New Times, Sept. 4, 2025

Loss of funding for the county’s History Center means decades’ worth of artifacts won’t see the light of day [8]

BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL

Photo contest is now open [17]

Editor’s note

The Board of Supervisors’ recent budget balancing act dealt a big blow to the San Luis Obispo County History Center. The museum, the only countywide organization focused on examining local history, lost its collections manager when the county cut funding by nearly $108,000. Now the center’s rich collection of artifacts and roughly 100,000 photographs from all of SLO’s eras are off limits to descendants, researchers, and the public.

Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal speaks with the museum’s executive director and the county about what’s next for the History Center [8]

Also in this issue, read about physicians’ complaints about how Cal Poly’s Campus Health and Wellbeing center is run [9]; a craft fair dedicated to curiosities and oddities [22]; and a vegan activist’s stop at the Vreamery of Paso Robles [30]

Andrea Rooks associate editor

cover photo by Bulbul Rajagopal cover design by Alex Zuniga

IN THE SHADOWS Researchers and descendants who seek artifacts within the SLO County History Center can no longer access the museum’s

Falconer, Dennis Flately, Edward Barnett, Bernadette Miller, Joe Brice

New Times is published every Thursday for your enjoyment and distributed to more than 100,000 readers in San Luis Obispo County. New Times is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. The contents of New Times are copyrighted by New Times and may not be reproduced without specific written permission from the publishers. We welcome contributions and suggestions. Accompany any submissions with a self-addressed stamped envelope. We cannot assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. All letters received become the property of the publishers. Opinions expressed

Planning Commission wants Cal Poly to publish frat addresses to curb illegal parties

As the deadline approaches to respond to the county grand jury report about alleged mismanaged illegal frat parties, the city of San Luis Obispo wants Cal Poly to be more cooperative.

“We have been working proactively with Cal Poly to be really frank and honest with them about things we need to be able to enforce our codes and regulations,” Community Development Director Timothea Tway told the SLO Planning Commission at its Aug. 27 meeting.

In June, the grand jury released a report called “Round and Round with Town and Gown,” alleging that the city failed to effectively control unsanctioned fraternity parties. The report came with six recommendations for the City Council, City Manager Whitney McDonald, and the city Planning Commission. They must respond by Sept. 19.

At the Aug. 27 meeting, the Planning Commission approved staff’s draft response to the grand jury’s recommendation to adopt more uniform conditions for conditional use permits issued to fraternities.

The response said that the city updated its zoning regulations for fraternity and sorority land uses in 2018 and reviewed new and existing permits in 2024. The changes included resident occupancy limits, requirements that a fraternity or sorority be affiliated with and in good standing with the Interfraternity Council of Student Life and Leadership at Cal Poly, and an overall modernization of permits issued in the 1980s and 1990s to bring them up to current standards.

The grand jury also suggested that the city should step up the rate of code enforcement by hiring more staff or working alternate schedules.

But doing so is expensive, according to the city, especially when its grappling with forecasted budget deficits.

Staff acknowledged at the Planning Commission meeting that being proactive about code enforcement is hard because of Cal Poly’s decision to withhold fraternity addresses.

For years, several residents have been asking the city for stricter enforcement and separating Greek life from low-density areas with family homes. They’ve also asked Cal Poly to publish the addresses of all known fraternity houses.

“One of the concerns and complaints we’ve

Second Central Coast battery plant catches fire this year

heard from the community is that Cal Poly also has a party registration process whereby they used to provide addresses when a party was registered, which helped us confirm whether or not a fraternity or sorority party was happening at a location that was not a [permitted] fraternity or sorority,” Tway told commissioners. “In the last year or so, the addresses for those parties have not been listed.”

Cal Poly and colleges around California must follow Campus-Recognized Sorority and Fraternity Transparency Act, also called Assembly Bill 524. The bill requires Cal Poly to collect specific information about its recognized fraternities and sororities and their conduct. Then, Cal Poly must compile and maintain those details into a publicly accessible report posted and archived on the internet for a minimum of 10 years. The information must also be sent to all enrolled students through a campuswide email.

Tway confirmed to commissioners that the city is in talks with the university.

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Following the January scare at Moss Landing, another battery storage facility caught fire this past week marking the second such incident of 2025 as Central Coast leaders push for enhanced safety measures when it comes to renewable energy.

On Aug. 30, Monterey County authorities were notified of a solar flare at the 280-megawatt California Flats Energy Storage Project around 11 a.m., a solar and battery storage facility located just southeast of Parkfield, which borders the county line between Monterey and San Luis Obispo, according to a social media from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.

California Flats Energy Storage Project is owned by Arevon, an Arizona-based energy company that specializes in renewable energy storage like solar and battery, while the project itself sits on Hearst Ranch property and provides energy to companies like Apple, PG&E, and Tesla, the Hearst Ranch website said.

Arevon Senior Director of Communications Blair

Not complying with AB 524’s reporting requirements could spell suspension of campus recognition for a fraternity or sorority.

Cal Poly interpreted the bill differently.

“The bill requires the university to collect addresses but only requires publication of specific addresses for events where misconduct has occurred,” Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier told New Times. “The university chose to withhold addresses going forward after determining that many other CSU campuses had made a similar decision to do so, also with student privacy in mind.”

He added that Cal Poly is committed to working with the city to address neighborhood concerns about the parties.

Matocha told New Times that the Aug. 30 incident was confined to four batteries of the 84 installed at the facility as the project’s thermal detection system was triggered and automatically notified emergency authorities.

Once Cal Fire arrived, the fire was quickly contained and extinguished, Matocha said via email. There were no injuries, and no private property was damaged.

“As an added precaution, the battery manufacturer is on-site providing 24/7 monitoring to ensure continued safety. The local fire departments [were] also dispatched to the site to monitor the situation but were not required to take any action,” Matocha said.

Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) told New Times she is keeping a close eye on this incident, considering it followed another battery plant fire on Jan. 16 at Moss Landing that evacuated thousands of people and posed multiple health risks.

“Experience shows us that lithium-ion batteries are volatile and can catch on fire. Large-scale

“It’s likely something we’ll continue to look into how we can obtain these addresses,” she said.

With Commissioner Juan Munoz-Morris stating that finding space for a Greek Row could be a solution to keep the neighborhood peace, Commissioner Robert Jorgensen said that Cal Poly needs to do more.

“I think this [draft response approval] will hopefully successfully send some signals to Cal Poly that this is a big problem that needs their undivided attention as well, and that we gotta come up with a common solution,” Jorgensen said. “I don’t think it’s going to answer every single question everyone has written about it ... so I’m trying to be hopeful about this.” ∆

—Bulbul Rajagopal

battery energy storage systems have their place in addressing the climate crisis but must be sited properly,” Addis said via email. “This fire is yet another example of why common-sense siting is critical. I can only imagine the impact last weekend’s fire could’ve had on our neighborhoods, traffic corridor, schools, or highly flammable wildlands had it been sited somewhere else. This could have been catastrophic.”

Addis has raised concerns about battery plant placements since Morro Bay grappled with the idea of building a battery facility at its old power plant site. For four years, Texas-owned company Vistra tried to make a 600-megawatt facility happen, but amid resistance from residents, local city leaders, and state policies, it withdrew its application in April.

Moss Landing’s January incident also raised concerns among residents when it came to SLO County’s recently constructed 100-megawatt Caballero battery storage facility in Nipomo. Designed differently than Moss Landing, the

SWARMED Though residents complained about large parties disturbing neighborhood peace while potentially being unpermitted, Cal Poly stopped publishing the addresses of the fraternity houses hosting such parties out of concern for student privacy.

Caballero facility is much safer, according to 4th District San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding. After the recent fire at California Flats Energy Storage Project, Paulding told New Times he remains sure of the county’s ability to keep its residents safe.

“I have the utmost confidence in our Cal Fire/County Fire personnel to protect our community in times of emergency,” he said via email. “I’ve been truly impressed by the recent increase in multi-agency safety drills—led by Cal Fire/County Fire and supported by regional partners—which play a critical role in ensuring our first responders are fully prepared for any situation.”

—Libbey Hanson

SLO County residents criticize Sheriff’s Office decision to buy another armored vehicle

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office plan to purchase a second armored vehicle called the Lenco BearCat drew criticism from residents concerned about the county racking up a $38 million budget deficit and the federal administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

“I’m pro-justice and police when they hunt crooks but anti-militarization when they hunt hardworking immigrants and protesters,” Templeton resident Cindy Lewis said at the Aug. 19 Board of Supervisors meeting. “The chance of an event that requires more than one BearCat is extremely remote in San Luis County. Reallocate those funds to something actually needed.”

With 1st District Supervisor John Peschong absent, supervisors voted 4-0 in favor of the Sheriff’s Office applying for an almost $218,000 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. But the BearCat is expected to cost $433,000. The Sheriff’s Office is working with the County Administrative Office to find more funding sources to foot the remaining $215,000.

Lewis’ comment is one of many directed at the Board of Supervisors. The criticism comes on the heels of county residents calling out supervisors at their previous meeting for approving a $316,000 U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant for the Sheriff’s Office.

“As residents of Adelaida Road, we’d much prefer these resources be used for proper traffic enforcement, e.g., passing on Adelaida Road, reducing excessive speed on Lake Nacimiento Drive,” residents Kate Morgan and Louis Hruska wrote in a

letter to supervisors. “It is also necessary to address the severe littering problem on Lake Road as well as on our rural roads such as Adelaida. We hate looking at all of the litter and are embarrassed that key arteries for our essential tourism industry look as bad as many of them do.”

Others pointed out the increase to the Sheriff-Coroner budget in the name of public protection and at the expense of health services.

“We are taking millions to the Sheriff’s department while the Paso Robles Clinic’s cost was merely over $400,000,” Atascadero resident Lee Perkins wrote. “This cut was approved in despite what you all knew was happening in Washington—cuts to Medicaid, etc.—particularly women’s health. What about health safety for those with less?”

According to the county staff report, the existing BearCat belonging to the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have the same capabilities as the new model it’s vying for. A second vehicle would help deputies respond to emergencies in “dynamic and diverse” landscapes like Montaña de Oro, the Salinas Riverbed, California Valley, Cuyama, Creston, Pozo, and Lopez Lake.

Sheriff Ian Parkinson clarified to supervisors that the BearCat isn’t used by the military. Manufacturer Lenco makes the “defensive tool, not offensive tool” for law enforcement all over the country, he said.

“Just as my uniform is not military even though the appearance is, the BearCat might appear to be military but that’s not what it is,” Parkinson said. “Our patrol cars are not bulletproof. So, any day a deputy or police office locally goes on a call, they’re subject to getting shot at. We have had that happen in the not too recent past.”

The Sheriff added that his office uses the almost 20-year-old BearCat roughly six times a year on average, and deputies undergo monthly training to operate it.

Parkinson stressed the need for another BearCat by mentioning an active shooting in Paso Robles in 2020 when Deputy Nick Dreyfus was shot in the face. Dreyfus survived but the injury prevented him from returning to active duty.

Over the course of a two-day manhunt, the Sheriff’s Office loaned its BearCat to the regional SWAT team. A SWAT officer then got shot in the leg by the shooter after he exited the BearCat to search around the Salinas Riverbed.

“They immediately went to the BearCat for cover and protection,” Parkinson said. “They didn’t know where the shooter was.

If they had not had that bulletproof vehicle out there, with five or six people out there, we probably would have lost or at least had additional officers injured in the shooting.”

The county staff report also referenced a barricaded felony incident in July 2025 when deputies only had access to one armored vehicle. They were forced to use patrol vehicles as cover.

Third District Supervisor Dawn OrtizLegg told Parkinson that out of concern for immigrants, officials would contact the Sheriff’s Office if they noticed any “suspicious” use of the BearCat.

“I think it’s important for the public to know that … you’re following the law, you’re not working with ICE, that it’s against the law for you to work with ICE without the federal warrant,” Ortiz-Legg told Parkinson.

—Bulbul Rajagopal

SLO County shellfish contaminated with dangerous levels of toxins

Harvesters of local clams, oysters, and scallops were told to beware of consuming the shellfish after the California Department of Public Health found high levels of toxins throughout San Luis Obispo County.

Issued on Aug. 29, SLO County Environmental Health Services notified residents not to consume any shellfish harvested in the region due to dangerous levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP, based on recent biotoxin screening results.

Environmental Health Services Director Peter Hague told New Times that summer is the prime time for toxins to increase, and typically every summer the California Department of Public Health issues what’s called a “mussel quarantine” that ranges from May to October as a precautionary step to test what’s in the water—whether heavy metals in harbors or algae blooms in warmer months.

“During the summer is when we get our warmest weather and longest days. That’s why you can grow things in your garden,” Hague said. “Well, the ocean is a giant garden, essentially, and there’s lots of things growing out there, and some of those plants are microscopic phytoplankton, and they can produce toxins that get concentrated in the mussels.”

This type of shellfish is the specimen for testing because of its ability to absorb, he said.

“Mussels are a bivalve—you have two shells—and they are attached to rocks and pier pilings throughout California and the West Coast, and they are filter feeders, so whatever’s in the water ends up inside the mussel,” Hague said.

Now that SLO County has surpassed the quarantine stage and is in official advisory, Hague said the warning extends to other bivalve creatures like clams, oysters, and scallops, which are assumed to also be contaminated by PSP.

According to California Health Department Information Officer Beth Deines, commercial shellfish are still safe to eat in SLO County restaurants, though.

“Shellfish sold by certified harvesters and dealers are subject to frequent mandatory testing to monitor for toxins, including those that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning,” Deines said via email. “Certified harvesters or dealers must meet rigorous safety standards before their products can be sold to the public.”

Deines specified that in contrast, sportharvested shellfish are not subject to the same level of oversight, therefore they’re only issued an advisory for recreational harvesting areas.

A common spot for sport-harvesting is in the Pismo Beach and Oceano Dunes areas, where in 2023 New Times reported that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife discovered an increase in illegal harvesting of the Pismo clam, especially during summer months. Harvesting is considered illegal when the bivalve shellfish are smaller than the 4.5-inch threshold that makes them ripe for recreational picking.

In the summer months of 2022, Fish and Wildlife was issuing more than 200 citations to people for illegally poaching the clams, but this summer, those numbers are down, according to Fish and Wildlife Information Officer Krysten Kellum.

“Through the end of July, 112 citations have been issued for Pismo clam violations in San Luis Obispo County. A total of 2,466 undersized clams have been seized through July,” Kellum told New Times via email.

“These numbers are historically lower than previous years, but August and September continue to be busy months where clamming activity continues.”

According to the California Department of Public Health’s website, the advisory is expected to remain in place until Oct. 31. ∆ —Libbey Hanson

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BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL

Frozen in time

SLO History Center grapples with stalled services after the county cut funding to balance the budget

Records and certain artifacts belonging to the History Center of San Luis Obispo County face a dusty shelf life in storage limbo.

It’s a consequence of SLO County stripping away a third of the History Center’s funding in an effort to close a $38 million budget gap for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

“We were the only organization in the county with a trained museum science professional,” center Executive Director Thomas Kessler said. “Our collections manager had a master’s degree in museum science. This is not a program that Cal Poly provides.”

Kessler worries about the resources now blocked to visitors of the city of SLO-based History Center, like researchers and the descendants of those to whom these prized objects once belonged.

Without a collections manager, Kessler and the remaining staff aren’t prepared to pull out—and possibly damage—delicate items like government records dating back to the founding of the county, the first countycommissioned hand-drawn map of the region, and artwork that used to hang in Ah Louis’ house.

“We have probably 100,000 photographs from all eras of the county,” Kessler said. “So, working on getting those digitized and searchable and findable, you know, that kind of work is being put on hold.”

The executive director remembers learning about the almost $108,000 budget cut only when the county released the proposed budget. He said he simply hit “control F” on his keyboard and searched for the History Center.

“Central Services includes a reduction of $107,433 in general fund support by discontinuing the annual subvention agreement with the History Center of San Luis Obispo,” the budget said.

For the first time in 45 years, the History Center isn’t included as an item for county funding.

When the Carnegie City Library became the Historical Society—now known as the History Center—in 1955, its historian was a county staff member. In 1980, the historian became a direct employee of the History Center instead, and the county agreed to provide funding for the full-time position.

The History Center and the county sealed this funding in a 20-year agreement in 1980, subsequently renewing it for another two decades in 2000.

“We’ve been the only countywide organization that looks at history,” Kessler said. “There are historical societies in the county that look at specific regions. We’re the only one that has a paid staff. For example, when Paso Robles or Cayucos had questions on what’s the best practice, … our collections manager would talk to them and go through that so that they had a better concept of what they were doing.”

The second 20-year agreement was terminated a few months early due to the

onset of COVID-19. For the past five years, the county funded the full-time History Center position on a year-by-year basis.

Until now.

“The county doesn’t fund us entirely,” Kessler said. “We raise our own funds and are able to get by, but that extra third has been an enormous benefit for us. So, now that it’s gone, we’ve had to make some pretty serious decisions.”

Apart from having to let go of Collections Manager Brittany Webb, the History Center also removed its weekend managers, cutting the staff size from six to three employees. Kessler’s now the only full-time employee. While the History Center used to only close on Tuesdays, now it stays closed on Wednesdays as well.

“Nobody gave me a call to give me a heads up,” Kessler said. “I did meet with several of the supervisors sort of in advance to kind of make the case. They were all very understanding. But also, I don’t know how much they really understood what we do, why it’s of value, and how devastating this cut would be.”

Third District Supervisor Dawn OrtizLegg told New Times she didn’t meet with Kessler about the budget slash but said it’s important to her that the History Center receives funding.

“What I’ve been told is we’re trying to find ways to improve efficiencies to reduce overhead costs,” Ortiz-Legg said. “I don’t know of county staff who uses the services of the History Center, but for me, I know that the history that is stored there about the contributions made by the citizens over the last 100 years is really important.”

SLO County Budget Director Lisa Howe said that while preparing the budget proposal, staff prioritized services that were mandated by law or were essential to public health and safety.

County-funded programs like the History Center were slated for budget reductions after scrutinizing them with these priorities in mind, according to Howe.

Public health services were also impacted by the budget cut, with programs like the mental health evaluation team and the communicable

disease and immunization clinic in Grover Beach being axed, among others.

After Kessler met with County Administrative Officer Matt Pontes to discuss the funding future and significance of the History Center, Howe said the county is in talks with the museum to better understand its total budget, staffing, operational expenses, and public access to historical materials.

“Fortunately, much of the county’s information has been digitally scanned and the county is reviewing materials to better understand which items still need preservation, scanning, and access,” she said. The county also encouraged the History Center and all its local nonprofit partners to buttress their funding with private donations and corporate grants, and through building strong relations with community supporters. The History Center already does these things. That’s how it raises the other twothirds—around $200,000—of its funding every year. Some of the center’s supporters are the Mellon Foundation, the Chumash Foundation, California Humanities, and South County’s Bennet-Loomis Archives.

On Sept. 12 and 13, the History Center will host its annual fundraiser that also celebrates the local wine industry. The event will take place at Dallidet Adobe and Gardens followed by the Octagon Barn.

For more information, visit event.auctria.com/ d72cfc5e-0957-4992-95ea50c1ed7d1035.

The city of SLO also helps by maintaining the History Center building that it also owns.

SLO had the option to pull the center’s lease—written up as a dollar a year—when the county funding agreement ended, but Kessler said it’s unlikely the city would do that.

“The county funding agreement included proviso that if the city revoked our lease, the funding agreement could be ended. The same way around, the county lease has a provision that if the county funding goes away, the city lease can be pulled,” he said. “We are doing the best we can to prove to the city that we deserve their trust to stay.” ∆

Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.

