Let's talk about old monster movies for a hot second. What's that? You thought this blog was just about surfing!? Well, sit tight. I've got that covered, too! Our recent vacation in Cayucos reminded me that 1959's The Monster of Piedras Blancas was filmed in part in the sleepy little town of Cayucos (while it was arguably much littler and more sleepy!).
While watching the film, even just the first 20 minutes or so, one can recognize a few locations in Cayucos that are still there today.
For starters, there's the shot from the beach (with the pier behind you) looking out toward Morro Rock where the locals have gathered around a beached boat and a recently deceased body!
Then there's the shot of Kochek's grocery store which was an actual store at the time of filming and which today is Remember When Antiques! The building to its left doesn't have signage in the film, but is today the home of the Cayucos Art Collective. The empty space to the left of that building is now a dentist office and above a place you can rent if you're vacationing in Cayucos (like we did).
I thought The Wings Cafe where the lighthouse keeper's daughter Lucy works was now the currently defunct Cayucos Saloon, but while I was out taking pictures, the building didn't really match up with the frame I captured from the film. Thankfully, one of the women working at Remember When came out with me and together we determined that the building that currently houses the Cayucos Surf Company was once The Wings Cafe! It's impressive how many architectural pieces, down to the pipe at the left edge of that building, are still there!
Interestingly enough, the lighthouse at Piedras Blancas wasn't used in filming. You can see the white rocks near the lighthouse in the image below. The lighthouse at Point Conception near Lompoc, CA was used as the Piedras Blancas lighthouse. Why that was done isn't entirely clear, but the film can easily be found on YouTube or you can plonk down a few bucks for the DVD or Blu-Ray.
