Cover Story
Crafting an industry: Paso wine country pushes into the art of distilling with grape juice, grains, and creativity
The sweet smell of fermenting wine is distinct in an area as saturated with grapes as the hills around Paso Robles are. But grapes are for more than wine, and it’s turning winemakers into distillers and grape juice into brandy and more. Four years ago, there were really only one or two distilleries disturbing the…
How do you feel about the closing of SLO Brew’s Garden Street location?
Michael Krout attorney “I’ve watched this place evolve from a hardware store to a clothing shop to SLO Brew, and it is the best. I come from New York City. When I moved here I was wondering about music and nightlife, and this place fulfilled my expectations, and I am really going to miss it.”…
Peachy keen: The Frog and Peach has got your music itch covered!
I know what you’re thinking. What the hell are we going to do in between Christmas and New Year’s Eve? SLO Brew’s done, everybody’s out of town or on a “stay-cation” (I’m looking at you, Glen!). It’s such a SLO time of year. It’s only one week, right? But the Frog and Peach Pub hasn’t…
Winter WonderSLO seasonal ice rink is at Madonna Expo Center until Jan. 3
Winter is coming! Oh wait, this is as wintery as it gets on the Central Coast. Soak up all the cold, wintery magical holiday happenings while you can. While San Luis Obispo isn’t quite cold enough for the town to have naturally frozen lakes to skate and frolic across, sometimes faking it till you make…
Paso Artsfest is accepting submissions for May show
While spring seems ages away as we bundle up and prepare for Christmas, it’ll be here before you know it. May brings flowers as well as the annual Paso Artsfest! Submissions for artists are currently open for the event now through Dec. 31. The main event of Paso Artsfest is an outdoor festival that will…
Last bash: One last dispatch from 1119 Garden St.
View a slideshow of the Night Riots’ Dec. 19 show at SLO Brew. Every music fan has at some point in their evolution heard something about the 27 Club. The “club” is made up of a running list of famous musicians that died at the much-too-young age of 27. The club has its founding members,…
Stepping into love: Dancing couple brings movement center to SLO
Alone in a foreign country and reeling off a fresh break up, dancer and San Luis Obispo native Ryan Lawrence wasn’t sure how things would turn out. After graduating from Julliard and dancing professionally in the United States, Ryan had just auditioned for and won a spot in the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, one of Europe’s…
The SLO Jewish Film Festival finds light in dark places
Genocide isn’t something any parent ever wants to have to tell their child about. But for Saul Rubinek, talking about one of the greatest human atrocities with his daughter was a question of when, not if. In 1948, Rubinek was born in a refugee camp in Germany to Polish Jewish parents, Israel and Frania. Prior…
Clubs 12/24/15 – 12/31/15
Goin’ South THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-5000, cliffsresort.com. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Rd. in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the Pismo Beach location every Fri. and Sat. from 6-9pm. Tennessee Jimmy Harrell and Doc Stoltey play on…
Figueroa Mountain’s Fifth Anniversary Doppelbock and Coastal Peaks Coffee
According to a note written on the back of this celebratory, wax-sealed bottle, Jaime Dietenhofer and his father, Jim, don’t know where the years went. “It seems like just yesterday we were delivering beer in the back of our pickup truck. We are so grateful for our family, friends, and customers for helping us grow…
Ring it on!
Balloon drop madness! Ring in 2016 at Madonna Inn, where New Year’s Eve guests dining in the steakhouse enjoy an all-inclusive meal, with champagne, party favors, decorations, and an amazing midnight balloon drop (tickets are still available at Madonnainn.com) … Novo will host its annual bash from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. with apps and…
One-woman bakery: Just Baked SLO is Santa Margarita’s newest sugary stop
The sweetest memories never seem to fade. Instead, they deepen with intensity over time. Annie Farrell can still smell the tangy sea air that invigorated early morning fishing outings with her family. Casting a long line off Santa Cruz pier, Farrell wasn’t concerned with reeling in a big catch. Instead, the young girl dreamed of…
Scroogebags and Grinches
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, but at least we’re finally getting some rain! Santa came early, all ye cattle wranglers of the Central Coast. The hills might actually get a green tint if this keeps up. And, yes, happy cows will once again reside in California. But, there’s a little bit of coal in…
Bernie vs. Hillary
Bernie Sanders once said, “I’m very proud that the state of Vermont banned fracking. I hope communities all over California, and all over America do the same.” Sen. Sanders has long been a champion for the environment and, as a presidential candidate, has pushed against fracking. “Fracking,” Mr. Sanders has knowledgably stated, “is inherently unsafe.…
An uplifting musical event in Morro Bay
A huge bouquet of thanks goes out to the dedication and talent of our local Morro Bay music teachers—one to Brynn Belyea, the band director and another to Colleen Wall, the choral director. The band concert on Monday was over the top and the choral concert on Tuesday (both at the lovely Cal Poly Performing…
New Times, how could you be so offensive?