STILL STANDING SLO History Center Executive Director Thomas Kessler is now the museum’s sole full-time employee after the county slashed the center’s annual budget by almost $108,000.

PHOTO BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL

Overbooked and busy

Cal Poly Campus Health and Wellbeing providers are working overtime to lessen student wait times

At one point in time, Cal Poly’s Campus Health and Wellbeing had to turn students away because it didn’t have the capacity to serve everyone. Now, its medical providers are working overtime to ensure that every student who comes in is cared for.

Students are reaping the benefits of better campus health care after the university increased health fees in 2018. With the extra funding, Cal Poly hoped to shorten wait times and expand its areas of care.

Part of that deal was to hire more medical providers, and in the early days, things seemed to be improving. But now, current workers said they are burned out and frustrated, working overtime while they wait for the administration to fulfill its promise.

One Campus Health and Wellbeing medical provider, who wished to remain anonymous, said she does the work because she loves the students.

“The problem is that the medical staff is now putting in, on average, one to two extra full hours of work every day beyond their normal work hours,” she said. “And so, we’ve made up that difference on such a regular basis now for so long, thinking initially it was going to be temporary, and [administration] is hiring, but then it keeps happening, and they never fully staff us.”

Before the new health fees were implemented, Campus Health and Wellbeing was understaffed, and it also had an average wait time of two to three hours.

Retired Family Medical Physician Dr. Gregory Thomas worked at the clinic from 2008 to 2020. He said that he not only experienced burnout but had to grapple with the fact that they didn’t have enough hands on deck to see all the students in need of care.

“You want to make sure that you’re doing a good job,” he said. “The downside of not doing a good job is it can always be catastrophic.”

In the years Thomas worked at the clinic, he said students would often wait hours to be seen, or even a week to make an appointment with one of its 14 medical providers at the time.

“We would sometimes be turning patient students away who probably should have

been seen,” he said. “They were waiting a long time to be seen in the walk-in clinic, or if they didn’t have an immediate, urgent problem, they’d be given an appointment down the road—a week or something like that—and sometimes that was too long,” Thomas said.

A Mustang News story from 2017 reported on a student who nearly died of bacterial meningitis that year and got to an emergency room in the nick of time after not being able to be seen by Campus Health and Wellbeing.

“We had nurses working in triage, and they would talk to students who walked in for an appointment to be seen. And sometimes everything was so loaded with patients that we didn’t have the capacity to see them that day,” Thomas told New Times.

So in 2017, the university raised its quarterly student health fees by $99 in an effort to employ more medical and counseling staff and lessen those hours-long wait times.

According to Cal Poly’s estimated fees for the 2017-18 academic year, students were paying $105 per quarter for health services. After the fee increase by fall 2018, student health fees were about $612 per year, and it has increased by 4 percent each year. In 2025-26, student health fees are $271.92 per quarter—or about $1,090 per year if they attended summer quarter as well.

Thomas told New Times that in 2019, the university fulfilled its promise to provide more help at the clinic by hiring three more medical staff.

“It definitely took the pressure off, and we were able to see more patients,” he said. “We were able to get more people into the walk-in clinic, and overall, things were better.”

New Times’ anonymous source was hired in 2020, the same year Thomas retired. She still works there today.

She said that conditions have since worsened. Medical staff numbers are back to where they were before the health fee increase, she said, and while the clinic has made some hires in recent years, others have left in frustration over understaffing.

Despite the providers’ complaints, she said the administration has continued to boast the success of the implemented fees.

According to a February 2025 report by Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Health and Wellbeing Tina Hadaway-Mellis, the fees—which total up to more than $12 million per academic year since 2021— have brought provider numbers up to 21 and decreased the average wait time to 29 minutes, among other facility improvements.

Hadaway-Mellis told New Times these statistics are still true.

“We currently have 18 full-time medical providers as part of our Health Services staff, as well as two per diem medical providers, for a total of 20. We also had three recent medical provider vacancies that we expect to fill in the coming weeks, at which point we’ll have 23 total medical providers on staff,” she said via email.

The purpose of the fees wasn’t just to increase staff, Hadaway-Mellis said.

“We’ve worked to improve access in various ways, such as developing a self-order testing program for sexually transmitted

infections,” she said. “The health fee has also been used to expand access to mental health services through our Counseling and Psychological Services team, which now has 25 mental health counselors.”

While wait times were down, the anonymous medical provider told New Times, it wasn’t because there were actually that many medical providers at the clinic.

“We kind of got to a breaking point about a year ago and said this isn’t right. They’re posting that, ‘Oh, there’s shorter wait times. There’s this, there’s that.’ We’re all working through our lunch times. We’re all working after hours,” she said.

“There’s no counterbalance.

And they count on us doing our jobs as professionals. And that’s why some people are leaving because they’re not seeing it get better. [Administration is] keeping their promise on our backs.” ∆

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

FOR THE STUDENTS Cal Poly Campus Health and Wellbeing used to have to turn students away due to understaffing. After the university increased student health fees, conditions seemed to improve, but medical providers are working overtime to ensure each student can be seen.

PHOTO BY LIBBEY HANSON

COMPLETE TESTING & REPAIR

Future of flight

What does the future of flight look like?

That’s what the San Luis Obispo County Department of Airports is asking K-12 students this year for its first ever calendar design contest.

With the theme “Wings Over SLO CAL: From the hills to the sea, show us how aviation connects to where we live,” Deputy Director of Planning and Research Courtney Pene said the department wanted to enhance civic engagement and figured what better way than through the young minds and leaders of the future.

“I mentioned the idea, and people just really glommed on with excitement because it is stepping outside of our normal everyday routine. And everybody loves engaging kids here,” she said.

The future of flight looks like anything that kids can imagine it to be, she said.

“My son is 3 and he loves helicopters and butterflies. So, it could be some metamorphosis of that. It could be drones. The future of flight could look like autonomous aircraft or just bigger commercial planes, maybe it’s military aircraft,” Pene said. “Really trying to kind of tap into the imagination of youth artists and help them kind of help us dream about what that next future phase looks like.”

Submissions are open until Oct. 20, and any student aged “zero to 18,” from any SLO County school or home school, can enter. The top 12 will be selected by a committee and featured in a monthly 2026 calendar that will be available for free at the airport in January.

“We’re hoping that we just get millions of these entrants,” Pene said, “and what’s really fun is that we are going to invite the young artists that have been selected to present to our Board of Supervisors at the very first meeting in January to present them with the calendar and then also to receive some recognition for their hard efforts too.”

In return, she said, the whole experience will teach kids about civic duty.

“As a little, you’re not really quite sure about going to a meeting—sitting and having patience is one part,”

she said. “Then getting to show off their artwork in front of the Board of Supervisors I think will be really fun. So it’s a two-pronged approach.”

Pene said another part of the fun is to see the different versions of flight that each applicant will submit, based on the age groups, as well as what forms of aviation are seen around the Central Coast.

“The air ambulances and Mercy Air are our primary in this area for transport for medical needs, and it’s really neat when kids can identify them and say, like, ‘Oh, Mom, did you know that that’s what this does?’” she said. “Or whenever we’re on the beach, we see the Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard lands at our airport and does all those things.”

According to its website, the rules for entering are simple. Applicants must be K-12 and can only submit one entry per student. The illustration must be hand drawn, with no use of AI, tracing, or digital edits, and entries must be sent to 975 Airport Drive, suite 1, Attention: Calendar Contest, by Oct. 20.

Another opportunity to apply will be on Sept. 20 at the Oceano Airport where the county is hosting Girls in Aviation Day. One of the activities is to draw a picture to imagine the future of flight.

“They can enter it right there, so they don’t have to send it to the airport or anything like that,” Pene said. “Or you can take a stamped envelope and then mail it in.”

For more information, visit: sloairport.com/ contest.

Fast fact

• Celebrating its 20 years, ECOSLO is hosting its annual Creeks to Coast Cleanup on Sept. 20, part of California Coastal Cleanup Day. ECOSLO has mobilized volunteers at this event since 2005, removing tons of waste from sensitive ecosystems from San Simeon to Nipomo. In 2024, volunteers collected nearly 8,000 pounds of trash from our local waterways. Volunteers are requested to register ahead of time. To learn more visit: ecoslo.com/ creeks-to-coast. ∆

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

BY JOHN B. ASHBAUGH

A lesson

Igot to know the late Harold Miossi shortly after settling here after finishing grad school at Cal in 1976. I had the privilege of enjoying his occasional company until his death in 2006.

Harold’s name graces two fine concert venues—the PAC at Cal Poly and the CPAC at Cuesta College—as well as the city’s Miossi Open Space on Cuesta Grade. The Miossi Charitable Trust funds many worthy causes in this community.

In 1936, Miossi had just entered high school in the depth of the Great Depression. Somehow, he learned of a crisis facing more than 5,000 desperate migrant laborers on the Nipomo Mesa, idled by a hard freeze in the winter of 1935-36. In an essay for his English teacher at SLO High School, Harold told how he’d visited a makeshift “school” in an abandoned Pacific Coast Railroad warehouse in Nipomo: In that drafty barn with little lighting and boardedup windows, a harried teacher shared a few tattered textbooks among tables and benches teeming with hungry children whose parents worked nearby to glean the few stalks of peas that had survived the freeze.

In 1936, California had no intention of becoming a “sanctuary state” for the migrant farm laborers such as those shivering tent dwellers in Nipomo. On the contrary, the LA police and then Gov. Frank Merriam implemented a blockade at the border to prevent more Dust Bowl families from entering the state.

Be an informed voter

We have received numerous questions from community members asking where the League of Women Voters stands on Proposition 50, the mid-cycle redistricting measure on the Nov. 4 special election ballot.

The League of Women Voters of California will not take a position on Proposition 50.

Voters may have received a mailer from “Protect Voters First” about the ballot initiative that wrongly implies that the League of Women Voters endorses the information in the flyer. Be clear, the league does not support this coalition or its message.

Before the ballot language was written, the league issued statements opposing mid-cycle redistricting as contrary to our long-standing positions on gerrymandering and fair representation.

Since then, and on the heels of Texas’ decision to implement mid-cycle redistricting, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature have moved to put Proposition 50 on the ballot.

We will not take a position on the ballot measure. On the proposed maps themselves, we believe it is now up to the people most affected by the proposed maps to decide if those maps are fair. We urge everyone to educate themselves about the maps, make sure they are registered, and vote on Nov. 4. We stand ready to provide the nonpartisan, factual information voters need to cast an informed vote.

Janice Langley, Joanne Schultz, Wendy Brown, Jacquie Canfield League of Women Voters of San Luis Obispo County

One notable Nipomo family included seven gaunt children led by Florence Owens Thompson, 32, a native Cherokee who had traveled from Oklahoma with her children. They were barely holding it together in a lean-to beside their broken-down jalopy.

This hapless family drew the attention of Dorothea Lange, a traveling photographer who happened upon this labor camp in March 1936. The Resettlement Administration had hired Lange to record the living conditions of migrant workers throughout the nation. Her iconic Migrant Mother photograph of Thompson and her children inspired President Roosevelt, Congress, and the entire nation to come to the aid of these desperate workers throughout the United States.

In the face of staggering levels of unemployment, “Hoovervilles,” soup kitchens, and abandoned homes and farms and factories, FDR and his allies built an entire infrastructure—the New Deal— dedicated to that clause in the Preamble to the Constitution that called our nation into being in order to promote the general welfare.

The federal response was matched by an equally robust local response: Within a few months after Lange’s 1936 photograph of Thompson—and Miossi’s visit to that shabby warehouse “school”—county Superintendent of Schools Al Rhodes was on the case. Rhodes managed to find the resources to renovate the Nipomo Men’s Club as a public school to serve those thousands of families huddled on the Mesa.

Protect wild horses

In response to “Better management of local wild horses could mean better outcomes when a wildfire breaks out” (Aug. 28), Anza, the last of the four stallions from the 2003 Coyote Canyon Herd Area capture, is almost 30 years old, lives with us. The other three are buried under our old oak tree overlooking their homeland at Warner Springs Valley in San Diego County.

San Diego is excluding restoration of this living native heritage in the Multiple Species Conservation Plan without sufficient mandated tribal consultation and despite previous support of prior Boards of Supervisors, state Sen. Bill Morrow, Congressman Darryl Issa, and 50,000 members of various multiple user groups.

The devastation of California wild horse herds is a result of fatally flawed Resource Management Plans by exclusion of American native historic and cultural resources.

Rhodes would go on to serve as the county’s education czar for decades, earning a national reputation as a resolute advocate for rural education. In 2006, the Lucia Mar School District named its newest school in Nipomo for Dorothea Lange.

On this Labor Day, we need to acknowledge the great advances of the New Deal, especially workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively. Those rights are very much in peril now.

Our commitment to public education is also threatened. A cabal of right-wing “influencers” constantly seeks to undermine our public schools—including a candidate seeking to unseat our Democratic Assemblymember Dawn Addis.

Too many seem to have forgotten the lessons that people like Rhodes and Miossi embodied throughout their careers— especially this lesson, learned in the depths of the Great Depression: All children should receive the benefit of a quality, taxpayerfunded education.

Remarkably, the Nipomo Men’s Club still exists at 210 West Tefft St. in Nipomo! It serves a limited purpose as a bar and event venue. The building still exhibits much of the character that reflects its historic use as a Depression-era school serving migrant families.

Even more amazing is the fact that the field where Dorothea Lange snapped her historic Migrant Mother photograph is still completely undeveloped.

Almost 10 years ago, I attended the 80th anniversary of the Migrant Mother snapshot

The Coyote Canyon horses are descendants of ancient herds, brought by Spanish expeditions on or before 1769. The exclusion of America’s heritage herds has resulted in their extinction in the wild, despite four major congressional acts.

A remedy: Amend Resource Management Plans to include wild horses and historic

along with Dan Krieger, his wife, Elizabeth, and dozens of local and out-of-state history buffs including the late Bill Denneen and former Supervisor Ruth Brackett. Those who knew Bill and Ruth understood they were sworn adversaries over many decades, but in March 2016 they found common cause in celebrating that anniversary.

We’re coming up now on the 90th anniversary of Dorothea Lange’s brief but consequential encounter with Florence Owens Thompson in Nipomo. I propose that we commit ourselves to a new purpose: Let’s create a Museum of the Great Depression on the grounds of the Nipomo Men’s Club and include (if we can) the nearby site of that remarkable photograph.

There is no such museum anywhere in the nation. We have countless museums to commemorate the events of our Revolution, the Civil War, both world wars, 9/11— virtually every national calamity except that 1930s economic catastrophe that forged our national character and proved our resilience as a people.

There is no single piece of American geography that better represents that determination than an open field on North Oak Glen Avenue and a shambolic building on West Tefft Street.

Miossi and Rhodes would know how to get it done. Do we? ∆

Respond to John Ashbaugh with a letter to the editor by sending it to letters@ newtimesslo.com.

trails, a boilerplate process under NEPA and CEQA. California should be leading the nation in rewilding its heritage. U.S. states and territories develop state Wildlife Action Plans for conserving wildlife and habitat before they become too rare or costly to restore.

Kathleen Hayden Santa Ysabel

It’s hard to do things right if you’re Cal Poly. In 2017, a student almost died due to problems with Campus Health and Wellness—problems like wait times and available medical staff. An overlooked case of bacterial meningitis ended up in a local emergency room in time, thankfully. But it wasn’t a good look for university health care. So, university administrators decided to do something about it. They raised the student health fee, more than doubling it in the last seven years.

The answer is always more money, amirite? Now, students are paying $270 per quarter instead of $105. And it all works great! Right? Right.

Wait times are down, that’s true. But medical staff aren’t happy. Instead of having more medical staff to handle what’s needed, they’re working overtime every day.

“We kind of got to a breaking point about a year ago,” one of the staffers told New Times. “They’re posting that, ‘Oh, there’s shorter wait times,’ … We’re all working through our lunch times. We’re all working after hours.” That sucks!

At least things aren’t what they were. According to retired family medical physician Dr. Gregory Thomas, who worked at Campus Health for more than decade, they would “sometimes be turning patient students away who probably should have been seen” just because the wait times were so long.

“You want to make sure that you’re doing a good job,” he said. “The downside of not

doing a good job is it can always be catastrophic.”

Let’s avoid those catastrophes, shall we! Unhappy care providers provide unhappy care.

Cal Poly said while there are 18 full-time medical providers and two per diem, for a total of 20, it’s trying to fill another three spots—so soon to be 23. With more than 22,000 students on campus, the number should be closer to 29 (if you’re looking at what the Centers for Disease Control recommends for a good nurse-to-student ratio for K-12 schools).

But Tina Hadaway-Mellis, assistant VP of Student Affairs Health and Wellbeing, told New Times that the fee increase wasn’t just for bringing in more staff.

The school is taking mental health care much more seriously. The recommended ratio on college campuses is one counselor for every 1,000 to 1,500 students. Cal Poly now has 25 on their counseling and phycological services team.

More than $12 million in health fees annually (and increasing every year) brings students 20ish medical care providers, 25 mental health providers, better access to sexual health care, and 30-minute wait times. But providers are paying the price.

“Some people are leaving because they’re not seeing it get better,” the medical staffer added. Cal Poly’s administration is “keeping their promise on our backs.”

Lost Dog Angela

Cal Poly doesn’t seem to be helping out the city of San Luis Obispo when it comes to keeping a promise about attacking the party culture of the university’s students, fraternities, and sororities.

The city, which worked in partnership with the university this year on St. Fratty’s Day, is now pointing fingers at Mustang administrators for not acquiescing to a request for Greek life addresses.

SLO Code Enforcement Supervisor John Mezzapesa said that Cal Poly is required to report the locations of recognized fraternities and sororities, as well as notify the city of any sanctioned events that are going to happen. But the university stopped doing that.

“They made up an interpretation to basically say, ‘We no longer have to list these actual locations; we’re just going to list the events that have occurred per fraternity or sorority,’” Mezzapesa said.

Having access to those addresses makes enforcement easier, but Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier said the university was concerned about student privacy.

“The university chose to withhold addresses going forward after determining that many other CSU campuses had made a similar decision to do so, also with student privacy in mind,” Lazier said. “ Cal Poly is strongly committed to continued work with the city of San Luis Obispo to address issues of concern in the neighborhoods. As an active member of the community in which Cal Poly students, staff

and faculty live and learn, the university is committed to being a good neighbor.” I guess whatever the law says doesn’t really matter. It’s all about interpretation, baby! I guess the city will be the judge about how neighborly the school is.

Publishing the addresses of Greek life houses does feel like an invasion of privacy. But a sanctioned party is something every neighbor has a right to know about prior to it happening.

Especially with this school’s history of students climbing up light posts, taking over city streets, and falling through rooftops. You know, the crux of this particular town-gown conundrum. The reason why neighbors are pushing the city to do more. The essence of that recent grand jury report spanking both the city and the university for not doing enough. And the city is thinking about what needs to change. SLO Planning Commissioner Juan Munoz-Morris was talking serious changes on Sept. 4.

“This whole matter makes it clear in my mind the need for finding a Greek Row ... to address this issue because I don’t think it’s going anywhere. There’s only so much we can proactively do,” Munoz-Morris said. Then the addresses won’t need to be published. Everyone will know. Neighbors, law enforcement, the school, everyone. And student privacy can kick rocks! ∆

The Shredder can’t handle rocks. Send paper to shredder@newtimesslo.com.

