Lompoc's Arts and Flowers

Taste the sea breeze, the good food,and the rare flowers...

Lompoc is “The City of Arts and Flowers.” The amazing collection of mural art– more than 60 murals decorate public spaces throughout town–has brought visitors from all around the world. This focus on art and flowers is seen in the following very well-established businesses, starting with Sissy’s Uptown Cafe, which fits the description by virtue of their artistic decor–and the fine art of great cooking!

Sissy’s Uptown Cafe
www.sissysuptowncafe.com
  Gourmets and wine lovers from all over Santa Barbara County know they can count on Sissy’s for excellent food and wine and deliciously decadent desserts.  For wine tasting, visit Sissy’s Wine Bar, located behind the restaurant. You’ll find one of the largest selections of wines on the Central Coast!
  The bright decor and friendly service create a cheerful, relaxing mood for diners, and the wine list has an extensive selection of local labels. Sissy’s serves a wide assortment of local wines and beers. You can taste many of the outstanding wines produced in the “Lompoc Wine Ghetto,” a wine tasting area located in a nearby industrial park.  Enjoy these great local wines by the glass–starting at just $6.00!
  Lunch items include some delicious choices, from a bacon and spinach quiche that melts in your mouth to a hearty portabello mushroom sandwich. The lunch menu varies daily, and sandwiches are served with fresh soup or salad, not fries or chips.
  Sissy’s Chefs, Jon Springer and Janan Byork,   prepare classic dinner entrees  like Certified Angus filet mignon, fresh fish, Colorado lamb chops, and pastas. You can also enjoy a gourmet hamburgers or one of the savory sandwiches mentioned above, along with a fresh salad and of course their famous house made desserts, coconut cream pie, a dreamy berry trifle, and more.
Don’t miss the gift and wine shop in the back of the restaurant. Diners receive a  10% discount on gift and wine purchases. 
  After dessert at Sissy’s, you’ll want to take a walk, so head south for one block, turn left and one block west you’ll find the Cypress Gallery.

Cypress Gallery
www.lompocvalleyartassociation.com 
  Lompoc Valley Art Association’s Cypress Gallery showcases the art of over 30 local artists inside a cleverly painted “trompe l’oeil” building. Art lovers will find a variety of fine art here, including watercolors, oils, acrylics, pastels, mixed media, photography, ceramics, jewelry, souvenirs, and great gifts. Prices are very reasonable and one of the artists is always available to assist you and answer questions.
  Cypress Gallery has a different “Featured Artist” show in the South room each month; artwork from prominent local artists such as Vicki Andersen and Linda Gooch, who have painted murals for the Mural Society, can be seen.   
  The first Lompoc Valley Artist Studio Tour, organized by the Lompoc Valley Art Assn., will be held on Saturday, October 3, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The studios of ten local artists, including Linda Gooch, Vicki & Gil Andersen, Elizabeth Hack, Tonya Schultz & Debby Fuller,  will be open with guest artists on site as an added attraction. This event is a fundraiser for the associations Scholarship Fund! Call (805) 737-1129 for info & tickets.
  The grand finale will be the Opening Reception for the LVAA’s Annual Fall Show at the Cypress Gallery, from 4–7 p.m. There will be an awards presentation at 6 p.m.
That same afternoon, just across the street in the Centeno Gallery, the Lompoc Museum will be having the Opening Reception for their Fall show: “BASKETMAKERS: Traditional to Modern.”

Lompoc Museum
www.lompocmuseum.org
  The Lompoc Museum, located at the corner of Cypress and H Streets in historic downtown Lompoc, features exhibits on the archaeology and history of the Lompoc Valley. Housed within a historic Carnegie Library building built in 1910, its permanent exhibits include an extensive collection of Chumash Indian artifacts and Native California baskets. Other exhibits include the 1923 naval disaster known as the “Honda Tragedy” just off the coast, local fauna, and a seven million year old dolphin fossil recovered from diatomite deposits just south of Lompoc.
  Their summer exhibit, “A Sweet Pea Centennial” commemorates one hundred years of growing sweet peas commercially in Lompoc. The city’s official flower since 1959, sweet peas were first planted in 1908, by local farmer, at the request of a visiting seedmen who knew Lompoc’s climate was ideal for growing the popular British flower. The sweet peas he planted were so successful that W. Atlee Burpee, a well-known flower and vegetable seed grower from Philadelphia, purchased fifty acres of land and leased another 150 acres in the Lompoc Valley to grow sweet peas. In 1909, a total of 120 acres were planted in Sweet Peas – their first commercial planting in Lompoc–100 years ago! Soon after Burpee, came Zvolanek (1910), Bodger (1920), and Denholm (1939) - all family-owned flower seed companies - to take advantage of Lompoc’s ideal climate. The Sweet Pea exhibit includes over a hundred historic documents, photographs, and memorabilia of the flower seed industry collected over the last century. Along with these historic elements are works of “Sweet Pea-themed” art by ten local artists.
  “A Sweet Pea Centennial” runs through Labor Day Weekend. The Museum will be closed on July 4, but will have extended Friday hours from 1 – 7 p.m. from July 10 through August 28. Their fall show, “Basketmakers: Traditional to Modern” opens Saturday, October 3. Call (805) 736-3888 or visit our website for more information.
After you leave the Museum, hop in your car to see some the exotic and lovely flowers found only at Chaotic Exotics Orchid Ranch!

Chaotic Exotics
www.chaoticexotics.biz
  Tucked away on Campbell Road off Highway 246 is Rancho Chaotica, home of Chaotic Exotics, where you’ll find  some of the most exotic flowers in the world. The main greenhouse contains 3,000 square feet of exotic flora, with over a thousand varieties of orchids, dozens of different bromeliads and an assortment of ferns.
An orchid can last forever, and Chaotic Exotics ships plants anywhere, even in bloom, any time of the year, so this is an ideal gift for any occasion, and will always be a big hit.
  Many of their orchids are unique hybrids available exclusively through Chaotic Exotics. There are flowers that smell like chocolate, vanilla, anise, jasmine, cinnamon and coconut.
  Rancho Chaotica is open to the public Fridays and Saturdays, from 10 am to 4 pm, or by appointment. Owners Jim Kotsybar and John Seykoski are happy to conduct tours–just call 805-736-0040.
  A number of Hollywood stars and other VIPs are clients. Kotsybar says “They love the personal attention they get. They can shop at leisure and enjoy our quiet, nine-acre parkland.”