Resurrecting
CHEERS TO TEN YEARS!
Time flies when you’re having fun!
We started TEN OVER with a simple idea... do creative work with good people, have some fun, and leave the world better than we found it.
So far so good... Here’s to the next 10 years!
If your heart wants to share laughter, it also
For all your heart needs.
Autumn
We don’t have seasons here on the Central Coast, at least that’s what people say. But if you pay attention, you can spot them. When the hills are green, the odds are good we’re in spring. If it rains, it’s probably winter. During the summer, the beaches are buzzing.
Autumn is a little more difficult to detect, but if you’re looking closely, you can identify the signs. The first hint comes when the breeze shifts on a chilled Friday evening and notes from the marching band drums waft in from the gridiron. At the same time, the air feels a little different. Heavier and crisper. Edges of the day—mornings and evenings—announce themselves with a shiver. And kids can talk about only one thing: Halloween costumes.
For me, I know immediately when the season changes. It’s not a barometer or a Farmer’s Almanac, it’s my mom. She watches with the same level of enthusiasm and curiosity as those kids scheming to maximize their trick-or-treat candy haul, waiting for the first leaf to drop. And when it does, I will receive a text message containing a single stanza from the poem written by William Herbert Carruth, the same one Scotch-taped to an oak-paneled cabinet in the kitchen of my youth:
A haze on the far horizon / The infinite, tender sky / The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields / And the wild geese sailing high / And all over upland and lowland / The charm of the goldenrod / Some of us call it Autumn / And others call it God.
Most of us, of course, just call it fall. And the genesis of that word—literally, leaves falling from trees—makes sense. Why complicate it? But I will say, the more formal designation, autumn—derived from the Latin word autumnus, which translates to “passing of the year”—somehow feels more appropriate, more reverential, to the wonders of the season.
Each year, the fourth Thursday of November encapsulates the spirit best. Gathering with the people we care about most to express our gratitude for one another, for the season, for our health, for “this food we’re about to receive,” is, perhaps, our highest and best collective expression of fellowship and brotherly love. No presents to buy. No hype. Just us. And one unlucky turkey.
Sometimes I wonder: Could we collectively maintain that same elevated level of thankfulness year-round? Or is there something unique about autumn, which makes it all possible? I mean, we aren’t prompted by our economy to celebrate the holiday the way we are Christmas. I have no doubt that the question has come up in many corporate boardrooms: “How can we commercialize gratitude?” Up to this point, there really hasn’t been an answer, other than selling the aforementioned Butterball. Maybe that, in itself, is the reason for the season, a temporary cessation of our go-go daily existence, the hustle and bustle. I don’t know.
Or could it come down to something that is uniquely the domain of humankind: Symbolism. I’m not talking about the Mayflower and top-hatted pilgrims here, but autumn itself. If we go back to that literal seasonal translation—leaves beginning to “fall”—and then take a look at that leaf throughout the year, can it possibly provide us with some clues? Let’s start with spring. The leaf appears as a tiny, little green bud awaiting a warm day to enter the world. During the summer, it’s growing, basking in the sun without a care. Then, autumn arrives, the leaf struggles to hang on before eventually withering and falling to the ground. By winter, there are no leaves. And the cycle repeats.
Historians have debunked the Disneyfied version of the first Thanksgiving, way back in 1621, but there is no denying the fact that Abraham Lincoln formalized it as an American holiday in order to create a “peaceful interlude” between North and South during the Civil War. While Lincoln made the declaration, there is a much lesser-known historical figure who should get credit for her tenacious lobbying of the president: Sarah Josepha Hale, a founder of American Ladies Magazine, the long-time editor of Godey’s Lady Book, and most famously, the poet who wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Hale was from New England and grew up in a family that celebrated Thanksgiving. She understood the power that came when a bountiful meal was shared generously between people during a changing season, a season when one thing falls away to make room for a new thing to arise. And, maybe that’s it, the reason why so many of us love autumn: It symbolizes opportunity—the opportunity to do better, to be better, when the new cycle begins.