Hot Dates

ARTS

NORTH COAST SLO COUNTY

ARTIST LYNN EVEY CREATES

HANDMADE SKETCHBOOKS AND JOURNALS Enjoy a free Sketchbook and Journal Making Demonstration with artist Lynn Evey at Art Center Morro Bay.

Sept. 6 3-5 p.m. Free. (805) 772-2504.

ArtCenterMorroBay.org. Art Center Morro Bay, 835 Main St., Morro Bay.

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.

FALL WAVE POUR PAINTING PARTY!

Make a beautiful wave painting on canvas with instructor Chenda Lor.

Cost is $60 for one person, $100 for two, and covers refreshments, materials, and instruction. Sept. 6 , 2-4 p.m. Lor Coaching Studio & Gallery, 525 Harbor St., Morro Bay.

FEATURED ARTIST JOAN BROWN’S

“ACROSS THE BAY” Local artist and September featured artist Joan Brown will present twelve new works in the Gallery at Marina Square. Her oil paintings include scenes of the Central Coast, including the bay and estuary, landscapes, farmlands, and florals. Sept. 13 3-5 p.m. (541) 363-1487. galleryatmarinasquare.com. Gallery at Marina Square, 601 Embarcadero suite 10, Morro Bay.

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS The

Knights of Columbus presents a special screening of A Man for All Seasons to help fundraise for its year-end Community Outreach, providing funds to families in need for the holiday season. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 8 5:30 p.m. $17.91. Bay Theatre, 464 Morro Bay Blvd., Morro Bay.

MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET By the Sea Productions presents Miracle on South Division Street by Tom Dudzick. Nowak family matriarch Clara tends to their Virgin Mary shrine, commemorating the day she appeared in the family’s barber shop. Clara’s mother’s deathbed confession unravels the legend. Heartfelt, hilarious. Sept. 12 7 p.m., Sept. 13 7 p.m. and Sept. 14 3 p.m. By The Sea Productions, 545 Shasta Ave., Morro Bay, bytheseaproductions.org.

THE PLEIN AIR TEAM Acrylic artist, Nancy Lynn, and husband, watercolorist, Robert Fleming, have an ongoing show of originals and giclee prints of Morro Bay and local birds. ongoing (805) 772-9955. Seven Sisters Gallery, 601 Embarcadero Ste. 8, Morro Bay, sevensistersgalleryca.com.

RONÉ PRINZ & MEARA MCDONALD

ART EXHIBIT See paintings by Roné Prinz and photography by Meara McDonald. Through Sept. 25 Morro Bay Library, 625 Harbor St., Morro Bay, -(805) 772-6394.

WATERFRONT MARKET MORRO BAY CRAFT SHOW This two-day craft show will run all weekend long. Come and show your favorite Central Coast vendor some love. Sept. 13, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sept. 14 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (805) 402-9437. Giovanni’s Fish Market, 1001 Front St., 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. THE ARTS AROUND US: ALONG THE WAY - 40 YEARS OF ART AND DESIGN BY DALE EVERS Local artist Dale Evers will present his inspiration, career progression, and production techniques for his unique art. Sept. 7, 2:30-3:30 p.m. 0. (805) 238-9800. studiosonthepark.org/ events/along-the-way-40-years-of-artand-design-by-dale-evers/. Studios on the Park, 1130 Pine St., Paso Robles.

AS THE CROW FLIES: FUSED GLASS

CLASS Create a fused glass crow using a variety of black and iridescent glass. A hole can be drilled for hanging or glued to a stake. Sept. 13 , 10 a.m.-noon $60. (805) 464-2633. glassheadstudio.com. Glasshead Studio, 8793 Plata Lane, Suite H, Atascadero.

DRAWING CLASS AT FIELDWORK

Improve your ability to draw the figure from imagination and observation with this guided session from local artist Kai Schoneweis. Email fieldworkart@gmail. com to RSVP. Sept. 6 10 a.m.-noon 20. fieldworkart.org. Fieldwork, 4307 El Camino Real, Atascadero, (971) 645-2481. FIRST SATURDAY: “ABOVE AND BELOW THE SURFACE” RECEPTION Join us in the Studios for an evening of refreshing art, live music, and local wine, during the art reception for “Above and Below the Surface”. Sept. 6 6-9 p.m. Free. (805) 238-9800. studiosonthepark.org/events/ first-saturday-above-and-below-thesurface-reception/. Studios on the Park, 1130 Pine St., Paso Robles.

FIRST SATURDAY: ART AND WINE On the first Saturday of each month, attend for the venue’s exhibit openings, with live music, art, and wine available for purchase. First Saturday of every month, 6-9 p.m. through Sept. 6 Free (wine $10). (805) 238-9800. studiosonthepark.org. Studios on the Park, 1130 Pine St., Paso Robles.

JILL GARMAN’S “PALM FOOLERY ART” OPENING See artist Jill Garman’s unique, fun, beautiful, and quirky palm paintings at Pocket Gallery on Pine! Saturdays, 2-5 p.m. through Oct. 4 (805) 440-7152. Pocket Gallery on Pine, 8491/2 13th Street, Paso Robles.

MONTHLY BIRTHDAY PLATE PAINTING AT ARTSOCIAL 805 Please join ArtSocial805 on the first Saturday of each month to paint a personalized “Birthday Plate,” for someone special or for yourself. The workshop is $35, which covers the plate, glaze, and firing. First Saturday of every month, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. $35. (805) 400-9107. artsocial805. com. ArtSocial 805 Creative Campus, 631 Spring St., Paso Robles.

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. First Thursday of every month, 7-9 p.m. Unnamed Atascadero location, Contact host for details, Atascadero.

SAN LUIS OBISPO

THE 2ND ANNUAL CENTRAL COAST

ODDITIES & CURIOSITIES SHOW AT THE MADONNA EXPO CENTER Head to the 2nd Annual Central Coast Oddities & Curiosities Show. “This Ain’t Yer Grannies Craft Fair.” Sept. 13 12-6 p.m. $12.51. (510)

WHALE ROCK

The 12th annual Whale Rock Music and Arts Festival happens on Saturday, Sept. 13, and Sunday, Sept. 14, from noon to 10 p.m. at Castoro Cellars in Templeton. This year’s eclectic lineup features Young the Giant, Couch, Shane Smith and The Saints, The Funk Junket, and many more. General tickets start at $130.27. For tickets and details, visit whalerockmusicfestival.com. —Angie Stevens

365-6024. themenagerieodditiesmarket. com/. Madonna Expo Center, 100 Madonna Road, 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.

ART AFTER DARK Art After Dark features an art opening of world-class artists. Refreshments will be served. First Friday of every month, 5-8 p.m. through March 7 Free. slocountyarts.org/art-afterdark. SLO County, Various locations countywide, San Luis Obispo.

ARTIFICIAL IMAGINATION: A HANDSON AI CREATIVITY WORKSHOP In this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore how AI tools can help bring creative ideas to life. No prior tech or arts experience needed. Data consultant, author, and educator Josh Knox will lead the sessions. Purchase one ticket to attend both sessions. Sept. 5 , 1-3 p.m. and Sept. 12 1-3 p.m. $24. Oddfellows Hall, 520 Dana Street, San Luis Obispo, (805) 544-0876.

BEGINNING WATERCOLOR WITH JAN FRENCH You’ve heard watercolor is daunting, but it’s still fascinating you. Come be introduced to this tricky but dynamic painting medium! Sept. 4 , 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and Sept. 11 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. $100. (805) 747-4200. i0.wp.com/artcentralslo. com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/ Beginning-WC-French-September25-1. jpg?fit=1275%2C1650&ssl=1. Art Central, 1329 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo.

BISHOP’S PEAK ACRYLIC WORKSHOP WITH DREW DAVIS Join for a 2-hour acrylic painting workshop, where Drew will lead you in creating an expressive, most recognized landscape in San Luis Obispo - Bishop’s Peak. Purchase of a ticket includes all the essential art supplies you may need, including a 16x20 canvas, apron, and paints. Light snacks will be provided and feel free to bring your favorite beverage. Sept. 6 2-4 p.m.

$87.54. my805tix.com. Drew Davis Fine Art, 393 Pacific St., San Luis Obispo. BRUSHSTROKES & BURROS: PAINTING WORKSHOP AT RANCHO BURRO DONKEY SANCTUARY Paint, sip, and support local rescued burros and mules at this donkey-inspired art workshop with local artist, Terry Greene. Sept. 6 1-4 p.m. $125. (805) 710-8445. ranchoburrodonkeysanctuary.org/ painting-workshops. Rancho Burro Donkey Sanctuary, 4855 Righetti Road, San Luis Obispo.

CENTRAL COAST COMEDY THEATER IMPROV COMEDY SHOW An ongoing improv comedy program featuring the CCCT’s Ensemble. Grab some food at the public market’s wonderful eateries and enjoy the show upstairs. Second Friday of every month, 6-8 p.m. $10. centralcoastcomedytheater.com/shows/. SLO Public Market, 120 Tank Farm Road, San Luis Obispo.

CLAY CLASS: PUMPKINS & GHOSTS! Choose one of the following to create: pumpkins (2), ghosts (3) or any fall themed item. No experience necessary! Book on our website Mondays, 2-3:30 p.m. through Oct. 20 45.00. app. acuityscheduling.com/schedule.ph p?owner=22676824&appointmentTy pe=80951081. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo. CREATIVE KIDS: AFTER SCHOOL This series focuses on different mediums in each workshop. See what subject(s) sparks your child’s interest! Week 1 is printmaking, see flyer/website for more. Wednesdays, 4-5 p.m. through Oct. 15 $20 adv.; $25 at door; $100 for all 6; $55 for 3. (805) 747-4200. artcentralslo.com/ workshops-events/. Art Central, 1329 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo. END OF SUMMER POTTERY SALE! Join us in the parking lot of our studio for an end of summer pottery sale! There will be live music, food and handmade pottery. Sept. 13 , 12-4 p.m. Free. anamcre.com. Anam Cre Pottery Studio, 1243 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo. FIRST FRIDAYS Visit SLOMA on the

PHOTO COURTESY OF MY805TIX

first Friday of each month for exhibition openings, music, and wines provided by regional winery partners. Admission is free and open to the public. First Friday of every month, 5-8 p.m. Free. (805) 5438562. sloma.org/events/first-fridays/. San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, 1010 Broad St., San Luis Obispo.

LEARNING TO USE PERSPECTIVE WITH JASON KNOX Learn the basic principles of perspective in drawing. Whether you are a beginner or advanced artist, Jason is here to help you hone your skills! Sept. 10, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. $25. (805) 747-4200. i0.wp.com/artcentralslo. com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ Learning-to-Use-Perspective. jpg?fit=1275%2C1650&ssl=1. Art Central, 1329 Monterey St., 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.

NORTH COUNTY CAMERA CLUB:

REGULAR MEETING Zoom meeting for The North County Camera Club, where photographers of all levels can participate, share photos, exchange information, and learn from each other.

Second Tuesday of every month, 7-9 p.m. No fee. facebook.com/groups/ PRAAphotoguild. Online, See website, San Luis Obispo.

PICKET PAINTING PARTY Decorative picket purchasing opportunities are available to show your support and help fund maintenance and educational programs in the Children’s Garden.

Second Saturday of every month, 1-4 p.m. $75 per picket or 2 for $100. (805) 541-1400. slobg.org. San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, 3450 Dairy Creek Rd., San Luis Obispo.

SLO NIGHTWRITERS: A COMMUNITY OF WRITERS SLO NightWriters supports local writers with monthly presentations, critique groups, contests, and other events. Second Tuesday of every month, 6:30-8 p.m. Free. slonightwriters.org.

United Church of Christ (Congregational) of San Luis Obispo, 11245 Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo.

TREY KENNEDY Hear comedian Trey Kennedy live at The Fremont Theater. Get tickets and more info at the link. Sept. 11 8 p.m. $44.78-$176.62. fremontslo.com.

The Fremont Theater, 1035 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 546-8600.

TRISH ANDERSEN Combining fibers gathered from field, sheep, and those 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.

WALT WHITMAN GAY MEN’S BOOK CLUB

This club reads, studies and discusses books chosen by the group which relate to their lives as gay men. All are welcome. Second Monday of every month, 7-9:30 p.m. Free. galacc.org/events/. Online, See website, San Luis Obispo.

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

SOUTH COAST SLO COUNTY

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.

DIY APOTHECARY TERRARIUM WORKSHOP You’ll get all the instruction and materials you need to assemble your own apothecary terrarium including choosing a plant along with ongoing care directions. Sept. 13 2 p.m. $65. (805) 270-4083. theplantedparlour.com/event/ diy-apothecary-terrarium-workshop/. The Planted Parlour, 592 W Grand Ave., Grover Beach.

DOCK OF THE BAY Join The Studio Players, a company of multi-talented performers ready to dazzle you with everything they’ve got. From live music, to dynamic dance number and unforgettable theater moments, this cabaret has it all. Tickets include desserts and beverages. Sept. 5 7 p.m., Sept. 6 7 p.m., Sept. 12 7 p.m., Sept. 13 , 7 p.m. and Sept. 14 , 2 p.m. $25. The Studio Black Box Theater, 835 W. Grand Ave, Grover Beach, (805) 473-0377, thestudioofperformingarts.com.

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.

ILLUSTRATING NATURE - MEET THE ARTIST! Meet artist Jann Griffiths and explore her stunning nature-inspired works in watercolor, gouache, and digital art—free admission, refreshments included! Sept. 14 2-4 p.m. (805) 4899444. jrgriffiths.com/914-art-show.html. Clark Center for the Performing Arts, 487 Fair Oaks Ave., 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

CAMBRIA FILM FESTIVAL SPECIAL EVENT - “VOICES THROUGH TIME” - A HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

CELEBRATION Join the Cambria Film Festival in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with a special screening of four films from the “Voices Through Time” block featured in our 2025 festival. In addition to the film screening, there will be a special exhibit featuring the works of celebrated campesino artist, Ruben A. Sanchez. Ruben and his art are featured in the film, The Eye Begins in the Hand Sept. 6 7 p.m. $23.27-$28.62. my805tix. com. Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre, 1350 Main St., Cambria.

CENTRAL COAST UECHI-RYU KARATE-

DO 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

PAINTED BAY

The September featured artist Joan Brown will present 12 new works at Gallery at Marina Square in Morro Bay on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 3 to 5 p.m. In Across the Bay, Brown’s oil paintings depict scenes of the Central Coast, from the blue-sky bay and estuary, to sprawling landscapes, farmlands, and vibrant florals. For more information, head to galleryatmarinasquare.com and Joan’s personal website, joanlbrown.com.

—A.S.

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.

HOUSE DANCE WORKSHOP AT THE LUVHUB Dive into the soul of house dance! The 90-minute workshop blends energizing warm-ups, foundational drills, groove-packed choreography, and live cyphers to unlock your flow. Sept. 6 3-4:30 p.m. The Luv Hub, 550 Morro Bay Boulevard, Morro Bay.

LOS OSOS FAMILY FUN FAIR This free, multigenerational celebration features activities, games, and entertainment for all ages. Kids can win tickets redeemable for face painting, prizes, or hot dog meals. Sept. 7 12-4 p.m. Free. portal.clubrunner. ca/2838. South Bay Community Center, 2180 Palisades Ave., Los Osos.

MAIDEN TO CRONE SISTER CIRCLE

Connect deeply with other women. Sharing the things that are close to our hearts creates a space of shared vulnerability that leads to deep connection. First Sunday of every month, 9-11 a.m. my805tix.com. From the Roots Up Healing Studio, 2055 9th St., Los Osos.

MEDITATE WITH DAWN Restore

your energy and calm the mind with guided meditation, breath-work, and chakra connection on the beach with the Morro Bay Rock in view. Certified classical ashtanga yoga instructor and mindfulness life coach Dawn Feuerberg will guide you. Sept. 14 , 10-11:15 a.m. Aurora Sacred Events, 21 24th St, Cayucos.

MINDFUL KINDFUL YOUNIVERSITY

MIXER This month’s 805 Chamber of Consciousness mixer is hosted by Dee, founder of Mindful Kindful YOUniversity, who will guide attendees in mindful connection and lighthearted networking. RSVP at my805tix.org. Sept. 9 5-6:30

p.m. Central Coast Body Therapy Center, 2005 9th St., Los Osos, (805) 709-2227.

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. Sept. 12 , 8:30-9:45 a.m. 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.

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. BOOK BUDDIES Bookworms, assemble! Woods is welcoming animal lovers age 7-17 to join us in reading to our furry friends. Sept. 9, 3:30-4:30 p.m. $5.00. (805) 543-9316. woodshumanesociety. org/youth-programs/. Woods Humane Society (North County), 2300 Ramona Road, 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. Sept. 4 6-7:30 p.m. $60 per class, $150 for full series. (805) 464-2175. greenomenapothecary.com. The Green Omen Apothecary and Tea Lounge, 6280 Palma Ave., Atascadero.

FLEA/MAKER’S MARKET Flea/Maker’s Market on Saturday, Sept. 6, from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. New this month: comics, Western tack, collectibles, jewelry, furniture, lamps, clothing! First Saturday of every month, 8-1 a.m. through Nov. 1 Free to the public. (805) 221-5372. Templeton Library, 1173 S. Main St., Templeton, templetonlibrary.org.

HAMBLY LAVENDER FARM GUIDED EXPERIENCE This one-hour walk about CULTURE & LIFESTYLE continued page 19

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOAN BROWN

PHOTO BY: SARA CORNISH

PHOTO BY: LINDA TANNER

PHOTO BY: GEORGE REYES

PHOTO BY: GINA KILLINGSWORTH

PHOTO BY: CARLY PENSON

PHOTO BY: ALAN STRASBAUGH

PHOTO BY: CANDACE MASE

PHOTO BY: ALISA ASTON

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.

WEALTH, WOMEN & WOO Are you frustrated because you’ve always struggled with money and the idea of building wealth? The only way to end this struggle is to understand how to build a strong financial house and to identify with rich ideas. Wealth, Women & Woo is there to help release your money fears and blocks, and achieve a prosperous mindset and live an abundant life with ease and flow! Sept. 14 , 4-6 p.m. $35. my805tix.com. Saunter Yoga and Wellness, 5820 Traffic Way, Atascadero, (530) 748-6612.

SAN LUIS OBISPO

AI SEMINAR FOR SENIORS A senior will present the fundamentals of this daunting technology for those needing answers. Come learn, lament, and laugh about the limits of the limitless AI. Sept. 11 1-2:30 p.m. Free. (805) 709-6234. Marty Mimmack, 1255 Orcutt Rd., SLO.

ARTIFICIAL IMAGINATION: A HANDSON AI CREATIVITY WORKSHOP

- JOSH KNOX No prior experience with technology or the arts is needed—just curiosity and a willingness to explore. By the end of the course, we’ll each have created a personal piece of multimedia art and gained practical experience using AI as a creative partner. Participants should bring their own laptops to fully participate. Sept. 5 , 1-3 p.m. $24. my805tix.com. Oddfellows Hall, 520 Dana Street, San Luis Obispo, (805) 544-0876.

BOOK BUDDIES Bookworms, assemble!

Woods Humane Society is welcoming animal lovers age 7-17 to join us in reading to our furry friends. Sept. 10, 3:30-4:30 p.m. $5.00. (805) 543-9316. woodshumanesociety.org/youthprograms/. Woods Humane Society, 875 Oklahoma Ave., San Luis Obispo.

BUEN DIA MILONGA Nexus’s premier Argentine Tango social: Buen Dia Milonga hosted by Carolyn Long with DJs Emily & Rich. Sept. 14 5-8 p.m. $10. nexusslo.com. Nexus Ballroom D.C., 3845 S. Higuera St. (Lower Level), San Luis Obispo, (805) 904-7428.

