Cover Story
Grapes and grades: Allan Hancock College’s campus winery gives students opportunities to learn the art of making and selling award-winning wine
Taste for yourself Allan Hancock College’s campus winery offers flights of four to five wines every Friday afternoon. Varieties include albariño, torrontes, chardonnay, rosé, pinot noir, and syrah, all grown and made on campus. The winery also offers cabernet sauvignon made with fruit donated from Paso Robles. The winery recently released its 2017 Hancock vineyard…
One door closes
Say goodbye: Oh boy. This tidbit of information is a major bummer for San Luis Obispo—Fromagerie Sophie is closing on Saturday, March 16, so visit this downtown European-style cheese paradise while you still can. The downtown shop’s owners, Sophie and Paul Doering, announced the decision on March 3, saying that after five years of business,…
Film Listings, 3/7/19 – 3/14/19
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Matinee Where’s it showing? Galaxy Pick Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet Terror) directs Rosa Salazar as Alita, a half-human, half-advanced cyborg, who finds vengeance for the people of the post-apocalyptic world, Iron City, while finding out about her past. The movie…
A different take
My sister has been served at NCI Affiliates for the past seven years. She moved to California with my mother from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to live with me. While living in Oklahoma she was not afforded the opportunity to have sustainable employment and worked at a little restaurant down the street busing tables, making $20 total…
Several doors open
Eat up: SLO is getting another sandwich shop! Ike’s Love & Sandwiches is opening its first location in San Luis Obsipo (and 57th location overall) at 1028 Chorro St. On Friday, March 8, Ike’s is celebrating its grand opening, and the first 50 customers through the door will receive one free sandwich. Bubblegum Alley is…
Oso Flaco Lake is worth preserving
California State Parks has proposed a new, southern dune buggy entrance to the off-highway vehicle area at Oso Flaco Lake. This is a disastrous idea—and it undermines the multi-decade efforts of The Nature Conservancy, the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others in creating the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes…
Team green
Beer me: ‘Tis the season of the leprechaun, clovers, and a very American celebration of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland (and an excuse to drink Guinness and eat lots of corned beef and cabbage). And while most of San Luis Obispo will brave the early morning to stumble out of their favorite bar…
Spring Arts, 2019
Check out all of the artsy happenings in Northern Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties!
Music education in schools is ‘on key’
The great American composer Leonard Bernstein once said, “Music can name the un-nameable, and communicate the unknowable.” This concept—that exposure to music provides intrinsic value outside of just entertainment—is why schools have long made music education a central part of educating the whole child. While language arts, civics, and STEM education are critical in successfully…
I’m screamin’
There’s something about the rain that gives me a hankering for ice cream. I know it sounds weird, but stay with me. When you feel those cold drops of water on your face and the sweet chill of frozen cream on your tongue, it’s like you’re breaking all of the rules and running away to…
Twin Cities hip-hop act Atmosphere hits the Fremont Theater on March 10
Atmosphere, a Minneapolis-based hip-hop duo, can lay down some dark, muscular sounds, like “Try to Find a Balance,” about the rough and tumble poser-filled cutthroat rap scene, or “Guarantees,” about the grind of being exploited in a dead-end job. It’s gritty, authentic stuff, but give me their track “Sunshine” instead, please! Their stylish studio-filmed, animation-enhanced…
Studios on the Park’s Valiant show depicts bravery in art
On view The Valiant art exhibit, featuring works from members of the Paso Robles Art Association, will be on display at Studios on the Park through April 3. For more information, visit studiosonthepark.org. The gallery is open Monday through Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m., Thursday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., and Friday…
‘Greta’ is a dark and creepy female-centric thriller that’s a tad short on thrills
GRETA What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee Where’s it showing? Galaxy, Park, The Palm, Stadium 10 Co-writer/director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, The Good Thief) helms this horror mystery about lonely widow Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert), who’s befriended by Frances McCullen (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young woman…
‘After Everything’ film crafts a new romantic narrative
See it at the Fremont After Everything will show at the SLO Film Festival March 17 at the Fremont Theater following the closing night awards at 6 p.m. General admission for the film and award ceremony is $15; students get in for $12. All festival passes are accepted for this event. Visit slofilmfest.org for more…
I will continue to fight for Oso Flaco
Forty years ago, I moved to this area and became immediately involved with a group from the local Sierra Club seeking to limit the expansion of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA) into the sensitive habitats surrounding Oso Flaco Lake. Kathleen Goddard Jones, Gaylord Jones, Malcolm McCloud, Dirk and Bonnie Walters, Bill Deneen,…
Blast from the Past: 8 Mile
When? 2002 What’s it rated? R Where? Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes When Eminem burst onto the rap/pop culture scene in 1999 with the shocking and brilliant The Slim Shady LP, he horrified suburban parents across the nation. America heard an unhinged, angry wordsmith throwing up a violent middle finger to pretty much everything and everyone—and…
Say no to Oso Flaco entrance
State Parks proposed to add a campground and off-highway vehicle (OHV) staging area at the Oso Flaco Lake day-use area to facilitate access to the existing Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA). Better access points to the OHV area would be through the Railroad Avenue, Silver Spur Place, or Callender Road, locations considered in…
Defense seeks gag order in capital murder case
