The Beginning — Los Osos Community Organization
“We’re LOCO!”

In 1989 a small group of people serving on the Chamber of Commerce’s “Bear Committee” grew impassioned about creating public projects focused on local history.  Their first two projects were the murals La Cañada de Los Osos (the bear mural) and Chumash Bear Dance (the Indian mural).

In 1992 the group formed the Los Osos Community Organization (“We’re LOCO”) and established a non-corporation that then produced Portola’s Sacred Expedition Community Mural (the Spanish mural).

LOCO members included: LOCO: Lisa Smith, Blythe Smith, Scott Smith, Juliet Meece, Bruce Smith, Yoshiko Yamamoto, John Burnham, Bill Morem, Steve Auslander, Don Avery, Jeff Loring, Ann Calhoun.

Chamber Directors and contacts: Char Gregory, Susan Maharry, Sylvia Smith

Muralist: Janice Sharman-Hand

For two decades LOCO created murals, ran fun runs, organized holiday parades, re-furbished the Los Osos Schoolhouse Float built for the 1969 Los Osos Bicentennial Float, and obtained and hung a historic bell in the original schoolhouse (which was recently replaced by Bob Crizer and Celebrate Los Osos). Funding for the organization came from local businesses and individuals who often paid generously for the opportunity to get dirty and sweaty.

Photos by Gene Kalland

Photos 1-4 Bear Mural    Photos 5-8 Indian Mural

Photos 9-12 Spanish Mural

Now the proud LOCO tradition of improving public spaces has been passed on to Celebrate Los Osos.