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
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SLO LIFE TRAVELS
SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA
Dear Friends,
In May of this year, I will officially be a Hearing Aid Specialist for 25 years! I don’t know how these years have gone by so quickly. But I do know how blessed I am to have so many wonderful patients like you. I appreciate your loyalty and support. I have seen many changes in hearing health care, and most have been for the better.
I don’t believe anyone misses the big, uncomfortable, squealing hearing aids we had available back in 1999. They were adjusted with tiny screwdrivers and were not too attractive. Today we have rechargeable aids,
Bluetooth streaming and smart phone apps. Most aids are nearly invisible when worn and are comfortable to wear 12 hours a day. We have a few patients that are still with us from 25 years ago.
To celebrate 25 years, we have a few special offers for you. We called our battery supplier, and they agreed to offer you a special price of $25 for a case for 80 batteries. They are normally $40 so you will save $15. We also have new products that turn your TV or computer into Bluetooth streaming devices, and they are all 25% off!
If you or a loved one are considering new hearing aids, we are also offering $250 off each hearing aid. Some patients like to have an extra pair, or they want to upgrade to something with more features. This year all the hearing aid companies are shaking off the Covid dust and have released new products in the hope of providing more clarity and comfort. Call us today and we promise to get you in within 48 hours, not 6 weeks like the big box stores.
Spring is a good time to call us to have your hearing tested. Let us get your hearing aids cleaned and polished so that you are ready for upcoming trips, graduations, and family gatherings. We service all brands like Phonak, Miracle Ear, Oticon and Starkey. Call our friendly Patient Care Coordinator Abby at (805) 460-7385. She will get you scheduled right away. We hope to see you soon!
Best Regards,
Peter Lucier
P.S. Thank you for your loyalty and support of our family. We appreciate your business and feel grateful to have served you for the past 25 years! Call us at (805) 460-7385.
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1. CHARLOTTE ALEXANDER is an award-winning writer and editor with more than twenty years experience in nonprofit organizations, higher education, and media.
2. ROSA CLARK is a family photographer based in San Luis Obispo. You can see her work at rosaclarkphotography.com.
3. EMILY DESJARDINS is an editorial photographer based out of her home town in San Luis Obispo County. Follow her on Instagram @emanatemoments.
4. SLO local GENEVA FRANCISKOVICH has a passion for art and music and can usually be found surfing and sunbathing at the beach or hiking Central Coast trails.
5. DAN FREDMAN is a SLO native immersed in the wine realm. He prefers LPs to streaming, Mac to PC, Fender over Gibson, and has nothing against screwcaps.
6. PETER HEIRENDT is a marketing creative producer and the founder of Shadowlight photography. You can follow him on instagram @shadowlightfoto.
7. PADEN HUGHES is an author, professional coach and co-founder of Gymnazo and enjoys exploring the Central Coast.
8. A Cal Poly alumnus with a background in Architectural and Product Design, DAVID LALUSH works as an architectural and real estate photographer on the Central Coast.
9. DANA LOSSING is an interior designer at SLO based Ten Over Studio with a passion for dancing, yoga-ing, thrift-shopping, and adventuring with her family locally and beyond.
10. JAIME LEWIS writes about food, drink, and the good life from her home in San Luis Obispo. Find her on Instagram and Twitter @jaimeclewis.
11. BRANT MYERS is a the founder at slobiiig.com, a hospitality consulting firm, and Toddler Timber, where he makes wooden children’s toys.
12. MARK NAKAMURA is a wedding, event, family, architectural, commercial, and landscape photographer. Find him @nakamuraphoto and @marknakamuraphoto.
13. BRIAN SCHWARTZ is the event director for the Central Coast Writers’ Conference and advocate for independent publishing. Connect at SelfPublish.org.
14. ZACHARY SCOTT is a photographer known for his humorous and highly stylized work featured in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Time Magazine, Wired, and New York Magazine
15. MARIAH VANDENBERG has a background in neuroscience and is an active photographer, artist, musician, and outdoor enthusiast.
