New Times, Aug. 21, 2025

Canopy hazards

San Luis Obispo residents want to save the trees, but the city’s focused on ensuring a healthy urban forest [8]

BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL

Editor’s note

Cracked pavement, diseased and dying trees, and proposed development are just a handful of reasons San Luis Obispo allows trees to be removed. But some residents aren’t happy with the city’s Tree Committee, which does the removal approval, the city’s arborist, or city policies when it comes to trees. Tree controversy is nothing new in San Luis Obispo and the residents who aim for the city to leave the trees be are vocal. Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal speaks with city residents and officials about the issue and the city’s approach to maintaining a healthy urban forest [8] Also in this issue, read about the Gifford Fire’s last gasps and impacts [4]; Spring Break Jake at The Bunker [22]; and the upcoming Cider Festival in Atascadero [30]

Camillia Lanham editor

cover courtesy photo by Fitz Kelly cover design by Alex Zuniga

PLUCKED Despite community pushback, San Luis Obispo removes one of the three carrotwood trees near the SLO Senior Citizens Center at Mitchell Park on account of their roots damaging the sidewalk.

At the Gifford Fire’s peak, 32 helicopters helped battle the blaze

Santa Maria truck driver Rogelio Fernandez became one of the three civilians injured by the Gifford Fire on Aug. 1 while he transported oil on Highway 166.

“We think he ended up getting stuck in traffic or having to pause on the highway to get to safety,” Fernandez’s son Oscar Fernandez said. “We think that’s how he got injured. But we’re still not 100 percent sure because all we know is that someone called for a medical, like a helicopter, and they transported him to Marian hospital in Santa Maria.”

Fernandez, 59, sustained third-degree burns over 22 percent of his body on the day the fire started, covering his head, neck, arms, hands, upper back, and torso. Once he was stable, a helicopter transported Fernandez from Marian Regional Medical Center because the hospital doesn’t have a burn unit.

For the past two weeks, he’s been recovering at a hospital in Bakersfield. His daughter organized a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for medical costs.

“My mom got a call from my dad’s work saying they found his truck running and that he wasn’t near the truck,” Oscar said. “We didn’t know where he was at for like four, six hours.”

Nine firefighters were also injured in the Gifford Fire, the largest blaze in California so far this year. More than 2,400 personnel were still assigned to managing the fire as of Aug. 20 with the help of equipment that included six helicopters.

At the fire’s peak, Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service used 32 helicopters for tasks including mapping the flames that engulfed parts of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

“They can do the perimeter of the fire and that will tell them exactly how many acres it is,” Gifford Fire Public Information Office Rich Eagan said. “They also have the infrared so they can detect any hot spots.”

“We had at least one CF helicopter conducting helitorch operations,” Grebe said via email. “Most helicopters are used for water drops on fires, while others serve as rescue/EMS standby or as HELCO [helicopter coordinator] to coordinate large waterdropping helicopters.”

The helitorch helped fight fire with fire, setting a small number of backfires northwest of the flames. Carefully controlled by firefighters using a blowtorch on the Cal Fire helicopter, the backfires consumed combustible material like vegetation in the path of the growing wildfire. The process

said that a new night-flying aerial supervision helicopter helped with nighttime water drops carried out by firefighting helicopters.

“Aerial supervision pilots, commonly known as air tactical supervisors, communicate with firefighters on the ground and helicopters to deliver water and fire retardant to the fireline,” the Facebook post read.

Staffed by the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region Helicopter Group, the H-508 helicopter entered service on Aug. 5 and is the first federal aircraft in California with such a capability.

Helicopters’ firefighting capabilities were tested a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the addition of two Sikorsky S-70i Firehawk helicopters, making Cal Fire’s Firehawk fleet of 16 the largest in the world. Assistant Fire Chief Tom Swanson of the Cal Fire SLO County Fire Department told New Times that at least one Firehawk was used to fight the Gifford Fire, which came from Hollister Air Attack Base.

Cal Fire also used fixed-wing tankers and many Type 1 helicopters, according to Cal Fire’s SLO County Fire Capt. Ryan Grebe.

Hundreds of incarcerated inmates help fight Gifford Fire

Of the nearly 5,000 personnel who were assigned to the Gifford Fire, 300 of them were incarcerated inmates voluntarily doing the same dangerous work expected of any firefighter.

That’s what California Incident Management Team 8 Public Information Officer Rich Eagan said after observing them working during the 131,000acre blaze in SLO and Santa Barbara counties over more than two weeks in early August.

“They all contributed equally, the inmates working with us,” Eagan said. “It’s tedious, hard work. You’ve got the two guys on the chainsaw,

created a firebreak, which is a belt with nothing left to burn.

Cal Fire also used C-130 airtankers that can dump 4,000 gallons of retardant—a jump from older models that could release 3,000 gallons.

The state agency tapped into six night-flying helicopters based out of the Paso Robles Air Attack Base. Two Chinook helicopters armed with 2,300-gallon tanks pulled water from Santa Margarita Lake.

In a Facebook post, Los Padres National Forest

and then the rest of the guys fall in line and do everything else like our guys do. … They have the same duties that we do out here, which is to keep your equipment 100 percent ready at all times.”

According to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Communication Officer Todd Javernick, 294 inmates from all over the state assisted Cal Fire on the Gifford Fire since it started on Aug. 1. Due to safety and security concerns, he told New Times that he couldn’t share from which facilities.

The opportunity is made possible through the Conservation Fire Camp Program, run jointly by Cal Fire and CDCR. According to the CDCR’s FAQ page, there are 35 camps throughout 25 counties.

Los Padres National Forest spokesperson Andrew Madsen told New Times that multiple fires over the last decade were handled using a night flying helicopter for the four southern national forests.

“In the overnight hours, the humidity levels recover and the marine influence drops temps and wind speeds,” Madsen said. “With the fire remaining relatively stable, using helos to drop water overnight can help to contain forward spread and address hot spots within the fire perimeter.” ∆

—Bulbul Rajagopal

It’s voluntary and only available to inmates with good behavior and less than eight years left of their sentence.

Becoming a member of the Conservation Fire Camp Program requires intensive mental and physical training. Once an inmate has cleared a physical and mental exam from California Correctional Health Care Services, they must also complete Cal Fire’s Firefighting Training program consisting of four days in the classroom and four days of field training taught by Cal Fire staff. Depending on their skill level, the CDCR pays inmates between $5.80 and $10.24 per day fighting fires, while Cal Fire pays them an additional $1 an

READY FOR A REFILL A helicopter takes off from Santa Margarita Ranch during the Gifford Fire, ready to fill its tank and head out for a water drop.

ANNUAL SIREN TEST

SATURDAY AUGUST 23

12:00 PM & 12:30 PM

The SLO County Early Warning System sirens, located throughout the Emergency Planning Zone will be tested on Saturday, August 23.

The sirens will sound at 12:00 pm and again at 12:30 pm for three minutes. During the tests, no action is required by the public.

Local radio and television stations will conduct normal programming during the tests.

If you hear the sirens at any other time, tune to a local radio or television station for important emergency information. When at sea, tune to Marine Channel 16.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 – IT’S ONLY A TEST

For more information go to www.ReadySLO.org

www.ReadySLO.org

hour. During emergencies, they can work 24-hour shifts, meaning the lowest skill level would earn $29.80 per day.

Recently, legislators like Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay), and even celebrities like Kim Kardashian, have opposed this pay scale and introduced AB 247 to propose that incarcerated firefighters receive a pay bump of up to $7.25 an hour with annual increases. As of Aug. 18, the bill is still being reviewed by committee members.

Other fair jail working practices were also presented to state voters this past election cycle with Proposition 6, which aimed to bar slavery in any form and repeal the provision in the state Constitution allowing jails and prisons to force incarcerated people to work as a punishment for crime. But more than 53 percent of California voters voted against the proposition.

Gifford Fire Incident Management

Public Information Officer Eagan told New Times that while the firefighting inmates are in a low-security area, there’s still strict parameters around what they can do during rest periods.

“We’re not allowed to communicate or any of that kind of stuff. So they’re kind of like on their own little island, so to speak, for obvious reasons, but they do work hard,” Eagan said. “They are always flanked by two law enforcement [officers]. When they’re out on the line, they’re OK. When they come back in, they only are allowed to go out to eat and shower. Other than that, they have to stay inside their yurts.”

But Eagan said he saw how impactful the program is for the inmates.

“The biggest thing that I got out of it is it gives the prisoners a sense of worth, right? Like they’re helping [give] back to the communities—giving back in a way that it helps alleviate why they’re in there,” he said. “That, to me, was the biggest takeaway that I got from that, is the self-satisfaction of being able to help others.”

Additionally, they can earn credits toward their sentence, meaning for each day worked they can earn up to two days off their incarceration.

One inmate had been in jail for 28 years. After serving on the fire team for three years, he’s set to be released this winter.

“And he wants to work for Cal Fire,” Eagan said. “There’s been several that have, depending on the degree of what they were accused of, but some of them actually do end up working for Cal Fire once they’re done.”

—Libbey Hanson

Red Cross provides safe parking for evacuees during the Gifford Fire

Often wedged between Dave Hild’s van dashboard and windshield, the retired zookeeper’s road maps range from blueprintstyle scrolls to thick, paperback atlases.

“These don’t require batteries or a signal, and I can drop them in the creek and they’ll still work,” said the former Charles Paddock Zoo employee, who’s lived off-grid in his van for the past three years.

Apart from some winter months, he’s spent the majority of his nomad days camped at Santa Margarita Lake, one of the San Luis Obispo County parks impacted by evacuation orders related to the Gifford Fire, which consumed about 131,000 acres in SLO and Santa Barbara counties in the first two weeks of August. Originally starting along Highway 166, the fire spread into both counties with the latter half of the blaze concentrated in SLO County.

While websites and apps like Watch Duty and InciWeb provided regular updates on California’s largest wildfire of the year, Hild mostly relied on the radio to stay informed, he told New Times on Aug. 15 while staying at an American Red Cross evacuation shelter in Santa Margarita.

“My problem with this internet stuff— besides me being a Boomer—is some people … assume that every person has a smartphone and is connected and can pay one of the major telephone companies $150 a month or whatever,” Hild said while holding his flip phone out. “I’m a senior citizen living on minimal Social Security. I have to buy a drug dealer phone and pay cash once a month, and I don’t have internet access.

“My most reliable source is KCBX, which Trump is trying to murder,” Hild added about the local public radio station.

He drove his van to Santa Margarita Community Hall on Aug. 11, the first day the venue became one of the American Red Cross’ evacuation centers.

The nonprofit was also stationed at spots in Pismo Beach, the Santa Maria Valley, and New Cuyama at different points of time over the course of the multi-day megafire, reported as 95 percent contained as of Aug. 20.

Before Hild registered at the Santa Margarita site on Aug. 11, he had one question for the volunteers manning the shelter’s front desk.

“All I asked them was for a safe parking place where I don’t bother anybody, and nobody bothers me, and I can’t be arrested,”

he said. “That relieves so much stress.”

Between Aug. 11 and 15, Hild occasionally ventured inside the shelter for coffee and to use the building’s bathroom, but slept each night in his van, parked outside of the community hall—next door to Santa Margarita’s original jail and constable’s office, preserved as a museum by a local historical society.

Hild joked that he might end up locked in there if someone reported him parked nearby in one of the area’s residential neighborhoods.

“If it wasn’t for this safe parking, I don’t know where I would have gone,” Hild said. “Roadside? Then you have ‘Karens’ and people who immediately accuse you of being drug-addled. … Hippies and environmentalists and retired van dwellers like me: Where do you go in SLO County without getting your vehicle impounded, ticketed, hassled all hours of the night by the police?”

American Red Cross volunteer Manny Lerma, who traveled from Bakersfield to support Santa Margarita’s evacuation point during the Gifford Fire, told New Times that shelter registrants were welcome to sleep inside the building—supplied with about 100 folded cots, blankets, and pillows—or stay in their own vehicles onsite like Hild.

Assuring people that either option is safe, especially during late hours of the night, is an occasional task for Red Cross volunteers during conversations with some incoming evacuees, said Lerma, a retiree who’s worked with the nonprofit for about 11 years.

“We’ve had three people stay indoors, and two that’ve stayed outside,” Lerma told New Times on Aug. 13 at the Santa Margarita shelter, which remained open through Aug. 17—the same day officials reduced evacuation orders to warnings at Santa Margarita Lake and other areas west of the Los Padres National Forest.

On Aug. 19, SLO County Parks reported that warnings and orders were lifted at both Santa Margarita Lake and Lopez Lake.

The team of Red Cross volunteers behind the former Santa Margarita evacuation shelter worked in 12-hour shifts, some from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., others from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., according to Lerma.

“[We’re] here all night, vigilant, making sure these folks are safe and comfortable,” Lerma said.

In January, Lerma was among the Red Cross volunteers working at the Pasadena Convention Center, which housed more than 800 Eaton Fire evacuees, he recalled. During

his time with the Red Cross, the Bakersfield resident has been deployed to areas across the country impacted by wildfires, floods, tornadoes, blizzards, and other disasters.

When emergencies reach a certain threshold, like the Gifford Fire’s status as a megafire, the Red Cross sends out a national alert for volunteers, Lerma explained.

“On a big event, they open it nationally, to whoever’s available. They’ll fly you in,” said Lerma, who added that the week he started working in Santa Margarita marked his 14th week in a row traveling to support different Red Cross initiatives.

There’s usually a two-week commitment per volunteer if they accept a call to travel far for a deployment, he added.

“That makes it more difficult for … most people who work. That’s why you see a lot of retirees in the Red Cross,” he said. “We have the time. We have more availability.”

Before the Santa Margarita evacuation shelter closed on Aug. 17, those who checked in had three meals available to them daily, and access to snacks and drinks 24/7, Lerma said.

While some took up the shelter’s offer of three hot meals and a cot, van dweller Hild said he limited himself to popping in and out of the building for his coffee fix and to occasionally chat with folks.

“Yesterday, I gave them all a lecture on rattlesnake bite treatment,” the former herpetoculturist said on Aug. 15.

Originally from Kentucky, Hild said he spent three decades working with reptiles for a few different zoos across the country before ending up in SLO County in 2003, the year he took a job at the Central Coast Zoo (formerly the Charles Paddock Zoo) in Atascadero.

He became attracted to the area after visiting the Carrizo Plain National Monument and becoming acquainted with its lizard inhabitants, specifically the bluntnosed leopard lizard.

“There’s so much wildlife out there. … You can sit there for half an hour and see more wildlife than I saw in 30 years,” Hild said. “I’m not really a hippie. My drug is adrenaline. I was a caver, a rock climber, and a kayaker. But I’m old now, so my adrenaline is when I slide my [van] door open in the morning and make my coffee, and a couple lizards climb onto my pant legs.” ∆

—Caleb Wiseblood

Talking trees

San Luis Obispo residents air concerns about tree bureaucracy while the city wants a healthy urban forest

BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL

Ninety-five years ago, when San Luis Obispo photographer Frank Aston looked through his lens from the top of Terrace Hill, he saw a black-and-white panorama of a city with few trees.

By the time photographer Brian Lawler captured the same scene in 2021, Terrace Hill had shrunk by 60 feet and more trees dotted the SLO landscape, making it more verdant.

A side-by-side comparison of the two photos now hangs in the City Hall corridor. Across from it, in a small chamber, six volunteers who make up the SLO Tree Committee and the city arborist gather to discuss trees on the fourth Monday of every month.

Trees have grown in SLO since Aston immortalized the scenery in 1930 and so has involving community input.

SLO Mayor Erica Stewart is used to the ebb and flow of locals reaching out to her when a tree—or sometimes a whole host of them—is on the chopping block.

“This community cares about the trees. It’s because obviously the beauty of where we live, but it’s also about the climate,” said Stewart, one of two City Council liaisons to the Tree Committee. “When you see a large tree being taken down, it’s upsetting.”

It’s a delicate job for the city to balance the public’s interest and work toward a flourishing urban forest. Trees can be removed in SLO for plenty of reasons—their roots might snake through the ground and crack sidewalks and damage property, they might grow precariously close to homes and potentially injure people, or they might be removed to make way for new development.

“Sometimes, the health of the tree is not apparent,” Stewart said. “There might be a fungus and kind of [have an] almost corkish or Styrofoamish inside. … The other thing is when it’s people’s private property and they get to take down some trees to build something, then [others say] that’s not fair, … but it’s private property. As long as they’re not taking down a heritage tree and replacing the tree with the appropriate ratio.”

Still, several SLO residents have lots to complain about. Many are convinced the city, the arborist, and Tree Committee are approving tree removals at a rate that’s eating away at the canopy cover, and they allege the process for public input is opaque.

City officials, on the other hand, insist all the actions they’re taking toward the trees are the building blocks to achieve SLO’s never-ending goal of maintaining a strong and resilient urban forest.

Canopy conflict

Retired peach farmer Fitz Kelly is often the only attendee at Tree Committee meetings. He became a familiar face starting three years ago after he spotted signs on a big deodar cedar and a huge redwood during a walk around his

Mitchell Park neighborhood.

“The owners were asking for permission to cut them down into firewood. I spoke up at the meeting and said, ‘These are beautiful trees, and there’s nothing wrong with them,’” he said. “The Tree Committee agreed with me. I think it’s the only time in my attending probably six or seven meetings where the committee said, ‘No, you cannot take [the trees] down.’”

A decade-long SLO resident, Kelly again voiced his concerns earlier this year when he noticed a magnolia and three carrotwoods in Mitchell Park slated for removal. This time, the arborist approved the removal request filed by the Public Works Department based on the roots damaging the sidewalks, and the trees came down.

“There are certain streets that have virtually no canopy. Islay is one of the streets. Islay and Leff are two streets, which would be in the Mitchell Park neighborhood,” he said. “Between Osos Street and maybe down as far as Nipomo [Street], virtually no trees there, if I’m remembering correctly.”

Kelly isn’t alone in his frustration.

In 2017, the City Council gave final approval to a housing development proposed on 71 Palomar Ave. for six new apartment buildings that could house 33 units. Fifty-five trees—oaks, eucalyptus, pines, and at least five other tree species—were slated to be cut down for the project.

SLO residents who coalesced into Friends of 71 Palomar fought back and slapped the city and the Los Angeles developer with a lawsuit. Residents lost the case, and the project resumed construction in 2019.

In 2022, the city and its Tree Committee faced public ire again when 100 new affordable housing units were set to replace buildings on Monterey Street, including Central Coast Brewing, and 54 redwoods.

One resident complained at the time that the developer’s agreement to replace trees on a 1:1 ratio wouldn’t compensate for the loss of mature trees.

It’s an issue Kelly’s concerned about, too.

“They take an enormous tree and replace it with a baby tree, right? That’s not replacing the canopy at all,” he said. “The baby trees just do not do the job of a mature tree. So, the temperature goes up because there isn’t as much shade.”

City Arborist Walter Gault refuted the claim that SLO’s tree canopy is suffering. Urban forestry is cyclical, he said, and a diverse city forest needs variation—

appreciation of “outstanding tree care,” with Arroyo Grande receiving it in 1998 and 2005, and Morro Bay winning it in 2024.

“What we did last year is we invested a lot of time in making sure our trees survived,” Morro Bay Maintenance Manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We had a 100 percent tree survival rate last year, meaning that of all the trees we planted, none of them died.”

The trees survived because of collaboration between Morro Bay and a nonprofit called Morro Bay in Bloom, Mendoza added.

Arroyo Grande also collaborates with its In Bloom counterpart and benefits from tree plantings thanks to the efforts of beautification events like We Heart AG. Assistant City Manager Bill Robeson said that most tree removals in Arroyo Grande are a result of dying trees.

“During the last drought, many of our trees were stressed and did not fully recover in the years after,” he said. “Some trees have been removed due to potential hazard to life and property. Our goal is to replant when a tree is removed.”

sometimes, that can be two steps forward and one step back in terms of canopy.

“Does somebody have something against baby trees? We all got to start somewhere, right?” Gault said. “‘Baby trees’ is kind of a misunderstanding of what it takes to establish a strong, healthy tree that’s going to last for a long time and serve the community.”

Before speaking with New Times, Gault said he scanned the city from the top of the Community Development Department’s Palm Street parking garage.

“It’s a pretty good vantage point, and I see a lot of canopy,” he said. “The city started with no trees, and through the boom of the urban forestry movement, a lot of trees were planted.”

When it comes to planting, SLO taps into its lists of approved trees. Small planting spaces can be filled with 41 types of trees like peppermint trees, shoestring and blackwood acacias, and Hong Kong orchid trees.

Carob trees, ghost gums, Chinese banyans, jacarandas, and 32 other species can occupy larger plots.

But sourcing replacement trees, which arrive from Northern and Southern California, is a challenge.

“We’re kind of a little more remote than some areas, and a lot of the nurseries that grow trees are far away, and so they often have to be shipped in,” Gault said. “We have a great resource here locally with Cal Poly. They have the Urban Forestry Ecosystem Institute, and they’ve done a lot of research throughout the state of California to identify the best climate-ready tree species.”

Log in the numbers

For nearly 43 years, SLO’s been a member of Tree City USA. The annual national recognition program celebrates community improvement and raises awareness about the value of community trees.

Having a tree advisory body of some kind is a requirement to be a Tree City USA member. Arroyo Grande has also been a Tree City USA member for 43 years. Morro Bay has held the title for 28 years. The pair were also recipients of the Growth Award—an

In 2020, SLO removed 187 trees. In 2021, the city removed 232 trees. In 2022, the city removed 156. In 2023, the city removed 22.

No tree removal data exists after 2023 because the urban forestry program—and the tree committee with it—switched from the purview of the Public Works Department to Community Development.

“Public Works generally manages public property, Community Development regulates private property,” Community Development Director Timothea Tway said. “A majority of tree removal requests are from private property owners that want to remove trees, so for this reason, the move to Community Development makes sense.”

City Arborist Gault, who previously managed the urban forest of Santa Barbara, told New Times that the data tracking process changed because the role of the arborist changed as well.

“The arborist [in the Public Works Department] acted in somewhat of a field capacity in addition to doing administrative duties. That was found to be unsustainable,” Gault said. “This is the city responding to the need for greater attention to its urban forest. While there was an administrative position in Public Works that assisted with fielding phone calls, emails, and tracking data, I don’t have that kind of assistance in Community Development.”

Gault’s core responsibilities include processing and reviewing tree removal applications and reviewing planning applications and building permits for development.

City tree planting data—which doesn’t track trees placed on private property— showed that in 2022, 2023, and 2024, SLO planted 102, 173, and 140 trees, respectively. The city didn’t plant any trees in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19 protocols.

Once a tree removal application is approved, the city must carry out compensatory plantings to replace the lost tree.

According to city data, previous arborist Anthony Whipple approved removing most trees on “health” grounds.

“It’s because safety and ecological health come first and caring for our community

FAMILIAR FACE SLO resident Fitz Kelly gives public comment to city arborist Walter Gault and Tree Committee members during the July 28 Tree Committee meeting.

PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM

PRECARIOUS PERCH Bishop Peak neighborhood resident Sydney Anthoni is worried that this old and large Italian stone pine is going to cave into the wall of a canal that runs through her property.

PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM

forest,” Gault said. “Sometimes trees must be removed due to disease, structural instability, and now, wildfire risk is a new hazard.”

He added that all decisions about tree removals are made using professional arborist assessments and science-based best practices from the International Society of Arboriculture.

For Bishop Peak neighborhood resident Sydney Anthoni, the “health and hazard” umbrella doesn’t cover the Italian stone pine she eagerly wants removed.

