After a year on hiatus, Avila Beach Reopens for Summer
The Beach is Back!

	Surf’s up, and so is the sun, at Avila Beach - which is still its old sunny self, despite a big town remodeling project.

Don’t let the bulldozers fool you: Avila Beach is back.

Avila Beach, a jewel of a cove known to locals in San Luis Obispo County as the most likely place to find sun when the rest of the coast is fogged in, has been the scene of one of the most radical remodelings around.

Unocal Corp has spent the past year digging up and carting parts of Avila Beach town proper into storage, and tearing down and rebuilding the rest. The reason? The company discovered decades of oil transport through underground pipes had resulted in oil by-products seeping into the soil.

After cleaning up some 400,000 gallons of oil by-products during 1999, Unocal is now in the rebuilding phase in Avila Beach.

First to reopen to the public was the East end of the beach, in front of the Inn at Avila Beach, in November, 1999. In February 2000, the west end of the beach - near San Luis Creek - was re-opened to the public.

As of June, The Avila Grocery was back in place on Front Street, having been brought in on giant steel beams. The Avila Pier was back up. So was the Avila Beach Yacht Club - the blue clapboard building at the base of the pier familiar to many as one of Avila’s landmarks.

Project Avila: Answers to The Two Most Important Questions
By late June, construction crews were hammering away on the new lifeguard offices and restrooms at the base of the pier. Which brings up one of the most important questions about Summer 2000 in Avila Beach: where can you go to the bathroom?

"That’s not a bizarre question," according to a Unocal spokesman at the Unocal Project Avila Hotline (877-866-2257). They get it a lot. Right now, there are portable toilets (The familiar blue "Porta Potties") on the west end of Avila Beach and the East End.

Construction crews have the new public restroom buildings up and roofed; if all goes as scheduled, the public restrooms at the base of the pier should be open for business in early July.

Right now, guests at the beautifully renovated Inn at Avila Beach (805-595-2300) have probably the best bathrooms around: the marble, Saltillo tile and mirrors in the lobby restroom -- complete with a faux-Roman fresco and flowers - are all only steps from the sand. Sorry, though - they’re for guests only.

And though it may not look like it, what with all the bulldozers and trucks and cranes dotting downtown Avila, there is plenty of beach parking.

The familiar beach parking lot located behind the Avila Beach Post Office on San Miguel Street is open, and will remain open throughout the downtown reconstruction project. The parking lot has two entrances, one near the Post Office on San Miguel Street, and another on First Street.

"We try to have at least one of those entrances open at all times," said a Unocal Hotline staffer. Beach-goers may drive down streets and into the parking lot, even if signs on the street say "Street Closed to Through Traffic," according to Unocal.

If, however, signs say, "Street Closed," drivers are asked to find another route into the parking lot. Parking is also available along both sides of Avila Beach Drive.

Beach Access Hint: San Antonio Street, the first entrance to town on the drive in from Highway 101, runs from Avila Bay Drive all the way to Front Street, the boulevard that runs along the actual beach at Avila Beach. Because San Antonio runs through the residential section of Avila Beach, which was left untouched by the downtown project, it is rarely closed and the surest route to the surf and sand at Avila.

San Antonio Street is also a direct route to the Inn at Avila Beach. Stop in and grab a brochure at the Inn, 256 Front Street. The beach in front of the Inn is still, as always, a beautiful stretch of golden sand, good surf, sun, and fun.

Down the road a mile and a half, Port San Luis isn’t a part of the reconstruction scene. The Olde Port Inn restaurant is still open, as is Fat Cats Cafe. Patriot Sport Fishing still runs daily, and the pier and port still bustle with tourists, fishing excursions, and boatyard business.

A More Sandy Look This Summer
One warning: The beach is back. Definitely back. The beach is great. The lifeguards are back. The beach is sunny, just like always. You can still boogie board, still take the kids, still beachwalk with your date. And, like always, have a ton of fun.

While the beach is back and beautiful, Downtown is still being rebuilt. Front Street, the boulevard running along the beach, is still being rebuilt. Much of it is still sand. One section of Front Street, the block between San Francisco Street and San Miguel Street at the base of the pier, will remain closed to traffic when Front Street does re-open.

It will be a pedestrian mall, with trees, planters, benches, a tile mosaic, and an extended seating area stepping down to the sand. For an artist’s view of what the finished area will look like, check out the Unocal website at www.projectavila.com.

Right now, the plaza’s utility and foundation work is finished. A fountain, decorative concrete, and planter boxes are mostly ready; handrails are going up on the new beach seawall, and a new observation deck rises 19 feet above Avila Pier.

"We expect to have the beach facilities and Front Street Plaza open to the public by August," said project Manager Rich Walloch. In fact, the town plans to celebrate on September 17 with one big community block party.

With the streets in place, it will be time for the businesses in Avila to rebuild. Expect the town to be back in force for Summer 2001 Once the Project Avila Unocal crews are through rebuilding the downtown streets, businesses will be free to rebuild. The Old Custom House and Mr. Rick’s have plans to rebuild, and the Sea Barn beach wear shop will also be back. Inn at Avila Beach owners Kevin Thornton and Micheal Kidd are building a new, upscale 28-room hotel at the corner of San Miguel and First Streets, designed in the classic "Mission" or California Bungalow architecture style popular in the 1920s. The new hotel will be within a block of the beach.

Meanwhile, a small handful of downtown buildings - the Avila Grocery among them - stand and serve as reminders of Avila’s funky heart.

The Inn at Avila Beach is back and even better, restored in the style of a Mexican beach house, with oceanfront suites featuring jacuzzi tubs, fireplaces, and décor that mixes Mexico and the Mediterranean. Stop in for a brochure; it’s at 256 Front Street.

But sorry. You can’t use the bathrooms unless you’re staying there. It might be worth it. Especially with an in-room jacuzzi thrown in. -TM

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