Harmony Discovered

 

        15 years ago Harmony was a darling little snooze. Folks visited the post office for the Harmony California post mark on Christmas cards.

        Then an inspired Italian chef turned a long abandoned kitchen into a little cafe that could have been on the Amalfi coast, or in Provence. We leisured away delightful hours and in near privacy.

        

        The famed Painted Sky recording studio took a small corner of the Historic Creamery building. That led to magical evenings of live music and tucked away dining for locals and friends.

    

        Then a new owner bought the town. Changes; some refurbishing, some new directions, and then came magazines, newspapers, travel sites, network stars and now Harmony has been discovered!"

        The Creamery is one of the tourist stops in this new tourist destination.

        

        It's good for the potter and the glass blower and the new Harmony Ice Cream vendor and Harmony Cheese food truck.

It's good for tourists too, a place to stimulate the economy.

        Where we once sat in dappled sun beneath spreading trees, sipping wine, enjoying a world class tiramisu, hearing distant cattle lowing has now been turned into a thriving wedding chapel business, complete with full service bridal beauty parlor.

        

        20 years ago when we told our California friend Jim we were moving to the central coast, he called it the "undiscovered California."

        All the glowing words and gorgeous photos, especially in the last 5 years, has changed that. 

        Harmony in Harmony means something different than it once did.

        Paraphrasing a quote from my late buddy Phil Allen,

    "I like the lights of Paris,

    I like the lights of Rome,

    but the lights I like the most

    are the tail lights of tourists heading home!"

    See you down the trail.