Cover Story
Life, death, and honey: Local wild bees are important to your food supply
I’ve stepped out of reality and into a full-body beekeeper’s outfit. It might as well be a spacesuit. Instead of holding a tiny American flag in the middle of space, I’m clutching a pole hooked around a tree branch suspended 4 feet above my head. Hovering on that branch? A massive swarm of boisterous, buzzing…
One mac to rule them all: New Times staffers eat through SLO County’s cheesiest offerings
Our friendship was sealed at Black Sheep in San Luis Obispo when we bonded over our shared love of their original pub mac ’n’ cheese, in all its gooey, luscious, baked glory. We were happy but wondered if there was more? Could there be another mac ’n’ cheese out there for us? So we took…
Killer horn-driven party band The California Honeydrops bring their R&B sounds to Presqu’ile Winery on June 9
Add Santa Maria’s Presqu’ile (pronounced press-KEEL) Winery to the list of boutique wineries now hosting concerts. On Friday, June 9, in partnership with Good Medicine Presents, Presqu’ile Winery hosts first-rate party band The California Honeydrops (doors at 5:30 p.m.; all ages; $25 presale at ticketfly.com or $30 at the door), with The Tipsy Gypsies opening.…
The Siren’s call: Morro Bay’s newest nightclub puts the city on the live-music map with the Alvin Bros
It’s Saturday, June 3, and the line to get into The Siren stretches way around the block. All these people are waiting to get into the sold-out Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin and The Guilty Ones show. My wife and I—full of artisanal burger deliciousness from the Flavor Factory—are fueled up for a night of…
Oceanside brunch: Food trucks wheel out to Avila to ease your weekend hunger for breakfast, lunch, and booze
I don’t know who first came up with the idea of combining breakfast and lunch, but I’m sure glad they did. If they didn’t, how else would you load up your plate with savory lox and decadently sweet stuffed French toast at the same time, and wash it all down with a mimosa sans judgment?…
Burger bomb: Wee Shack’s burgers are mighty delicious
When you think of burgers, you probably think mostly of fast food, or at least something pretty straightforward. At Wee Shack, however, a burger isn’t just a meal—it’s an experience. Located in Morro Bay, Wee Shack truly has it all. It serves breakfast and dessert as well as its main menu, has a great beer…
Blush-colored glasses: It’s rosé season–all day, every day
Winemakers have kept a secret from us—the wine-drinking public—for decades: Rosé is amazing. OK, it’s not like they were keeping it a secret on purpose. The public is just finicky, prone to whims, and is made up of hopeless gossips. And pink wine had a hard time shaking the whispers that defined it as sickly…
E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One exhibit explores the immigrant’s story at Studios on the Park
While the list of hot-button topics bound to start WWIII at your family dinner table are ever changing in the current political landscape, on any given day the wall President Donald Trump promised to build along the southern border is easily in the top three. Well, hold on to that fork. Whether you’re on the…
The family behind Good Medicine Presents brings their talents to 2017’s Live Oak Music Festival
Three years ago, Todd and Korie Newman loaded up their recreational vehicle, “Marvey the RV,” and drove their kids, Rohn and Acacia, to the Live Oak Music Festival for the very first time. “We always had a concert or two or three of our own that weekend,” Korie explained. They’d wanted to go for years,…
Break for art
Send young Picassos with too much time on their hands to the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art’s first session of summer art classes for kids from June 19 to 23. Kids ages 7 and 8 can discover the shapes, colors, and textures in nature by creating drawings and paintings inspired by plants, trees, streams,…
Selfie spots galore
One of the best things about life in SLO is the abundance of hiking trails. To get everyone hitting the dirt road, the city of SLO is throwing down a social media challenge: take a selfie or group photo at specific spots at seven trails included in the #PixOnPeaks challenge and win a free hat,…
On a good note
Mark the start of summer by catching the final concert of the season for the Cal Poly Symphony on June 10. The show starts at 8 p.m. in Harman Hall in the Performing Arts Center and will begin with two small-scale works: Paul Dukas’ “Fanfare to precede ‘La Péri,’” written for orchestral brass, and Richard…
John Wallace faces new criminal charges
Former South SLO County Sanitation District Administrator John Wallace is once again facing felony charges after the SLO County District Attorney’s Office announced it filed a second criminal case against the 73-year-old businessman. Wallace was already facing both felony and misdemeanor conflict of interest charges in connection with his tenure as the South SLO County…
Murder suspect was previously deported, ICE officials say
A 24-year-old Nipomo man arrested for allegedly stabbing his girlfriend to death had been deported from the United States nine months before the murder, according to Federal immigration officials. SLO County Sheriff’s Office deputies took Julio Caesar Alonso into custody May 31 after they discovered the body of his girlfriend, identified as 24-year-old Paulina Ramirez-Diaz…
Cowan re-arrested as SLO DA preps for re-trial
After a brief period of freedom, Cambria resident Ronald Cowan is back behind bars as SLO County prosecutors take a second run at convicting him of multiple charges of child molestation. Cowan, 59, served three years of a 65-year prison sentence after a SLO County jury found him guilty of those charges at a 2014…
Cayucos decides to dissolve its fire department
After a four-year struggle to keep the Cayucos Fire Department afloat, the Cayucos Fire Protection District is handing its department over to San Luis Obispo County. Steve Beightner, president of the district’s board, said the town of about 2,500 mostly retired residents isn’t able to fund the department alone. “Right now we’re on a boat…
What is your favorite locally produced food item?
