Brunch spots and selfie walls: Is Grover Beach actually close to being ‘young and hip?’
Remember a few years back when Grover Beach officials said they wanted the city to be more “young and hip” in the future?
Seems it wasn’t just a pipe dream.
Since 2017, what was once a bedroom community sandwiched between Pismo Beach and Arroyo Grande, has undergone something of a renaissance, with city officials actively working to transform Grover Beach into something more than a mere waypoint between more popular destinations.
“I really believe that the next several years will be transformational in Grover Beach,” City Manager Matt Bronson told The Tribune. “We’ve set the foundation for great things that are on the horizon that are happening now and that will happen in the years to come. It’s an exciting time to observe and take part in that transformation.”
On a recent walk through the city, Bronson and Mayor Jeff Lee pointed out some of the big changes taking place in the town — which just celebrated its 60th anniversary of incorporation in 2019.
From hot food spots and a burgeoning cannabis industry to the brand-new public art installations peppering walls throughout the city, Grover Beach is slowly transforming into something much more akin to its Instagram-friendly California counterparts.
Pair that with continuing work on updating the city’s once-crumbling infrastructure, plus other construction and important developments, and Grover Beach seems ready to emerge anew in the next decade.
“With some of the initiatives we’ve done — between roads and cannabis and economic development and investments in our water and sewer master plans — we have a lot of foundational work happening in Grover Beach,” Lee said. “There’s so much great happening here, so we are waiting for that tipping point. For other people to go, ‘Oh — it’s happening!’ “
What do the numbers say?
The city hasn’t grown much in terms of population over the past decade.
In the last census in 2010, Grover Beach’s population was recorded at 13,173 people. Estimates in 2019 placed the population at about 13,524 — a 2.7% increase.
That’s slower growth than both Arroyo Grande (3.8%) and Pismo Beach (5.2%) as well as the larger cities of Atascadero (4.9%), San Luis Obispo (5%) and Paso Robles (8%).
Only Morro Bay’s population growth was slower in the past decade, with growth of about 1.4%.
The city’s population also got slightly older: between 2010 and 2018, the median age in Grover Beach increased from 35 to 36, and the percentage of the city over the age of 65 increased from 11.5% to 14.5%.
So in terms of literal age of its population, Grover Beach hasn’t quite yet capitalized on the “young” part of “young and hip” — though some indicators show that population is growing as well.
The percentage of people within the 25-to-34 age group — the largest demographic — did increase slightly from 15.3% of the city to 16.2% in 2018, according to the data.
First stop: food
Though the actual population of the city hasn’t changed much in recent years, its surface certainly has.
Much of the revitalization has been focused at the city’s western end, next to the entrance to the Oceano Dunes.
Here, restaurants have begun to pop up in what were once underutilized shopping centers. Palm trees line the road, a new light-up cross walk encourages pedestrians to walk in what has traditionally been a car-dominated area, and the nearby Amtrak station is in the process of its own facelift.
“Obviously we’ve got some great opportunities for food and drink,” Lee said while sitting inside Red Bee Coffee at the corner of Grand Avenue and 3rd Street. The popular coffee shop — rated 4.5 stars on Yelp — opened in 2017.
Lee said businesses like Red Bee, plus nearby Ribline and the brunch darling Spoon Trade have helped “to activate this end of town.”
Spoon Trade co-owner Jacob Town, who opened the business with wife Brooke Town and partner Patrick Bergseid in 2016, told The Tribune he felt the restaurant’s popularity was largely due to it filling a previously unrecognized niche in the area.
“I think we’re doing something that’s never been done in Grover Beach,” he said. “I think that’s the best part.”
Beside owning one of the city’s premier business, the Towns also live in Grover Beach and are some of the business community’s most ardent advocates. They act as psuedo ambassadors between the city and business leaders, Bronson said, and have lent a hand to other wannabe small business owners in the area.
“It just feels good to be a part of the growing community and to also say that maybe we are there helping to roll the snowballs down the hill,” Jacob Town said of his involvement in Grover Beach.
And the Towns haven’t stopped with just one restaurant — close to three years after opening their first establishment, they opened a new bakery across the street, the aptly named Grover Beach Sourdough, which sells their house sourdough bread and sandwiches.
