Pismo Beach!

As you may know, we just left Pismo Beach the other day. It has definitely been my favorite place we’ve stopped at so far. The beach was beautiful, sand was soft, pelicans were awesome, and we got the privilege to use our newly purchased body-boards. (When the name of Pismo was first mentioned I immediately thought of the Looney Tunes episode when Buggs and Daffy were trying to travel there for their clam festival :P) Onto their history...

                Pismo Beach, like almost everywhere else in America, was initially inhabited by Native Americans. These Natives were called the Chumash and they were the ones who unintentionally named the land Pismo. Their original name for the area was ‘pismu’, which was the term the Chumash used for the tar which was gathered from tar springs in the area. Over time, and after many name changes, the label ‘pismu’ evolved into Pismo Beach. The other resource that Pismo is known for is their clams. “The Pismo clam was named for the long wide beach where so many were once found. Once so abundant they were harvested with plows on the beach, giving the city the name "Clam Capitol of the World".” Today the clam numbers have decreased greatly. While we were there we didn’t spot any clams.

 “The first wharf at Pismo was built in 1882, followed by a full length pier built in 1924 that was financed and constructed by William Woodrow Ward who allowed full use of it by the public. After it suffered considerable storm damage, the pier was renovated again in 1985.” (A lot of our pictures were taken on that wharf.)

-Devin