LOCAL
august 5
Former Cal Poly swimmer Tayor Spivey and her triathlon mixed relay teammates take silver at the Paris Olympics in a photo finish, edging out third-place Great Britain by a mere 0.005 seconds. The U.S. team of Spivey, Seth Rider, Morgan Pearson, and Taylor Knibb finish in a time of one hour, twenty-five minutes and forty seconds, just 0.01 seconds behind the gold-winning German team. Before the mixed event, Spivey finished tenth in the individual triathlon. As a Mustang, Spivey swam from 2009 to 2014, and she’s only the fourth Cal Poly alum to win an Olympic medal, joining rower Karen Kraft, equestrian Gina Miles, and Stephanie Brown Trafton, who won gold in discus.
august 8
The SLO County Sheriff’s Office releases data showing its Special Operations Unit in 2024 has already outpaced itself in the amount of narcotics seized compared with the entire year of 2023. Detectives in the unit have conducted more than fifty investigations leading to the confiscation of an extensive list of illegal substances, firearms, and other contraband from all areas of the county, including 149 firearms and a flame thrower, which were either illegally possessed or possessed in conjunction with controlled substances.
august 10
County of SLO Public Libraries wraps up its Summer Reading Program, “Read Wildly,” announcing that 4,595 kids and teens tracked and rated their reading beginning June 8th to receive prizes, including books and book bags. The program engaged more residents of all ages than ever before: borrowing was up more than twenty-eight percent over 2023. The “Branch Out” van visited school lunch programs and senior living facilities, books were delivered by mail to readers with mobility issues, and staff partnered with Sheriff’s Youth Camps, YMCA, and Boys & Girls Club to connect to teens and tweens who might never have visited the library before.
august 13
City of San Luis Obispo officials and community members celebrate the grand opening of the North Broad Street Neighborhood Park with a special ribbon cutting ceremony. Now open from dawn to dusk (until lighting is installed, when evening hours will be extended), the space provides a safe and inviting recreational destination for residents of the North Broad Street and North Chorro neighborhood area. It includes community garden planter boxes, bike parking spaces, a new playground, picnic tables, a Little Free Library bookcase, and a hydration station with a pet fountain.
august 27
SLO Mayor Erica Stewart orders the flags flown on city property to be lowered to half-staff to mark the passing of longtime business, philanthropy, and community leader Tom Copeland, who died on August 22nd at the age of eighty. He and his older brother founded Copeland Properties, which helped downtown SLO become what it is today through a blend of historic preservation and modern developments, including the Downtown Center, Court Street, and Chinatown. Tom and his wife Pam were longtime supporters of nonprofit community healthcare, education, and academia.
REVIEW
september 3-8
A team of local cancer survivors wins three gold medals at the six-day International Dragon Boat Federation Club Crew World Championship in Ravenna, Italy. Twentythree women and men from the Central Coast SurviveOars, who joined 7,000 other paddlers from fifty countries at the event, win gold in 2000 meter, 200 meter, and 500 meter races in the all-cancer division. They qualified for the international competition with a second-place finish in the all-cancer division at the United States Dragon Boat Federation National Club Crew Championships, held in Florida in July 2023.
september 4
“Monopoly: SLO CAL Edition” makes its debut at the Fremont Theater with destination marketing organization Visit SLO CAL hosting an appearance from Mr. Monopoly himself. Local residents and tourists alike can now roll the dice and have a board game adventure through SLO County thanks to this partnership between local businesses, landmarks, and the game company. Think Hearst Castle as Boardwalk, Bubble Gum Alley as Mediterranean Ave, Bob Jones Trail as Pennsylvania Railroad, and Lopez Lake as Water Works. The newest Monopoly game is available at local retailers and online.
september 6
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration unveils a plan for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary that, if designated, would protect 4,543 square miles of the Pacific Ocean along 116 miles of shoreline from just south of Diablo Canyon in SLO County to Naples Reef in Santa Barbara County. The sanctuary, designed to protect marine ecosystems, shipwrecks, and underwater Chumash cultural and historic sites, would prohibit offshore oil drilling and some sea floor disturbances. It is the first national marine sanctuary nominated by a Native American tribe and the first that would include collaborative management with tribes. Governor Gavin Newsom and Congress must review the plans before a final designation is made.
