Avila Beach’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 2 old photos of Avila Beach. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The Chumash are the Indigenous people of Avila Beach. The first European contact with the Northern Chumash is believed to have occurred in the area in 1595 between Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno and the indigenous peoples. Cermeno recorded at least 300 Chumash people with many settlements in the area who fed his crew with acorn-based dishes.
The name Avila commemorates Miguel Ávila, who was granted Rancho San Miguelito in 1842. The town was established in the latter half of the 19th century, when it served as the main shipping port for San Luis Obispo. Around this time, Luigi Marre built a honeymoon hotel here and steamboats brought customers from San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Avila Beach’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Avila Beach’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🗓️Date a photo1 archive item has no date+2 🔁Retake an old viewSan Luis brochure, c. 1915: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Avila Beach, decade by decade
1990s
unknown1 item
Nothing in Avila Beach is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Avila Beach has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is San Luis Obispo Light Station in Avila Beach, 3.4 miles away.
Avila Beach and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as San Luis brochure (c. 1915) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1) and the Library of Congress (4). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.