Visiting San Luis Obispo

Here’s a few intro photos of downtown, and then scroll down a bit and I have an old story for you.

When Laura and I saw this intersection (photo below), we immediately recognized the location. We were there over 20 years ago, and got caught in a crime scene.

Laura and I were living in Ventura, down the coast from San Luis Obispo, south of Santa Barbara. We had a friend, a colleague of mine named Phil, who lived near San Luis Obispo, in Los Osos. We drove into San Luis Obispo with Phil, with plans to go to a Japanese restaurant for lunch.

Phil had recently returned from working in Japan for a couple of years and very much missed the country. Laura was in high school, taking Japanese with the intention of living in Japan after she went to college (which she successfully did for five years, as many of you know). So they had that interest in common and we talked happily about Japan. We parked in the parking lot you can see right there on the corner.

As we were getting out of the car and starting to walk to the Japanese restaurant, there was suddenly a big commotion. A man was chasing another man, who was carrying a guitar case. The man with the guitar fell to the ground, and his pursuer stood over him, shouting. The moment the guitar man started to get up, his pursuer kicked him repeatedly and shouted at him to stay down.

We stopped, concerned and confused. It was unclear who was the bad guy in the scenario. I initially assumed it was the pursuer, but oddly he would cease his shouting and kicking as long as the guitar man lay still on the pavement. The instant the guitar man would attempt to get up, the pursuer would kick and scream at him until the guitar man lay still again. Guitar man’s pursuer would not even allow him to lift his head from the pavement.

A small crowd formed a wide, wary circle around them, watching, unsure of what was happening and unsure whether or how to intervene. A whispered rumor speculated that the guitar man had been caught shoplifting by the shop owner.

This was shortly before cell phones were common and we did not yet own one ourselves. But someone must have called the authorities, because soon we could hear the sirens. Inexplicably, emergency services stopped half a block away. We looked around for the police, but no one approached our little group. The pursuer still stood vigilant and commanding over the sprawled guitar man. We waited.

Someone broke away to fetch the authorities. Hello, we’re over here! Still no one came for what seemed like a long time, but it was probably only a minute or two. The small crowd stood patiently, watching the pursuer watch his downed man. We were still unclear what was going on but somehow felt like our presence was helpful.

Then a new, highly charged rumor quietly circulated. The guitar man had just stabbed someone less than a block away, and the pursuer had witnessed it and chased him down. This new and much more shocking rumor turned out to be the truth. A man had been stabbed.

We were not detained for questioning because we did not see the stabbing. But the whole area was roped off, and the cars were not allowed to leave the parking lot. We ended up spending all afternoon wandering around downtown San Luis Obispo, waiting for our car to be released.

Shortly after leaving the parking lot on foot, we saw the man who was stabbed from a distance, and I had a fleeting thought that it was the first time I had ever seen a dead person. We had not been told that he had died, and the emergency crew appeared to still be working to save his life, but somehow I just knew immediately that he was no longer alive.

Twenty years later my friend and colleague, who was with Laura and I that day, has also now passed away, of cancer in 2020. Both of my two primary life coaching mentors have died of cancer; Elaine in 2016 and Phil in 2020. I learned a lot from them both and still think of them sometimes.

It was a somber memory on this gray day. So much has happened in our lives since Laura and I lived in that area together 20 years ago. But Laura and I soon shook off the memories and wandered on, enjoying what has been for decades a really cool little college downtown.

I was cold and bought this great little brimmed warm hat, complete with a pom-pom on the back. I could feel it bouncing cheerfully like a ponytail when I walked.

We bought Turkish delight for John and Alex at this shop.

I didn’t realize these chandeliers were for sale until I was back home and saw a price tag as I was cropping the picture. Darn, I could have spent eleven thousand for a chandelier for our remodel project! (Ha-ha).