‘I want to reconnect.’ A walk through post-quarantine downtown SLO on a Friday night
Exactly three months after it was silenced by the coronavirus, life is returning to downtown San Luis Obispo.
Where the past few months featured abandoned streets and empty businesses, Friday night saw hundreds of people flocking to bars and nightclubs along Higuera Street, ready to reconnect with friends and return to some semblance of normalcy after months of isolation.
Some were more cautious than others.
“I am here to expose myself and to also find as many friends as possible,” Julian Alvarado Jr., who was wearing an elaborate black crown but no mask, said as he waited in line Friday night.
“You gotta get over it, you gotta get over everything,” he added when asked if he was worried about the ongoing pandemic. “Do what you think feels right.”
The mood was jubilant.
Hugs were popular greetings as people saw friends they had not seen in person since before the pandemic. Groups gathered on sidewalks waiting to get into their preferred bars, and the sound of music spilled out the windows and echoed down the street.
Standing on the sidewalk, you could almost forget that the coronavirus pandemic is still going on, if not for the masks worn by bouncers and patrons.
Some bar patrons wear masks, others do not
Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order earlier this week, not all of the people waiting in line outside or gathering inside the bars were wearing masks. Many, predominately younger individuals, were without face coverings, both inside and outside the bars.
The new rules require face coverings indoors or when people are outdoors but social distancing is difficult, like standing in line to enter a building, riding in taxis and rideshare cars, or walking through common areas like hallways, stairways, elevators and parking garages.
Melody Hanshew of San Luis Obispo was wearing a black mask with the word “NERD” emblazoned across the front as she and a group of friends waited in line.
Hanshew said she was there to see people after the long social quarantine.
“I want to reconnect,” she said. “I’m single, I live alone. ... I need to do that. That’s why I’m out. And even though I’m nervous like other people are, I’m smart and safe, and I trust myself, so I’ll leave if I need to.”
Hanshew said she and her friends got dinner beforehand at Luna Red, where they were impressed by the safety regulations put in place. But going into Frog and Peach for a drink, Hanshew said she planned to wear her mask for the rest of the night.
“I’m not really sure how our new rule with face masks, which I approve of, will translate into bars,” she said. “I want to wear a mask, but I also want to be here, which is really hard.”
Some other concessions appear to have been made in light of coronavirus: Outside The Library, red X’s marked where people were encouraged to stand while waiting to get in. Many in line chose to ignore them as the line got longer, however.
Next door, a group of young twenty-somethings hopped from Mother’s Tavern to The Library around 10 p.m., saying they felt a bit safer in the smaller club with fewer people. A few minutes later they left The Library and ran across the street to Frog and Peach, which even early in the night was doing a steady business.
Through the windows, patrons inside the bars could be seen without masks, talking, drinking and dancing. The bars did not appear to be significantly limiting the number of patrons inside, though crowds were smaller than a typical summer Friday night.
‘It feels good to see people and interact,’ restaurant diner says
Meanwhile, people still sat on the patio of the Carrisa (formerly SLO Brew) catching a drink with friends and observing as the street transitioned from the dinner crowd to the bar scene.
Marci Beddall of Los Osos was grabbing dinner with a former volleyball player of hers (Beddall is a coach and teacher at San Luis Obispo High School) and watching the people gather downtown.
Beddall described the scene as “a pretty lively Friday night.”
“Certainly, I think people are out and enjoying their freedom, being able to enjoy a restaurant and things of that sort,” she said. “It feels great, it feels good to see people and interact.”
Beddall said she thought restaurants and the city of San Luis Obispo have done a particularly good job of implementing safety regulations to help prevent the spread of coronavirus while allowing people to start going out again.
“It feels safe,” she said, noting the large number of people she observed wearing masks. “Everyone is trying to do their best, and I think it’s good for everybody’s mental health to have their outs and socializing right now. I think it’s a good balance.”
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