Oceano CSD board rejects Charles Varni twice for the parks and rec committee
Oceano Parks and Recreation Committee Founder Charles Varni is now on the outside looking in after the Oceano Community Services District twice turned down requests to appoint him to an advisory body. “I’ve seen Charles’ passion, and he was very instrumental in the track but when he’s on this board, up here … it’s a…
SLO County cities work to implement new statewide parking law
San Luis Obispo County will likely see a few more red curbs in coming months. This is thanks to California’s Assembly Bill 413, or “daylighting” law that prohibits cars from being parked 20 feet or closer to a crosswalk in an effort to avoid obstructing moving vehicles’ view of pedestrians and vice versa. SLO City…
Cayucos is turning 150 years old and is hosting a weekend of celebration
Cayucos, you don’t look a day over 140. The weekend of Sept. 19, the Cayucos Chamber of Commerce is hosting a three-day celebration of one of San Luis Obispo County’s favorite coastal districts—you heard that right, for three days Cayucos will be hustlin’ and bustlin’ for its big one-five-oh. Technically, Cayucos has been around since…
Democrats are taking down our once golden state bit by bit
For decades California has had a single political party running the show in Sacramento; this had led to a steady decay in education, infrastructure, and public safety; a massive growth in the homeless population; outrageous cost for housing; and ineffective use of taxpayer dollars. Two recent actions by our elected officials point out how bit…
The Central Coast Zoo should rethink its tiger plans
The newly rebranded Central Coast Zoo in Atascadero—formerly the Charles Paddock Zoo—likes to remind us that it is AZA-accredited, a “gold standard” in the industry. But accreditation should not be confused with adequacy. When it comes to housing tigers, one of the largest and most wide-ranging carnivores on the planet, adequacy is not enough. The…
Highest 2 Lowest reunites director Spike Lee and actor Denzel Washington in a rousing crime thriller
Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, BlacKkKlansman) directs Evan Hunter’s crime thriller screenplay about music mogul David King (Denzel Washington), who’s the target of a kidnapping ransom plot. It’s a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 Japanese film High and Low that was based on American writer Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom.…
We need the truth about Diablo Canyon
Thank you to Sierra Club’s Gianna Patchen and Andrew Christie for informing us about on an obscure hearing held by state Legislators on PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant. (“Lawmakers must get real answers to questions about Diablo Canyon’s safety, necessity, and affordability,” Sept. 11). In their commentary about the hearing, Patchen and Christie state, “In…
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish explores the relentless online harassment of teenager Lauryn Licari
Lauryn and Owen were just your typical high school couple—planning for prom, texting incessantly, and hanging with their besties. Things took a turn when both teens started receiving cruel online messages and texts from an unknown cyberbully. The messages often took aim at undermining the couple’s relationship and insulting Lauryn’s looks. UNKNOWN NUMBER: THE HIGH…
A response to Generation Build’s editorialÂ
The Central Coast doesn’t have a housing shortage (“The Central Coast desperately needs to build its way out of the housing crisis,” Aug. 7)—we have an affordability shortage. A quick look at today’s housing market tells the real story. On Aug. 4, 2025, Zillow showed 1,407 homes and lots priced at more than $1 million…
Friendship is a cringe-filled black comedy about a bromance gone wrong
Written and directed by Andrew DeYoung in his feature length debut, Friendship tells the cringey story of Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson), an advertising exec whose cancer-surviving wife, Tami (Kate Mara), recently took up with an ex-boyfriend, Devon (Josh Segarra), due to Craig’s emotional unavailability. Craig’s floundering at work and is friendless, but things begin looking…
Blame game
With San Luis Obispo pointing a finger at Cal Poly and Cal Poly pointing a finger right back at the city, the student party problem is never going to get solved. When residents complain about their drunk, loud, obscene neighbors to Cal Poly, the university says it’s the city’s problem. “The city is in charge…
Chart-topping folk ensemble The Head and the Heart plays Vina Robles on Sept. 26
On their new album, Aperture, beloved Seattle folk rockers The Head and the Heart have returned to their DIY roots. Singles like “Arrow,” “Beg Steal Borrow,” “Blue Embers,” “Time With My Sins,” and “After the Setting Sun” are getting traction and in some cases climbing the AAA (Adult Alternative Airplay) charts. During their career they’ve…
San Miguel’s Justin Lewis embraces roles as top chef at Riboli Family Wines, first-generation sheep farmer
The kitchen has always been Justin Lewis’ sanctuary. He pours his heart and soul into his craft, supporting “all things local, sustainable, organic, and fresh,” according to the San Miguel-based chef. Riboli raises the barExperience chef Justin Lewis’ innovative and sustainable cuisine at Riboli Family Wines establishments in Paso Robles and Los Angeles. For locations…
Seinfeld’s Cosmo Kramer, Michael Richards, comes to the Fremont on Sept. 25
There are a few names in comedy that are utterly unique, with a truly one-of-a-kind comedic style—people like Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Charles Grodin, Steven Wright, Zach Galifianakis, Ricky Gervais, and Sarah Silverman. Michael Richards is among this elite group. There’s no one like him before or since. Richards, now 76, is…
Cal Poly Arts presents Ballet Hispánico at the SLO PAC on Sept. 24
Cal Poly Arts presents Ballet Hispánico on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at the Performing Arts Center (7 to 8:30 p.m.; $47 to $71 at pacslo.org), performing “a collection of their renowned repertory works, including Club Havana,” organizers announced. “In this piece, choreographer Pedro Ruiz revives 1950s Havana’s vibrant nightlife, blending conga, rumba, and mambo into a…
Paso Picture Show presents Sideways (2004) with Q-and-A on Sept. 20
When Alexander Payne’s Sideways was released in 2004, it was a phenomenon that invigorated Santa Barbara and SLO counties’ wine regions and affected wine sales. In the film, Miles (Paul Giamatti) gushes about the wonders of pinot noir while bashing merlot, causing merlot sales to drop 2 percent while pinot noir shot up 16 percent.…
YTT Northern Chumash Tribe hopes to reclaim a plot of its ancestral land in Cayucos
Despite establishing the Central Coast as home long before any settlers, modern-day members of YTT Northern Chumash Tribe don’t have any land to call their own. But thanks to a California state effort to return ancestral land to natives, the tribe now has a shot at obtaining a 350-acre plot in Cayucos that can provide…
Mercy Air 34’s Paso Robles base closure spells the end of the only air ambulance in SLO County
It’s hard for Paso Robles dirt biker Primo Vargas to forget the memory of his fellow off-road rider being flung from his bike a decade ago during hill climbs in Pozo—breaking his back and neck in the process. But the life-saving impact of a medevac helicopter also left an indelible impression on him. “We were…
SLO denies all findings in grand jury report about unsanctioned frat parties
The city of San Luis Obispo denied all six findings of the SLO County grand jury report that alleged mismanagement of unsanctioned fraternity parties. “Even though this report, if you read it, might look like we disagree with everything and we are not implementing the things that have been recommended, we really all do care…
Cambria skate park met its fundraising goal for construction and now faces a county delay
After more than five years of effort, construction for the Cambria skate park is ready to go out for bid—but only after the county says so and the winter weather dries up. This is what Cambria Community Services District (CSD) Manager Matthew McElhenie said at a meeting on Sept. 11 as the CSD board reviewed…
