SLO LIFE Magazine Apr/May 2017

HOW

• It is important to be prepared for any type of emergency that could impact San Luis Obispo County. In the unlikely event of an emergency at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, it’s important to know if your home, workplace, or children’s schools are within the Emergency Planning Zone as well as any actions you may be directed to take. Your plan should include any assistance needed by elderly family members, those with medical needs, as well as your family pets.

• In an emergency, officials may direct protective actions to protect public health and safety. It is important to stay tuned to local radio and TV stations throughout the emergency to receive current information and actions you may need to take.

• For more information on how to prepare, visit: www.slocounty.ca.gov/oes or call (805) 781-5011.

Q&A

The newest member of the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors, JOHN PESCHONG, stops in for a visit.

Music

With a solo album already under her belt, songwriter REESE GALIDO talks about what influenced her unique brand of music.

On the Rise

San Luis Obispo High School senior KANNAN FREYALDENHOVEN performs in the classroom, on the court, and in concert.

Dwellin g

Four couples unite to breathe new life and purpose into this ranch-style home. Architecture

In partnership with the American Institute of Architects, we present two top-ranking projects along the Central Coast designed by local architects.

Real Estate

We share the year-to-date statistics of home sales for both the city and the county of San Luis Obispo.

Explore

Out and about, PADEN HUGHES enjoys a taste of local flavor.

Health

Always on the trail of what’s hot and what’s not, we’ve chased down the latest and greatest in health trends.

Storytellers’ Corner

New York Times bestselling author FRANZ WISNER explores the magic behind a successful business.

Insight

A fter analyzing the numbers behind Cal Poly’s demand for San Luis Obispo’s off-campus rentals, many readers were left wondering: What about Cuesta?

Taste

Resident foodie JAIME LEWIS discovers the many diverse and delicious ways to prepare and devour the most unassuming veggie—cauliflower.

Kitchen

Spring is in the air and nothing says Easter like deviled eggs. CHEF JESSIE RIVAS turns tradition on its head with his fresh, unique recipes.

Wine Notes

With our local vineyards recently flooded by rainstorms, JEANETTE TROMPETER wonders how the wine grapes are faring. Check out this new feature for the scoop.

Brew

Beer enthusiast BRANT MYERS tours the newly expanded SLO Brew facilities and shares his thoughts.

Happenings

Looking for something to do? We’ve got you covered. Check out the calendar to discover the best events around the Central Coast in April and May.

Priced new furniture lately? Come in and see what you can save by shopping in an upscale consignment store. Timeless Treasures Home Consignments offers a unique, eclectic collection of gently used fine home furnishings ranging from contemporary to antique— furniture, home decor, art , rugs and so much more! Come in and let our knowledgeable, friendly and courteous staff help you find that perfect treasure!

Ammu

Recently, I was asked to give the toast at my grandmother’s 95th birthday party. It was an honor, but, to be honest, also quite humbling.

My mind wandered. What was I going to say? My grandma—my cousins and I call her Ammu—has achieved rock star status in our family, so the pressure was on. I started off by Googling her birthday: March 10, 1922. Wow, I thought to myself, it was the day Mahatma Gandhi was thrown into prison for sedition. That’s heavy stuff. But not as heavy as all the other stuff she lived through, and personally experienced. The family farm went bust during The Great Depression. She lost her little brother during World War II. Yet, despite the setbacks, and there were many, she always kept moving forward. As part of my preparation, I talked to family members who have known her the longest. Even though I had heard all of the stories before, for some reason I thought about them differently this time, especially when viewed through the period of history that I have lived so far.

To contrast with Ammu, who is part of The Greatest Generation—a remarkable group of Americans who selflessly banded together to save the world from tyranny—I am from Generation X, also known as the “slacker/loser” generation. And, I am a card-carrying member. Right now, as I ponder my thoughts and type this letter, I’ve got a Nirvana album playing in the background, and Kurt Cobain is singing “Dumb”: I’m not like them, but I can pretend/The day is done and I’m having fun/I think I’m dumb/Maybe just happy. Like my taste in music, my sense of style veers toward the early 90’s, too. “Grunge” is my preferred look; give me a flannel, some ratty jeans, a pair of Sambas, and I’m good. And similar to many of my fellow Gen Xers, I’m pretty much skeptical of everything and reluctant to join anything.

It has been said that people are shaped by the times in which they have lived. Ammu grew up with her family huddled around the radio listening to F.D.R. talk about “fear itself,” sometimes wondering when the next meal would come. My friends and I, on the other hand, were sprawled on the couch watching “Thriller” on M.T.V. Ammu could tell you all about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and where she was when it happened. I can tell you about Darth Vader walking down the hallway of a rebel ship in the opening scene of Star Wars. The list goes on and on. There is just no comparing The Greatest Generation to Generation X, or Baby Boomers, for that matter. Millennials? Please.

For as long as I can remember, Ammu had this little placard on her desk inscribed with these words: “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds you down or polishes you up, depends on what you are made of.” And, I think that’s just it. Our trials, our setbacks—the grindstone—make us who we eventually become. For Ammu, she spent a lot of time with that grindstone, which is why her light shines so bright now. For me, and my generation, not so much. Maybe we’ve had it too easy. Most of our wounds, it seems to me, have been self-inflicted. We have not had to endure a worldwide calamity, didn’t face any real challenges to our liberty or to our existence as a people. Of course, many of us, individually, face untold hardship on a daily basis, but that is not what I am talking about here. I’m talking about the type of adversity that defines a period of history. Wars, famine, plagues—not Apple eliminating the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, although that did suck.

At the end of my toast, I thanked Ammu for her example and for showing us the way. And, I meant it. So many of us have lost our way, I believe, and have forgotten what matters. Especially in this day and age where being a Republican or being a Democrat has somehow become more important than being an American. Maybe it has been too long since we have had to slog through tough times together. My grandma’s legacy is that example, and it’s a gift to all of us, a reminder of what is best about our country and its people, especially when we are tested. Even though I’m just a lowly Gen Xer, I know that I can rise to the occasion, and I have faith that my brothers and sisters from sea to shining sea can, too.

Speaking of “seas,” I spent the week at the Catalina Island Marine Institute a month or so ago with my son Donovan and his sixth grade class as a chaperone. It was a fascinating experience, not because of the curriculum—the only thing I remember from the oceanography program is that a Garibaldi is orange, oh yeah, and it’s our state fish—but the fascination came from watching the kids interact with one another. The boys were hilarious, just like I remember being when I was with my buddies at that age, and all the fart jokes are just as funny to me now as they were back then. But, what is different, I think, is how naturally they come together to collaborate on just about everything, working out problems as a team. I don’t know if that is something that is learned, or innate. Nature or nurture? Or, maybe this stuff can skip a few generations. Whatever it is and wherever it comes from, I’m feeling optimistic about this group of kids and whatever they decide to call themselves—except slacker/loser, that’s already taken.

I would like to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to everyone who has had a hand in producing this issue of SLO LIFE Magazine and, most of all, to our advertisers and subscribers—we couldn’t do it without you.

Live the SLO Life!

Tom Franciskovich

tom@slolifemagazine.com

4251 S. HIGUERA STREET, SUITE 800, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA SLOLIFEMAGAZINE.COM info@slolifemagazine.com (805) 543-8600 • (805) 456-1677 fax

PUBLISHER

Tom

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

CONTRIBUTIONS

Have some comments or feedback about something you’ve read here? Or, do you have something on your mind that you think everyone should know about? Submit your story ideas, events, recipes and announcements by visiting us online at slolifemagazine.com and click “Share Your Story” or email us at info@slolifemagazine.com. Be sure to include your full name and city for verification purposes. Contributions chosen for publication may be edited for clarity and space limitations.

ADVERTISING

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SUBSCRIPTIONS

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NOTE

The opinions expressed within these pages do not necessarily reflect those of SLO LIFE Magazine. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of the publisher.

CIRCULATION, COVERAGE AND ADVERTISING RATES

Complete details regarding circulation, coverage and advertising rates, space, sizes and similar information are available to prospective advertisers. Please call or email for a media kit. Closing date is 30 days before date of issue. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR info@slolifemagazine.com 4251 S. Higuera Street, Suite 800 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

A SNEAK PEEK

BEHIND the scenes

WITH SARA PETERSON

I asked Sara to meet me at the Foothill Scout location, the only thing is that it was open for business. When I arrived it was completely packed, line out the door. Every seat was filled. I thought, “Wow, this is going to be a really interesting shoot— we’ve got to figure out a way to work around this.” So we had to do our thing while everyone was there drinking coffee, which was actually a lot of fun.

Sara and her husband Jon were very sweet. They’ve known each other forever. You could see that they were definitely best friends, very comfortable, and also a true, solid team. They’re also, and I found this so interesting because I feel it makes for a great leader, they’re so down-toearth and inviting and welcoming, but professional and rigid enough where you knew there were certain lines they would never cross, certain rules you always follow, and a certain way to behave. We were at the counter and I said just for fun, “Why don’t you give each other a kiss.” They sort of giggled and said, “We don’t allow our employees to do that.” I said, “Aw, come on.” And they decided to bend the rules a bit and sneak in a quick, little smooch. It was so adorable.

BY VANESSA PLAKIAS

There’s a big sign inside, it’s hand-painted and it says, “Drink it in.” There’s a story behind that. When she was a little girl, Sara’s dad was all about road trips to museums or going to see the Liberty Bell. Anyway, Sara said that she would be beyond bored in the car and her dad would say, “Look out the window and drink it in.” You know, take it in, take in your views, take in your experiences. I thought it was so cool, such an important part of life. Especially now, with all of our electronic devices, it’s a good reminder.

Sara said her favorite plant is a Silver Dollar Eucalyptus, which is really on trend. I’ve noticed more people using it for decorating. She says she always carries little pruning shears in her purse, which I thought was so cute, and if she’s walking around town with her girls and sees some Silver Dollar Eucalyptus, she clips some pieces and puts them in the shop.

You said it...

MEET

LESLIE O’CONNOR LEADING THE FUTURE & INSPIRING SUCCESS

Many thanks for your continued attention to the factors affecting our quality of life in SLO in your article CAP AND GOWN. As long-time residents of the city, we are among those who sadly left our wonderful home near campus. We agree it’s time for city leaders to forcefully address with Cal Poly the issue of increasing admissions without adequate student housing on campus.

— ELLEN HARPER AND MARTIN LUSCHEI

You captured the heart and soul of Leslie O’Connor in the well-written article MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR . Being Irish, I have toured the country, with the exception of Northern Ireland. This interview really enlightened me to the realities of living there at that specific time.

— PATRICK MCCANN

In the article CAP AND GOWN, you said it, and based upon the numbers that neighborhood activists have been collecting and citing to the city council, you got it right. Another factor to consider: the parents of Cal Poly students are the wealthiest in the CSU system and they can afford to buy up the supply of single family homes for their student and four or more friends to live close to campus. The trend started years ago, before Cal Poly made any commitments to building on-campus housing or capping enrollment, but now it is part of a “tradition” to live off-campus if you are a sophomore or higher. What student in her right mind wouldn’t prefer to live off campus? More freedom. We have a great town. Cal Poly is a great university. I belong to both; both are an important part of my life. I love the fact that I can lobby the city with my issues, including occasionally giving the city a “way to go!” Ditto for our staff, and ditto for Cal Poly administration. But, as your article points out, we have our craggy edges. Our new mayor recognizes it, too, as do the other council members. So, we all just need to keep working at this Town and Gown matter so we who live here, whether permanently or temporarily, can continue to value what we bring to the whole.

— SHARON WHITNEY

Thank you so much for keeping a light on our major problem in SLO: the lack of housing due to the pressure of a student population that has become too large for our small city. In the article CAP AND GOWN, your numbers are correct, but reality is even bleaker when you add 7,000 students from Cuesta College to the 13,000 Cal Poly students who live in the city, plus the 800 Cal Poly graduate students not listed in the general enrollment. Furthermore, students who vote in SLO are included in the census, thus inflating the general population of the city. Consequently, we can safely conclude that almost as many students as permanent residents live in the city. We have become the old woman in the shoe, with so many children we don’t know what to do, but if we try to do something, we are soon branded as “anti-student.”

This may be why, for decades, various city councils did nothing to solve this problem. And now the new “build baby build” policy is worsening the crisis because the city is building dorms in the north part of the city instead of housing for families. Places like ICON on Taft rent for

$1,000 a month per bed. The city also wants to build similar dorms in the middle of a family neighborhood on Palomar, and at the unsafe corner of Foothill and Chorro, a commercial area, and the city council has the arrogance to call these dorms “workforce housing” or “affordable housing.” Obviously, Cal Poly will not build student housing on their land if the city does it for them, nor will they consider capping the number of students. We need a forceful council that listens to the residents and acts with them, not against them. Next time you vote, instead of following the Tribune’s choice or listening to the usual promises of the candidates, please go online, look at the candidates’ past actions, and ask yourself: Who has done the most for the residents? Who has spoken time and again on their behalf? Presently, we are pretty much on our own, and it is up to each one of you to decide whether you want to join the growing list of residents who have decided to fight back.