CENTRAL COAST DIALYSIS ORGAN

TRANSPLANT SUPPORT GROUP Not faith based. All are welcome. Please wear a mask. First Saturday of every month, 9:3011:30 a.m. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church SLO, 650 Pismo St., San Luis Obispo.

COMMUNITY FARM TOUR Join at the farm on the first Saturday of each month and get a public tour of the regenerative farm! First Saturday of every month, 9:30-11 a.m. through Dec. 6 (805) 769-8344. cityfarmslo. org/community-tours. City Farm SLO, 1221 Calle Joaquin, San Luis Obispo.

FREE PET VACCINE CLINICS With the support of Petco Love, Woods is providing free vaccines for cats and dogs during

vaccine clinics in August and September! Sept. 6 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. (805) 5439316. woodshumanesociety.org/spayneuter/. Woods Humane Society, 875 Oklahoma Ave., 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. and Mondays-Saturdays, 1:15-2:15 p.m. Free. (657) 465-9182. missionsanluisobispo. org. Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, 751 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo.

FREE VIRTUAL QPR SUICIDE

PREVENTION TRAINING For participants to learn about community resources in Santa Barbara County and be able to recognize the warning signs of suicide for parents and adults (ages 18 and over) who work or live with youth between ages of 12-18. Offered in partnership with Family Services Agency of Santa Barbara and thanks to a grant from SAMHSA. Sept. 6 10 a.m.-noon Free. (805) 7701593. youthwell.org/mental-health-firstaid. Online, See website, San Luis Obispo.

HANDSPRINGS & AERIALS TUMBLING CLINIC Build your skills at our Handsprings & Aerials Clinic! Even beginners can start working on the fundamentals of these Intermediate skills. All levels are welcome. The class is for children 5 to 17 years. Sept. 13 , 1-3 p.m. $25/ 1st child, +$10 per additional sibling.. (805) 547-1496. performanceathleticsslo. com/saturday-event-clinics. Performance Athletics Gymnastics, 4484 Broad St., San Luis Obispo.

INNER ALCHEMY: A MEDITATIVE FUSION OF TEA, SOUND, AND SONG IN NATURE Our journey begins in stillness, with a ceremonial cup cradled in hand. Guided by Jen Treglode, Chadao (Way of Tea) Practitioner with Inari Tea Art, we enter a ritual of elemental embodiment. From the hush of tea, we flow into a soundscape of sacred resonance, letting the vibrations of crystal bowls, gongs, and breath—offered by Dee DiGioia of Mindful Kindful YOUniversity—wash over you like waves, calming the tides within. A nature and rhythm & song meditation will follow. Get tickets and more info through the link. Sept. 14 9 a.m.-noon $76.83. my805tix.com. Crows End Retreat, 6430 Squire Ct., San Luis Obispo.

INTERNATIONAL AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR SIGNS NEW YA THRILLER AT BARNES & NOBLE Wendelin Van Draanen (SAMMY KEYES mysteries, the book-to-movie sensation FLIPPED) signs The Steps , a page-turner described as “Karen McManus meets The Queen’s Gambit.” Sept. 7, 1-2:30 p.m. Free. (805) 781-8334. Barnes and Noble, 894 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo.

OUTSIDE TOGETHER: FILM SCREENING AND FILMMAKER DISCUSSION

Experience the adventure of Black People Don’t Do That a cinematic short film by Kenny X Hamlett, then stay for a Q&A

with the filmmaker. Sept. 6 , 12:30-2:30 p.m. Free. sanluisobispo.librarycalendar. com/event/outside-together-short-filmscreening-and-inclusive-discussionabout-joy-outdoor-recreation. Harold J. Miossi CPAC at Cuesta College, Highway 1, San Luis Obispo.

PUBLIC ART BEAUTIFICATION SERVICE

DAY Volunteer with the City of San Luis Obispo’s Public Art program via a Beautification Service Day! Sept. 13 1-3 p.m. (805) 858-0771. volunteer.slocity.org/ need/detail/?need_id=1064601. Mission Plaza, Downtown, San Luis Obispo.

TECH BREW MEETUP Tech Brew is a free networking event where people interested in technology can hang out in an informal environment with a small TEDtalk-like presentation from an interesting speaker. Learn more online. Second Monday of every month, 5-7 p.m. (805) 323-6706. meetup.com/softec/. StoryLabs, 102 Cross St, Suite 220, San Luis Obispo.

TRICKZONE CLINIC: PARKOUR, TUMBLING, TRAMPOLINE It’s Trickzone time! Your kids can enjoy a 2-hour combo of tumbling and parkour, taking them from timid to triumphant. All levels are welcome, ages 5 to 17 years. Sept. 6, 1-3 p.m. $25/ 1st child, +$10 per additional sibling.. (805) 547-1496. performanceathleticsslo.com/ saturday-event-clinics. Performance Athletics Gymnastics, 4484 Broad 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 Community Center, 191 San Miguel St., Avila Beach, avilabeachcc.com.

BOOK SIGNING WITH BESTSELLING AUTHOR WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN Award-winning and bestselling author Wendelin Van Draanen will discuss and sign her latest YA thriller, The Steps! Reserve your copy at the link. Sept. 6 Free. (805) 668-6300. monarchbooks805. com/events. Monarch Books, 201 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande.

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE continued page

Hot Dates

COMMUNITY NATIVE GARDEN MONTHLY VOLUNTEER WORKDAY

Volunteers accomplish a variety of tasks including pathways maintenance, litter patrol of the garden perimeter, weeding, irrigation system expansion/repairs, pruning, and plantings. Volunteers should bring work gloves, a hat, drinking water, and tools related to the above activities. First Saturday of every month, 9 a.m.-noon Free. (805) 710-3073. Nipomo Native Garden, Camino Caballo at Osage, Nipomo.

INTERNATIONAL AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR LAUNCHES NEW YA THRILLER AT MONARCH BOOKS Wendelin Van Draanen (SAMMY KEYES mysteries, the book-to-movie sensation FLIPPED) signs The Steps , a page-turner described as “Karen McManus meets The Queen’s Gambit.” Sept. 6 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. (805) 668-6300. Monarch Books, 201 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande, monarchbooks805.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.

SOCIAL GROUP FOR WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS Call for more details. Second Saturday of every month, 10 a.m. (805) 904-6615. Oak Park Christian Church, 386 N Oak Park Blvd., Grover Beach.

WOMEN MAKING WAVES HIGH VIBE HIKE Grab a #wavemaker friend or two and join us at the Pismo Preserve for a monthly meetup with some fresh air and a stunning ocean view. Learn more and RSVP at my805tix.org. Sept. 13 , 9-11 a.m. Discovery Trail, Pismo Preserve, Pismo Preserve, Pismo Beach, (805) 543-8717.

SANTA MARIA VALLEY/LOS ALAMOS

23RD ANNUAL ALL FORD CAR SHOW

The Santa Maria Model A Ford Club will host its annual All Ford Car Show to benefit Hancock students. Sept. 13 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Free. (805) 598-8133. santamariamodelaclub.com/. Orcutt Union Plaza, 235 S. Broadway, Orcutt. CIRQUE ITALIA IS NOW PRESENTING: “PARANORMAL CIRQUE!” Paranormal Cirque will expose you to a unique creation of combined theatre, circus, and cabaret with a new European style flare. A careful casting selection has united the best artists from all over the world. Sept. 5 7:30 p.m., Sept. 6 6:30-9:30 p.m., Sept. 7 5:30-8:30 p.m. and Sept. 8 , 7:30 p.m. $20. (941) 704-8572. paranormalcirque. com/. Santa Maria Fairpark, 937 S. Thornburg St., Santa Maria.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FARM DAY

STREET FAIR Visitors can check out booths from SEEAG, local businesses and food vendors, and take home free produce, as part of the Santa Barbara County Farm Day. Sept. 6 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free. (805) 892-8155. sbcfarmday.org. Bonipak Produce, 1850 West Stowell Rd., Santa Maria.

FOOD & DRINK

NORTH COAST SLO COUNTY

BRUNCH IS BACK Celebrate the second Sunday of the month with brunch. Enjoy a two-hour cruise on the waterfront. Features fresh coffee, pastries, and more. Second Sunday of every month, 11 a.m.-1

SONGS FOR EVERYBODY

Featuring songs by Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday, and Maria Callas, step into the mesmerizing world of PCPA’s production of Songs for Nobodies at the Solvang Festival Theater through Sept. 7. Award-winning actor/singer Bethany Thomas takes the audience on a journey of discovery down the paths of legendary singers whose lives intersect with everyday women to tell a story of inspiration and resilience. The Festival Theater is located at 420 2nd St., Solvang. Tickets start at $25 with shows at 8 p.m. nightly. Visit pcpa.org for more information.

p.m. $50. (805) 772-2128. chabliscruises. com. Chablis Cruises, 1205 Embarcadero, Morro Bay.

HARVEST TEA PARTY ON THE BAY - FUNDRAISER Join the South Bay Women’s Network on Sunday for a delightful gathering of friends, high tea, and refreshments. Put on your fanciest hats and Sunday best to enjoy tea and savory treats at The Savory Palette. The High Tea Menu features tea sandwiches, salad, and desserts, along with assorted teas, tea party-themed games, fancy hat contest, and prizes. Sept. 7, 3-5 p.m.

$66.12. my805tix.com. The Savory Palette (formerly Morro Bay Wine Seller), 601 Embarcadero, Morro Bay.

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.

WINEMAKER’S DINNER FEAT. BODEGA

DE EDGAR Join in welcoming Bodega de Edgar for a signature wine dinner event! Enjoy a fine five-course meal accompanied by hand-selected Bodega de Edgar wines! Sept. 7 5:30-8 p.m. $130. (805) 927-4200. cambriapineslodge.com. Cambria Pines Lodge, 2905 Burton Dr., Cambria.

NORTH SLO COUNTY

12TH ANNUAL BREW AT THE ZOO! Get ready for a fun evening at the Central Coast Zoo (formerly Charles Paddock Zoo), sampling craft beers, distilled spirits, ciders, seltzers, and wine. Enjoy live music, contests, and dress the part—look like a party animal! Proceeds benefit Friends of the Zoo. Sept. 6 5-8 p.m. Central Coast Zoo, 9100 Morro Road, Atascadero.

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.

SEPTEMBER 2025 CENTRAL COAST

COOKING SHOW Join for the Sept. 9 Cooking Show with special guest chefs to be announced! Sept. 9, 4:30-6:30 p.m. $88.36. my805tix.com. Idler’s Home Paso Robles, 2361 Theatre Drive, 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 Real, suite C, Atascadero.

SAN LUIS OBISPO

DOWNTOWN SLO FARMERS MARKET

Thursdays, 6-9 p.m. Downtown SLO, Multiple locations, San Luis Obispo.

PIÑATAS ON THE PATIO What is more festive than a piñata? Join for some brunch drinks and a couple of good hits to a piñata (or two). Good times and goofy prices promised. Turns will be determined on a first come, first served basis. First Sunday of every month Free. SLO Public Market, South Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo.

SLO FARMERS MARKET Hosts more than 60 vendors. Saturdays, 8-10:45 a.m. World Market Parking Lot, 325 Madonna Rd., San Luis Obispo.

SLO GRANGE PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Join the SLO Grange Hall for a good oldfashioned pancake breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, juice, and coffee will be served, and proceeds will benefit local non-profits. Second Sunday of every month, 8-11 a.m. through April 13 $10. (805) 543-0639. slogrange.org. San Luis Obispo Grange Hall, 2880 Broad St., San Luis Obispo.

SPAGHETTI DINNER FUNDRAISER Oceano Community Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser on Sept. 13 from 4-7 p.m. All proceeds benefit needed repairs at the Oceano Train Depot. Sept. 13 4-7 p.m. 15.00. 916798680. Oceano Train Depot, 1650 Front St, Oceano, CA 93445-9408, Oceano, vaco805.org/events.

SOUTH COAST SLO COUNTY MONTHLY FERMENTATION CLASSES

Join to expand your knowledge of the fermentation process and get started fermenting at home. We alternate between demonstration and hands-on classes. Second Sunday of every month, 3:30-5 p.m. $30-$50. (805) 801-6627. kulturhausbrewing.com/classes/. New topics each month with a thorough demo and explanation of the process that creates non-alcoholic, probiotic, and nutrient-dense fermentations. Leave the class confident and prepared with recipes to make your own at home. Limited seating; reserve spot prior to class by phone/email. Second Sunday of every month, 3:30-5 p.m. $30. (805) 8016627. kulturhausbrewing.com/classes/. Kulturhaus Brewing Company, 779 Price St., Pismo Beach. ∆

—Camillia Lanham

COURTESY PHOTO BY LUIS ESCOBAR

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MIRAGE VISIONS OF FLEETWOOD MAC

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Arts

3D delights

Art Center Morro Bay hosts a juried Central Coast Sculptors members-only art exhibition in the upstairs Russell Gallery through Sept. 15, sharing the space with Brushstrokes 2025, a California-wide non-themed annual juried exhibition of paintings.

Titled Off the Wall, the sculpture exhibit features 28 works by 22 artists and was juried by Tim Stark, “an artist, curator, and fine arts professional with over 10 years’ experience in contemporary arts management, exhibition design, installation, and curation,” according to organizers. “He is currently the gallery coordinator for the Harold J. Miossi Gallery at Cuesta College.”

The show is filled with terrific pieces, including Red Dress, a dramatic figurative sculpture by Mike Hannon that won third place. Mark Selby’s Ugly Fish won second. Carl Berney’s Atlas took home the top prize. Squiggle, a tabletop or pedestal-top sculpture by Mark Danitschek, is particularly arresting. It was created from Baltic birch wood and painted with bright yellow enamel.

As English sculptor Henry Moore famously said, “Painting and sculpture help other people see what a wonderful world we live in.”

See for yourself through Sept. 15. Art Center Morro Bay is located at 835 Main St., and is open daily from noon to 4 p.m. The phone number is (805) 772-2504. Learn more at artcentermorrobay.org.

2D delights

Art Center Morro Bay hosts Brushstrokes 2025, a Californiawide non-themed annual juried exhibition of paintings in the upstairs Russell Gallery through Sept. 15, sharing the space with Off the Wall, a juried Central Coast Sculptors members-only art exhibition.

Brushstrokes 2025 “showcases a diverse array of artistic expression across various painting mediums, including acrylic, oil, pastel, watercolor, encaustic, digital, and collage,” organizers announced. “A variety of styles is represented.”

Accomplished landscape and portrait artist Eric Van Berg, who’s also the artist-in-residence and co-owner of The Gallery in the Village of Arroyo Grande, juried Brushstrokes 2025.

“His artistic journey began in childhood, painting in oils alongside his father, an avid hobbyist,” organizers explained.

“He went on to receive formal training at UC Santa Cruz, College of Marin, the Florence Academy of Art, and the Randall Sexton Atelier.”

Van Berg is also a member of the California Art Club, the Portrait Society of America, and other professional art organizations.

The exhibition is sponsored by The Painters Group, part of the Central Coast Artists Collective.

Art Center Morro Bay is located at 835 Main St., and is open daily from noon to 4 p.m. The phone number is (805) 772-2504. Learn more at artcentermorrobay.org. ∆

—Glen Starkey

BY GLEN STARKEY

Curiosity thrilled the hep cats

Menagerie Oddities Market hosts the second annual Central Coast Oddities & Curiosities Show

Is strange, creepy, morbid, and odd your jam?

Because if it is, the second Annual Central Coast Oddities & Curiosities Show is the place to be on Saturday, Sept. 13, in the Madonna Inn’s Alex Madonna Expo Center.

Hosted by Menagerie Oddities Market—whose motto is “ is ain’t yer grannies craft fair”—the event is a daylong experience lled with vendors, displays, entertainment, food and drink, and more.

Menagerie Oddities Market was founded by Bay Area resident Connstance Garcia, who explained the show’s origins during a recent phone call.

“I was an accountant for 30 years, and I had a hobby of making doll head lamps. I couldn’t nd a place to sell them, so I had gone to an oddities ea market in Southern California. People weren’t doing that up here, so we didn’t really have a place for alternative artists to sell their wares.

“I told my husband on the way back, ‘Let’s throw one together.’ And we did that. e rst one was in 2019. And it just took o from there. We’ve been doing it ever since.”

What began as a one-o has turned into a cottage industry for the Garcias. ey now organize and mount 20 to 30 events a year between California, Nevada, and Oregon.

“ ey’re very curated; they’re very small,” Garcia explained. “It’s not like a big oddities expo where you have 100 or 200 vendors. It’s 50 to 70, and it’s all handmade.”

e show is scheduled for Saturday, but there’s also a smaller and more exclusive event on Friday, Sept. 12.

“On Friday evening, the night before, we’re having an artist preview and masquerade dinner and dance, so if people want to come, they can meet the artists, and they get some goodies and have a nice dinner at the Madonna Inn. It’ll be fun.”

e dinner and masquerade ball take place outside at the motel’s Secret Garden, and Garcia hopes attendees will get into the spirit of the event and come in their nest out ts and wear masks.

“On Saturday, we’ve got a whole schedule of performers that are going to be there throughout the day,” Garcia noted. “We’ve also got some workshops. We’ve got a doll head lamp making class [$87]. We’ve got a butter y pinning [$80] and moth pinning [$85]. ere are 70 vendors this year, so people can come walk around and look at all the exhibits.”

Get weird

The second annual Central Coast Oddities & Curiosities Show comes to the Madonna Inn’s Alex Madonna Expo Center on Saturday, Sept. 13 (noon to 6 p.m.; all ages; $10 at the door; kids under 5 free). Seventy vendors will be selling unusual handmade items. You can also expect performers, food and drink, workshops for an added fee, and more. On Friday, Sept. 12, a VIP Masquerade Dinner and Dance will be held in Madonna Inn’s Secret Garden (6 to 10 p.m.; 18-and-older; $92.55 at eventbrite.com).

One special Saturday highlight will be a vampire display. Actress Maila Nurmi (1922-2008) was best known for creating the campy 1950s TV host Vampira, and Michelle Perry, preservationist for Nurmi’s estate, will display some of her possessions and o er a lecture about the famous actress who also appeared in outsider auteur Ed Wood’s famously campy cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space

“ ere’s a DJ, a sideshow performer,” Garcia added. “He’s called Panda the Clown. He’s local there to San Luis. We’ve got Kiki, the contortionist. She’s also local to San Luis. en we’ve got Avalanche. She’s a burlesque performer. She’ll be doing a couple of numbers, too. We’ve got a whole day of fun, weird, strange things going on.”

Your $10 entry allows you to come and go throughout the day, Garcia said, adding that there’ll be a full bar and a food truck and other food vendors.

“People can just come at their leisure and hang out and have a good time,” she said. “Friday night we’ll have a limited number of tickets, and it’s getting pretty close to the maximum capacity that we have for that one.”

In other words, buy tickets now if you want to attend Friday night.

mainstream now and it’s more acceptable,” Garcia asserted. “I would say that people from Gen Z up to Gen X, now are, you know, we’re working, we’re professionals, we can a ord to buy the things that we want and go to places we want to go and do the things we want to do. And so, I think that’s why people are drawn to it but also celebrating it.

“In Western culture, we don’t really gravitate toward or celebrate things that people might nd macabre,” she continued. “Like, when people die, there’s this whole memento mori thing. Even a menagerie of animals, you know—those were things that throughout civilization, throughout di erent periods of time, were normal or celebrated, and they haven’t been for a long time, and then I think in the last 10 years, it’s just really taken o and become more of the mainstream thing.

