The original commercial customer for Hidden Valley Ranch dressing — Steve Henson lived nearby at Hidden Valley Ranch, brought his dressing to the tavern, and the place became famous as the first to serve it
On screen
Featured on Cooking Channel's Man v. Food (Santa Barbara episode, 2019)
Used as a backdrop in food-TV and travel features for its old-West atmosphere
Famous visitors
Susan B. Anthony arrived here by stagecoach in 1894
Roy Rogers was a known visitor
Steve McQueen was a regular
Haunted
Reportedly haunted — folklore around former owner "Doctor Lawrence" (~1880, with a murder conviction in his history)
Reports of footsteps on uneven floors, cold spots in back rooms, "old-time" sounds after dark
The mood is heightened by gas-lantern lighting (the place didn't get electricity until 1954)
Trivia
The Ojai Jail was relocated here in 1959 — it's on the property as one of several historic buildings
Was a gambling joint during Prohibition
Got electricity in 1954 — still uses gas lanterns for ambiance
The brass rail in the Front Room bar is made from 8 ft of Santa Barbara trolley track (traded in 1957 by Audrey Ovington after her Chevy was wrecked)
Paddleton (Netflix, 2019) starring Ray Romano + Mark Duplass — filmed at the old Valley Drive-In
Mission La Purísima — filming location for the 2026 Best Picture winner (convent + chapel + colonnade scenes), plus multiple Westerns over the decades (see next stop)
Vandenberg history
Started as Camp Cooke
Became Vandenberg Air Force Base
Now Vandenberg Space Force Base — handles polar-orbit launches that can't be done from Florida
Largest physical plant of any of the 21 California missions
The only mission to be completely rebuilt from ruin (1934-1942, by the CCC)
Movie locations
2026 Best Picture winner — convent scenes filmed in the chapel, colonnade, and surrounding areas; neighboring hills used for the hilltop shot looking down
Original 1957 Zorro TV series filmed scenes here
Used for multiple Westerns over the decades — California State Parks has an established filming-permit process
Trivia
Original 1787 buildings destroyed by 1812 earthquake
The Ten Commandments (1923) — Cecil B. DeMille built a massive faux-Egypt set on the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes near Pismo. Parts of the set are still buried in the dunes.
The Sheik (1921) + The Son of the Sheik (1926) — Rudolph Valentino, desert scenes shot in the dunes
The Whole Ten Yards (2004) — Oceano Dunes
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) — Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes
Pop culture name-drops
I Love Lucy, Dragnet 1966, The Monkees, The Big Lebowski, Clueless — Pismo Beach has been name-checked in all of them
Trivia
The city is named after the Pismo clam — once so abundant along the beach that locals dug them by the wagonload
Cecil B. DeMille's buried 1923 Egypt set in the dunes is still being archeologically excavated