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Holiday Guide 2021
Although social distancing, masking, and the weird haze of COVID-19 are still around, the holiday season of parades, tree lightings, and Santa pictures is back! Find out all about what will make the Central Coast holiday season a little brighter in our annual Holiday Guide, featuring San Luis Obispo’s commercial Santa Claus, Cal Poly’s fantastic…
Outrageous outrage
It’s hard to be mad at predictability. In the case of redistricting, the outcome of the map-narrowing process was predictable: What SLO County’s conservative majority of supervisors want, they get! And they’ll say “no” to everything else, including the map choices of 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson and 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg without a…
Newly signed Kill Rock Stars recording artist Caleb Nichols plays EP release party at SLO’s A Satellite of Love
I’ve been following Los Osos native, queer writer, and Cal Poly Librarian Caleb Nichols’ music career for many years now, watching his songwriting quietly blossom while he went about his life: earning a master’s in library and information science from San Jose, an English master’s from Cal Poly, a Ph.D. in creative and critical writing…
PCPA’s The Secret Garden boasts a charming cast and spirited mise en scène
That’s so Craven The Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) presents its production of The Secret Garden through Dec. 23, at the Marian Theatre, located at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria. Visit pcpa.org for tickets, admission policies, and more info. Before a single performer appears on stage, I’m already invested in PCPA’s spellbinding, and possibly foreboding,…
Oceano’s Great American Melodrama presents its traditional winter production, The Holiday Extravaganza
The Holiday Extravaganza premiered at the Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville in Oceano on Nov. 18. This traditional three-act winter production is scheduled to run through Dec. 31, with evening and matinee performances offered throughout the week (check americanmelodrama.com for ticket availability and prices). This annual production opens with a one-act version of Charles Dickens’…
Monday Clubhouse Conservancy of SLO accepts applications from high school students for Fine Arts Awards Competition
The Monday Clubhouse Conservancy of San Luis Obispo is now accepting applications from local high school seniors and juniors for monetary awards in its Fine Arts Awards Competition. Application categories include classical music, jazz music, and visual arts. The deadline to apply is Jan. 15, 2022, for classical and jazz musicians, and Feb. 3, 2022,…
Pismo extends water supply to Coastal Christian for fire suppression
Pismo Beach lent a watery helping hand to a local school to stave off possible fire outbreaks. The Coastal Christian School (CCS) received Pismo Beach City Council approval on Nov. 16 to top off its fire suppression water tanks with Pismo’s water supply when the school’s water reserve hits a low level during the fire…
New Pismo Beach exhibition showcases metaphysical paintings by Bay Area-based artist Leona Lee
Puffers of Pismo in Pismo Beach is currently showcasing artworks by Bay Area artist Leona Lee, who specializes in paintings with spiritual and metaphysical themes. Lee’s exhibit premiered on Nov. 18 and is scheduled to remain on display through Jan. 15, 2022. An artist reception to celebrate the exhibit will take place on Nov. 28…
SLO Food Bank hands out record number of turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving
The SLO Food Bank and other local organizations are working to make sure that every family in SLO County has a Thanksgiving meal on the table, with a record number of turkeys distributed ahead of the holiday this year. “We prepared pretty early for our Thanksgiving distribution,” said Emily Hansen, operations director at the SLO…
Ghostbusters: Afterlife delivers a kid-centric, nostalgia-driven homage to the 1984 original
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Downtown Center, Galaxy, Park, Stadium 10 Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) co-writes and directs this sequel to the supernatural comedy, Ghostbusters (directed by his father Ivan Reitman), about a team of parapsychologists…
Proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary moves to designation phase
About 140 miles of California’s Central Coastline will be protected from oil drilling and recognized for their cultural, economic, and ecological significance as the Biden administration moved to protect the area. The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary will advance to the designation phase: A robust process of public meetings and hearings to identify uses, impacts,…
Land
What’s it rated? PG-13 When? 2021 Where’s it showing? HBO Max Directed by and starring Robin Wright, this quiet and introspective film follows Edee’s self-imposed exile in the woods following the tragic and sudden loss of her family. She has a simple cabin and some land, but no idea how to survive. It seems like…
Field of feel-good: Sensorio Gives Back nights raise funds for local causes
