Reader describes SLO’s new buildings as ‘peniteniary modern.’ Do you agree? | Opinion
Why is SLO so ugly?
Has anyone else noticed the blight spreading through this historic mission town? Popping up like a contagious disease everywhere you look, this blight is destroying the character of this once beautiful and historic coastal town.
Being labeled “the happiest city in America” might have been the reason for the massive influx of new residents, contributing to our housing boom. But why the ugliness? Does the demand for more and more homes, office buildings, hotels, etc. necessitate total lack of respect for the historic nature of our town?
Shipping-crate architecture and penitentiary modern can be found wherever new construction is going on! Why? I highly doubt that our new residents are demanding this ugly “architecture.”
C. Hooper
San Luis Obispo
Remembering Robert Redford
In the fall of 2007, I had the honor of working with Robert Redford on a movie called “Lions for Lambs.” I went to the home studio of composer Mark Isham, for whom I had been conducting, to go through the scores for the recording sessions that were coming up. Mark mentioned that “Bob” would be joining us shortly. In a little while, the door to the studio opened and “Bob” Redford walked in.
It was a bit overwhelming meeting this incredible movie icon and taking it all in as he and Mark Isham went through a series of musical cues that seemed the most poignant to the picture, hoping to get the exact right marriage of story and soundtrack. A soulful collaboration between two magnificent storytellers.
Robert Redford was a man of great depth and social obligation. If you don’t know “Lions for Lambs,” I highly recommend you see and hear it. It is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago.
Michael Nowak Los Osos
Where are the real workers?
Commuting between San Luis Obispo and San Jose, it is striking just how decimated the farms appear to be. That vacuum ironically makes something else along the route even more glaring. It is the series of 12-foot-high cutouts of farmland workers placed along the highway years ago by farm owners to honor those workers. Current conditions nationally now dictate an update to those figures. I propose three possible alterations:
1. Have the figures all swathed in chains; 2. Have some managing to retain their welcome and their freedom by wearing MAGA hats; 3. Have a few left standing free and tall, with their middle fingers raised high in the air. To those few proud paisanos, vaya con Dios!”
Gene Strohl
San Luis Obispo
Editor’s note: This letter has been updated.
Battling in ‘my own small way’
I met a bold, blunt and truthful young man this week. Clear and to the point, his words laid out the dread and sorrow crushing a large group of fellow Americans.
Deep thoughts that followed went to my father’s honorable but bitter service during WW II and original American’s suffering persistence as they battled for liberty from British authoritarianism.
I became convinced I must battle in my own small way.
Important to this story: This young man was brown-skinned, eloquent and 17 years old. He chose to forego college to devote himself to helping his people. I’m white-skinned and nearly 80. He presented me a vital new use for remaining energy.
Examples of the blood on his hands from helping others lucidly explained fear in the Hispanic community. Most don’t go out except to work. No outdoor recreation for kids. They stay behind closed doors and windows out of fear. Breadwinners disappear, leaving wives and children, often lawful permanent residents and citizens, without support.
White Americans don’t get it. It’s time for this madness to cease. Why must we round up people who do the work most Americans won’t to make available an opportunity for a better life? Each of us needs to do what we can to turn this around and truly make America great again.
Mike Broadhurst
Cambria
This story was originally published September 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM.