Cover Story
Rebellion to reason: Local developer Cliff Branch writes about growing up in the counterculture in ‘American Made: A Boomer’s Reflection’
Some books don’t know what they want to be, but in their confusion turn out to be more important than one could imagine. Take local developer Cliff Branch’s American Made: A Boomer’s Reflection. Part memoir of 1950s boys’ life, the ’60s counterculture, and the ’70s free love generation; part inspirational entrepreneurial and marketing success story;…
What was your favorite Halloween costume, and where did you get it?
Christine Kilcline-Schalwitz dermatologist “Carmen Miranda. I got most of it from a thrift store and got the hat from a local costume store.” Matthew Martinek retired engineer “I’m going to be an Aussie. I put it together myself, and got the wig at a wig shop.” Nate Adamski hard cider marketer “I rented an Austin…
The New Times Music Awards comes to Fremont Theater on Sept. 25, in a celebration of the local music scene
Think of the New Times Music Awards as the local Grammy Awards, but without future President Kanye West spewing things like, “I am Warhol! I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney, Nike, Google,” or, “When someone comes up and says something like, ‘I…
Clubs 9/24/15 – 10/1/15
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…
SLOMA offering drop-in art classes
Being an adult is overrated. You’re supposed to have “made it” somewhere in life and the fun part—learning new things—is considered pretty much over. Not true if you ask me. Just last week, I learned how to skim board, hang glide, and make my own sausage. Next, I might even try my hand at painting…
SLO County Air Pollution Control District holding first-ever mural contest
People move to SLO for a whole host of reasons, including: the pretty pretty landscape, the nice “folksy” people, the amazing weirdness of Bubblegum Alley, and—of course—the fact that you will never have to wear a suit or pantyhose ever again if you don’t want to (if you do, you’re just weird). However, there is…
All three ‘Back to the Future’ movies screen on Sept. 26 at Fremont Theater for a Special Olympics fundraiser
This Saturday, Sept. 26, Special Olympics hosts a fundraising event at the Fremont Theater where the Back to the Future trilogy will be screened in its entirety beginning at 4 p.m. Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine will also be on display. In 1985, co-writer and director Robert Zemeckis (Forest Gump) and executive producer Steven Spielberg…
Enter the nests of local artists during ARTS Obispo’s Open Studios Art Tour
Life has a way of getting in the way of itself. Dreams simmer on the back burner while bills get paid and kids get raised. Epiphany—hopefully—comes before you’re too jaded to do what you always knew you could. When Catherine Lemoine moved from Glendale to Nipomo a decade ago to take care of her ailing…
Documentary decodes Vermeer at Spanos Sept. 30
The Girl With the Pearl Earring isn’t giving up any secrets, and she’s a bit smug about it. We know that Dutch 17th century painter Johannes Vermeer painted her wet blue eyes, cryptic earring, and coyly parted lips—but that’s about it. Centuries after her death, she continues to smolder with irresistible mystery. Scholars are still…
Toro Creek Brewing Co’s Session IPA and Big Sky’s Mint Iced Tea
The ocean view from Toro Creek Brewing Co.’s hop field is beyond epic. Located on a towering peak halfway between Morro Bay and Atascadero, the sticky cones bask in the sun while enjoying calm, coastal breezes. The best of these estate-grown hops make it into new beers like Toro Creek’s Session IPA, released during Castoro…
Drinky things
Think pink! Madonna Inn has a brand new climate controlled wine room unlike anything else available on the Central Coast. You’re welcome to take a peek (it’s located off the dining room in the Gold Rush Restaurant) and see what’s pouring now at 100 Madonna Road … Master mixologists are ready to teach you everything…
Oktoberfest overload: SLO celebrates with a smorgasbord of shindigs
With her striking pink chef’s coat, Madonna Inn Kitchen Manager Jacqui Hanover actually matches dessert. Thick, pink curls adorn the heaping slice of Bavarian cream apple spice cake set before us—and it tastes exactly like fall. I’m stuffed. I’ve already devoured warm pretzels flecked with chunks of salt, a frothy taste of Firestone Walker DBA,…
Priorities!
Dear students, you’re back! You drive like assholes and you’re too loud—everyone knows that. More importantly, however, you’re rapist- and violence-magnets, but what SLO City Councilman John Ashbaugh is really worried about is that y’all left your trash cans on the street. WTF? Get your shit together, punks! Also, when is a driveway a driveway?…
Why I support the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary
We are at a crossroads regarding the responsible protection off our oceans of the world. In a word: Our oceans are in danger of dying in the not too distant future unless we take mitigating actions. We as a coastal community can do our part by supporting the establishment of the Chumash Heritage National Marine…
Bill Morem: An appreciation
Bill Morem’s path first crossed mine 13 years ago when I was working freelance in San Francisco, trying to peddle my columns to editorial page editors across the state. I was cold-calling them and being greeted by the wild enthusiasm that you might expect a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman to receive. It was gloomy work. Until,…
Our nonprofits should be more transparent
Thank you for publishing the opinion piece “Silence is Golden … ” in the Sept. 10 New Times. As a symphony lover and retired journalist, I’d been hoping that at least one of the several publications that has breathlessly covered the recent SLO Symphony meltdown would write about the board’s composition, charter, and bylaws and…
The human condition has turned this world upside down
In 1925 when I was born, there were fewer than 2 billion people on this small fragile planet—now there are 7.4 billion. In nature all population explosions are followed by a population collapse. We are ripe. We create deserts, pollute our water, cut down forests, melt our ice caps, modify our planet, and in my…
The rail expansion debate isn’t about NIMBY
The Phillips 66 “rail expansion” is a euphemism for the railroad depot proposed across Highway 1 from hundreds of residences at Monarch Dunes. That depot would take about two years to construct on the sands south of the refinery in an area already polluted by particulate matter at a dangerous level. Phillips proposes bringing in…
Fact vs. fear in the Phillips 66 debate
A vocal minority has raised alarm about mostly imagined hazards from transporting oil to the Nipomo refinery via railroad. Many people are ignoring the facts and the tangible impact on the families and community if the project is denied. Crude by rail has been a safe mode of transportation throughout California for decades. About 200…
Giving Alzheimer’s a helping hand
Alzheimer’s can be a tough situation for everybody. No one wants to see a loved one experience any form of dementia, and helping them through it can be a very emotional and taxing process that leaves caregivers feeling drained and isolated. One care provider is trying to address that a little bit at a time…
Cougars & Mustangs
“An artsy town? Really? Whitewashed ol’ San Luis Obispo?!” Yup. If you know where to look. No, not over there. That’s Bubblegum Alley. Consider the following example: Cuesta College’s Harold J. Miossi Art Gallery. The gallery is nestled snugly in a coat of murals between the music building and the Cultural and Performing Arts Center.…
The bridges of SLO: Local bridges offer a window to the infrastructure needs of the state and nation
The Marsh Street bridge rises up out of a dense tangle of vegetation. Framed with cracked concrete, the sounds of the vehicles that pass over it echo in the deep culvert. It’s one of the busier bridges in the city. An estimated 10,000 cars pass over the bridge each day, in addition to numerous pedestrians,…
History for sale: Costume Capers closes after 30 years in business
Mannequin heads are shoved together along floor-to-ceiling shelves, adorned with florescent-colored wigs and sunken-faced masks. Racks of clothing go up to the rafters and snake around, filling in the space between stuffed boxes labeled with a Sharpie—handwritten notes spell out a decrease in prices and advise that all sales are final. The hodge-podge visual tells…
Voting made easy–AB 1461 could add millions of voters to the rolls
The California motor voter act, which passed both houses of the Legislature Sept. 10, has been waiting in legislative limbo ever since. The controversial bill would automatically register all eligible voters who obtain a driver’s license, a move that could bring millions of new voters to the rolls in California. Proponents call it an important…
Officers plead ‘not guilty’ in LEAD boot camp abuse case
Three Los Angeles-area police officers appeared in SLO court on Sept. 21 to plead not guilty to charges that they abused children at a disciplinary boot camp held at Camp San Luis Obispo earlier this year. South Gate Police Department officers Edgar Yovany Gomez and Carlos Manuel Gomez-Marquez and Huntington Park Police Department officer Elizabeth…
California state lawmakers pass act to regulate medical marijuana
A landmark legislative package that would regulate the medical marijuana industry passed both the California Senate and Assembly, and now awaits a signature from Gov. Jerry Brown. The laws would create a much in-demand framework for regulation and oversight of the state’s sprawling medical marijuana industry. Many across the industry are also saying that the…
Grover Beach to send letters of concern over oil trains
The Grover Beach City Council voiced its opposition to the Phillips 66 rail spur project at its regular meeting Sept. 21. The council voted unanimously to draft a letter to the federal government addressing concerns over the issue of transporting crude oil by rail, which lies at the heart of the rail extension project. The…
Oil company operating in Price Canyon applies for aquifer exemption
Old Oak Park Road resident Natalie Beller thinks she’s a very lucky woman to live in the canyons east of Pismo Beach. And she thinks ongoing expansion activities at Freeport McMoRan’s hub in Price Canyon have the potential to drag that vision of paradise away from her. Beller said as much during a recent Department…
