway movement. The residents of Siskiyou County, California and the nation honor this visionary dreamer called “the Silver Fox of the Siskiyous.”
