Mattei's Tavern: Where the Road Met the Rail
Near Los Olivos, California
Just east of the flagpole stands one of the oldest continuously known gathering places in the valley, the tavern built by Felix Mattei. He was born in Switzerland, came to America as a young man, and worked his way west and south to the Santa Ynez Valley. When Mattei learned that the Pacific Coast Railway would build its turntable and roundhouse here, marking the southern end of the line, he bought land right beside the future station.
In the mid eighteen eighties he opened an inn he called the Central Hotel, with a dining room and a bar to catch travelers. A year later, in November of eighteen eighty-seven, the first railway engine rolled into Los Olivos wreathed in bunting, its bell clanging and its whistle screaming, and stopped almost in front of Mattei's door. His timing was perfect.
Stagecoach passengers bound for Santa Barbara spent the night here before the long climb over the mountains, and Mattei's became the crossroads of the whole valley. He later renamed his place the Hotel Los Olivos, but everyone simply called it Mattei's Tavern. Even after the railroad bypassed the town, the tavern kept going, a haunt of cowboys, ranchers, politicians, and passing celebrities, and it survives today as a restaurant.
