Garden Farms, California

The Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia was established in 1787 as an asistencia ("sub-mission") to Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, then in the Spanish Las Californias Province. Its site is near the present day city of Santa Margarita, in San Luis Obispo County, central California.

The Pacific Coast Railroad is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge tourist railroad located at the Santa Margarita Ranch in Santa Margarita, California. Established in 2000 and completed in 2004 by San Luis Obispo entrepreneur Rob Rossi, the railroad sees only limited public operation. Phase 1 consisted of a 1.5 mi (2.4 km) loop around the most historic part of the ranch. The railroad currently operates three steam locomotives built between 1897 and 1968, and four of the original Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad Retlaw 1 passenger cars. One of the locomotives, the No. 2 Roger Linn, was used in the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman TV show. Other equipment includes an ex-International Railways of Central America caboose, business car Cuscatlan, and several ex-Denver & Rio Grande freight cars.

Santa Margarita (Spanish for "St. Margaret") is a town and census-designated place located in San Luis Obispo County, California. It was founded in 1889 near Cuesta Peak and San Luis Obispo along State Route 58. The town's name comes from the Mexican Alta California land grant of Rancho Santa Margarita. It is home to the Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia site. The population was 1,259 at the 2010 census.

Rancho Santa Margarita was a 17,735-acre (71.77 km2) Mexican land grant in the Santa Lucia Mountains, in present day San Luis Obispo County, central California. The rancho was granted by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno Casarin in 1841 to Joaquín Estrada. The grant encompassed present day Santa Margarita. It remains an active ranch.

Atascadero State Hospital, formally known as California Department of State Hospitals - Atascadero (DSHA), is located on the Central Coast of California, in San Luis Obispo County, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. DSHA is an all-male, maximum-security facility, forensic institution that houses mentally ill convicts who have been committed to psychiatric facilities by California's courts. Located on a 700+ acre grounds in the city of Atascadero, California, it is the largest employer in that town. DSHA is not a general purpose public hospital, and the only patients admitted are those that are referred to the hospital by the Superior Court, Board of Prison Terms, or the Department of Corrections.

Santa Margarita Ranch is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in San Luis Obispo County, California and lies within the multi-county Central Coast AVA. It was established on October 8, 2014, by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Treasury after reviewing the petitions submitted by the Paso Robles American Viticultural Area Committee (PRAVAC) to establish 11 new viticultural areas located entirely within the existing Paso Robles viticultural area adjacent to the northern boundary of San Luis Obispo County. The proposed viticultural areas were: Adelaida District, Creston District, El Pomar District, Paso Robles Estrella District, Paso Robles Geneseo District, Paso Robles Highlands District, Paso Robles Willow Creek District, San Juan Creek, San Miguel District, Santa Margarita Ranch, and Templeton Gap District. Santa Margarita Ranch encompasses about 17,835 acres (28 sq mi) with a little over 800 acres (320 ha) under vine and encircles the town of Santa Margarita. It is located at the southernmost boundary of the 609,673 acres (953 sq mi) Paso Robles viticultural area nestled against the Santa Lucia Mountain Range and distinctly isolated from the other ten sub-appellations established on the same day. The area is actually closer to the county seat of San Luis Obispo than to Paso Robles. Syrah has played a pivotal role in the AVA, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay also featured in its grape inventory.

Tunnel Number 6, or the Summit Tunnel, is a railway tunnel between Santa Margarita, California and San Luis Obispo, California. It is the longest tunnel along the Union Pacific Railroad Coast Line at 3,610 feet (1.10 km) in length and is wide enough to carry a single track. The tunnel under the Cuesta Pass represents the highest point along the line at 1,323 feet (403 m) above sea level.The tunnel was constructed between 1893 and 1894 by the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was enlarged between 1940 and 1959. One daily passenger train, the Coast Starlight, operates through the tunnel.

KSTT-FM (104.5 FM, "Coast 104.5") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Atascadero, California, United States and broadcasts to the San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria—Lompoc, California areas. The station is owned by American General Media and airs a hot adult contemporary format.

Cuesta Pass or La Cuesta Pass (Spanish for "the slope") is a low mountain pass in San Luis Obispo County on California's Central Coast. It crosses the southern Santa Lucia Range at an altitude of 1,522 feet (464 m), and connects San Luis Obispo, roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) to the south, with Atascadero, Paso Robles, and the Salinas Valley to the north. It is traversed by U.S. Route 101 and the Coast Line of the Union Pacific Railroad, and is better known for the long slope up to the pass from San Luis Obispo, in the canyon of San Luis Obispo Creek, which is redundantly named the "Cuesta Grade".The railroad line through the pass includes a segment with a 2.2% grade, the steepest point of the coast line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It traverses six tunnels, including one at an altitude of 1,380 feet (420 m) bypassing the summit of the pass.

The Cuesta fire was a wildfire that started on 16 August 2015 near U.S. Route 101 and the Cuesta Grade, in the Santa Lucia Range just north of San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo County, California. The fire was contained on 28 August, and had burned 2,446 acres, some within the Los Padres National Forest.

KWWV (106.1 FM, "Wild 106.1") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to San Luis Obispo, California. The station is owned by Dimes Media Corporation and broadcasts a Top 40 (CHR) radio format. Programming includes The Wild Wake Up with Doughboy weekday mornings, DJ Flashback weekday afternoons and XYZ with Erik Zachary weeknights, American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest weekends.

KCPR (91.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station that is licensed to San Luis Obispo, California. Owned by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, the station is operated by students from its on-campus studio located in the Graphic Arts building. In addition to its FM broadcast, KCPR streams its programming online 24 hours a day and has established a growing social media audience. KCPR is known for launching the careers of several entertainers and public figures, including musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, comedian Eric Schwartz, and news reporter David Kerley.