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

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, why? Why the odd, macabre, morbid, and weird?

“It’s something di erent that has always been a natural curiosity, but it’s something that’s more

“You know, as a community, we’ve all come together and it’s very diverse,” she concluded. “Just the people that we’ve met, the di erent artists and performers and our patrons and the public and the venues that we work with, everybody is just so amazing, and still open to what we’re doing. It’s a great community to be part of.” ∆

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

SHOP TILL YOU DROP Attendees of the Sept. 13 event at the Alex Madonna Expo Center can peruse the handmade wares of 70 vendors.

FOLK ART Find one-of-a-kind items from artists and craftspeople, and for an added fee, take a workshop and bring home an oddity of your own creation.

THE MACABRE Embrace and celebrate your natural curiosity for all things weird, creepy, and odd.

CURIOUS CONNSTANCE Menagerie Oddities Market founder Connstance Garcia and her husband, Michael, are behind the second annual Central Coast Oddities & Curiosities Show.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MENAGERIE ODDITIES MARKET

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Bases loaded

Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, e Whale) directs this comedic crime-thriller written by Charlie Huston (All Signs of Death) based on their 2004 novel about exbaseball player Hank ompson (Austin Butler) who inadvertently becomes embroiled in New York’s criminal underworld. (107 min.)

CAUGHT STEALING

What’s it rated? R

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 Henry “Hank” ompson has demons in his closet. e once promising California high school ballplayer poised be drafted into the majors was sidelined by an injury and now lives in Lower East Side Manhattan, circa 1998, apparently during the city’s notorious garbage strike. Aronofsky’s depiction of the city is gritty, and the dive bar Hank works in is grittier still. About the only bright thing in Hank’s otherwise gloomy, neon-light-tinged life is his budding relationship with sexy paramedic Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz). ings go from driftless to dangerous after Hank’s next-door neighbor, mohawk-sporting British punk Russ (Matt Smith), leaves his cat, Bud (Tonic, a very ne feline actor), with Hank when he rushes home to his dying father in London. Soon two Russian mobsters—Aleksei (Yuri Kolokolnikov) and Pavel (Nikita Kukushkin)—show up looking for Russ and decide Hank knows something. Over the next week or so, Hank will encounter confrontational Detective Roman (Regina King), dangerously criminal Hasidic brothers Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully Drucker (Vincent D’Onofrio), and Puerto Rican gangster Colorado (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio). With pressure coming from all sides, Hank must tap into his former athletic promise and competitive tenacity to ght his way through.

NIGHT ALWAYS COMES

What’s it rated? R When? 2025

Where’s it showing? Netflix

Nothing about Lynette’s (Vanessa Kirby) life is easy. She’s a bartender who’s barely scraping by, she’s got an older brother, Kenny (Zack Gottsagen), who needs care, and a mother, Doreen (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who seems to only be concerned with herself. Kirby’s portrayal of unhinged desperation in Lynette is devastating. The family has managed to save $25,000—just enough to make a down payment to buy their rental. But when Doreen shows up on the day the loan papers are supposed to be

A SISTER’S LOVE

When her brother Kenny (Zack Gottsagen), who has Down syndrome, is at risk of being taken from her, Lynette (Vanessa Kirby) embarks on a desperate mission to get the down payment for their house, in Night Always Comes, streaming on Netflix.

Anna Hank is a mama’s boy—we hear her voice (Laura Dern) on his answering machine, always ending every love-soaked message with “Go Giants!” Even Yvonne doesn’t know what to think of Hank sometimes. He seems nice enough, but clearly he’s haunted and uses booze to push away the pain more frequently than he’ll admit. At rst, he’s annoyed with his new task of taking care of Bud, but we slowly see his protective layers stripped away as he works to keep himself and Bud safe. Whoever Russ is tangled up with is bad news, and Hank realizes he may just have to outcrook the crooks to make it out alive. is lm does such a great job of painting a picture of gritty ’90s New York, from Hank’s dark and rundown apartment to the garbage-strewn streets. is lm certainly felt less weird and disturbing than some of Aronofsky’s other works (I’m looking at you, Mother!) but still o ers a taste of life’s underbelly. I thought Austin did a fantastic job—just the right mix of vulnerability and desperation. Glen e story is about Hank learning to take responsibility for his life. Over the course of several harrowing days, he comes

signed in a new car, Lynette knows her mother has blown their money.

What follows is Lynette’s desperate attempts to pull together another $25K before morning. Kenny plays tagalong on her night of fear-fueled moves to find money, and Lynette’s plans become increasingly deluded and frantic as the witching hours pass. On top of needing money, without Doreen’s signature, the bank won’t close the loan, so not only does Lynette need to come up with the cash but must also convince her mother to sign. Easier said than done.

This film is acted superbly by all involved— especially the three family members. It’s not a film meant to make you feel good, but it’s certainly worth seeing for Kirby’s performance alone. (108 min.)

—Anna

EENIE MEANIE

What’s it rated? R When? 2025

IWhere’s it showing? Hulu

to own his past and present mistakes. e tale is also lled with engaging characters. I loved the Drucker brothers, who are real anomalies with a unique morality. When they speak in Yiddish to each other, we can read the subtitles while Hank remains in the dark to their intentions. Carol Kane is wonderful as the Druckers’ Bubbe, who makes them all matzo ball soup. Gri n Dunne is terri c as Hank’s drugged-out hippie bar owner, Paul. So many fully realized characters. It’s a tribute to Charlie Huston’s brilliant story. Anna e lm’s inspired me to read Huston’s work. Hank has buried what he believes about himself so deeply that when it comes bubbling up, he can’t help but turn into the spin and hope to survive. Even if Aronofsky’s other work has been too intense for you, give Caught Stealing a go. It bene ts from the author’s intimate knowledge of the characters and a fantastic cast. ∆

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

The film’s going for the same kind of story as The Fast and the Furious (2001), Drive (2011), or Baby Driver (2017) with Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie overtones and a 1970s vibe, so it’s all somewhat derivative. There’s also a bit of a tonal shift in the film, which goes from glib to sincere, and from sincere to serious. You might love or hate this.

n his directorial debut, TV writer Shawn Simmons ( The Continental, Wayne, Mr. Pickles) helms this action-packed cars and crime comedy-drama about Edie (Samara Weaving), a reformed teenage getaway driver nicknamed Eenie Meanie. When her past employer, Nico (Andy Garcia), offers her the chance to save her ex-boyfriend, John’s (Karl Glusman), life by pulling off one more job robbing a casino, she’s dragged back into her old life.

Weaving, an Australian and the niece of actor Hugo Weaving, struggles a little with her American accent, but she’s a compelling lead. She’s self-deprecating and witty—the only clever one in a sea of criminal idiots, which is part of the fun. I don’t see this reaching cult classic status, but there’re some cool car chases, making it an appealing B-movie late-summer distraction. (106 min.) ∆ —Glen

IS HE WORTH IT? To save her unreliable ex-boyfriend, John’s (Karl Glusman), life, former teenage getaway driver, Edie (Samara Weaving), agrees to one last job, in Eenie Meanie, streaming on Hulu.

BATTER UP Austin Butler stars as ex-baseball player turned bartender Hank Thompson, who gets caught up in New York’s criminal underbelly and must fight to survive, in Caught Stealing, screening in local theaters.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES/EVERETT COLLECTION

COURTESY PHOTO BY ZAC POPIK/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

COURTESY PHOTO BY ALLYSON RIGGS/NETFLIX/EVERETT COLLECTION

Music

BY GLEN STARKEY

Righteous

Jeffrey Halford and the Healers play the Olde Alehouse

Jeffrey Halford’s 2021 song “Walk to the River” opens like a gospel hymn as he repeats the chorus, “I’m gonna walk to the river. I’m gonna walk to the river. I’m gonna walk to the river.” When he gets to the first verse, you quickly realize this is a song about immigration.

“Got my family close at hand. We’ll march like ants across the sand. We’re not criminals. We’re refugees, and we’re heading down to the land of the free.”

Halford, who fronts the Americana band Jeffrey Halford & The Healers—playing the Olde Alehouse in Los Osos on Sunday, Sept 7 (2 to 5 p.m.; all ages; free)—had read about a father trying to cross into the U.S. from Mexico with his young son.

“When we got down to the water, oh the water was high. He held on tightly to my hand. We jumped into the Rio Grande,” he sings. “Vultures ride the thermals. They’re circling ’round and ’round. Something in the water. I think somebody drown. Maybe it’s a blessing not to realize your dreams ’cause they’re locking kids in cages. At night you hear the screams. America has no place for

you. There’s nothing left to sell. It’s the secret of the river and the river never tells.”

It’s a tragic song that seems even more relevant today than when he wrote it.

“I’m disgusted,” Halford said by phone from his home in Marin County when asked about the current immigration situation in the U.S. “I stopped playing that song [for a while]. I went on European tour, and that album [2022’s Soul Crusade] I put out went to No. 1 in Europe. We just—for two years in a row—played the shit out of that song, so I got kind of sick of it. But people love it, right? I’m lucky. I’m lucky to have written a song like that. So I stopped playing it, but now I’m back on it. It seems as relevant as it ever was. That’s why I kicked it back in.”

Halford is a very literary songwriter with a knack for creating engaging narratives about people living on the fringes of society. Most of his songs eschew contemporary politics, but “Walk to the River” was born out of outrage.

“I was just literally pissed off about it, you know? Like, what the fuck? Can’t we somehow treat these people in a humane fashion? In a country like ours with so much money, we should be able to handle this situation better, so I wrote the song in anger.”

A more typical Halford song is “A Town Called Slow,” which paints a drunken Wild West saloon gambling scene: “We drank

Live Music

NORTH COAST SLO COUNTY

AARON GOLAY AND THE ORIGINAL SIN WITH AC MYLES Loud, yet tender with high energy, engaging live performances are what stand out with Aaron Golay, an Idaho born and raised artist whose songwriting has formed a distinct shape over his first three album releases. Sept. 12 , 7:30-9:30 p.m. $15.30. thesirenmorrobay.com. The Siren, 900 Main St., Morro Bay, (805) 225-1312.

ALBERT LEE – THE BRITISH GUITAR LEGEND COMES TO MORRO BAY!

Head to the Siren and hear British-born country-rock artist Albert Lee live in Morro. He started his career during the emerging rock ‘n’ roll scene of sixties London, when he swapped bands with the likes of Jimmy Page and Chris Farlowe. Sept. 11 6:30-9:30 p.m. $25.59. thesirenmorrobay.com. The Siren, 900 Main St., Morro Bay, (805) 225-1312.

BLUES AGENDA JAM AND SHOWCASE

A rockin’ blues dance party at Niffy’s Merrimaker every first, third, and now fifth Wednesdays. The Blues Asylum house band welcomes local, visiting, and newcomers to the blues groove. Spirits, beer, and wine, with outside food welcome. Every other Wednesday, 7-10 p.m. Free. (805) 235-5223. The Merrimaker Tavern, 1301 2nd Street, Los Osos.

FRIDAY TWILIGHT CONCERTS Enjoy live music and food truck fare on Harmony Cellars’ hilltop patio every Friday this summer! This is a ticketed event. Fridays, 5:15-7:15 p.m. through Sept. 12 $25/pp, $20/club. (805) 927-1625. harmonycellars. com/. Harmony Cellars, 3255 Harmony Valley Rd., P.O. Box 2502, Harmony.

JAZZ AT MOONSTONE CELLARS WITH SUNNY AWRIGHT, JAKE ODELL, AND OZ BARRON Hear Jazz at Moonstone Cellars with Oz Barron, Sunny Wright, and Jake

that bottle ’til the last drip/ I reached over to grab the pot/ Pulled out a sawed-off with one side cocked/ Bad men like that you gotta let ’em know you’re here/ I shot down the chandelier/ Ladies screamed when they heard that sound/ Pour me another round.”

These edgy slices of life are gritty and engaging, and Halford’s soulful voice sells these scenes as his melodies and sound move from swamp folk to country to roots blues and back again.

He’s heading out on another European tour in a couple of weeks, and he’s releasing on vinyl his 2000 breakthrough album, Kerosene, for its 25th anniversary. It’s really the album that launched his European success.

You can catch Halford and his band this Sunday before he heads overseas. Award-winning local singer-songwriter David Lynch will open the show. Mixing blues and folk, Lynch creates heartfelt songs that will get under your skin. He’s got three albums out, most recently I Can See Sound See two great songwriters on one kickback Los Osos afternoon.

Legends

Nederlander Concerts is bringing multiGrammy Award-winning band and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Chicago to Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Tuesday, Sept. 9 (doors at 6:30, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $67.89 to $233.13 at ticketmaster.com). The longrunning rock band “with horns”—as they like to mention—started in 1967 and over their long career became the first American rock band to chart Top 40 albums in six consecutive decades.

The current lineup includes founding members Robert Lamm (keyboards, vocals), Lee Loughnane (trumpet), and James Pankow (trombone) along with eight newer members, re-creating that amazing full Chicago sound. There are really too many hits to list, but songs such as 1971’s “Saturday in the Park,” 1969’s “25 of 6 to 4” and “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is,” 1970’s “Colour My World,” and 1982’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” remain an indelible part of rock history. They’ve sold more than 100 million records for a reason!

Odell. Enjoy beautiful wine, music, and friends this Sunday Funday in Cambria! Sept. 7 2-4 p.m. Free. (805) 927-9466. moonstonecellars.com/. Moonstone Cellars, 812 Cornwall St, Cambria.

JEFFREY HALFORD AND THE HEALERS

Everyone’s “favorite Americana Swamp band,” a power trio, delivers a uniquely American melting pot of roots, blues, rock and kick-ass pop. Sept. 7, 2-5 p.m. Free. (805) 439-1466. theoldealehouse.com/. The Olde Alehouse, 945 Los Osos Valley Road, Los Osos.

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. OPEN MIC NIGHT Each Wednesday, enjoy this Open Mic Night in the downstairs dining area. Grab some friends and show off your talents. Food and drink service will be available. Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Free. (805) 995-3883. schoonerscayucos.com. Schooners, 171 North Ocean Ave, Cayucos.

UP IN THE AIR AT CASTORO CELLARS

LAZY LOCALS CONCERT Up in the Air will play it’s upbeat original music along with some familiar favorites at Castoro Cellars on Sunday, Sept. 7 from 1 to 4 pm. Sept. 7 1-4 p.m. free. (805) 238-0725. Castoro Cellars, 1315 N. Bethel Rd., Templeton, castorocellars.com.

WHALE ROCK MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL

Enjoy two days of wine-loving, peace, and

music in the vineyard at Castoro Cellars winery. The lineup features Young the Giant, Shane Smith & The Saints. Sept. 13 , noon and Sept. 14 , 12-10 p.m. $95 - 175. whalerockmusicfestival.com/. Castoro Cellars, 1315 N. Bethel Rd., Templeton, (805) 238-0725.

NORTH SLO COUNTY

BURLEY THISTLES Burley Thistles is an alternative rock band known for their guitar-driven sound and memorable songs. They blend heartland rock with classic rock influences. Sept. 12 5:30-7:30 p.m. Jack Creek Farms, 5000 Hwy 46 West, Templeton, (805) 239-1915. Burley Thistles is an alternative rock band known for their guitar-driven sound and memorable songs. They blend heartland rock with classic rock influences. Sept. 13, 5-7 p.m. Sun Outdoors Central Coast Wine Country, 2500 Airport Rd, Paso Robles, (805) 238-4560.

CHICAGO LIVE Multi Grammy Awardwinning band and Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Chicago, are set to wow concert goers with a night of live performance. Get tickets to see this group, formed in 1967, at the link. Sept. 9 8 p.m. vinaroblesamphitheatre.com. Vina Robles Amphitheatre, 3800 Mill Rd., Paso Robles, (805) 286-3670.

EASTON EVERETT Easton Everett is a singer-songwriter who blends indie folk, neo-folk, and world beat with intricate fingerstyle guitar. Sept. 6 , 12-3 p.m. Bianchi Winery and Tasting Room, 3380 Branch Road, Paso Robles, (805) 2269922, bianchiwine.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, LIVE MUSIC continued page 28

HEARTLAND AMERICANA Jeffrey Halford and the Healers play an outdoor matinee concert at Los Osos’ Olde Alehouse on Sept. 7

CHI-TOWN Nederlander Concerts presents multi-Grammy winners Chicago at the Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Sept. 9

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEDERLANDER CONCERTS

STARKEY continued page 28

Dazzler

Good Vibez presents jazz fusion and world music guitar master Al Di Meola in the Fremont Theater on Tuesday, Sept. 9 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $50.96 to $81.86 at prekindle.com). He makes complex rhythmic syncopation look easy as he weaves arrestingly beautiful melodies.

Starting in 1974, the now 71-year-old is a worldwide sensation who has recorded 28 albums, most recently 2024’s Twentyfour Three of his albums are certified gold, and he’s sold more than 6 million records worldwide. Truly a dazzling master of the guitar.

Also from Good Vibez at the Fremont, tickle your funny bone with comedian Trey Kennedy when he stops as part of his Relatable Tour on Thursday, Sept. 11 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $44.78 to $176.62 at prekindle.com). He rose to fame on YouTube and TikTok.

Mr. Telecaster

Venerated British guitar Legend Albert Lee plays The Siren on Thursday, Sept. 11 (6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $29.59). Over his long career, the 81-year-old has worked with acts such as The Everly Brothers, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, and The Crickets. The lightning-fast fingerpicker has 17 albums to his credit and won a Grammy Award in 2002 for his contribution to Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs’ 2001 performance of their classic 1949 song “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” Lee plays his signature Ernie Ball Music Man Guitar.

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.

IMPALEMENT AND UTTER SCORN AT DARK NECTAR Hear live sets from three bands at Dark Nectar! Tickets and more info can be found at the link. Sept. 5 8 p.m. $13.44. my805tix.com. Dark Nectar Coffee Lounge, 5915 Entrada, Atascadero, (805) 835-1988.

JAZZ AT SENSORIO PASO ROBLES WITH JAAMAL BAPTISITE, SUNNY WRIGHT, AND ALEX MORRISON Listen to jazz at Sensorio with Jaamal Baptiste on piano, Sunny Wright on vocals, and Alex Morrison on bass. There will be a full bar, firepit tables, a taco truck, and lawn games. Sept. 11, 6:45-9:45 p.m. $35-$65. (805) 226-4287. sensoriopaso.com/. Sensorio, 4380 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles.

JAZZ AT THE PONY CLUB WITH PAT KELLEY AND SUNNY WRIGHT Hear jazz at The Pony Club with Pat Kelley on guitar and Sunny Wright on vocals. Enjoy craft cocktails, an excellent wine list, and a wonderful menu. Sept. 6 6-9 p.m. Free. (805) 226-9995. hotelcheval.com/pony-club-bar-lounge. Pony Club Bar and Lounge at The Hotel Cheval, 1021 Pine St, Paso Robles.

JAZZ, BLUES, AND SOUL AT HALTER

RANCH WINERY WITH SUNNY WRIGHT AND JAKE ODELL Vocalist Sunny Wright and guitarist Jake Odell will entertain with Jazz and Blues during lunch and Wine tasting at the beautiful Halter Ranch Tasting Room. Sept. 14 , 12-3 p.m. $35-$65. (805) 226-9455. halterranch.com/eventslive-music. Halter Ranch Vineyard, 8910 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles.

LES GREENE & THE SWAYZEES LIVE AT CLUB CAR BAR Within the realm of soul music, one name stands out for his ability to captivate audiences with his soulstirring melodies and heartfelt lyrics: Les Greene. Catch him in Templeton with The Swayzees. Sept. 8 7-9 p.m. $10. Club Car Bar, 508 S. Main St., Templeton.

