Cover Story
Fighting the ocean: Pismo Beach permitted a seawall that would protect three homes, but the California Coastal Commission has other plans
A prolonged tug-of-war between the California Coastal Commission and local agencies about the effects of sea-level rise has left several beachfront homeowners caught in the middle. One such couple is Tony and Marilee Hyman of Shell Beach, a coastal neighborhood in Pismo Beach. Since 1991, the Hymans have been living on a cove along a…
36th Annual Best of SLO County Readers Poll
Time to vote! Ballot is live now through March 14th at 5PM
SLO County to ask Gov. Newsom to keep Diablo Canyon open
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will formally ask Gov. Gavin Newsom to “do everything he can” to postpone the looming decommission of Diablo Canyon Power Plant. At its Feb. 15 meeting, SLO County supervisors heard from Stanford and MIT researchers who authored a recent paper making the case for keeping the plant…
Fire at Kansas Avenue safe parking site kills homeless woman
Tragedy hit San Luis Obispo County when a fire broke out at a county safe parking site, killing one of the people who was parked and sleeping there. At around 6 a.m. on Feb. 15, a homeless woman sheltering at the county-run Kansas Avenue safe parking site died in a fire that broke out in…
Atascadero is the last SLO County city to join 3CE
Atascadero residents will soon have a potentially less costly and more environmentally friendly choice when it comes to powering their homes. The City Council voted to join Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), a community choice aggregation program (CCA) that serves electricity to cities and counties across the Central Coast. Atascadero was the last city in…
Local vintners rack up awards and help establish Paso as the capital of American Rhones
Meet the makers Sample Rhone standouts at the Rhone Rangers Experience on Feb. 20 and the Hospice du Rhone gala on April 22 and 23 at the Paso Robles Event Center. For more details, visit rhonerangers.org and hospicedurhone.org. Follow the organizations on Facebook and Instagram @rhonerangers and @hospicedurhone. There was a time when drinking a…
Sommer Roman’s Nobles Among Us show at Cuesta College captures the connection humans have with the natural world
See it Visit the Harold J. Miossi gallery in person to see Nobles Among Us through April 1. The gallery is open on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment. An artist talk is scheduled for March 10 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 6304 on Cuesta’s SLO campus. Livestream it at bit.ly/noblesamongus.…
SLO County Arts Council launches digital hub for local artists
At the end of January, the SLO County Arts Council launched a digital directory to serve as a hub for local artists. Painters, sculptors, photographers, poets, writers, musicians, and dancers based in San Luis Obispo County are encouraged to join the directory, which aims to provide convenient networking access between artists, businesses, and other organizations.…
Upcoming garage sale scheduled to benefit arts scholarships
Art Central will hold its fifth annual Fundraising Garage Sale, Monday, Feb. 21, through Saturday, Feb. 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The sale will include a variety of gently used art supplies donated by local artists. Proceeds will benefit arts scholarships for graduating high school students heading into college. Visit artcentralslo.com…
Art Center Morro Bay presents new group show, Earth and Fire
Paintings, photographs, sculptures, mixed media works, and more will be on display in Art Center Morro Bay’s latest group exhibition, Earth and Fire. Participating artists in the show have submitted artworks that “reflect how we view our own fundamental beginnings, born of primitive elements, and how these origins resonate within ourselves,” according to press materials.…
Death on the Nile is old-fashioned but fun
DEATH ON THE NILE What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Bay, Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Park, Stadium 10 Kenneth Branagh (Belfast, Murder on the Orient Express) directs himself as novelist Agatha Christie’s famed Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. During a river vacation on the…
Develop and conserve
The proposed Dana Reserve residential development project in Nipomo, if approved, would allow for some 1,290 dwelling units, including single family homes, apartments, and condominiums, plus commercial development on a 288-acre, largely wooded property just west of Highway 101 and south of Willow Road. To do this, the project will destroy most of the existing…
The Other Two
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2019-present Where’s it showing? HBO Max This series snuck up on me—I hadn’t heard of it, but when I saw Molly Shannon, I knew it was probably going to be a funny ride. That’s a total understatement, and Shannon isn’t even carrying most of the comedic weight. Heléne York and…
‘Managed retreat?’
California’s beaches are enormously important to our state’s character. Whether they’re large swaths of sand or dramatic rocky cliffs, they’re quintessential California. Best of all, our 840-miles of coastland are all public property, and it’s the California Coastal Commission’s (CCC) job to protect the beaches and public access to them. But what if the CCC’s…
Hunter Hunter
What’s it rated? Not rated When? 2020 Where’s it showing? Hulu, Amazon Prime, Yidio, Fandango Writer-director Shawn Linden (Nobody, The Good Lie) helms this unusual crime thriller that starts as a wilderness survival story but turns into a serial killer cat-and-mouse tale with a gory turn. It’s gripping and goes in some unexpected directions. Joseph…
Camp Natoma celebrates 80 years of outdoor experiences
Camp Natoma—nestled in the Adelaida mountains west of Paso Robles—has been sharing the gift of the outdoors with kids for 80 years. For camp Executive Director Emily Zbin, the Natoma legacy has touched multiple generations of her family. “My grandparents actually worked at the camp in the 1950s,” Zbin said. “They were school teachers in…
California Supreme Court denies request to intervene on SLO County redistricting
California’s highest court denied a local group’s request to place an immediate hold on San Luis Obispo County’s redistricting map and overturn a superior court ruling enabling its use for the June primary election. In a surprise move, the San Luis Obispo County Citizens for Good Government appealed the local court’s Feb. 9 decision directly…
Classic American rock act The Blasters plays The Siren on Feb. 19
It should now go without saying that it’s always a good idea to confirm with the venue that the show will go on, and this week there’s a bunch of great ones. As of press time, here’s what we’ve got: The Siren American roots masters The Blasters play The Siren on Sunday, Feb. 19 (9…
Paulding out to big fundraising lead as SLO County supervisor races heat up
Seven candidates are competing for three open seats on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in the upcoming June primary election. And that field could get more crowded soon, as the county officially opened the nomination period for candidates on Feb. 13. Thus far, Arroyo Grande City Councilmember Jimmy Paulding is substantially outraising…
Grover Beach approves cost-sharing plan for Central Coast Blue
The Central Coast Blue project is rolling closer to takeoff after Grover Beach approved the cost-sharing agreement, marking a milestone in a long-deliberated regional effort to curb southern San Luis Obispo County’s water problems. “This is an incredibly important project, a project that the entire county is looking at to see how we can improve…
Morro Bay council passes resolutions on abortion, health care
Should local governing bodies take stances on issues they can’t pass laws on? Ask the Morro Bay City Council. In recent weeks, council members have weighed in on hot button state and federal issues, leading some residents to question the productivity of doing so. On Jan. 25, the council passed a resolution “affirming the city…