— ODILE AYRAL

BY TOM FRANCISKOVICH

visitor boards spend their days looking at ways to bring even more people into the city. Most of those visitors, of course, will not require permanent housing, but some small percentage— commonly the wealthy ones of retirement age—will decide to relocate to San Luis Obispo.

Another mechanism in demand creation is our budding technology industry. Businesses such as MindBody can only grow as fast as the people they can hire. And those people need a place to live. Additionally, if you dig still a little deeper, you find that demand also exists in a multigenerational way: permanent residents with children who go off to college and return to plant roots; or, those permanent residents who have parents from out of the area who move to the city to be closer to their grandchildren. Since the population has remained relatively stable over the years, it would seem this phenomenon does not move demand in any significant way, but it is another factor which should be taken into account.

of course, live outside of town, but the vast majority live in apartments and singlefamily homes near campus. Let’s imagine for a moment, just as we did with our supply-side discussion, that we snapped our fingers and every single one of those students was housed on campus instead. Go ahead, close your eyes and picture all 14,000 of those students suddenly

next few years, and despite trying to soften the declaration at times, has never really made his intentions clear. So, taking his word at face value we’re talking 25,000, which is 3,700 more students than are enrolled now. Let’s look forward in time from there, and understand that if the university continues with the same annual 4 to 5% growth rate that it has had in recent years, it would take just another two or three years to then have arrive at 6,100 additional students, which would mean that we are right back to exactly where we started in terms of available housing, and people who need somewhere to live.

Any attempt to solve it by increasing supply will be an exercise in futility until there is a cap on Cal Poly’s enrollment that is coupled with a mandate for on-campus housing ratios. To attempt a solution any other way is, at

articles that read, “Must visit…” or “Top place to live…” The secret of San Luis Obispo’s charm had been leaking out for years, of course, but Oprah threw gasoline on the fire. With demand already high and with a fantastic product to sell, local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and various tourism and

Neighborhood wellness, also known as quality of life, is another factor of demand, although it is rarely considered as such. While the city has been cracking down on aberrant behavior in recent years, the new council has already significantly softened its approach. In a recent city council meeting, SLOPD Chief Deanna Cantrell asked the councilmembers to extend the period of double fines early into March. She cited among her reasons the roof that collapsed under the weight of Cal Poly students during a drunken early morning party on March 7th, two years ago. After rebuffing the chief’s request, the council then adopted a new “party registration program” whereby those wishing to host a party within a neighborhood can notify the city of their intentions and, thereby, sidestep the fines that commonly go along with disrupting the peace and quiet. It is not a leap to realize that the very existence of a “party registry” is tantamount to inviting students to have parties. Imagine this conversation between two college kids: “Hey, dude, did you know that you can sign up with the city to have a party now— and they won’t ticket you anymore?... Whoa, seriously, we’ve never had a party before because we totally didn’t want to pay that stupid fine. Now we’re gonna sign up for sure and have one here, too!” My family has lived in a neighborhood on the north end of town, two-and-a-half miles from Cal Poly, going on nine years now. I can tell you, unequivocally, that there is one thing, and only one thing, that deters this sort of behavior from our students. Fines. We have tried everything: bringing them cookies when they

So, how can we expect to make any meaningful plans going forward if we do not know what to expect in terms of demand from Cal Poly? The answer is that we can’t. And we won’t until a cap coupled with an on-campus housing mandate is instituted. The university has recently expressed a desire to house 65% of its students on campus. But, what does that mean? Is that a firm commitment? And, how soon? Are we talking 10 years from now? 20 years? 30 years?

hanging out, tossing Frisbees in front of one of the many brand new village-style communities across Cal Poly’s sprawling campus. Now, imagine all of those empty houses left behind in your neighborhood, some of them blighted from lack of upkeep and repair. Okay, keep your eyes closed, and think about all the people you know: your mail carrier who lives in Grover Beach because she can’t find a rental for her family in San Luis Obispo, your kids’ teacher who lives in Atascadero and hates the commute, the police officer who moved to A.G. because he’s tired of dealing with parties when he’s off duty. Now, picture all of those people moving into those suddenly vacated homes. How would your neighborhood be different? How would your city be different?

And, equally important: What will be the size of the student body? Will it be 25,000? 30,000? 35,000? 40,000? It is time to stop looking through this issue in terms of good or bad. At the heart of it, most residents understand that Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo are inextricably linked—our success is their success, and vice versa. It is time to set aside our emotions for a moment and abandon our vision for how things should be, or used to be, or could have been, in favor of a dispassionate look at the math—because numbers don’t lie.

Clearly, the numbers tell us that the San Luis Obispo housing crisis is due to demand, not supply. Any attempt to solve it by increasing supply will be an exercise in futility until there is a cap on Cal Poly’s enrollment that is coupled with a mandate for on-campus housing ratios. To attempt a solution any other way is, at best, intellectually dishonest. Still doubt the numbers? Let’s do some simple back-of-the-envelope calculations together. Assume for a moment that both Avila Ranch and San Luis Ranch are built. That would result in somewhere around 1,220 new homes. Assume again that every remaining family on the north end of town packed up and moved into one of those new homes, freeing up an equal number of rental homes that will house five students each. Five times 1,220 is 6,100. Anyone paying attention knows that

There is no denying that San Luis Obispo has been an exceptional host to Cal Poly—there’s a reason that high school seniors are not clamoring to get into CSU Dominguez Hills—and the city has gained so much from the university. But,

Tom Franciskovich’s article, CAP AND GOWN, raises absolutely the right questions about the SLO housing “crisis.” To discover what will happen to SLO, should we agree to Avila Ranch or San Luis Ranch or similar developments? All that is necessary is to travel south to the San Gabriel Valley, Orange County, or other areas of southern California to see startlingly congested areas. In just the last 30 years, thousands of new apartments and townhouses have been built in those formerly uncluttered areas. With an average of two cars per apartment (in some cases, maybe three) there are essentially no parking spaces left on many residential streets, very little in the business districts, and the traffic on the major freeways (de facto “parking lots”) even in off hours, is worse than burdensome. Parking is already problematic in downtown SLO with the downtown parking structures often posted “Full” during working hours. More housing will only exacerbate the problem. Is it too much to ask that we do not destroy our city and continue to maintain SLO as the delightful town that it is? Tom’s suggestions about a cap on Cal Poly enrollment and additional campus housing is the only thing that makes any sense if we wish to keep some of the charm that makes SLO an excellent place to live and continue to be an attractive place for visitors.

— D.D. TRENT

Thank you for the well-written article titled CAP AND GOWN in the last issue of SLO Life Magazine. A cold look at the numbers is sobering and I couldn’t agree more that it is now time for Cal Poly to make tough choices and hold up its end of the housing bargain. However, I fear there is a big gap in the numbers presented in the article due to the omission of Cuesta students. In times past, the community college was just that—a junior college that was attended by local residents. Many lived with their parents while preparing to enter a CSU or UC system school. I suspect, but do not have any hard data, that this is no longer the case. It is well known that out of area students move to SLO to attend Cuesta because it is perceived as a feeder school for admission to Cal Poly. According to an online source enrollment at Cuesta in about 11,000 students (with about 5,000 at full-time). With this sizable population and the stark reality that Cuesta provides no on-campus housing it is possible that Tom Franciskovich’s “back of the envelope calculation” has the potential to significantly underestimate the overall demand for off-campus housing.

FEB/MAR 2017 SLO LIFE MAGAZINE

We hear you...

I have lived here in San Luis Obispo since 1982. I was very impressed with the thoughts and logical presentation of Mr. Franciskovich regarding the lack of affordable housing in this city. I agree with his summary of the supply side of the housing argument in the article CAP AND GOWN. There are no other supply side options besides those he brought forth—either sprawling developments with housing that is priced for the current median housing needs or the high density housing alternate for in-town apartments, which will not be very suitable for families. The option to change the zoning within the city to allow for detached dwellings would not solve the crisis either as this would not provide the number of units of housing needed. As Mr. Franciskovich points out the higher demand for housing is the revolving number of students attending Cal Poly and some from Cuesta College. There are geographic confining parameters that need to be factored into the expectation of Cal Poly President Jeffery Armstrong to increase enrollment from 21,300 to over 25,000 in the next few years. There is simply not much in the way of land available for city housing in the vicinity of the university. The hills have been a confining physical barrier over the years hindering the development of the city. Without the university planning for a significant increase in on-campus housing there will be even more of a student demand for in-city or nearby housing. The approach our neighborhood (near Laguna Lake) has taken over the years is one of inclusion of any students who may move into our area. This has maintained a good neighborhood relationship. It is with some concern that I read about the new party registration program with its “if you register we won’t ticket you,” mentality. I believe, along with Mr. Franciskovich, that in order to maintain the order and attractiveness of this city to ALL visitors we need to appropriately control the overt expressions of loud gatherings in our neighborhoods. I also agree with his summary suggesting the need for a “housing summit” to mutually factor in the needs of the city and those of the university with regards to housing and population for planning for the future well-being of both the city residents and the Cal Poly students.

— PETER RYNNING

Nice article, CAP AND GOWN, from the last issue. I thought it was a cogent presentation of the factors driving all these projects. My sister and I, along with several neighbors living on Davenport, Buckley, Hidden Springs, and Evans roads attended a meeting downtown recently to protest the size of the developments and the environmental impacts they seem destined to ignore. Some of these are in violation of state pollution and land use rules. We don’t think this is going to be affordable housing, but that it will be sold to the highest bidder. We also do not believe there is any way to prevent it from becoming another neighborhood where eventually it will not be families, but large numbers of college students. The traffic infrastructure will not change in any appreciable way, ludicrous descriptions of “turn pockets” and a couple of bike lane changes on two very dangerous streets for cyclists; Buckley and Tank Farm roads. No widening of Tank Farm or Buckley. Although they say it will add 6,500 more car trips a day on Buckley alone, I don’t think that even comes close. Already the traffic gridlock in Edna Valley is evident on 227, Buckley, South Higuera, and Tank Farm, to say nothing about LOVR. All of these roads now have about three or more rush hours a day. It’s not just 4 p.m. And that’s right now, without all this build-out.

I do believe if you follow the money, getting the green light on these projects has a lot more to do with funding city pension coffers than pressure from the state to grow our city to the point it will lose the charm that brought us all here. It’s already happening. Also, I agree that Cal Poly is the boon and bane of SLO’s existence, and they have not done enough to provide on-campus housing including attractive accommodations for older students who want to live outside the dorms. Thanks for illuminating the issues further and breaking them down into cause and effect using real math. Before anything gets built I think the developers and the city/county should have to provide the traffic infrastructure to handle the huge increase in traffic and pollution that these projects will cause. There are few of us who actually believe residents of these developments are going to walk to work, take buses, or all ride bikes.

— DR. KAREN J. KRAHL, D.C.

Editor’s note: We received a lot of feedback from readers on the “Cap and Gown” feature including, regretfully, more letters than we had the space to publish. Many of you also expressed concern that data regarding Cuesta College students should have been included in order for the article to be a truly comprehensive analysis. We take a deep dive into this subject in this issue. Please turn to page 80 “The Cuesta Question” for more.

Letters may be edited for content and clarity. To be considered for publication your letter should include your name, city, state, phone number or email address (for authentication purposes).

“You need an IT partner who understands the relationship between your software architecture and your profitability.”

Nate Stott Practice Director

Take us with you!

EASTER ISLAND

TASMANIA

At the Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. SLO LIFE, don’t leave home without it... — STEVE PRATT

TULUM, QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO

KA’ANAPALI, MAUI

Definitely a trip of a lifetime to Easter Island! Even the rain could not drench our enthusiasm for the Moai statues and SLO Life Magazine.

— CAROL MEES AND DIANE CLAUSEN

NICOLAS AND SOFIA

Here I am on my yearly trip to see my family of Tasmanian Devils with my great nephews at “Edge of the World” in Western Tasmania.

— LUCINDA BORCHARD, PELLE & MAX EASTMAN

ANTARCTICA

STANISLAUS NATIONAL FOREST

My granddaughter Meryl and I went on the Quixote Expedition to Antarctica. Amazing scenery… icebergs, ice floes, snow covered mountains, volcano, penguins, seals, whales, and much more. There was a scientist on board studying whales... can they smell?

— DONNA MEHLSCHAU

HONOLULU, HAWAII

SITKA, ALASKA

We’re enjoying SLO Life Magazine while riding the chair lift to the summit at Dodge Ridge Ski Resort in Stanislaus National Forest. Retirement from public office has allowed me time to enjoy my favorite winter sport of snow skiing.

— DAN CARPENTER

MARIA SOLES

Here we are on an extended celebration of our 60th Anniversary, at the fascinating Sitka Sound Science Center, in charming little Sitka, Alaska.

— CHUCK AND LIZ CLARKE

PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO

BORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

—

PARIS, FRANCE

BEACH

Around the County

FEBRUARY ‘17

2/10

In a surprise move, Walmart announced that it had cancelled its plan to build a store in Atascadero, which derailed a decade of planning and debate within the community. In the wake of the news, city officials scrambled to find a replacement for the long-awaited 123,000-square-foot project that was expected to generate approximately $580,000 per year in sales tax revenue. Although Mayor Tom O’Malley initially expressed disappointment, he later showed optimism for an alternative plan. “This property is already assembled, the plans are approved, the zoning is right,” he said. “It’s a lot of potential and there’s a lot of folks looking [at it].”