september 12
A one-stop Child Advocacy Center serving SLO County’s most vulnerable victims and their families opens under the leadership of the District Attorney’s Office. Working with the Center for Family Strengthening, SLO County Health Agency, Child Welfare Services, Sheriff’s Office, Suspected Abuse Response Team, Victim Witness Assistance Center, and local law enforcement agencies, it provides access to services for victims of child abuse and prosecution of abusers in appropriate cases. A team of doctors, family advocates, interviewers, and nurses are available at all times to assist law enforcement and child welfare services during child abuse investigations.
september 13
The City of Arroyo Grande holds a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its Centennial Park Gazebo to celebrate the re-opening of its 171-foot historic swinging bridge, the only one of its kind in California, following its restoration. Newton Short constructed the bridge in 1875 to connect two parts of his property that crossed Arroyo Grande Creek, but it quickly became a pathway for the entire community. The rehabilitation project was needed to preserve the 149-year-old bridge’s charm and meet current safety standards.
MVP
SLO Symphony development committee chair Paul Severtson is the recipient of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras’ Most Valuable Player Volunteer Award for 2024. He was nominated by the SLO Symphony for his exemplary service to the orchestra over the past thirty years.
#BrakeForHarvest
A social media campaign is warning rural drivers to use extra caution when traveling through agricultural areas where heavy machinery and crews are working. October is a peak month for accidents as harvest season accounts for almost forty percent of farm vehicle crashes.
$252,450
$1,334,404
The restitution that Paul Flores has been ordered to pay Kristin Smart’s family to reimburse expenses they have incurred since her murder in 1996, plus interest. Kristin Smart’s mother has said the family would not seek to claim the restitution in exchange for information leading to her daughter’s remains.
53
The number of people who have graduated from 5Cities Homeless Coalition’s fifty “cabins”—transitional emergency shelters—into permanent housing since December 2022. The program is designed to promote stability and fight chronic homelessness by providing resources and support.
The total amount of not one but two grants that the Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded the SLO Museum of Art for the first time in its history. A $22,200 small museum grant will be used for an upcoming exhibition by artist Deanna Barahona, and a $230,250 grant will be used for community engagement and youth arts education.
Four
The number of SLO County businesses among the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in the U.S., according to Inc. magazine’s latest annual list. BenchStrength Coaching, HiView Solutions, Precision Construction Services, and Estate 360 Estate Sales & Downsizing together added forty-four new jobs to the local workforce and achieved a median growth of 325 percent.
Top 25
Forbes has again named Cal Poly one of the nation’s top public colleges on the magazine’s latest list of “America’s Top Colleges.” The university was also named the best public master’s university in California and is fourteenth on the list of top public and private universities in the West.
A Cuesta College program offering students a head start on higher education with dual enrollment in both high school and college classes boasts the highest participation rate in California, according to a UC Davis study. Students from nine local districts and thirteen high schools participated last year.
“Agritourism isn’t a fad.”
County native Lynette Sonne raises awareness about locally grown produce and products through FARMstead ED, this year celebrating ten years of promoting on-site, hands-on experiences to educate locals and tourists about the importance of agriculture while generating income for small family farms and ranches.
2027 #1
Cal Poly recently announced that its plan to begin providing students with the ability to take classes all year long starting the summer after their high school graduation has been delayed for three years from its original goal of 2024. The switch to semesters has been cited as one reason for the delay.
GOLDEN SHORES
BY MARK NAKAMURA
Watching the waves explode against the cliffs and rocks along our local coastline is spectacular. And, to be able to freeze the scene with my camera is a highlight of mine. But in addition to holding an ephemeral moment, I also enjoy capturing the grace, elegance, peace, and calm of long-exposure wave photography.
