Who is Cowboy? How Pismo Beach’s best-known homeless resident found ‘simple, easy life’

At one popular Pismo Beach restaurant, there’s always a seat reserved for Cowboy.

Twice a day, the unhoused Shell Beach resident stops by for a free meal.

“They know what I want before I even sit down” for breakfast or dinner, said Cowboy, who declined to provide his real name. “There’s a beer waiting for me on the table on Saturdays.”

Cowboy has lived in Shell Beach for more than 40 years — about 25 of those years without permanent housing, he said.

According to the 2022 San Luis Obispo County point-in-time count, Pismo Beach has just 20 homeless residents are homeless, and all of them were considered unsheltered.

Cowboy is one of the area’s best known homeless community members. And although many people have tried to house him over the past three decades, Cowboy said he isn’t interested in having a roof over his head.

In fact, the San Luis Obispo County native said, many people are “jealous of (his) simple, easy life” of yard work, art and beers.

SLO County man moved to Pismo Beach to care for mom

Born in Atascadero, Cowboy worked for Paso Robles Recreation Services before he moved to the Pismo Beach area in 1979 to look after his mother.

“I came here to take care of my mom,” Cowboy said. “That’s the way it should be: The parents took care of you, now the kid takes care of the parent. That’s the way it is.”

Cowboy’s mother passed away around 30 years ago, he said, but he remained in Shell Beach, becoming homeless in the mid-1990s.

Starting in the 1980s, Cowboy grew close with a group of about 15 local fishermen who frequented the Pismo Beach Pier. Those interactions fostered his love of fishing and his preference for a particular brand of Australian beer, he said.

“All these local fishermen (would get) together after we were done fishing, get a trash can full of Foster’s (beers) and party,” Cowboy said. “Not a beer was wasted.”

Most importantly, his friends at the pier gave Cowboy his nickname, which is the only name he uses.

One of the fishermen saw him spitting a large wad of tobacco off of the pier, like a cowpoke expectorating into a spittoon, and came up with “Cowboy.”

In the ’80s, Cowboy said, he worked in “half the restaurants” in Shell Beach — starting as a “lowly dishwasher” and moving up to being a prep cook.

Eventually, however, he quit the restaurant business out of boredom, he said.

“I decided to get out of the cooking business and do what I do now: help people,” Cowboy said. “I’m well appreciated with the help.”

Unhoused man does yard work for Pismo Beach neighbors

So what does a day in Cowboy’s life look like?

Each morning, Cowboy wakes up in his tarp shelter, which is tucked into the corner of an empty lot in Shell Beach.

The lot is private property, and its owner lets Cowboy stay there as long as he keeps the weeds down and doesn’t let anyone park in the empty space, Cowboy said. He’s lived there for about four years.

From there, Cowboy walks or rides his custom-built bicycle to his favorite restaurant to eat. The restaurant’s owner asked that the business remain anonymous due to privacy concerns.

Since becoming homeless, Cowboy said he’s offered his services as a gardener and landscaper to anyone who needs them.

He finds jobs through word-of-mouth and charges $15 an hour, although he’s been known to accept a fresh beer — preferably a Foster’s — in lieu of cash.

“I’m worth every penny of it, too,” Cowboy said.

Cowboy said he enjoys doing yard work and helping people “because I can.”

If he isn’t working, Cowboy can often be found napping, or visiting with one of his neighbors.

Some days, he sits with one of his neighbors building small sculptures and collages from rocks, shells and whatever strange or interesting items they can find. The two like to listen to music from the 1950s and ’60s while they work.

“I started this back in the ’80s, just playing around with things,” Cowboy said. “I had that hidden talent inside me and didn’t even know it till I turned 60.”

“To me, this is therapy,” Cowboy said. “You bust your ass all f---ing day, and this is our therapy and relaxation.”

Cowboy values kindness, respect

Cowboy celebrated his 64th birthday in May, and said he’s looking forward to being eligible for Social Security and medical benefits when he turns 65.

“I’m like wine and cheese,” he said. “I get better with age.”

Ongoing problems with arthritis, gout, hearing and vision have made gardening much more difficult, he said, while aches in his knees and hands have affected his travels around Shell Beach on his bike.

Like Col. Sherman Potter, a character on the TV show “M*A*S*H,” Cowboy said he lives his life “one disaster at a time,” a motto he said helps keep everything in perspective.

Despite the difficult conditions that come with living without a permanent home, Cowboy said he wouldn’t change his way of life for anything.

“Niceness gets niceness, kindness gets kindness and respect gets respect,” Cowboy said. “Feel none of those and you’ll never get nothing in life.”