Bites! 

It’s that time of year again. It’s time for pictures of women about to finish crossword puzzles. It’s time for pictures of women doing yoga on top of a bar. It’s time for pictures of women pouring bottles of Jameson down fellow female friends’…. end zones. Not what you were thinking? Sure, it’s the season of eggnog, dreidels, and miraculously boring family newsletters, but it’s also that time of year again when McCarthy’s bar releases its Women of McCarthy’s calendar.

The calendar is back again, after a 2011 hiatus under the creative direction of Benjamin Jordan, who created the calendar in 2010 and donated the proceeds (more than $1,000) to Planned Parenthood. New Times photographer Steve E. Miller took the photos, and layout and design credit goes to Dora Mountain.

Jordan was a bartender at McCarthy’s for seven years. The idea of a calendar featuring McCarthy’s female patrons came to him and fellow McCarthyian, Patrick Kirby, a few years ago.

“We were just sitting there after work one evening and we thought, ‘We should do a calendar!’ And I thought Planned Parenthood is a great organization and it would be the perfect home for the money,” he said.

Jordan knew exactly what he wanted to see when he opened up the pages of the calendar: “It would be easy for me to walk up Higuera Street and try to find a few cupcake, calendar girls,” he said, “but these are all beautiful women who really are a part of the McCarthy’s family.”

The shoot took one weekend and originally all of the proceeds were again supposed to go to Planned Parenthood, but when one of McCarthy’s own fell ill, the plan changed.

“One of the cover models, De Ann Troutner, is the matriarch [of the bar],” Jordan said. “She’s loved throughout the community, and she’s very well known. Last year she found out she had a growth in her throat. Thankfully it wasn’t cancerous, but we decided the proceeds should go to her to help offset some of her medical costs.”

Jordan said Troutner has touched the community far and wide, including his own family. Jordan said he still plans on making good on his promise to Planned Parenthood, and depending on the final sales from the calendars, he’ll still cut them a check. Calendars are for sale at McCarthy’s Bar in San Luis Obispo for $15.

Intern Maeva Considine compiled this week’s column. We want a Bite! Send us your food, wine, and related news at [email protected].