2/13

2/7

After more than four hours of deliberation, the SLO County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to send a formal statement to the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in opposition to the creation of the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, which would have effectively banned offshore oil drilling on the Central Coast. After hearing comments from some 100 attendees at the meeting who spoke in favor of the sanctuary by a 2-1 margin, the board split along ideological lines: conservatives Debbie Arnold, Lynn Compton, and John Peschong opposed the sanctuary, while progressives Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson supported it.

2/17

SLO City Council voted unanimously to suspend the controversial Rental Inspection Program as it moves toward a full repeal. The program, which was adopted in 2015, sought to inspect rental properties for health and safety code violations had so far reviewed 915 homes finding 763 needed remediation; 422 of those had been corrected with 341 outstanding and 116 requiring significant repairs. Some permanent residents at the meeting called on councilmembers to ask Cal Poly to foot the bill for the eventual replacement program, reasoning that most of the city’s renters are students. Councilman Dan Rivoire demurred, “That’s not to say we shouldn’t reach out, but Cal Poly wouldn’t bear the entire cost burden.”

At least two personnel complaints were filed with the City of SLO after a six-minute video aired at the SLO Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Dinner. The video, produced by Fire Chief Garret Olson, who emceed the event, shows various chamber employees, volunteers, and City Manager Katie Lichtig playing roles in the short film, which the firefighters’ union characterized as “a highly offensive sexual objectification video of city firefighters.” In response, the city authorized $50,000 for a Santa Ana law firm to investigate the matter, which alleged 11 violations of city workforce-related policy against Olson and Lichtig, including sexual harassment and conduct unbecoming of city officials. As of this writing, the investigation remains ongoing, but city staff has requested another $20,000 allocation from city council after already using the initially allocated $50,000.

2/21

The ongoing division within the SLO County Board of Supervisors was exposed again during a debate over parks in Nipomo. In an impassioned appeal, South County 4th District Supervisor and Nipomo resident Lynn Compton proposed priority funding for Jim O. Miller Memorial Park, Jack Ready Imagination Park, an expansion of Nipomo Community Park, and new facilities at the historic Dana Adobe. At the heart of the debate was a discussion as to whether or not fees generated in a specific geographic area should also be spent in the same place. After a heated discussion over countywide spending priorities, the board eventually voted unanimously to add the four Nipomo parks’ construction projects to a five-year plan for capital improvements.

MARCH ‘17

3/7

In a move that many described as “stealthy” and “underhanded” and which some legal experts suggest was a violation of the Brown Act, the SLO County Board of Supervisors made major policy changes without properly notifying the public.

By a 3-2 vote, with the conservative bloc comprised of John Peschong, Debbie Arnold, and Lynn Compton in favor, and progressives Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson against, a multi-million dollar revision to county policy was made to the meeting’s inconspicuous agenda item: “Receive an update on the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Strategy. All Districts.” Arnold began the discussion offering that she had “just a couple of changes.” She then presented a pre-prepared revision of the current policy, which would shift the burden for payment for studies of overdrafted groundwater basins from the private landowners, including corporate-owned wineries, to the county, which was estimated to cost $2.2 million per year. The Brown Act mandates transparency by requiring all major expenditures be announced to the public and fully disclosed so that taxpayers can weigh in on the matter before any legislative action can be taken.

3/16

The current and former co-owners of the local news blog, Cal Coast News, Karen Velie and Dan Blackburn respectively were ordered to pay $1.1 million in damages after a jury found the pair guilty of libel. Arroyo Grande-based businessman Charles Tenborg had filed charges against the pair after the website alleged incorrectly that he had received a no-bid contract with the Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA), was fired from his previous position, and was encouraging his clients to break state law. Testimony at the trial from the website’s current editor, Bill Loving, a Cal Poly journalism professor, was countered by a journalism professor at San Francisco State University, Venise Wagner, who found that the blog had relied on “hearsay” from a group of anonymous sources and characterized the article as “all innuendo.”

3/14

Following a two-day hearing where approximately 200 citizens expressed their opposition, the SLO County Board of Supervisors denied the Phillips 66 proposal to build a rail spur for its Nipomo Mesa refinery, effectively ending the oil conglomerate’s appeal of the planning department’s permit denial. With John Peschong recusing himself from the vote—his consulting firm had worked with the company in the past—the lone dissenting vote came from Debbie Arnold, who expressed concerns about the potential for gas prices rising if crude oil was not allowed to travel through the county by rail to the refinery. Although the action settles the matter for now, Phillips 66 could still appeal to the 12-member Coastal Commission as well as continue to fight the county’s decision in court.

3/21

Thirty-year-old Matthew Frank, who was better known as the “SLO Stringer,” was killed in a single car accident when his vehicle left the road on Highway 101 North near the Santa Margarita exit. Frank was reportedly on his way to Atascadero at around 3:50 a.m. to cover a house fire for his blog. Frank’s alias was derived from a newspaper term—a stringer is a correspondent, usually a freelance reporter, who is not a permanent staff member. He was noted for often being the first on the scene to provide raw, unedited information to the public ranging from updates concerning the Chimney Fire to drunk driving arrests, and did so on a purely volunteer, community service basis.

MOUNTAIN OF GOLD

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASHALA TYLOR

When she was six, or maybe seven years old, Ashala Tylor fumbled around with an old Kodak Brownie camera, slowly rolling it back and forth in her hands, then peering through the viewfinder. The cheap, not-much-more-than-a-cardboard-box was interesting and oddly familiar, comforting. It was not long after that she began capturing images, mostly landscapes and nature scenes. The camera allowed her to see the world differently.

Originally from the Bay Area, life led her to Hawaii where she raised her family as the years ticked by. There was so much to shoot on the islands, which fed her passion that by then had transformed into art. The mainland beckoned in the mid-80’s and she found the Central Coast, a place she calls “a true photographer’s paradise.” Now settled in Paso Robles, Tylor supplements her photography work as a freelance court reporter. Because she is able to pick and choose her hours, she can plan extended excursions with her camera. Recently, she returned from Spain where she hiked the Camino de Santiago. Before that it was China. All the way along pointing and clicking.

“Photography is best when it is combined with travel,” she reasons. “But, when I’m home, my favorite spot is Montaña de Oro.” It was a spring day a few years back when she was walking the ocean bluff, hand-in-hand with her favorite hiking partner: a Canon 5D Mark II. The sun was dropping quickly, taking its warm embrace along with it for the night, but she was in the perfect spot. Before her unfurled a carpet of wildflowers marching like lemmings off the cliff into the ocean below. The name, Montaña de Oro, was given to the 8,000 acres south of Los Osos that is now a State Park, by visiting Spaniards who, after spying the same hillside from their ship bobbing offshore, declared that they had discovered a “mountain of gold.”

SLO LIFE

Tie Breaker

Newly elected to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors but no stranger to Central Coast politics, JOHN PESCHONG, of Templeton, is widely expected to push the county in a more conservative direction as he breaks an increasingly contentious ideological impasse formed between the progressive faction, made up of Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson, and conservatives Debbie Arnold and Lynn Compton. We spent some time getting to know him…

Tell us about yourself, John. I’m from Los Angeles originally; third generation Californian. Born in Santa Monica. My dad is from the Palisades. I actually grew up in Tarzana over in the San Fernando Valley. I went to Loyola Marymount University. My dad and mom moved up here, retired up here in the late 80’s. My wife and I moved here with our two kids. We’re in Templeton. Been here nearly 20 years now. I own a small business that I’ve owned since about 2005, or maybe 2004. I have two partners in Sacramento, but I have my office in Templeton. I told them I wasn’t leaving. If we were going to set up a company together I had to stay here. My daughter is a freshman at Templeton High School. My son is a fifth grader at Vineyard Elementary School. He plays baseball, she plays softball. She’s in 4H. It’s a great life. It’s a wonderful place.

And what is the status of your business now? I still own it. It’s called Meridian Pacific. I don’t do work in San Luis Obispo County anymore. For example, I’ve recused myself from the Phillips 66 vote because we have done some work for them over the years. The company specializes in public affairs work, a lot of public relations work for different corporations and candidates, conservative causes. It’s not a secret that local campaigns such as Lynn Compton’s and Debbie Arnold’s, Meridian-Pacific ran those campaigns. The same with Dan Dow, and so on.

Why did you run for office? You know, I ran on a platform of smaller, more efficient government, lower taxes, and more personal freedom. But, I got into the race in the first place because my nephew was a Cuesta College student. Good kid. Went to a Christian high school. He got addicted to opiates, got addicted to heroin. Died of a heroin overdose at the age of 21. We have a problem in our community. We’ve got an opiate epidemic. And when opiates are hard to find, people move on to things like heroin. So, how do we deal with that? There has to be, I believe, two ways to deal with it. There has to be the enforcement side, which means getting the sheriff additional resources for the drug task force. But, also getting more access for people to get into programs so they can kick the drug habit. You know, rehab is expensive, but rehab works. I know a number of people who have quit using pretty heavy narcotics, but they’ve only done it because they’ve worked a rehab program that they actually bought into. So, I started talking about this issue on the campaign

trail and I was amazed at the stories I heard from people who were also affected by drugs in their family. If none of the families in our county have to go through what our family went through when my nephew died then I will be very happy about that, because it is devastating. And there are repercussions that go on forever.

Why conservatism? A lot of the political discussions around the dinner table when you grow up depend on the direction that your family took. You would pick these things up, listen to and talk about them. My family is conservative. Members of my family voted for John C. Fremont in 1856. He was the first Republican nominee for president and a Californian. I picked a lot of it up from my family and ran with it. I will tell you that in my formative years I volunteered for the Reagan campaign in ’80 and worked in the White House after I graduated in ’84. Just listening to President Reagan talk, the way he dealt with problems, the way he understood people, it really solidified things for me. I will tell you that the conservatism that I have, I believe, is very empathetic toward what people go through on a daily basis.

Elaborate on that idea, if you would. A lot of times, from an empathy standpoint, government doesn’t feel the same way that you and I would feel about somebody’s plight. So, we need to find a way to make things better for people. That is what drove me toward it, because I think there is a way to do it, also, where it costs the taxpayer a lot less. So, the official conservative elements are there, but I want to be able to say that after four or eight years as a supervisor that we made a difference in peoples’ lives. That empathy toward individuals in our community is what drives me toward conservatism. I’ve been accused many times of not having a heart, or having a really small heart, but in reality I do and it’s through the shared experiences with my community, my family. I live in what would be considered a workforce housing neighborhood. Next door to me, the gentleman there is a prison guard. There’s another neighbor, a gentleman who is a police officer here in San Luis Obispo. Across the street is a fireman. There are CHP officers. Nurses. These are people who work for a living. I came here to represent those people, so that I can help improve their lives and the lives of their families. To me, that’s what it’s all about.

I heard ’ya, Pop… But what do birds and bees have to do with

I don’t think hearing aids are going to help.

PLAYING WITH INTENTION

Before local singer songwriter REESE GALIDO could speak English, she learned phonetically how to sing songs. “Filipino culture is full of songs. At every holiday, you eat and sing and eat and sing some more. And I have an aunt and uncle who were on the Hollywood jazz circuit, so I learned jazz standards at a young age.”

BY DAWN JANKE PHOTOGRAPHY BY BECKY CLAIR

UPCOMING SHOWS

April 19 . The Kicks . Sandbar Santa Barbara

May 19 . The Kicks . Frog and Peach Pub

June 15 . The Tipsy Gypsies . Live Oak Music Festival

June 23 . The Tipsy Gypsies . Concerts in the Plaza

July 14 . The Kicks . Concerts in the Plaza

August 24 . The Reese Galido Trio . Robins Cambria

Galido’s 2015 solo album, “Unraveled,” is filled with love songs that echo jazz classics, and she is planning another project with jazz favorites in dedication to her mom, who recently passed

away. She explains, “I want to sing what I know; I want to get back to my jazz roots.”

Like other female vocalists who can “sing beautifully and rip at the same time,” as she puts it, Galido has modeled her voice after Sarah Vaughan. She says, “Technically, I am an alto, so I love the basement notes that Vaughan can kick the crap out of; I listen to her a lot.” Galido also listens to Nina Simone and loves more contemporary artists like Melody Gardot “with her super low voice and amazing chord progressions and Becca Stevens—a mandolin virtuoso with a great voice.”

Growing up among accomplished musicians, Galido’s youth was also filled with sports. A master tennis player, she came to San Luis Obispo in 1999 to attend Cal Poly on an athletic scholarship and led the team to a Big West Conference Tournament win in 2003 during her final season. “As soon as I graduated, I chucked my racket,” she says. “I started a reggae band and never looked back.”

Galido has served as the front woman for reggae band The Kicks for the past 13 years. “The band has been a great gift because it gave me some of my best friends,” she says. The Kicks pay homage to old rock steady and roots reggae bands and try to keep it fresh by injecting jazz and blues into the music. Reggae is a genre that has always spoken to Galido. “The way the beats are organized,” she says, “I just love it.”

