In the most superior part of California’s coastline, in the awesome county of Santa Barbara, lives the guardian of the virtues of the city of Lompoc: a man loyal to his hometown and happy living in the city of arts and flowers. John McReynolds is a writer (you’ve read his work in the Sun), author, and believer that Lompoc is where it’s at.
“I was just tired of hearing how bad Lompoc is,” McReynolds said.
He was so tired, in fact, he decided to write a book about what Lompoc is, what it isn’t, and what it used to be. Having lived in the Lompoc Valley since 1977, McReynolds has heard many comments about his hometown. Remarks range from complimentary to occasionally rude, like one his dental hygienist received. She told McReynolds that a client from another part of the county asked her where she lived. The woman said, “Lompoc,” to which the client replied, “I’m sorry.”
That story was a final straw for McReynolds, who grew determined to create his book, Lompoc: Padres to Pinot, as a rebuttal to all of those “I’m sorry” quips Lompocans have heard. The concept is to give tourists, visitors, and locals an account of the city as he sees it: a place full of promise, diversity, and some really good wine.
“You hear these comments all the time, even from locals who start to believe it,” McReynolds said. “If you’ve never been anywhere else, you think, ‘Oh, Lompoc,’ but I’ve had the chance to travel, and you know what? Lompoc’s not bad.”
His book is comprised of a series of vignettes on all that’s significant to Lompoc from the various cultures that converged there, to the industries and incidents that grew and shaped the town.
McReynolds highlights some unusual facts that even the most longtime residents may not know. Take, for instance, the tidbit that John F. Kennedy was the only president to visit the city. JFK, who was stumping for the Democratic nomination, came at the invitation of Domenico Signorelli, the Lompoc Democratic Club president at the time.
McReynolds also outlines some famous events, such as the Temperance Battles during the days when Lompoc was a temperance colony. One event occurred on a Saturday night in 1883 when a crowd of 200 people tied a rope around a new tavern on South H Street and tugged the structure off its foundation and dragged it half a block. That undertaking is one of two captured in a temperance mural by Dan Sawatzky.
One of the book’s vignette’s features Gin Chow, famous for predicting the weather. Though he was known for his accuracy, his claim to fame came in 1932 when he contradicted the experts and predicted a wet winter. Lo and behold, the area received an abnormal rainfall. Chow went on to write the Gin Chow Almanac.
McReynolds also takes a look at the Lompoc of today with its “wine ghetto,” its flower seed operations, and its murals. The book features maps and suggestions on places to visit and sights to see so the reader will never have to ask, “What is there to do in Lompoc?”
Longtime Lompoc resident Bess Christensen said she doesn’t know of any other popular history book about Lompoc currently on bookshelves.
“I’m just so delighted he did this,” she said. “I think it’s a wonderful book and much needed. It’s a quirky history, but anyone who is interested in the history of Lompoc will enjoy it.”
McReynolds enjoyed his research. He admits he was surprised to learn about how (more than two-thirds of) miners at Celite in the 1930s had lung abnormalities.
“I vaguely remembered that, but I went back to microfilm and there it was,” McReynolds said.
He also learned a lot about the early Chumash tribes in the area, such as the number of villages and their way of life.
“It was quite an adventure in terms of learning,” McReynolds said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone single-handedly pulled a dollhouse off its foundations. Contact her at scone@ santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 7-14, 2009.