I’m so dismayed that you would feature killing wild animals in New Times: Dec. 17, “Look alive now.” The scenes of all those dead trophy animals being displayed are disgusting. That New Times would feature “the glory of the hunt” and think this is appropriate journalism, especially at the holiday time of kindness and generosity…
Conservatives and democracy
Matt Kokkonen makes some compelling points in his piece “Stay home, terrorists” (Dec. 10). He writes that the religious culture of Syrian Muslims makes their worldview incompatible with freedom and democracy. While considering this, we should perhaps look at the broader picture. The problem isn’t that Islam specifically is incompatible with liberal democracy, but that…
A history major should know better
I was deeply saddened to learn that the person who is alleged to have made a death threat against SLO Solidarity leader Matt Klepfer is a history major. I would like to reaffirm what you already know: The hatred expressed in this death threat is entirely contrary to the values of the Cal Poly history…
Common sense?
For many of us these days, making sense of certain human behaviors seems to defy common sense. In fact, common sense doesn’t seem very common anymore. But was common sense ever very common? Before slavery was abolished, was it very common? Before women had won the right to vote, was it very common? An old…
Above and beyond: Local teens receive presidential honor for volunteer work in SLO County
Nick, 18, and Sarah Attala, 15, are not your typical SLO teens or even your typical pair of cousins. Nick and Sarah each spent more than 100 hours in 2015 volunteering at nonprofits in SLO County, earning high honors from none other than President Barack Obama. On Dec. 15, the Attalas were awarded Bronze and…
Cougars & Mustangs
Not alone? You. You’re not alone. “Of course I’m not alone, it’s the holidays, I’m surrounded by family and friends.” Then why is your smile so fake? “Because … because they are. Because I’ve never felt this discontent. Because everyone is expected to be on their best behavior, and for me that means hiding who…
Homecare giant ResCare faces lawsuit after caretaker with a criminal past allegedly attacked autistic man
The video is disturbing. It’s July 20 and the alleged victim, a severely autistic man in his early 20s, sits at a table playing with a puzzle in a living room. After arguing about what appears to be a possible trip to the beach, the man’s caretaker, identified as Scott Allen Rogers of ResCare HomeCare,…
SLO police seek info on rash of arsons
The SLO Police Department is offering concerned citizens cold hard cash for their help in catching whomever is responsible for setting a series of small fires throughout the city. Police announced earlier this month that a rash of small fires in multiple locations within the city this year were set intentionally, and officials are asking…
Rains bring bacteria warning for Central Coast beaches
SLO County health officials are warning residents to stay out of the water at the county’s beaches as the area experiences some of the season’s first hard rains. The county’s environmental health services department issued a rain advisory for all county beaches Dec. 22 as rain fell throughout the Central Coast area. The advisory didn’t…
SLO city polystyrene prohibition takes effect Jan. 1, 2016
The city of San Luis Obispo will operate polystyrene-free come 2016. A new ordinance that prohibits the use and sale of polystyrene containers in SLO becomes active on Jan. 1, 2016. The ordinance bans food and drink containers made of polystyrene, an unrecyclable and non-biodegradable material also known as Styrofoam, and forbids the retail sale…
Cambria receives most of withheld DWR grant
Four months after the Cambria Community Services District sounded the alarm about a poor financial situation it blamed in part on a grant being withheld by the state, the district’s got its money. The Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) qualified in 2014 for a $4.38 million grant from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to…
Grover Beach to ban medical marijuana cultivation
The city of Grover Beach is planning to follow in the footsteps of several other SLO County municipalities and move to ban the cultivation of medical marijuana. Members of the City Council discussed the issue at a Dec. 21 meeting and directed staff to develop an ordinance that would ban cultivation within the city. Currently,…
‘Grinchtastrophe’: Gifts collected for locals in need stolen from SLO Elks lodge
After a successful month-long Christmas gift drive at the San Luis Obispo Elks Lodge No. 322, Vivian Boaz went to do a few last minute collections on Dec. 19 before handing the gifts out the next day. When she arrived to the lodge and went to the office where the gifts we being kept behind…