The tree was a lot smaller when Anthoni’s husband bought their home in 1990, but now the trunk of the growing stone pine is so wide that it’s touching the outside wall of a city-maintained canal that runs through their property.

“If it gets any bigger, I’m just afraid it’s going to just cave in the wall to the creek,” Anthoni said. “It’s just posing a danger. … It could actually fall onto my garage.”

Estimates from a private arborist set removal costs between $5,000 to $6,000, and Anthoni said she can’t afford it. If approved by the arborist, a tree removal permit would cost $256.

Gault informed Anthoni that while he agrees retaining the tree wouldn’t be best for city infrastructure, the tree doesn’t qualify for a health and hazard tree removal application because it isn’t causing root damage.

He confirmed to New Times that Anthoni didn’t submit a convenience tree removal application.

“I don’t even want to go through that, because I don’t want to pay more money,” Anthoni said. “It’d be great if [the city] could kind of share, or like, take it out with their own city tree crew.”

Rooting out problems

SLO’s tree-keeping habits came under scrutiny in April when residents took their frustrations online.

“This beautiful Italian stone pine on Murray at Broad is too good for SLO,” resident Richard Schmidt wrote in an April 21 Nextdoor post. “So our green-bragging ‘tree city’ has granted permission to cut it down because an Orange County speculator wants to build an ADU [accessory dwelling unit] and doesn’t want to save the tree.”

Grieving another stone pine scheduled for removal on Rachel Court, Schmidt’s post claimed that he asked city staff for the number of trees cut down in SLO over the past 10 years.

“Guess what? Nobody at City Hall has kept count, so the number is officially unknown!” his post said. “The tree canopy of our city today is smaller than it was 25 years ago, but the city can’t even verify that with numbers.”

Data calculated by the Washington Post shows that SLO’s tree cover, at 16.5 percent, is up 1.2 percent over the last five years. Comparatively, the 13.8 percent tree cover of the Arroyo Grande-Grover BeachPismo Beach area is down 0.7 percent. Paso Robles’ 24 percent tree cover is the result of a 3.2 percent increase over five years, and Cambria’s tree cover of 40.9 percent comes after a 3.3 percent increase.

Schmidt, an architect, said he’s also an amateur botanist. He loves trees, he said, and is passionate about native varieties.

“This is how we prevent biological collapse by providing the trees that support the life systems that we have here—for example, a willow tree,” Schmidt said. “A lot of people regard willows as weeds, and they want to remove them around here.”

He pointed to the Washington, D.C., nonprofit Xerces Society of Invertebrate

Conservation, which said willows provide crucial early season nectar for bees, food for caterpillars, and habitat for birds.

Schmidt added that instead of planting more native species, the city is planting what he calls “genetic junk,” like the arbutus marina or marina strawberry trees.

“They are exotic, they support 48 species of caterpillars as opposed to oaks, which support 275. It just seems to me we’re moving in the wrong direction with this particular tree regime,” he said. “I don’t know whether it’s the arborist, the Tree Committee, or who has decided we need to plant exotics, things that are not native, because supposedly they’re going to do better in global climate change.”

City-approved native varieties include coast live oaks, California laurels, California sycamores, Southern California black walnuts, and California holly toyons.

According to Gault, it’s all about planting the right tree at the right place.

“There are a lot of natives going in our open space and in our parks, but … through research that’s been done by Cal Poly and the Urban Forestry Ecosystem Institute, we found that it’s actually nonnatives that perform the best because the urban environment is so harsh,” he said. “There’s concrete, there’s pipes, there’s soil compaction, there’s a lot of factors trying to stop a tree from being successful.”

Currently, Cal Fire and Cal Poly hope to raise the state’s tree canopy by 10 percent by 2035.

As part of that mission, the city and Cal Poly’s Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute are roping in volunteers to plant 10,000 trees in SLO.

As of Aug. 15, the institute’s website said 3,009 trees have been planted.

“The number of trees listed on the UFEI website includes some trees planted by the city and in some new developments as well as some trees planted by private property owners,” Gault said. “Unfortunately, it is not a comprehensive total at this time. City staff are working to update that number.”

Resident Tom Weinshenk, according to the city’s Arbor Day website, is the longest standing tree planter in SLO. Gault added that Weinshenk has been planting native coastal live oaks for 10 years. The local Rotary Club also committed itself to planting 1,000 trees in SLO County, with a focus on California live oaks.

Buchon Street resident Carla Cary had an oak tree close to her heart, too.

The roughly 40-foot oak stood on her neighboring property, she said, until the city

removed it this spring because the branches were brushing the power lines.

“It shaded the street really nicely,” Cary said. “It was a lot cooler in our front yard because that tree provided shade for the whole stretch of the street. … I think there’s certain times of the day where we just won’t go outside and hang out, because it’s just too hot.”

While Gault said he couldn’t find a record of an oak tree removal at the address Cary provided, the arborist said there are times when utility wires and trees are incompatible.

Cary added that other familiar trees are missing in the Buchon area. She remembers a eucalyptus tree, which she said she heard was removed because its tall branches proved to be a “fire risk.”

“As SLO continues to grow and we’re developing plots of land more and more, there’s more ADUs being added, and there’s less space for wildlife,” Cary said. “I think us taking away those trees are just making it harder for a lot of other creatures other than us.”

She added that the “biggest heartbreak” for her is that the residing pigeons, woodpeckers, squirrels, and an owl left the area when the neighboring oak came down. The oak wasn’t replaced, according to Cary.

“I see the city and their woodchipper, and every time I see that woodchipper my heart drops because they’re going to cut down something else,” she said. “The oak was hanging over the street, and it was touching some power lines. But instead of trimming it back, they just cut the whole thing right at the trunk base.”

Growing forward

Cary has lived in SLO for 11 years, but her roots lie in Timişoara, Romania. She thinks SLO can stand to take a leaf out of her home city’s book.

“They have what they call the green lung of the city,” she said. “They have this forest outside of the city limits where they just have acres and acres of trees to offset the omissions from what people use in the city.”

Cary, who didn’t know the local Tree Committee existed, also thinks the city can do a better job with communicating about tree-related issues. New Times reached out to Tree Committee members for comment but was referred to City Arborist Gault.

Mayor Stewart said the best way to be heard is to give public comment either in person during Tree Committee and City Council meetings or via email, before proposed removals are voted upon.

“As far as notices, we don’t usually make a decision, then chop the tree down tomorrow; that’s not how it works,” Stewart said. “There are times when people don’t realize something is changing in the community until it’s too late.”

Sometimes, the city greenlights tree removals when property owners apply for them.

That’s what happened on Leff Street, when Arbor First filed an application on behalf of property owner Victoria Square Owners’ Association to remove a magnolia tree in front of Browder Morrisey’s rental. The pathway to his front door has been taped off, and a red band around the tree trunk marked impending removal.

“In my day-to-day living, that tree is a huge part of it,” Morrisey

said. “It goes up in front of my family room, … in front of my master bedroom. It gives great shade to my house all day long, it’s beautiful.”

Morrisey told New Times that the magnolia’s roots not only pushed up the front yard bricks but are also too close to his house. Morrisey added that the arborist called him about the tree removal, but he’s dissatisfied with the city’s response.

“He just essentially told me, ‘You can appeal it, but the decision’s already been made,’ and it’s most likely going to go through,” Morrisey said. “How about just cutting the 2-inch roots that’s causing the problem instead of the 100-foot-by-50-foot tree that’s been there for 50 years?”

Fresh malcontent is also brewing in another pocket of SLO.

The city is receiving a slow trickle of emails from disgruntled residents about a proposed project on Augusta Street.

“The entire neighborhood will suffer so that the two property owners can profit,” a resident who wished to be anonymous wrote to City Council members on Aug. 8. “I have spoken to the authorities at Sinsheimer Elementary, the Post-Acute facility, the administrators at Judson Terrace, and the captain at the fire station. Nobody thinks this is a good idea.”

Project applicants Frankie and Frank Ciano hope to build a 28-unit apartment, but locals worry that it’s been granted waivers that could exacerbate parking problems on an already busy street. The project plans to remove 27 trees to make way for the development.

The Architecture Review Commission’s Aug. 18 hearing on the project was postponed to an unconfirmed date.

Mayor Stewart told New Times that while she’s received a few letters about the project, the input isn’t as heated as correspondence she’s read about past tree removal projects.

“It’s hard because I too love all the trees we have here. I love that we’re not a stark urban place,” Mayor Stewart said. “I want to thank people for actually commenting. I know it feels frustrating that maybe the answers aren’t as quick or as clear. And when costs go up, it’s never fun.” ∆

TAPED OFF SHADE This magnolia tree on Leff Street is slated for removal because of chaotic roots, but the tenant of the property in front of it values the shade it provides his home.

MISSING WILDLIFE After the city removed this oak tree (behind the utility pole) from a property on Buchon Street, neighbor Carla Cary noticed the absence of the crows, pigeons, woodpeckers, squirrels, and an owl that used to frequent the spot because of the tree.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CARLA CARY

COMPLETE TESTING & REPAIR

Color in motion

While her jewelry line was founded on the ethos of sustainability, Surf Gems creator Abby Ahlgrim said she’d be the first to say her business isn’t saving the planet.

“We do rescue hundreds of pounds of resin from the landfill, but ultimately, it’s quite minimal. My hope is that folks wear the jewelry, and everywhere they go, other people will ask about it,” she said.

Ahlgrim’s idea for Surf Gems started in 2020 when she explored the sport of surfing during the pandemic in the Morro Bay area. Spending time at a local surf shop, she said she noticed the layers of wasted resin on its floors, a result of surfboard making.

“Surfboards are shaped out of foam, and then they’re covered with a layer of fiberglass and then pigmented resin. And then excess resin, through that process of pouring it on top of the board, the excess drips off the sides of the board and then collects on the shop floor. And so over time, board builders will be walking on top of layers and layers and layers of pigmented resin buildup. It’s like beautiful landscapes of pigment,” she said. “Typically, they will clean up their shop and jackhammer it all up and throw it away periodically when it builds up several inches.”

Ahlgrim said she saw another use for it— making vibrant and unique pieces of jewelry that are colorful and spark conversation among the community.

“Surfboard making is one industry among billions of industries on this planet that have cleverly concealed realities closed behind doors,” she said. “So my hope is that these tiny slices of vibrant colors serve as a conversation starter to a much larger story about a more sustainable future. Whether you’re in the grocery store, on a mountainside, or at the line at the bank, wherever my customers wear their Surf Gems, other people inevitably inquire as to their origins.”

Ahlgrim makes each piece of jewelry by hand—right now, primarily earrings and some necklaces—out of her shop in Morro Bay with the help of her parents.

“I call it ‘surf rock’—the material of resin. It’s like these big fragments of slabs, and I take the surf rock and cut and grind and sand and polish and turn it into Surf Gems,” she said. “So I have a little workshop in Morro Bay where I do all the dirty work, the cutting and grinding and drilling and the storing of my raw material.”

Perusing Surf Gems’ website, unique shapes and vibrant colors in themes like “multitudes” and “first light” offer what Ahlgrim called a taste of femininity in a male-dominated sport.

“I learned to surf in San Luis Obispo County; it’s really cold and there is not a lot of opportunity for colorful surf, where a thick wetsuit is necessary year-round, and it’s a pretty maledominated space,” she said.

“And so, as a femme in that sphere, I was also curious to find ways for a spark of color and a beacon of my femininity while doing this activity that I love so deeply.”

She also said she hopes it provides a sense of self for any woman in any sport, whether it’s running, biking, or rock climbing.

“Surf Gems has provided this opportunity for self-expression in these spaces that otherwise feel quite limited,” Ahlgrim said.

Individual jewelry pieces are available for sale on the Surf Gems website, but Ahlgrim said she sells internationally at 70 stores, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Surf Gems’ Morro Bay home studio will also be participating in the SLO County Open Studios Art Tour this October, where customers can mingle and get to experience the company’s tagline, “color in motion.”

“Not only is that something very vivid in my experience as a surfer, where when you’re in motion, when you’re surfing, the world is color in motion,” she said. “But likewise, when I’m wearing Surf Gems— they dangle, and they are in motion. And when you’re doing any activity wearing them, it’s color in motion.”

Fast fact

• Donations made to the Woods Humane Society during the month of August will be doubled, up to $25,000, thanks to a matching donation from The Marianne and Stacy Cocks Fund, a fund of The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County, and another anonymous donor. The August Match challenge hopes to boost fundraising as the shelter faces rising costs of care and “explosive” growth in the number of homeless puppies and kittens it serves. For more information, visit woodshumane.org. ∆

Reach Staff Writer Libbey Hanson at lhanson@ newtimesslo.com.

C uestaCollegeinbeautifulSanLuisObispo.Spendtimewithlike-minded i ndividuals,makeconnectionswithfellowwritersandcreatives,perusethe b ookstoreandvendortables,andlearnnewskillsfrom45+seasoned professionals.

The politics of safety

This summer, climate change came home to San Luis Obispo County. In July, the Madre Fire burned more than 80,000 acres. Just days later, the Gifford Fire erupted and consumed more than 130,000 acres across SLO and Santa Barbara counties. Families have been forced to evacuate. Firefighters have been injured. Rural roads have been cut off.

Thanks to our hardworking fire crews, so far there has not been significant loss of life or property. But let this serve as a warning. The fire came within a mile of the town of Pozo, closer still to homes at Pippin Corner. If this had occurred during our typical Santa Lucia winds (only a month away), we might not have had such a good outcome, even with 5,000 personnel and more than a million gallons of fire retardant dropped from planes. Backfires, which saved the day in this fire, would have been impossible.

These aren’t just “acts of nature.” They are the predictable result of hotter, drier

AB 715 would force dissent underground

Please contact your Assembly member and urge them to oppose Assembly Bill 715. AB 715, a bill designed to promote “educational equity, [stop] discrimination, [and lead to] antisemitism prevention” constitutes an insidious erosion of our First Amendment right to free speech.

Personally, I detest the occupation of Gaza by zealots; I have Jewish friends who agree with me. I abhor the war crimes that are being committed by Netanyahu and his criminal cohort; I have Jewish friends who agree with me. I despair at the news of journalists being killed, hospitals and food distribution locations being bombed, and children being starved because of powerful fanatics with deadly weapons, regardless of which government or theological cult is responsible. I reject our country’s myopic, irresponsible, and criminal aid in this destruction. Who would not agree with me?

Let’s face it: Wars are generational and are bound to continue unless and until those opposed to war speak out. AB 715 depresses our freedom to reject fealty and hatred. AB 715 attempts to direct discussion about “antisemitism,” but could lead to our inability to express any dissenting opinion.

Any law that targets to support or depress a specific theology is obviously ill-conceived and anti-constitutional.

Twenty years ago, I read Reading Lolita in Tehran. It is the true saga of the author, Azar Nafisi, who attempted to teach English literature to Iranian girls, in secret, in her home. The girls’ quest for education, forbidden by the reigning regime, forced them to exchange ideas and opinions and to discuss controversial topics covertly. Their teacher was complicit in a possibly deadly “crime.”

True democratic societies consider that the censorship of public discussion regarding challenging topics as “backward.” AB 715 pushes our citizens closer to a version of a shah’s repressive regime, where dissent is forced underground.

conditions caused by climate change—made worse by political choices.

During the first Trump administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) saw large cuts to its Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program, which funds community resilience projects like flood control, fire breaks, and emergency evacuation planning. Billions in grants to states and counties were delayed or canceled, leaving communities without the resources to prepare before disasters strike.

FEMA lost nearly 20 percent of its workforce from 2017-18. This can cause slower recovery efforts and reduced capacity to deploy to wildfire zones, hurricanes, and floods. Fire prevention budgets that fund crews, equipment, and forest management shrank. These actions leave communities like ours more exposed and less prepared.

The administration’s Big Beautiful Bill repealed lifesaving incentives for weather resilience, energy efficiency, and improved air

Dissent and disagreement, with respectful “listening,” leads to understanding, compromise, diplomacy, and solutions to our most challenging problems. I reject the silencing of my opinions by anyone, whether out of their fear, disagreement, or “political correctness.”

Perhaps a better Assembly bill would be to design and codify a legal definition of “hate speech,” so that those who commit it would be held accountable.

Please do not censor the education of our children, the future citizens of the world. Please oppose AB 715.

Gail Johnson Morro Bay

Parachute drops are similar to paper towels: They don’t do much to help

Tax-funded parachute drops on rescue missions in Gaza reminds one of another intervention by Trump during a crisis.

In September 2017 when Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria and left in ruin, its infrastructure was rendered useless and its people were in dire straits. Trump visited, arriving armed with paper towels that he lobbed at the desperate islanders. An

quality in American communities. It cut the Inflation Reduction Act’s federally funded initiatives, such as air pollution monitoring, cleaning up ports, home energy efficiency upgrades, and emissions-free school buses.

While Washington is consumed by authoritarian chaos, our safety depends on what happens here, now. Local government— our county supervisors, city councils, and regional agencies—can take immediate action to reduce risk. But they will only do it if we make them. We must hold them accountable.

If we want a safer, more resilient SLO County, we must insist on:

1. Fully funding prevention. More crews for defensible space, prescribed burns, and vegetation management—with good wages to attract skilled workers.

2. Stronger building rules. Fire-resistant materials and drought-tolerant, low-fuel landscaping.

3. Clean energy investment. Build local renewables to cut the emissions driving hotter, drier summers. Support clean and resilient energy solutions like rooftop solar with battery storage, and in the future, offshore wind turbines.

This is not the time for polite silence. Call your county supervisor. Email your city council. Show up at meetings. Ask what

embarrassing display by an insensate leader.

Our dangerous parachute drops seem almost as useless as those paper towels. They create chaotic scrambles to get the packages. Some drops have injured and killed people— with little to show for their efforts.

To halt the callous genocide taking place in Gaza, the gates must be opened. The armada of trucks carrying food and supplies needs to enter the area.

Opening the gates like those once opened at Dachau and Auschwitz would expose the inhumane genocide taking place. It would bring to light Israel’s systemic use of starvation as a weapon of war—an international crime.

they’re doing to protect us from the next big fire—and don’t accept vague answers. Join local climate and community groups. Support candidates who believe in science and reject those who undermine it. Wildfires don’t care about party lines— but the policies that make them worse are political. When leaders slash funding for disaster response and deny climate science, they are making choices that cause home insurance rates to skyrocket and cost lives, homes, and livelihoods.

The Trump administration made those choices. And unless we hold leaders accountable at every level—federal, state, and local—we will face more devastation.

The Madre and Gifford fires are not the end of this story. Without bold action, they are a preview of our future. We cannot wait for Washington to save us, but we also can’t ignore the role national politics plays in our local safety. SLO County must act. And we, the people who live here, must demand it. Speak out. Get involved. Vote like your community depends on it—because it does. ∆

Don Gaede is with SLO County Citizens’ Climate Education and Eric Veium is with the SLO Climate Coalition. Write a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.

It’s not possible to be on both sides at the same time. Support the Gazans or continue backing Israel with money and weapons. Parachute drops play well as propaganda. They disguise the fact that our continued support remains in essence our part in the war, by proxy, against Gaza. It’s not a matter of backing Israel or Palestine but denouncing the brutal treatment by Israel of Palestine. Should the situation be reversed, I’d support the Israelis and call for an end to their suffering. It’s barbarous genocidal treatment of any peoples that I abhor.

Shirley Schaffer Arroyo Grande

Tree-son?

For the eighth year in a row, Finland has been crowned the world’s happiest country. Also, Finland is 75 percent forested.

“I believe these facts are related,” British author Matt Haig wrote.

Do trees make us happier? Yes, according to the USDA: “Studies have shown that trees benefit our mental and physical health. Spending time around trees reduces stress and anxiety, lowers blood pressure, and improves mood.”

In case you’re keeping track, the U.S. just dropped a spot on the happiest ranking and now sits at 24th in the world. The U.S. is also only about 33 percent forested … stupid deserts, grasslands, and lakes! Are these facts related?

What about locally? Remember back in 2011 when Oprah said San Luis Obispo was the happiest city in America? That idea’s been pooh-poohed since then (often by those of us who ride the struggle bus to economic vitality every day), but in February, the notion was revived when Clara Hogan, writing in Livability, made an argument that we’ve earned that lofty reputation as “happiest,” naming our outdoor amenities, our slow pace of life, our nurturing of entrepreneurism, our “lively” downtown, our access to farm-totable food and worldclass wine, and our “big little town” atmosphere as reasons.

SLO Town’s urban forest wasn’t one of her points, perhaps because according to

Washington Post data, SLO’s tree cover is a mere 16.5 percent. Are we chipping away at our potential happiness every time a tree is felled? How many more trees do we need? Are we planting the right kinds of trees? So. Many. Questions.

According to SLO City Arborist Walter Gault, our urban forest is well-managed (by him), with input from the SLO Tree Committee that meets on the fourth Monday of every month. Gault’s got a big job. The city manages more than 20,000 public trees, and certain trees on private property require permits to remove. For every tree removed, how many new ones should we plant?

Maybe we’re just 10,000 trees away from real bliss. As part of SLO’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2035, a program between Cal Fire, ECOSLO, the city, the U.S. Forest Service, and Rotary International to plant 10,000 trees is underway. The current tally is 3,009 new trees planted with 6,991 to go.

So, when’s the last time you consciously thought about trees?

“Hm. I wonder how tall that tree is?”

“Wow, that jacaranda turned that car parked under it completely purple!” “Do some people literally hug trees? Do they get splinters?”

For most of us, trees are an afterthought, completely taken for granted. In SLO, however, some people have trees on the brain.

“I see the city and their woodchipper, and every time I see that woodchipper my heart drops because they’re going to cut down something else,” SLO resident Carla Cary lamented.

“This beautiful Italian stone pine on Murray at Broad is too good for SLO,” resident Richard Schmidt snarkily wrote in an April 21 Nextdoor post. “So our green-bragging ‘tree city’ has granted permission to cut it down because an Orange County speculator wants to build an ADU [accessory dwelling unit] and doesn’t want to save the tree.”

“There are certain streets that have virtually no canopy. Islay is one of the streets. Islay and Leff are two streets, which would be in the Mitchell Park neighborhood,” SLO resident and retired peach farmer Fitz Kelly complained. “Between Osos Street and maybe down as far as Nipomo [Street], virtually no trees there, if I’m remembering correctly.”

For the record, Kelly is often the only member of the public who attends the monthly Tree Committee meetings, so obviously more of us take trees for granted than fixate over them, but still! A lot of people are watching our trees and the fate that befalls them.

Who knew trees, or the lack thereof, could be so controversial? Well, nemophilists, for one. They’re people who are fond of forests, and SLO Town and other cities such as Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay have made concerted efforts to increase their urban forest and tree canopy. All three

are Tree City USA members. Will more trees improve our quality of life? Maybe. Do we need to fight a battle over every tree that someone seeks a permit to remove? Perhaps. These are gnarly, thorny (puns, sadly, intended) questions.

Must we lament every stony pine taken out to make room for more housing?

Semiprofessional gadfly Richard Schmidt thinks so. The architect and self-described amateur botanist argues the city’s urban forest is being mismanaged. He claims that instead of planting more native species, the city is planting “genetic junk,” like marina strawberry trees.

“They are exotic; they support 48 species of caterpillars as opposed to oaks, which support 275. It just seems to me we’re moving in the wrong direction with this particular tree regime,” he barked (ha-ha!). “I don’t know whether it’s the arborist, the Tree Committee, or who has decided we need to plant exotics, things that are not native, because supposedly they’re going to do better in global climate change.”

