Highway 1

Highway 1 won't reopen in 2024. It's decimating this once-bustling Calif. coastal town.

'San Simeon is really, really down'

By Andrew Pridgen

As the marine layer dissipated into the nearby hillside, it revealed the oceanfront stopover of San Simeon to be, yet again, essentially empty. 

The unincorporated town on the northwest edge of San Luis Obispo County boils down to a mile or so stretch of motels, restaurants, and a small convenience store or two adjacent to Highway 1. There’s an accompanying shoreline so pristine, it causes visitors to blink twice and rub their eyes to make sure it’s real — or at least compels them to pull their cars over and take a selfie.

Such was the case for one young traveling couple who suddenly threw their hazards on, angled over to the road’s shoulder, and jumped out of their car to initiate a seemingly well-choreographed routine. They positioned themselves perfectly under a sign for the highway with the ocean as the backdrop. He stretched out his arm and pointed his phone camera lens toward them; she quickly swept her bangs out of her face. They smiled, took the shot, examined it on the screen, nodded, did a quick kiss, got back in the car and drove off. 

And that was just about all the tourist action San Simeon would see on that late-September morning. The town was dealt more bad news last week, as Caltrans confirmed there is no opening timeline for the closed stretch of Highway 1 just to the north. 

“Due to continued cracking occurring at the repair site, a portion of previously damaged roadway located on Highway 1 at Regent’s Slide will not reopen in 2024,” a statement from Caltrans released Friday morning said. “Updates on an estimated reopening date and the progress of repairs will be provided on a regular basis.”

The Regent’s Slide area refers to a 6.8-mile stretch of road on the south end of the Big Sur footprint, which starts about a mile south of the Esalen Institute and ends 2 miles north of a small cliffside resort and dwellings called Lucia. 

‘San Simeon is really, really down’

Maura Valencia, owner of the Big Sur Restaurant in San Simeon, had thought she had seen it all. From the COVID-19 lockdown to the long-term closure of nearby Hearst Castle, the town’s biggest draw, she was hopeful then that the castle’s pending reopening would reinvigorate the town. It did, somewhat, she explained recently, but then came the storms that wiped out several sections of Highway 1 that connect San Simeon to Big Sur and beyond. 

“I think it’s impacting us a lot,” Valencia told SFGATE on Wednesday as she tended to a lone couple during a breakfast shift. “They just keep pushing it. ‘Oh, it’s going to be done this time.’ ‘Oh, it’s going to be done at a later time.’ It’s been a major thing. When they close Highway 1, [travelers] just don’t come in. San Simeon is really, really down. As you can see, there’s not a lot going on.” 

Valencia said unlike the COVID restrictions and the repairs at Hearst Castle, there was seemingly an end point, a time certain when things might return to normal. With yet another winter fast approaching and the road still closed, things are going to continue to be a struggle, she said. 

“We’re surviving and paying bills and that, but it’s been hard, but we’re trying,” she explained. “Breakfast and lunch can be steady. But dinner I do maybe 30 people a night, and that’s not enough. The road closure is really, really bad, not only for me but for everybody. But we’re trying, we’re trying. I know for sure as soon as they open that road, it’s going to be much better.”

‘The big slide is moving’

Valencia had hoped that the Caltrans announcement would offer an opening date for the road to fully reopen. Instead, it left many disappointed. 

On Tuesday, Caltrans spokesperson Kevin Drabinski detailed the project’s status and explained why there is still no timeline for the road to open. “The big slide is moving,” Drabinski told SFGATE, noting that when there’s new slide activity, a whole new system of measuring and monitoring the slide is put into place. It can be an arduous and time-consuming task. 

“We have to see where it was sliding before,” he explained. “Is there any sympathetic movement from above? Where are the new slides and where are we going to start that new cut? When we have the repair design and data to start that work again, what angle we’re going to cut and slope we’re going to work on, then the work starts again. It starts when it’s safe to do so.”

But along with the as-yet-undetermined timeline for reopening, Drabinski said, equally important right now is that the general public know the area is still open for business. “We kind of want to highlight all the views there, the quaint amenities, all the magic of that part of the Big Sur coast.”

‘There’s no meat on this bone right now with the road as it is’

While those who make a living in San Simeon catering to travelers aren’t expecting a miracle reopening, they say something major needs to shift for them to make it through yet another season of road closures.

“I’m going broke, but it’s OK,” joked Albert Barreto, owner of the Coast Riders Inn, a family-owned hotel that he and his wife took over from another operator in 2020. “We’ve never pulled a dime from this place. There’s no meat on this bone right now with the road as it is.”

The Barretos have taken advantage of the slow times to make improvements on the property and rebrand it as a jumping-off point, or stopping point, for the “Great American Road Trip,” Barreto told SFGATE on Wednesday, as he gestured to some automobile memorabilia. His finger came to a rest pointing to a poster from the Pixar film “Cars.”

“That’s our inspiration,” he smiled. “Just like they brought back Radiator Springs, we want to create a place where people can come and unplug and just enjoy the scenery. ... If they get the road open, that’s going to be a huge difference. I try to get everyone who can read a map and loves a little adventure to come through here.”

“It felt a bit quiet,” London-based Jim Bannerman, who was in the middle of a coastal road trip from Oregon down to Los Angeles with his partner, told SFGATE Wednesday. The pair had stopped over for a night in San Simeon and said they were pleasantly surprised to have the place to themselves. “We went to the bar next door last night, there were a few people, but at half eight, everyone was gone. You know it’s a dead end essentially. You got to drive [up]; you know you’ve got to come back.”

And that was the plan that morning as Bannerman was aiming to drive north up Highway 1 to the farthest point they could go and then take the scenic road all the way back down to Santa Barbara. “Oh, it’s worth it — the quiet, it’s beautiful,” he said. “You get out here, and you realize why it’s so famous. Much better than 101, which was just flat and farmland, nothing.”

It’s that beauty combined with the solitude, Barreto said, that remains the lone selling point for San Simeon. “I don’t think our kids give a rat’s ass about Hearst Castle,” he joked. “... But, I had a guy just three or four days ago come in and say ‘God, it’s so boring here. I couldn’t wait to get out of here.’ I was like, ‘Dude, that’s the whole point.’ ... First of all, you need more than one day to detox. It’s a two- or three-day process to sit down and say, ‘God, there’s nothing to do here. I love it here.’ The nothingness of this place is one of the best features.”

‘Something needs to happen’

Jeanne and Larry Guthrie were finishing their meal at Big Sur Restaurant on Wednesday morning and making plans to decamp from their night in San Simeon. The Salt Lake City-based couple marveled at the quiet of the town, the sounds of the ocean that filled up their room and the quality of the breakfast they’d just finished. 

“I was in the hospital for four months earlier this year, so this is my first outing,” Jeanne told SFGATE. “It was really good to be here.”

Larry said the pair had plans to head north that day to visit family and friends in the Bay Area and Sacramento, but the San Simeon leg of the trip, which was an unexpected stop, was a highlight. The couple, originally from California, said the spot made them feel most at home.

As they prepared to leave, Valencia cleared away their dishes. At the same time next door, Barreto and another worker at the Coast Riders Inn fussed over a morning spread of croissants, sweet rolls and coffee, making sure everything was staged just right in case a hungry traveler should stop by. He’s hopeful they will, not in droves but even ones and twos would be nice. 

“If we could pick up 20% or 25%, it would be awesome. That’s all it would take. These guys next door, if you look at the travel sites, are selling rooms for $57 a night. We can’t play that game. But yes, we’re at the point — something needs to happen.”