Cover Story
Canopy hazards: San Luis Obispo residents want to save the trees, but the city’s focused on ensuring a healthy urban forest
Ninety-five years ago, when San Luis Obispo photographer Frank Aston looked through his lens from the top of Terrace Hill, he saw a black-and-white panorama of a city with few trees. By the time photographer Brian Lawler captured the same scene in 2021, Terrace Hill had shrunk by 60 feet and more trees dotted the…
Hundreds of incarcerated inmates help fight Gifford Fire
Of the nearly 5,000 personnel who were assigned to the Gifford Fire, 300 of them were incarcerated inmates voluntarily doing the same dangerous work expected of any firefighter. That’s what California Incident Management Team 8 Public Information Officer Rich Eagan said after observing them working during the 131,000-acre blaze in SLO and Santa Barbara counties…
Spring Break Jake is showing insomnia-inspired paintings at The Bunker SLO
See the work A collection of paintings titled Night Life, an Exhibition on the Experience of Insomnia by Bend, Oregon, artist Spring Break Jake is currently on display in The Bunker SLO (810 Orcutt Road) through August. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 7…
Red Cross provides safe parking for evacuees during the Gifford Fire
Often wedged between Dave Hild’s van dashboard and windshield, the retired zookeeper’s road maps range from blueprint-style scrolls to thick, paperback atlases. “These don’t require batteries or a signal, and I can drop them in the creek and they’ll still work,” said the former Charles Paddock Zoo employee, who’s lived off-grid in his van for…
Singer-songwriter and raconteur Pete Yorn plays the Fremont Theater
When Pete Yorn’s debut album, Musicforthemorningafter, was released in 2001, it was a revelation. This guy could write songs that seemed to speak to every listener. The critics ate it up. SPIN Magazine called Yorn “one of his generation’s best songwriters.” AllMusic wrote, “The Year 2001 belonged to Yorn.” Rolling Stone included his album in…
Atascadero cider festival will showcase the Golden State’s premier pommeliers
Core informationThe Central Coast Cider Festival will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Sunken Gardens, located at 6505 El Camino Real in Atascadero. For tickets, go to centralcoastciderfestival.com. Follow the festival on Instagram @ccciderfestival and on Facebook @centralcoastciderfestival. Apples are the holy grail for pommeliers. Derived from pomme,…
Casa Ramos Art Gallery hosts an End-of-Summer Artist Reception on Aug. 23
Casa Ramos Art Gallery in Los Osos is the place to be on Saturday, Aug. 23 (4 to 7 p.m.), when it hosts a community end-of-summer party featuring “colorful, feel-good artwork created exclusively by artists from Los Osos,” the gallery announced. “We’re representing an incredible emerging artist, Mike Golling,” gallery co-owner Elena Ramos Peffly said.…
DEYO Dances presents 17/NYC in Cal Poly’s Spanos Theatre Aug. 23 and 24
Local dance company DEYO Dances is offering two free performances of the world premiere of 17/NYC, featuring choreography by company founder and director Lisa Deyo, on Saturday, Aug. 23 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, Aug. 24 (2 p.m.) in Cal Poly’s Spanos Theatre. Visit deyodances.com and follow the link to free tickets. Deyo is a SLO…
Nobody 2 delivers a satisfying dose of violent comedy
NOBODY 2 What’s it rated? RWhat’s it worth, Anna? Full priceWhat’s it worth, Glen? Full priceWhere’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10 Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us) directs this sequel to the 2021 original about Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a seemingly docile family man who turned out to be a former…
The Better Sister is twisty whodunit amid sibling rivalry
What’s it rated? TV-14 When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Prime Chloe (Jessica Beil) and Adam’s (Corey Stoll) seemingly perfect life hides some dirty little secrets—ones they work hard to keep quiet. Chloe is a powerful editor-in-chief for The Real Thing, a feminist magazine that she’s determined to helm meticulously. When Adam fails to show up…
Butterfly is a family soap opera with action thriller trappings
What’s it rated? TV-16 When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Prime Daniel Dae Kim stars as David Jung, a former CIA operative living in South Korea. He’s presumed dead from an operation gone wrong nine years earlier, now living a quiet life with his new wife, Eunju (Kim Tae-hee). His big regret was leaving his then-14-year-old…
Morro Bay resident uses recycled surfboard resin to create sustainable jewelry
While her jewelry line was founded on the ethos of sustainability, Surf Gems creator Abby Ahlgrim said she’d be the first to say her business isn’t saving the planet. “We do rescue hundreds of pounds of resin from the landfill, but ultimately, it’s quite minimal. My hope is that folks wear the jewelry, and everywhere…
Policies at all levels of government impact our community’s resilience in the face of wildfire
This summer, climate change came home to San Luis Obispo County. In July, the Madre Fire burned more than 80,000 acres. Just days later, the Gifford Fire erupted and consumed more than 130,000 acres across SLO and Santa Barbara counties. Families have been forced to evacuate. Firefighters have been injured. Rural roads have been cut…
AB 715 would force dissent underground
Please contact your Assembly member and urge them to oppose Assembly Bill 715. AB 715, a bill designed to promote “educational equity, [stop] discrimination, [and lead to] antisemitism prevention” constitutes an insidious erosion of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I detest the occupation of Gaza by zealots; I have Jewish friends who…
Parachute drops are similar to paper towels: They don’t do much to help
Tax-funded parachute drops on rescue missions in Gaza reminds one of another intervention by Trump during a crisis. In September 2017 when Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria and left in ruin, its infrastructure was rendered useless and its people were in dire straits. Trump visited, arriving armed with paper towels that he lobbed…
Tree-son?
For the eighth year in a row, Finland has been crowned the world’s happiest country. Also, Finland is 75 percent forested. “I believe these facts are related,” British author Matt Haig wrote. Do trees make us happier? Yes, according to the USDA: “Studies have shown that trees benefit our mental and physical health. Spending time…
Gifford Fire tests helicopter capabilities after California emerges with world’s largest helicopter firefighting fleet
Santa Maria truck driver Rogelio Fernandez became one of the three civilians injured by the Gifford Fire on Aug. 1 while he transported oil on Highway 166. “We think he ended up getting stuck in traffic or having to pause on the highway to get to safety,” Fernandez’s son Oscar Fernandez said. “We think that’s…
