Just two hours north of Los Angeles and half an hour from Santa Barbara, you can step back into another era, where men in Stetsons drank whiskey and smoked cigars and women in petticoats ran the joint. The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos is a genuine slice of the Old West, but not the theme-park version. This isn’t a dusty cowboy saloon, more like an elegant country estate frequented by ranch owners of yore. Think wide wooden porches, firepits, cracked leather furniture, and the smell of mesquite wafting through the air.
The Inn has a history worthy of a Western. In the 1860s, stagecoaches rumbled through the Santa Ynez Valley on the long haul between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Los Olivos was one of the few places to stop for food and fresh horses. When Swiss-Italian immigrant Felix Mattei arrived in the 1880s, he bet the land would be a goldmine once the railroad arrived. He was right. He built a simple clapboard hotel beside the new Pacific Coast Railway station and minted money. Mattei’s Tavern offered travelers a clean bed and a hot meal. The original guest book, still on display near the café, holds inked signatures from the 1890s.
When Prohibition arrived, the tavern adapted. Beneath the coffee bar that now serves vanilla lattes, a trapdoor leads to a cellar that used to store whiskey. By the 1930s, Mattei’s Tavern had evolved from stage stop to star stop. Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and Bing Crosby stayed here. Herbert Hoover came to fish nearby.
In 2023, after falling on some hard times, the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern reopened under the Auberge Resorts Collection. The restoration treated the property like an heirloom, preserving all the rugged history but adding a modern dose of quiet luxury. The original water tower still rises above the six-acre grounds. Below it, you’ll find fully renovated guest rooms, the full-service Lavender Barn spa, a refined restaurant that turns ranch fare into something memorable.
At check-in, you’re greeted by a valet in a cowboy hat and jeans. The host hands you a whiskey-and-ginger-beer concoction from the Gods. Inside, the walls are lined with oil paintings of horses and early photographs of the Mattei family. Guest rooms follow the same code of Western understated glamour. Lots of brass fixtures, stone fireplaces, and even cowboy-boot scrapers. Some suites open to private patios with jacuzzis and outdoor fire pits.
At the restaurant, still called The Tavern, executive chef Kevin Malone serves up scrumptious seasonal California produce and wood-fired meats. The pork chop with apples is a must-order. On Wine Wednesdays, guests and locals gather at the Tavern for live music and local wine tastings.
Around the property, small details take this place to the next level. The Lavender Barn spa offers plunge pools and steam rooms without losing its country simplicity. The pool and fitness center sit at the center of it all, surrounded by olive trees and sun-bleached decks. The one-street town of Los Olivos itself is a short walk away. But gone are the saloons and county jail, replaced by wine-tasting rooms, a panini shop, and a western wear and saddlery store.
The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern doesn’t imitate the Old West. It distills it. Hitch your horse and drink a glass of Santa Ynez Cabernet where stagecoaches once stopped and breathe in the country air. L.A. may be a hundred miles away, but this feels like a completely different California.