Also this week at The Siren, there are a couple of free shows when cover bands Legends plays on Friday, Sept. 5 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older), and Back Pages Band plays on Saturday, Sept. 6 (2 to 5 p.m.; 21-and-older).

Local reggae, rock, ska, punk, funk, and hip-hop act Nada Rasta plays on Saturday, Sept. 6 (7:45 to 10:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $13.17 at tixr.com).

Sk8r deluxe and Grrrl Zep

SLO Brew Live presents downtempo art rocker and soul guitarist Tommy Guerrero

LIVE AT DARK STAR: THE GARDEN PARTY The Garden Party plays music of the sixties and seventies helped to shape not only the baby boomer generation, but all music and all musicians. Sept. 13 , 1-4 p.m. Free. (805) 237-2389. darkstarcellars. com. Dark Star Cellars, 2985 Anderson Rd., Paso Robles.

LIVE MUSIC WITH TALIE COPEN Enjoy live music from Talie Copen—country, folk americana, and ‘80s covers—plus wine specials, tastings, and snack boxes from Alba Provisions. Reservations are encouraged! Sept. 12 4-7 p.m. $25 tasting fee waived with $75 purchase. (805) 237-1245. mcpricemyers.com/ events/091225music. McPrice Myers Wine Company, 3525 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. OPEN MIC NIGHT Hosted by The Journals 805 (John and Dylan Krause). Mondays, 9 p.m. Pine Street Saloon, 1234 Pine St., Paso Robles.

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.

SAN LUIS OBISPO

AL DI MEOLA Hear Al Di Meola live, the “bona fide guitar hero, perennial pollwinner, and prolific composer” who will hit the Fremont Theater’s stage. Sept. 9 7 p.m. $50.96-$106.06. fremontslo.com. The Fremont Theater, 1035 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 546-8600.

ANNUAL JAZZ FACULTY CONCERT

Experience the artistry, energy, and improvisation of live jazz as the Cuesta Jazz Faculty take the stage! 100% of ticket proceeds benefit music student scholarships. Sept. 5 7:30 p.m. $30 VIP, $25 General, $22 Senior (65+), $10 Student w/ID. (805) 546-3198. Harold J.

Miossi CPAC at Cuesta College, Highway 1, San Luis Obispo.

BOB AND WENDY WITH PAUL GRIFFITH Bob and Wendy’s music is a heartfelt blend of folk, Americana, and poetic storytelling—rooted deeply in the Central Coast and beyond. Hear them live at The Bunker SLO. Sept. 7, 3-5 p.m. $15. (805) 235-5456. my805tix.com. The Bunker SLO, 810 Orcutt Road, San Luis Obispo.

BRASS MASH & DAVE TATE AT CONCERTS IN THE PLAZA Hear Dave Tate at 5, followed by a live performance from Brass Mash and an after party at Libertine Brewing Co. with The Dave Tate Band. Sept. 12 , 5 p.m. Mission Plaza, Downtown, San Luis Obispo.

BRASS MASH FIRST FRIDAY IN SEPTEMBER 2025 Experience the magic of the first Fridays of every month are magical with the vibrant energy of our all-horn band. Join the festivities at Liquid Gravity and immerse yourself in the unique fusion of your favorite rock and pop songs. It’s a musical journey that promises to be unforgettable, so make sure to wear sensible shoes for the dance-worthy beats. Sept. 5 , 6-10 p.m. $26. my805tix.com. Liquid Gravity Brewing Company, 675 Clarion Ct., San Luis Obispo, (805) 457-4677.

CARBON CITY LIGHTS AND CATE

ARMSTRONG AT CONCERTS IN THE PLAZA Hear Cate Armstrong and Carbon City Lights play live, and head to the after party at Libertine Brewing Co. with Benny G and The Sweet Spots. Sept. 5 5 p.m. Mission Plaza, Downtown, San Luis Obispo.

CCMP PRESENTS HALFWAY TO DEATH

FEST Central Coast Music Productions presents Halfway to Death Fest, an all ages anniversary and birthday event featuring The Relative Minimum, Crawling Through Tartarus, Desanguinate, Pentacaustic, Of The Betrayer, WayIIStoned, Meridian Parkway, Stronger Than Machines, Isolate/Divide, and Immodesty. Sept. 14 3 p.m. Humdinger Brewing (SLO), 855 Capitolio Way, suite

in Rod & Hammer Rock on Sunday, Sept. 7 (doors at 7 p.m.; all ages; $32.36 at ticketweb.com). The talented musician and composer was first known as a professional skateboarder—a former member of the Bones Brigade, a prominent skateboarding team of the 1980s that included Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero.

All-female Led Zeppelin tribute act Zepparella returns to Rod & Hammer on Thursday, Sept. 11 (doors at 7 p.m.; all ages; $27.21 at ticketweb.com). The band pays reverent homage to the British blues and hard rock heroes.

1, San Luis Obispo, (805) 781-9974, humdingerbrewing.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+. Sept. 5 , 8:30 p.m. and Sept. 12 8:30 p.m. Free. my805tix.com. Libertine Brewing Company, 1234 Broad St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 548-2337.

MAC SABBATH | SCHIZOPHONICS | DESCARTES A KANT Mac Sabbath, the LA-based American parody heavy metal tribute band will perform live at SLO Brew. Hear them live, along with sets from The Schizophonics and Descartes A Kant. Sept. 4 7 p.m. $32.36. slobrew.com. Rod & Hammer Rock, 855 Aerovista Pl., San Luis Obispo, (805) 543-1843.

QUEEN NATION Queen Nation is the undisputed #1 ranked Queen Tribute Band in the United States. Hear them live at The Fremont Theater. Sept. 13 8 p.m. $46.32. fremontslo.com. The Fremont Theater, 1035 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, (805) 546-8600.

TOMMY GUERRERO LIVE American musician, composer, and professional skateboarder Tommy Guerero who is a former member of the Bones Brigade, a prominent skateboarding team of the 1980s that also included Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero, will hit the SLO Brew stage early September. Hear him live and get tickets at the link. Sept. 7 7 p.m. $32.36. 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

Mo Better Jazz returns

Mo Betta Jazz Productions presents a free jazz and R&B concert at Mission Plaza on Sunday, Sept. 7 (2:45 p.m.; all ages; donations welcome at my805tix.com). The public is invited to bring a lawn chair and relax.

The Mo Betta Band is fronted by vocalist Deborah Gilmore: “My music journey has brought me from homelessness to this point and plans for bigger shows are already in the works. The goal is to bring a certain level

STARKEY continued page 29

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.

CENTRAL COAST HARMONY CHORUS INVITES SINGERS TO JOIN FOR HOLIDAY PERFORMANCES Men and women are invited! No prior experience is necessary - just a love of music. Call or email for more information. Thursdays, 6:30-8:30 p.m. through Dec. 18 $20. (805) 736-7572. ccharmony.org. Nipomo Senior Center, 200 E. Dana St., Nipomo.

EAGLES NEST ROCKS WITH AMERICAN MILE Eagles Nest rocks with American Mile from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 6 2-6 p.m. (805) 2793467. facebook.com/events/s/eagles-nestrockz-with-america/24298965506451453/. Five Cities Fraternal Order Of Eagles, 1713 Front St., Oceano.

EAGLES NEST ROCKS WITH NOTHING BUT TROUBLE Eagles Nest rocks with Nothing But Trouble from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 13, 2-6 p.m. (805) 709-8002. facebook.com/events/s/eaglesnest-rockz-with-nothing/1934748060400106/. Five Cities Fraternal Order Of Eagles, 1713 Front St., Oceano.

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.

KARAOKE EVERY WEDNESDAY A weekly event with barbecue offerings and more. Wednesdays, 4-8 p.m. Rancho Nipomo BBQ, 108 Cuyama Ln., Nipomo, (805) 925-3500.

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.

MOTHER CORN SHUCKERS - LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE Enjoy a magical Saturday afternoon with the Central

Coast’s favorite beergrass band at the magnificent Point San Luis Lighthouse in Avila Beach. Sept. 6 , 2:30-5 p.m. Point San Luis Lighthouse, 1 Lighthouse Rd., Avila Beach.

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. RADIATION INVASION, GODCOLLIDER, FULL CLIP, NT4DB, OUTPATIENT X, AND SPECIAL FORCES LIVE WITH VISUAL ART BY ANIMALTEETH13 Anomaly House & Village Hardcore Shows are proud to present a night of food and music with different flavors of punk rock, combined with different flavors of Mexican cuisine. This show will feature live performances by an array of local and California-based bands. Get tickets now! Sept. 6 7 p.m. $15.81. my805tix.com. La Casita Cantina and Restaurant, 1572 West Grand Avenue, Grover Beach.

SLO COUNTY BAND THURSDAY NIGHT SUMMER CONCERTS Join in on the fun at these free Thursday night concerts with the Slo County Band. Bring your lawn chairs! Second Thursday of every month, 6:30-7:30 p.m. through Sept. 11 Free. (805) 473-5472. arroyogrande.org/ events. Rancho Grande Park, 500 James Way, Arroyo Grande.

A TRIBUTE TO THE LEGENDARY LINDA RONSTADT WITH RONSTADT REVIVAL FEATURING SHANNON RAE Experience Ronstadt Revival—Shannon Rae and a 7-piece band bring Linda Ronstadt’s legendary hits to life with raw, authentic, 100% live music and heartfelt storytelling. Sept. 13 7:30-9:30 p.m. $44.50-$65.50. (805) 489-9444. clarkcenter.org. Clark Center for the Performing

Arts, 487 Fair Oaks Ave., Arroyo Grande. ∆ LIVE MUSIC from page 26

STRING WIZARD Good Vibez presents jazz fusion and world music guitar master Al Di Meola at the Fremont Theater on Sept. 9

PHOTO COURTESY OF

MUSIC MAN Venerated British guitar Legend Albert Lee plays The Siren on Sept. 11

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SIREN

DROP IN SLO Brew Live presents downtempo art rocker and soul guitarist Tommy Guerrero at Rod & Hammer Rock on Sept. 7 PHOTO

of musicianship and professionalism to the genres of jazz and R&B, especially to SLO! I’m currently working on an exclusive venue for the arts with a strong focus on jazz. GoFundMe has been established to raise money for this project (gofundme.com/f/ bringing-jazz-to-san-luis-obispo).”

At Sunday’s concert, Gilmore and her band will perform songs such as Stevie Wonder’s “Do I Do,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “In the Stone,” and Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much.”

“For some of the jazz pieces, the band will be playing tunes by Herbie Hancock and the late Lenny White,” Gilmore added. “The band members are always a combination of professionals, Cal Poly jazz musicians, as well as some Cuesta musicians.”

In addition to Gilmore on vocals, Cal Poly Jazz Director Jamaal Baptiste will be on piano, Josh Crain on bass, Jacob Cherdak on guitar, Andre Copher on drums, Cal Poly music professor Ana Nelson on sax, and Jose Valdez on congas.

Couples who play together …

Husband-and-wife duo Bob & Wendy with special guest Paul Griffith play The Bunker SLO on Sunday, Sept. 7 (doors at 3 p.m., show at 3:30; all ages; presale $15.77 at my805tix. com or $15 at the door if any remain). Their shows usually sell out, so act quickly and expect to hear Wendy’s sparkling and emotive original songs and adroit guitar work with Bob’s stirring cello accompaniment.

Ha-ha!

Cal Poly Arts presents comedian, actor, and writer Sheng Wang at the PACSLO on Saturday, Sept. 6 (7:30 p.m.; all ages; $41 to $75 at pacslo.org). Born in Taiwan but raised in Texas and educated at Berkeley, the droll observational comic has been doing stand-up since 2002 and had his first Netflix special, Sweet & Juicy, in 2023. He was also a featured stand-up on HBO’s 2 Dope Queens, and he wrote for the ABC show Fresh Off the Boat. ∆

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

Weinviteyoutojoinusfortwodaysoflearningandfunonthecampusof C uestaCollegeinbeautifulSanLuisObispo.Spendtimewithlike-minded i ndividuals,makeconnectionswithfellowwritersandcreatives,perusethe

REVOLUTION FROM THE HEART OF NATURE

SOULFUL The Mo Betta Jazz band featuring vocalist Deborah Gilmore plays a free jazz and R&B concert at Mission Plaza on Sept. 7.

Flavor

Compassionate cuisine

The Vreamery hosts

vegan activist Miyoko Schinner at dual events on the Central Coast

“IfHelen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, I hope this is the book that launches a thousand vegan creameries around the world, each serving its own community,” writes Miyoko Schinner in the introduction to her new cookbook, The Vegan Creamery, publishing Sept. 16.

“Even more, I hope this book inspires people in home kitchens everywhere to discover the magic that lies in plant milks.

“Many have generously given my first book, Artisan Vegan Cheese, the credit for lighting the way for many to explore the subject, and in truth, there are vegan cheesemongers the world over who took their inspiration from my book.

“I have visited some of them in far-flung places, such as Budapest, London, Genoa, Rome, and Kyoto and have delighted in meeting them and tasting their creations.

“Initially, I thought I’d just do a revised edition of that book, but as I leafed through my own cashew milk-stained copy, I realized that in just over a decade from when I wrote it, my understanding of the science and artistry of plant-milk dairy had evolved so much that it needed a total rewrite.”

Schinner devotee Jennifer Golden, founder and CEO of Paso Robles’ The Vreamery, will be hosting book-signing events with Schinner at two Central Coast locations on Sept. 21, with proceeds benefiting Freedom Farms animal refuge in Creston.

“Hosting this event with Miyoko feels like a true, full-circle moment, and one filled with deep meaning and joy,” Golden said.

“[Schinner’s] first book was the very spark that ignited my journey nearly a decade ago. What began as home experimentation grew into The Vreamery—now offering the nation’s largest curated selection of artisan vegan cheese, charcuterie, and other plantbased products, with doorstep delivery.

“These events are more than just a fundraiser and/or book signings—they’re a joyful tribute to a shared vision for a more compassionate world. They celebrate what’s possible when people lead with heart and purpose, and when stories come full circle to nourish new chapters.”

The first event is a VIP experience hosted at The Vreamery at Paso Market Walk and limited to 20 guests. Highlights include intimate conversation with Schinner, a gourmet grazing table featuring The Vegan Creamery recipes prepared by The Vreamery, a personalized signed copy of the book, and curated vegan gifts.

The second function takes place at Freedom Farms, In Defense of Animals’ vegan sanctuary and headquarters. The historic 44-acre ranch was formerly owned by Hollywood celebrities Debbie Reynolds and her children Todd and Carrie Fisher. Guests will enjoy Schinner’s keynote talk, a signed book, guided tour, and gift bag.

Schinner was thrilled when Golden reached out to collaborate on the events.

products have included, from left, Rebel’s Colby Jack, Rebel’s Smoked Cheddar, Reine’s Dutch Leyden, and Reine’s Goji Cheddar.

Grate options

Miyoko Schinner booksigning events for The Vegan Creamery, publishing Sept. 16, will be held on Sept. 21 at 11 a.m. at The Vreamery at Paso Market Walk, 1803 Spring St., Paso Robles, and at 1 p.m. at Freedom Farms animal sanctuary, 4124 North Ryan Road, Creston. To purchase tickets, visit thevreamery.com. Follow the company on Instagram and Facebook @thevreamery.

“I have always loved connecting with and supporting vegan cheesemakers—especially women—so doing this together seemed like the natural thing,” Schinner said. “The whole point of my books is to democratize food that are usually ‘products’ people buy and give them the tools to make them at home, so collaborating with a business that is doing exactly this fits in with my mission.”

BOVINE Miyoko Schinner and her 10-year-old companion, Angel, reside in Nicasio, California, where Schinner operates animal sanctuary Rancho Compasión, offering a permanent home for rescued farm animals.

markets in 2018, followed by a retail shop and eatery at Paso Market Walk in 2020.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT The Vegan Creamery, by vegan chef and animal rights activist Miyoko Schinner, of

California, features both fundamental and novel recipes for enjoying plant-based cuisine at home, complemented by personal reflections.

Overnight in Parma

From The Vegan Creamery Yields 1 pound, 9 ounces

Parmigiano-Reggiano may take 24 to 36 months to age in Parma, but in your house, this one will be ready overnight. Full of umami and flavor, whether shaved or grated over pasta, or used as the base for a great Cacio e Pepe (page 193), this cheese will become a family favorite.

1/2 cup green olive brine

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sauerkraut juice

1 3/4 cups cashews (or sunflower seeds if allergic) 2/3 cup chickpea flour

2/3 cup deodorized cocoa butter, refined coconut oil, or a combination, melted

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes

3 tablespoons white miso

1/4 teaspoon vegan thermophilic culture scant 1 cup potato starch

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Schinner is particularly pleased that the events will help raise funds for Freedom Farms.

“I also am the founder of a farmed animal sanctuary, Rancho Compasión, now in our 10th year, in West Marin, so there is clearly a very large place in my heart for animals that would otherwise be commodified,” she explained.

Golden’s latest reincarnation of The Vreamery includes transitioning to a fully online marketplace, with the brick-andmortar location set to close by Oct. 1. Catering services, however, will continue to be offered throughout San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara counties.

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Send tidbits on everything food and drink to bites@newtimesslo.com.

For her keynote speech at Freedom Farms, Schinner said she plans to discuss “the role that animals at sanctuaries can play to help people find a sense of their own sanctuary and begin to think about their relationship to their food choices from a place of heart, as well as the importance of creating community as part of our vegan activism.”

Golden herself is a major force for vegan activism locally and beyond through her educational and entrepreneurial endeavors.

Originally a high school and community college teacher for predominantly at-risk students, Golden switched careers later in life, launching The Vreamery at farmers

Golden hopes to deepen The Vreamery’s impact by expanding educational offerings, launching subscription boxes, growing national partnerships, and even authoring her own cookbook.

She’s fine-tuning her Sept. 21 functions— and soliciting a few more volunteers as well—for an unforgettable experience that “beautifully weaves together plantbased culinary innovation, woman-led entrepreneurship, compassion-driven animal rescue, local culture, and global impact,” she promised. Δ

Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte’s taste buds are torn, but her gut prefers plant-based products to the real deal. Reach her at cwhyte@ newtimesslo.com.

In a blender, combine the olive brine, water, sauerkraut juice, and cashews and process on high speed until creamy and smooth. Add the chickpea flour, melted cocoa butter, nutritional yeast, and miso and process again until well incorporated. Add the culture and process briefly. Transfer the mixture to a sterilized container and put in a warm place to maintain a temperature of 100 to 110 degrees for up to 24 hours to reach a pH of around 5.1.

Set up a steamer that can hold two 6-inch round silicone or any Pyrex baking or storage pans or dishes that will allow the cheese to be 1 to 1 1⁄2 inches in depth. I use a bamboo steamer, but you can set up a steamer using any pan with a rack, some water at the bottom, and a lid for the pan.

Stir the potato starch and salt into the cheese mixture and whisk well. Pour into the baking pans. Place into the steamer, cover, and steam until the top feels dry and the internal temperature has reached over 160 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes.

Refrigerate the cheese overnight until it is completely hard. Use wherever Parmesan is called for. Store in a covered container or plastic bag in the refrigerator for two to three months.