Are you worked up about trees yet? Sage Canadian farmer Nelson Henderson once said, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” Wisdom bomb. You may now return to your previously scheduled treefree programming. ∆

The Shredder has grumpy roots and branches. Hand it a chainsaw at shredder@newtimesslo.com.

Hot Dates

ARTS

NORTH COAST SLO COUNTY

CHASING A PEWTER CUP OR TUMBLER

Draw your pattern on a pre-made pewter cup or tumbler, and let your creativity flow during this 2-day class. More info at the link. Aug. 23 , 1-5 p.m. $365. (805) 237-8632. randystromsoe.com. Randy Stromsoe Metalsmith, Highway 46 West, SLO County.

COASTAL WINE AND PAINT PARTY

Listen to music while enjoying an afternoon of creativity, sipping, and mingling. The party includes a complimentary glass of wine and canvas with materials. Saturdays, 12-2 p.m. $55. (805) 394-5560. coastalwineandpaint. com. Harmony Cafe at the Pewter Plough, 824 Main St., Cambria.

COSTA GALLERY SHOWCASES Features

works by Ellen Jewett as well as 20 other local artists, and artists from southern and northern California. ThursdaysSaturdays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays, 12-4 p.m. (559) 799-9632. costagallery. com. Costa Gallery, 2087 10th St., Los Osos.

MICHAEL JOHNSTON SHOWS HER FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY IN GALLERY AT MARINA SQUARE Michael Johnston loves horses, traveling, exploring, and nature itself. Her camera captures what she sees, and brings them home for you. Through Aug. 29, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (805) 772-1068. galleryatmarinasquare.

com. Gallery at Marina Square, 601 Embarcadero suite 10, Morro Bay.

PROOF See the production, Proof , at By The Sea Productions until August 24. Get more information at the link. FridaysSundays. through Aug. 24 $28. my805tix.

Ave., Morro Bay.

SAVE CUESTA INLET - ART SHOW FUNDRAISER Save Cuesta Inlet, inc.

501c3 is in escrow to acquire over 14 acres of tidal wetlands in Los Osos. Join the art show fundraiser, as your support makes a difference. We are halfway to our goal! Aug. 23 , 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. (805) 903-2210. facebook. com/SaveCuestaInlet22/. Sea Pines Golf Resort, 1945 Solano St., Los Osos.

VIRGINIA MACK EXHIBITS HER FINE ART WATERCOLORS IN GALLERY AT MARINA SQUARE Virginia Mack is a teacher, artist, and birder. Her paintings reveal the colors of the winter and summer light, and nature. Through Aug. 29, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (805) 772-1068. galleryatmarinasquare.com. Gallery at Marina Square, 601 Embarcadero suite 10, Morro Bay.

NORTH SLO COUNTY

3 ARTISTS RETROSPECTIVE REVEAL

Susan Lyon, Maryanne Nucci, and Kathy Madonna invite you to visit their Retrospective Show including original photographs, charcoals, watercolors, etchings, linocuts, and mono prints. Saturdays, 2-5 p.m. (805) 440-7152. cottontailcreek.com/susanart. Pocket Gallery on Pine, 8491/2 13th Street, Paso Robles.

FIGURE DRAWING AT FIELDWORK

Join every Wednesday at Fieldwork for an uninstructed figure drawing session with a live nude model. All skill levels welcome. Bring your own materials. This is an 18+ class. Wednesdays, 6-8:30 p.m. through June 1 $20. fieldworkart.org. Join every Wednesday evening at Fieldwork for an uninstructed figure drawing session with a live model. All skill levels

welcome. Bring your own materials. The class is 18+. Wednesdays. through May 27 $20 + model’s tip. fieldworkart. org. Fieldwork, 4307 El Camino Real, Atascadero, (971) 645-2481.

STUDIOS ON THE PARK: CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS Check site for a variety of classes and workshops offered. ongoing studiosonthepark.org. Studios on the Park, 1130 Pine St., Paso Robles, (805) 238-9800.

WRITERS WANTED Novelists, screenwriters, poets , and short story writers welcome. This group meets in Atascadero twice a month, on Thursday nights (email jeffisretired@yahoo.com for specifics). Hone your skills for publication and/or personal development. Third Thursday of every month, 7-9 p.m. Unnamed Atascadero location, Contact host for details, Atascadero.

SAN LUIS OBISPO

ACTOR’S EDGE: ACTING CLASSES

Actor’s Edge offers film and television acting training in San Luis Obispo, plus exposure to Los Angeles talent agents. All ages and skill levels welcome. Classes available in SLO, LA, and on zoom. ongoing $210 per month. actorsedge. com. Online, See website, San Luis Obispo.

ALES FOR TAILS: COMEDY SHOW

BENEFITING LOCAL ANIMAL RESCUES

Join for a hilarious evening of comedy and good drinks at Humdinger Brewing, featuring the talented Leah Bonnema, who has performed for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Don’t Tell Comedy, along with Comedy Store regulars and local comics. The show’s net proceeds to benefit Atlas Animal Rescue and Shiloh’s Animal Rescue. Aug. 29, 8-10 p.m. $28.62. my805tix.com.

Humdinger Brewing (SLO), 855 Capitolio Way, suite 1, San Luis Obispo, (805) 781-9974.

ALL AGES SCULPTING WITH JOHN ROULLARD John a retired school teacher who patiently guides potters of all ages to sculpt and work on details and design. Saturdays, 1:30-3 p.m. $40. anamcre.com. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo.

ALL LEVELS POTTERY CLASSES Anam

Cre is a pottery studio in SLO that offers a variety of classes. This specific class is open to any level. Teachers are present for questions, but the class feels more like an open studio time for potters. Thursdays, 6-8 p.m. $40. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, anamcre.com.

BEYOND THE BASICS OF WATERCOLOR WITH VIRGINIA MACK This is a class for those who love imagining ways to further their visual expressions. A watercolorbased course, but one that branches out into other media. Mondays, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. $35 per class. (805) 7474200. artcentralslo.com. Art Central, 1329 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo.

DATE NIGHT POTTERY Bring your date and throw a cup on the pottery wheel. Next, texture a clay slab and press into a form creating a personalized piece. Guest are welcome to bring drinks; venue provides aprons. Pieces are fired, glazed, and ready in two weeks. Saturdays, 6-7:30 p.m. $140. anamcre.com. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo.

DEANNA BARAHONA California artist Deanna Barahona’s work centers her lived experiences, identity, and personal objects in intimate and domestic spaces through the creation of sculpture, and

SUMMER SONGS

The Tent City Limits Concert Series, presented by the Atascadero Printery Foundation, is set for Friday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m. at the historic Atascadero Printery Foundation. Hear a soothing summer blend of bluegrass, folk, and Americana acts, including Caltucky and June Clivas & the Ditty Boys. On Sept. 19, Honey Buckets (pictured) will play the second concert in the series. Tickets are $28.62 each, and can be found at my805tix.com.

—Angie Stevens

installation. Through Aug. 31, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (805) 543-8562. sloma.org/ exhibition/deanna-barahona/. San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, 1010 Broad St., San Luis Obispo.

DEYODANCES: TWO FREE PERFORMANCES Be swept away by DEYODANCES! Enjoy professional concert dance. Choreographer Lisa Deyo will blend ballet, jazz, modern, and musical theater to make human stories. Aug. 23 7-9 p.m. and Aug. 24 2-4 p.m. Free. (805) 540-1081. deyodances.com. Spanos Theatre, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

FAMILY FRIENDLY WORKSHOP: LARGE PLATTER CLASS Fun for all ages. Instructors will guide you in creating large platters and decorating them. Create pieces together for your home. Saturdays, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. $50. anamcre.com. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo.

FREE DOCENT TOURS Gain a deeper understanding of the artwork on view with SLOMA’s new docent tours. Every Saturday, join trained guides for interactive and engaging tours of SLOMA’s current exhibitions. Saturdays, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. (805) 543-8562. sloma. org/visit/tours/. San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, 1010 Broad St., San Luis Obispo.

FRIENDS OF THE ARROYO GRANDE

LIBRARY ART AUCTION The first ever art auction fundraiser for Friends of the AG Library is now live. Includes work by local artist Ellen November. Every 30 days, 9 a.m. Various. (310) 384-6912. app.galabid. com/aglibrary/items. Online, See website, San Luis Obispo.

IMPROV EXTRAVAGANZA AT THE BUNKER Cheer on your favorite teams, or discover new ones, in this show of backto-back sets of spontaneous storytelling, wild characters, and big laughs. Aug. 28 , 6:15-8 p.m. $13. my805tix.com. The Bunker SLO, 810 Orcutt Road, San Luis Obispo.

MOBILE CLAY CLASSES Offering handbuilding, throwing, and ceramic decorative arts. All ages and abilities are welcome. Call for more info. ongoing (805) 835-5893. hmcruceceramics. com/book-online. SLO County, Various

locations countywide, San Luis Obispo. OIL PAINTING WORKSHOP WITH DREW DAVIS Purchase of a ticket includes all oil paints needed, canvas, brushes, an apron, and 2.5 hours of personalized instruction by Drew Davis himself! More info can be found at the link. Aug. 30 1-3:30 p.m. $120. my805tix.com. Drew Davis Fine Art, 393 Pacific St., San Luis Obispo. PAINTING PRE-MADE POTTERY Variety of pieces to choose from including mugs, bowls, jars, animals, and wall hangings. Priced by size. Paint and pick up once fired in kiln. Mondays, Sundays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. through Aug. 31 app.acuityscheduling. com/schedule.php?owner=22676824&ap pointmentType=category:Paint%20a%20 Pre-Made%20Pottery%20Piece%21. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo.

PLEIN AIR PAINTERS OF THE CENTRAL COAST A self-directed fun group of dynamic artists who enjoy painting and sketching outdoors. Artists meet on site at various locations. Weekly plein air destinations are provided by Kirsti Wothe via email (mrswothe@yahoo.com). Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-noon SLO County, Various locations countywide, San Luis Obispo. SLO COMEDY UNDERGROUND OPEN MIC NIGHT Enjoy a night of laughs provided by the local SLO Comedy Community. It’s open mic night, so anyone can perform and “you never know what you’ll see.” Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Free. Libertine Brewing Company, 1234 Broad St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 5482337, libertinebrewing.com.

THURSDAY NIGHT IMPROV AT THE BUNKER Join for a night of unscripted mayhem as Off the Cuff and the Ensemble join forces and take the stage as one. “Expect scenes that escalate way too fast, chaotic characters, questionable choices, and very real laughter — all made up on the spot based on your weird suggestions.” Aug. 21 , 6:15-8 p.m. $12.56. my805tix.com. The Bunker SLO, 810 Orcutt Road, San Luis Obispo. TRISH ANDERSEN Combining fibers gathered from field, sheep, and those

com. By The Sea Productions, 545 Shasta

PHOTO COURTESY OF MY805TIX

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WELCOME TO THE SOUNDTRACK OF FREEDOM

developed in a factory, Andersen proves that there is always room for both the vibrant and muted. Through Sept. 14, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (805) 543-8562. sloma. org/exhibition/trish-andersen/. San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, 1010 Broad St., San Luis Obispo.

WHITNEY PINTELLO: SOLO SHOW On display now through mid-April. ongoing slogallery.com/. SLO Gallery, 1023 Broad St., San Luis Obispo.

YOUTH POTTERY CLASS Teens love this class. Learn handbuilding techniques and throwing on the potter’s wheel. Held every Friday after school. Fridays, 3:30-5 p.m. $40. anamcre.com. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo.

SOUTH COAST SLO COUNTY

ARTISAN MARKET ON THE ARROYO

GRANDE MESA Join the 2nd annual Artisan Market, featuring 20 local artists. Enjoy the peaceful lakeside patio setting at Fit Forever Gym in Cypress Ridge. Aug. 23 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. (805) 720-0582. FItForever Gym (Outdoor Lakeside Garden Patio), 1080 Cypress Ridge Parkway, Arroyo Grande.

DANCE FITNESS ART AND CULTURE FOR ADULTS Discover dance as a form of artistic expression and exercise, using a wide range of styles and genres of music (including modern, jazz, Broadway, ethnic). Tuesdays, 4-5 p.m. $10 drop-in; $30 for four classes. (510) 362-3739. grover.org. Grover Beach Community Center, 1230 Trouville Ave., Grover Beach.

FREE MOVIE NIGHT IN THE SECRET

GARDEN: I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997) Bring a blanket, grab your favorite Secret Garden snacks, and settle in for this feel-good road trip full of fierce fashion, big laughs, and even bigger heart. Aug. 22 , 8 p.m. Free. my805tix.com. The Secret Garden at Sycamore Mineral Springs, 1215 Avila Beach Dr., Avila Beach, (805) 595-7302.

GREAT AMERICAN MELODRAMA: 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECTACULAR Full of songs, dance, and comedy to celebrate the milestone, with loads of opportunities to boo and cheer. Through Sept. 20 americanmelodrama.com. Great American Melodrama, 1863 Front St., Oceano.

IMPROV YOUR LIFE This fun applied improvisation class helps participants tap into their creativity through interactive exercises that build confidence, reduce

stress, and ease social anxiety. Fourth Sunday of every month, 6-7:30 p.m. through Aug. 24 $15. (805) 556-8495. improvforgood. fun/. Women’s Club of Arroyo Grande, 211 Vernon St., Arroyo Grande.

WORKSHOPS AND MORE AT THE LAVRA Check the venue’s calendar for storytelling workshops, lectures, movie nights, and discussions held on a periodic basis. ongoing thelavra.org/ home. The Lavra, 2070 E. Deer Canyon Road, Arroyo Grande.

CULTURE

& LIFESTYLE

NORTH COAST SLO COUNTY

32ND ANNUAL CUHS AFS-PINEDORADO

5K FUN RUN

Enjoy this family-friendly fun run. Proceeds provide scholarships to students planning to study abroad with AFS and support for sports teams. Aug. 30, 7-9:30 a.m. $25 entry fee; $15 t-shirts. (805) 801-1132. coastusd.org. Coast Union High School, 2950 Santa Rosa Creek Rd., Cambria.

BREATHE AND STRETCH One must be able to get down onto the floor and back up again, with ease, in order to participate in this 55-minute session. It’s specifically designed to enhance mobility and strength. Please bring a mat and some water. Mondays, 9-10 a.m. $10 per session. (415) 516-5214. Bayside Martial Arts, 1200 2nd St., Los Osos.

CCSPA MOVIE NIGHT - OUT THERE: A NATIONAL PARKS STORY Join CCSPA for their 2nd screening of the awardwinning feature documentary Out There: A National Park Story. The film follows a 10,000-mile road trip through America’s national parks, as the filmmaker and his childhood friend share inspiring stories of the incredible people they meet along the way. Aug. 25 5:30 p.m. $17.91. my805tix. com. Bay Theatre, 464 Morro Bay Blvd., Morro Bay.

CENTRAL COAST SLIM DOWN Take control of food without suffering. Learn a step-by-step process to take control of overeating, cravings, and feel peace with food. Build the habits, mindset, and your unique path with results that stick. Hosted byTami Cruz (Certified Health/Life Coach) and Dana Charvet (Coach/Fitness Trainer). ongoing Call for pricing info. (805) 235-7978. gratefulbodyhealthcoaching.com.

SIPS OF SUMMER

Head to Paso’s Vina Robles Tasting Room on Saturday, Aug. 23, for Hot August Nights, a laid-back evening of drinks, dinner, dice, and dominoes from 4 to 7 p.m. Savor the summer by enjoying a menu crafted and paired with wine by Chef Nicola Allegretta, along with by-the-glass wine specials and good conversation. Visit vinarobles.com to RSVP and get additional details.

—A.S.

Grateful Body, 850 Shasta, Morro Bay.

CENTRAL COAST UECHI-RYU KARATEDO Uechi-Ryu Karate-do is a traditional form of karate originating from Okinawa, Japan. Focus is on fitness, flexibility, and self-defense with emphasis on self -growth, humility, and respect. Open to ages 13 to adult. Beginners and experienced welcome. Instructor with 50 years experience. For info, call 805-215-8806. Tuesdays, Thursdays, 6-7:30 p.m. Morro Bay Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay, 772-6278, morro-bay.ca.us.

CO-DEPENDENTS ANONYMOUS

MEETING Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA) is a Twelve Step recovery program for anyone who desires to have healthy and loving relationships with themselves and others. Meeting is hybrid (both in person and on Zoom). For information, call 805-900-5237. Saturdays, 1-2:15 p.m. Free. thecambriaconnection.org/. Cambria Connection, 1069 Main St., Cambria, (805) 927-1654.

EMBODIED YOGA ON THE CENTRAL COAST Take part in this 1.5 hour class, guided by Dawn Feuerberg, certified classical ashtanga yoga, tantra meditation guide and founder of Aurora

Adventures, LLC. You’ll be guided into a nourishing warm up that will prepare you for the standing postures; the vinyasa flow will include sun salutations and a sequence that will help you move at your own rhythm and listen to your own body’s needs. Aug. 30, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. my805tix.com. Aurora Sacred Events, 21 24th St, Cayucos.

OPEN FLOW: DANCE AND MOVEMENT

A community of movers and shakers who come together to express themselves through dance and movement. Inspired by a variety of conscious movement modalities, Open Flow is led by Silvia Suarez and Matt Garrity, embodiment teachers who share a passion for integration through movement exploration. Wednesdays, 6:30-8 p.m. $10 (general), $5 (ages 55 and older). SilviaAthaSomatics.org. Morro Bay Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay, 772-6278.

SHAMANIC MORNING RITUALS FOR VITALITY Dawn will guide you into intentional movement to awaken vital energy that rejuvenates and transforms. The class will help you to connect with your energy centers (chakras) in the body by doing earthing practices to

clear the mind & the somatic body of any holding patterns. Dawn will introduce the 4 elements of these empowering shamanic morning rituals in a relaxed and open atmosphere for all so that it can be used as a framework for practical and empowered life change. More info at the link. Aug. 29 8:30-9:45 a.m. $48.98. my805tix.com. Aurora Sacred Events, 21 24th St, Cayucos.

SOCRATES DISCUSSION GROUP Have a topic, book, or article you wish to discuss with interested and interesting people? Join this weekly meeting to discuss it, or simply contribute your experiences and knowledge. Contact Mark Plater for instructions on entering the Chapel area. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-noon (805) 528-7111. Coalesce Garden Chapel, 845 Main St., Morro Bay.

THE KINDNESS COALITION PRESENTS:

AN EVENING OF SURF II Enjoy an evening of surf and earth inspired films, music, refreshments, and prizes. There will be live music accompanied by silent surf footage, and the films Trashman Para Siempre Coco and The Road to Patagonia will be screened. Aug. 24 , 5:30 p.m. $23.27. my805tix.com. Bay Theatre, 464 Morro Bay Blvd., Morro Bay.

WATERFRONT MARKET MORRO BAY

LABOR DAY WEEKEND EVENT Don’t roast! Enjoy this three-day event that will feature over 30 local hand crafters from the central coast. Aug. 30, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Aug. 31 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (805) 4029437. Giovanni’s Fish Market, 1001 Front St., Morro Bay.

WEEKLY QIGONG PRACTICE AT FITNESSWORKS MORRO BAY Calm your mind and nourish your joints with a weekly Qigong practice led by Mike Raynor of Tai Chi Rejuvenation. The practice is rooted in Qigong fundamentals, and standing/moving meditations. Forms include: Eight Brocades, Five Elements, Shibashi 18, and Tai chi 24. Saturdays, 10:45-11:45 a.m. Members free; non-members $8$10. (805) 772-7466. fitnessworksmb. com. FitnessWorks, 500 Quintana Rd., Morro Bay.

YOGA PLUS A hybrid of yoga and “stretching” techniques that yield a body that moves and feels amazing. Mondays, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. $10 per session. (415) 516-5214. Bayside Martial Arts, 1200 2nd St., Los Osos.

ZEN IN MOTION Learn the Shaolin Water Style and other deep breathing

and moving meditation techniques with the 2019 Taijiquan Instructor of the Year. Beginners Welcome.Instructor Certification Courses available. Mondays, Wednesdays Call for details. (805) 7017397. charvetmartialarts.com. Grateful Body, 850 Shasta, Morro Bay.

NORTH SLO COUNTY

BALANCE FLOW Suitable for all levels. This class is meant to benefit the mindbody connection while emphasizing safe and effective alignment as well as breath awareness and relaxation. Please call to register in advance. Tuesdays, Thursdays, 4:30-5:30 p.m. $16-$22; $50 membership. (805) 434-9605. ttrtennis.com/fitness/ yoga/. Templeton Tennis Ranch, 345 Championship Lane, Templeton. BRAVER ANGELS: REUNITING AMERICA, FILM AND DISCUSSION At noontime, watch eight Democraticleaning voters and seven Republicanleaning voters as they go through a Braver Angels Red/Blue workshop. Learn more about Braver Angels SLO. Aug. 26 12-1:30 p.m. (805) 461-6161. catalog.slolibrary.org/atascadero-library. Atascadero Library, 6555 Capistrano, Atascadero.

CO-DEPENDENTS ANONYMOUS MEETING Co-Dependents Anonymous is a 12-step fellowship of men and women. The only requirement for membership is a desire for healthy and loving relationships. Tuesdays, 12-1 p.m. Free. (805) 221-5755. North County Connection, 8600 Atascadero Ave., Atascadero.

CRAFTING SELF CARE SERIES: RITUALS FOR RADIANCE This three-part series offers a chance to slow down, reconnect, and explore intentional beauty rituals with herbalist and holistic esthetician Rodi Bragg. Through handson projects and thoughtful conversation, you’ll discover the connection between skin health, plant energetics, and everyday natural self-care. Class 1 will be DIY Skincare Rituals, Class 2 will be Intro to Natural Perfumery, and the third class will be Postpartum Skin & Hair. Aug. 21 6-7:30 p.m. and Aug. 28 6-7:30 p.m. $60 per class, $150 for full series. (805) 4642175. greenomenapothecary.com. The Green Omen Apothecary and Tea Lounge, 6280 Palma Ave., Atascadero. GUIDED MEDITATION WITH KAREN LEARY AT AWAKENING WAYS Experience guided meditations every Wednesday CULTURE & LIFESTYLE continued page 19

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS LESCHINSKY

Student Guide

BOOK YOUR AD BY: SEPTEMBER 5

PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 11

Autumn Arts

BOOK YOUR AD BY: SEPTEMBER 19

PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 25

BOOK YOUR AD BY: OCTOBER 2

PUBLICATION DATE: OCTOBER

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evening in a supportive space. Connect with your inner self and discover peace, healing, and self-awareness. Wednesdays, 6-7 p.m. (805) 391-4465. awakeningways.org.

Awakening Ways Center for Spiritual Living, 7350 El Camino Real, Ste. 101, Atascadero.

HAMBLY LAVENDER FARM GUIDED

EXPERIENCE This one-hour walk about the farm immerses you in the processes of growing, harvesting, and drying this fragrant herb. Saturdays, Sundays, 10 a.m. my805tix.com. Hambly Farms, 1390 Grana Place, San Miguel.

