A High-Desert Oasis

Cuyama Buckhorn has become a destination all its own

WORDS Shannon Brooks and Ninette Paloma

New Cuyama is the Wild West of the Central Coast.

Tucked quietly along Santa Barbara County’s far eastern edge, the under-the-radar high desert community straddles the rugged, undiscovered borders of the Central Coast region. Known as the “Hidden Valley of Enchantment,” Cuyama’s distinctive geography creates an immediate sense of place ripe for exploration, encircled by the dramatic Sierra Madre Mountains, the La Panza and Caliente ranges, and the San Emigdio Mountains.
 
More than 5,000 vehicles drive daily along the historic east-west running Route 166, but only those in the know break for the town of about 500 people, where a quaint respite called the Cuyama Buckhorn has served as a road stop staple since the 1950s. Back then, the greasy spoon restaurant and mid-century modern motel would host deal-wheeling oil tycoons or hurried travelers stopping for fuel and sustenance on their way to San Luis Obispo. Fast-forward to today and Cuyama Buckhorn’s new owners Ferial Sadeghian and Jeff Vance – the couple behind Los Angeles-based design and architecture firm, iDGroup – are giving visitors a reason to linger a little while longer.
 
After two years of extensive renovations, the 21-room hotel has become a destination all its own thanks to its cool, timeless, and just-the- right- amount- of- country vibe. The wood paneled lobby is decorated with cowhides and taxidermy and stacked high with books and classic board games. A record player sits in the corner belting out Linda Ronstadt hits for lounge lizards cozying up by the fireplace. From here, hotel guests are unleashed into a high desert oasis decorated in ochre hues, vintage furnishings, and plenty of reclaimed wood. Well-appointed guestrooms offer up private patios that spill out onto tucked away gardens or a sprawling communal courtyard accented by a bocce ball court, pool table, fire pits, and a lawn that gets transformed into an outdoor cinema in warmer seasons. On the weekends, hotel guests can take advantage of poolside bar service while watching the sun sink behind the mountains to the west.
 
The Buckhorn’s commitment to its surrounding community is highlighted in a thoughtfully curated food and beverage program – from hyperlocal, in-room offerings to the purveyors and farmers that supply the resort’s on-site hospitality concepts: The Buck Stop Coffee Shop and market, The Buckhorn Restaurant, and the buzzy Buckhorn bar serving up inventive cocktails through the night. Depending on the season, Chef Daniel Horn might source Santa Barbara pistachios for his dreamy take on a Waldorf salad, SZ Ranch eggs in an open-faced, Dijon mustard-fueled egg salad sandwich, or red fife from the Tehachapi Grain Project in a soothing Heritage Bowl filled with community veggies.
 
With plenty of down tempo activities like stargazing and pool lounging, not to mention farm to table meals served up at your leisure against a soothing soundtrack of babbling fountains, it is easy to fall into step with the Buckhorn Cuyama groove:

Sip a cocktail.
Watch the sun set.
Warm up by the firepit.
Hang your hat.
Rest.
Repeat.