DAIRY REDEFINED The Vreamery of Paso Robles offers the country’s largest selection of artisan vegan cheese. Past

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VREAMERY

BELOVED

COURTESY PHOTO BY JO-ANNE MCARTHUR

PHOTO COURTESY OF EVA KOLENKO/TEN SPEED PRESS

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CITATION FOR PUBLICATION

ATTORNEY OR

SUPERIOR

FORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO Courthouse Annex, 1035 Palm Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93408 Juvenile Court

CASE NAME: Vladimir Philip Sousa CASE NUMBER: 25JD00149-001

1. To: Anthony King and anyone claiming to be a parent of Vladimir Philip Sousa born on 05/19/2025 at Twin Cities Community Hospital, Templeton, California

2. A hearing will be held on October 22, 2025, at 1:15 pm in Dept. 12 located at Courthouse Annex, 1035 Palm St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93408.

*This hearing will be held remotely. If you wish to appear by telephone, your attorney in this case must notify the Court on the day of the hearing, prior to the hearing calendar. If you wish to appear in person, notify your attorney in this case. If you do not have an attorney and you wish to appear for the hearing, you must contact the court. The remote hearing will be confidential. You must not record the hearing, allow others to listen to the hearing, or disclose to others what occurs during the hearing. Participants who violate confidentiality may be subject to criminal and civil sanctions.

3. At the hearing the court will consider the recommendations of the social worker or probation officer.

4. The social worker or probation officer will recommend that your child be freed from your legal custody so that the child may be adopted. If the court follows the recommendation, all of your parental rights to the child will be terminated.

5. You have the right to be present at the hearing, to present evidence, and you have the right to be represented by an attorney. If you do not have an attorney and cannot afford to hire one, the court will appoint an attorney for you.

6. If the court terminates your parental rights, the order may be final.

7. The court will proceed with this hearing whether or not you are present.

Date: August 21, 2025 /s/ Myranda Morales, Deputy Clerk

August 28, September 4, 11, & 18, 2025

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2025-1422 (07/07/2025) 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.

OBISPO Courthouse Annex, 1035 Palm Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93408 Juvenile Court CASE NAME: Vladimir Philip Sousa CASE NUMBER: 25JD00149-001

1. To: Tatiana Sousa aka Tatiana Danielle Sousa and anyone claiming to be a parent of Vladimir Philip Sousa born on 05/19/2025 at Twin Cities Community Hospital, Templeton, California

2. A hearing will be held on October 22, 2025, at 1:15 pm in Dept. 12 located at Courthouse Annex, 1035 Palm St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93408.

*This hearing will be held remotely. If you wish to appear by telephone, your attorney in this case must notify the Court on the day of the hearing, prior to the hearing calendar. If you wish to appear in person, notify your attorney in this case. If you do not have an attorney and you wish to appear for the hearing, you must contact the court.

The remote hearing will be confidential. You must not record the hearing, allow others to listen to the hearing, or disclose to others what occurs during the hearing. Participants who violate confidentiality may be subject to criminal and civil sanctions.

3. At the hearing the court will consider the recommendations of the social worker or probation officer.

4. The social worker or probation officer will recommend that your child be freed from your legal custody so that the child may be adopted. If the court follows the recommendation, all of your parental rights to the child will be terminated.

5. You have the right to be present at the hearing, to present evidence, and you have the right to be represented by an attorney. If you do not have an attorney and cannot afford to hire one, the court will appoint an attorney for you.

6. If the court terminates your parental rights, the order may be final.

7. The court will proceed with this hearing whether or not you are present. Date: August 21,

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARROYO GRANDE AMENDING SECTIONS 2.08.030, 2.16.020, 2.17.040, 2.30.020, 2.30.030, AND 2.34.010 OF TITLE

2 (ADMINISTRATION AND PERSONNEL) OF THE ARROYO GRANDE MUNICIPAL CODE

This Ordinance Summary is published in accordance with the provisions of Government Code Section 36933. On August 26, 2025, the City Council voted 5-0 to introduce an Ordinance amending Sections 2.08.030, 2.16.020, 2.17.040, 2.30.020, 2.30.030, and 2.34.010 of Title 2 of the Arroyo Grande Municipal Code (AGMC).

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, September 9, 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. Jessica Matson, City Clerk

Publish one time, The New Times, September 4, 2025

Post: City Hall, 300 E. Branch Street, Arroyo Grande CITY

NOTICE OF

PUBLIC HEARING CITY OF PASO ROBLESCITY COUNCIL

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of El Paso de Robles will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at 6:00 p.m., at the City Council Chambers located at 1000 Spring Street, Paso Robles, CA 93446 concerning adoption of a resolution imposing proposed increases and establishing certain user and regulatory fee amendments for various City regulatory activities, programs, and services in an effort to promote cost recovery for such services provided. The proposed amendments for this public hearing include fees within the following departments/ divisions:

• Public Safety; and

• Airport; and

• Utility Related Administration (non-regular service related fees); and

• Library; and

• Recreation; and

• Administration

The information related to establishing the proposed user fees has been made publicly available at least 10 days prior to the date of the public hearing described above.

Please note, the City’s Community Development fees related to City building, planning, engineering, and development services are not proposed for increase at this public hearing and will be presented a future public hearing to be determined. Notice of such future public hearing for the proposed Community Development fee approval will be provided at a later date in compliance with state law.

At the public hearing, members of the public will be afforded an opportunity to make oral or written presentations concerning the proposed fees. Copies of the staff report and resolution describing the proposed fees will be available for review at the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall (1000 Spring Street) and on the City’s website at https://www.prcity.com no later than 72 hours preceding the hearing (copies are available for purchase for the cost of reproduction).

Questions about the proposed fees may be directed to the Administrative Services Department at (805) 237-3999 or via email at AdminServices@prcity.com

If you challenge the proposal 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 Council at, or prior to, the public hearing.

Residents and interested parties can livestream the meeting at www.prcity.com/youtube, and call (805) 865-7276 to provide public comment via phone. The phone line will open just prior to the start of the meeting and remain open throughout the meeting to ensure the opportunity to comment on each item heard by the Council, other than brief reports and announcements by staff or the Council.

Written public comments can be submitted via email to cityclerk@prcity.com prior to 12:00 noon on the day of the Council meeting to be posted as an addendum to the Agenda. If submitting written comments in advance of the meeting, please note the agenda item by number or name. City Council meetings will be live-streamed during the meeting and also available to play later on YouTube by accessing the following link: www.prcity.com/youtube. Any writing or document pertaining to an open session item on this agenda which is distributed to a majority of the City Council after the posting of this agenda will be available for public inspection at the time the subject writing or document is distributed. The writing or document will be available for public review in the City Clerk’s Office, 1000 Spring Street, Paso Robles, CA, during normal business hours, and may be posted on the City’s web site at www.prcity.com/meetings

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT Any individual, who because of a disability needs special assistance to attend or participate in this meeting, may request assistance by contacting the City Clerk’s Office (805) 237-3960. Whenever possible, requests should be made four (4) working days in advance of the meeting.

September 4 & 11, 2025

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 16, 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 Urban Lot Splits and Two-Unit Developments in Accordance with Senate Bill 9 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 urban lot splits and eligible two-unit developments, 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 September 4, 2025

CITY OF MORRO BAY NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Morro Bay Planning Commission will hold a PUBLIC HEARING on Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 16, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the Veteran’s Memorial Building, located at 209 Surf Street in the City of Morro Bay, to consider the following matter. Staff reports, plans, and other information related to this case is available for public review at the Community Development Department, 955 Shasta Avenue, Morro Bay, CA and also on the city’s website at Meeting Agendas and Minutes | City of Morro Bay - Official Website three (3) business days prior to the hearing.

Ways to participate, watch, and submit public comment for this meeting are provided on the agenda. Written comments are also accepted by the Planning Commission via email at planningcommission@morrobayca.gov or by mail prior to the meeting to the Community Development Department, c/o City Hall at 595 Harbor Street, Morro Bay, California, 93442. Case No: Major Revision (MAJ25-001) to Conditional Use Permit CUP24-04

Site Location: 431, 451, 471, and 495 Embarcadero Road, Morro Bay, California.

Proposal: A request to modify the approved floor plan and authorized uses of an existing approximately 3,000 squarefoot office building, which is part of a previously approved seven (7) room hotel and retail development on City lease sites at 431, 451, 471, and 495 Embarcadero Road. The previous approval authorized renovation of the existing office building into public restrooms, retail space, and a restaurant / kitchen area. The Major Revision would change the approved floor plans and mix of uses in the office building to include three (3) additional hotel rooms on the second floor (increasing the total number of hotel rooms to 10); and two (2) public restrooms, a restaurant/kitchen area; and marine-related visitor serving area on the first floor. The Major Revision would also revise Condition #69 to defer to the Coastal Development Permit to establish applicable low-cost visitor serving accommodation requirements.

CEQA: The proposed project is categorically exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines 15332 (In-fill Development Projects).

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions.

Staff Contact: Airlin M. Singewald, Community Development Director, 805-772-6291, asingewald@morrobayca.gov.

Airlin Singewald

Community Development Director NOTICE THURSDAY September 4, 2025 -- ONE TIME ONLY

PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING

The San Luis Obispo Planning Commission will hold a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo. Meetings may be viewed on Government Access Channel 20 or streamed live from the City’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/CityofSanLuisObispo. Public comment, prior to the start of the meeting, may be submitted in writing via U.S. Mail delivered to the City Clerk’s Office at 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 or by email to advisorybodies@ slocity.org.

PUBLIC HEARING ITEMS:

• Review of amendments to Title 17 of the City’s Municipal Code (Zoning Regulations) Section 17.02.020 to include an “Applicability” subsection. This project is exempt from Environmental Review under the General Rule exemption (CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3)); Project Address: Citywide; Case #: CODE-0666-2025; City of San Luis Obispo, applicant.

Contact: Rachel Cohen – 805-781-7574 – rcohen@slocity.org

The Planning Commission may also discuss other hearing or business items before or after the item(s) 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. Report(s) are typically available six days in advance of the meeting and can be viewed on the City’s website, under the Public Meeting Agendas web page: https://www.slocity.org/government/mayorand-city-council/agendas-and-minutes. Please call The Community Development Department at (805) 781-7170 for more information, or to request an agenda report. The Planning Commission meeting will be televised live on Charter Cable Channel 20 and live streaming on the City’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/CityofSanLuisObispo. September 4, 2025

THE URBAN COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO 2024-2025 CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION REPORT (CAPER) IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT

This notice is to announce the start of a 15-day public review and comment period for the Urban County of San Luis Obispo Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for Program Year 2024-2025. This review period begins today, September 4, 2025, and will end on September 21, 2025.

The CAPER is an annual report required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It details the County’s use of federal grant funds, including:

• Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

• Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME)

• Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESG).

These funds were used to carry out activities aligned with the goals and priorities outlined in the 2020–2024 Consolidated Plan, which addresses housing, community development, and economic needs.

Members of the public are encouraged to review the draft CAPER and provide feedback on how well the Urban County has met its objectives as outlined by the 2020-2024 Consolidated Plan.

• View the Draft CAPER: slohomeless.com

• Submit Comments or Questions: Email SS_HSDinfo@co.slo.ca.us

• Deadline for Public Comments: September 21, 2025 September 4, 2025

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

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 28, 2025. /s/ James W. Hamilton, CPA, San Luis Obispo County Tax Collector

Published in the New Times on August 28, and September 4, 2025.

NOTICE OF INTENT TO ADOPT A MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN of the availability of the following document:

Partially Recirculated Initial Study / Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Judicial Council of California (Judicial Council) New San Luis Obispo Courthouse Project (Project) (SCH No. 2025050800)

The Judicial Council proposes to demolish existing buildings at 1144 Monterey Street and 969 Toro Street and construct and operate a new courthouse on a 1.43-acre property at the corner of Monterey Street and Toro Street in the city of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California. In accordance with procedures set forth in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Judicial Council completed an Initial Study (IS) and determined that a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) is required for this Project. The Judicial Council is the lead agency for the preparation of the IS/MND. Subsequent to a prior public review period, the Judicial Council has received new information that merits partial recirculation of the IS/ MND.

In accordance with Section 15105 of CEQA, the written public review period for the partially recirculated IS/MND commences on Thursday, September 4, 2025, and ends at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 3, 2025. Written comments will be accepted until the conclusion of the public comment period and should be directed to the attention of Kim Bobic, Senior Project Manager; Judicial Council of California, Facilities Services; 2860 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 400, Sacramento, CA 95833-3509. E-mail: Kim. Bobic-T@jud.ca.gov.

The partially recirculated IS/MND and the full original IS/MND, including appendices, are available for review at the Judicial Council office by scheduled appointment at 455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 941023688 during business hours (Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). The partially recirculated IS/MND is also available for review at the San Luis Obispo Library at 955 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93403 during regular business hours (varies by weekday). The partially recirculated IS/MND and the full original IS/MND can also be reviewed online at:

https://courts.ca.gov/facilities/san-luis-obispo-countynew-san-luis-obispo-courthouse

September 4, 2025

PUBLISHED DELINQUENT LIST

(Revenue and Taxation Code Section 3371)

I, James W. Hamilton, CPA, San Luis Obispo County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector, State of California, certify that:

The real properties listed below were declared to be in tax-default at 12:01 a.m. on July 1, 2022, by operation of law.  The listed real property assessments are only those for which a copy of the latest delinquent reminder letter was returned as undeliverable by the United States Postal Service.  The declaration of default was due to non-payment of the total amount due for the taxes, assessments and other charges levied in 2021/22 which were a lien on the listed real property. The name of the assessee, the assessment number, which describes the property, and the total that is due on or before September 30, 2025, is listed.

Tax-defaulted real property may be redeemed by payment of all unpaid taxes and assessments, together with additional penalties and fees as prescribed by law, or it may be redeemed under an installment plan.  On July 1, 2027, if the taxes remain unpaid, or there is not an active Annual Installment Plan of Redemption, the property will become subject to tax sale.

All information concerning redemption of taxdefaulted property, including the initiation of an installment plan, will be furnished upon request by the office of James W. Hamilton, CPA, San Luis Obispo County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector, at 1055 Monterey St., Rm. D-290, San Luis Obispo, California, 93408. Telephone inquiries may be directed to (805) 781-5836. Information on prior year tax amounts can also be found on the Tax Collector’s website at: www.slocountytax.org.

ASSESSMENT NUMBERING SYSTEM EXPLANATION

The assessment number refers to the Assessor’s map book, the map page, the block on the map (if applicable), and to the individual parcel number on the map page or in the block.

Assessment numbers beginning with “902” indicate a timeshare property. The Assessor’s parcel maps and further explanation of the assessment numbering system are available in the Assessor’s Office, 1055 Monterey St., Rm. D-360, San Luis Obispo, California, 93408.

Assessee Assessment Redemption Number Amount

Beebe William 012-252-031

$2,367.16

Katoch Tapinder S & Renu R 023-233-058 $1,132.47

Maddalena Andrew Tre Etal 028-413-001 $435.76

Gutierrez Jose AR 049-213-016 $7,280.69

Evans Gregory S 064-345-014 $326.35

Evans Gregory S 064-345-015 $326.35

Marquez Ivan 082-161-028 $533.57

Gorman Terry A 082-171-028 $1,069.75

Hinojosa Carlos Tre 082-291-020 $1,247.24

Sanchez Gary Heirs Of 083-111-015 $528.85

Bourassa Karin Etal

083-171-041

$508.74

Bourassa Karin Etal 083-171-042 $508.74

Pecot Maridel M Tre 084-061-006 $584.02

Mendoza Salvador V 084-141-021 $395.28

Mourey Richard W 084-221-047 $488.81

Marquez Teresita P 084-341-028 $533.57

Lafferty Margaret 084-381-009 $613.29

Barton Scott 084-441-055 $613.29

Cinquini M Etal 084-461-025 $533.57

Laurel Roberto Jr & Mayra V 091-194-060 $6,151.92

Simmons Camilla V Tre Etal 096-231-073 $260.64

Diamond Resorts San Luis Bay Development LLC 902-000-336 $386.72

Stuart Aurora R Tre 902-010-931 $386.72

I certify under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

/s/ JAMES W. HAMILTON, CPA                        San Luis Obispo County Auditor-Controller-TreasurerTax Collector

Executed at San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, on August 28, 2025.

Published in New Times on August 28, September 4, and September 11, 2025.

COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO

DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & BUILDING

Trevor Keith, Department Director

NOTICE OF INTENT TO ADOPT FOCUSED MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION/NEAR MISS

WHO County of San Luis Obispo

WHAT

A Draft Focused Mitigated Negative Declaration/Near Miss Exemption for the Torrente Major Grading Permit (GRAD202500040 / ED25-0133) is complete and available for public review and comment. The document addresses biological resource impacts that may be associated with activities related to the implementation of the project. The Environmental Coordinator, after completion of the Focused Initial Study, finds that there is substantial evidence that the project would not have a significant effect on the environment, and the preparation of a Focused Environmental Impact Report is not necessary. Therefore, a Focused Mitigated Negative Declaration/Near Miss Exemption (pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21000 et seq., and CA Code of Regulations Section 15000 et seq.) has been issued on August 27, 2025. Mitigation measures are proposed to address impacts associated with Biological Resources, and will be included as conditions of approval.

PROJECT

The proposed project is a request by Joe Torrente for a Major Grading Permit (GRAD2025-00040) to authorize the grading for the construction of a 1,894-square-foot single-family residence with a 528-square-foot attached garage, septic system and associated site improvements. The proposed project will disturb approximately 0.83 acres of the 2.32-acre parcel, including 561-cubic-yards of cut and fill. The proposed parcel is within the Agricultural land use category and is located at west end of Reindeer Place (APN: 015144-001), approximately 5.5 miles east of the community of Paso Robles. The project site is in the El Pomar-Estrella Sub-area of the North County Planning Area.

WHERE:

Copies of the proposed Focused Mitigated Negative Declaration/ Near Miss Exemption and all of the associated documents referenced in the Focused Mitigated Negative Declaration/ Near Miss Exemption are available for review at the County of San Luis Obispo Department of Planning and Building, 976 Osos Street, County Government Center Room 200, San Luis Obispo, CA 93408 and also on our website at https://sanluisobispocountycaenergovweb.tylerhost.net/apps/selfservice#/permit/9dca4ef88e1d-4fa8-aab0-8c36846bba70?tab=attachments

HOW TO COMMENT OR GET MORE INFORMATION:

Anyone interested in commenting on the Focused Mitigated Negative Declaration/Near Miss Exemption should email your comments or questions to Andy Knighton, Project Manager, at aknighton@co.slo.ca.us or mail your written comments to the County of San Luis Obispo Department of Planning and Building at 976 Osos St., Rm 200, San Luis Obispo, CA 93408. The 30-day public review period for this Draft Focused Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration/Near Miss Exemption begins August 27, 2025 and ends September 27, 2025. Written comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. on the last day of the review period to be considered. If you would like more information about this project, please contact Andy Knighton, Project Manager, at aknighton@co.slo. ca.us or (805)781-4142

DATED: August 25, 2025 September 4, 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 19, 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 Everett Riley for a Minor Use Permit (N-DRC2024-00043) for grading (as-built) in excess of 1 acre (2.9 acres) for a phased 5,625 square foot accessory structure with 1,149 square feet to be later converted to an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) within the structure. The project is located at 7705 Creston Rd., approximately 4.5 miles southeast of the city of Paso Robles. The site is within the Rural Residential (RR) land use designation within the El PomarEstrella Sub-area of the North County Planning Area and within Supervisorial District 5.

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). (ED250140)

County File Number: N-DRC2024-00043

Supervisorial District: District 5

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 035-231-021

Date Accepted: 12/27/2024

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 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 9/12/2025 at 4:30 PM. The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on N-DRC2024-00043.”