Coming off of The Kicks’ first full-length album in 2011, which was produced with every single drumbeat scrutinized by Jim Fox, Galido’s 2015 solo album was an entirely different experience. Local guitarist Charles Duncan took Galido under his wing and produced the album. “I hadn’t even been thinking about doing an album at that time, but Charles is awesome and has a good feel for the music. He and I did this thing where I just performed and he recorded,” explains Galido.

As Galido describes it, her solo work is a passion project. “Everything that I took from my aunt and uncle since I was six,

all the jazz standards, and all the Elvis I listened to with my dad, all the musicals I know by heart, all the love songs and angsty acoustic Lilith Fair lady rock I raged to—that is my solo project.”

Galido also performs as a backup vocalist with local jazz quintet The Tipsy Gypsies. “Their music is so good, and I’m really fortunate because [lead singer] Hilary [Langdon] and I are such close friends and we have a very compatible singing style.” The Tipsy Gypsies are currently recording an album at Laurel Lane studio with local musician Damon Castillo.

Galido met Castillo and his band back in 1999. “At that time, I felt so lucky to be their friend,” she says, and recalls watching them play to thousands of people at Concerts in the Plaza. Both The Tipsy Gypsies and The Kicks will perform in the plaza this summer, and Galido couldn’t be more excited. “Concerts in the Plaza is so quintessentially San Luis Obispo, playing in front of the Mission, in front of the whole town. I feel honored.”

Galido is also grateful for the queer activist work she performs with her wife. The two are part of SLO Progressives, the local chapter of NAACP, and Queer Crowd, whose mission is to “encourage a more consistently confident, colorful, egalitarian and engaged community.” She reflects, “one of the reasons I like San Luis Obispo is because it’s a network of support—we’re all very close and help each other out.”

United We Rise: A Concert for Change, which followed the Women’s March earlier this year, is a particular event that fed into Galido’s commitment to activism. “It was such a labor of love in one of the most truly collaborative environments I’ve ever worked,” she recalls. For the unique event, concert co-organizer Shawna Marie assigned each artist to perform with others with whom they don’t regularly play. Galido’s group included Erin Inglish, Inga Swearingen, Hilary Langdon, and Talia Phillips-Ortega.

In just two weeks, group members presented their songs, split up and learned the parts, had three practices, and performed live. “Each of us brought such different flavors to the group, so the songs we wrote, and expected to hear in a certain way, got something entirely new,” says Galido, which sounds like a nice message on the value of diversity and inclusion.

The United We Rise collaborative experience is akin to what Galido loves most about San Luis Obispo. She shares, “What I especially liked about the show was that it inspired in each of us an affinity for one another.” She continues, “In everything there’s a level of intentionality we’re called upon to subscribe to, and right now that intentionality is most important.”

DAWN JANKE, Director, University Writing & Rhetoric Center Cal Poly, keeps her pulse on the Central Coast music scene.

RISE & SHINE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY VANESSA PLAKIAS

A little more than three years ago, SARA PETERSON and her husband, along with their one-year-old daughter, rolled into town on a stormy San Luis Obispo night. The baby was crying, everyone was hungry and tired from the long drive. Getting out of the car halfway through the trip would be good, they reasoned. It was an open parking spot on Garden Street that changed everything. Recently, the couple unveiled the second location of their popular coffee shop known as Scout Coffee Co. on Foothill Boulevard. We sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Sara about everything from California dreaming to motherhood to entrepreneurship to interior design, and just about everything in between. Here is her story…

Alright, Sara, let’s take it from the top. Where are you from? Well, I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and then my family moved to Ohio for my high school years, so I was around 13. I had a fine childhood, but I just remember being so bored

in my backyard. I would pretend that I was in “Little House on the Prairie.” I had three brothers, so nobody would play with me. I was Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’d take my little red fire wagon and flip it over. I remember picking really tall stalks of grass then running them through the wheels like I was milling flour, so that I could make bread. I created this whole little pioneer life that I lived in my backyard. I’d pick all the moss off the tree and make a carpet and decorate my little pretend house that I lived in by myself.

So, how’d you end up on the West Coast? I left Ohio when I was 18, and I remember all of my friends saying, “Wow, California.” And, I’d tell them, “Anybody can go. They’re letting people in. You can go, too.” I come from a really conservative background and my parents told me that they would help pay for school if I went to a Christian college. I had a scholarship in track, I ran the 400, to go to Azusa Pacific, but I visited Los Angeles and it just wasn’t for me. I made a last-minute decision to go to a small Christian college called Simpson University in Redding. It’s funny that I ended up in Redding; it’s way up north by the Oregon border. It wasn’t exactly what I had pictured when I dreamed of moving to California during my teenage years, but it was a start. During the first day of freshman orientation I met my husband, Jon.

Tell us about that. We were good friends. He actually dated my roommate. We were just good buddies for a long time. Then, at some point, we dated. It was sort of on and off, and then we went our separate ways. I moved to the East Coast after college. I worked at a coffee shop all day long then at Applebee’s until 2 a.m. It paid $2.13 per hour, which is the minimum wage there if you get tips. It wasn’t for me, so I set my mind to save for a car. It took me something like four or five months. As soon as I got it I drove straight to California. It took me only three days because I hardly stopped along the way. I went to San Diego where Jon was at the time. We got engaged, got married; I think we were about 24. We moved to the Central Valley, which is where he is from, and started working at a camp for obese adolescents. Jon was a fitness guy back in the day, and was hired on to do the physical education program there. I taught nutrition and did student activities to make it fun for the kids. We were there for a year or so when we could see that it was time to move on.

What happened next? So, we got this book that was about all of the campgrounds in California. We drove around the state and we would camp in different places to try to find our place in the world, and try to figure out what to do next. We would fly fish, we would camp, we would swim; we’d just kind of figure out jobs for ourselves. We ended up in Santa Cruz because Jon

had worked at a camp there when he was in high school. We connected with one of his old friends who was the H.R. director at Mount Hermon, and we both ended up applying for jobs there because you get free housing. We were like, “Hell yeah! We can work at camp; we love camp!” I grew up going to camp in Michigan and loved it, so I was like, “We can do camp life—that sounds great!”

How long did that go on? We did that for a couple of years, but burned out pretty quickly. We said, “Man, it’s time to get off the mountain.” I started working with this coffee shop in Santa Cruz that was actually in a church, of all places, and they wanted to open up to the public. I had worked at Starbucks in college and at an independent shop in New Jersey, and I had all of this experience in food service at the camp, so I said, “Why not?” It was this super weird, funky church coffee shop with all kinds of creative people hanging around; they did concerts there, art shows. I told myself I’d do it just for a little while. There was this woman at the church, Marilyn. She was very French, very fancy; she was a pastry chef and made her own chocolates. She was so cool. One day she gave me a whole bunch of back issues of Barista Magazine. I had never heard of the magazine. I spent that entire weekend reading them; it was like a whole new world opened up to me. I read about these companies like Stumptown in Portland, and Blue Bottle, and Intelligentsia, and the other pioneers of the third wave coffee movement. I was just blown away that all this existed. I saw an ad in one of the issues for a barista competition in Berkeley, so I drove myself there to check it out. There were all of these people there going crazy for a team from Barefoot Coffee Roasters.

Were they the hometown favorite, or something? Actually, no, I found out they were based in San Jose, so Jon and I went over to check them out. At the time we were roasting our own coffee at home with a little popcorn popperette in our kitchen. It was just a hobby of ours, but I was thinking more and more about making coffee my path. So, we asked the barista there what we should order—this was like 10 or 12 years ago—and she said, “Cappuccinos.” Everyone has their life-changing coffee experience, and that was ours. We were like, “Man, I didn’t know that coffee could be this good.” It was just so sweet all on its own. We were pretty broke at that point, but we’d buy one bag at a time, take it home and portion it out to make it last. It was a big treat for us. Around that time, actually, Verve Coffee Roasters in Santa Cruz opened their first shop on 41st Avenue. We went there to have a look and there were no customers. The owners there were so nice. About a week later I called them and said, “I met you guys last week. I’m actually helping a church open a coffee shop here in town. Do you guys sell coffee?”

So, they were wholesalers, too? Well, I didn’t find out until later that they didn’t sell coffee wholesale, but they very confidently said, “Yes, we do!” when I asked. It was a great lesson. We were their very first wholesale customer. So, we got the Abbey—the church coffee shop was called the Abbey Coffee, Art & Music Lounge—set up to sell Verve Coffee. It was bonkers; just a crazy experience working with the church. It wasn’t the best fit for me. So, just about every week I would talk to one of the owners at Verve, just to pick his brain and ask questions. One day we went out to lunch and he offered me a job, but I didn’t know it at the time. He said it in a really weird sort of way, something about the universe this or that. I told Jon about the conversation later and he said, “He just offered you a job!” I ended up going over to manage his store, which wasn’t doing very well at the time. I had to fire some people and some others quit, and we sort of started over. Then, two years later, this was 2009, Jon got laid off and we lost our housing and had to move. We found this tiny, little granny unit. We were still on our savings plan. We shopped at Goodwill; we’d split a burrito. I kept working at Verve and Jon started getting really depressed because this was the middle of the recession and no one was hiring. No one was even interviewing. >>

So, what did he do? The guys at Verve asked him if he would be interested in driving the delivery van. He said, “Yes, absolutely!” It was like $8 an hour, but it gave him so much opportunity. There’s this quote that we both like, it’s by Thomas Edison, I think. It goes something like, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Anyway, he would rotate the coffee bags at Whole Foods, and change out the coffee at New Leaf, and build relationships with vendors. After a while, stuff at Verve kept popping up and Jon would figure out how to help. They’d say, “Hey, can you do this? Can you do that?” And, Jon would always say, “Yes,” even if he didn’t know how to do it yet. One day they asked him if he could build their online store, and it now brings in all kinds of sales for them. Eventually, he became the marketing director and I was the retail director. Then, I found out I was pregnant. I kept working, and we now had three cafés. After a couple of months off with our new baby, I was back at work. And Jon’s schedule didn’t have any flexibility, so we were paying for childcare and just trying to navigate being new parents. We thought, “Well, this is dumb.” We started talking about opening our own shop. We sort of figured that it was now or never. Sunday afternoons were our only time together, so we’d drive around different Bay Area towns to see if there was a good spot for a new shop. We’d walk around and get a feel for it, and ask ourselves if we would want to live there.

Could we raise a family there? We looked into a few locations, but then things would always seem to fall through.

Tell us then, how did you find San Luis? So, our daughter, Lilly, turned one and Jon’s parents wanted to take her to Disneyland. We were like, “Okay, we’ll drive down to Disneyland for the day.” It was a long trip, and as we drove back home, we needed a break. We saw a sign for San Luis Obispo, so we pulled off the highway. It was like seven o’clock at night, the witching hour; Lilly is screaming. It’s raining and we’re looking all over for parking. So, we turn down this little side street, Garden, and find a place to park there. We get out of the car and right in front of us is this huge “For Lease” sign. I said, “Wow, that building is cute.” We’re both leaning against the glass looking into the space and I said, “Oh my gosh, Jon, this is it! I found it. Done. This is our store.” We talked about it the rest of the way home and called the landlord the next morning. He told us he could meet us there in 10 minutes and since we were 2 hours and 40 minutes away, Jon said, “How about three hours?” On our way to see the space Jon said, “Just be casual, play it cool.” I said, “Okay, got it. Play it cool.” After walking around I told Alex, the landlord, “Please don’t lease this space to anyone else!” And, Jon shoots me this look, like, “Calm down!” Alex said, “Don’t worry, >>

nobody’s interested. It’s been empty for four years.”

Wow, so what came next? We went back to Santa Cruz, back to our fulltime jobs at Verve. Now we’re working on our business plan and trying to get financing. It was just getting rejection after rejection, one bank after another. We’d tell them, “It’s going to be clean; it’s going to be different; it’s going to be really good coffee!” We’d have our baby with us and they’d just kind of look at you, and then look down at your application and say, “Uh, huh.” After, I think it was the tenth rejection, we finally got a “Yes.” It was a small business loan that required us to put all of our money into the build-out before they would fund the loan. We took our entire life savings and got to work on building out the store. As crazy as it was, I just felt so at peace with everything. It took a lot of creativity since we did not have a lot of money to work with, but we traded with an architect in Santa Cruz. Jon designed some brochures for him and updated his website in exchange for the building plans. And, Alex, our landlord, had a friend named Roger, who was this old school San Luis good ol’ boy, a hunter/fisherman sort of guy. He was this surly old guy when we first met him. We were all enthusiastic and we’d tell him, “We’re going to do this! We’re going to do that!” He’d just stand back, kind of looking at you sideways, and almost under his breath, he’d say, “Right.” Okay, I get that you’re grumpy, but we’re going to do it. So, Jon would have Roger show him how to do stuff and the next morning he’d come back and all of the

plumbing would be laid out how he demonstrated. I just remember feeling so helpless because I had a one-year-old and it wasn’t a kid-friendly zone, but I’d make sandwiches and do Home Depot runs. And I’d walk in and say, “No, this is a half-inch off here. This is all wrong. And this needs to be moved over there.”