My favorite time to photograph is sunrise before most people are out and about. I usually reach the destination and set up about an hour before the sun peeks above the ocean. This means I’m setting up in the dark or hiking to the panoramic view with my headlamp, which allows me to be ready for the first light of day without having to rush. On this particular morning, I woke up around 4:00 a.m. to head out to the Cayucos Pier.
With my mirrorless camera and the 70-200mm f2.8 lens on a tripod, I waited for the light to illuminate the waters. After taking some photographs of the sky and town of Cayucos from the pier, I concentrated on capturing the ocean waves using different shutter speeds, ranging from ⅛ of a second to 1 second, at ISO 100, finding ¼ to 6/10 of a second the sweet spot for the desired results. Rather than freezing each droplet of spray at 1/500th of a second or faster, I tried slowing down to about ½ a second to show the movement of water, yet retaining detail, texture, and mood. Some of the photographs I captured that day were handheld, but most were photographed with a tripod.
The truth is that great wave photography is more than technical perfection. Golden hour, also called the magic hour in photography, occurs in the first hour after sunrise and last hour before sunset. Paired with a clear sky and the rolling majesty of the ocean, it creates long shadows, warm hues, distinct contrast, and diffused light reflecting off the water. Living on the Central Coast, there are endless opportunities to watch the waves, feel the rhythm, and capture the serenity and beauty. I cannot think of a better start to the day than to take in the dance of the waves and move to the steady rhythm.
gerry johnson
As the Monday Club celebrates its 100th anniversary, GERRY JOHNSON, the organization’s longest-serving member, treated us to a late morning visit. At ninety-five years old, she retraced the steps that led her to San Luis Obispo and the women’s group she loves. Here are a few highlights . . .
It’s nice to meet you, Gerry; let’s talk about where you got your start. I was born and raised in San Jose. That’s why I’m still a 49ers fan, and a Giants fan. I went to St. Joseph’s Grammar School, Notre Dame High School, and I attended San Jose State, but did not finish. It was important to make money because my father died when I was quite young. I’m a Depression baby, born in 1929. Later on, when the war came, my brother was in college training to become a pharmacist, but he and his friends, they all enlisted, and I went to work at Sears Roebuck. I was fourteen, so I had to lie about my age. I think they knew.
I bet they did. I met my husband there at Sears. When we got married, I lost my job. They didn’t let employees get married back then. So, in 1960, Sears transferred him to San Luis Obispo to be the assistant manager at the store here. We just fell in love with the town right away. And we didn’t have to worry about the kids, they could run around and play without a care. We absolutely loved it here, but after two years, Sears transferred us down to Escondido. We were there for about five months when he came home for lunch and said to me, “I want to go back. I want to resign from Sears. I want to move back to San Luis Obispo.” So as the good wife, the way I was raised, you did what your husband wanted.
So, how did you earn a living? We had all this retail experience, so we started a children’s store. We called it Johnson’s for Children. We rented a storefront downtown on the corner of Monterey and Chorro and started buying merchandise for it, which you could do those days on a shoestring. We even bought some old fixtures from a Sears store. My mother came and babysat quite a lot while we were getting ready to open. So many good memories. Our kids earned their own money working there. They learned the business. And
every summer, I would take one of them on a buying trip with me. It was always nice to focus on one child when you have three. They were always vying for attention at the dinner table, so I’d take one of them to the ballgame or the theatre, and try to expose them to the beautiful music.
Okay, so how did you get involved with the Monday Club in the first place? It was our landlady, Mabel Dunkley, a very prominent person in town, married to Dr. Dunkley, who said to me the year we opened, “You must join the Monday Club.” So, I joined, and it was a wonderful decision. I met lots of great people who became good customers, too. I always told everyone it was good for business. And I’m just so proud of our building. It’s a treasure. It was designed by Julia Morgan—she also did Hearst Castle—a prominent architect, a field that was closed to women back then. She had to fight to get into architecture school. And that’s a lot like the Monday Club itself. The reason it was formed in the first place is that Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, all the service clubs, they didn’t allow women to join. So, way back in 1924, women here in San Luis Obispo came together and formed their own club.
