If there’s a more classically Californian beach town than Pismo Beach, I have yet to find it. Just driving into town makes your stress start to fade away and when you find a parking spot you can take a deep breath and relax - you have arrived. Pismo Beach residents have made an obvious effort to create and maintain this laid-back, surfer vibe and they’ve built a beautiful town around it. The fact that I was there on a beautiful sunny day didn’t hurt.
This area is historically home to the Chumash people, and “Pismu” was their name for the tar they found in the area which they used to seal their canoes and baskets. The Spanish Portolá Expedition passed by the beach in 1769 and after Mexican independence it would be included in José Ortega’s Rancho Pismo. A town was established in 1891 and the first pier was built in 1924. Pismo Beach was long called the “Clam Capital of the World” and these delicious mollusks drew people from miles around, but overharvesting has devastated the local clam population. Today the town states simply that they are “Classic California” and they definitely live up to that claim. While there is a lot more to California than surfing and beaches, that is the image that many people have of the Golden State. If that’s what you are looking for, you won’t find a better place to experience it than beautiful Pismo Beach.