HOT SUMMER NIGHT! Join for an evening dedicated to the chili pepper, featuring fiery flavors and exquisite wine pairings that promise to ignite your taste buds. This unforgettable event at The Bramble Pie Company will afford you the chance to meet winemakers and taste wine from MCV and Marin Wines, and enjoy a 4-course dinner that will follow. More info can be found at the link. Aug. 24 5 p.m. $125.03. my805tix.com. Bramble Pie Company, 5945 Entrada Ave., Atascadero.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND WAREHOUSE

SALE Help us clear out the warehouse during our biggest sale of the year! Shop past vintages, stock up on favorites, and save big. Aug. 29 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Aug. 30 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and Aug. 31 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (805) 721-4553. vinarobles.com/events. Vina Robles Tasting Room, 1650 Ramada Dr, Ste 140, Paso Robles.

MUSIC ON THE PORCH August 30 is International Play Music On the Porch. Head to the Veterans Memorial Building in Paso Robles to enjoy music, tacos, and beverages. Bring instruments, money, and a chair. Aug. 30 2-5 p.m. -(805) 7126113. Veterans Building Paso Robles, 240 Scott St, Paso Robles.

NOURISH & NURTURE: HOLISTIC

SUPPORT FOR THE POSTPARTUM

JOURNEY Nourish your postpartum journey, restore balance, find calm, and embrace joy. Leave with a custom tea blend, wellness guide, and tools to thrive in this tender season. Aug. 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m. $60. (805) 464-2175. greenomenapothecary.com. The Green Omen Apothecary and Tea Lounge, 6280 Palma Ave., Atascadero.

PASO FOOD CO-OP MONTHLY MEETING

Join this monthly organizational meeting startup Paso Food Cooperative. Fourth Wednesday of every month, 6-7 p.m. (805) 712-7410 text is best. pasofoodcooperative.com/calendar-meetings. Oak Creek Commons, 635 Nicklaus St., Paso Robles.

TOPS SUPPORT GROUP: WEIGHT LOSS AND MAINTENANCE A self-help support group focusing on weight loss and maintenance. Thursdays, 1:30 p.m. (805) 242-2421. tops.org. Santa Margarita Senior Center, 2210 H St., Santa Margarita.

TOPS TAKE OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY Join for affordable and effective weight-loss support. Sundays, 10-11 a.m. through Oct. 31 First visit is free. (805) 234-1026.

Rancho Del Bordo Clubhouse, 10025 El Camino Real, Atascadero, tops.org.

SAN LUIS OBISPO

A BENEFIT CONCERT TO SAVE MORRO ELEMENTARY WITH CONDUCTOR KENT

NAGANO Save Morro Elementary and join this benefit concert with Conductor Kent Nagano. For a pair of VIP seats in the premiere rows, reach out to friendsofmorroelementary.org. Aug. 31 , 3 p.m. $85. (805) 546-3198. Harold J. Miossi CPAC at Cuesta College, Highway 1, San Luis Obispo.

BIRDS & BEES INQUIRE, “BUT DO HUMANS DO IT? - GITA KOLLURU We’ll review how Charles Darwin originally explained animal mating behavior, and how our views have evolved since, and later explore how and why understanding the sex lives of other creatures helps us better understand our own. Come see why her “Biology of Sex” class has become one of the most popular on the Cal Poly campus. During this course, you will see filmed scenes of non-human animals mating and hear discussion about sex in animals including humans. If this makes you uncomfortable, this course may not be appropriate for you. Aug. 27, 1-3 p.m. $12. my805tix.com. Oddfellows Hall, 520 Dana Street, San Luis Obispo, (805) 544-0876. CENTRAL COAST CONJURERS (SLO COUNTY MAGIC CLUB) Monthly meeting of magicians of all levels. Please call or email for more info. Meet like-minded folks with an interest in magic, from close-up to stage performances. Last Monday of every month, 6:30 p.m. Free. (805) 440-0116. SLO Elks Lodge, 222 Elks Lane, San Luis Obispo.

FELINE NETWORK ADOPT A KITTEN EVENT! Join the Adopt a Kitten Event at PetsMart in SLO. Come see our beautiful kittens for adoption; all are fixed, vaccinated, and microchipped. Aug. 30 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (805) 540-0006. felinenetwork.org. PetSmart, 1530 Froom Ranch Way, San Luis Obispo. FIGHT NIGHT VIII - PRESENTED BY BEATDOWN PROMOTIONS Enjoy an unforgettable evening, featuring fighters battling it out in the octagon. Watch top-tier athletes showcase their skills, strength, and strategy in an actionpacked lineup of bouts. Enjoy the ultimate fight night experience with VIP tickets, including premium seating, exclusive access, and complimentary refreshments. This event is proudly supported by local businesses, ensuring a community-centric atmosphere that everyone will enjoy. Tickets and more info can be found at the link. Aug. 29 5 p.m. $39.34-$71.47. my805tix.com. Madonna Expo Center, 100 Madonna Road, San Luis Obispo.

FREE TOURS OF THE MISSION Tour

San Luis Obispo’s Spanish Mission, founded in 1772. Come learn its history and about the development of this area. Tours, led by docents, are free at 1:15 p.m Monday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Sundays, 2-2:30 p.m., Mondays-

Saturdays, 1:15-2:15 p.m. and ThursdaysSaturdays, 11 a.m. through Sept. 1 Free. (657) 465-9182. missionsanluisobispo. org. Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, 751 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo.

FRIDAY NIGHT MAGIC THE GATHERING

Friday Night Magic is where legends rise! Bring your deck, meet fellow Planeswalkers, and battle it out in epic MTG duels. Fun, prizes, glory! Fridays. through May 2 Free. (805) 544-6366. facebook.com/even

ts/592253119822089/592256636488404. Captain Nemo Games, 565 Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo.

FROZEN IN TIME – A ROYAL

FUNDRAISER There will be a Frozen live show, with an enchanting performance from Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff, along with a Royal Meet & Greet with the beloved princesses Ariel, Cinderella, and Belle. All tickets are a donation to support those who need our help, through the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund. “This isn’t just a party - it’s a chance to teach our children the power of kindness and community. As we come together in joy, we also honor the preciousness of life and share love with families who need it most.” Aug. 24, 3-4:30 p.m. $33.98. my805tix.com. Madonna Inn, 100 Madonna Rd., San Luis Obispo.

MOONLIGHT HOURS AT THE SLO

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM Come to the San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum for free every third Thursday of the month. Third Thursday of every month, 5-7 p.m. Free admission. (805) 545-5874. slocm.org/ moonlight-hours. San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum, 1010 Nipomo St., San Luis Obispo.

PLUG-IN TO LOCAL CLIMATE ACTION Get inspired by local action, connect with others, and discover more ways to get involved with the SLO Climate Coalition. Attend virtually or in-person. Sustainable snacks and childcare will be provided. Third Thursday of every month, 6-8 p.m. sloclimatecoalition.org/ events/. Ludwick Community Center, 864 Santa Rosa, San Luis Obispo.

SLO OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY

This free event brings our community together to learn more about overdose, how to prevent it, and to remember those we’ve lost. Aug. 30, 12-3 p.m. Free. sloendoverdose.org/. Mitchell Park, 1445 Santa Rosa St., San Luis Obispo.

SOUTH COAST SLO COUNTY

BEGINNING BALLET FOR ADULTS Enjoy the grace and flow of ballet. No previous experience needed. Wednesdays, 5:156:15 p.m. $12 drop-in; $40 for four classes. (510) 362-3739. grover.org. Grover Beach Community Center, 1230 Trouville Ave., Grover Beach.

BODY FUSION/EXERCISE AND FITNESS

CLASS Do something good for yourself and stay fit for outdoor sports, while enhancing flexibility, strengthening your core to prevent lower back issues, improving your posture through yoga, and more. Tuesdays, Thursdays, 9-10:30 a.m. Free. (970) 710-1412. Avila Beach

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE continued page 20

Davis Fine Art,

SEPTEMBER

Community Center, 191 San Miguel St., Avila Beach, avilabeachcc.com.

MULTICULTURAL DANCE CLASS

FOR ADULTS Experience dance from continents around the earth, including from Africa, Europe, and more. Described as “a wonderful in-depth look at the context and history of cultures of the world.” Tuesdays, 5:30-6:30 p.m. $10 drop-in; $30 for four classes. (510) 362-3739. grover.org. Grover Beach Community Center, 1230 Trouville Ave., Grover Beach.

POINT SAN LUIS LIGHTHOUSE TOURS

A docent-led tour of the buildings and grounds of the historic Point San Luis Light Station. Check website for more details. Wednesdays, Saturdays pointsanluislighthouse.org/. Point San Luis Lighthouse, 1 Lighthouse Rd., Avila Beach.

RESILIENCE SOUND JOURNEY / ONCOLOGY CARE Join for a soothing, nourishing, and revitalizing Sound Journey experience facilitated by Dee DiGioia of Mindful Kindful YOUniversity. Each Sound Journey—also known as a Sound Bath— offers a gentle, immersive experience featuring a soothing soundscape created by crystal and metal singing bowls, chimes, gongs, and other therapeutic instruments. More information is available at the link. Aug. 22 , 5:30-6:30 p.m. Free. my805tix.com. Arroyo Grande Adventist Church, 240 Vernon Ave., Arroyo Grande, (805) 489-6622.

SYCAMORE DOG DAY WITH NOVY’S ARK Stop by and bring you dogs for National Dog Day! Join for a tail-waggin’ good time with our friends from Novy’s Ark! RSVP and get more info at the link. Aug. 24 1-3 p.m. Free. my805tix.com. The Secret Garden at Sycamore Mineral Springs, 1215 Avila Beach Dr., Avila Beach, (805) 595-7302.

FOOD & DRINK

NORTH COAST SLO COUNTY

MORRO BAY MAIN STREET FARMERS

MARKET Get fresh and veggies, fruit, baked goods, sweets, and handmade artisan crafts. Come have some fun with your local farmers and artisans and enjoy delicious eats while enjoying the fresh breeze of Morro Bay. Saturdays, 2:30-5:30 p.m. Varies. (805) 824-7383. morrobayfarmersmarket.com. Morro Bay Main Street Farmers Market, Main Street and Morro Bay Blvd., Morro Bay.

NORTH SLO COUNTY

CLUB CAR BAR TRIVIA WITH DR. RICKY Teams of one to six people welcome. Visit site for more info. Wednesdays, 7-10 p.m. my805tix.com. Club Car Bar, 508 S. Main St., Templeton.

CLUB SUPSUP Check out the Central Coast’s newest pop-up dinner experience the last Wednesday of every month. Last Wednesday of every month, 6-9 p.m. $125. (310) 692-0046. clubsupsup.com/. Kindred Oak Farm, 1250 Paint Horse Plaza, Paso Robles.

HOT AUGUST NIGHTS Enjoy a late summer evening of wine tasting, dinner, games, and music. Aug. 23 4-7 p.m. (805) 721-4553. vinarobles.com/hot-summernights-drinks-dinner-dominoes-dice.

Vina Robles Tasting Room, 1650 Ramada Dr, Ste 140, Paso Robles.

NATIONAL DOG DAY PARADE Dog costumes are encouraged! The $25 fee enters your dog in the parade, and includes two glasses of wine, treats, and a $5 donation to Novy’s Ark. Aug. 26 5:307:30 p.m. $25. (805) 721-4553. exploretock. com. Vina Robles Tasting Room, 1650 Ramada Dr, Ste 140, Paso Robles.

PASO FOOD CO-OP MONTHLY MEETING All welcome. Get involved and help spread the word about the co-op. Tell a friend, associate, or neighbor. Meet in the Community Room at Oak Creek Commons near Pat Butler Elementary School. Fourth Wednesday of every month, 6-7 p.m. pasofoodcooperative.com. Oak Creek Commons, 635 Nicklaus St., Paso Robles. SUMMER SERIES HAPPY HOURS This three-part series includes “Caviar & Austin Hope Wine Tasting” on Thursday, “Oyster Fest at Hope on Park: Oysters + Austin Hope Wines” on Saturday, and “Deconstructing Cabernet Sauvignon – A Paso Robles Exploration” on Monday. Get tickets and more info about the events at the link! Aug. 25 5:30-7 p.m., Aug. 27 5:30-7 p.m. and Aug. 29, 5:30-7 p.m. $35$45. my805tix.com. Hope on Park Creative Space, 1140 Pine Street, Paso Robles. TACO TUESDAYS La Parilla Taqueria will be in the courtyard serving up their delicious tacos and tostadas. Menu typically includes barbacoa, chicken, and pastor tacos, as well as shrimp ceviche tostadas. Tuesdays, 5-8 p.m. (805) 460-6042. ancientowlbeergarden. com. Ancient Owl Beer Garden, 6090 El Camino

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20

19 Libertine Brewing Co, SLO

& Hammer Rock, SLO

to Coast Cleanup

SEPTEMBER 20

Locations, SLO County

NLP Phobia Process Training

Retreats, AG

Libations at the Lighthouse

Piedras Blancas Light Station, San Simeon

Stevie Nicks Illusion

20 Cottonwood Canyon Winery

Arts

Sayonara summer

Casa Ramos Art Gallery in Los Osos is the place to be on Saturday, Aug. 23 (4 to 7 p.m.), when it hosts a community end-of-summer party featuring “colorful, feel-good artwork created exclusively by artists from Los Osos,” the gallery announced.

“We’re representing an incredible emerging artist, Mike Golling,” gallery co-owner Elena Ramos Peffly said. “His paintings are unreal, ... and some are gigantic!”

Peffly describes Golling’s work as impressionistic oil paintings, capturing scenes from the Central Coast, including Morro Bay, Los Osos, Cayucos, and Big Sur.

“His expressive brushwork and rich color palettes breathe new life into familiar landscapes,” the gallery announced. “Adding to the excitement, the reception will unveil a new painting by renowned local legend John Ramos: a tribute to the Western Flyer, the storied vessel made famous by John Steinbeck in The Log from the Sea of Cortez

“Whether you’re an art lover, a local supporter, or simply looking for a meaningful way to spend a Saturday evening, this free event is open to all. Enjoy refreshments, community vibes, and a few surprise moments along the way.”

The gallery is located at 1034 Los Osos Valley Road. Learn more at losososart.com. Call the gallery at (805) 439-0306.

Dance free

Local dance company DEYO Dances is offering two free performances of the world premiere of 17/NYC, featuring choreography by company founder and director Lisa Deyo, on Saturday, Aug. 23 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, Aug. 24 (2 p.m.) in Cal Poly’s Spanos Theatre. Visit deyodances.com and follow the link to free tickets.

Deyo is a SLO native who trained locally with the SLO Civic Ballet, eventually achieving worldwide success as “a professional dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, LA Chamber Ballet, and work in NYC and with commercial videos and Disney Industrials,” her bio explains. “Her work won an ART INSPIRES! Individual Artist’s Grant for choreography. Her ballet, Out Of Water, was chosen as one of six finalists in the International Competition of Classical Choreography as part of the Nouveau Festival International de Danse de Paris in 1999. It was performed by Oakland Ballet in Paris for the finals.” Deyo’s company has performed in Russia and New York City, and collaborates with Opera SLO. The upcoming two free performances will also feature two other dances, Blue—an homage to American roots and uses musical theater, jazz, swing—and Uncertainty Principle—exploring the tension of being in relationships. Come get some free culture!

∆

Glen Starkey

BY GLEN STARKEY

Art that reveals and heals

Spring Break Jake’s show at The Bunker examines insomnia

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Maybe you’ve been there: lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep.

Oregon-based artist Spring Break Jake (born Jacob Jerome Kenobi) su ered from insomnia and sleep deprivation for more than 20 years. He channeled his struggle into a new collection of paintings he calls Night Life, an Exhibition on the Experience of Insomnia, showing in e Bunker SLO through August.

“In hindsight, it’s been quite a journey over the past 20-plus years,” Jake explained in an email interview. “I’d say the worst of it was in high school when I truly could not fall asleep before 1 or 2 a.m., some nights even 4 a.m., before having to wake up at 6 a.m. roughout the years, I started guring I was just a total night owl, but it wasn’t until working with my current therapist and nally focusing on my mental health that I realized what a profound role sleep really plays on our well-being and how much the lack of it has shaped my life.

“But it’s seriously so much better now, which I think is a big reason I was even able to paint a whole show about these experiences. I started working with a sleep specialist, got diagnosed with sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine, I work out three to four days a week, and I go to bed around 10 p.m. and wake up at 7 a.m. every day.”

About 30 percent of adults experience insomnia, about 10 percent chronically. Sleep deprivation can lead to a host of physical and mental illnesses, which is why Jake, Bunker owner Missy ReitnerCameron, and gallery and events manager Kalae KilinaLokeLani have partnered with TransitionsMental Health Association to donate a portion of sales to the Central Coast nonpro t that works with mentally ill people.

“I really feel immensely privileged to be an artist, so it’s important to me that part of this career is supporting causes and missions that are near and dear to my heart,” Jake said.

On his website, springbreakjake.com, his motto reads: “Fine art for your mental health.” Art certainly inspires, but can it improve mental health?

“Without a doubt!” Jake asserted. “ ere’s quite a bit of research out now on the positive e ects of not just viewing art but living amongst it. Public art has been found to

See the work

A collection of paintings titled Night Life, an Exhibition on the Experience of Insomnia by Bend, Oregon, artist Spring Break Jake is currently on display in The Bunker SLO (810 Orcutt Road) through August. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Learn more at thebunkerslo. com or call (805) 439-0355. You can find Jake on Instagram at @springbreak.jake.

uplift whole communities, improving mental health and creating a shared connection and pride in where you live. We all genuinely need more art in our lives!”

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Jake started heading west as a teenager.

“I got very into snowboarding as a kid in Minnesota, so when I turned 18, I started moving west. I went to school in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, for two years, then lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, for almost 10, before my wife and I moved to Bend to be closer to her family.”

He’s also a self-taught artist whose work could be described as “primitivism.” He’s clearly interested in creating rich surfaces.

“My style has taken a long time to develop because I initially pursued graphic design for a while, then transitioned to freelance illustration, followed by murals, and now ne art. I think my work as an illustrator in uenced my style the most, especially the fact that almost all of my freelance work has been digital illustration. A desire for something more tactile and hands-on led me to create very textured, mixed media work.”

In Night Life, clear symbolism is at play as Jake juxtaposes lush green foliage with stark white skeletal images.

Send gallery, stage, and cultrual festivities to arts@newtimesslo.com.

“Memento mori is an overarching theme in my work simply because the best motivator I’ve found to work on my mental health issues and heal from something like insomnia is the fact that I’m going to die. I want to live a full and ful lling life while I have one, both for myself and for my loved ones. I try to convey that idea by showing the contrast of life and death and encouraging the acceptance of both the good and the bad through symbols of paradise, like the tropical foliage that live alongside the darker colors and shrouded gures.

“I was very fortunate as a kid to go on family vacations to Florida most years, and those memories ended up being some of my happiest,” he continued. “A love for all things tropical has stuck with me, coming to represent the beautiful and the positive aspects of our nite lives.”

Jake hopes people su ering from their own mental health struggles might be encouraged by seeing his depicted.

“During my toughest times, I found a lot of relief from learning that I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Mental health struggles are incredibly isolating, and our brains do way too good of a job convincing us that we’re the only ones who have ever experienced this and that no one will ever understand. I’m frankly not always comfortable making work that’s so self-focused, about myself and my experiences, but that’s the kind of work I always connect with most from other artists because I get it; I feel seen and understood.

“Hopefully, my paintings can do the same for someone else.”

ese layered, textured, and rather stark images depict duality—life and death, light and darkness, beauty and decay.

“ e imagery and textures are meant to convey the con icting realities that insomnia embodies,” Jake explained. “ e bedroom can be perfectly quiet and still on the outside, but inside one’s mind can be a chaotic mess of anxious overthinking and restlessness.”

Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@ newtimesslo.com.

BEDTIME “I realized what a profound role sleep really plays on our wellbeing,” Jake said.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SPRING BREAK JAKE

INSOMNIAC Spring Break Jake (née Jacob Jerome Kenobi—pictured here with his dog, Boom!) is showing a collection of paintings based on his “20-plus years of living with insomnia and sleep deprivation” at The Bunker SLO through August.

COURTESY PHOTO BY MARIO GALLUCCI

ART ON A BUDGET For a dollar, you can buy limited edition mini prints or a sticker at Spring Break Jakes’ Night Life exhibition in The Bunker SLO.

PHOTO BY GLEN STARKEY

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NOBODY 2

What’s it rated? R

imo Tjahjanto ( e Night Comes for Us) directs this sequel to the 2021 original about Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a seemingly docile family man who turned out to be a former assassin who goes to war with a Russian crime boss over a burglary. is time around, Hutch is trying to take his family on vacation, but oops! ey visit a corrupt tourist town with a secret bootlegging operation run by Lendina (Sharon Stone). (89 min.)

What’s it worth, Anna? Full price

What’s it worth, Glen? Full price

Where’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10

Glen It’d be nearly impossible to top the original, but this sequel is trying. As it opens, Hutch nds himself on a hamster wheel of repetition, this time trying to work o $30 million in debt to a criminal organization by carrying out their dirty work. Ah, the drudgery of daily assassinations. His wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen), is frustrated by his workload and concerned that his tendency toward violence is rubbing o on their son, Brady (Gage Munroe). He needs a break, so he decides to load up the family, including daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) and father David (Christopher Lloyd), and head to Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark—the only place his father took Hutch and his brother Harry (RZA) on a vacation as kids. ey’re there to “make memories,” but they turn out to not be the kind Hutch hoped for when town bullies ruin his family fun.

Anna Of course, Plummerville, the hybrid amusement park/town they visit, is also the center for some illegal hijinks, corrupt cops, and the seriously scary Lendina. Hutch just can’t catch a break from his 9-to-5, which happens to include a task list of stomping out henchmen and ringleaders alike. After an altercation between Brady and Plummerville head honcho Wyatt Martin’s (John Ortiz) son, Hutch is told quite plainly to scram, but Hutch is determined to give Becca and the

THE BETTER SISTER

What’s it rated? TV-14

When? 2025

Where’s it showing? Prime

Chloe (Jessica Beil) and Adam’s (Corey Stoll) seemingly perfect life hides some dirty little secrets—ones they work hard to keep quiet. Chloe is a powerful editor-in-chief for The Real Thing , a feminist magazine that she’s determined to helm meticulously. When Adam fails to show up to a gala where Chloe is being honored, she heads back to their beachfront Hamptons home only to find her husband in a pool of blood with no pulse. What follows is a twisty tale as

FAMILY SECRETS

Formerly estranged sisters Nicky (Elizabeth Banks, left) and Chloe (Jessica Biel) must put aside their differences when Nicky’s son is arrested for murder, in The Better Sister, streaming on Prime.

rest of the fam the vacation he promised. at means water parks and carousels, hot dogs and duck boats. What he gets alongside those innocent family moments is a whole lot of people after him, bound and determined to run him out of town. What Sheri Abel (Colin Hanks) and his goons soon realize is that simple family man Hutch Mansell isn’t just a dad on vacay or a normal civilian. He’s a killing machine when his back is against the wall, and he won’t be leaving town until he takes them all down.

Glen Stone is amazing as Lendina— positively unhinged! As bad as Martin and Sheri Able are, they’re victims of Lendina’s cruelty too. Like the original, this neo-Western ends in a showdown. Hutch’s brother, sensing he’s in crisis, shows up to lend a hand during the nal battle. Father David goes into full geriatric Rambo mode. Even Becca, who turns out to be a crack shot, gets in on the action. e bloodshed gets pretty graphic, and the lm earns its

investigators zero in on the couple’s teenage son, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan), as the culprit and as Chloe’s long lost wayward sister, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), shows up to further complicate things.