Crazy… This went on for about six months, and we were out of money. We almost went out of business before we opened our doors. I was looking into waitressing jobs. It’s very humbling when you are in your thirties and your mother-in-law is putting gas in your car and groceries in the fridge. We just had to get some income going, so we opened for business in January. It was just Jon and I behind the counter. That first day was really busy; so exciting. Then, the next day was totally quiet and we were freaking out thinking we were going out of business. We kept at it and things started to pick up, and we hired some help. But, it took Jon and I a long time, at least a month after bringing them on, before we would let them make coffee. We didn’t want people to come in and have just an okay latte. I don’t know how we made it through those first couple of months, the first year. It’s all a blur, really. I was pregnant during that time and I would sometimes throw up in the parking lot at five o’clock in the morning and then go do the bake shift. I was trying to hold it all together, but it was a relief to finally acknowledge that there were days when I would have rather been eaten alive than go back into work again.>>

How did you make it through? I’d just put on the concealer, the bronzer, and be like, “Good morning!” It was funny, or maybe sad, because it got to the point where customers would ask, “What are you doing today?” And, I’d always just say, “Working.” They’d be off to hike Bishop Peak, or paddleboard, or something cool. I still haven’t hiked Bishop. You know, I feel like I haven’t really gotten to live the SLO Life yet. After a while, I started to feel so lame for always working that I’d just make stuff up. I heard things about Terrace Hill, so I’d say, “Terrace Hill. Picnic.” It was around this time, I learned later, that Jon had been approached about building a second location at the new shopping center on Foothill. He kept putting off the developer, who kept asking about it. Finally, one day he brought up the idea with me. I said, “What?! Are you crazy?! We’ve got a newborn! A new business! No! No! No!” At some point we were in the car together and we drove past the location and all I could see was the Domino’s Pizza sign. I was like, “No way. Never. It’s a strip mall. It’s got no soul.”

Well, something must have changed your mind. Jon kept getting calls and kept putting them off. He told them the timing was terrible, and it just wasn’t in the cards. Somewhere along the line they convinced us to take a look at the space, just walk around. I don’t know why, but we did. I had a crying baby, this time it was Everly, and it’s raining again; water is literally pouring through the ceiling. There’s dirt and rubble everywhere, so ugly inside; fluorescent green walls. But, for some reason, I don’t know why, it felt so peaceful. Out of nowhere I said, “Okay, this could be cute. This could work.” We could start to see a vision for the place, but then we went home and came to our senses. We said, “No” again and probably another six times after that. Life was just too crazy. I couldn’t even make dinner. We’d been eating quesadillas for like a year now, and I would cry

in the kitchen because I couldn’t figure out how to get to the grocery store. I’m very focused on the present and really can’t think beyond what’s for dinner, and Jon is very big picture always thinking about where we’re going, where we’re headed, what we’re doing. Sometimes we have a hard time meeting in the middle. I’m always like, “Welcome to the present,” and he’s like, “Welcome to the future.” Over time, the deal started getting better and making more sense until we finally decided to do it.

How long did this one take? It was another six-month build-out, actually, and we did all of the designs ourselves again. It needed a lot of work; it needed soul. The space on Garden already had that with the brick from 1911, but this was a fresh slate, and it was really big. It was a challenge, but that was when I realized that we were on the right track. The first time we did this downtown we put signs up in the windows saying, “Scout Coffee—coming soon.” I remember being in the building late at night doing grout work and hearing random pedestrians walk by and say stuff like, “Geez, another coffee shop? We don’t need another coffee shop.” I’d be traumatized by that. This time around I couldn’t take it, so we didn’t put up any signage, but when we were inside working we’d hear people walk by and say stuff like, “Somebody told me Scout Coffee was going in here—I can’t wait!” Now, and I know this may sound weird, but sometimes I have these moments, almost like an out-of-body experience. I’ll be behind the counter and then all of a sudden, the doors are rolled open and the sun is shining in, and the music’s playing, and there’s a line out the door, and all the tables are full, and I just want to cry. I’m like, “They’re here! Thank you!” It’s fun, it really is. I honestly don’t know if you told me three years ago how hard this would have been if I would have done it— but now I’m so glad we did. SLO LIFE

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Kannan Freyaldenhoven

After much success at San Luis Obispo High School, this eighteen-year-old senior is readying himself for college.

What sort of extracurricular activities are you involved in? I’m involved with Youth and Government (a model legislature and Court Program) as the delegation president, the Associated Student Body at SLOHS as executive council secretary, National Honor Society as secretary, as well as volunteering at Marian Hospital. I also enjoy playing Varsity Tennis here at SLO High School where I’m the Varsity co-captain.

What recognition have you received? At San Luis Obispo High School I have been in the Top Ten since freshman year. I was also selected to be the California Boys State Delegate. I earned the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, was first place in the Lions Club Speech Contest for San Luis Obispo, and I am an AP Scholar with Distinction. Additionally, I earned second place in the Paderewski Youth Piano Competition, Senior Division, and was selected for the Piano Exchange Program to Poland.

What is going on with you now? I have finished applying for colleges and scholarships and am enjoying my last trimester of high school. Tennis has recently started up, and that has been keeping me pretty busy. I’m making the most of my last couple months here in town by doing the things I love to do with those that matter to me most.

What is important to you outside of high school? Playing the piano is something very important to me. I have been playing since I was six years old and now I’m proud to say that music has become a passion of mine, as I enter competitions and perform in concerts throughout the year. The Youth and Government Program is another thing that means a lot to me, as it has made me a more educated and confident individual while allowing me to make lifelong bonds with delegates from around California.

Who has influenced you the most? I have been most influenced by my father. From my basic values and determination to achieve, to my dry sense of humor, my dad has helped create a large part of my character. I admire his work ethic as well as his ability to help others as a doctor, and I hope to one day become a man like him.

What do you want people to know about you? I want people to know that I think kindness is one of the most important traits in a person. I strive to be kind and helpful and aspire to impact people’s lives.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? I see myself either in a medical career or training for one. I hope to be continuing with the pursuit of my passions and interests while helping others along the way.

What schools are you considering for college? I am considering the University of Chicago, Columbia, Williams College, and Harvard—among others. Now it’s just a matter of waiting and hoping for the best!

SLO LIFE

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SECOND ACT

Fifty years ago, Led Fortini popped the question at the Madonna Inn. Having grown up in Paso Robles, it was a blonde bombshell from Los Angeles that caught his eye one day on campus at Cal Poly. It was not long before the pair were busy raising their two young children, remodeling homes, and running a business. Always together, working toward shaping a better space, a better environment, whatever form that took at the time. As life unpredictably unfolds, sometimes hindsight reveals a series of sequential chapters, each one making the next one possible. For the Fortinis, the page opened to a new scene in a most unexpected way.

The new clients were a perfect fit. For Anne Fortini, an interior designer, the assignment was right in her wheelhouse. A beautiful new home was being designed for the Las Ventanas neighborhood in Arroyo Grande, and Mark and Patty Woolpert needed someone who could guide them through the process from the very beginning. Over the three years that spanned conception to move-in, the professional engagement morphed into a friendship. When putting the finishing touches on the home, which Anne determined needed rugs, she suggested a trip to San Francisco where every possible style was available. “I told Led,” Anne shares, “you have to come with me to keep Mark company because he’s going to get really bored, really fast.” Over the weekend, small talk became bigger talk, when someone wondered aloud, “Led, what are you going to do when you retire after your business is sold?”

It was a question Led had been pondering, as well. His Paso Robles-based company was on the market, so it was only a matter of time. “There’s this little vineyard off Broad Street that’s for sale,” he revealed. Coming from a family of winemakers, it felt like a natural second act. Mark replied

excitedly that he knew exactly what vineyard he was referring to, and that he drove past it every day. Led then talked about his love for bocce, how it connects people, and how he saw it as an integral part of the winery he imagined at the corner of Broad and Biddle Ranch at the edge of Edna Valley just south of San Luis Obispo. The more Led shared his vision, the more Mark leaned in to listen. Rugs began losing their appeal, and the trip was rerouted to a bocce club in Los Gatos. After playing a round, the couples settled in for lunch. Mark picked up the phone, called his realtor, and made arrangements to visit the vineyard on the way back home.

The property needed TLC. You could tell that it had been loved, but the owners were ready to move on. For a long time it sat on the market—they were asking for the moon, yet property values were just beginning to recover from the Great Recession. Though many had inquired, the firm asking price scared them away. Things were different now. The owners had bought another place and the listing went from being a “want to sell” to a “need to sell” and three days later Team Fortini-Woolpert was in contract on the 23 acres. “Oh my gosh, it all happened so fast,” Anne recalls in

astonishment. “We needed investors, though. We couldn’t do this on our own.” With heads still spinning the two couples came up with a plan: each one of them was to bring in one of their friends, another couple, so the deal could be split four ways. Those numbers would work. So, Anne made a call: “Linda, do you want to own a winery?” After going over the details, it made sense. Linda and Roy Rawlings were in. The Woolperts brought in John and Tracy Ronca. The four couples, now equal partners, all bringing complementary skills to the table, were set. And Bocce Court Cellars LLC was formed.

The first order of business: what to do about the old ranch house that looked as if it had been swallowed by a thicket of overgrown, yet diseased plants off in the corner. Originally, built in the late 40’s or early 50’s, near downtown San Luis Obispo, the house was then lifted off its foundation in the early 70’s, moved a few miles south, and set down where it rests today. Over the years, as the family that occupied the home grew, so too did the floor plan, which added more square footage (currently around 3,500 square feet ), but also a meandering Winchester Mystery House-

type vibe. For many years, a hair salon had been operated out of one of the rooms, as well. With all the changes over time, the wiring and plumbing were no longer up to code. So, the new owners got to work on what was to become a year-long remodel. Each did what they do best. Anne began sketching plans for the interiors, her son Ryan, owner of Fortini Landscapes, went to town on the vegetation around the building, tearing out the old stuff and planting fresh olive and fig trees, citrus, and rosemary. Mark, owner of Compass Health, which also operates a handful of Central Coast restaurants, started reimagining the space. John, a lawyer, drafted the documents and crossed the “t’s” and dotted the “i’s” so that the property could one day become a VRBO. Linda prepared the space for events. Everyone had a hand in the project, one way or another, whether wielding a paint brush, or a pen, or a phone. It was a group effort, and by all accounts, “So much fun.”

Opening walls is always an adventure, and this case was no different. Surprises were found around every corner, but along the way things were corrected. Leaky pipes repaired, wayward wiring secured, insulation updated, windows replaced, floors ripped up. Once empty, the team redesigned the flow to modernize the house. The big score came when they sourced a treasure trove of reclaimed wood from Alex Trebek’s ranch in Creston. The host of Jeopardy, as it turns out, had a whole lot of horse fencing left over after updating it. Now, the old horse-gnawed trim adorns just about every corner of the home, as well as encasing all of the windows and doors. Wide plank rough sawn European white oak makes up the floors, giving it a unique unfinished feel under bare feet. The kitchen was brought into the twenty-first century and the bathrooms, particularly the master,

received extra attention with extensive tile work. The only thing remaining from the old house was a piece of art that Anne bought from the seller’s yard sale they had prior to moving out.

The VRBO at Bocce Court Cellars, now called Biddle Ranch Vineyard, opened for business a little more than two years ago. Of all people, the owner of the Colorado Avalanche hockey team was the first customer. He and his wife, he said, had thrown a dart on a map to decide where to go on vacation and it landed slightly below San Luis Obispo. They spent a long weekend and reported that it was one of their favorite vacations they had ever taken. And others, including weddings attended by 200 or more guests in the side yard, have also created memories in the new space, as have the non-profits who hosted fundraising events under the pergola built from discarded scaffolding platforms. But, there was one guest that stood out from the rest. As part of the property purchase, the new owners agreed to host the family that had lived in the old ranch house, and loved it and cared for it as their home for forty years. The beauty salon had long since closed, and the kids have all grown up and moved away, but dad was turning 75 and they all returned to stay for the weekend in the restyled country home, and to toast to the times that were, and to the times that will be.

Linda and Roy Rawlings, John and Tracy Ronca, Mark and Patty Woolpert, Led and Anne Fortini

DESIGN BUILD

In this ongoing feature, SLO LIFE Magazine is proud to partner with the American Institute of Architects California Central Coast to unveil its current project winners and highlight our local design and engineering talent. Each month, the organization reviews submissions and selects the top Central Coast projects. Below are two recent installments to this series.

+April Project Recognition

Indio Drive Beach House, Shell Beach

Architect Studio 2G Architects

Landscape Architect Jeffrey Gordon Smith

Structural Engineer Smith Structural Group

Contractor Mountain Pacific Builders

The small neighborhood on Indio Drive in Shell Beach is home to a recent remodel that transitions an existing tract home spec design into a bohemian Californian beach house. The new design, better suited for this Shell Beach neighborhood, was completed by the design team at Studio 2G Architect. Previously, the interior led you through a series of rooms that had no flow and little daylight. The remodel opened up the floor plan inviting natural light in while also giving the interior spaces more volume.

Walking through the remodeled interior feels as if you were in a completely different house. For example, the upper floor master suite was completely revamped. The existing ceiling was opened up to expose the pre-fab trusses, which were sand-blasted and stained, giving volume to the space. The staircase to the master bedroom was moved, allowing dramatic changes to the second floor by leading guests to a new roof deck, and a newly installed barn door allows the master suite privacy.

