Driving to Casmalia for dinner at the Hitching Post is like traveling back in time.

Urban sprawl and modern development recede, replaced by rustic barbed-wire fences, erosion-carved gullies, chaparral and grazing cattle alongside a two-lane road of aging asphalt.

A giant, weathered sign directs motorists onto Point Sal Road and the Hitching Post, a place where it seems time has stood still for more than half a century.

Except for a &#8220newC kitchen, a deck surrounded by roses and rusticana, the addition of a rib-eye steak to the menu and the inevitable rise in prices, very little has changed here since Frank and Victor Ostini and their nephew Jerry Ransom bought the restaurant for ,16,000 in 1952.

&#8220That was a lot of money back in those days,C said Bill Ostini, the current proprietor and Frank Ostini/s son, as he sipped coffee at a table near the long wooden bar. &#8220My mom thought my dad was crazy. He/d never done anything like that.C

A cabinet maker and one-time Lockheed employee, Frank Ostini Sr. had never even worked in a restaurant, much less owned one.

Except for a relative on his wife/s side, who ran a little Italian restaurant in Oakland, no one in his family had ever been in the restaurant business, said Bill Ostini/s sister and restaurant general manager Terri Stricklin.

Yet the purchase marked not only the start of 16-hour days for the new owners but also the beginning of a family legacy. Fifty-five years later, it is still a family oriented business, where all of Bill Ostini/s three brothers and two sisters and other relatives have worked.

For the next five months, the family is celebrating that legacy by donating some of the proceeds from every dinner to charitable organizations and giving away a variety of items to patrons.

And they are gearing up for a new venture that will mark the biggest change in the Hitching Post operation since 1986 when the family opened Buellton/s Hitching Post II, now operated by Bill/s brother Frank.

Historic landmark

The 100-year-old building that houses the Hitching Post was the Casmalia Hotel when Paul Veglia and his family bought the business in 1920.

Living in the back, the family rented rooms and served up home-style Italian food to the oil and railroad workers, visitors at a nearby dude ranch and employees of what was then the U.S. Army/s Camp Cooke.

After Veglia and his wife died, their son inherited the business and turned the restaurant into a steakhouse he called the Hitching Post 7 the first oak-wood barbecue restaurant in the area.

After a succession of partners and ownership changes 7 and the demolition of the hotel 7 the Ostinis bought the restaurant in 1952.

In 1957, all the formerly shared cooking duties landed in self-taught chef Frank Ostini/s lap.

Until then, there were no menus and only one dinner was available: an 18-ounce steak (chef/s choice of cut), french fries, shrimp cocktail or tomato juice, tossed green salad, a beverage and ice cream. The cost: ,3.75.

But that year, menus were added, a choice of steak sizes was offered and chicken joined the entree line-up.

Bill Ostini recalls helping his father cut steaks when he was just 8 years old, spending hours carving 70-pound beef loins info filet mignon, top sirloin and other cuts.

&#8220Dad sometimes stayed here until 2 a.m.,C Ostini said. &#8220This was a busy road back then, and people working at Camp Cooke would sometimes stop in for a drink.C

Although Ostini and his siblings worked as dish washers, janitors and busers, &#8220Dad swore his kids would never be in the restaurant business,C Ostini said with a wry smile.

&#8220Dad was hard to work for,C he continued. &#8220He was strict, hard-nosed, an old-time guy. I swore I/d never work for him again.C

But after being discharged from the military and working at a post office, Ostini &#8220got the bug to come backC and cook. He passed his father/s test by cooking a 10-ounce medium filet to perfection.

After his father died, Ostini and a brother ran the restaurant for their mother, Natalie, for a few years, then bought her out.

&#8220It/s been a really rewarding business,C Ostini said. &#8220A lot of people dream of owning a restaurant. We actually lived the dream.C

A worldwide reputation

The Ostinis bill the Hitching Post as &#8220world-famous,C and in many ways it is 7 the restaurant/s word-of-mouth reputation for &#8220the best steaks in the worldC is passed far and wide by such patrons as high-ranking officers who visit Vandenberg Air Force Base.

It/s sought out by celebrities ranging from Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger to Joe DiMaggio and Leonardo DiCaprio.

&#8220John Candy was a lot of fun,C recalled Stricklin. &#8220He was just like I thought he would be.C

During Michael Jackson/s trial on child molestation charges in Santa Maria two years ago, lawyers from both sides ate at the restaurant.

&#8220Reporters (covering the trial) from all over the world would come out here to eat,C said Ostini/s brother Bob, who is now one of the chefs. &#8220They/d be on planes coming over here and they/d hear about the Hitching Post.C

Local residents have become loyal, regular customers, eating there every night or every weekend. Some have been customers for 40 years, some have standing reservations and others return every three or four years after moving out of the area.

&#8220Everyday people are celebrities with us,C said Bob Ostini.

Bill Ostini noted locals like to bring relatives and friends from out of town to eat at the Hitching Post and sometimes will have a little fun with them.

&#8220They/ll drive them out here in the middle of nowhere, on a dark road and take them to a place that looks like they might not want to even go into,C he said. &#8220But once they get inside, all that/s forgotten. I/ve heard that story a number of times, and I never get tired of hearing it.C

Much of the restaurant/s reputation stands on the quality of the steaks 7 cut on-site from slabs of corn-fed Midwestern beef handpicked for the Hitching Post by Newport Meat, the restaurant/s supplier for 20 years, The meat is carefully aged, up to 5 1/2 weeks for a top sirloin.

