[12] Expedition diarist and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí wrote that the soldiers called the place "llano de los osos", or the "plain of the bears".

Missionary president Junípero Serra, traveling by sea, met the Portola party there and founded San Carlos Borremeo, in Monterey, which was moved to Carmel the following year.

He decided to send a hunting expedition to San Luis Obispo to help feed the Spanish and neophytes (natives that converted to Christianity) in Monterey.

[citation needed] Upon further investigation, he was convinced that San Luis Obispo would be a perfect site for a mission, based on its surplus of natural resources, good weather and the Chumash, a local Native American tribe who could be used as labor, often by means of enslavement.

[16] Buildings to accommodate the nearby Native Americans and many improvements to the mission, including storerooms, residences for single women, soldiers barracks and mills were added.

An attempt was made to "modernize" the structures, and the colonnades along the front of the convento wing were razed and the Church and residence were covered with wooden clapboard.

[18] The mission is the center of the busy downtown area, and functions as a Catholic parish church for the City of San Luis Obispo in the Diocese of Monterey.

[14] Mayor Ken Schwartz worked with students from Cal Poly to develop a plan to convince voters to close Monterey Street in front of the mission.

The attention to the statues of Junípero Serra expanded during the George Floyd protests to include monuments of individuals associated with the controversy over the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas.