Cover Stories
Hit the Road: About Town 2017
BEST NEW COMPANY OF 2016 Seeds The Juice Company 1113 Garden St., SLO When Seeds The Juice Company entered the downtown SLO scene last year, it brought with it a much-needed burst of healthy food options like green juices and acai bowls. “It’s the new trend of how eating in SLO is going to go,”…
Drop Some Clams: Getting Goods 2017
BEST BOOKSTORE Barnes & Noble 894 Marsh St., SLO Book lovers, unite! Peruse through aisle after aisle of noteworthy titles at Barnes & Noble. “Our booksellers strive to create a friendly environment where customers feel comfortable making Barnes & Noble a fun part of their daily lives, so that enthusiasm from both booksellers and customers…
Lost Generation: Art Scene 2017
BEST FESTIVAL SLO Craft Beer Festival 100 Madonna Road, SLO It seems like you can’t walk two steps in SLO County without stumbling into an awesome taproom or craft brewery. The SLO Craft Beer Festival is a great showcase for all those special suds, and this year’s fest took place at the Alex Madonna Expo…
Bootlegger’s Delights: After Hours 2017
BEST NORTH COUNTY BAR (San Miguel, Paso Robles, Templeton, Atascadero, Santa Margarita) Pappy McGregor’s Irish Pub & Restaurant 1122 Pine St., Paso Robles Clinking beer glasses, good conversation, and stellar pub grub is how it is at Pappy McGregor’s. But it’s not just about the all-American burger, lobster mac and cheese, or signature garlic fries.…
Eat Your Heart Out: Dining Out 2017
BEST NORTH COUNTY RESTAURANT (San Miguel, Paso Robles, Templeton, Atascadero, Santa Margarita) Artisan 843 12th St., Paso Robles One of the best chefs in the West (according to the James Beard Foundation) continues to cook up high caliber meals—wood-fired pizzas, grilled octopus, slow braised pork, and venison—at the best restaurant in North County. Chef/owner Chris…
Know Your Onions: Community Watch 2017
BEST CONTROVERSY OR SCANDAL Justin Vineyards and Winery clear-cutting oaks Paso Robles It was the single most talked-about news event of the year—maybe even of the last five years. After LA billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick bought out Justin Vineyards and Winery, they were caught clear-cutting oak trees west of Paso Robles to make room…
Fly the Coop: Get Out 2017
BEST WEEKEND GETAWAY Cambria Pines Lodge 2905 Burton Drive, Cambria If you’re looking to get out of Dodge for a couple of days without getting—well—too far out of Dodge, readers say the Cambria Pines Lodge is the place you want. Becky Evans, director of sales and marketing at the lodge, said Cambria Pines makes a…
Putting On The Ritz: Lifetstyle 2017
BEST HAIR SALON Parlour – A David Stewart Salon 575 Marsh St., SLO When it comes to the perfect haircut, you want the perfect stylist to pull it off. And at Parlour – A David Stewart Salon everyone has 10 to 25 years of experience when it comes to cutting, coloring, and styling hair, and…
Best of SLO County 2017: 31st Annual Readers’ Poll
Get your glad rags on, and get ready to hit the town with some keen knowledge. New Times’ readers let us know exactly who and what they carry a torch for in this year’s annual Best Of SLO County readers poll. So like a swanky gin mill overflowing with hooch, we’re giving you the cat’s…
Best of SLO County 2017 – 31st Annual Readers Poll
Get your glad rags on, and get ready to hit the town with some keen knowledge. New Times’ readers let us know exactly who and what they carry a torch for in this year’s annual Best Of SLO County readers poll. So like a swanky gin mill overflowing with hooch, we’re giving you the cat’s…
Best of SLO County 2017: Hit the Road: About Town
BEST NEW COMPANY OF 2016 Seeds The Juice Company 1113 Garden St., SLO When Seeds The Juice Company entered the downtown SLO scene last year, it brought with it a much-needed burst of healthy food options like green juices and acai bowls. “It’s the new trend of how eating in SLO is going to go,”…
Best of SLO County 2017: Drop Some Clams: Getting Goods
BEST BOOKSTORE Barnes & Noble 894 Marsh St., SLO Book lovers, unite! Peruse through aisle after aisle of noteworthy titles at Barnes & Noble. “Our booksellers strive to create a friendly environment where customers feel comfortable making Barnes & Noble a fun part of their daily lives, so that enthusiasm from both booksellers and customers…
Best of SLO County 2017: Lost Generation: Art Scene
BEST FESTIVAL SLO Craft Beer Festival 100 Madonna Road, SLO It seems like you can’t walk two steps in SLO County without stumbling into an awesome taproom or craft brewery. The SLO Craft Beer Festival is a great showcase for all those special suds, and this year’s fest took place at the Alex Madonna Expo…
Buckshi resigns as county administrative officer
San Luis Obispo County’s top administrative officer (CAO), Dan Buckshi, announced May 12 he’s leaving his county post to take a city manager job in Walnut Creek. "It is time for a change,” Buckshi said in a press release. "I am proud of all we have accomplished during my tenure and am I thankful for…
Wildly imaginative hard ciders collide at Central Coast Cider Fest on May 13
If the only hard cider you can think of is sweet, syrupy, and comes with an annoying tagline, you’re drinking it all wrong. Don’t take it from me; take it from the English, who have been drinking the stuff since a few mischievous deer discovered the magic of fermented apples left to rot under an…
Best of SLO County 2017: Putting On The Ritz: Lifetstyle
BEST HAIR SALON Parlour – A David Stewart Salon 575 Marsh St., SLO When it comes to the perfect haircut, you want the perfect stylist to pull it off. And at Parlour – A David Stewart Salon everyone has 10 to 25 years of experience when it comes to cutting, coloring, and styling hair, and…
Best of SLO County 2017: Bootlegger’s Delights: After Hours
BEST NORTH COUNTY BAR (San Miguel, Paso Robles, Templeton, Atascadero, Santa Margarita) Pappy McGregor’s Irish Pub & Restaurant 1122 Pine St., Paso Robles Clinking beer glasses, good conversation, and stellar pub grub is how it is at Pappy McGregor’s. But it’s not just about the all-American burger, lobster mac and cheese, or signature garlic fries.…
Best of SLO County 2017: Know Your Onions: Community Watch
BEST CONTROVERSY OR SCANDAL Justin Vineyards and Winery clear-cutting oaks Paso Robles It was the single most talked-about news event of the year—maybe even of the last five years. After LA billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick bought out Justin Vineyards and Winery, they were caught clear-cutting oak trees west of Paso Robles to make room…
Best of SLO County 2017: Fly the Coop: Get Out
BEST WEEKEND GETAWAY Cambria Pines Lodge 2905 Burton Drive, Cambria If you’re looking to get out of Dodge for a couple of days without getting—well—too far out of Dodge, readers say the Cambria Pines Lodge is the place you want. Becky Evans, director of sales and marketing at the lodge, said Cambria Pines makes a…
Best of SLO County 2017: Eat Your Heart Out: Dining Out
BEST NORTH COUNTY RESTAURANT (San Miguel, Paso Robles, Templeton, Atascadero, Santa Margarita) Artisan 843 12th St., Paso Robles One of the best chefs in the West (according to the James Beard Foundation) continues to cook up high caliber meals—wood-fired pizzas, grilled octopus, slow braised pork, and venison—at the best restaurant in North County. Chef/owner Chris…
What’s the best meal you’ve had in SLO?
Nicholas Anthony employee at The Foundation for the Performing Arts Center “The garlic fries at the GrillHouse by Naked Fish, they just hit the spot. They add citrus, and it’s perfect, really.” Sofia Marques Santa Maria police officer “Eureka Burger has a fig burger that comes with goat cheese, arugula, and fig jam. They make…
Cork poppin’
Heading toward middle age, still tasting great: The 35th annual Paso Robles Wine Festival is back this May 18 to 21 with four days filled with wine tastings, education, seminars, and food pairings! The Grand Tasting kicks off on Saturday with more than 70 wineries converging on Downtown City Park smack dab in the heart…
Local, seasonal sipping!
I heard it from the birds and the bees: Spring menus are popping up fresh as daisies around SLO County! Not only does that mean homegrown sweet spring onions, tender asparagus, and lots of baby artichokes, but also a bounty of garden-fresh cocktails that shine with locally sourced produce ripened in our mild microclimate. Over…
Johnny Cash tribute act Cash’d Out comes to Tooth & Nail Winery on May 14
Johnny Cash may be gone, but his music lives on in Cash’d Out, a terrific tribute act featuring Douglas Benson, whose voice is a dead ringer for Cash’s early era. He even looks a bit like Cash! The band is the only tribute act endorsed on the official Johnny Cash website, johnnycash.com. Even members of…
Underrated: I Am Heath Ledger
When? 2017 | What’s it rated? R | Where’s it available? Streaming on Spike/DVD on May 23. The first 40 seconds of I Am Heath Ledger, a new documentary about the ill-fated actor, are perhaps the most revealing of the entire film. In those brief moments, the distorted image of the actor hangs sideways in…
Choo, choo!
Celebrate all things locomotion on May 13 at the San Luis Obispo Train Day. Event activities at the SLO Railroad Museum on Santa Barbara Avenue will include running model trains, a railroad swap meet, kids’ activities, music, railroad art and photography, an Amtrak display, railroad films, and various presentations and tours. Admission is $3 for…
A curious tale of the high seas
Let Suspended Motion take you on a journey through the infamous Alice’s eyes in their Nautical Circus performance on May 26 and 27 at the Clark Center in Arroyo Grande. Nautical Circus is a show filled with aerial silks, aerial hoop, straps, and aerial rope that follows Alice as she hatches a plan to join…
Seven points of view
We’re all more alike than we think, and Morro Bay’s By the Sea Productions finds the common thread that connects the lives and stories of a group of women living across the world in Seven. The play, showing May 26 through 28, tells the true stories of seven women in seven countries (Nigeria, Guatemala, Russia,…
From the other side: Cal Poly exhibit highlights incarcerated artists’ work
It started with a single rose for his mom. Tony Chisom had never been one to draw, but he found himself with a lot of free time on his hands. So inspired by a friend, he drew that first flower in 1988. “I apologize for kidnapping and transforming you into this very selfish and ungrateful…
Shabang-in’ fun: Local music festival stands out from the rest
Walking off the shuttle bus, it feels like I’m stepping into another dimension, where psychedelic colored John Lennon glasses are on every face and sherpa-lined jean jackets keep guys and girls warm. I’ve walked into the Shabang zone. It’s a blustery Saturday afternoon but that doesn’t stop the show. I arrive just as Rowan McGuire…
Foster Care Awareness Month
Every May we recognize Foster Care Awareness Month, and each year, thousands of children in California enter the foster care system, through no fault of their own. Year after year, we rally to raise awareness of the plight of foster children and the need to support them. Our work sometimes feels like an uphill battle,…
Morro Bay High tennis courts aren’t always open
In the May 4 New Times article “High school tennis courts are racket-ready,” Karen Garcia spoke about the newly renovated tennis courts at Morro Bay High School. District Assistant Superintendent Ryan Pinkerton mentioned that “the new look helps provide our students and community with a certain amount of pride in their facilities.” Having voted for…
Why the word Islam does not simply mean ‘peace’
Be it ignorance or the deliberate misrepresenting of the word Islam, Mr. Lloyd-Moffett’s quote in the April 27 New Times article “Islamic neighbors” is completely wrong. He says: “The word Islam simply means peace, and in this case, it’s the peace that’s achieved when someone realized that God is the creator and he has a…
The irony of public participation in city government
It’s ironic that on the same night that the San Luis Obispo City Council received a Davenport Institute Platinum Award for civic engagement it also discussed limiting public comment to a total of 15 minutes, with each speaker limited to one minute. In light of this, it’s not clear how the Davenport Institute rationalized making…
Fear and inertia make bad policy
My last article described some of the unintended consequences of the environmental movement and its negative impacts upon populations of lesser-developed countries. One letter writer suggested I was indulging in “conspiracy theories” by my assertion that the spread of AIDS in Africa was a result of the imposition of massive forced contraception and sterilization programs,…
Democracy by dots
I was happy to see Michael Latner’s piece (“SLO and democracy’s future”) in the last issue (May 4). I, too, was at the last SLO City Council meeting requesting a public discussion about campaign finance reform—described as low on the city’s “budget priorities,” priorities formed at public meetings known (both irreverently and pointedly) as “democracy…
Overpopulation control
Of all of the opinion columns that I have read in the New Times and Sun newspapers, the recent published opinion titled “The racist roots of Earth Day” (April 27) contained such ridiculous claims I couldn’t believe that the author could be that absurd and totally wrong. The only things that were true were the…
Best of the worst
Morro Bay’s nice and all, but the real jewel of the Americas is Whitefish, Mont.! Or Vail, Colo.! Or … ? Oh God, anywhere but Morro Bay! At least that seems to be the implied sentiment of Morro Bay City Manager David Buckingham, who’s been applying for city manager jobs elsewhere … anywhere. Back in…
Behind the ballot: A deeper look into the upcoming SLO special election that no one wanted
Retired San Luis Obispo City Councilman Dan Carpenter rubbed his head, laced his fingers together, and let out a sigh. “I really wanted this to end at the end of my council term,” Carpenter said on May 5. Six months after Carpenter finished his final term on the City Council, he finds himself entangled in…
SLO residents want more access for off-leash dog walking
When SLO established its open space program in the mid-1990s, it also established a set of rules for what would and wouldn’t be allowed in the natural reserves. One of those rules outlawed off-leash dog walking, meant to protect the natural habitat and prevent altercations between dogs as well as conflict with hikers and mountain…
Morro Bay looks at future budget reductions
Morro Bay’s current budget plans aren’t going cut it if the city wants balanced books in the future. The 2016-2017 budget of $13.6 million ended with a $12,000 surplus. City Manager David Buckingham said Morro Bay is living within its means—and most importantly, the city didn’t have to cut funding to any services or programs.…
Prayer and protest coexist in front of SLO Courthouse
Since the late 1980s, local Christians and their pastors have gathered in front of government buildings on the first Thursday in May to openly display their faith as part of a National Day of Prayer. This year was no different, as participants gathered once again in front of the SLO County Courthouse for speeches, music,…
Neighbors sue SLO to overturn housing development
A coalition of SLO residents hit the city and a Los Angeles developer with a lawsuit in SLO County Superior Court May 2, fulfilling a promise to fight back against a recently approved housing project at 71 Palomar Ave., the site of a historic building. The six-building, 33-unit development proposed in the Anholm District would…
SLO County grapes have best year, cows worst, ag report says
Despite five years of drought, local grape growers probably won’t be whining when they hear that the volume and value of their crop continues to rise in SLO County. Cattle ranchers, on the other hand, had little to celebrate. Wine grapes topped the list of the county’s most valuable commodities in 2016, according to an…
Reaching out
The U.S naturalization test can be daunting with uncertain waiting periods and a $725 filing fee. Although a second chance is permitted on the test for free, the goal of Aracelli Astorga is for local immigrants to pass the first time. Astorga is the Adult Services Coordinator for the SLO County Library. When Astorga moved…
Clubs 5/11/17 – 5/18/17
Goin’ South THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-5000, cliffsresort.com. FIGUEROA MOUNTAIN BREWING CO.: Singer/Songwriter Night every Wed. from 8-10pm. 1462 E. Grand Ave., Arroyo Grande, 474-8525, figmtnbrew.com. 5/12: Matt Cross from 8:30-11pm; 5/20: Three 4 All from 8:30pm-11pm. HARRY’S NIGHT CLUB AND BEACH BAR: Cypress and Pomeroy, downtown Pismo Beach, 773-1010.…
