Of Missions, Meat & Movies: Mission San Luis Obispo

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was named after Saint Louis (no, not the city) who was the Bishop of Toulouse in France and was founded in 1769. Let’s stop there. “Founded” merely meant a prayer was said, a cross stuck into the ground and that was pretty much it. The Spanish who controlled California used the chain of missions to not only bring religion to the New World, but the missions acted as trading posts in the once rugged and desolate California landscape.

But hang on. Why here exactly? On September 7 and 8, 1769 Gaspar de Portola and his expedition traveled through San Luis Obispo on their way to the Monterey Bay. The expedition’s diarist, Padre Juan Crespi, recorded the name given to this area by the soldiers as “llano de los Osos” or the “bear plain,” as there used to be a whole hell of a lotta bears here. In fact, Los Osos, just west of San Luis Obispo, still holds that name.

 

Father Serra and the SLO Mission

Skip forward to 1770 and Father Serra founded Mission San Carlos Borremeo in Monterey (it was moved to Carmel the following year.) As the Monterey mission’s supplies dwindled in 1772 soldiers, padres and Native Indians faced starvation. Remembering the bear plain where they had stuck a cross into the dry earth years before, a hunting expedition was sent to San Luis Obispo to bring back food in the summer of 1772. Over 25 mule loads of bear meat was sent up coast to the Carmel Mission. It was after this that Father Serra decided that San Luis Obispo would be the ideal place for a fifth mission. The region had abundant supplies of food and water, the climate was mild, and the local Chumash were very friendly, until, you know, they were enslaved. Given these conditions, Father Serra set out on a journey to reach the bear plain and on September 1, 1772, he celebrated the first mass near San Luis Creek.

After Father Serra left, the task of building the mission remained which was accomplished primarily by the hard work of the local Chumash Indians – as in cheap labor. The church and priest's residence were built by 1794, and other structures made up the primitive mission in the early days, namely storerooms, residences for single women called a “monjerio,” barracks and a few

A photo of a photo, but historically cool

mills. The mission also used the land for farming and raising livestock since all missions depended upon whatever they produced for their survival. Expansion proceeded for a few years due to the prosperity of the mission, but those days were numbered and Mission San Luis, like all the other missions, gradually fell into disrepair in part because Spain stopped sending money to fund the California missions. When Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821 the missions were “secularized,” decommissioned as it were, and often mission lands were sold off. Governor Pio Pico sold the San Luis Obispo Mission to Captain John Wilson for a mere $510 in 1845, about $15,500 in today’s dollars, still a seal (though the actual church was not included in the deal). The building served multiple functions, even as a jail and the first county courthouse. It was returned to the Catholic Church in 1859.

Still an active church the mission is open daily

Today the mission fronts Mission Square (where parts of the Sandra Bullock film, Murder by Numbers was shot – no pun intended) facing the creek, and Higuera St. The courtyard is a popular place for small gatherings and festivals. The interior of the mission is minimally decorated, mainly hand painted. The whitewashed interior walls of the church are enlivened by a brilliantly hued “vine of life,” a reproduction of the original decor. The original floors were packed earth back in the day, colored red with cinnabar. Now of course it’s colored concrete. Still an active church, mass is held each day at 7 a.m.

A visit to the mission museum will set you back $3, and it’s worth the cost. The original mission doors are located, ironically, inside the museum on display and were used up until 1948. The museum is surprisingly large but it’s not all mission era stuff on display here. There is a good number of Indian artifacts; bowls and baskets, jewelry, pottery arrowheads and abalone shell pottery. There are mission-era vestments the padres wore, church artifacts and early 19th century clothes and personal belongings once the Westerners moved in to this region There are quite a few adobe cut-outs so you can see the exposed brick. The outside gardens are intimate with a water-well located center overlooked by Madonna Mountain. Clearly modernized landscaping with little green lawns does not reflect what it actually would have looked like and the mission itself is surrounded by Australian Eucalyptus trees.

A lonely portion of one of the original walls

For you true history buffs, walk across the street to the historical society building and there, barely seen or known about is part of the original mission wall – just a small chunk of authentic history waiting for someone to notice it. (MISSION SAN LUIS OBISPO, 751 Palm St., San Luis Obispo, 805/781-8220)

Monterey's Mission

The beautiful Carmel Mission

Monterey may be the bread basket of America (the Salinas Valley is one of the most fertile places in the country), and home to Cannery Row and the fantastic Monterey Bay Aquarium and neighbor to Carmel and Big Sur, but it’s also home to three historic California Missions, all wildly different, two of which you’ve probably never visited. Many people forget that Spain ruled this area for over 200 years and the Spanish were on California soil in the mid 1500s. It is the chain of 21 Spanish missions that, in essence, created the blue print for what eventually became California. In fact Highway 101 was originally the dirt road that connected the missions known as El Camino Real – “the king’s highway” - and the mission themselves acted as early trading posts and historical repositories.

Sunday services at Carmel

San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission –Carmel’s Crown

Known succinctly Carmel Mission (3080 Rio Rd., Carmel, 831/624-1271, Daily 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Admission $6.50), is still a very active parish with regular Sunday services (all three missions offer mass). The large compound includes an extensive museum with the first known library in California still on display – courtesy of the mission fathers who were the first librarians and historians in California as not much else existed in the late 1700s. There are exhibits of early Native American culture, building materials from the mission period, vestments and displays on how the friars lived and cooked. The chapel is more ornate than the other California missions and it’s clear that a lot of money has been spent on upkeep as the place looks nearly pristine and the grounds are expansive and beautiful. It can get crowded, making parking out front difficult, but the mission is just on the outskirts of Carmel.

Mission San Antonio - the olive tree is at right

Mission San Antonio de Padua –Lost in Time

The third mission started in California’s chain of 21 is Mission San Antonio founded in 1771 (Fort Hunter Liggett, 831/385-4478, Jolon, daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Admission $3). It’s commonly referred to as “the mission that time forgot” and that’s unfortunate, but here’s why - it’s 25 miles off Highway 101. The location is remote and it sits on the Fort Hunter Liggett U.S. Army base which the public can access (have your drivers’ license and proof of insurance ready – you cannot get on base without them). Look for the original brick wine vat, constructed between the late 1700s early 1800s, which uses a gravity flow system. This was one of the first missions to produce wine and the interior courtyard has a large vine by the well which is originally from Spain, lugged over here when the missions were founded. Several other rooms display artifacts like embroidered vestments, mission era tools and priests’ quarters. 

This grapevine was brought over from Spain by the padres

There are also remnants of the old waterworks and a beautiful large olive tree planted in 1846 right out front. The church itself is longer than most, but simply decorated, with painted wainscoting along the walls. The mission was damaged in a recent earthquake and the race is on to raise money for much needed restoration or else it will be shuttered, and we’d hate to lose a valuable piece of history. You may say toy yourself: why should I drive all the way out there to visit just an old mission? Well, aside from the historical significance, also located nearby is the old Hearst Hacienda – a ranch house on the former William Randolph Hearst property, designed by Julia Morgan and where Hearst would take his guests (Clark Gable and Errol Flynn stayed here) on horseback who were sojourning at the Hearst Castle. The Army bought it from Hearst in 1940 but you can stay the night here in one of the old ranch rooms. They are pretty Spartan, but you can also access the military bowling alley nearby for some food and maybe bowl a frame with a general. Room rates range from $50 to $95. You need to contact the Morale, Welfare and Recreation division of Fort Hunter Liggett and make reservations directly with them.

The Hearst Hacienda

Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad –Solitude in Soledad

Founded in 1791, Mission Soledad (36641 Fort Romie Rd., Soledad, 831/678-2586, daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., free admission) was the 13^th in the chain of 21 missions. It too is one of the least visited missions even though it’s less than three miles off Highway 101 in Soledad (take the Arroyo Seco exit off Highway 101) and is an easy visit on the way to several of the area wineries. 

Mission Soledad

Every October there is a wine auction from mainly local wineries to raise money for restoration. The chapel is one of the smallest and most simple I have visited in the mission chains and the humble structure is surrounded by crop fields and you can see vineyards of the wineries in the Santa Lucia Highlands in the distance. It’s small and not as postcard-pretty as California’s other missions. The original mission was badly damaged in the floods of 1828, and wasn’t reconstructed until the early 1950s. But the original adobe walls can still be seen; mounds of rounded earth returning to the dirt from whence they came. In its day, the mission hosted a vineyard, fruit trees, and herds of cattle. There are a few rooms of artifacts on display from the mission days.

The original Mission Soledad walls

Check out this video I shot at Mission San Antonio in September 2012,
Monterey Mission Video

and make sure when you come to Monterey you find time to visit these missions as they are the link to California’s illustrious past.Contact them here:

Carmel Mission

Mission San Antonio

Mission Soledad

Hearst Hacienda: (831) 386-2262