It turns out that this family affair is much thornier than it looks from the outside. Nicky is messy and struggling with sobriety and refuses to apologize for being utterly human—something her picture-perfect sister just can’t comprehend. The two must navigate their own difficult journey as siblings, all while doggedly pursuing a strong defense for the young man at the center of the storm.

While not as juicy as Big Little Lies or Sharp Objects , fans of mystery get a good dose of drama and intrigue with The Better Sister (eight 53- to 61-min. episodes)

—Anna

BUTTERFLY

What’s it rated? TV-16

When? 2025

Where’s it showing? Prime

DR-rating. But the story also has a lot of heart. It’s all about the importance of family, which is a very sweet message contained in a lm with ying body parts. I was completely entertained and grateful for its tight 90-minute runtime. It ew by.

Anna After a summer of bloated blockbusters with uber-long run times, Nobody 2 is a perfect palate cleanser. It has the fun of road trip comedy, the comically bloody ght scenes of the rst lm, and a great cast. Odenkirk is a fun action star simply because at rst glance he doesn’t t the bill. His Hutch is whiskered and a bit worse for wear because of his line of work, but when it’s time to kick bad guy butt, he’s surprisingly convincing as a badass. See this one—you’ll enjoy indulging in this violent, fun, popcorn ick with a lot of heart. ∆

Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Split Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.

aniel Dae Kim stars as David Jung, a former CIA operative living in South Korea. He’s presumed dead from an operation gone wrong nine years earlier, now living a quiet life with his new wife, Eunju (Kim Tae-hee).

His big regret was leaving his then-14-yearold daughter, Rebecca, behind when he “died,” but he had his reasons. He discovers that his daughter (Reina Hardesty)—now 23—is working as an assassin for Juno (Piper Perabo), the head of Caddis Private Intelligence, a security service he started that’s become a criminal enterprise. Now David will stop at nothing to extract Rebecca and expose Juno for the criminal she is. Juno is an equal opportunity mercenary, at one point snarling, “The only enemy I have is peace.” This is standard spy thriller stuff, but it’s done well with a lot of action sequences. Both Kim and Hardesty are effective—he as the worried father and she as the bitter abandoned daughter who’s a little too gleeful about mayhem. Can he “fix” what’s been broken in her? It’s basically a melodrama/soap opera gussied up with violence. (in English and Korean; six 45- to 60-min. episodes) ∆ —Glen

HE’S BACK Bob Odenkirk reprises his role as Hutch Mansell, a seemingly mild-mannered family man who’s actually a former government assassin, in Nobody 2, screening in local theaters.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES

UNIFICATION

David Jung (Daniel Dae Kim), a former CIA operative, must rescue his daughter from her life as an assassin, in Butterfly, streaming on Prime.

COURTESY PHOTO BY JUHAN NOH/PRIME

Music

BY GLEN STARKEY

A songwriter’s songwriter

Pete Yorn plays an acoustic show at the Fremont Theater

When Pete Yorn’s debut album, Musicforthemorningafter, was released in 2001, it was a revelation. This guy could write songs that seemed to speak to every listener. The critics ate it up. SPIN Magazine called Yorn “one of his generation’s best songwriters.” AllMusic wrote, “The Year 2001 belonged to Yorn.” Rolling Stone included his album in its Critics’ Top Albums of 2001.

The music business has changed a lot since 2001, but Yorn remains an artist that trusts talent over trend. His just keeps making great records and playing unflashy heartfelt concerts.

“Getting up onstage with a piece of wood in my hand and just strumming that, it feels like the most pure thing that I could do,” he said during a recent phone call. “There’s AI, there’s fake music, there’s a million bands, there’s a million people dropping songs every day on social media and TikTok and all this stuff. I’m not chasing any of that. I’m just not doing it. I’m just going to keep doing what I do.”

What he does, over the course of 10 more records—most recently 2024’s The Hard Way—is remain an essential voice in alternative and indie rock. This Friday, Aug. 22, Good Vibez presents Pete Yorn at the Fremont Theater (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $39.11 to $57.14 at prekindle.com).

“I was looking back to see when the last time was that I played San Luis Obispo, and I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I was there,” Yorn said. “I’ve been to town a few times since I go to Morro Bay a lot, but I haven’t performed there in over 10 and a half years.”

This Friday’s show promises to be a favorite for fans. Even though he’s touring in support of his new album, he’s open to requests. “The fun thing about the acoustic shows is the only rule is no set list,” he explained. “When I’m with my band, I come up with a set beforehand, and we know what we’re going to do. But for these, it’s a blank palette every night, which I love. It’s like the freedom of jamming in my basement. I dig in. I take requests. I talk a lot. It’s kind of a one-man

Live Music

NORTH COAST SLO COUNTY

BRASS MASH – A BIG ASS BRASS

PARTY BASH The powerhouse horn band Brass Mash is set to perform all of your favorite tunes, spanning from the 1960s to today. You’ll be guessing all of our throwbacks, super jams and power ballads with your nearby strangers. Get tickets and more info at the link. Aug. 30 7:30-10:30 p.m. $18.48. thesirenmorrobay. com. The Siren, 900 Main St., Morro Bay, (805) 225-1312.

DARING GREATLY – A FREE ROCK SHOW

Daring Greatly is a band that defies easy categorization. Their unique blend of rock and country influences has crafted a sound that’s both familiar and fresh, sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who hears it. Hear them live at The Siren! Aug. 29, 7:30-10:30 p.m. Free. thesirenmorrobay.com/event/daringgreat-a-free-rock-show/. The Siren, 900

show. Whatever’s on my mind, I just start talking about it, get into it with the audience and, you know, if someone wants to hear a certain song, yell it out, and we’ll talk about the song. It’s great to remind me of some old songs that I hadn’t played in a while.”

After writing so many songs, it’s amazing he can pull up things he hasn’t played in years.

“I don’t remember a lot of important things in the current moment,” he laughed, “but my brain, I think, is holding onto song lyrics and chord changes in some filing cabinet in the back of my head, just in case I need it to pull it out.”

Who knows? Yorn might not be back for another decade.

“I don’t tour that much,” he said, “and I don’t think there will be a time when I go back to what I used to do, which was just go out on the road for months and months at a time, so if you do want to see me, don’t miss it.”

Also at the Fremont, it’s a reggae extravaganza when Tribal Seeds and The Movement co-headline their Coast 2 Coast Summer Tour on Tuesday, Aug. 26 (doors at 6:30, show at 7:30 p.m.; all ages; $66.92 at prekindle.com) with KBong and Johnny Cosmic opening.

Main St., Morro Bay, (805) 225-1312. THE DROPTINES Alternative country band, The Droptines, are based out of Texas. They are scheduled to hit The Siren’s stage. Get tickets and more info at the link. Aug. 22 7:30-10:30 p.m. $20. The Siren, 900 Main St., Morro Bay, (805) 225-1312, thesirenmorrobay.com/. LISTENING AS RITUAL Group listening sessions with musician/musicologist Ben Gerstein. Explore remarkable recordings of world music, nature field recording, western classical and contemporary, and jazz, sharing and discussing inspiration and perspectives on the expressive power of peoples, cultures, animals and habitats through sonic experience. Every other Monday, 7-8:15 p.m. $10-$15 donation. (805) 305-1229. leftcoastartstudio.com/. Left Coast Art Studio, 1188 Los Osos Valley Rd., Los Osos. MORRO BAY WHITE CAPS COMMUNITY

Eighties fans unite!

Nederlander Concerts and Vina Robles Amphitheatre are bringing back Lost ’80s Live on Friday, Aug. 29 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $46 to $196 at ticketmaster.com). This retro tour is now in its 23rd year, “Bringing together some of the most TOTALLY TUBULAR and RADICAL acts from that great ’80s decade,” organizers gushed. This tour’s acts include Grammy Award-winner A Flock of Seagulls (“I Ran [So Far Away]” and “A Space Age Love Song”); General Public (“Tenderness” and “Never You Done That”); Big Country (“In a “Big Country” and “Fields of Fire”); The Vapors (“Turning Japanese” and “Jimmie Jones”); The Icicle Works (“Birds Fly [Whisper to a Scream]”); Josie Cotton (“Johnny Are You Queer” and “He Could Be The One”); Belouis Some (“Some People” and “Imagination”), China Crisis (“Working With Fire and Steel” and “Arizona Sky”), and The Polecats (“Make a Circuit with me”).

Tons of fun songs.

BAND, MUSIC BY THE SEA SUMMER CONCERT SERIES The Morro Bay White Caps Community Band, under the baton of conductor Brenda Hascall, will perform a variety of pops, jazz, and classical music. Aug. 23 , 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. (805) 459-9543. morrobaywhitecaps.com. The Morro Bay White Caps Community Band will perform four concerts on the South T-Pier featuring jazz, classical, rock, and pop music. Aug. 23 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Free, Donations accepted. (805) 459-9543. morrobaywhitecaps.com. The Morro Bay White Caps Community Band, conducted by Brenda Hascall, will perform a variety of pops, classical and jazz music by the sea. Aug. 23 , 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. (805) 459-9543. morrobaywhitecaps.com. Morro Bay S. T Pier, 1185 Embarcadero, Morro Bay.

THE SINNERS (FREE AFTERNOON

SHOW) Head the 6-piece band swirls rhythm and blues during their live performance at The Siren. Aug. 30 2-5 p.m. Free. thesirenmorrobay.com/event/ the-sinners/. The Siren, 900 Main St., Morro Bay, (805) 225-1312.

NORTH SLO COUNTY

BURLEY THISTLES Burley Thistles is an alternative rock band known for their guitar-driven sound and memorable songs. Hear him live at Sun Outdoors Central Coast Wine Country. Aug. 29 6-8 p.m. Sun Outdoors Central Coast Wine Country, 2500 Airport Rd, Paso Robles, (805) 238-4560.

CASS WINERY BARREL ROOM CONCERT SERIES: MONTE MILLS & THE LUCKY HORSESHOE BAND Join for the Monthly Concert Series! Wine will be available by the glass and by the bottle, along with a selection of Barrelhouse

Texas alt-country heroes

Good Medicine, Numbskull, and KCBX present The Droptines at The Siren on Friday, Aug. 22 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $19.26 at goodmedicinepresents.com) with Linn Holmes opening.

The Droptines hail from Concan, Texas, formed in 2019 by frontman and songwriter,

Beer and soft drinks. Aug. 24 4-6 p.m. Free. my805tix.com. Cass Winery and Vineyard, 7350 Linne Rd., Paso Robles.

EASTON EVERETT Easton Everett is a singer-songwriter who blends indie folk, neo-folk, and world beat with intricate fingerstyle guitar. Hear him live at the Paso Robles Inn. Aug. 30, 6-9 p.m. Paso Robles Inn, 1103 Spring Street, Paso Robles. Easton Everett is a singer-songwriter who blends indie folk, neo-folk, and world beat with intricate fingerstyle guitar. Hear him live at Barton Family Wines. Aug. 31 , 12-4 p.m. Barton Family Wines, 2174 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles, (805) 237-0771, greywolfcellars.com.

FRIDAY NIGHT DJ Weekly DJ series, with a different DJ every Friday. Presented by friends at Traffic Record store in Atascadero. Come listen, dance, drink, and unwind every Friday. All ages event; no cover charge. Fridays, 7-10 p.m. (805) 460-6042. ancientowlbeergarden.com. Ancient Owl Beer Garden, 6090 El Camino Real, suite C, Atascadero. HOT TINA AT HUBBA WINES Head to Hubba Wines in Tin City for live music. featuring Hot Tina. Wine and food will be available for purchase. Aug. 22 , 5-9 p.m. $5.00 Donation. (805) 550-8190. hubbawines.com/Events. Hubba Wines, 2929 Limestone Way, Paso Robles. HUBBA WINES 2025 SUMMER CONCERT SERIES Head to Hubba Wines in Tin City for live music featuring local bands every Friday evening. Wine and food available for purchase. Fridays, 5-9 p.m. through Aug. 29 $5 donation. (805) 550-8190. hubbawines.com/Events. Hubba Wines, 2929 Limestone Way, Paso Robles. JAMES GARNER’S TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY LIVE MUSIC continued page 28

RESILENCE Pete Yorn plays acoustic at the Fremont Theater on Aug. 22 , drawing from his new album, The Hard Way, and his entire catalog.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOD VIBEZ

STAR POWER Josie Cotton is one of nine acts playing Lost ’80s Live at Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Aug. 29

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEDERLANDER CONCERTS

ALT-COUNTRY HEROES Good Medicine, Numbskull, and KCBX present The Droptines at The Siren on Aug. 22 .

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DROPTINES

STARKEY continued page 28

Conner Arthur, aka “The King of Concan.” He’s a terrific songwriter, so if you’re a fan of Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, the Jayhawks, the Drive-By Truckers, the Old 97’s, Wilco, and/ or early Ryan Adams, see this band!

Also at The Siren … Local reggae and funk act One Love Bomb plays a free matinee on Saturday, Aug. 23 (2 to 5 p.m.; 21-and-older). Featuring frontman Eric Cotton, the band includes members of Cardiff Reefers and Militia of Love.

If you’re looking for an eclectic evening of Southern rock, blues, funk and soul, check out Deltaphonic on Saturday, Aug. 23 (7:45 to 10:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $16.36) with Silk Ocean opening. Founded in New Orleans by frontman Andrew T. Weekes, Deltaphonic is an up-and-coming act whose singles are getting streaming traction. For a taste, look up their song “Mississippi.”

Everybody must get stoned

The Clark Center presents the Stone Soup Music Festival and Street Fair returning to Grover Beach Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 23 and 24. There are too many acts to list but visit clarkcenter.org/stone-soup-lineup for all the details.

Saturday highlights include reggae act Ras Danny & The Reggae All Stars, Samba band Samba Loca, surf rockers Riff Tide, country act Monte Mills & The Lucky Horseshoe Band, alt-rock band Carbon City Lights, and ’80s tribute act The Molly Ringwald Project

CASH Back by popular demand, James Garner’s Johnny Cash tribute will be held at the Templeton PAC. Visit the link for tickets and more info. Aug. 24 , 3-5 p.m. $40. my805tix.com. Templeton Performing Arts Center, 1200 S. Main St., Templeton, (805) 225-7087.

KARAOKE NIGHT Food and drink available for purchase. Last Saturday of every month, 8 p.m. Free admission. my805tix.com. Club Car Bar, 508 S. Main St., Templeton.

LIVE MUSIC WITH FOREVER GREEN AT PEAR VALLEY WINERY Pear Valley Concert Series presents Forever Green. Hear them live at Pear Valley Winery! Tickets and more info at the link. Aug. 30, 1-4 p.m. Free. pearvalley.com/events-3/. Pear Valley Winery, 4900 Union Road, Paso Robles, (805) 475-3389.

LIVE MUSIC WITH NATALIE HASKINS Enjoy all-day tastings and live music with California Americana artist Natalie Haskins. There will be wine by the glass or bottle. Aug. 31 , 4-7 p.m. $25 tasting fee waived with $75 purchase. (805) 237-1245. mcpricemyers.com/events/083125music. McPrice Myers Wine Company, 3525 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles.

LOST ‘80S LIVE Lost ‘80s Live, the longest running retro tour of its kind, will deliver an extensive setlist of classic tracks from the decade, including hits from A Flock of Seagulls, General Public, Josie Cotton, and others. Visit site for tickets and more info. Aug. 29 6:15 p.m. $75. vinaroblesamphitheatre.com. Vina Robles Amphitheatre, 3800 Mill Rd., Paso Robles, (805) 286-3670.

MARSHALL OTWELL, DYLAN JOHNSON, ANDRE COPHER, AND SUNNY WRIGHT AT SENSORIO Enjoy jazz at Sensorio before the lights with Marshall Otwell on piano, Dylan Johnson on bass, Andre Copher on drums, and Sunny Wright on vocals. Secure a fire pit table early! Aug. 22 6:45-8:45 p.m. $35-$65. (805) 2264287. sensoriopaso.com. Sensorio, 4380 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles.

On Sunday, see the likes of the jazzy Friendly Neighborhood Big Band, mariachi act Mariachi Soy de America, AfroUruguayan Candombe jazz fusion act Sebastián Natal & Candombe Septet, Colombian cumbia band Mestizo, and reggae act One Love Bomb. Admission is free.

Whale of a good time … If you’ve been on the fence, now’s the time to get off it because the Whale Rock

SINGING HANDS CHILDREN’S CHOIR

A unique performing arts group that performs across the state for deaf festivals, service organizations, churches, fairs, and other outlets. New members always welcome. Registration open weekly. Mondays, 5-6:30 p.m. $45 tuition per month. singinghandschildrenschoir. com/. Singing Hands Children’s Choir and Performing Arts, 1413 Riverside Ave., Paso Robles.

SUMMER CONCERT SERIES Fresh off its latest art and music installation, Sensorio Paso Robles announces its Summer Concert Series, running from the beginning of June until October, featuring exciting live acts. Aug. 24 $55 - $140. (805) 226-4287. sensoriopaso.com/ sensorio-celebrations. Sensorio, 4380 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles. TENT CITY LIMITS - CONCERTS AT THE PRINTERY Presented by the Atascadero Printery Foundation in partnership with Tiny Porch Concerts, this live summer concert series brings touring bluegrass, folk, and Americana acts to the historic Atascadero Printery Building. Hear Caltucky + June Clivas & the Ditty Boys live on Aug. 22. Aug. 22 , 6 p.m. $28.62. my805tix.com. Atascadero Printery Foundation, 6351 Olmeda Avenue, Atascadero.

THE QUADRATONES LIVE Hubba Wines in Tin City for live music from The Quadratones. Aug. 29 5-9 p.m. $5.00 Donation. (805) 550-8190. hubbawines. com/Events. Hubba Wines, 2929 Limestone Way, Paso Robles. SAN LUIS OBISPO

B & THE HIVE AND TWOPAPERSQUARES AT CONCERTS IN THE PLAZA Two Paper Squares and B & The Hive are set to perform live at the Mission. Mininova will play a live set at the after party at Libertine Brewing at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 22 5 p.m. Mission Plaza, Downtown, San Luis Obispo.

BLACK FLAG LIVE Spend an evening listening to American punk rock band Black Flag play live at The Fremont

Theater. Tickets and more info can be found at the link. Aug. 21 7 p.m. $44. fremontslo.com. The Fremont Theater, 1035 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 546-8600.

THE BUNKER SLO PRESENTS: MELLOVUE WITH SPECIAL GUESTS Hear Mellovue live at The Bunker SLO, along with Masokissed, Archiac Face, and Beach Fiction. Aug. 22 5:30 p.m. $12.56. my805tix.com. The Bunker SLO, 810 Orcutt Road, San Luis Obispo.

BURLEY THISTLES Burley Thistles is an alternative rock band known for its guitar-driven sound and memorable songs. Hear them live at Frog and Peach Pub. Aug. 23 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Frog and Peach Pub, 728 Higuera St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 595-4764, frogandpeachpub.com.

CONCERTS IN THE PLAZA: AFTER PARTY SERIES Enjoy free live music in downtown SLO every Friday, immediately following the Concerts in the Plaza. The concerts are 21+. Aug. 22 8:30 p.m. and Aug. 29 8:30 p.m. Free. my805tix.com. Libertine Brewing Company, 1234 Broad St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 548-2337.

COUNTRY NIGHTS: PARTNER EDITION

Featuring Special Guest Instructor & DJ Vanessa Roberts, get ready for a night full of country swing, two-step, and everything in between! Aug. 30 7-11 p.m. $20. nexusslo.com. Nexus Ballroom D.C., 3845 S. Higuera St. (Lower Level), San Luis Obispo, (805) 904-7428.

IMVA AND EMILY SMITH AT CONCERTS IN THE PLAZA Head to the heart of downtown SLO to hear Emily Smith and IMVA perform live at the Mission Plaza. At 8:30 p.m., head to Libertine Brewing Co. for an after party with Wilde Latin Jazz. Aug. 29 5 p.m. Mission Plaza, Downtown, San Luis Obispo.

JUNIOR TOOTS: TRIBUTE TO TOOTS & THE MAYTALS WITH SPECIAL GUEST

RASTAN Hear Jamaican-born Junior Toots, son of the legendary Toots Hibbert of Toots & The Maytals, live at SLO Brew. Aug. 23 7 p.m. $32.36. slobrew.com. Rod

Music & Arts Festival is just three weeks away when it returns to Castoro Cellars on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 13 and 14

Saturday’s headliner is hitmaking rockers Young the Giant (8 p.m.), known for tracks such as “Cough Syrup,” “My Body,” and “Mind Over Matter.” Other bands that day include Bob Marley tribute act The Nth Power (6 p.m.); Boston’s Couch (4:15 p.m.), which reminds me of Lake Street Dive; AfroLatin funk act Jungle Fire (2:30 p.m.); and Broken Compass Bluegrass (1 p.m.).

On Sunday, Austin’s Shane Smith & The

& Hammer Rock, 855 Aerovista Pl., San Luis Obispo, (805) 543-1843.

LAST TUESDAY DRUM CIRCLE Join for Adults at Play, the drum circle facilitated by Dee DiGioia. Get tickets and more info at my805tix.com. Aug. 26 6-8 p.m. $15.81. congregationhouse.online/. CongregationHouse, 11245 Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo.

MAD CADDIES LIVE Hear Solvang-based ska band The Mad Caddies blend their styles of punk rock, hardcore punk, reggae, dixieland jazz, Latin music, and polka in a live performance at SLO Brew. Get tickets and more info at the link. Aug. 21 , 7 p.m. $31.39. slobrew.com. Rod & Hammer Rock, 855 Aerovista Pl., San Luis Obispo, (805) 543-1843.

MONKEYFLOWER, NORTH BY NORTH, VARGO, AND SKIPPING BREAKFAST

LIVE Hear an array of bands play The Bunker SLO. Get tickets and more info at the link. Aug. 31 , 6-10 p.m. $12.56. my805tix.com. The Bunker SLO, 810 Orcutt Road, San Luis Obispo.

PETE YORN LIVE Hear singer songwriter Pete Yorn live at the Fremont Theater. Get tickets and more info at the link. Aug. 22 7 p.m. $39.11-$57.14. fremontslo.com. The Fremont Theater, 1035 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 546-8600.

RAINBOW CITY PARK FALL TOUR

AT SLO DOCO DONUTS Rainbow City Park is bringing their fall tour through SLO on Sunday. Supporting acts will include Unlikely, Radiation Invasion, Ultraviolets, and Bloodsugar. Aug. 31 , 6-11 p.m. $10. (805)-782-9766. bandsintown. com/e/107136456. SLO DoCo Donuuts, 793F Foothill Blvd, San Luis Obispo.

TRIBAL SEEDS AND THE MOVEMENT

- COAST 2 COAST SUMMER TOUR See San Diego-based reggae group Tribal Seeds and The Movement live at the Fremont, with support from KBong & Johnny Cosmic. Aug. 26 , 6:30 p.m. $66.92. fremontslo.com. The Fremont Theater, 1035 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 546-8600.

WALL OF SOUND | THE GREAT DIVIDE

Saints headline (8 p.m.), bringing their red dirt country sounds to the main stage. Earlier that day, see Americana and neo-traditional country artist Margo Price (6 p.m.); and before her, soulful singer and producer The Philharmonik, winner of NPR’s 2024 Tiny Desk Contest for his song “What’s It All Mean?” (4:15 p.m.). The Nth Power returns (2:30 p.m.). Cristina Vane (1 p.m.) kicks off the main stage on Sunday, bringing her country-blues sounds. There’s a lot more on the Stomping Grounds Stage, so visit whalerockmusicfestival.com for the details. ∆

Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.