Lee said the energy businesses like the Towns’ brings has spread to the rest of the city.
“It’s starting to work its way up into the rest of the community as well,” Lee said, noting other popular Grand Avenue businesses farther from that western hub like Jalapeño’s Mexican Restaurant, Julia’s Juice Bar and DarWish Cuisine (the only authentic Persian restaurant between Los Angeles and San Jose).
Though foodie culture has so far played a big role in Grover Beach’s new image, Lee was careful to note that that’s not all he thinks the city should rely on.
“Hopefully, we don’t get known just for food,” he said with a laugh.
Let’s talk about roads
For years one of the biggest roadblocks to Grover Beach’s image problem was the roads themselves.
The city was notorious for its potholed streets, making a drive through Grover Beach feel akin to carnival-style roller coaster with its bumps and swerves.
But in 2014, the city passed Measure K-14 which promised to invest $48 million into repairing the crumbling pavement.
Since then, the City Council has pursued an aggressive schedule toward those improvements.
Lee said in the five years since the measure passed, the city has repaired almost 45 percent of its roads — markedly ahead of the initial 20-year proposed schedule.
At the same time, the city has been refreshing (or in some cases adding) sidewalks along those renovated streets, striping bike lanes and rebuilding its water and sewer lines. The water and sewer work is largely funded by federal grants, Bronson said.
“We really are rebuilding the city from the ground up,” Bronson said. “We are hustling to get these projects done and completed to provide the type of modern infrastructure that our community expects of our city.”
Stop and take a selfie
Aside from the necessary infrastructure improvements, both Lee and Bronson noted that Grover Beach is undergoing a more aesthetic revival as well.
“We’re building the city from the ground up, but we’re also trying to provide opportunities for people to enjoy the city that is already here,” Lee said.
Enter, public art — or for the millennials: selfie walls.
So far the city has two large murals decorating buildings — one at 11th and Grand Avenue and another at the First Class Seconds thrift store on 6th Street — as well as a massive “#GB60” sign in front of the train station, all meant to give the Instagram-crowd a place for the picture-perfect moment.
“There’s these great artists that have come together to work with the owners and say, ‘hey, what would you like to see on this wall here?’” Lee said. “It’s going to be an opportunity to bring people to that side of town, take a selfie and then maybe walk into the store as well.”
The city also has created a utility box art program, similar to San Luis Obispo’s, that will bring together artists to decorate utility boxes at select locations along Grand Avenue.
“That’s very exciting, to see public art flourishing,” Bronson said. “I think it represents where Grover Beach is now and where it’s going. Grover Beach has long had a focus on improving the infrastructure, on improving the hardscape of the community. And that still continues to this day.”
“We have more to do,” he added, “and we are also shifting to looking at quality of life and livability initiatives.”
A ‘young and hip’ future
During a half-hour interview, Lee and Bronson noted a myriad of other factors in the city’s rebirth, such as park improvements; new housing; an increase in manufacturing businesses; and of course the cannabis industry, which was still in the earliest phases back in 2017 when officials first brought forth the idea of a “young and hip” city.
“The industry has been carried out in a very safe and responsible manner that is generating jobs and economic activity and tax revenue for our community,” Bronson said, noting that in the past fiscal year, the city generated almost $1 million in cannabis tax revenue.
He said this year, Grover Beach is on track to generate $1.5 million in cannabis tax revenue.
And the industry is still growing.
The city’s largest cannabis manufacturer, The Hive Laboratory, applied for and was approved to expand its business to a bigger 16,000-square-foot building in late October 2019.
Bronson said The Hive is now one of the top-10 largest cannabis manufacturers in the state of California.
“I’m really pleased with how we have implemented this industry in a responsible way,” he said. “And allowing the industry to establish itself in Grover Beach.”
Lee said throughout all the changes, the city is “working to find the best Grover Beach.”
Moving forward, Lee said he envisions the city continuing its transformation, though he noted that that also requires more community investment.
“Don’t wait for those things,” he said. “Be an investor in Grover Beach: Form a business, form a new initiative, buy a house here, start a family here. Be on the ground floor, because five years from now, 10 years from now, it’s going to be an amazingly community-friendly community.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2020 at 4:45 AM.
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