Cayucos’ Way Statiopn was front and center at the Cayucos Independence Day Parade.
Cayucos will celebrate a pair of milestones in early August, Golden Anniversaries for a beloved old time technology display and the anniversary of a local couple and the antique building they own.
Mary Ellen and Hank Eisner, owners of the Way Station located at 80 N. Ocean Ave., are marking their 50th year owning the iconic building; and the 50th Annual Cayucos Antique Gas Engine Show, set for Saturday-Sunday Aug. 4-5.
Mary Ellen said they started the Antique Engine Show shortly after they bought the Way Station, which dates back to the late 1800s and was a hotel and general store back in the days when Cayucos truly was part of the Old West.
And like other iconic structures in Cayucos, the Eisners have displayed their love of the old building through its upkeep. It’s kind of how Cayucos rolls.
When the Cayucos Pier was in danger of collapse, the County and the community joined together and rebuilt it.
The Victorian Cass House for decades looked more like the home of TVs Munster Family than it did the home of the town’s founder, Capt. James Cass. Now after years of painstaking restoration, it’s a beautiful bed & breakfast.
The Cayucos Vet’s Hall too was in sad shape and had even been condemned at one point, but that too is nearing the end of a complete restoration.
Yes, Cayucos shows great love for its historic buildings, but the Way Station also rose from the ashes of a devastating fire.
in the early 1990s, fire tore through the Way Station all but destroying it. But the Eisner’s rebuilt it, and today, it stands looking much the same — perhaps even better — as it did when Ocean Avenue was a dirt road plied by horses and wagons.
Mary Ellen said they were two young people who took a chance on an old, and frankly tired-looking building and through a love of history, and we might add a pretty keen business sense, brought it back to life.
The Way Station in Cayucos after the 2023 completion of the restoration of a historic mural.
Today the Way Station is home to three businesses — the Health & Integrity wellness store; Luna Coffee Bar; and Lunada Garden Bistro. And in back, is one of the more beautiful gardens settings you’ll find anywhere, and a major source of pride for the Eisners.
Also, the Way Station was part of the Cayucos Mural Society’s series of historic murals that were painted around town in the early 1990s.
The Way Station’s mural was painted in 1993 by John Meng. Called, “Delivery at the Cottage Hotel,” the mural depicts a historic scene of a horse drawn wagon making a delivery of dairy products to the old Cottage Hotel (now the Way Station).
During a fierce windstorm in 2022, one of the plywood panels, which had rotted over the ensuing nearly three decades, blew off the wall and was lost.
Heartbroken, Mary Ellen searched for some time to find an artist to recreate the mural. She eventually hired Manuel Cruz III, a muralist from the Bay Area (www.manuelcruz.com), who in Spring 2023, recreated Meng’s original work.
But it might be something they hadn’t bargained for that may have become most dear to them.
When they bought the property, she said, they found something in storage they didn’t expect — an antique gas engine from the late 1800s.
That sparked an interest in the niche world of collectors of what was an amazingly useful and versatile tool with a myriad of applications.
These “hit-miss” engines — named for how they sound when working — did a number of different jobs, from milling grain to pumping water and sawing logs.
Essentially through the use of belts and pulleys, even the smallest of gas engines, usually one-cylinder models, could be adapted to do any number of jobs, with overhead belts and pulley systems being used to power factory machinery and take the load off the backs of men and beasts of burden.
She said the Way Station’s previous owner had declined offers to buy the old engine, insisting that whoever wanted it, had to buy the property too.
“When we bought the property,” Mary Ellen said, “the engine was in the barn. We didn’t know a thing about the engine, but we were so thrilled.”
That led her to the Central Coast Vintage Machinery Association, an organization of antique gas engine enthusiasts who put on several shows a year. That led to the first Antique Gas Engine show in Cayucos, starting an annual event that celebrates 50 years with this year’s show. Mary Ellen said they only missed twice, during the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The Eisners have organized the event all these years, and despite both now being in their 90s, her passion for the old engines is strong as ever.
This 50th Anniversary show, she believes, will be bigger and better than ever.
The Cayucos Antique Gas Engines Show runs all day Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 3-4 in a vacant lot at the corner of Ocean Avenue and D Street. Admission is free and visitors will see some of the many types of antique gas engines and the numerous ways they made life easier for turn-of-the-century America.
The Eisners, Mary Ellen said, would have their engine on display as well, celebrating a bygone era when technology was still just a tool.
