Not long ago, it was a dusty backwater with the nickname “Los Almost”: a former stagecoach stop with a single main street on the fringe of the Santa Ynez Valley. Though just an hour northwest of Santa Barbara, it felt a good deal more remote. Flash forward to 2015 and once-sleepy Los Alamos (pop. 1,954) now sees a steady stream of wine-country visitors and day-trippers, many of whom are so taken with its languorous, wine-stoned cowboy vibe that they end up spending the night.
Some stay even longer. The town’s re-invention is due largely to a tight-knit community of creatives, many of them Los Angeles refugees, who came to Los Alamos in search of a second act. There’s Bob Oswaks, who ran marketing for Sony Pictures Television and now mans the ovens at Bob’s Well Bread, his artisanal bakery in a renovated filling station. There’s Jamie Gluck, a former fashion advertising exec who spends his days in a ten-gallon hat at the helm of Bell Street Farm, a rustic-chic lunch spot with a phenomenal crispy *porchetta.*Across the street, journalist turned winemaker Sonja Magdevski runs Casa Dumetz Wines and the nearby Babi’s Beer Emporium. And just down the block, in the 1880 Union Hotel, the sepia-toned, taxidermy-bedecked Wine Saloon is overseen by actor Kurt Russell, whose own GoGi pinot noir is served at the bar.
How on earth did this happen? The first glimmers came in 2004, when Clark Staub—a 20-year music-biz veteran and erstwhile Capitol Records VP—opened Full of Life Flatbread on the west end of Bell Street. With its obsessively sourced local ingredients and massive 900-degree wood-fired oven (blessed on its first lighting by local Chumash elders), the restaurant was soon luring chefs and epicureans from all over the state—and putting Los Alamos on the map as a tiny but legitimate food destination.
A decade on, Los Alamos is again being transformed by an influx of young proprietors and entrepreneurs eager to put their creative stamp on a town they see as having Marfa-like potential. Zac Wasserman, the 27-year-old winemaker behind Frequency Wines, is part of the recent surge. “Los Alamos is a blank canvas—you feel like you’ll be able to impact its future and grow with it,” says Wasserman, who first considered nearby Los Olivos but found the town too expensive and oversaturated. Opposite his tasting room, the once-scruffy Alamo Motel (a 1950s relic) has been reinvented by motelier group Shelter Social Club. Now, with a stylish spot to stay the night, Los Alamos is seeing its cool-kid cachet grow. Which raises the question: How long can it hold on to its pioneer-town charm?
For now, despite the drumbeat of new development, Los Alamos retains its egalitarian mix of silver-fox boomers, plaid-shirted millennials, and denim-clad ranch hands. (This is a place where a cherry-red Cobra roadster might be parked beside a dented pickup with peeling Sarah Palin stickers.) And there are still discoveries to be made—like the biodynamic Martian Ranch & Vineyard, run by Nan Helgeland, who’s married to screenwriter and director Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River). Typical of Los Alamos proprietors, Nan is no dabbling weekend hobbyist: During the harvest, she’s up at 3 a.m., tending to her vines. Pay a visit and she might take you around her produce garden, show off her Irish Dexter cows, or point out a red hawk’s nest. As often happens in Los Alamos, you may linger a bit longer—and drink a bit more wine—than you’d planned.
Eating and Drinking Up Los Alamos
Alamo Motel - Inspired by the rustic minimalism of Georgia O’Keeffe’s property in Abiquiú , New Mexico, this redesigned motel has 21 rooms featuring bleached cow skulls and starkly elegant animal portraits by Oakland artist Meagan Donegan. Stop by the Municipal Winemakers’ tasting hut just outside for a bottle, and enjoy it by the Alamo’s fire pit, framed by old-man cactuses (425 Bell St.; rememberthealamomotel.com; from $99).
Babi’s Beer Emporium - Sit at the bar and sample Southern California craft-beer favorites (including tap selections from The Bruery and Modern Times), or hunt through the bottle collection for hard-to-find international brews from Japan and New Zealand. The cupboard-size Craft Kitchen does swift trade in hand-cut pastas and Rancho Saint Julian beef meatballs (448 Bell St.; 805-344-1911).