Part of it is the cooking process 7 barbecuing steaks, ribs, chicken and fish with a secret basting sauce over a red-oak fire in an indoor pit, where patrons can watch their food being cooked.

And part of it is the rustic, down-home atmosphere and the friendly service, with employees remembering customers/ names and even their favorite drinks.

&#8220It starts with the hostess when people walk in the door,C Ostini said. &#8220If you don/t have a good feeling when you walk in the door, it lasts throughout the meal. If you don/t give good service, it doesn/t matter how good your food is.C

Spreading the taste

Although keeping the restaurant 7 and its menu 7 relatively unchanged for decades has helped develop a loyal base of customers who can always expect consistent quality, the Ostini family is preparing to take a huge step in a new direction.

They/re planning to launch BBQ 2 You, a company that will ship Hitching Post cuisine anywhere people want it, Stricklin said.

&#8220It/s always been one of my dreams to share my food with the rest of the world,C Ostini said. &#8220It will be precooked and flash-frozen. We/ve been doing a lot of testing on it in the last year.C

BBQ 2 You, to be located in a new building across the street from the Hitching Post, is the brainchild of Ostini/s daughter, Stacey Mosti of Las Vegas.

&#8220She/s been prodding me along for a year and a half now,C Ostini said. &#8220She/s done all the research and came to us with a business plan. It/s quite a process. She/s been working with the University of Nebraska developing labels listing ingredients and percentages of fat and protein.C

Stricklin said the company will ship full meals, including steaks, ribs, lobster, artichokes, veggies and more in vacuum-sealed bags that consumers will store in their freezers.

To prepare the food, it won/t be microwaved or oven-reheated. Instead, the pouches will be dropped into boiling water.

&#8220It/s pretty amazing,C she said. &#8220This is something new. We don/t usually make many changes here.C

She said the family hopes to launch BBQ 2 You before the end of the year.

Restaurant weathered good times and bad

Over the years, the Hitching Post and its owners have weathered the ups and downs of the restaurant business as well as the vagaries of time.

&#8220My mom wanted to close the business when it was costing more money to keep it open than we were making,C said Bill Ostini, the restaurant/s proprietor. &#8220But Dad was pretty stubborn. He was Swiss.C

At one time, Point Sal Road was the main road to the U.S. Army/s Camp Cooke, which later became Vandenberg Air Force Base.

&#8220It used to be this was the only road to Lompoc,C Ostini said. &#8220Then they built a new road to the main gate at Vandenberg that became Highway 1.C

Then the &#8220back roadC to Vandenberg was closed to preserve the habitat of the unarmored three-spined stickleback fish, Ostini said, and the loss of traffic each time was a blow to the business.

Problems with leaking chemicals at the Casmalia toxic waste dump, which the Ostinis fought to close, generated bad publicity that also hurt the restaurant/s business.

&#8220If it wasn/t for the toxic waste dump, we wouldn/t have bought the (Hitching Post II) restaurant in Buellton,C said Ostini/s sister Terri Stricklin. &#8220We didn/t think this one would survive.C

When the Challenger explosion in 1986 killed the space shuttle program at Vandenberg, the restaurant was dealt another blow as project personnel were shipped out.

But the biggest blow came in March 1988 when a fire destroyed the kitchen, although two employees are credited with saving the rest of the structure.

The two 18-year-old workers 7 one Ostini/s stepson 7 finished closing the restaurant late on a Saturday night and were drinking beer under a nearby bridge when they saw smoke coming out of the fire pit stack.

After calling the fire department, they turned off the propane tank as they went through the back gate and entered the restaurant.

&#8220They went to open a door and it was really hot, so they didn/t open it,C Ostini recalled. &#8220The firemen said later that if they had opened it, they would have died on the spot.C

The fire smoldering inside, heating the room to an estimated 1,200 degrees, was starved for oxygen. Had the door been opened, the room would have exploded into flames.

Instead, the boys went back outside and used a garden hose to pour water down the smoking stack until fire crews arrived and quickly knocked down the fire.

Investigators determined that 40 years of cooking steaks over the fire pit had so dried the timbers above that they began smoldering and spontaneously combusted that night, Ostini said.

The restaurant was closed for five months as the kitchen was demolished and rebuilt 7 which Ostini said in the long run was a blessing 7 and the bar was refinished.

Although the fire hurt business, it also showed the loyalty of the restaurant/s customers.

&#8220People were afraid we weren/t going to rebuild,C Ostini said. &#8220We got calls from people in Florida, who were here in the space business, who were worried we weren/t going to rebuild. … Our customers were all so dedicated.C

But Ostini said the fire destroyed something even more important to him than a few months of business 7 the restaurant/s antique plates, original china marked with brands, that cracked from the heat.

&#8220I saved maybe three, four, five out of a hundred plates,C Ostini said. &#8220That was probably the saddest part of all. I hated losing all those plates.C

7 Mike Hodgson

Mike Hodgson can be reached at 739-2221 or mhodgson@ santamariatimes.com.

May 13, 2007