The first floor also feels more inviting with larger open spaces that dialogue between each other through the new use of daylight and rich, natural materials. The upper floor balcony, as well as the first floor, also engage the landscape beyond. Jeffrey Gordon Smith added to the team of designers by completing a wonderful Mediterranean landscape that could be seen and interacted with through the new open floor plan.

May Project Recognition

Airstream, San Luis Obispo Architect garcia architecture + design

When a newly launched catering company needed a unique marketing and branding strategy, the client turned to their architect for advice and direction. Given the client’s multi-user programmatic needs for this project, coupled with specific aesthetic and functional requirements, the architect looked at an unconventional design approach to accommodate the request for a multi-functional space that would also be portable and mobile at a moment’s notice.

Unfazed by this challenge, the design team took an unorthodox approach to develop a truly unique solution. Leveraging the client’s penchant for classic-vintage design, the concept of a “resto-mod-ular” began to emerge. The architect pitched the idea of locating, repurposing, and renovating a vintage mid-century travel-trailer. This portable solution could not only be easily relocated by the client as needed, but would provide additional marketing opportunities for his expanding business model.

With the full support of the client, the architect was able to locate and purchase a suitable, era-appropriate candidate for this unconventional rehabilitation and renovation project. The salvaged 1964 Airstream GlobeTrotter trailer would not only serve the client’s personal needs, but would also be called upon to serve duty as a hospitality center, sales office, beverage cart, and even itinerant commissary and kitchen uses.

While great care was taken to respect and repair the exterior of the vintage trailer to its original authentic condition, the interior finishes, materials, colors, fixtures, and appliances reflect a more modern sensibility. Book matched walnut cabinets live harmoniously with Marmoleum flooring, and high-tech LED lighting is complemented with vintage reading fixtures and classic tartan upholstery.

What started as a cost-effective design solution has evolved into a 108-square-foot renovation project that has become an integral part of the catering company’s marketing strategy and brand offering, as well as an occasional personal weekend retreat.

About the AIA CCC

The American Institute of Architects has been the leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners since 1957. The local California Central Coast division works in collaboration with SLO LIFE Magazine to showcase its monthly award-winning projects demonstrating notable concepts that have been constructed after being designed by local architects.

ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS

laguna lake

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

2016 7 710,257 694,429 97.77 37

tank farm

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

2016 7 635,788 642,796 101.10 60

cal poly area

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

2016 2 699,500 677,500 96.85 52

2017 10 588,290 582,010 98.93 23

+/42.86% -17.17% -16.19% 1.16% -37.84%

2017 2 774,450 767,500 99.10 36

+/-71.43% 21.81% 19.40% -2.00% -40.00%

2017 3 722,333 693,333 95.99 103

+/50.00% 3.26% 2.34% -0.86% 98.08%

country club

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

2016 3 1,100,600 1,049,677 95.24 132

down town

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

2016 10 735,390 721,775 98.15 37

foothill blvd

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

2016 4 748,000 709,750 94.89 87

2017 3 956,333 932,817 97.54 83

+/0.00% -13.11% -11.13% 2.30% -37.12%

2017 13 785,292 770,057 98.06 68

+/30.00% 6.79% 6.69% -0.09% 83.78%

2017 8 871,475 846,188 97.10 53

+/100.00% 16.51% 19.22% 2.21% -39.08%

2017 13 719,146 712,452 99.07 54 johnson ave *Comparing 01/01/16 - 03/16/16 to 01/01/17 - 03/16/17

2016 8 718,619 698,156 97.15 105

+/62.50% 0.07% 2.05% 1.92% -48.57%

SOURCE: San Luis Obispo Association of REALTORS®

633,952 1,110,500 645,750 514,424 608,118 669,096 538,285 410,188 1,201,303 450,248 463,135 441,287 1,041,310 716,832 469,092 704,420 624,899

TASTING THE DIFFERENCE

“I’m tasting distinctly grassy notes...” Most of us associate tasting with wine or beer, but olive oil is considered liquid gold by foodie aficionados. Add balsamic vinegar into the mix and you’re destined for a unique palette pleaser.

BY PADEN HUGHES

Mixology

GRILLED PLUOT COCKTAIL

2 oz vodka

1/4 oz aged balsamic

1/4 oz Meyer lemon juice

1/2 oz honey syrup (2 : 1, honey to water)

2 oz sparkling water

2 small grilled pluots, skin on fresh slices of pluot for garnish extra honey syrup for grilling Slice pluots in half and remove the pit. Brush with honey syrup and place flesh-side-down on the grill over a medium flame. Cook until pluots soften and start to caramelize (5 minutes). Flip to skin-side-down and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Remove from heat and let cool.

To assemble the cocktail, place two grilled pluots (four grilled pluot halves) into the bottom of a mixing glass. Add the honey syrup and muddle, breaking apart the grilled pluots. Add the Meyer lemon juice, aged balsamic, vodka, and shake for 10 seconds. Double strain over new ice into a highball glass and top with sparkling water. Garnish with a few fresh slices of pluot and serve.

dmittedly, I know relatively little about olive oil. In fact, prior to this olive oil tasting, my only real experience with it was looking at a shelf in Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s and making my selection based solely on label aesthetics. I have been clueless about olive oil for years, but that was about to change.

Along with my husband, I began my olive oil education in downtown San Luis Obispo at We Olive, a charming store that showcases local olive oils complemented by an assortment of balsamic vinegars.

Olive oil is comparable to wine in that its flavor profile is determined by the varietal of olive trees, as well as the agricultural elements during its growing season. Different from wine, olive oil does not need to age, however, it does have a shelf life of around 18 to 22 months.

We learned there are four major flavor profiles with olive oil: buttery, fruity, peppery, and grassy. After tasting different types of pure olive oil matching the four flavor profiles, we moved on to taste the flavored olive oil.

Flavors range from spicy to savory to fruity and are cold-pressed into the oil during the pressing process. The flavored olive oils were truly impressive to us, unlocking the creativity in the cooking process. The many uses for these oils actually made me want to cook, which is a rare occasion. We tried the following flavors: Meyer lemon, blood orange, garlic, basil, and jalapeño. Hands down, the Meyer lemon olive oil was our favorite—and the lemon gelato that incorporated this oil was to die for.

At this point, we decided we couldn’t leave without trying some of the balsamic vinegars and combinations of oil and vinegar. This was where the magic happened as we broke into uncharted flavor territories.

Like the difference between Champagne and brut, to certify vinegar as balsamic, it must come from the Modena region in Italy and be aged at least twelve years in a “batteria” of five or more successively smaller aging barrels. Like wine, the type of barrel the vinegar is stored in adds complexity to its flavor and color. The vinegar gets thicker and more concentrated as it ages, sweetening the end product.

Our first sample was an eighteen-year balsamic vinegar that instantly redefined for me what balsamic vinegar should be. Incidentally, it’s also the most popular product in the entire store, and like so many others, we took home a bottle of our own. We also ventured into the flavored balsamic vinegars, including: mission fig, blackberry, winter white fruit, pineapple white, peach white, and d’anjou pear white. These ranged from tart to candy-like sweetness and could instantly take a simple dish, dessert, or salad and enhance it effortlessly. Mixologists even replace cocktail syrups with these flavored vinegars to improve on mimosas and other signature cocktails.

To cap off our tasting, we combined flavored olive oil with flavored balsamic vinegars for a truly sensory experience. Never underestimate the satisfaction a blend of buttery oil with the sweet zing of tartness can provide. Topping the list was a Tahitian lime olive oil with pineapple balsamic vinegar. It was refreshing, sweet, and makes the perfect two-ingredient

salad dressing. And, the distinctly different runner-up combined the spicy blend of jalapeño olive oil with Ole’ Mole Balsamic.

The potential for these individual olive oils and balsamic vinegars is one thing, but the power of the combinations takes the tasting experience to the next level. We Olive showcases many local olive oils and vinegars and serves to provide an informative and fun introduction to unlocking their potential.

Disclaimer: a tasting experience may forever change your view of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. After our tasting, my husband turned to me and said, “I don’t think I can ever look at olive oil the same way. I had no idea how complex and artful it can be.” I can promise one thing, we’ll be leaving our Trader Joe’s bottles behind and will instead opt for something closer to home.

New + Now

health trends worth trying

The word “trendy” often refers to a fad that has little lasting value, so it can be a turn-off, especially when applied to health practices. But trends can also have enduring health benefits—for example, the trend toward making public places smoke-free (fun fact: the first place to do that was San Luis Obispo) or adding calorie counts to fast-food menus. Take a minute to review the following trends—we promise it will be time well spent.

No. 1

MINDFULNESS

In concept, mindfulness is simple—concentrating on the present moment and processing it nonjudgmentally. By focusing on the here and now, many people find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets from the past, and are better able to form deep connections with others.

Mindfulness techniques have been shown to help relieve stress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders. “They may also be helpful in treating chronic pain, improving sleep, and lowering blood pressure,” says Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

No. 2

ACTIVITY TRACKERS

Exercise is as close to a “magic bullet” as anything medicine has to offer. Physical activity has been linked to a lower risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, many cancers, osteoporosis, and dementia. “If a pill could have such diverse benefits, everyone would be clamoring for it,” says Dr. Manson. “Most of us are well aware that we need the equivalent of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days, but many of us lack the motivation to get moving.”

Activity trackers have been marketed as a solution to inertia, and in this case, the marketers may be right. A steady stream of research shows that the small devices— worn on the wrist or clipped to clothing—actually encourage people to become more active. In study after study, people who were given activity trackers to wear not only significantly increased the number of steps they took daily and the minutes they spent in moderate to vigorous activity, but also expressed an interest in using the trackers and increasing their goals after the studies ended. To tap into this trend, expect to pay about $100 for a device that logs steps, miles, active minutes, and sleep time.

No. 4

TURMERIC

Currently one of the most scientifically studied superfoods, turmeric tops the list for daily diet intake recommendations. Not only has it been proven to help with joint pain and even arthritis, it’s been linked to a delayed onset of type two diabetes, and may even be helpful in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Whether you’re an athlete, an active person with a busy schedule, or are just simply looking for a way to lower inflammation in your body, turmeric is definitely our pick for the most helpful superfood out there.

If you’d like a quick and easy way to incorporate turmeric into your diet, we suggest trying it in a smoothie. The immune boosting power of this superfood is exponentially increased by adding orange (one whole, peeled), yellow squash (chopped), pineapple (about 4 ounces), and walnuts (3 Tbsp) to the turmeric (1 tsp) along with one cup of water and one cup of ice. Blend, enjoy, and start your morning off on the right foot.

No. 3

FARMERS’ MARKETS

While shopping at farmers’ markets has been part of the Central Coast lifestyle for as long as most people can remember, it hasn’t always been so. In the last 30 years, farmers’ markets have moved from the sides of rural roads to the centers of major cities and everywhere in between. And, it seems people’s healthy eating habits have improved as a result. In one recent study conducted by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, when people began to shop at inner-city farmers’ markets, they also consumed less sugary soda and more vegetables than they had previously.

No. 5

KOMBUCHA

Known as the “Immortal Health Elixir” by the Chinese and originating in the Far East around 2,000 years ago, kombucha is a beverage with tremendous health benefits. It contains a colony of bacteria and yeast that are responsible for initiating the fermentation process once combined with sugar. After being fermented, kombucha becomes carbonated and contains vinegar, b-vitamins, enzymes, probiotics, and a high concentration of acid (acetic, gluconic, and lactic), which have been linked with the following benefits: improved digestion, weight loss, increased energy, immune support, and reduced inflammation. The sugar-tea solution is fermented by bacteria and yeast commonly known as a “SCOBY” (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). Although it’s usually made with black tea, kombucha can also be made with green tea, too. You can make kombucha yourself or try locally brewed Whalebird Kombucha.

AVOCADO OIL

Rich in oleic acid and vitamin E (it is one of the top five foods highest in vitamin E), avocado oil helps speed cell regeneration, lowers the risk of heart disease, and is a great antioxidant that not only nourishes your skin, but slows its aging process. Loaded with chlorophyll, it is a great, natural way to detox your body of harmful toxins. Because of its multiple benefits, it can be used in multiple ways. Use it in your skincare (it is especially nourishing for dry skin), as a hair mask (it speeds hair growth, strengthens your follicles and leaves your hair remarkably shiny), or incorporate it into your cooking (its high smoke point makes it a good substitute for olive oil when cooking at high temperatures).

AMARANTH

The tiny seeds of the amaranth plant that was once an Aztec staple is justifiably the new supergrain trend. Boasting a significantly higher nutritional content than most of its grain counterparts, it has six times the dietary fiber of long-grain rice, ten times its iron levels, and twice its protein content. Unlike most grains such as wheat, it contains all of the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. It is also gluten-free and a source of key vitamins like calcium and potassium. One of its proven health benefits is its ability to lower cholesterol levels. A great breakfast option, we definitely see this grain as a health food staple. SLO LIFE

THE BUSINESS OF STORYTELLING

In this ongoing feature, New York Times Best Selling author FRANZ WISNER teams up with SLO LIFE Magazine to explore the magic of an age-old tradition: storytelling.

BY FRANZ WISNER

It’s as if we speak two different languages.

