Santa Maria is different from the rest of the Central Coast, in good and bad ways. This is a peculiarly flat area, although there are hills around the edges, and there aren't as many trees as in other communities, so it's very open to the sun. The climate is ideal but the sky is white with agricultural dust and sand, and most days have windy patches. The streets are very wide, as they tend to be in farming towns, and clean, the residential neighborhoods quiet, but everything is so stretched out that walking isn't much of an option. Violent crime is surprisingly common for this low-crime area (so that on the nightly news, if there's a shooting, it's likely to be in Santa Maria). Low income levels and high home prices are features of the mediocre local economy. There's an amazing, long, empty beach just out of town, a good community college, high-quality semiprofessional theater productions, some pretty good ethnic food, movie theaters and the largest shopping centers in the region, but not much else to do. There isn't much of a center to the town, a gathering place, it's all kind of separate and nowhere.
Pat |
San Luis Obispo, CA |
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