Grateful Dead tribute band Wall of Sound will hit the SLO Brew stage. Get tickets and hear them live. Aug. 30 6 p.m. $27.21. slobrew.com. Rod & Hammer Rock, 855 Aerovista Pl., San Luis Obispo, (805) 543-1843.

SOUTH COAST SLO COUNTY

2025 LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE CONCERT SERIES Head to the Point San Luis Lighthouse in Avila Beach for Saturday afternoon concerts. Get tickets and more info at the link. Through Oct. 11 $28. my805tix.com. Point San Luis Lighthouse, 1 Lighthouse Rd., Avila Beach. ARROYO GRANDE SUMMER CONCERT SERIES These free concerts will begin on July 4 and run every Sunday until September 21. Sundays, 1-3 p.m. through Sept. 21 Free. (805) 473-5472. arroyogrande.org/events. Heritage Square Park, 201 Nelson St., Arroyo Grande.

JAZZ AT PUFFER’S WITH TAYLOR RYAN, SUNNY WRIGHT, AND DYLAN

JOHNSON! Join pianist Taylor Ryan, vocalist Sunny Wright, and bassist Dylan Johnson for a beautiful Jazz Sunday Funday! Aug. 31 , 5-8 p.m. $5. (805) 773-6563. facebook.com/PuffersofPismo. Puffer’s of Pismo, 781 Price St a,, Pismo Beach.

KARAOKE AT SLO COUNTY’S ONLY

FILIPINO CAFE

Join for all day, all ages karaoke hosted at SLO County’s only brick and mortar Filipino cafe, Lumpia Bros Cafe. Enjoy karaoke, filipino dishes, acai, and coffee. Tuesdays-Saturdays-6 p.m. through Dec. 31 Free. (805) 202-8473. Lumpia Bros Cafe, 1187 W. Grand Ave., Grover Beach.

THE LOUNGE AT BESO An upscale afterhours nightclub experience. With limited capacity and a dress code. For ages 21 and over. Fridays, 10 p.m. my805tix.com. Beso Cocina, 1050 Willow Road, Nipomo.

MUSIC WITH A VIEW - OPEN GATES AT THE CHAPMAN ESTATE GARDEN Enjoy Open Gates at the seaside Chapman Estate in Shell Beach. Bring a picnic dinner and music, tables,

chairs, and views will be supplied. Docent-led garden tours are available. Fridays, 5-7:30 p.m. through Oct. 24 $5/ person + $5 for Docent tours (optional). chapmanestatefoundation.org/. Chapman Estate, Private residence, Shell Beach. NATURAL SCIENCE: A TRIBUTE TO RUSH A powerhouse trio delivering authentic, high-energy performances of Rush’s greatest hits. Aug. 30, 7:309:30 p.m. $35-$60. (805) 489-9444. clarkcenter.org/shows/natural-science/. Clark Center for the Performing Arts, 487 Fair Oaks Ave., Arroyo Grande. PIANO MEN: GENERATIONS A spectacular father-son tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John, delivering an electrifying celebration of two legendary music icons. Aug. 28 7-9 p.m. $49.50-$70.50. (805) 489-9444. clarkcenter.org/shows/ piano-men-generations/. Clark Center for the Performing Arts, 487 Fair Oaks Ave., Arroyo Grande.

POPS BY THE SEA: HOLLYWOOD HITS

The San Luis Obispo Symphony presents Pops by the Sea, where all your favorite soundtracks from movies, TV shows, and video games will be performed live. Tickets are available for purchase at the link. Aug. 30 2:45-6 p.m. $28. my805tix. com. Avila Beach Golf Resort, 6464 Ana Bay Rd., Avila Beach, (805) 595-4000. STONE SOUP MUSIC FESTIVAL & STREET FAIR Celebrate 30 years of music, art, and community at Stone Soup Festival. Get more info about this free, family-friendly weekend at the link. Aug. 23 , 10 a.m.-10 p.m. and Aug. 24 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (805) 489-9444. clarkcenter. org. Ramona & 9th Streets, Ramona Street and 9th Street, Grover Beach. WILDE LATIN JAZZ: LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE Wilde Latin Jazz is comprised of the top musicians in SLO county, each with a unique musical experience. Hear live jazz, salsa, soul, and funk tunes with a Latin influence. Aug. 23 , 2:30-5 p.m. $28. my805tix.com. Point San Luis Lighthouse, 1 Lighthouse Rd., Avila Beach. ∆

DELTA FUNK The Siren presents funk and soul act Deltaphonic on Aug. 23

DANCING IN THE STREETS Samba Loca is one of many acts playing the Stone Soup Music Festival and Street Fair in Grover Beach on Aug. 23 and 24

Flavor

Celebration of cider

Atascadero festival will showcase the Golden State’s premier pommeliers

Apples are the holy grail for pommeliers.

Derived from pomme, the French word for apple, the term gained traction in 2019 when the Portland, Oregon-based American Cider Association launched its certified pommelier program.

One of the first graduates of the rigorous exam was the Central Coast’s Rob Durham, one of only 10 certified pommeliers—think sommelier but for cider—from California and 157 worldwide.

Shortly after achieving the designation, Durham launched San Luis Obispo-based Durham Cider + Wine Co., which will be one of nearly 30 cideries participating in the seventh annual Central Coast Cider Festival in Atascadero on Aug. 23.

Sponsored by the Central Coast Cider Association, helmed by SLO Cider Co. head cider maker and co-founder Jeremy Fleming, the festival features “a fantastic mix of returning favorites and first-time participants, representing a wide range of styles, offering traditional dry ciders to bold, fruit-forward blends,” Fleming said. “It’s an impressive snapshot of California cider right now.”

As a self-described Durham groupie, Fleming is particularly excited to taste and talk shop with “one of the Central Coast’s best cider makers,” Fleming said.

Core information

The Central Coast Cider Festival will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Sunken Gardens, located at 6505 El Camino Real in Atascadero. For tickets, go to centralcoastciderfestival.com. Follow the festival on Instagram @ccciderfestival and on Facebook @centralcoastciderfestival.

natural fermentation to create honest and genuine beverages. The goal [is to] reveal the soul—a bit of ours, some of the farmers, too; parts of the tree and vine; aspects of the land as well; and, of course, all that’s within the fruit—flesh and skin, seeds and stems, the unadulterated juice.

“Bottled alive and still quite raw, that juice will need time to find itself, to perform a bit of mixing and mastering to polish rough edges. Once this evolution is deemed ready for release, we can only trust that your glass will illuminate with liquid soul.”

Durham’s upcoming cider and wine releases include sparkling falanghina, rosé of syrah, sauvignon blanc, sparkling apple/ grape, apple aperitif, sparkling apple/quince, sparkling rhum, barrel cider, sparkling Gravenstein cider, and sparkling melon/mum flower cider.

Share tasty tips! Send tidbits on everything food and drink to bites@newtimesslo.com.

“I often say that I want to be like Rob Durham when I grow up,” he half-joked, adding that he plans to follow in his footsteps by taking the next certified pommelier exam at CiderCon in Rhode Island in February.

Part of Durham’s allure—in addition to creating tasty, low-intervention beverages— are his passionate and often poetic reflections on his craft.

“The beauty of natural fermentation is the diversity of microorganisms that are welcome at the party,” Durham ruminated. “We utilize the generosities of the trees, bushes, and vines through the magical meanderings of

more intimate setting of his new tasting room, slated to open later this summer in Baywood Park-Los Osos.

While his diverse portfolio reflects artistic experimentation, he never strays from sustainable practices.

He sources fruit from small farmers up and down the West Coast, with a particular penchant for “the ranches and orchards of yesteryear,” he said, adding that “older fruit—especially dryfarmed—has more character.”

It is also “paramount to our decisionmaking what is being sprayed on the trees and/or put into the soil,” he continued, while noting that organic certification does not always guarantee exceptional quality.

“Some growers we work with are not certified, yet go far beyond organic measures, and the taste tells,” he said.

Durham looks forward to continuing the conversation—and presenting his prized pours—at the cider festival, followed by the

Other San Luis Obispo County cideries joining Durham at the festival include Black Hand Cellars, Tin City Cider Co., The Poisoned Apple, Shindig Cider, Two Broads Ciderworks, Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards, Gopher Glen Cider Co., Bristols Cider, and Fleming’s SLO Cider, which will be opening a second location in downtown SLO in the fall.

“One of my main goals as president of the Central Coast Cider Association is to firmly establish this region as a nationally recognized cider destination,” Fleming said. “We have the orchards, the makers, and the creativity. It’s just a matter of amplifying the Central Coast cider story. The festival plays a big role in that by showcasing the depth and diversity of our cider culture to both consumers and industry peers.”

In addition to Saturday’s main event at Atascadero’s Sunken Gardens, the festival is also offering limited tickets to Connoisseur Night on the evening prior.

Friday’s function, hosted at Bristols Cider/ Lone Madrone Winery in Templeton, will provide a deep dive into apple growing and cider making, with insights from expert apple grower Jake Mann of Five Mile Orchard, located near Santa Cruz in Corralitos, and Certified Pommelier Brandon Buza, of San Francisco.

Following an instructional cider tasting led by Buza, who doubles as the festival’s photographer, “settle in for a mouthwatering whole pig roast feast, then mingle with the best in the business during our Meet the Makers Bottle Share, where over 20 cider makers will be in attendance, pouring some of their rare and specialty bottles,” according to the festival website.

Beyond the festival, Fleming aims to boost year-round visibility for local producers through educational programming, collaborative marketing, and tourism partnerships, including his recently created Central Coast Cider Trail Map.

“Cider is one of the most diverse and exciting craft beverages on the market right now,” he enthused. “Traditional cider apples like Arkansas black and Dabinett can produce unique, complex flavors with incredible depth, while common dessert apples such as golden delicious, gala, and Granny Smith offer a clean, approachable base that’s perfect for fruit infusions and creative twists.

“That versatility is what makes cider so dynamic. It can be as rustic and traditional as a centuries-old orchard or as innovative and playful as the modern craft movement itself.” Δ Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte’s current crush is Pretty Pippin. Reach her on the cider trail at cwhyte@newtimesslo.com.

CREAM OF THE CROP Durham Cider + Wine Co. proprietor Rob Durham helps wash and sort certified organic Newtown Pippins from Five Mile Orchard in Corralitos, California.

COURTESY PHOTO BY EMORY WISHON

BRANCHING OUT From left, Pete Ayer, Nate Adamski, and Jeremy Fleming founded SLO Cider Co. in 2020. Their tasting room and production facility at 3419 Roberto Court, suite C, in San Luis Obispo will be joined by a second tasting room at 755 Monterey St. this fall.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLO CIDER CO.

BEAUTIFUL BACKDROP Atascadero’s Sunken Gardens is the setting for the Central Coast Cider Festival, with nearly 30 cideries expected to participate.

COURTESY PHOTO BY BUZA PHOTOGRAPHY

POPPIN’ POUR Durham Cider + Wine Co.’s beverage lineup includes Pretty Pippin, a 2021 pétnat cider. Owner Rob Durham will release a 2023 vintage when his debut tasting room opens in late summer at 715 Santa Maria Ave. in Los Osos.

COURTESY PHOTO BY EMORY WISHON

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3.5 V6, 7spd, at, ac, ps, pw, pdl, cc, tw, am/fm/cd, pearl white, lthr, mnrf, new tires, prem whls,

New Filing The following person is doing business as RAINSTONE ROOF & GUTTER CO, 1975 Vista Street, Oceano, CA 93445. San Luis Obispo County. Archer & Wolf Alliance LLC (P.O. Box 64, Oceano, CA 93475). This business is conducted by A CA Limited Liability Company /s/ Archer & Wolf Alliance LLC, Trevor J. Ranlett, Managing Member. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of San Luis Obispo on 07-07-25. I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the statement on file in my office. (Seal) Elaina Cano, County Clerk, A. Trujillo, Deputy. Exp. 07-07-30. August 21, 28, September 4, & 11, 2025.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2025-1423 (06/28/2025)

New Filing

The following person is doing business as BUSY BRE BOOKKEEPING, 1975 Vista Street, Oceano, CA 93445. San Luis Obispo County. Archer & Wolf Alliance LLC (P.O. Box 64, Oceano, CA 93475). This business is conducted by A CA Limited Liability Company /s/ Archer & Wolf Alliance LLC, Bree-Ann Ranlett, Managing Member. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of San Luis Obispo on 07-07-25. I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the statement on file in my office. (Seal) Elaina Cano, County Clerk, A. Trujillo, Deputy. Exp. 07-07-30. August 21, 28, September 4, & 11, 2025.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2025-1508 (07/16/2025)

New Filing

The following person is doing business as ELEVE NAIL LOUNGE, 570 Higuera St., Suite 265, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. San Luis Obispo County. Eleve Nail Lounge LLC (767 Beverly Dr., Nipomo, CA 93444). This business is conducted by A CA Limited Liability Company /s/ Eleve Nail Lounge LLC, Roxanna Uriarte, CEO. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of San Luis Obispo on 07-16-25. hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the statement on file in my office. (Seal) Elaina Cano, County Clerk, M. Maltby, Deputy. Exp. 07-16-30. August 21, 28, September 4, & 11, 2025.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2025-1521 (07/12/2025)

New Filing

The following person is doing business as ASG HAULING, 1709 Thelma Dr. San Luis Obispo, CA 93405. San Luis Obispo County. Alejandrino Saligan (1709 Thelma Dr. San Luis Obispo, CA 93405). This business is conducted by An Individual /s/ Alejandrino Saligan. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of San Luis Obispo on 07-18-25. I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the statement on file in my office. (Seal) Elaina Cano, County Clerk, A. Trujillo, Deputy. Exp. 07-18-30. August 21, 28, September 4, & 11, 2025.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NA ME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2025-1616 (07/30/2025)

New Filing

The following person is doing business as JCL TRANSPORTS, 3860 S Higuera St. Spc. C22, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. San Luis Obispo County. JCL Transports LLC (3860 S Higuera St. Spc. C22, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401). This business is conducted by A CA Limited Liability Company /s/ JCL Transports LLC, Jose E Colunga-Lopez, Managing Member. This statement was filed with the County Clerk

(Seal) Elaina Cano, County Clerk, M. Katz, Deputy. Exp. 08-06-30. August 21, 28, September 4, & 11, 2025.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2025-1645 (08/06/2025) New

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard, to consider amending the Sheriff-Coroner Cannabis Fees in the County Fee Schedule “B” for Fiscal Year 2025-26 Ordinance. The hearing will be held at the Board of Supervisors Chambers, County Government Center, 1055 Monterey Street, in San Luis Obispo.

Recommended amendments include fee decreases, new fees, and the deletion of a fee. Schedule B Fee amendments would become effective September 9th, 2025.

Any person interested in expressing their views regarding the proposed amendments to the Fee Schedule may do so at the hearing. To determine specific placement of this item on the Board of Supervisors Agenda and to review the fee schedule amendments, go to the County’s website at www.slocounty.ca.gov on the Wednesday before the scheduled hearing date.

The fee schedule amendments may also be reviewed at the:

County Government Center Administrative Office, Room D430 1055 Monterey Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93408 (805) 781-5011

DATED: August 19, 2025

MATT Pontes, County Administrative Officer and Ex-Officio Clerk of the Board of Supervisors

By: /s/ Niki Martin Deputy Clerk

August 21 & 28, 225

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Tuesday, September 2, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as possible, the Pismo Beach City Council will hold a public hearing in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 760 Mattie Road, Pismo Beach, for the following purpose: PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA:

Address: 1481 Price St., 1370 Dolliver St., and 1331 Price St. (APN 005-062-003, 005-062-004, 005-064-002, 005-064 003, 005-064-012)

Appellants: Cindy Sleumer and Robert Kramb (separately)

Applicant: Coastal Community Builders, Inc.

Project No.: P24-000074

Description: Appeal of the June 10, 2025 Planning Commission approval of a Coastal Development Permit, Conditional Use Permit, Architectural Review Permit, & Vesting Tentative Tract Map 3240 to develop the Gateway project: a new three-story commercial/residential mixed-use condominium development of approximately 5,700 square feet of commercial and approximately 54,000 square feet of residential and proposed as a Density Bonus project under the provisions of SB 330. Project location site is five underlying parcels of 1.2 acres and includes demolition of existing residential & commercial structures onsite, new public right-of-way improvements, and creation of a public “Gateway” plaza at the corner of Price & Dolliver Streets. Two appeals were received, one of which appeals only the Coastal Development Permit, and one of which appeals all project permits approved by the Planning Commission. The project is within the Coastal Zone and is not appealable to the Coastal Commission.

Details about ways to participate in this hearing will be provided on the agenda posted for the meeting online at pismobeach.org/ agenda, and on the bulletin board at City Hall. The agenda will be posted in the afternoon of August 28, 2025.

Environmental Review

In compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), it has been determined that the project is categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15332 of the CEQA Guidelines regarding infill development activities for projects consistent with the general plan designation, less than five acres, and surrounded by urban uses.

You have a right to comment on these projects and their effect on our community. Interested persons are invited to participate in the hearing or otherwise express their views and opinions regarding the proposed projects. Emailed comments may be submitted to citycouncil@pismobeach.org; staff cannot guarantee that emailed comments submitted after the start of the meeting will be given full consideration before action is taken. Written comments may be delivered or mailed to the City Clerk’s Office at 760 Mattie Road, Pismo Beach, CA 93449, prior to the meeting, or hand-delivered during the meeting no later than the comment period for this item. Oral comment may be provided prior to the meeting by calling 805-773-7005 and leaving a voice message. Please state and spell your name, and identify your item of interest. Oral comment may also be made during the meeting by attending the meeting in person in the Council Chamber at City Hall. Please refer to the agenda for this meeting for specific instructions for participation Staff reports, plans and other information related to these projects are available for public review from the City Clerk’s Office, by emailing City Clerk Erica Inderlied at einderlied@ pismobeach.org. The meeting agenda and staff report will be available no later than the Thursday before the meeting and may be obtained upon request by mail or by visiting www.pismobeach.org/agenda. The Council meeting will be televised live on Charter Cable Channel 20 and streamed on the City’s website.

PLEASE NOTE:

If you challenge the action taken on this item in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City of Pismo Beach at, or prior to, the public hearing.

For further information, please contact Erica Inderlied, City Clerk, at einderlied@pismobeach.org or 805-773-7003. Erica Inderlied City Clerk

August 21, 2025

AUGUST 11, 2025

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS SPECIAL MEETING BRIEF

Item 1: Consent Agenda & Resolution (Res) No. 2025-175 ratifying the Emergency Services Director’s Proclamation of Local Emergency due to the Gifford Fire - Adopted Meeting adjourned.

For more details, view meeting videos at: https://www. slocounty.ca.gov/Departments/Administrative-Office/ Clerk-of-the-Board/Clerk-of-the-Board-Services/ Board-of-Supervisors-Meetings-and-Agendas.aspx

Matthew P. Pontes, County Administrative Officer & Ex-Officio Clerk of the Board of Supervisors

By: Annette Ramirez, Deputy Clerk of the Board of Supervisors August 21, 2025

CITY OF GROVER BEACH NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the PLANNING COMMISSION of the City of Grover Beach will conduct a Public Hearing on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2025, at 6:00 p.m., or soon thereafter in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 154 South 8th Street, Grover Beach for the following:

Project No.: Development Application 24-00054

Address: 261 Rockaway Avenue

Applicant: Empire Development & Construction

Description: A request by Empire Development & Construction for a Coastal Development Permit, Use Permit, and Tentative Map (TR-3244) to construct a new five-story mixed-use development. The project includes 20 new residential units and 900 square-feet of commercial space. Project includes a request for a 46.25% density bonus pursuant to State Density Bonus Program including a request to waive the development standard for Building Transparency, where 40% openings along the ground floor is required.  The project will result in development of the entire lot with associated on- and off-site improvements, and utilities.  The project is located in the Coastal Zone and is not appealable to the California Coastal Commission. (APN: 060-206-015 and 060-206-008)

Environmental Determination: In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), it has been determined that the project is exempt from the requirements of CEQA pursuant to Section 15332 (Class 32 – Infill Development Projects) of the CEQA Guidelines. The project is consistent with the applicable General Plan designation and policies as well as applicable zoning regulations; the site is less than five acres and substantially surrounded by urban uses; the site has no value as habitat for endangered, rare, or threatened species; approval of the project would not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality; and the site can be adequately served by required utilities and public services.

Where You Come In:

Any member of the public may appear at the meeting and be heard on the item described in this notice or submit written comments prior to the meeting by personal delivery or mail to: Community Development Department, 154 South Eighth Street, Grover Beach, CA 93433 or by email to comdev@groverbeach. org. If you require special accommodation to participate in the public hearing, please contact the City Clerk’s office at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting by calling (805) 473-4567.

For More Information:

If you have questions or would like more information regarding the item(s) described in this notice, please contact the Community Development Department by telephone at (805) 473-4520 or send an e-mail to comdev@groverbeach.org

The Planning Commission may also discuss other items of business at this meeting. The complete meeting agenda and staff report(s) on the item(s) will be posted on the City’s website at www.groverbeach.org. Live broadcasts of Planning Commission meetings may be seen on cable television Channel 20, as well as over the Internet at www. groverbeach.org/160/Agendas-Staff-Reports-Minutes (click on the link “City Council and Planning Commission Meetings Live”).

If you challenge the nature of the proposed actions in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the Public Hearing(s) described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City at, or prior to, the Public Hearing. (Govt. Code Sec. 65009).

/s/ Nicole Retana, Deputy City Clerk

Secretary to Planning Commission

Dated: Thursday, August 21, 2025

Publish: on Thursday, August 21, 2025

New Times

Post: on Thursday, August 21, 2025

Grover Beach City Hall Project Site(s)

INVITATION TO BID (SUB BIDS ONLY)

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: MAINO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INCORPORATED

PROJECT NAME: CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY SAN LUIS OBISPO

JANSSEN FIELD SOFTBALL CLUBHOUSE REMODEL

PROJECT LOCATION: BLDG. 161 - CAL POLY STATE UNIVERSITY, SLO, CA 93407

PROJECT OWNER: TRUSTEES OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY

ARCHITECT: TEN OVER STUDIO, INC.

BID DATE & TIME: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2025 @ 12:00 P.M.

PRE-BID SITE REVIEW: N/A

ESTIMATE/BUDGET: $575,000

ANTICIPATED SCHEDULE: 4 MONTHs

START DATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2025

COMPLETION: JANUARY 30, 2026

(CONTRACTOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OVERTIME AND WEEKEND WORK ANTICIPATED TO MEET PROJECT SCHEDULE)

SCOPE OF WORK:

This project involves an interior remodel of finishes, lockers, casework and bathroom/shower partitions within the existing softball locker room building. Existing roofing to be replaced in kind. Selective demolition, ceramic tile, LVT flooring cabinetry and countertops, wood framing and drywall is also required.

The University will be performing the following trades: ELECTRICAL, FIRE ALARM, COMMUNICATIONS AND DATA, PLUMBING, PAINTING

BIDS SHALL BE EMAILED TO: tomm@mainoslo.com and sonnys@mainoslo.com

BID REQUIREMENTS:

1. Subcontractors must be bondable and may be required to provide Payment and Performance Bonds.

2. Bid Bond is not required.

3. Safety Record is of the utmost importance. Subcontractors with aggregate EMR Rate of 1.5 over the past three years may be disqualified.

