Los Alamos, California
Were it not for Alex, who spotted the Skyview Los Alamos boutique motel on a previous road trip to Southern California, I may have never found about this town’s existence. I certainly had never heard of a Los Alamos in California, knowing only of its counterpart in New Mexico, which is famous for being the birthplace of nuclear weapons. ? At any rate, if you ever do make the trip down the 101, about halfway between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara is a very cute little town well worth a stop or even an overnight stay. The downtown strip only goes for a few blocks, but it has recently become populated by former Los Angelinos who brought their stylish millenial ways to this smaller, quiet town and made it into a suddenly hip destination with the nickname “Little LA.” We stayed at the Skyview for two nights and had a lovely time exploring the town. Here are a few highlights below:
Golden hour from the Skyview’s deck.
We popped into town for dinner the first night at Pico, which is situated in the old General Store and still bears the historic signage.
The next morning, after each doing some work, we borrowed two matching Linus bikes and Thousand helmets (the same bikes and helmets that we have at home in SF) and rolled on in to town. We easily could have just walked over, but this was more fun.
In the garden of Babi’s Beer Emporium was Dim Sama, a spinoff of the Asian restaurant Sama Sama in Santa Barbara. We weren’t sure if finding dim sum in tiny Los Alamos would be good or terrible, but it turned out to be great. Paired with beer from the beer emporium and wine from Casa Dumetz, which has its tasting room inside.
Lots of old buildings still standing from its stagecoach stop days.
Cute shops aplenty.
We had just gotten a bottle of Lo-Fi wine in our 20th Street (Flour & Water) wine club in San Francisco, so when we found out it was actually located in Los Alamos, of course we had to pay them a visit. Lots of natural wines.
They had a very cute shop dog too.
Art and antiques.
And we really enjoyed meeting the owner of this very cute shop, Campover. We ran into her a couple days later and she still remembered us. So kind!
Back at the Skyview for a little poolside break. Alex is sporting the chambray robe they provided.
The centerpiece of our visit was a reservation to Bell’s, which has a Michelin star.
Such a lovely meal!
Back to enjoying nice skyviews as promised.
After going down to Ojai for a night, we swung back through Los Alamos for one more stop: a visit to Bodega, which had been closed in the previous two days while we were there. It’s a little shop in the front, with lots of space all around it for hanging out and enjoying a drink!
So, so nice.
We had such a wonderful time in Los Alamos. Here’s a recap of the spots that we visited! Let me know if you make a little trip to the town too.
Visit Los Alamos, California
Stay: Skyview
Eat & Drink:
Pico
Dim Sama
Bell’s
Bob’s Well Bread Bakery
Lo-Fi Wines
Shop:
Sister’s Gift and Home
Campover
Bodega
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures, even in quarantine. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.