And, so, what exactly does the club do? Originally, it started with helping women and children in town. We still do that. That’s number one. We raise money for the Lumina Alliance. There’s the Raising a Reader program where we’ve gathered over 10,000 books to give to children. We work with the hospitals and the food banks, wherever we can help. We’re also very active with our scholarship program. Every year we provide Fine Arts Awards to local students in classical music, jazz, and visual arts. Beyond that, the club is dedicated to two things: preserving our building, which is always ongoing; and enhancing the educational, civic, social, and cultural quality of our community. That’s what we do.
SkippinG Breakfast
BY GENEVA FRANCISKOVICH
Bonded together over the board game Catan and their love of rock climbing, five musicians share their talent with the Central Coast, and, of course, skip their breakfast.
The band name Skipping Breakfast is rooted in bass player Asher Meadows’ terrible sleep schedule. He explains his early morning classes at Cuesta College combined with countless hours of studying afterward, meant breakfast wouldn’t happen until around six o’clock at night when he would head to the local Costco food court and indulge in a meal consisting of a pizza slice or two and the well known all-beef hot dog—a real college kid delicacy. Meadows shares that other band names were considered, including Grapes Atomic and Belligerent Chicken—a top contender that still makes them howl when discussing, “Check our group chat, I promise that name was in the running!”
The guys took a vote, and Skipping Breakfast was the resounding choice for the band’s name. And it’s fitting for the group—all five members dedicate themselves to studying at Cal Poly and Cuesta, but still find time to shred at local venues and create new songs together, with or without three square meals a day.
Piece by piece the group came together. Lead singer Julius Hoffman recruited Finn Burke as their drummer when they first met during a French Club meeting at Cal Poly and ran into each other later that night climbing at local favorite spot “The Pad” in SLO. Hoffman told Burke about his transitioning band and the need for a player to hold down the beat. Burke’s face lit up and he pulled out his phone to share a video of him banging it out on the drums. Hoffman recounts that he was stunned by Burke’s skills and told him, “I’ll discuss it with my band mates, but under the table, you’re in.” Burke rounded out the band as their drummer with Hoffman as vocalist, Meadows on bass guitar, Lance Evensen on guitar, and Aidan Hasselquist on the steel-pan drums.
Interviewing the guys on a particularly hot day over a tub of watermelon revealed interesting details worth sharing about each of them. Meadows spends most of his free time producing new beats and utilizes the resources at Cuesta to record demos. According to the rest of the band, “His trap beats are sick.” For now, he enjoys playing bass with his friends in Skipping Breakfast but hopes to ultimately carve out a career in producing music. Lead singer Hoffman brings a lot of personality to the band and is affectionately known as the “majestic whistler.” He was classically trained on the piano, guitar, and ukulele, but his real gift is his creative songwriting abilities. The band’s drummer, Burke, grew up listening to his dad play in Seattle-based groups and developed his love for music early on—and, according to his friends, is the greatest ever to play the video game Guitar Hero. Evensen, the band’s guitarist, was classically trained while attending an arts high school and in his free time, he enjoys making guitar bodies at the Cal Poly Woodshop. Hasselquist grew up in a small community near Humboldt, where he gained his skills as a steel-pan drummer, which is apparently a big part of the local community there. If you don’t know what a steel-pan drum is, think “Under the Sea” in The Little Mermaid.
Each of the band members brings flair and talent, which shows up in their most popular song, “Minute after Minute.” The band has an eclectic rock style and can be found most days writing original songs in their “jam dungeon,” a concrete-walled basement located at the base of a spiral staircase where the magic happens. The band room is outfitted with high-tech soundproofing, including an old mattress leaning against the wall. The equipment fits tightly in the space, and a homemade rock-climbing wall is located just steps from the jam dungeon, where the boys can practice their climbs and ponder new song lyrics.