Attorneys representing a 42-year-old man accused of raping and murdering a Paso Robles woman are asking a judge to keep the media and public in the dark about developments in the highly publicized case as it moves toward trial in SLO County. Defense attorneys for Carlo Alberto Fuentes Flores filed a motion seeking a gag…
Opposition to illegal immigration isn’t racism
As a native Californian and Democrat, I am amazed and deeply disappointed in the perspective that illegal immigration is a manufactured crises. Those who believe this are either severely out of touch with the deleterious effects this issue has had on California or so politically entrenched in the Democratic Party/mainstream media obsession with destroying Trump…
Affordable housing can happen in Cambria
More than half of the room at the Cambria Community Services District meeting on Feb. 28 was filled with residents who supported an amendment that would make affordable housing a possibility in the area. Business owner and Cambria Chamber of Commerce member Fidel Figueroa was among the supporters. He was speaking on behalf of himself…
Community Foundation announces ballet scholarship recipient
The Community Foundation of SLO County announced Grace Shirley as this year’s recipient of the Jennifer Thoma Memorial Ballet Scholarship. Shirley, 15, is an honors student at Templeton Independent High School and plans to use the $2,500 scholarship to attend the Alonzo King Lines Ballet’s intensive summer program in San Francisco from July 8 to…
SLO County eyes new rules on well drilling
San Luis Obispo County supervisors are exploring what it’d take to bolster the county’s authority in issuing groundwater well permits. Following a report about groundwater conditions in the Adelaida region of the North County on Feb. 26, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to have its staff look at how it could increase the level…
The real deal on becoming climate leaders
San Luis Obispo is poised to become one of the most ambitious municipalities when it comes to climate action. Our local Climate Reality Project chapters, Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo County, have emerged to facilitate this action by empowering local residents and students to become active leaders for climate action. Our goals align with…
Scoping hearings for oil pipeline project begin
The lengthy process of determining whether a pipeline company responsible for a 2015 oil spill will be allowed to replace more than 100 miles of pipeline through SLO, Santa Barbara, and Kern counties kicked off with hearings and protests in two Central Coast cities. Hearings about the scope of an environmental review for Plains All…
Take the deal
Immediately before and after the Feb. 7 introduction of the Green New Deal resolution by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), let the record show that the opinion pages of The Tribune and New Times— with the exception of my previous column here and The Shredder’s call to “Make America…
Grover Beach could have its first affordable housing project
The 5 Cities Homeless Coalition (5CHC) is currently in escrow to purchase the Hillside Church property in Grover Beach so it can provide a variety of homeless services, including transitional housing and permanent supportive housing, in collaboration with Peoples’ Self-Help Housing. Matthew Bronson, Grover Beach city manager, said he wants to emphasize that the idea…
SLO Girl Scouts organize book drive
Four members of Girl Scout Troop 70452 in SLO—Tess Bolster White, Katie Geise, Katya Harris, and Aggie Moody—organized a book drive to benefit Liz and Dan Krieger, who donate books to local elementary schools and host periodic book events, and the SLO Library’s Teen Room. Those interested in donating new or gently used books (for…
Sheriff’s Office searches for motive in pregnant woman’s murder
As friends, family, and the community try to come to grips with the shocking murder of a 27-year-old pregnant woman in Paso Robles, investigators have yet identify just what caused her longtime boyfriend to allegedly commit the crime. Investigators say they believe that Daniel Ruiz Rodriguez Johnson murdered the woman, identified as 27-year-old Carrington Jane…
The blame game
Looks like we’re still playing the “Is he or isn’t he an illegal alien?” game when it comes to Carlo Alberto Fuentes Flores, 42, accused of raping and murdering Paso Robles resident Nancy Woodrum, 62. You’d be forgiven for asking, “Who gives a shit? Is he guilty or not? Isn’t that what really matters?” Normally…
Arroyo Grande questions whether it can stick with the Five Cities Fire Authority
Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, and Oceano have been bound together since 2010 by a joint powers agreement to maintain fire protection service through the Five Cities Fire Authority. On Feb. 26, Arroyo Grande City Council members discussed whether the city could remain in the joint powers agreement. Mayor Caren Ray Russom said Arroyo Grande wants…
Open Canvas Gallery in SLO holds grand opening
Open Canvas Gallery, a new artist-run gallery collaboration with Open Canvas Laser, celebrates its grand opening with a reception on Saturday, March 16, from 3 to 9 p.m. Local fine art and handcrafted jewelry will be on display. The gallery is located at 1242 Monterey St., suite 110, SLO. Visit ocgallery.com for more information. Δ
Community division, accusations imperil York Mountain medical marijuana project
Plans for 3 acres of outdoor medical cannabis cultivation and seven greenhouses on agricultural land in North County are in limbo after SLO County supervisors delayed a decision on the project at a Feb. 26 appeal hearing. The appeal hearing—the first of its kind for a cannabis project in SLO County—lasted four hours and showcased…
Sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their thoughts on our March 7 news story, “Carbajal backs Green New Deal bill.”
Diversity Coalition San Luis Obispo: Five cities organization rebrands to serve entire county
The Five Cities Diversity Coalition is expanding to serve the entire county and recently renamed itself Diversity Coalition San Luis Obispo. Its purpose is to promote positive human understanding and behavior through charitable, scientific, and educational efforts at the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, ability, and all other aspects of identity. The…
Restaurant romance: The couple that just opened Sidewalk Café got their start serving up famous clam chowder near the beach
Feed your hunger Step into the Sidewalk Café Monday and Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit the café on Facebook to check out its menu. You can find the café in the Arroyo Grande Village at 130 W. Branch St., suite…