4. Prevailing Wage

TO VIEW PLANS/SPEC:

Plans and specs may be downloaded from ASAP Reprographics at www.asapplanroom.com

Plans and specs may also be viewed at the following Builders Exchanges:

- SLO County Builders Exchange – www.slocbe.com

- Santa Maria Valley Contractors Association – www.smvca.org

- Central California Builders Exchange – www.cencalbx.com

Maino Construction Company, Incorporated is an equal opportunity Contractor. It is the responsibility of each Subcontractor to view all pertinent information and documents prior to submitting a proposal.

August 21, 2025

CITY OF ARROYO GRANDE PLANNING COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Arroyo Grande Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing in the Arroyo Grande City Council Chambers located at 215 E. Branch Street, Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2025, at 6:00 p.m., or soon thereafter, to consider the following item:

Consideration of Amendments to Title 16 of the Arroyo Grande Municipal Code Regarding Supportive Housing, Transitional Housing, and Low Barrier Navigation Centers and Finding That This Action Is Exempt from Review Under the California Environmental Quality Act. The Planning Commission will discuss the proposed amendments to the Arroyo Grande Municipal Code (AGMC) regarding supportive housing, transitional housing, and low barrier navigation centers, bringing the AGMC into conformance with state law.

In compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Community Development Department has determined that the proposed AGMC amendments are exempt from CEQA because they do not qualify as a “project” under CEQA and because they will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. (State CEQA Guidelines section 15060(c)(2),(3)) and 15061(b)(3).

This Planning Commission meeting is being conducted in a hybrid in-person/virtual format. During the public hearing, public comment will be limited to three (3) minutes per speaker, pursuant to current meeting procedure.

The Planning Commission may also discuss other hearings or business items before or after the item listed above. If you challenge the proposed action in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Planning Commission at, or prior to, the public hearing. Failure of any person to receive the notice shall not constitute grounds for any court to invalidate the action of the legislative body for which the notice was given.

Documents related to the project are available in the Community Development Department located at 300 E. Branch Street, Arroyo Grande. The Agenda and reports are posted online at www.arroyogrande.org 72 hours prior to the meeting. Please call (805) 473-5420 for more information. The Planning Commission meeting will be televised live on Charter Cable Channel 20 and streamed live on the City’s Website

Jessica Matson, City Clerk August 21, 2025

CITY OF ARROYO GRANDE PLANNING COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Arroyo Grande Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2025, at 6:00 p.m., or soon thereafter, to consider the following item:

Consideration Of Conditional Use Permit 25-002 And Finding That This Action Is Exempt From Review Under The California Environmental Quality Act Pursuant To State Guidelines Section 15332; Construction of Two (2) New Buildings Containing Eight (8) ADUs Within Existing Apartment Complex; Location – 1173 Fair Oaks Avenue; Applicant – John Tibbits. The Planning Commission will consider an application to construct two new multifamily buildings, each with four one-bedroom ADUs, along with expansion of the existing utility and clubhouse facility.

The project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) under the Class 32 exemption, which applies to projects characterized as in-fill development meeting certain conditions met here. (State CEQA Guidelines, § 15332.) Specifically, the project falls within the Class 32 exemption because: the 1.4-acre site is already graded and developed, offering no habitat value for sensitive species, the proposed uses align with the City’s General Plan and zoning for high-density multifamily housing, and the site is located in an urban area, fully served by city and public utilities.

This Planning Commission meeting is being conducted in a hybrid in-person/virtual format. During the public hearing, public comment will be limited to three (3) minutes per speaker, pursuant to current meeting procedure. The Planning Commission may also discuss other hearings or business items before or after the item listed above. If you challenge the proposed action in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Planning Commission at, or prior to, the public hearing. Failure of any person to receive the notice shall not constitute grounds for any court to invalidate the action of the legislative body for which the notice was given. Documents related to the project are available in the Community Development Department located at 300 E. Branch Street, Arroyo Grande. The Agenda and reports are posted online at www.arroyogrande.org 72 hours prior to the meeting. Please call (805) 473-5420 for more information. The Planning Commission meeting will be televised live on Charter Cable Channel 20 and streamed live on the City’s Website Jessica Matson, City Clerk August 21, 2025

CORRECTED NOTICE OF RIGHT TO CLAIM EXCESS PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF TAX DEFAULTED PROPERTY (PARTIES OF INTEREST)

This Notice is published to correct the Notice published on August 14, 2025, wherein the date of the recordation of the tax collector’s deed to the purchaser was in error.

Excess proceeds have resulted from the May 28, 2025, sale of tax defaulted properties listed in this notice. Parties of interest, as defined by California Revenue and Taxation Code section 4675, are entitled to claim the excess proceeds. The Tax Collector has been unable to obtain a valid mailing address for the Parties of Interest listed below.

All claims must be in writing and must contain sufficient information and proof to establish a claimant’s right to all or any part of the excess proceeds. Claims filed with the county more than one year after recordation of the tax collector’s deed to the purchaser on June 4, 2025, cannot be considered.

Claim forms and information regarding filing procedures may be obtained at the San Luis Obispo County Tax Collector’s Office, 1055 Monterey St., Rm. D290, San Luis Obispo, CA 93408, or by calling (805) 781-5836 between 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Assessor’s Parcel No.: 023,192,010

Property Address: 1685 DREYDON AV, CAMB

Parties of Interest: Abrenica Family Trust Dtd 8/2/1994, Cheatham Evelyn Tre and Estate of Abrenica Epitacio & Veneranda P, Ttees

Assessor’s Parcel No.: 023,333,029

Property Address: CAM PINES M U 2 BL 24 LTS 7 & 8

Parties of Interest: Abrenica Family Trust Dtd 8/2/1994, Cheatham Evelyn Tre and Estate of Abrenica Epitacio & Veneranda P, Ttees

Assessor’s Parcel No.: 094,221,003

Property Address: CUYAMA HY SCLPAD

Parties of Interest: Bazan Ralph & Bazan Paulette

I certify under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed at San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California, on August 21, 2025.

/s/ James W. Hamilton, CPA, San Luis Obispo County Tax Collector

Published in the New Times on August 21, 2025.

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & BUILDING NOTICE OF TENTATIVE ACTION / PUBLIC HEARING

WHO County of San Luis Obispo Planning Department Hearing WHEN Friday, September 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM: All items are advertised for 9:00 AM. To verify agenda placement, please call the Department of Planning & Building at (805) 781-5600.

WHAT A request by Michael Perry for a Minor Use Permit (MUP) per Tract 1612 (Bassi Ranch) conditions of approval for a new 7,969 SF, 2- story, 3-bedroom, 5-bathroom single-family residence including a 1,986 SF attached garage, covered decks and patios, and new access driveway. The project includes an estimated cut of 4,450 cubic yards and zero fill; the maximum slope where grading is to occur is 27%. The project will result in the disturbance of approximately 0.73 acres of the 2.03-acre parcel. The project is located within the Rural Residential land use category on Bassi Drive, Lot 12 (APN 076-233-012), just outside the Avila Beach urban reserve line.

The site is in the San Luis Bay Sub-Area of the San Luis Obispo Planning Area.

Also to be considered is the environmental determination (ED25-0137) that the previously certified Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) is adequate for the purposes of compliance with CEQA pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15162.

County File Number: N-DRC2025-00015

Supervisorial District: District 3

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 076-233-012

Date Accepted: 7/1/2025

WHERE Virtual meeting via Zoom platform. Instructions on how to view and participate in the meeting remotely and provide public comment will be included in the published meeting Agenda and are posted on the Department’s webpage at: Planning Department Hearing - County of San Luis Obispo (ca.gov)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A copy of the staff report will be made available on the Planning Department website at www.sloplanning.org. You may also contact Eric Tolle, Project Manager, in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-5600.

TO REQUEST A PUBLIC HEARING

This matter is tentatively scheduled to appear on the consent agenda, which means that it and any other items on the consent agenda can be acted upon by the hearing officer with a single motion. An applicant or interested party may request a public hearing on this matter. To do so, send a letter to this office at the address below or send an email to pdh@co.slo.ca.us by 8/29/2025 at 4:30 PM. The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on N-DRC2025-00015.”

If you challenge this matter in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this public notice or in written correspondence delivered to the appropriate authority at or before the public hearing.

Ysabel Eighmy

Secretary Planning Department Hearing

August 21, 2025

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO

DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & BUILDING

NOTICE OF TENTATIVE ACTION / PUBLIC HEARING

WHO: County of San Luis Obispo Planning Department Hearing

WHEN Friday, September 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM All items are advertised for 9:00 AM. To verify agenda placement, please call the Department of Planning & Building at (805) 781-5600.

WHAT (Continued from August 1, 2025) A request by Kelly Lockhart for a Minor Use Permit/Coastal Development Permit (C-DRC2022-00058) to rectify a code enforcement case (CODE2022-00079) for unpermitted development within the blufftop setback. The project consists of a restoration plan which includes a combination of modifying and full to partial removal of unpermitted allan block retaining walls, stairs, pavers and other elements within the blufftop setback, and installation of natural vegetation to screen remaining low-lying walls. The project is designed and proposed in compliance with the Coastal Zone Land Use Ordinance and Estero Area Plan Standards. The project will result in the disturbance of approximately 850 square-feet of the 3,610 square-foot site. No modifications to the existing sea wall are proposed. The project is within the Residential Single-Family land use category and is located at 2736 Studio Drive in the community of Cayucos. The site is in the Small-Scale Design Neighborhood and the Estero Planning Area.

Also to be considered is the determination that this project is exempt from environmental review under CEQA based on the General Rule or Common Sense Exemption.

County File Number: C-DRC2022-00058

Supervisorial District: District 2

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 064-255-008

Date Accepted: 3/19/2025

WHERE Virtual meeting via Zoom platform. Instructions on how to view and participate in the meeting remotely and provide public comment will be included in the published meeting Agenda and are posted on the Department’s webpage at: Planning Department Hearing (PDH) - County of San Luis Obispo (ca.gov)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A copy of the staff report will be made available on the Planning Department website at www.sloplanning.org. You may also contact Andy Knighton, Project Manager, in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-4142.

TO REQUEST A PUBLIC HEARING

This matter is tentatively scheduled to appear on the consent agenda, which means that it and any other items on the consent agenda can be acted upon by the hearing officer with a single motion. An applicant or interested party may request a public hearing on this matter. To do so, send a letter to this office at the address below or send an email to pdh@co.slo.ca.us by 8/29/2025 at 4:30 PM. The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on C-DRC2022-00058.”

If you challenge this matter in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this public notice or in written correspondence delivered to the appropriate authority at or before the public hearing.

COASTAL APPEALABLE

If the County approves this project, that action may be eligible for appeal to the California Coastal Commission. An applicant or aggrieved party may appeal to the Coastal Commission only after all possible local appeals have been exhausted pursuant to Coastal Zone Land Use Ordinance Section 23.01.043(b). Local appeals must be filed using the required Planning Department form as provided by Coastal Zone Land Use Ordinance Section 23.01.042(a)(1).

Ysabel Eighmy Secretary, Planning Department Hearing August 21, 2025

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & BUILDING NOTICE OF TENTATIVE ACTION / PUBLIC HEARING

WHO: County of San Luis Obispo Planning Department Hearing WHEN Friday, September 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM All items are advertised for 9:00 AM. To verify agenda placement, please call the Department of Planning & Building at (805) 781-5600.

WHAT

(Continued from August 1, 2025) Hearing to consider a request by Jean-Paul Cane for a Minor Use Permit/Coastal Development Permit (DRC2021-00067) to construct an approximately 4,928-square-foot two-story single-family residence including an attached garage, decks and patios, driveway, septic system, and associated site improvements. The project would result in ground disturbance of the entire approximately 0.47-acre undeveloped parcel. The project is located within the Residential Single Family land use category, located at 286 San Leandro Court within the community of Los Osos. The site is in the Estero Planning Area.

Also to be considered is the environmental determination and approval of the Environmental Document prepared for the item. The Environmental Coordinator found that the previously adopted Mitigated Negative Declaration (SCH 2014021005, SLO County adopted March 21, 2014) is adequate for the purposes of compliance with CEQA. Per State CEQA Guidelines (Sec. 15164(a), Sec. 15162) an Addendum to the adopted Mitigated Negative Declaration was prepared as the following conditions apply: 1) only minor technical changes or additions are necessary; 2) no substantial changes have been made or occurred that would require major revisions to the Mitigated Negative Declaration due to either new significant effects or substantial increases in the severity of previously identified significant effects; 3) substantial changes have not occurred with respect to the circumstances under which the project is undertaken; and 4) no new information of substantial importance which was not known or could not have been known at the time of the adopted Mitigated Negative Declaration has been identified. No new mitigation measures have been proposed.

County File Number: DRC2021-00067

Supervisorial District: District 2

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 074-483-025

Date Accepted: 11/26/2021

WHERE Virtual meeting via Zoom platform. Instructions on how to view and participate in the meeting remotely and provide public comment will be included in the published meeting Agenda and are posted on the Department’s webpage at: Planning Department Hearing - County of San Luis Obispo (ca.gov)

A copy of the staff report will be made available on the Planning Department website at www.sloplanning.org You may also contact Andy Knighton, Project Manager, in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-4142.

If you challenge this matter in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this public notice or in written correspondence delivered to the appropriate authority at or before the public hearing.

Ysabel Eighmy

Secretary, Planning Department Hearing August 21, 2025

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO

DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & BUILDING NOTICE OF TENTATIVE ACTION / PUBLIC HEARING

WHO: County of San Luis Obispo Planning Department Hearing

WHEN Friday, September 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM: All items are advertised for 9:00 AM. To verify agenda placement, please call the Department of Planning & Building at (805) 781-5600.

WHAT A request by Samuel and Sandra Michaels for a Minor Use Permit/ Coastal Development Permit (C-DRC2024-00030) to allow for backyard improvements consisting of the construction of a covered approximately 900 square-foot shade structure, 387 square-feet of solid decking, 669 square-feet of permeable decking, installation of landscaping, fences and walls and outdoor space support appurtenances for a residential property containing an existing approximately 2,536 square-foot single-family residence. The project will result in approximately 8,650 square-feet of site disturbance of the existing approximately 19,750-square-foot parcel. The project is in the Residential Multi-Family Land Use Category, located at 2825

Burton Drive in the Community of Cambria. The project is in the Coastal Zone and in the North Coast Planning Area.

Also to be considered is the determination that this project is categorically exempt from environmental review under CEQA.

County File Number: C-DRC2024-00030

Supervisorial District: District 2

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 023-425-002 (+ 3 more)

Date Accepted: 5/20/2025

WHERE Virtual meeting via Zoom platform. Instructions on how to view and participate in the meeting remotely and provide public comment will be included in the published meeting Agenda and are posted on the Department’s webpage at: Planning Department Hearing (PDH) Virtual Meeting - - County of San Luis Obispo (ca.gov)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A copy of the staff report will be made available on the Planning Department website at www.sloplanning.org. You may also contact Dane Mueller, Project Manager, in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-5600.

TO REQUEST A PUBLIC HEARING

This matter is tentatively scheduled to appear on the consent agenda, which means that it and any other items on the consent agenda can be acted upon by the hearing officer with a single motion. An applicant or interested party may request a public hearing on this matter. To do so, send a letter to this office at the address below or send an email to pdh@co.slo.ca.us by 8/29/2025 at 4:30 PM. The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on C-DRC2024-00030.”

If you challenge this matter in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this public notice or in written correspondence delivered to the appropriate authority at or before the public hearing.

COASTAL APPEALABLE

If the County approves this project, that action may be eligible for appeal to the California Coastal Commission. An applicant or aggrieved party may appeal to the Coastal Commission only after all possible local appeals have been exhausted pursuant to Coastal Zone Land Use Ordinance Section 23.01.043(b). Local appeals must be filed using the required Planning Department form as provided by Coastal Zone Land Use Ordinance Section 23.01.042(a)(1).

Ysabel Eighmy

Secretary, Planning Department Hearing August 21, 2025

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & BUILDING NOTICE OF TENTATIVE ACTION / PUBLIC HEARING

WHO: County of San Luis Obispo Planning Department Hearing WHEN Friday, September 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM: All items are advertised for 9:00 AM. To verify agenda placement, please call the Department of Planning & Building at (805) 781-5600.

WHAT

A request by Vern & Nanette Kuswa for a Minor Use Permit / Coastal Development Permit (C-DRC2025-00006) to allow for an approximately 765 square foot remodel to an existing approximately 1,805 squarefoot single-family residence with an attached 750 square-foot two-car garage in which development will occur on a lot with a slope of 20% or greater within the Lodge Hill Special Project Area #2 (Visible Hillside). The remodel consists of an elevator addition, interior remodel, partial demolition and replacement of an attic utility room with an open roof deck, replacement of exterior building materials, roof replacement and the removal and/or replacement of exterior decking and elevated walkways. The project will result in minor site disturbance to the approximately 4,500 square-foot parcel. The proposed project is in the Residential Single-Family land use category, located at 1700 Londonderry Lane, in the Community of Cambria. The project is in the Coastal Zone and in the North Coast Planning Area.

Also to be considered is the determination that this project is categorically exempt from environmental review under CEQA.

County File Number: C-DRC2025-00006

Supervisorial District: District 2

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 024-241-024

Date Accepted: 5/28/2025

WHERE Virtual meeting via Zoom platform. Instructions on how to view and participate in the meeting remotely and provide public comment will be included in the published meeting Agenda and are posted on the Department’s webpage at: Planning Department Hearing - County of San Luis Obispo (ca.gov)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A copy of the staff report will be made available on the Planning Department website at www.sloplanning.org You may also contact Dane Mueller, Project Manager, in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-5600.

TO REQUEST A PUBLIC HEARING

This matter is tentatively scheduled to appear on the consent agenda, which means that it and any other items on the consent agenda can be acted upon by the hearing officer with a single motion. An applicant or interested party may request a public hearing on this matter. To do so, send a letter to this office at the address below or send an email to pdh@co.slo.ca.us by 8/29/2025 at 4:30 PM. The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on C-DRC2025-00006.”

If you challenge this matter in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this public notice or in written correspondence delivered to the appropriate authority at or before the public hearing.

COASTAL APPEALABLE

If the County approves this project, that action may be eligible for appeal to the California Coastal Commission. An applicant or aggrieved party may appeal to the Coastal Commission only after all possible local appeals have been exhausted pursuant to Coastal Zone Land Use Ordinance Section 23.01.043(b).

in the meeting remotely and provide public comment will be included in the published meeting Agenda and are posted on the Department’s webpage at: Planning Department Hearing - County of San Luis Obispo (ca.gov)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION A copy of the staff report will be made available on the Planning Department website at www.sloplanning.org. You may also contact Blake Maule, Project Manager in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-4163. TO REQUEST A PUBLIC HEARING This matter is tentatively scheduled to appear on the consent agenda, which means that it and any other items on the consent agenda can be acted upon by the hearing officer with a single motion. An applicant or interested party may request a public hearing on this matter. To do so, send a letter to this office at the address below or send an email to pdh@co.slo.ca.us by 8/29/2025 at 4:30 PM. The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on N-DRC2025-00001.”

If you challenge this matter in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this public notice or in written correspondence delivered to the appropriate authority at or before the public hearing.

Ysabel Eighmy

Secretary Planning Department Hearing August 21, 2025

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & BUILDING SUBDIVISION REVIEW BOARD

WHO County of San Luis Obispo Subdivision Review Board

WHEN Monday, September 8, 2025, at 9:00 AM: All items are advertised for 9:00 AM. To verify agenda placement, please call the Department of Planning & Building at (805) 781-5600.

WHAT

A hearing to consider a request by Lora Eade for a Parcel Map (CO 23-0048) to subdivide an existing 0.87-acre parcel into two (2) parcels of 0.61 and 0.38 acres each for the purpose of sale and/or development. Each proposed parcel will contain one existing single- family residence; no additional development is proposed at this time. The proposed project is within the Residential Single Family land use category and is located at 749 Gough Avenue in the community of Templeton. The site is in the Salinas River Sub Area of the North County Planning Area. Also to be considered is the determination that this project is exempt from environmental review under CEQA based on the common sense exemption, CEQA Guidelines § 15061(b)(3).

County File Number: N-SUB2024-00007

Supervisorial District: District 1 Assessor Parcel Number(s): 041-131-086 Date Accepted: 5/30/2025

WHERE

The hearing will be held in Katcho Achadjian Government Center, Board of Supervisors Chambers 1055 Monterey Street, Room #D170, San Luis Obispo, CA. The Board of Supervisors Chambers are located on the corner of Santa Rosa and Monterey Streets. At the meeting all interested persons may express their views for or against, or to change the proposal.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A copy of the staff report will be made available on the Planning Department website at www.sloplanning.org You may also contact Eric Tolle, Project Manager, in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-5600.

Nicole Turner

Secretary Subdivision Review Board

August 21, 2025

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

WHO: San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission

WHEN: Thursday, September 25, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. (All items are advertised for 9:00 a.m. To find out the agenda placement call the Planning Department at 781-5600.)

WHAT: Consideration of an amendment to the General Plan Safety Element to [1] update implementation measures for fire prevention in State Responsibility Areas (SRA) and very high fire hazard severity zones (as required by Senate Bill 1241), [2] update implementation measures for access points (as required by Senate Bill 99), [3] incorporate by reference the San Luis Obispo County MultiJurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan for disaster recovery funding eligibility (per Assembly Bill 2140), and [4] incorporate the exception provision for dead-end road requirements. This project is exempt from environmental review under CEQA, pursuant to section 15061(b)(3).

County File Number: LRP2024-00010

Assessor Parcel Number: Not applicable

Supervisorial District: All Districts Date Authorized: Not applicable

WHERE: The hearing will be held in the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 1055 Monterey St., Room #D170, County Government Center, San Luis Obispo, CA. The Board of Supervisors Chambers are located on the corner of Santa Rosa and Monterey Streets. At the hearing all interested persons may express their views for or against, or to change the proposal.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

A copy of the staff report will be available on the Planning Department website, www.sloplanning.org. You may contact Kip Morais, Project Manager, in the San Luis Obispo County Department of Planning and Building, County Government Center, San Luis Obispo, California 93408, (805) 781-5600 or at kmorais@co.slo.ca.us

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION:

Also to be considered is the environmental determination that the project is exempt under CEQA via the General Rule Exemption, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3). A Notice of Exemption has been prepared pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15062.

**If you challenge this matter in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this public notice or in written correspondence delivered to the appropriate authority at or before the public hearing. **

DATED: August 14, 2025

YSABEL EIGHMY, SECRETARY COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION

August 21, 2025

News Release

For Release: Final Release 15 August 2025

Contact Name: FUDS Project Manager (213) 452-3988

FUDS.SPL@usace.army.mil

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Conduct Informational Public Meeting on the Camp San Luis Obispo Munitions Response Site 05

The Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invites the public to attend a public meeting to discuss the upcoming Remedial Action for the Camp San Luis Obispo (CSLO) Munitions Response Site (MRS) 05. This site is a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) located in San Luis Obispo County, California.

CSLO was established in 1928 by the State of California as a National Guard Camp. It originally consisted of 5,800 acres. Additional lands were added in the early 1940s until the total acreage consisted of 14,959.16 acres. A large portion of CSLO, the original 5,800 acres, has been retained by the California National Guard (CNG) and is not part of the FUDS program. The Archives Search Report (ASR) completed in 1994 identified 9,159 acres of CSLO as eligible for the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) for FUDS.

