Roy Fortune knocks the keyboard to his computer upside down to shake out the ash particles which have landed over the last few days. He runs Wylde West Wreckerds – a vinyl record store in Los Olivos. About 9 or 10 miles away is the perimeter of the Lake Fire which has been burning in the Los Padres Forest since last Friday.
For wine-lovers and foodies, the Santa Ynez Valley is a mecca. Fortune says that people don’t want to make the pilgrimage to Los Olivos - a town that relies on the wine tasting tourists that come here - while the fire is burning nearby.
"Obviously, people don't want to drive towards the fires, so they're not going to come over the mountain to come in for at least a few days," says Fortune. "We're hopefully out of the woods at this point, so we'll see. Obviously there's no wind today, but I'm sure we all felt a little bit of that crunch of people not traveling up here."
He's optimistic that things are improving.
"Obviously we're happy and we're safe. And the fire department and all the first responders kind of did their thing. So we're all grateful. We love this place," said Fortune.
It’s markedly easier than usual to find a parking spot and the usual tables filled with wine tasters aren’t busy. At Olive Hill Farm, no one is in the tasting room sampling their olive oils today, and - although week days are always quieter than the weekends, Michelle Hill, who works there, says the decline in foot traffic has been noticeable.
"We are open, but we are seeing a definite impact on foot traffic. It's very, very slow. A lot of ash. Air quality is poopy and it's... we're just trying to go through this right now," said Hill.
"We are open for business," is also the message from other business owners in the town, keen to not drive away customers.
"Today is a bit quieter than usual," said Jody Pashakhan from Avec Moi Décor. "We're definitely open. The smoke seems to be decreasing and it's definitely a degree or two cooler. So come on in."