If you haven’t yet made it out to the Sensorio Field of Light and the more recently installed Light Towers in Paso Robles, or perhaps you’re looking for a reason to make a second visit, Sensorio Gives Back might be the perfect occasion. One night a month, locals can enjoy artist Bruce Munro’s entrancing light…
Army of Thieves
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2021 Where’s it showing? Netflix German actor Matthias Schweighöfer was the funniest part of Zack Snyder’s early 2021 zombie film Army of the Dead, about a group of mercenaries that infiltrate quarantined zombie-infested Las Vegas to steal millions from an underground vault. His safecracker Ludwig Dieter, who in this film…
Meet Santa Cecil, a Santa Claus for hire offering variety of Santa services
SLOcal Santa Call (877) 757-2682 to book Santa Cecil for your next event, or visit his website, slosantaclaus.com, to sign your child up for the North Pole Club. In case you haven’t heard, between the U.S. labor shortage, COVID-19, and higher than normal demand, there’s a big Santa shortage this year, but never fear: Santa…
Pump up the ham: Cal Poly’s meat plant and pig program have been spreading holiday cheer for 20 years running
Pigs are famous for truffle hunting, Orwellian analogies, and stints on Looney Tunes. But a slew of Cal Poly students are reminding San Luis Obispo County of their most delicious offering—holiday hams. For the past 20 years, the university meat-processing plant called Cal Poly Meats has been selling high-quality pork in partnership with the Cal…
SLO County supervisors hone in on two finalist maps for redistricting
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will choose between two vastly different supervisorial maps at a pivotal redistricting hearing on Nov. 30. The divided supervisors whittled their map options down to two finalists at a contentious, all-day meeting on Nov. 19: one that makes substantial changes to the five current districts, and another…
Supply chain issues, staffing struggles are hitting the Central Coast, but business owners are finding creative ways to get ahead of the holidays
It’s almost that time of the year: Post-Thanksgiving, Black Friday is upon us, and the countdown to gift-giving season commences. But as supply chains grow increasingly strained, business owners may find themselves struggling to fill the shelves—and in turn, holiday shoppers may have a harder time filling their stockings. “When we were in the heart…
Central Coast baker Kaitlin Munoz fulfills lifelong dream with Proof and Gather
Get your goodies For direct order, customization, events, and vendor locations for Proof and Gather, contact owner Kaitlin Munoz via Instagram @proofandgather, or email kaitlin@proofandgather.com. Visit harvestly.co for home delivery of select products. Proof and Gather breads and pastries are hot commodities in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. From farmers’ markets and weddings,…
Parading again: Downtown SLO’s staple holiday event is back on Dec. 3 for its 45th anniversary
On the first Friday night in December for almost a decade, Carl Dudley of Pacific Western Bank has stood at the corner of Chorro and Palm streets in downtown San Luis Obispo and faced a line of cars and floats that stretched for blocks. When 7 p.m. strikes, and anticipation builds, Dudley, a volunteer since…
Grover Beach amends city codes to boost affordable housing
Grover Beach recently eased several of its city codes to increase affordable housing options for its residents. “The city’s development code updates are not being carried out with the intent of financial gain for the city, but instead are intended to encourage production of more housing units to help those who live and work in…
Forgotten
I have been a property owner and resident of Oceano for more than 20 years. Oceano is the largest Latino community in the county. On April 7, 2021, San Luis Obispo County signed a contract with Redistricting Partners LLC to serve as consultants to the redistricting process for county supervisors. In this contract there are…
Grand jury says Cambria is more fire resilient, but recommends another investigation
Fire resilience is a hot topic in Cambria right now. Just a month after the California Coastal Commission approved a vegetation treatment program for fire prevention, a recently released report details how the Cambria Community Services District (CSD) and other agencies worked to mitigate the town’s fire risk after the SLO County grand jury called…
Illogical ramblings
What a disappointment. It seems as though New Times is drifting further to the right with each passing week. First is your insistence upon running frequent columns by Al Fonzi, a veteran whose barely readable screeds present a jumbled version of Fox News and right-wing talking points that meander so illogically that attempting to follow…
In your hands
By now, redistricting is hopefully a word you have become familiar with. There may be no single issue facing SLO County as important as this one. While the redistricting process has been haunting us for a while now, the current process the SLO County Board of Supervisors has crafted for itself is something hard to…
