Chapman Estate - a Gay Connection Here in the Five Cities

 We stumbled upon this rather hidden gem in Shell Beach and decided to check it out. Our tour guide, a volunteer docent, explained the history and its current status as being transitioned from the city to a non-profit foundation. He also mentioned that the home had been donated to the city by the last owner, Clifford Chapman and his life partner Gene “Don” Shidler who lived there after Clifford passed until his death.

The gay connection really made the visit special for us because there is hardly any (no, none at all) LGBTQ visibility in the Pismo/Oceano/Grover/Arroyo Grande/Shell Beach/Avila Beach area. Chapman was highly respected and very dedicated to non-profit causes

Chapman wanted the home to remain a semi-public historic place for people to enjoy. The interior of the house is currently not open for tours as there are a number of issues yet pending with the transition to the nonprofit foundation and a need to comply to certain codes for it to be a public museum.  

The gardens in addition to some wonderful flowers and trees (avocadoes, figs, cypress) feature a huge display of begonias that Chapman's mother had collected and stored in the basement each autumn. The tubers are lovingly planted and nursed by a dedicated volunteer.

Some of the many cypress are about 100 years old

Clifford and Gene, Life Partners

The "Cottage"

Chapman had the Windmill built to pump sea water into a swimming pool 

The volunteers were very enthusiastic about the future of the Chapman Estate and so very eager to share the history and details of architecture and building additions made by Chapman. Well worth going slightly off the beaten tourist path.

Some additional photos from a memorial book on premises.

 

Cannot post a video because Google doesn’t play nice

https://youtu.be/aTGGc46A_1s?is=E7kZVAwAQdgPI0lY

Some Photos from Central Coast California

A Cloudy Day at the Beach is Better Than a Sunny Day at Work

 

This is America

Our True Love is PTown - Actually Cape Cod National Seashore

The hat is from Sound View, CT. The shirt is from Amazon

Beach

 Sunday September 6  

We are in Arroyo Grande area and it feels so much more comfortable than San Jose. Small town for California and just far enough from the beaches and the crowds of beach goers. After Labor Day most will be gone and the beaches will be “almost deserted”.  Weather is great. And I slept better than I have in days. 

Last evening sunset and late afternoon photo.

Judges march

Judges March

 

This is so powerful. Inspired by the March of a Thousand Robes in Poland, retired and sitting judges in the United States walked down the streets of Columbus, Ohio to stand up for the Rule of Law. #JusticeinMotion

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— Danny Miller (@danielmilleresq.bsky.social) July 8, 2026 at 5:59 PM

The Internet Has Won, I'm DeFeated.

 I wrote this back on June 21 after we attended the Gay Men's Chorus. You may find it amusing. Or you will conclude that I've lost my mental faculties.

I don't consider myself completely technologically challenged but I had a nightmare of a time trying to purchase tickets to the Gay Men's Chorus for tomorrow evening. I wasn't sure if I already had an "account" with the theater so I tried opening one. 

Had to identify the pictures with motorcycles. I clicked on a wrong square by mistake. Then had to identify all the squares with things made by humans. So that got me to the log in screen. "That email is already associated with an account" Tried logging in with that email but didn't remember the password (it's been years). "Incorrect password. Create new password." 

Tried creating a new password. "Password must be at least 13 characters, an upper case and lower case and a number and a symbol. Typed it in. Kept getting incorrect password message. There was no little eyeball to click on to see what I was doing/typing wrong. Closed the screen. 

Had to start over again. "Select the squares with images similar to the one at the top" I selected all the basketballs. Was that blurry squirrel holding a basketball or is he holding an acorn? It must be an acorn. Wrong. 

"Select the squares with images similar to the one at the top" Ah, the squirrels again. I got this. So I clicked on all the pictures of basketballs and squirrels with basketballs. 

"Choose a new password" I typed in very carefully, then realized the caps lock was on. WELL IF YOU TICKET PEOPLE HAD PUT A WAY FOR ME TO ACTUALLY SEE WHAT I WAS TYPING I WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THE CAPS LOCK!!! 

For your security, an eight digit security verification code will be sent to the email address you supplied. No email. Went back to the previous screen. Clicked on send code again. Two emails arrived with codes. Entered the newest code. 

"Welcome to your account." Meanwhile other windows are popping up asking if I want to save this username and password. Clicked them away. Not now. So I navigated to the show I wanted to buy tickets for and finally got to where I could select our seats. But the thingy went round and round and round - no seat selection screen. 

Clicked on the back button. "Click here and we will assign the best available seats." Click. Click to view price. Click to continue. Click to view cart. Where is the pay now? 

Went back to previous screen to see if I missed something. Selected the tickets again. "Continue" Now I have selected 4 tickets instead of 2. Delete 2 tickets. Continue to cart. Two tickets plus fees. OK. Continue to check out. 

Enter credit card information. Did something wrong. Credit card info disappeared. 

Entered credit card again. (I'm sure there was another security verification code but I really can't remember as I was so angry and frustrated. Continue. Order Confirmation: Customer number etc. Then this cryptic note: 

"If you selected digital tickets as your delivery method (default option) you can access your tickets within minutes after purchasing them at (website) Log in with the same email and password you use for (the theater) account, or you can request a one time access code via email. From there you can share tickets with your guests and save the tickets to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet." 

I DON'T HAVE APPLE WALLET OR GOOGLE WALLET! 

I went to the ticket website to access my tickets and viewed the tickets. They had all the info except a QR Code and this Note: "Your refreshing QR code will display at 5:30 PM on Sat, June 20, 2026."

DISPLAY WHERE? I AM NOT GOING TO TRY TO ACCESS MY ACCOUNT ON MY PHONE! I WILL BE AT DINNER AT 5:30 AND WON'T HAVE MY COMPUTER AND PRINTER. 

I printed EVERYTHING out (5 yes FIVE pages but are any of them valid tickets? NO.) By this point I had cursed, swore, screamed and yelled so loud they could have heard me across town. 

It was more than an hour trying to buy two tickets. NEVER AGAIN. 

I tried calling the Box Office to make sure I could use my receipt and print outs, but of course they were closed for the holiday Juneteenth. 

I can go on other websites, select an item, place it in the cart, choose "Pay Now", enter my credit card and I'm DONE. No pictures of motorcycles, or basketballs, or squirrels holding basketballs that look like acorns, no security verification codes, no QR codes no Apple Wallets or Google Wallets. 

This whole process was ridiculous and a waste of time. And dare I say “PRETENTIOUS".

P.S. Even my Credit Union doesn’t have this many “Security Verification Codes” … I can pay bills in minutes without these hassles. I can order groceries at Smith’s hassle free and pick up within hours. I can go to a website I’ve never used, order t-shirts and check out with my credit card, no security codes or verification “select the pictures” puzzles. UGH!

Happy Pride MONTH