Bedford Winery - Owner and winemaker Stephan Bedford is Los Alamos’s unofficial historian—stop in for a tasting and you’ll see why. Over sips of his superior syrah and cabernet franc, the conversation will swing effortlessly between his passion for wild mushrooms, Christopher Hitchens essays, and the town’s colorful backstory (448 Bell St.; bedfordwinery.com).
Bell Street Farm - In addition to its famous *porchetta,*you’ll want (no, need) the meat loaf sandwich—and don’t skip the salad. Owner Jamie Gluck relies on a trio of area farmers for his produce—including Shu Takikawa of The Garden Of farm, whose sweet, succulent red oak and butter leaf will change how you think about lettuce (406 Bell St.; bellstreetfarm.com).
Bob’s Well Bread Bakery - With handmade artisanal breads, Stumptown coffee, and exceptional kouign-amannand *canelé,*Bob’s has fast become every visitor’s first stop. The bakery makes its own butter and jam and grows its own herbs and tomatoes (550 Bell St.; bobswellbread.com).
Café Quackenbush - With all due credit to Full of Life Flatbread, most locals will tell you that it was the opening of Café Quackenbush in 1999 that changed the course of this former biker-bar town. The pulled-pork sandwich and daily changing homemade soups still merit a visit, as does the collection of early- and mid-twentieth-century California Plein Air paintings, shown in the adjacent gallery (458 Bell St.; generalstoreca.com).
Casa Dumetz Wines - Winemaker Sonja Magdevski set up in Los Alamos because she wanted her wine-tasting room to be a destination, not just a “stumble- upon” operation. Her bustling and bright tasting room, which hosts a regular speaker series (topics range from astronomy to vineyard management), offers small-production Rhône varietals, including an excellent viognier and a perhaps-too-quaffable grenache-syrah-mourvèdre (388 Bell St.; casadumetzwines.com).
Depot Mall - If you’re in search of rare Paul Anka vinyl or the actual restaurant booth featured in the movie Sideways (yours for just $595!), this densely stocked, 28,000-square-foot curiosities emporium in a former railway station never fails to amuse (515 Bell St.; 805-344-3315).
Frequency Wines - Zac Wasserman has been making wine for just five years, but his moderately priced syrah and grenache-syrah-mourvèdre have already impressed critics (he’s earned ratings of 90-plus from Robert Parker). The Santa Ynez native has winemaking in his blood: Wasserman’s great-grandfather imported California grapes to make wine in the basement of his Bronx bakery (448 Bell St.; frequencywines.com).
Full of Life Flatbread - Come early fall, a weekly changing, hyper-local menu is built around seasonal treats like wild chanterelles, late-summer peaches, melons from historic Rancho San Julian, wild boar, and the robust Mangalitsa pork from nearby Winfield Farms (225 Bell St.; fulloflifefoods.com).
Martian Ranch & Vineyard - Named for the owner’s two sons (Martin and Ian), this biodynamic vineyard uses French and Spanish grapes to produce bright and complex wines including albariño, grenache blanc, mourvèdre, and gamay. The tasting room is democratically priced and wholly lacking in pretense (9110 Alisos Canyon Rd.; martianvineyard.com).
Wine Saloon in the 1880 Union Hotel - A honky-tonk wine bar seemingly out of a Quentin Tarantino western: swinging saloon doors, mounted deer heads, and a ceiling covered in dollar bills. Sample a glass of Kurt Russell’s GoGi pinot or Kate Hudson’s rosé, then shoot some pool in the back room (362 Bell St.; unionhotelvictmansion.com).
Coming Soon...This fall, Bell Street welcomes two promising new tasting rooms, both across from the 1880 Union Hotel: Lieu Dit, a label specializing in Loire Valley varietals, from Tyler Wines’ Justin Willett and acclaimed local sommelier Eric Railsback; and Palmina, which focuses on Italian varietals and has built a strong reputation in the nearby Lompoc Wine Ghetto. Expect patio tastings, food, and boccie.