Tires and trash once filled a polluted downtown SLO creek. What happened?
Most towns in the county are located along a creek or river.
Unfortunately in many cases the resource that made the town site attractive was soon treated as a dump, sewer or drain.
San Luis Creek is Exhibit A for worst treated — and now most cleaned up.
The Tribune recently documented efforts to keep pigeons and their guano out of the creek as well as other efforts to make the habitat cleaner and healthier for the steelhead fish who spawn there and the people who enjoy the scenery.
Six decades and a year ago, the creek was a dump, literally.
Mission Plaza was only a concept of an idea. Only a few years earlier, much of what became Mission Plaza was filled with tumbledown commercial buildings.
Reporter Gil Bailey and photographer John Dreyfuss went on an expedition down the creek and reported back with their findings on Dec. 28, 1963.
San Luis Obispo Creek: Trash mars streambed’s charm
San Luis Obispo Creek takes a pleasant little trip through San Luis Obispo, adding nature’s charm to man’s handiwork.
Most of the time.
The Telegram-Tribune in the spirit of its unsolicited surveys sent a reporter and photographer down the creek from Johnson Avenue to the Old Mission to see what they could see.
The creek is easily one of the most beautiful areas of the city and its beauty has been recognized by all but a few of the residents who live along the creek.
The rehabilitation of San Luis Obispo Creek is part of the Mission Plaza plan.
An architect whose offices back up to the creek hopes to landscape his area of the creek bed.
Yet a good portion of the creek has been allowed not only to grow wild but to be cluttered with junk, the debris, the stink of man.
And in spots the creek bed could b a real danger to children — children who can reach it with only a quick slide, a fun filled slide, to its bottom.
Let’s take that trip along with the reporter and photographer.
You slide down the cement sides that protect the bank from the cutting force of the winter water at the Johnson Avenue overpass and find yourself in the midst of what could be a pretty little mountain spring.
Except for the tire sitting in the middle of the river.
You quickly find that this is not only a pleasant little river, it is also a used auto parts depot.
Before long, if you wished, you could have collected seven tires, an old crank shaft, some used spark plugs, an empty gas can and a wheel.
The creek winds its way past homes, under streets and past back fences.
It is a nice walk and could be pleasant in the evening time for a family stroll if there were a path.
But you force your way through weeds that grow to shoulder height and then end up having to walk in the middle of the creek with the cold water sloshing up over the tops of your boots.
And there to the left is where someone dumped his trash.
And a little farther down the creek is where somebody left his used curtains.
Well, it’s time to quit counting the beer cans — the number is too high to warrant any further efforts.
All of the whiskey and wine bottles are empty.
That pretty green stuff growing along the banks, is that ivy or poison oak? Probably poison oak.
Off to the right is where architect John Ross is building a new office with lots of window space facing the creek.
He hopes to landscape the other side. It would be nice to be able to look up from your work at the greenery of the creek.
Ahead is the dark tunnel that goes under the main portion of town, just after the scar where city bulldozers have cleared the bottom so high water will not flood back over the city.
That dark hole of tunnel would be fascinating for children to explore. But the cement edge along the side of the creek comes to an end suddenly, and oops, that water is over the top of your boots.
The flashlight gives only a small gleam as you try to find a dry place, safe to stand on.
You could break a leg here and if a small child fell in the water …
A crew is working up ahead. They say they are putting in a water pipe but they don’t want their picture taken.
Then, in back of the Anderson Hotel, there is a brief opening through which you can see the sky.
Another tunnel and the creek comes out near the Mission.
Here too it is beautiful, except it is overgrown and the trash …
It is here that the city dreamers have hopes for a landscaped park, possibly a lagoon. Yes, it could be done and it would be nice.
It would add charm to a rather drab downtown with all of its signs of so many sizes and shapes, each tying to claim attention, until all you see is a jungle of neon.
It would be a nice place for the retired, for the young lovers, and for the children to play and listen to the water.
But now all of that is merely a dream.
Instead San Luis Obispo Creek is overgrown, a dumping place and possibly hazard for children.
Even so the walk was fun … and more than a little damp.
San Luis Obispo Creek is a little wilderness in the midst of a city and should be treasured as such.
