Cover Story
Your private public life
On a rainy Tuesday morning, Susan Matherly was hefting large stacks of paper and dropping them on a long desk in her office. “This is six months’ worth of stuff,” she said before returning to a corner of the room to retrieve a white cardboard box, about the size of a microwave, packed with hundreds…
Grover Beach council approves lodge project for a second time
Once again, the Grover Beach City Council unanimously approved plans for a long-awaited 121,370-square-foot lodge and conference center project at West Grand Avenue and Highway 1. The council had approved virtually the same project on Dec. 2, 2013, but two appeals, a procedural error, and a seawall dispute between the Coastal Commission and California State…
If you could do a background check on anyone, who would it be and why?
Andrew Kassouf student “A classmate in my geology class because he acts really, really shady all of the time.” Mickey Julian barista “My grandma, to see what she’s got going on. Maybe she has some skeletons in her closet.” Ellen Ray student “My dad, because he won’t tell me any stories about his college days,…
Lost in translation
Nyob zoo, Pismo Beach! Kuv lub npe hu ua Shredder. I’m taking a poll to determine the extent of support for this column in Pismo Beach. If it’s high enough, I’m going to propose that you all give me money. Really though, I’m going to propose that you give me money no matter what happens…
Supes OK drive-thru McDonald’s in Los Osos
A multi-year march has ended under the Golden Arches. On April 8, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved a contentious proposal to build a drive-thru McDonald’s restaurant in Los Osos. The hearing dragged on for almost five hours, drew more than 100 attendees, and featured a torrent of public comment from Los…
Date Night
Daydreaming of an afternoon, Spanish-style dinner and movie date with a loved one? Whether it’s time or money that’s stopping you, get your fix by taking advantage of Luna Red and the Palm Theatre’s, Date Night Deal. The deal gives any couple two free Palm Theatre movie passes, with the purchase of four different tapas,…
Belle Glos 2012 Pinot Noir Blanc Sonoma Coast and Meiomi 2012 Pinot Noir Central Coast
Belle Glos 2012 Pinot Noir Blanc Sonoma Coast This pretty pink wine is exquisitely dry yet expressively fruity. Named oeil-de-perdrix (French for eye of the partridge), it’s made with pinot noir grapes grown expressly for making this rosé, explained winemaker Joseph Wagner who also makes Meiomi wines. That means it’s not made from juice…
Earth Day is so much more than recycling bottles
I like to think of myself as green. I recycle constantly and conserve water, but I know I could do so much more. So can you. That’s why we greens appreciate the annual Earth Day Food & Wine Festival that will soon celebrate its eighth year in SLO County on Saturday, April 12. No matter…
Clubs 4/10/14
Goin’ South … THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Road, 773-5000 or cliffsresort.com. CUVEE BISTRO AND CHAMPAGNE BAR: 550 1st St., Avila Beach, 595-2245. Live music Thurs. and Sat. 6-9pm. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Road in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the…
Café Musique’s new album will amaze and delight!
