Angled view of Cold Spring Tavern, a single story ramshackle log cabin building with ivy growing around it.

Stagecoach Stop Turned Biker Haven: Cold Spring Tavern

March 11, 2026, Leave a Comment on Stagecoach Stop Turned Biker Haven: Cold Spring Tavern

Up a winding road, tucked into the Los Padres National Forest is one of California’s oldest places to stop for a bite to eat, Cold Spring Tavern. Long before cars and motorcycles traversed these twisting roads, stagecoaches did, with Cold Spring Tavern feeding wary passengers during the 1860s. Almost 100 years, and various owners later,…

Small, single story, boarded up adobe buildings sit just past a sign reading "Casablanca Inn"

The Remnants, Remains, and Random Snapshots of 2022

February 1, 2023, 1 Comment

Sometimes when Patrick and I go out we find ourselves pulling over when we spy a vintage sign, or a unique or abandoned building. Often these places never have enough meat to them for their very own post (and more often than not, the photos get forgotten about as a result), or they get relegated…

History of Sambo’s Restaurant

February 26, 2018, 46 Comments

Sometimes I do crazy things. Like drive two hours to go to a restaurant. In Charles Phoenix’s book, Addicted to Americana, he talks about the chain of coffee shops known as Sambo’s. Now, Sambo’s wasn’t totally unknown to me prior to reading the book, as there was one in my home town of Eugene, but…

Mission Santa Barbara

May 17, 2016, 10 Comments

UPDATE: It is important to remember that while California Missions have been hailed as places of peace, they also have deep and complicated histories, including slavery, violence, and forced religious conversion. Over the weekend Patrick and I drove up the coast and crossed another one of California’s Missions off of the list, Mission Santa Barbara,…