At home, we laugh and joke. Sometimes we struggle and sometimes we cry. We try to speak from the heart. We get called out when we don’t. We use our emotions to communicate, attempting to reach our loved ones on a deeper, more meaningful level.

But the second we step into our places of work, we often turn off our emotions and start reciting lines from an outdated marketing playbook. My mailbox fills daily with “exclusive, one-time” offers that are neither exclusive nor one-time. That tri-tip sandwich I ordered for lunch was good, but “hand-curated?” “World famous?” C’mon, now.

“All Natural.” “Game Changing.” “No Obligation.” We consumers see so much of this marketing gobbledegook we don’t see it at all. We become anesthetized. None of it registers or rings true.

I’ve never understood this approach. We know we are moved far more by story than by data or hyperbole. Just think of all the big decisions you’ve made in your life based largely on a gut feeling—choosing a life partner or buying a house, for example.

So why don’t brands ease up on the ballyhoo and just tell us their story? Thankfully, more are.

High school dropout Blake Mycoskie was backpacking in Argentina when he met a woman who was giving out shoes to the poor. He saw the huge difference a pair of shoes could make in the life of a less fortunate child. The encounter inspired him to create TOMS, a new type of business, a for-profit company that would give away a pair of shoes for every one it sold. My wife heard the story years ago and decided to give the shoes a try. Today our

closet is full of them, proof of what can happen when a quality product and a compelling story come together.

Michael Dubin saw his Dollar Shave Club as a corporate David itching to fight the industry Goliath, Gillette. For $4,500, he made a video and posted it on YouTube. “Do you think your razor needs a vibrating handle, a flashlight, a backscratcher, and ten blades?” Dubin deadpans in the video. “Your handsome ass grandfather had one blade… and polio.” The story struck a chord. Sales soared. Last year Unilever purchased Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion. Not bad for David.

The best brand storytellers embrace challenges, needs, emotion, and vulnerability. At its core, storytelling is connection. It’s embracing those universal themes we share as humans.

I remember seeing the Meathead Movers trucks when I first

moved to town. I loved the name. I have a longtime affinity with companies that don’t take themselves too seriously. Then I heard the story of how Meathead Movers began to offer free moving services to any woman fleeing domestic violence. They didn’t do it to boost sales. They experienced a community need, firsthand, and decided to help.

I also love Chas Smit’s story. He’s the owner of Dutch Window Cleaning Artist. Smit grew up in The Netherlands, which is “obsessive about cleaning,” he explains in a short video on his website. “My mom was on my neck about cleaning!” She taught him how to clean windows the “Dutch way,” which includes cleaning the eaves and walls around the windows as well. As a result, Smit isn’t just selling a window cleaning service, he’s sharing a story about his upbringing and offering clients a different cultural approach to a common chore. Proost to that.

If you have a good story behind your brand, share it with us. Most businesses and nonprofits start with a dream. Tell us yours. Why did you get into business in the first place? What are your current challenges and goals? Remember, nobody roots for a brand. We root for the people and stories behind the brand.

Interested in brand storytelling, but don’t know where to start? Spend an afternoon swapping anecdotes with your colleagues. Talk about your struggles as well as your breakthroughs, the humorous moments and the times you felt you were making a difference.

Write down the anecdotes and see what takes shape. Stories often have a life of their own. Perhaps you have a compelling history to share. Maybe it’s a rags-toriches tale, a quest for change, or a greater good story. Is your story inspiring, funny, touching, unique? It can be any of the above, it just can’t be boring.

Next, write the stories into a narrative and test it out with a small group. See what elements resonate the most, then edit and refine.

Once you have your story down, you should use it to help shape all aspects of your operations, everything from websites and social media, to customer service and hiring, to sales and community relations. Stories can help your brand stand apart from the crowd and make your employees feel they are on a mission.

Best of all, stories allow us to cut the b.s. (business speak) and get back to being real. SLO LIFE

FRANZ WISNER is the founder of The Bestsellers Group, which provides brands and individuals with storytelling assistance from bestselling authors.

THE CUESTA QUESTION

BY TOM FRANCISKOVICH

Following a mathematical analysis of supply and demand in last issue’s “Cap and Gown” article, which concluded that the solutions for San Luis Obispo’s housing crisis can arise only after Cal Poly’s enrollment is capped and on-campus housing ratios mandated, many readers were left wondering: What about Cuesta?

The Dow Jones seemed to be shedding 500 points each day. Unemployment was skyrocketing. And business was booming at Cuesta College. The school was beyond 100% capacity and applicants were being turned away. During a recession, as a rule of

thumb, attendance at community colleges increases as those newly out-of-work look to retool in order to find new jobs. And 2009 was no ordinary recession. So, it is natural that it marked the high-water point for Cuesta College enrollment: 13,217.

As “green shoots” began appearing in the recovering economy, and students traded backpacks and binders for briefcases and tool belts, enrollment, as expected, dropped. And, the decline has been dramatic for a number of reasons, not all of them obvious. At first glance, we find that total enrollment went from 13,217 in 2009 to 10,860 in 2016. But to understand the whole story, you have to dig deeper. A couple of years ago, legislation was passed making a program called “dual enrollment” possible. This is where local high school students are able to take classes at community colleges to get a jumpstart on their college career. Those classes take place mostly on high school campuses around the county, for example Paso Robles High School has 465 kids currently enrolled in the program. In all, there are now 2,011 San Luis Obispo County high school students participating in dual enrollment at Cuesta College. So, in order to scrutinize the data, we have to back those numbers out. When we do, we actually have 8,849 students in 2016 and 12,590 in 2009 (this program did not exist in 2009, but there were 627 high school students attending for various reasons at that time, so we’ll back them out, too). And, this program is expected to grow as more high schools are added, such as Mission Prep in San Luis Obispo, which will come on-line next year.

So, in real terms, we have gone from 12,590 to 8,849, which amounts to a 30% decrease in seven years. But, again, you have to drill down deeper still to understand the forces at play. Cuesta College is a community college with a mandate to serve residents in its local area. Most of its students do not look like typical four-year college students, because they are not. In addition to dual enrollment, Cuesta also educates inmates at the California Men’s Colony, provides learning and enrichment for local senior citizens through its “Emeritus College” program, and also offers online courses. Those programs respectively add up to around 3,000 students, all of which count toward the 8,849 headcount covering all three of its campuses in San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, and Arroyo Grande plus the dual enrolled high school students.

It used to be that Cuesta College offered a “back door” of sorts to Cal Poly. That is no longer the case, as transfers to the university have tightened substantially and, despite the lip service paid by Cal Poly’s President Jeff Armstrong concerning increasing acceptances from Cuesta College when he took over in 2011, the number has remained mostly flat. Last year, 230 Cuesta College transfers were admitted to Cal Poly. Ten years ago, it was different. If you lived out of the area and your grades were not sufficient to get into Cal Poly, you could simply put your shoulder to the plow over at Cuesta for a couple of years, improve your G.P.A, knock out your prerequisites, then transfer to Cal Poly as a junior. To understand how Cuesta College has impacted the San Luis Obispo housing market, those are the numbers we have to get our heads around.

In 2009 there were 640 first-time, freshman, out-of-area students attending Cuesta. That number, too, has dropped. Last year, there were 488—a 24% decline. Not quite as dramatic as the overall enrollment reduction at 30%, but close. Keep in mind that students generally do not go to Cuesta for just one year. The data show that approximately two-thirds, let’s call it 70%, stay for Year 2. And of those that make it to Year 2, another 70% usually go on to Year 3. Rarely is there a Year 4; by then they typically have transferred, burned out, or moved on to a full-time job. So, 488 times 70% is 324; and 324 times 70% is 239—are you still with me?—which means that if we add 488 to 324 and then to 239, right now there around 1,051 out-of-area students attending Cuesta College. In other words, the net total for rental housing demand in San Luis Obispo coming from Cuesta College is, give or take, around 1,000 students.

Compare that figure now to Cal Poly’s off-campus rental housing demand at around 14,000. Expressed together, the total college student demand for San Luis Obispo’s housing stock is 15,000 students—7% are from Cuesta College, 93% are from Cal Poly. If you consider the fact that Cuesta’s demand is shrinking by 24% per year and Cal Poly’s is growing by 4-5% per year, it does not require complicated math to see that in five years’ time the ratio will probably look more like this: 255 for Cuesta and 17,868 for Cal Poly totaling 18,123 students—1% for Cuesta and 99% for Cal Poly. Those are the numbers. And the nice thing about numbers is—if you study them without bias—they tell you the story without saying a word.

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Cauliflower:

Veg of the Moment

Thanks to deft seasoning and inventive preparations, we’re more open than ever to vegetables’ charms, but one veg in particular has chefs bowing down to its chameleon-like versatility. Forget frozen florets: this is the cauliflower you never knew.

BY JAIME LEWIS

I am a sucker for food trends. Take kale: I did my foodie duty—I grew it, roasted it into chips, massaged its leathery leaves—until someone informed me that kale is often used as horse food. Ever since then? I don’t throw my back out for kale.

I bought a spiralizer, telling my kids their zucchini coils would be “just like pasta.” (Lies.) I roasted Brussels sprouts, too, a couple times, but never put them into heavy rotation.

One vegetable, however, delivers on hype, in my opinion. With its mildly sweet, nutty flavor and willingness to play well with other ingredients, the humble cauliflower is the rare trending veg that continues to surprise and delight. It’s not just me: I recently took to the streets of San Luis Obispo to taste the many ways this cruciferous hero is winning the hearts of local chefs.

The Traditional Hit

Given the fact that Asia accounts for 75 percent of the world’s cauliflower production, it’s no wonder that dishes like aloo gobi (curried cauliflower and potatoes) and gobi pakora (spiced and fried cauliflower) dominate Indian restaurant menus.

“Aloo gobi is very basic,” says Hina Batool, who owns Shalimar Restaurant with her husband, Aasim Sajjad. It doesn’t seem basic at all to me, though, as she sets a plate of turmeric-yellow aloo gobi on the table and I take a bite; flavors of cardamom, cumin, ginger, and garlic are as bright and bold as a bridal sari.

“Gobi pakora needs a little more attention,” she says, sharing that raw cauliflower is battered in a blend of lentil flour and spices before being deep fried. I’m relishing the crunch of battered and fried cauliflower. I’m tempted to wrap several florets up in a blanket of fluffy naan bread, grab a bottle of Cobra and call it a day. >>

JAIME LEWIS is a world traveler, and food writer, who lives in San Luis Obispo.

When I visit Kreuzberg Coffee Co. on a cold afternoon, Executive Chef James Voisinet leads me from the café’s eclectic DIY front room—with raw plywood surfaces, Edison bulbs, and thrifted sofas— to the kitchen, where he demonstrates what goes into making his so-called vegan hot “wings” (aka deliciously fried spicy cauliflower) with vegan blue cheese dipping sauce.

“Are you vegan?” I ask, as he flips and tosses fried cauliflower bits onto a plate for me. He laughs. “No. I lean vegetarian, but as a chef, I’m what you’d call an occupational carnivore.” Voisinet tells me he’s been with Kreuzberg several years, but his background includes the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and significant time working in New York City kitchens.

He parks a small jar of the “blue cheese” sauce beside the florets and hands the plate over. I take one crispy, savory bite and swoon: the florets are silky inside, kicky with just the right amount of heat while the dip complements with tang.

“It’s healthy, right?” I say to Voisinet, my mouth full.

“It’s cauliflower,” he says, “but it’s fried. I wouldn’t exactly call it good-for-you.” >>

The Market Maverick

“This is a dish I tried out for [a job at] the restaurant with,” says Chef Elijah Blackburn of the new Thomas Hill Organic Kitchen, where nearly everything gleams, from the clean white countertops and mirrors behind the bar to the chandeliers overhead. He grins and points to the plate of six roasted cauliflower and truffle tater tots before me, floating on a little river of lemonherb aioli.

After pushing a tot through the creamy, chive-y aioli, I pop it into my mouth; I’m transported to the tater tots of my hot lunch days, only these tots are tender and, of course, more complex. I especially like the aioli and dusting of salt crystals on top.

I ask Blackburn why cauliflower takes such prominence on the Thomas Hill Organics Kitchen menu. (Another dish, the woodfired cauliflower, sings with SpanishMoorish flavors of romanesco, golden raisins, capers and almonds.) “Well, we try to stay local and seasonal,” he says. “Eighty-five percent of our produce comes from three local farmers’ markets. The menu just reflects what we find there.” >>

I’m seated at a high table inside Foremost Wine Company across from Chef Julie Simon, who sips tea from a mason jar. The decor around us is just as assertive, hand-wrought, and plant-centric as many of the dishes that emerge from the Foremost kitchen.

Though she was born in France, Simon’s cuisine can’t be pigeon-holed as French or American; it would appear, rather, to originate from the far corners of the world, melded into a new vibrant style all its own. And cauliflower is just the sort of offbeat, malleable ingredient that lets her style shine.

“We’ve used cauliflower in many different ways,” Simon says, “but the roasted cauliflower on the menu now is a regular dish we offer with different preparations as the seasons change. Right now, it’s very Indian.”

Billed as an appetizer, the dish Simon places before me demands the presence of an entree: a large half-head of roasted, almond-crusted cauliflower sits atop pools of raita (Indian yogurt) and sweet mint chutney. Flecked with pomegranate seeds, it looks like a big, beautiful, bejeweled brain.