Just when I thought Café Musique couldn’t get any better, along comes Half Step Behind, their third album that was two years in the making. “We should have called it Six Months Behind,” jokes violinist Brynn Albanese, who along with accordionist Duane Inglish, guitarist and vocalist Craig Nuttycombe, and bassist Fred Murray form the quartet…
Lifting the Vale: Vale Fine Art reveals 3rd Annual Group Show
If, like me, you’re still mourning the March 30 closing of the “Savages” exhibit at Studios on the Park, then your Paso prayers have just been answered. Around the corner and down the block on 12th street, Vale Fine Art has launched its “3rd Annual Group Show” curated by artist Neal Breton, auteur of “Savages”…
Civic Ballet’s ‘The Crucible’ brought the Devil down to SLO Town
The Spanos Theatre filled up fast Saturday night for the world premiere of The Crucible, Civic Ballet’s latest creation. SLO showgoers came out in force in a mix of party clothes and play clothes, from jeans and backpacks to quasi-prom numbers. It helps to have a 30-person cast—lots of family and friends to buy tickets—but…
San Luis Obispo Little Theatre faithfully renders Auburn’s award-winning ‘Proof’
According to Aristotle, “there is no great genius without a touch of madness,” and in this highly Aristotelian drama, the intersection of inspiration and insanity is explored through the medium of mathematics. Robert (Tom Ammon) is a former University of Chicago professor and a math genius who revolutionized multiple fields of study in his early…
Local publisher Outland Pictures’ new graphic novel, ‘Monkey Room,’ explores the collective unconscious
“I had a college professor who often quoted the million monkey scenario,” Monkey Room’s protagonist, Joshua Kettermen, tells us early on in his first-person narration. “He said—if you put a million monkeys in a room with a million computers, and let them pound the keys for millions and millions of years, they’d eventually produce the…
Money talks, apparently
The Supreme Court has just ruled that there should be no limit to the amount of campaign funds one may contribute. That sounds pretty innocuous until you consider that those with more will be able to contribute more, freely, without reservations. And how do you think the politicians will react? Of course, the more you…
Support the benefit assessment measure
Having served for the last years of my career as the fire chief of the Arroyo Grande/Grover Beach Fire Department, I would like to share some of the historical perspective, goals, and objectives regarding the formation of what is known today as the Five Cities Fire Authority. Though we achieved sharing of services only between…
Two bits: Shave, haircut, and haberdashery at The Ritual in SLO
Past the containers of moustache wax, past the Pabst sign, back, back, behind even the racks of shirts and bomber jackets, wait two barber chairs, one of which is presided over by the densely inked Sammy Mejia. The Ritual, a gentleman’s apparel, accessories, and lifestyle shop, opened as a companion to the woman-focused Hepkat in…
Cougars & Mustangs
Strange, but true: I spotted a discarded Cal Poly Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering shirt in a large recycle bin the other day. Jokes about “going green” aside, I am pleased to report that I have finally evolved past my nefarious, psychotic impulse to infiltrate Cal Poly’s Open House as a means to truly earn that…
An uncivil psyllid: SLO County gets a jump on a bug recently discovered in Arroyo Grande
One tiny bug recently found on a sticky paper trap hanging from a lemon tree in Falcon Ridge Estates in Arroyo Grande has caused a big stir. The Asian citrus psyllid, a little pest no bigger than the ubiquitous aphid, has become infamous among citrus growers in North America as it threatens to spread the…
Split decision: Despite vocal protests, a new ICE processing facility is coming to the Central Coast
After a months-long maelstrom of meetings, speeches, protests, and emotions, the Santa Maria City Council put an end to what has been an extremely divisive issue—the planned construction of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Santa Maria—with a narrow 3-2 vote to approve the project on March 27. Though the facility will be…
Morro fixes a chamber mix up
After discovering a bureaucratic oversight that allowed the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce to collect funds on an expired contract, city and chamber officials have cinched up an economic and business development agreement and payments for the remainder the year. On Feb. 26, New Times reported that the chamber received $34,081 in payments from the…
Advisable or not?
Nothing involving the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin is routine anymore. Much of the discussions surrounding the sprawling basin—which has seen declining water levels—and all the proposals of what to do about it, have been incredibly complex and at times very controversial. There have been, however, times in the past where—as far as water rights are…
Trash talk
Atascadero City Council opened a can of worms April 8 when members discussed the possibility of renegotiating a long-held contract for waste collections. The current contract for solid waste and recycling collection has been held by Atascadero Waste Alternatives Inc. (AWA), owned by Waste Management—the largest company of its kind in the United States—since 1996,…
Pay hike for SLO?
San Luis Obispo city councilmembers are scheduled to vote on whether to give a pay increase to themselves, city planning commissioners, and architectural review commissioners. If approved at a scheduled April 15 City Council meeting, city councilmembers will receive a $200 per month bump in pay to $1,200, while the mayor’s monthly salary will increase…
