Bloom where you are planted.
That’s a familiar theme often used by folksy-homesy artist Mary Englebreit.
The saying certainly applies to Santa Maria’s Shirley Contreras, a well-known-about-town pillar of the Santa Maria Historical Society.
She moved here from Boston in October 1991.
“Since I didn’t know anyone here, I started volunteering at the [historical] museum right away,” she said. “I’d never done any volunteering before.”
She went on to describe her early days in town: “Would you believe that my first job was cutting obituaries from the Times, never dreaming that one day I’d be dubbed, ‘The Cemetery Queen.’”
Shirley is not only the “Cemetery Queen”—because she conducts highly informative and entertaining Halloween-time treks through the Guadalupe and Santa Maria cemeteries—she has morphed into the “Tour Queen.”
Since May of last year, she has also been giving tours of the Historic Santa Maria Inn, which Shirley also lovingly dubs “An Inn of Distinction.”
“I’ve been interested in the inn and its history ever since I moved here,” she reported to me. “John Reinacher [the Inn’s General Manager] has always been a friend. When I asked him if I could do the tours, he was amenable.”
The tours are free of charge, and no advance sign-up is necessary. You just show up at 11 a.m. on the first Saturday of the month in the inn’s lobby.
On Jan. 7, Shirley led a tour of 24 people throughout the hotel and its wonderful open spaces and pool area. She was detained in her arrival, so when she belatedly emerged through the revolving door in the lobby, her patiently waiting tour group let go with a burst of applause.
We began the walk-through on a merry, congenial note that was sustained throughout the 90 minutes we wrapped our brains around Santa Maria’s past.
In the crowd were Don and Sande Bush. Community Bank’s Noe Mahelona and daughter Makana were also there. Another twosome in the group was a couple from Wisconsin, here to visit their daughter.
Long, long-time Santa Maria resident Liz Dunn Wineman lives in the neighborhood and dropped by to learn more about the community.
“I think Shirley does a great service to the community,” Wineman pronounced. “The more you learn about the history of the place where you live, the more meaningful your daily life is.”
We started off on the north side of the lobby and segued into the “History Room,” adjacent to the lobby, with wood-paneled walls covered with framed photos and magazine stories about the inn.
Contreras regaled us with rapid-fire anecdotes and stories about the early days of the property.
We wended our way to the lobby adjacent to the dining room, where a dining room employee was heard to remark, “This is the largest tour group I’ve seen!”
Never missing a beat with her material, Shirley led us to the Tap Room, which now has a Touch Tunes juke box. After that, we walked past a series of sun-flooded meeting rooms. We went up in the elevator and visited rooms once inhabited by movie stars. We walked through the beautifully landscaped grounds, all the time absorbing tidbits of local history from our tour guide.
A great way to start the New Year.
If you want to hobnob with Helen, you may contact her at helenthom232@yahoo.com.
This article appears in Jan 12-19, 2012.