“Here’s a steak knife,” Simon says. I saw off a bite of tender cauliflower and crisp almond crust, dipped in raita and chutney. A world of vibrant, confident flavors rush at me: fenugreek, roasted garlic, mint. Can this really be the same vegetable found in freezer bags with broccoli and crinkle-cut carrots? SLO LIFE

The Show Stopper

DEVILED EGGS

like you’ve never seen them before

BY CHEF JESSIE RIVAS PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLAKE ANDREWS

DEVILED EGG FILLING yields 24 halves

15 hard boiled eggs ½ cup mayonnaise ½ cup sour cream 1 Tbs Dijon mustard 1 Tbs yellow mustard 1 Tbs lemon juice 2 Tbs diced pickle 2 Tbs minced green onion ¼ tsp pepper and pinch of salt

Boil 15 eggs starting from cold water. Bring to a boil and immediately turn off heat and cover for 10 minutes. Cool under cold running water. Peel immediately. Cut eggs in half lengthwise and separate yolks into a mixing bowl. Place egg whites on a sheet pan and set aside. Add all ingredients for deviled egg filling to yolks in mixing bowl. Mash yolks and mix well until creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Divide the yolk mixture into three separate bowls.

CLASSIC

DEVILED EGG

1/3 recipe of deviled egg filling 1 tsp paprika for garnish a few sprigs of chives for garnish ½ wedge avocado (optional)

yields 8 halves

Place 1/3 of the deviled egg filling in a piping bag and fill the egg whites with the filling. Garnish with a sprinkling of paprika and chives. Add slice of avocado if desired.

BACON AND

CHEDDAR

1/3 recipe of deviled egg filling 2 Tbs minced and cooled bacon 1 strip of bacon cooled and chopped for garnish 2 Tbs sharp cheddar finely grated

yields 8 halves

Using 1/3 of the deviled egg filling, add 2 Tbs minced bacon, and 2 Tbs finely grated cheddar. Mix together and use piping bag to fill eggs. Garnish with cooked bacon crumbles.

SMOKED FISH yields

1/3 recipe of deviled egg filling

1Tbs diced parsley 1 oz or 3 Tbs smoked albacore tuna

8 halves

Fry 1 Tbs capers in a fry pan over hot heat with a little oil for just a few seconds, set aside. Add parsley, 1 Tbs minced capers, and 2 Tbs of the fish, minced, to 1/3 of the deviled egg filling. Use piping bag to fill eggs. Garnish with remaining fish and fried capers.

JESSIE RIVAS is the owner and chef of The Pairing Knife food truck which serves the Central Coast.

WINTER IMPACT

BY JEANETTE TROMPETER

Iwas on the back roads of Paso Robles recently on a day that could only be described as epic. The sun shone brightly as I cruised with the top down on my old convertible. The hills were green, the cherry and almond blossoms dotting them with vibrant bursts of pink and white. This has been the first spring in several years that did not come with a sense of dread. This winter was different, a rainy season delivered, and as a result it created this perfect spring day. I savored every moment.

It took some discipline to not stop at every winery along Highway 46 West just to blow off the rest of the day and hang out for the afternoon, and it got me to thinking about our local vintners and what this rainy season meant to them. We asked for the rain, and we got it. So what now? Were our winter rains strong enough for our local vintners to make up for the lack of foot traffic in their tasting rooms during those cold and blustery days? Was it too much too fast? Certainly, that proved to be the case for some of our coastal hillsides and our beloved Highway One through Big Sur. We feel for our neighbors to the north who will be working through storm damage for months to come. Overall, though, it seems the consistent rains of late are giving our local agriculturalists just what they needed for a fresh start to some great crops come this fall.

Like any crop, grape vines depend a lot on the soil in which they are planted to determine how well they produce. And while the terrain along our stretch of the state is inherently good for growing wine grapes, too many dry years can take its toll, not just on underground aquifers, but on the quality of the soil itself. Every plant begins to fight for nourishment, and some do better than others.

“It is too early to tell what the vintage of 2017 will look like, but we definitely got a good start with all the rain we saw over

the winter months,” says Daniel Daou, co-owner and winemaker for Daou Vineyards on Paso Robles’ west side. “It creates a bigger, healthier crop, with a bigger canopy, which is great.” He says the heavy rains also washed a lot of the toxins and salt deposits out of the soil and has recharged their underground water source. “We had some erosion, but that we can fix. Usually we would dry-farm about 80% of the vines, but this year we’ll dry farm 100%.”

Paul Hoover, owner and winemaker at Still Waters Vineyards on the east side of Paso Robles, says the rains allow vintners to take a breath, and regroup, but reckons that California has likely not endured its last drought. “Mother Nature helped us this year, and with replenished aquifers, we won’t have to turn on the pumps. That’s great, but it’s not a magic fix. We still need to figure out long-term solutions,” he observes.

Hoover agrees, though, that all crops will do so much better getting the pH levels down. “You have to have enough rain to leach salt. When pH levels are higher, salts are higher and can affect wine quality. So it’s a great thing to see the rain levels we did this year.”

It’s not just the rains of this past winter that have been helpful to growers. The temperatures were beneficial from Paso Robles to the Santa Maria Valley. Jason Haas is the winemaker at Tablas Creek Vineyards and says this winter provided a perfect pairing for vines.

“We got the cold in December to get everything dormant, then it was wet in January and February, and then cold in March to keep things from sprouting. We’re getting some bud-break now that it’s warming up; but so far, so good.” He also reports that the ground has remained soaked, so it has been difficult for crews to get

out and prune prior to budbreak, but the sunshine over the last couple of weeks has mostly solved that problem.

So as the warmer weather arrives this spring, we can all soak it up. We got what we wished for this winter, and barring early freezes, it appears the factors are in place for 2017 to be a very good year indeed for Central Coast wines. So don’t wait. Clear the calendar and enjoy the beauty of the Central Coast wine country.

JEANETTE TROMPETER is a San Luis Obispo native and owner of Ruby Shoes Wine Club.

GRAND TOUR

BY BRANT MYERS

Before there were dozens of local options, and surely before there were beer tours, there was one lone brewery in the county, SLO Brewing Company. Following their move from the two-story brick building on Garden into a bespoke three-story edifice on Higuera, they began constructing The Rock, their new brewing facility, beer garden, and brewpub adjacent to the airport. Their name is a clever double-entendre denoting the monolithic rocks on the property, as well as their roots as a concert venue.

Having attended the groundbreaking ceremony in early 2016, it has been fun to watch the dirt lot grow into a brewing and entertainment complex. I was shown around by John Nguyen, whose excitement was palpable, and got to sample their fresh Wave Wrangler session IPA directly from the bright tank. For you wine drinkers, this is akin to having a nail pulled from the barrel or watching a winemaker dip a pipette into the bung and pull up liquid that has never seen the light of day. Great tropical fruit bouquet and clean, crisp mouthfeel. I’m looking forward to cracking the seal of their blue cans on upcoming sunny days.

Fresh beer in hand, I’m led around the rest of the facility including the impressive walls of empty cans in four distinct colors waiting to be filled and consumed. The unseen back half of their tasting room and restaurant is full of shiny stainless steel tanks, sloped floors, and a very sexy Criveller canning line. Tucked away in corners you can spot some artifacts of brewing past, such as a wooden sign sporting the original primarycolored logo, something every hipster or beer aficionado would die to have hanging in their home, and a mash paddle that is so worn it looks like it came off the fireplace mantle of a lake home in Maine. We wind through the lab where long-time brewer Steve Courier, who has seen SLO Brewing Company move and evolve since 1998, is running quality control to ensure classic beer recipes get their unique West Coast twist (hint: dank, resinous hops). More stainless steel greets us in the kitchen where the air is rife with smoked barbecue aromas emanating from their local red oak and apple wood pit smoker, while cooks in white uniforms are busily rushing around arranging offerings on a slab of hardwood to be served to a lucky customer—me, but more on that later.

Nguyen sweeps his hand across the outside patio beckoning me to imagine the vision they have for an open-air experience for their guests. Chairs, tables, fire pits, and yard games will be strategically placed once the landscaping goes in over the next week or two. Always a sign of the project coming to a close and the enjoyment of hard work beginning. We dip into an empty building off the main restaurant and dreams of

watching a SLO Brew concert begin to twirl in my head. 270-degree windows and roll-up doors will be quite a contrast to the first story of the old brick building, but with an open floor plan and double the size, it’s easy to imagine where they’re going to put the stage.

Grand tour complete, and many handshakes later, I’m sat down at their center table, a long expanse of live-edge center-cut wood, and handed a variety of beers. In addition to the eight more taps that they share with the downtown location, The Rock will always have the four portfolio brews you’ll find canned and distributed. But, the best part about visiting a brewery is that there is always an offering you can’t get anywhere else. I’m looking at a rainbow of liquid starting with their unfiltered Mosaic IPA. A single hop varietal that practically oozes papaya and lemon aromas with a slight haze; it’s a great refreshing beer that I hope will stick around the lineup as we get into spring. Next up is a classic that always paired well with live music, their Reggae Red. A red wheat ale brewed with the sticky, viscous, and downright hard-to-workwith hemp seeds. It has a solid malt body and the seeds provide just a touch of nuttiness making it almost like a blend of an amber ale and brown ale with the mouthfeel of a hefeweizen. A true classic.

While admiring the setting sun coming through the windows illuminating the line-up of beers, I’m roused from my photography by an array of smoking barbecue on a plank of wood reminding me that I’m also in a gastropub. Half of a maple glazed chicken, which has a skin like candy, and Carolina-style pulled pork with that sweet tang so well known to the region, sit surrounded by sides of Aussie baked beans, sweet potato, and poblano succotash. The plates are adorned with house-made pickles—a beer drinkers side salad—holding just enough acidic bite to cut through the hoppy beers, Texas toast to sop up the

juices as the meat cools, and onions to add crunch to your tender meats. I made sure they were going to be open for at least another three hours as I dug in.

Meal complete and to-go boxes exciting me for the leftovers to come, I sip on my final beer. A Scout Stout, served on nitro for that creamy head, it truly is a digestif and great closer to the meal. Collaborated with SLO’s own Scout Coffee Co., this stout has just enough sweetness to act as dessert, roastiness to complement the smoked meats, and that melt-in-your-mouth foamy head to make you feel like you’re having a cappuccino to finish your evening. If this is how they operate during a soft-opening, we can expect great things to come from SLO Brew in the future.

BRANT MYERS is owner of Hop On Beer Tours, a concierge service for craft beer enthusiasts along the Central Coast.

EROICA CALIFORNIA

Eroica California offers a most memorable cycling experience—a weekend of cycling entertainment, an ocean view ride with various route lengths, and a Concourse d’Elegance for vintage bikes. Join this two-day festival and experience the ride of your life.

April 8 – 9 // eroicacalifornia.com

APRIL

FROZEN

Angry, humane, and compassionate, Frozen is an extraordinary play that entwines the lives of a murderer, the mother of one of his victims, and his psychologist to explore our capacity for forgiveness, remorse, and change after an act that would seem to rule them out entirely.

April 21 -22 // slolittletheatre.org

SHEN YUN

There was a time when the world was full of magic and splendor, and all on earth existed in harmony with heaven. You could see it in the arts, feel it in the air, and hear it in the beat of a drum. This was a land of heroes and sages, dragons and phoenixes, emperors and immortals. April 11 – 12 // pacslo.org

MORRO BAY KITE FESTIVAL

The Morro Bay Kite Festival is a free annual event for kite enthusiasts and families. Enjoy a fun family event and some of the best kite-flying wind in the world.

April 29 – 30 // morrobaykitefestival.org

DIRTY CELLO

From China to Italy, and all over the U.S., Dirty Cello brings the world a high energy and unique spin on blues and bluegrass. Led by vivacious cross-over cellist, Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello is cello like you’ve never heard before.

April 22 // sloma.org

WINE RAIL EXCURSION

Take a round trip to Pomar Junction Winery in Paso Robles on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight. Enjoy the entertainment and wine-tasting included in your fare, and buy dinner or bring your own picnic. May 5 // slorrm.com

FLAVOR OF SLO

Enjoy an afternoon at the beautiful and historic Jack House and Gardens in downtown San Luis Obispo while sampling some of the best food, wine, and beer the Central Coast has to offer. Each year this event raises thousands of dollars to benefit United Way of San Luis Obispo County.

May 6 // flavorofslo.com

ANTIQUE STREET FAIR

Downtown Cayucos becomes a pedestrian zone while browsers and shoppers can check out the many goods being offered by local and visiting vendors.

May 7 // cayucoschamber.com

OUR TOWN

Winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Our Town follows the small town of Grover’s Corners. Narrated by a stage manager and performed with minimal props and sets, this is the “must-see” play in the canon of American theatre. Don’t miss this classic American drama.

May 12 – 28 // slolittletheatre.org

MIRACLE MILES FOR KIDS

Run a 10K from Morro Rock to the Cayucos Pier and make a difference in the community. The funds earned through registration and pledging help to meet critical needs of the over 1,400 children, youth, and families annually.

May 13 // mm4k.com