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 September 4, 2025

WHO County of San Luis Obispo Planning Department Hearing

WHEN Friday, September 19, 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 Tim Alvord for a Minor Use Permit/Coastal Development Permit (C-DRC2024-00013) to allow for the demolition of an existing approximately 1,595 square-foot single-story single-family residence and construction of a new approximately 2,243 square- foot two-story singlefamily residence, 390 square-foot attached garage, and associated site improvements. The project will result in the disturbance of the entire 5,335 square-foot parcel. The proposed project is within the Residential Multi-Family land use category and is located at 314 Cayucos Creek Road, in the community of Cayucos. The project is in the Coastal Zone and in the Estero Planning Area.

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

County File Number: C-DRC2024-00013

Supervisorial District: District 2

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 064-024-026

Date Accepted: 3/11/2025

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 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 9/12/2025 at 4:30 PM. The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on C-DRC2024-00013.”

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 September 4, 2025 NOTICE OF

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 19, 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 James Moore for a Minor Use Permit / Coastal Development Permit (C-DRC2025-00009) to allow an existing 1,527 square-foot single-family residence to be used as a vacation rental. The proposed project is located within the Residential Suburban land use category and is located at 1255 Scenic Way, in the community of Los Osos. The site is located within the Estero Planning Area of the Coastal Zone.

Also to be considered is the determination that this project is categorically exempt from the requirements of CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (Class 1 - Existing Facilities).

County File Number: C-DRC2025-00009

Supervisorial District: District 2

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 038-711-033 Date Accepted: 5/2/2025

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 Mason Denning, Project Manager in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-1298

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 9/12/2025 at 4:30 PM.

The letter or email must include the language “I would like to request a hearing on C-DRC2025-00009.”

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).

Secretary Planning Department Hearing September 4, 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 19, 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 Hearing to consider a request by Thomas Viola to name a new road to DRIFTWOOD CANYON LANE. Driftwood Meadows Lane will serve four (4) parcels. This road segment joins Willow Road and is immediately south of the Black Lake village reserve line. The road is located within the South County Inland Sub Area of the South County Planning Area. If approved, all addressable structures with access along this road will be assigned new permanent situs addresses to DRIFTWOOD CANYON LANE.

County File Number: DTM2025-00018

Supervisorial District: District 4

Assessor Parcel Number(s): 091-204-056 (+ 3 more)

Date Accepted: 8/14/2025

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 Blake Maule, Project Manager, in the Department of Planning and Building at the address below or by telephone at 805-781-4163.

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

September 4, 2025

Ysabel Eighmy,

DATE: September 4, 2025

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

SUBJECT: City of Grover Beach 2025 Annual Storm Drain Inlet Cleaning

The City of Grover Beach is requesting bids from qualified Contractors to furnish all labor, materials, tools and equipment necessary to complete the City’s annual storm drain inlet cleaning. The full scope of work is listed below.

TIME AND PLACE FOR SUBMISSION

BIDS WILL BE CONSIDERED IF RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL BY 2:00 P.M. ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th, 2025.

City of Grover Beach Attn: Billy Haas

154 S. 8th Street, Phone: (805) 473-4530 Grover Beach, CA 93433 mail: bhaas@groverbeach.org

• THE JOB IS PREVAILING WAGE.

• CONTRACTOR MUST POSSESS AN “A” LICENSE. THE CITY CAN CONSIDER CONTRACTORS POSSESSING A “C-34” CONTRACTOR LICENSE

• CONTRACTOR SHALL OBTAIN AND MAINTAIN DURING THE PERFORMANCE OF CONSTRUCTION INSURANCE COVERAGE CERTIFICATE OF LIABILITY INSURANCE WITH AT LEAST $2 MILLION IN GENERAL LIABILITY COVERAGE AND A GC 2012 ADDITIONAL INSURED ENDORSEMENT

• CONTRACTOR MUST HAVE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION INSURANCE.

• CONTRACTOR MUST POSSESS/OBTAIN A CITY OF GROVER BEACH BUSINESS TAX CERTIFICATE UPON AWARD OF CONTRACT.

• CONTRACTOR MUST POSSESS/OBTAIN A CITY OF GROVER BEACH ENCROACHMENT PERMIT FOR WORK IN THE PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY.

City of Grover Beach 2025 Annual Storm Drain Inlet Cleaning SCOPE OF WORK:

The City of Grover Beach is requesting bids from qualified Contractors to furnish all labor, materials, tools and equipment necessary to complete the cleaning, inspection and reporting of the City’s stormwater drain inlets, stormwater structures, and appurtenances. The project includes the cleaning and removal of accumulated sediment, debris, then inspecting and reporting of 253 of 278 City owned drain inlet locations identified as “SDDI-###” shown in Exhibit A. The City’s last stormwater inlet drain cleaning was completed in December 2024. The Contractor is responsible for determining the appropriate location(s) to dispose of removed debris and sediment as needed. Work is required to commence by October 27th, 2025 and shall be completed in the provided number of working days. The proposer shall provide pricing for any and all anticipated activities, which include the following:

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The City of Grover Beach is requesting bids from qualified Contractors to furnish all labor, materials, tools and equipment necessary to complete the City’s annual storm drain inlet cleaning. The full scope of work is listed below. The City desires to enter into a one (1) year contract with three optional one (1) year contract extensions when agreed upon by both parties. A notice to proceed will be issued upon award of the contract by the City. The City of Grover Beach reserves the right to terminate or suspend this contract at any time.

BID ITEM DESCRIPTIONS:

BID ITEM 1 - Mobilization - The amount bid for Mobilization/ Demobilization shall not exceed 5.0% of the Contractor’s bid total. Any amount bid in excess of the stipulated 5.0% cap will not be paid until project completion.

Payment for this item will be made at the lump sum price named in the Bid Quantities under Item No. 1, which shall constitute full compensation for all work and expenditures required to mobilize, provide bonds, insurance, obtain required permits, take preconstruction photos and videos, prepare project schedule, testing, site maintenance, and cleanup, remove and reinstall existing site facilities as required, comply with all General and Supplementary Conditions, demobilize and provide cleanup of construction site complete in place, as required by Contract Documents with sole exclusion of payments to be made as defined herein for other items in Bid Schedule. Work to be paid under this item shall also include furnishing, setting up, and removing Contractor’s operations at project site including temporary offices, utilities, staging areas, security, etc. Work shall also include furnishing any temporary construction facilities and trailers required by Contract Documents.

BID ITEM 2 – Cleaning, Inspection, and Reporting – The intent of cleaning is to both ensure the storm drain system is free of obstructions and maintains maximum capacity, and to allow inspection of storm drain inlets and pipes. Storm drain inlet cleaning is defined as the cleaning and debris removal of storm drain pipes, inlets, catch basins, manholes, culverts, outfalls, and similar structures using hydro-jetting or other proposed methods for the 253 City owned drain inlet locations identified as “SDDI-###” shown in Exhibit A Contractors may suggest other cleaning methods that will achieve these goals. Cleaning means and methods shall:

• Prevent the discharge of any dirty, turbid, or chlorinated water from any outflow on the storm drain network. All flow from cleaning shall be collected and removed/disposed of legally by the Contractor. Some disposal options include filtering/treating water to meet requirements for discharge into surrounding waters or procuring a discharge permit from California Central Coast Water Quality Control Board to discharge into their sanitary sewer system.

• Remove sufficient debris to allow for inspection of all pipe surfaces in compliance with NASSCO standards.

• Remove debris/material that can disrupt flow, reduce system capacity, or result in blockages/backups.

• Debris management by contractor, including storage, analytics, and off haul.

Inspection: Contractor is required to complete and provide, Exhibit B “Storm Drain Inspection Report Form”, for the 253 City owned drain inlet locations identified as “SDDI-###” shown in Exhibit A Contractor shall use the storm drain inlet numbering convention seen in Exhibit A to complete the “Location Facility ID” portion of Exhibit B Include the following on the Storm Drain Inspection Report Form:

• All stormwater system condition information such as issues with flow lines, screens grates, manholes, internal walls, intake pipe, intake screen, hatches, welds, overflow structures, sediment, and any identified discrepancies.

• A description of concrete conditions denoting any problem areas such as cracking, spalling or deterioration.

• Estimates of corrosion both above and below the waterline based on NACE and SSPC guidelines.

Contractor shall take and provide high resolution digital photos to

numbering convention seen in Exhibit A within the title of the photo media file.

Reporting: Each of the 253 City owned drain inlet locations identified as “SDDI-###” shown in Exhibit A are required to include the following in a combined pdf document:

a. Page 1 and 2 - Completed scanned Storm Drain Inspection Report Form

b. Page 3 - Before cleaning photo(s)

c. Page 4 - After cleaning photo(s)

Title each pdf with the “SDDI-###” inlet location identification described in Exhibit A. Combine all pdf documents on a flash drive. The electronic files shall be on two (2) flash drives and delivered to the City within ten calendar days of the final date of work.

BID ITEM 3 – Large Volume Cleaning, Inspection, and Reporting

(As Needed) Last year’s stormwater inlet drain cleaning required additional cleaning effort and debris removal for the following locations. This bid item should be for cleaning in excess of the standard inlet cleaning for the number of locations listed here. This bid quantity will be paid only if excess cleaning is required at each of these locations again this year:

• Inlet Numbers SDDI-187 and SDDI-188 and pipe between located at the intersection of Grand and Beach Parking Lot.

• Inlet Numbers SDDI-259 and SDDI-260 and pipe between located at North 9th and Ramona Ave

• Inlet Number SDDI-225, clean pipe to creek (Owens)

• Inlet Number SDDI-224, clean pipe to creek (Mono)

• Inlet Numbers SDDI-147, SDDI-148, and SDDI-150 located near the intersection of 14th and Grand Avenue

• Inlet Numbers SDDI-151 and SDDI-164 clean pipe under road located near the intersection of 13th and Grand Avenue

BID ITEM 4 –Traffic Control for Inlet Cleaning on Major City Streets

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 315, 249, 249A, 249B, 157 - Hwy 1

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 201, 202, 203, 199, 302, 303, 208, 207, 206 - N Oak Park Blvd

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 22, 21, 3, 65, 64 - S Oak Park Blvd

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 188, 187, 184, 183, 241, 247, 262, 180, 151, 150, 178, 261, 176, 320, 172, 253, 252, 175 - West Grand Avenue

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 70, 71, 38, 35, 34, 31 - Farroll Rd

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 173, 171, 194, 192, 193 - N 4th Street

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 74, 73, 63, 244, 123, 124 - S 4th Street

• Inlet Numbers SSDI 304, 305 - El Camino Real

OPTIONAL PRE-BID JOB SITE WALK AT CONTRACTOR’S REQUEST

Bidders interested in submitting a bid for this project may request an optional site walk. Bidders must coordinate with Billy Haas by email at bhaas@groverbeach.org or (805) 473-4530 to request a site walk before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 18th, 2025.

BIDDER INQUIRIES

Bidder inquiries shall be submitted in writing via email to the City of Grover Beach, Public Works Department, at bhaas@groverbeach.org

The cutoff time that the City will accept bidder’s inquiries is 5:00 p.m. on Thursday September 18th, 2025. The City will respond to bidder’s inquiries via bidding addenda. Any such inquiries, submitted after the cutoff time of receiving bidder’s inquiries, will not be treated as a bid protest.

WORK PERIOD

The work shall be completed within Fifteen (15) working days. Work shall generally be performed between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, excluding City observed Holidays. All work must be coordinated with the Public Works Department and Corporation Yard Operations. At the Contractor’s request, the City may allow work on evenings and weekends that fall within the 7 working day period in order to facilitate completion of the work within the allotted time and minimize disruption to City staff and operations. No evening, weekend, or holiday work will be allowed without prior written approval by the Public Works Director/City Engineer.

COOPERATION

Should construction be underway by the City, other agencies, utility providers, or other contractors within or adjacent to the limits of Work specified or should work of any other nature be underway by other forces within or adjacent to said limits, then Contractor shall cooperate with all such other contractors or other forces to the end that any delay or hindrance to their work will be avoided. The City reserves the right to perform other or additional work at or near the site at any time, by the use of other forces.

When necessary, Contractor shall so conduct operations as to permit access to the site and provide time for utility work to be accomplished during normal work hours during the progress of the Work.

During the progress of the Work under this Contract, these projects may be in progress within or near the Work area of this Contract. City Projects (Capital Improvement Program) | Grover Beach, CA – Official Website

COMPENSATION

For all services which the Contractor has agreed to perform, the City of Grover Beach shall pay to the Contractor in accordance with the Contractor’s submitted bid pricing and any negotiated changes or additional work agreed upon after award of the contract.

The City reserves the right to delete any portion of the work described prior to the beginning of the work and the Contractor shall not be compensated for that work.

METHOD AND CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

Bids from a responsive and responsible contractor shall be received and evaluated. The contractor that submits the lowest bid shall be selected for the project.

SUBMITTAL OF BID

Bids shall be accepted only if received on the provided Bid Schedule sheet.

The right is reserved by the City to reject any or all bids and to evaluate the bids submitted. The City further reserves the right to waive any informalities or minor irregularities in the bid.

No bidder may withdraw his bid for a period of sixty (60) working days after the date set for the opening thereof.

Dated this 4th day of September 2025, at the City of Grover Beach, California.

City of Grover Beach STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Gregory A. Ray, P.E.

Public Works Director/City Engineer

First Publication: September 4, 2025, in The New Times

Second Publication: September 11, 2025, in The New Times

Free Will Astrology by Rob Brezsny

Homework: Give yourself a second chance at a worthy goal! Newsletter.freewillastrology.com

ARIES

(March 21-April 19): Austin Curtis was a prominent Black scientist whose work had spectacularly practical applications. Among his successes: He developed many new uses for peanut byproducts, including rubbing oils for pain relief. His work exploited the untapped potential of materials that others neglected or discarded. I urge you to adopt a similar strategy in the coming weeks, Aries: Be imaginative as you repurpose scraps and leftovers. Convert afterthoughts into useful assets. Breakthroughs could come from compost heaps, forgotten files, or half-forgotten ideas. You have the power to find value where others see junk.

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20): In Polynesian navigation, sailors read the subtle rise and fall of ocean swells to find islands and chart their course. They also observe birds, winds, stars, and cloud formations. The technique is called wayfinding. I invite you to adopt your own version of that strategy, Taurus. Trust waves and weather rather than maps. Authorize your body to sense the future in ways that your brain can’t. Rely more fully on what you see and sense rather than what you think. Are you willing to dwell in the not-knowingness? Maybe go even further: Be excited about dwelling in the not-knowingness. Don’t get fixated on plotting the whole journey. Instead, assume that each day’s signs will bring you the information you need.

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20): The umbrella thorn acacia is an African tree whose roots grow up to 115 feet deep to tap hidden water beneath the desert floor. Above ground, it may look like a scraggly cluster of green, but underground it is a masterpiece of reach and survival. I see you as having resemblances to this tree these days, Gemini. Others may only see your surface gestures and your visible productivity. But you know how deep your roots run and how far you are reaching to nourish yourself. Don’t underestimate the power of your attunement to your core. Draw all you need from that primal reservoir.

CANCER

(June 21-July 22): To make a tabla drum sing, the artisan adds a black patch of iron filings and starch at the center of the drumhead. Called a syahi it creates complex overtones and allows the musician to summon both pitch and rhythm from the same surface. Let’s imagine, Cancerian, that you will be like that drum in the coming weeks. A spot that superficially looks out of place may actually be what gives your life its music. Your unique resonance will come not in spite of your idiosyncratic pressure points, but because of them. So don’t aim for sterile perfection. Embrace the irregularity that sings.

LEO

(July 23-Aug. 22): There’s a Zen motto: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” I hope you apply that wisdom in the coming weeks, Leo. Your breakthrough moments of insight have come or will come soon. But your next move should not consist of being self-satisfied or inert. Instead, I hope you seek integration. Translate your innovations into your daily rhythm. Turn the happy accidents into enduring improvements. The progress that comes next won’t be as flashy or visible, but it’ll be just as crucial.

VIRGO

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The Gross National Product (GNP) is a standard of economic success by which countries gauge their health. It reflects the world’s obsession with material wealth. But the Buddhist nation of Bhutan has a different accounting system: Gross National Happiness (GNH). It includes factors like the preservation of the environment, enrichment of the culture, and quality of governance. Here’s an example of how Bhutan has raised its GNH. Its scenic beauty could generate a huge tourist industry. But strict limits have been placed on the number of foreign visitors, ensuring the land won’t be trampled and despoiled. I would love to see you take a similar GNH inventory, Virgo. Tally how well you have loved and been loved. Acknowledge your victories and awakenings. Celebrate the beauty of your life.

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In Japanese haiku, poets may reference the lingering scent of flowers as a metaphor for a trace of something vivid that continues to be evocative after the event has passed. I suspect you understand this quite well right now. You are living in such an after-scent. A situation, encounter, or vision seems to have ended, but its echo is inviting you to remain attentive. Here’s my advice: Keep basking in the reverberations. Let your understandings and feelings continue to evolve. Your assignment is to allow the original experience to complete its transmission. The full blossoming needs more time to unfold.

SCORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the Australian desert, there’s a phenomenon called desert varnish. It’s a thin, dark coating of clay, iron, and manganese oxides. It forms over rocks due to microbial activity and prolonged exposure to wind and sun. Over time, these surfaces become canvases for Indigenous artists to create images. I like to think of their work as storytelling etched into endurance. In the coming weeks, Scorpio, consider using this marvel as a metaphor. Be alert for the markings of your own epic myth as they appear on the surfaces of your life. Summon an intention to express the motifs of your heroic story in creative ways. Show the world the wisdom you have gathered during your long, strange wanderings.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In Indigenous Australian lore, the Dreamtime is a parallel dimension overlapping the material world, always present and accessible through ritual and listening. Virtually all Indigenous cultures throughout history have conceived of and interacted with comparable realms. If you are open to the possibility, you now have an enhanced capacity to draw sustenance from this otherworld. I encourage you to go in quest of help and healing that may only be available there. Pay close attention to your dreams. Ask your meditations to give you long glimpses of the hidden magic.

CAPRICORN

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Saturn is your ruling planet and archetype. In the old myth of the god Saturn, he rules time, which is not an enemy but a harvester. He gathers what has ripened. I believe the coming weeks will feature his metaphorical presence, Capricorn. You are primed to benefit from ripening. You are due to collect the fruits of your labors. This process may not happen in loud or dramatic ways. A relationship may deepen. A skill may get fully integrated. A long-running effort may coalesce. I say it’s time to celebrate! Congratulate yourself for having built with patience and worked through the shadows. Fully register the fact that your labor is love in slow motion.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In Greek mythology, the constellation Aquarius was linked to a heroic character named Ganymede. The great god Zeus made this beautiful man the cupbearer to the gods. And what drink did Ganymede serve? Ambrosia, the divine drink of immortality. In accordance with astrological omens, I’m inviting you to enjoy a Ganymede-like phase in the coming weeks. Please feel emboldened to dole out your gorgeous uniqueness and weirdness to all who would benefit from it. Let your singular authenticity pour out freely. Be an overflowing source of joie de vivre and the lust for life.

PISCES

(Feb. 19-March 20): In 1932, trailblazing aviator Amelia Earhart made a nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic, steering through icy winds and mechanical trouble. When she landed, she said she had been “too busy” to be scared. This is an excellent motto for you now, Pisces: “too busy to be scared.” Not because you should ignore your feelings, but because immersion in your good work, mission, and devotion will carry you through any momentary turbulence. You now have the power to throw yourself so completely into your purpose that fear becomes a background hum. ∆