MRS 05 consists of approximately 2,626 acres located along California Highway 1, approximately 8 miles east of the Pacific Ocean at Morro Bay and approximately 5 miles northwest of U.S. Highway 101, between the cities of San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay on the western slopes of the Santa Lucia Range.

MRS 05 is segregated into 3 different sub-areas, based on the density of Munitions Debris (MD)/unexploded ordnance (UXO) determined from results of Remedial Investigation data and the likelihood of people accessing the area: MRS 05-North, MRS 05-South, and MRS 05-SR (for shooting range). The land within MRS 05-North is 904.8 acres and used mainly for recreational and agricultural (grazing only) purposes. MRS 05-South is 1,450.7 acres and used primarily for recreational and ranching purposes, including development of existing or new ranching facilities. MRS 05-SR is 270.5 acres and is used primarily for recreational (public shooting range) and agricultural purposes, which will include maintenance and renovation of the shooting range.

When: 5pm – 7pm on 25 August 2025

Where: San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, Oak Glen Pavillion, 3450 Dairy Creek Road, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405, (805) 541-1400

For more information about the FUDS program, please visit https://www.usace.army.mil/missions/environmental/ formerlyused-defense-sites/ Remember the 3 Rs of Explosives Safety!

August 21, 2025

CITY OF PISMO BEACH STATE OF CALIFORNIA

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

SEALED BIDS will be received electronically by the City of Pismo Beach via the City’s e-Procurement Portal PlanetBids, until 2:00 p.m., on Thursday, September 18, 2025 as determined by www.time.gov for performing work as follows:

PIER AVENUE STAIR REMOVAL PROJECT

The project scope includes removal of the existing beach access stairway at the south end of Pier Avenue in Pismo Beach. All stair components will be demolished, with existing concrete caissons to remain in place.

A mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting will be held on Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Please meet promptly onsite at the intersection of Pier Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, Pismo Beach, CA 93449. Bidders that do not attend this mandatory pre-bid meeting shall be disqualified from bidding on this Project.

Before submitting bids, Contractors shall be licensed in accordance with the Laws of the State of California. Accordingly, the successful Bidder shall possess a Class A, General Engineering, Contractor’s License at the time this contract is awarded.

All questions must be submitted in writing through the PlanetBids Procurement Question/Answer Tab via the City’s e-Procurement portal, on or before the Question & Answer Submission Date and Time. All questions submitted and answers provided shall be electronically distributed to all proposers who have selected to “follow” this RFP on the City’s e-Procurement Portal.

Proposals must be submitted online using the City’s electronic bidding platform which can be accessed at www.pismobeach.org/bids.

ERICA INDERLIED

CITY CLERK

August 21 & 28, 225

DATE: Tuesday, September 9, 2025

TIME: 6:00 p.m.

PLACE: City of Atascadero Council Chambers 6500 Palma Avenue

Atascadero, CA 93422

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of Atascadero will hold a PUBLIC HEARING in- person at the time and place indicated above to consider adoption of a Resolution to amend Title 9 (Planning and Zoning) of the Atascadero Municipal Code to establish permitting requirements and land use standards for the short-term rental of dwelling units. This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Public Resources Code Section 21000 et seq., because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the enactment of this Ordinance would have a significant effect on the environment (Pub. Resources Code § 21065; CEQA Guidelines §15061(b)(3).). The City Council will also consider adoption of a resolution amending the schedule of fees and charges for City Services. A copy of the draft resolution and fee schedule can be viewed in City Hall, 6500 Palma Avenue, Atascadero, or by contacting the Administrative Services Department at (805) 470-3428. (ZCH24-0059).

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that if a challenge to the above action is made in court, persons may be limited to raising only those issues they or someone else raised at the public hearing described in the notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Council at, or prior to, the public hearing.

ALL INTERESTED PERSONS are invited to attend in-person and will be given an opportunity to speak in favor of, or opposition to, the above-proposed project. Written comments are also accepted by the City Clerk, prior to the hearing at 6500 Palma Ave., Atascadero, CA 93422 or cityclerk@atascadero. org and will be distributed to the City Council. Written public comments must be received by 12:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Email comments must identify the Agenda Item Number in the subject line of the email. Written comments will not be read into the record.

Information regarding the hearing is filed in the Community Development Department. If you have any questions, please call Planning Services or visit the office at 6500 Palma Ave., by appointment only, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. All documents related to the project will be available for review on the City’s website 72 hours prior to the public hearing at www.atascadero.org/agendas.

DATED August 18, 2025

S/ L K Gleason, Planning Manager

PUBLISH: August 21, 2025

SUMMARY OF ORDINANCE NO. 25-03

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Monday, July 28, 2025, the City Council of the City of Grover Beach had the First Reading and Introduction of an Ordinance entitled: ORDINANCE NO. 25-03

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GROVER BEACH, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE IX (DEVELOPMENT CODE) OF THE GROVER BEACH MUNICIPAL CODE INCLUDING AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 2 (ZONES AND ALLOWABLE LAND USES), SECTIONS 3.10.020 (FENCES AND WALLS), SECTION 3.10.030 (HEIGHT LIMITS AND EXCEPTIONS), NEW SECTION 3.10.062 (EDGE CONDITIONS), AMENDMENTS TO SECTIONS 3.10.065 (SCREENING), 3.10.080 (UPPER STORY OPEN SPACES), 4.10.030 (ACCESSORY STRUCTURES), 5.10.030 (GENERAL PROVISIONS), CHAPTER 6 (PROCEDURES), 8.20.060 (REVIEW AUTHORITY FOR SUBDIVISION DECISIONS), NEW SECTION 8.170 (URBAN LOT SUBDIVISIONS), AND AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 9 (DEFINITIONS).

This Ordinance will amend Article IX (Development Code) of the Grover Beach Municipal Code (GBMC) regarding various amendments to the City’s Development Code and Local Coastal Program.

The full text of the Ordinance is on file in the City Clerk’s Office, 154 South Eighth Street, Grover Beach, California, or a copy may be obtained from the office for a nominal charge.

The City Council will conduct a second reading and consider adoption of this Ordinance on Monday, August 25, 2025. If approved, the Ordinance shall not become effective and in full force and effect until 12:01 a.m. on the thirtieth day after adoption by the City Council, or 12:01 a.m. on the day after final certification by the California Coastal Commission, whichever occurs later. Within fifteen (15) days after its adoption, the second summary shall be published, together with the names of the Council Members voting in favor, in a newspaper of general circulation within the City.

/s/ Wendi B. Sims, City Clerk

Dated: Thursday, August 21, 2025

CITY OF

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARROYO GRANDE TO AMEND THE ARROYO GRANDE MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 3.46 AMENDING THE AUTHORIZED IMPROVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES TO BE FUNDED BY ASSESSMENTS IMPOSED THROUGH THE ARROYO GRANDE TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT

This Ordinance Summary is published in accordance with the provisions of Government Code Section 36933. On August 12, 2025, the City Council voted 3-0 to introduce an Ordinance amending Chapter 3.46 of the Arroyo Grande Municipal Code (AGMC) amending the authorized uses funded by Arroyo Grande Tourism Business Improvement District (AGTBID) assessments.

The City Council must vote again to adopt the Ordinance. That action is scheduled to take place at a Regular Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at the City Council Chamber, 215 E Branch Street, Arroyo Grande, CA. A certified copy of the full text of the Ordinance is available for review by contacting the City Clerk at 805-473-5400. /s/

Jessica Matson, City Clerk Publish one time, The Tribune, August 21, 2025

NOTICE OF UNSCHEDULED VACANCY CALL FOR APPLICATIONS PLANNING COMMISSION

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Atascadero is currently accepting applications from interested residents to fill one (1) unscheduled, vacant, at-large position and (1) unscheduled, vacant, Council appointed position on the Planning Commission for terms ending December 31, 2026.

The Planning Commission meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The Planning Commission is a body of 7 citizens appointed by the City Council who review matters related to land use planning and development. Interested candidates must be a resident of the City of Atascadero and a registered voter in order to qualify.

Applications are available for download on the City’s website at www.atascadero.org or by calling the City Clerk’s Office at (805) 470-3400 and by visiting City Hall, 6500 Palma Avenue. Completed application forms must be filed with the City Clerk no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 29, 2025 in order to be considered for appointment.

August 7 & 21, 2025

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

BID SUBMISSION

CITY OF ARROYO GRANDE, CALIFORNIA (Herein referred to as the City)

Sealed bids will be received by the City at the Public Works Administration Office located at 1375 Ash Street, Arroyo Grande California 93420, until

2:00 p.m. on September 2, 2025

at which time they will be publicly opened and read aloud. Submit bid in a sealed envelope plainly marked:

POST-CONSTRUCTION LANDSCAPING AT TRAFFIC WAY BRIDGE SPECIFICATION NO. PW 2025-02

Any bid received after the time and date specified will not be considered and will be returned to the bidder unopened. Bids received by Fax or Email will not be considered.

PROJECT INFORMATION

The project consists of clearing and grubbing, weeding, landscaping plant installation, watering, including maintenance and replacement planting for a five-year period. This landscaping is required to mitigate project impacts from the Traffic Way Bridge Replacement Project. Contract time is established as 15 working days, not including plant maintenance period. Plant maintenance period is 5 years and begins when all planting is complete.

There will be a non-mandatory but highly encouraged pre-bid meeting on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., at the corner of Traffic Way and Branch Street, Arroyo Grande, CA 93420. Project scope and navigating Federal forms will be discussed at the pre-bid meeting. Contact Theresa Wren at (805) 473-5441 or twren@arroyogrande.org with any questions.

The bidder is responsible for reviewing existing field conditions before submitting bid to ensure items are bid appropriately.

Written questions will be received until 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, August 21, 2025, at the above email address.

By submission of bid you agree to comply with all instructions and requirements in this notice and the contract documents.

All bids must be submitted on the Bid Item List form(s) provided and submitted with all other Bid Forms included in these Special Provisions. Each bid must be accompanied by either a: 1. certified check;

2. cashier’s check; or 3. bidder’s bond

made payable to the City of Arroyo Grande for an amount equal to ten percent of the bid amount as a guaranty. Guaranty will be forfeited to the City Arroyo Grande if the bidder, to whom the contract is awarded, fails to enter into the contract.

The City of Arroyo Grande reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids or waive any informality in a bid.

All bids are to be compared on the basis of the Public Works Director’s estimate of the quantities of work to be done, as shown on the Bid Item List.

Bids will only be accepted from bidders that are licensed in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 9, Division III of Business and Professions Code.

The award of the contract, if awarded, will be to the lowest responsive bid submitted by a responsible contractor whose bid complies with the requirements prescribed herein. If the contract is awarded, the contract will be awarded within 60 calendar days after the opening of the bids.

Failure to raise defects in the notice to bidders or bid forms prior to bid opening constitute a waiver of those defects.

BID DOCUMENTS

A copy of the plans and specifications may be downloaded, free of charge, from the City’s website at: http://www.arroyogrande.org/Bids. aspx. Plans and specifications are available for viewing at the following plan rooms:

1. Central California Builders Exchange

2. Santa Maria Valley Contractors Association

3. Central Coast Builders Association

4. San Luis Obispo County Builders Exchange

A printed copy of the plans and specifications may be obtained by contacting:

Blueprint Express/Crisp Imaging

618 East Grand Avenue

Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 (805) 481-1655

for a non-refundable fee of the cost of duplication.

City Standard Specifications and Engineering Standards referenced in the Special Provisions may be downloaded, free of charge, from the City’s website at: http://www.arroyogrande.org/DocumentCenter/ Home/View/3151.

A printed copy of the Standard Specifications and Engineering Standards may be obtained by contacting:

Blueprint Express/Crisp Imaging

618 East Grand Avenue Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 (805) 481-1655

for a non-refundable fee of the cost of duplication.

You are responsible to obtain all issued addenda prior to bid opening. Addenda will be available to download at the City’s website listed above or contact Theresa Wren at (805) 473-5441 or twren@arroyogrande.org prior to bid opening to verify the number of addenda issued.

You are responsible to verify your contact information is correct on the plan holders list located on the City’s website at: http://www. arroyogrande.org/Bids.aspx.

PREVAILING WAGES

In accordance with the provisions of California Labor Code Sections 1770,1773, 1773.1, 1773.6 and 1773.7 as amended, the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations has determined the general prevailing rate of per diem wages in accordance with the standards set forth in Section 1773 for the locality in which the work is to be performed. A copy of said wage rates is on file at the office of the Owner. It shall be mandatory upon the contractor to whom the work is awarded and upon any subcontractor under the contractor to pay not less than said specified rates to all workmen employed by them in the execution of the work.

Contractor Registration with Department of Industrial Relations

In accordance with California Labor Code Section 1725.5, Contractors and Subcontractors (as defined by California Labor Code Section 1722.1) bidding on Public Works contracts in California shall be registered with the Department of Industrial Relations prior to bidding.

Failure to provide proof of Contractor’s registration as part of the Bid shall deem the Bid as non-responsive and will therefore be rejected by Owner.

Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement

In accordance with the requirements of Labor Code Section 1771.4(a) (1), Bidders are hereby notified that this project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relation.

QUALIFICATIONS

In accordance with the provisions of California Public Contract Code Section 3300, the City has determined that the contractor shall possess a valid Class A (General Engineering) or C-27 (Landscaping) license from the time of contract award through Contract acceptance. Failure to possess the specified license shall render the Bid as nonresponsive and shall act as a bar to award of the Contract to any bidder not possessing said license at the time of award. In the event of dispute over classification of the license required, the opinion of the Contractor’s State License Board shall prevail.

You must have experience constructing projects similar to the work specified for this project. Provide three similar reference projects completed as either the prime or subcontractor. One of the three reference projects must have been completed under contract with a City, County, State or Federal Government agency as the prime contractor. All referenced projects must be completed within the last five years from this project’s bid opening date.

All referenced projects must be for habitat mitigation and restoration planting, and maintenance.

Failure to provide reference projects as specified in this section and as required on the qualification form may be cause to reject a bid as being non-responsive.

It is the City of Arroyo Grande’s intent to award the contract to the lowest responsive bid submitted by a responsible bidder. If in the bidder’s opinion the contract has been or may be improperly awarded, the bidder may protest the contract award.

Protests must be filed no later than seven working days after either: 1. bid opening date 2. notification of rejected bid.

Protest must be in writing and received by the project manager located at: 1375 Ash Street Arroyo Grande, CA 93420.

Valid protests must contain the following information: 1. the reasons for the protest 2. any supporting documentation 3. the ruling expected by the City to remedy the protest.

Any protest not containing all required information will be deemed invalid and rejected.

The City will consider additional documentation or other supporting information regarding the protest if submitted in compliance with the specified time limits. Anything submitted after the specified time limit will be rejected and not be considered.

The Director of Public Works or Designee may request additional information to be submitted within three days of the request, unless otherwise specified, and will notify the protester of ruling within ten days of determination.

Pursuant to the Public Records Act (Government Code, §6250, et seq.), the City will make public records available upon request.

AWARD

The lowest bidder will be determined using the BID TOTAL.

The City intends to award a contract to the responsive and responsible bidder with the lowest bid price. All bids submitted shall be in accordance with the provisions of the contract documents. The City specifically reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject any or all bids, to re-bid, or to waive inconsequential defects in bidding not involving time, price or quality of the work. City may waive any minor irregularities in the bids. Any bid may be withdrawn prior to bid opening but not afterward.

As a condition to executing a contract with the City, two bonds each equal to one hundred percent of the total awarded contract price are required in compliance with Section 3-1.05 of the Standard Specifications.

Deposit of Securities in Lieu of Retainage.

The Contractor may elect to receive 100 percent of payment due under the Contract Documents from time to time, without retention of any portion of the payment by the City, by depositing securities of equivalent value with the City in accordance with the provisions of Section 22300 of the California Public Contract Code. Such securities, if deposited by the Contractor, shall be valued by the City, whose decision on valuation of the securities shall be final. Securities eligible for investment under this provision shall be limited to those listed in Section 16430 of the California Government Code or bank or savings and loan certificates of deposit.

Agreement to Assign.

In accordance with Section 4552 of the California Government Code, the bidder shall conform to the following requirements: In submitting a bid to a public purchasing body, the bidder offers and agrees that if the bid is accepted, it will assign to the purchasing body all rights, title, and interest in and to all causes of action it may have under Section 4 of the Clayton Act 15 U.S.C. 15, or under the Cartwright Act, Chapter 2.

ACCOMMODATION

If any accommodations are needed to participate in the bid process, please contact the Public Works Department at (805) 473-5485. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow time for accommodation.

DISADVANTAGE BUSINESS ENTERPRISES (DBE)

This project is subject to Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 26 (49 CFR 26) entitled “Participation by Disadvantage Business Enterprises in Department of Transportation Finance Assistance Programs”. Contractors shall take necessary and reasonable steps to ensure that Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) subcontractors have an opportunity to augment their team. The City has established a DBE goal of 0%

FEDERAL TRAINEE PROGRAM

As part of the Contractor’s equal employment affirmative action program, the Contractor is to provide on-the-job training to develop full journeyman in types of trades or job classifications involved in the Contract. The number of trainees or apprentices is 0

/s/ Jessica Matson, City Clerk

Publish 2T, New Times, Thursday, August 14, 2025 and Thursday, August 21, 2025

Free Will Astrology by Rob Brezsny

Homework: What spoiled part of your life could you rehabilitate? Newsletter.freewillastrology.com

ARIES

(March 21-April 19): When glassmakers want to cool a newly blown piece, they don’t simply leave it out to harden. That would cause it to shatter from the inside. Instead, they place it in an annealing oven, where the temperature drops in measured increments over many hours. This careful cooling aligns the internal structure and strengthens the whole. Let’s invoke this as a useful metaphor, Aries. I absolutely love the heat and radiance you’ve expressed recently. But now it’s wise for you to gradually cool down: to allow your fervor to coalesce into an enduring new reservoir of power and vitality. Transform sheer intensity into vibrant clarity and cohesion.

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20): To paraphrase Sufi mystic poet Rumi: “Don’t get lost in your pain. Know that one day your pain will become your cure.” In my astrological opinion, Taurus, you have arrived at this pivotal moment. A wound you’ve had to bear for a long spell is on the verge of maturing into a gift, even a blessing. A burdensome ache is ready to reveal its teachings. You may have assumed you would be forever cursed by this hurt, but that’s not true! Now it’s your sacred duty to shed that assumption and open your heart so you can harvest the healing.

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20): As you enter a Tibetan Buddhist temple, you may encounter statues and paintings of fierce spirits. They are guardian figures who serve as protectors, scaring away negative and destructive forces so they can’t enter the holy precincts. In accordance with astrological omens, Gemini, I invite you to be your own threshold guardian. Authorize a wise and strict part of you to defend and safeguard what truly matters. This staunch action doesn’t have to be aggressive, but it should be informed with fierce clarity. You can’t afford to let the blithe aspect of your personality compromise your overall interests by being too accommodating. Assign your protective self to stand at your gate and say: “I protect this. I cherish this. I won’t dilute this.”

CANCER

(June 21-July 22): “Dear Dr. Feelgood: Lately, you seem to be extra nice to us hypersensitive Crabs. Almost too kind. Why? Are you in love with a Cancerian woman, and you’re trying to woo her? Did you hurt a Cancerian friend’s feelings, and now you’re atoning? Please tell me you’re not just coddling us. —Permanently Drunk on a Million Feelings.” Dear Drunk: You use your imagination to generate visions of things that don’t exist yet. It’s your main resource for creating your future. This is especially crucial right now. The coming months will be a fertile time for shaping the life you want to live for the next 10 years. If I can help you keep your imagination filled with positive expectations, you are more likely to devise marvelous self-fulfilling prophecies.

LEO

(July 23-Aug. 22): In traditional Chinese medicine, the heart is the seat of joy. It’s also the sovereign that listens to the wisdom of the other organs before acting. Dear Leo, as you cross the threshold from attracting novelty to building stability, I encourage you to cultivate extra heart-centered leadership, both for yourself and for those who look to you for inspiration. What does that mean? Make decisions based on love and compassion more than on rational analysis. Be in service to wholeness rather than to whatever might bring temporary advantage.

VIRGO

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In Mesoamerican myth, the god Quetzalcoatl journeys to the underworld not to escape death, but to recover old bones needed to create new life. I propose you draw inspiration from this story, Virgo. In recent weeks, you have been gathering pieces of the past, not out of a sense of burdensome obligation, but as a source of raw material. Now comes the time for reassembly. You won’t rebuild the same old thing. You will sculpt visionary gifts for yourself from what was lost. You will use your history to design your future. Be alert for the revelations that the bones sing.

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the Hebrew language, the word for “face” is plural. There is no singular form for panim. I love that fact! For me, it implies that each of us has a variety of faces. Our identity is multifaceted. I think you should make a special point of celebrating this truth in the coming weeks, Libra. Now is an excellent time to explore and honor all of your many selves. Take full advantage of your inner diversity, and enjoy yourself to the max as you express and reveal the full array of truths you contain.

SCORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the ancient Hindu holy text known as the Upanishads, ananda means bliss, though not so much in the sense of physical or psychological pleasure as of deep, ecstatic knowing. I believe you are close to attracting this glorious experience into your soul, Scorpio—not just fleetingly, but for a while. I predict you will glide into alignments that feel like coming home to your eternal and perfect self. Treasure these moments as divine gifts. Immerse yourself with total welcome and gratitude. Let ananda inform your next steps.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In Daoist cosmology, the nature of life is characterized by cyclical, flowing patterns rather than linear, static motions. In my study of its gorgeous teachings, I exult in how it inspires me to honor both contraction and expansion, the power of circling inward and reaching outward. With this in mind, Sagittarius, I invite you to make the spiral your symbol of power. Yes, it may sometimes feel like you’re revisiting old ground. Perhaps an ex will resurface, or an old goal will seek your attention. But I guarantee it’s not mere repetition. An interesting form of evolution is underway. You’re returning to longstanding challenges armed with fresh wisdom. Ask yourself: What do I know now that I didn’t before? How can I meet these interesting questions from a higher point of the spiral?

CAPRICORN

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Inuit artworks are often made from materials available in their environment, like driftwood, stones, walrus ivory, whale bones, and caribou bones and antlers. Even their tools are crafted from that stuff. In part, this is evidence of their resourcefulness, and in part, a reflection of how lovingly they engage with their environment. I recommend you borrow their approach, Capricorn. Create your practical magic by relying on what’s already available. Be enterprising as you generate usefulness and fun out of scraps and leftovers. Your raw material is probably better if it’s not perfect.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The medieval alchemists had a central principle, rendered in Latin as follows: Visita interiora terrae, rectificando invenies occultum lapidem Translated, it means, “Seek out the lower reaches of the earth, perfect them, and you will find the hidden stone.” I invite you to go on a similar underground quest, Aquarius. The purpose is not to wallow in worry or sadness, but rather to retrieve a treasure. Some magnificence beneath your surface life is buried—an emotional truth, a creative impulse, a spiritual inheritance. And it’s time you went and got it. Think of it as a quest and a pilgrimage. The “hidden stone,” an emblem of spiritual riches, wants you to find it.

PISCES

(Feb. 19-March 20): In ancient Greece, the god Janus presided over doorways. He had two faces, one looking outward and forward, one gazing inward and backward. I believe this is your Janus phase, Pisces. Before you launch into your next fluidic quest, pause and take inventory. Peer behind you, not with regret but with curiosity and compassion. What cycle has fully ended? What wisdom has settled into your bones? Then face the future, not with shyness or foreboding, but with eager intention and confidence. What goals, rooted in who you are becoming, can inspire an exciting new plot thread? ∆