Jennefer Radojevic acupuncturist “The wine, any of the wines here. There’s something kind of back to the earth with local wines.” Al Varner retired “I have a very limited income, I drink wine, but it comes out of a box. I don’t know anything about locally produced items.” Tim Kelly assistant manager and buyer at…
Pickle me this: Los Osos culinary craftswomen prove that you truly can pickle anything
Spin the globe and pick a place. Yep. They’ve got pickles. From funky kimchi in South Korea to umami-packed pickled herring in Sweden to sauerkraut in Germany and pickled mango in India, every culture has found a way to spice, salt, brine, and transform their favorite foods into long-lasting, flavorful pickled versions of boring old…
Underrated: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
When? 2013 | What’s it rated? R | Where’s it available? Amazon Video, DVD. I was first introduced to Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters by one of my college roommates, who wanted something fun to watch one day and knew that I liked Jeremy Renner. She told me that it was a bit over…
Raising red flags
It’s been well documented that since his Orange Unholiness Dicknold Jerkface Trumplethinskin has risen to power, hate crimes have broken out across the nation. Apparently bigots of all stripes have become emboldened to let their hate flags fly. Even here in the Happiest Place in America, we’re not immune to the hate. An antisocial injustice…
The blame game gone awry
With Hillary Clinton’s recent reappearance and Kathy Griffin’s bizarre stunt, we are witnessing a new phenomenon: the art of blaming others for self-inflicted wounds. Sadly, Hillary has yet to come to terms with her stunning defeat at the hands of an inherently unlikable victor. While she starts saying that she bears responsibility for her loss,…
A place to be yourself
When I read about the rainbow flag burned at Mayor Heidi Harmon’s home I reflected on times past. I’m 67 years old and have been a participant at GALA (Gay and Lesbian Alliance), San Luis Obispo, on and off, since 1995. Back then, many of us were afraid to be open about our true identities.…
Trust the scientists
I am not a politician, I do not have a Ph.D., but I put my faith in those who have put in a lot of study and are telling and warning us about our climate changing. They also do not have any ulterior motives. I believe my eyes when I see a video about abnormal…
One view of California Valley cannabis production
Cannabis is currently bringing immense value in many forms to all of the people residing in the California Valley. Whether a landowner grows cannabis or not, his or her property is worth more because of cannabis in the valley. Businesses ranging from the lumber stores, landscaping stores, tool rentals, propane companies, local gas stations, and…
Kudos to Trump
I couldn’t be happier or more pleased with President Trump’s decision to remove us from the Paris climate accord, an agreement that was bad for America and another campaign promise fulfilled. This accord was just another example of how the left, with good intentions, follows through with bad policy. We all know that the admirable…
Hypocrisy and climate hysteria
“The sky is falling” should begin each and every future news story regarding the Paris Climate Accord. The leftist media are acting with the zealotry of new converts in the climate-change religion, which tolerates no dissent. The hypocrisy of the self-appointed leadership of the climate-change/global warming cabal is unlimited and brazenly in-your-face. While we mortals…
Stickin’ on imagination
Walking down Monterey Street, you’ll stumble upon the clear windows of a new shop with a teal colored sign. Entering Pipsticks induces what owner and founder Maureen Vázquez describes as childhood adrenaline. “There’s something pretty awesome about seeing people freak out when they walk in the store, and that’s the positive feedback we’ve seen so…
The real Christianity
My heart hurt after I read the words written by Al Fonzi recently, in an opinion piece called “Neither bigots nor haters” (May 25). I feel sad that while I sense that he hoped to share a simple message of redemption with non-Christians, I think he made that ministry more challenging for all of us.…
SLO to hike parking rates
Your visit to downtown San Luis Obispo is about to get even pricier, especially if you bring your car. The SLO City Council approved a new parking rate structure on June 6, which will go into effect in January 2018. Per-hour metered parking in SLO will increase by 25 cents—in the core of downtown, the…
System overload: SLO mulls ordinance to drive property owners to fix sewer laterals
San Luis Obispo’s sewage system is old. How old? Thirteen percent of SLO’s 137 miles of wastewater pipeline dates back to before World War II, and some pipes can be traced to 1910. And although the age of private sewer laterals, which connect homes and commercial buildings to the main system (totaling about 156 miles…
SLO Supervisors talk homelessness
Is homelessness getting better in SLO County? That was the question debated at the SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting on June 6, when supervisors took a look at the state of homelessness and reviewed its strategies to curb it. The 2017 Point-in-Time Count (done over 24 hours on a rainy day in January) showed…
Hey, babies!
Does your kid know the difference between raw, real veggies pulled from the dirt and those weird, chemically washed “baby carrots” encased beneath plastic wrap in their pre-packaged snack box? If the answer is “no,” take them to the SLO Botanical Garden for a Kid’s Garden Fresh Cooking Class coming up this June 16 from…
Adventures in wine
Seatbelts first: Get in the Jeep! Villa San-Juliette is offering tours that take education and appreciation of this northern Paso Robles winery to the next level. This summer, the winemaker is loading up a Jeep and taking tasters four at a time into the vineyard, wine glasses in tow. Talking points include vines, soil and…
Clubs 6/8/17-6/15/17
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. HARRY’S NIGHT CLUB AND BEACH BAR: Cypress and Pomeroy, downtown Pismo Beach, 773-1010. Thurs.: Front Row Karaoke. 6/8: DJ Camote at 5pm and JAWZ…
