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 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.