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Here’s an interesting view of the intersection of US highway 1… and Los Osos Valley road. Circa 1972.  Check out how wide San Luis Creek is in this shot!  Parts of Dalidio’s farm are covered  on the left of the freeway… and the right hand side of the highway… where the sewer treatment plant is… well that’s basically underwater! The creek is more of a RIVER.  If you click on the photo… it will get bigger… there’s more to see when it’s bigger.

and this shot above… well that is san luis creek… you are looking southwest… towards Nipomo st. from mid block… behind the buildings on Higuera where the creekwalk is now.  Today that white building in the foreground is “the Burrito wagon” I think… you are looking at the back side of it and Nipomo st. is out front….you can see the railing on the bridge…. the Children’s Museum would be in the upper right of the shot in a photo taken today… behind those bushes and rightmost telephone pole sorta.

This is a shot of Higuera st.  taken from near the corner of Higuera and Osos.  Looking down Higuera.  The B of A on the left is now First Bank.  What happened here… is that the creek overwhelmed the tunnel under the downtown… and started spewing out from behind the Firestone Building (now Firestone Grill).  So this water then travelled west down to Osos… and splashed up against the B of A… and then made it’s way down Higuera… through the middle of town.

This shot above is Marsh st.   I am pretty sure this shot is from Nipomo st… looking west.  Directly to the right of where this shot was taken is the Foster’s Freeze.  Hazels Pet Shop would be on the left…. except they are out of business now.

A different view taken from the intersection of Higuera and Osos… looking south on Osos.  Firestone building on left… Arco in the background is now a big two story bank building on the corner of Marsh and Osos.  New Times is now in the basement of the Maino building on the left behind the Firestone Grill.  Wouldn’t want to be down there in this shot… totally flooded to the ceiling I imagine.

This shot above is Monterey st… between Johnson and Toro… looking west towards the Fremont Theatre.  Westside Auto on the right… Currently Smith Volvo is on the left here…  Notice the raft in the water!

This shot above is on Marsh st.  near where the Napa Auto Parts store is… roughly Beach st. I guess.  Looking west.  Budget motel down there on the left.  It was a few feet deep down there on mid Higuera.  You couldn’t really get down there.

pretty sure this shot is of Oceanaire… just off Madonna Rd.  Looking northwest on Oceanaire… just west of Laguna Lake… not positive about this location though.

These shots offer a rare look at a view of San Luis Obispo most folks have never seen.  The Public Works Dept has done an ENORMOUS amount of flood control work since 1972… to help alleviate situations like this.  This is part of the “your tax dollars at work” that nobody ever sees.  Dave Romero was running Public works in this era I think…  Yesterday was his last day as Mayor.   Thank you Dave… for all your years of service to SLO.

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