The band is continuing to write new songs and create new memories at their performances around town at venues like Liquid Gravity, The Mark, B.A. Start, and Barrelhouse Brewing. SLO LIFE
pro file
There were so many different strands—decisions large and small, opened doors and closed—that culminated with a neatly wrapped Christmas present sitting under the tree. It was the first pan made by Los Osos resident DENNIS KEHOE, a gift for his wife. Later, in the kitchen, friends and family marveled at the craftsmanship, asking when they could get one. Then, there were others, they wanted one, too. Today, the blacksmith can be found swinging a hammer, painstakingly pounding out one pan at a time for his company Kehoe Carbon Cookware. Here is his story . . .
WWhere are you from, Dennis? I grew up in San Diego, Linda Vista actually, born and raised. Lived in the same house, same neighborhood my mom grew up in, which is by USD, up on the hill there, central to San Diego. It was pretty ideal with my grandparents living next door and lots of family in the neighborhood— aunts and uncles and cousins. I have a sister, she’s six years older. And two brothers. One is eleven months younger than me, so we grew up really tight. And I have another brother, who’s ten years younger. My dad worked in construction and my mom was a teacher, and later she became a principal.
What type of construction did your dad do? He started out hanging drywall, and then he worked his way up to being a foreman, and then a project manager. He taught himself CAD [software] later in life, so he was able to take those plans and kind of figure out how to build these buildings and lay it all out for his job site foremen. My dad is also a really talented artist, and he’s a builder. He was always building things at home, mostly out of wood. He liked to carve, do wood sculptures, and draw, and paint. So, I started young doing that kind of stuff, too, but was never encouraged to make it a career, especially with my mom being in education. She really wanted me to go get a fouryear degree, which is how I ended up here.
so, You went to Cal Poly? Yep. I came up to visit the area when I was in high school with a girlfriend of mine. She had family up here. I was blown away by the open landscapes and the beaches, and there wasn’t a 7-Eleven in a parking lot at every beach you went to. The openness was incredible, and the beauty. It made a big impression on me, so I applied to Cal Poly. I came in as an Ag major, plant protection science. Going into it, I thought it would be more environmental science-type stuff, but after that first year, it was definitely an overwhelming learning curve while also becoming a young adult and being away from home. I wanted to change my major to something artrelated after that first year, but realized how much money I owed, so I only went to Cal Poly that one year, and then I took classes at Cuesta the second year.
How’d it go? I was just trying to figure things out. I was going to school and working at a surf shop. Some friends of mine started a landscape construction business, so I did that for a few years until I heard about an opening posted at Cuesta. They were looking for a tech in the art
department. I was lucky to get the job, it opened up so many doors. I mean, meeting all these people in the art world, all the instructors, all the students that passed through there. They’ve got a killer art department, great facilities. I worked mostly in sculpture. There’s just a lot of hands-on help that they need there, so I ran the foundry and the metal shop and learned a lot from helping students all day who were asking, “How do I cut this? How do I weld that?” That’s really where the blacksmithing began.
I’m guessing this is around the time you met your wife, right? Yes, that’s right, I met Kasey through mutual friends here in SLO. Actually, the first time I met her was on the beach in Cayucos. She was a lifeguard and doing the Junior Guard program. I remember she was in her wetsuit, and I was taken. She was just so strong and beautiful and kind of commanding the scene. It was more than just the physical beauty, it was the way she carried herself, the way she talked and looked at me—everything. We hung out for a year, just being friends, really, together every single day. And it progressed from there. Before kids, she was a welder, a union pipefitter. She was working out at Diablo and Vandenberg. But as soon as she got pregnant, she wasn’t going to go back to that work for a little bit and, so, her career path, her life has evolved. She’s home with our boys—ten and twelve—doing homeschool. It’s been a big sacrifice, but we wouldn’t do it any other way.
What came next for you? After a few years at Cuesta, I started to outgrow the position. I had all these ideas for a business. I wanted to own my schedule, my time, and do my own thing. So, during the evenings and weekends, I was able to use the facilities at school to get things rolling. I just started putting the word out, “Hey, if anyone needs metalwork, I’m available.” At first, it was just small stuff like gates and railings, but it started to grow, and I was putting in a ton of hours between my day job and my side projects. It wasn’t sustainable and I was getting pretty burnt out. But I was probably thirty-two, thirty-three at this point. Kasey and I bought a house and had a couple of kids. So, we hatched a plan and financed it with a home equity loan. We put all our chips on the table and just said, “We’re going to do this business.”
What did you do with the loan proceeds? I used it to buy equipment and to buy some time when I no longer had a steady paycheck. It was really stressful in the beginning, of course. I mean, I knew we were on the right path, but it was just so unknown, so uncertain. It was on borrowed money and borrowed time. I wasn’t a young guy with no ties. I had responsibilities, a family, but I was at a point where I just couldn’t stay where I was. Looking back now, there were times when I was in college thinking, “Maybe I should just go ahead and really dive into the school thing and take out a bunch of student loans and get an art degree and then a master’s, and I could teach possibly.” I’m so glad I didn’t do that. Didn’t take on those loans. But back when I was eighteen, that was the
push. You go to college, you get the loans, you get a job. I was lucky I didn’t have those loans because we were able to buy a house, and it was the equity in the house that made everything possible.
And, so, what was the business initially? It was mostly fabrication work. I wanted to do hand-forged wrought iron projects, really technical jobs that paid homage to the rich tradition of blacksmithing, the craft. But even though we’re in a good place for it, there are only so many of those projects available. I was getting some of those jobs, but a lot of it was just straight welding fabrication-type stuff, which was fine. I was saying “Yes” to just about everything. I did do some interesting sculptural projects and fun—I call it house jewelry—pulls for cabinets and stuff like that. All
my experience with bronze casting helped. I was able to do some bronze work here and there. Overall, I felt that I had developed a good tool bag. There are a lot of things I could do, and I still can. But, yeah, the focus at first was on the custom metalwork.
When did that change? It was Christmas, a few years back. I guess it was 2018, I made Kasey a hand-forged frying pan. She loved it so much that I decided to make ten more of them. They pretty much sold right away. It was mostly friends and family at that point, but they seemed really into them, so we built a website and started getting involved in these little maker markets. Things started to grow, but then I would get distracted because I’d take on a big gate job that would consume all my time for a >>
General
month-and-a-half and the pans would lose momentum. So, this year, I decided to really focus on making cookware and not do any of the custom fabrication. I’m reaching out to different brick-and-mortar shops, but still, most of our sales come from our website. It’s financially tough at times and stressful, but when I look at the life we’ve created, it’s like, okay, well this is why we’re doing this. Right now, it’s a good deal. There’s plenty of time to make money later.
What’s the difference between a run-of-the-mill cast iron pan and your carbon steel pans? Well, it’s essentially the same material—carbon steel is 99% iron—but it’s further processed. It starts out cast into a billet, and then it’s stretched and smashed, making it a lot denser, which makes it heat
quicker. It holds that heat better, too, and it’s already so slick and smooth, which means it works really well from the get-go. Cast iron pans are kind of porous and it takes a while to build up a seasoning to get more of that non-stick performance, whereas the carbon steel works right away. Beyond that, aesthetically, they’re more attractive, and the handles are more functional. They work on everything, all types of stoves: induction, regular coil electric, gas, any oven, even the barbecue, or a campfire. Plus, they’re super durable and will last forever.
What’s your favorite part of blacksmithing? Hammering. It comes down to a meditation through movement. I mean, I’ve been building these pans for five, six years now, and I’ve gotten pretty efficient with it. >>
But, to answer your question, what drew me to blacksmithing was the hammering. There’s something about swinging the hammer—the repetition and the timing of it. Every day, I can’t wait to get in there and swing a hammer, as ridiculous as that sounds. I really, really enjoy it. To be able to take this craft that’s been around for so long, and has such a rich tradition, and to be able to make a living in the modern day with this ancient profession is pretty special. I used to say, “If there’s any way I can swing a hammer and make money, that would be so cool.” So, to stumble into this cookware business and the good vibes it creates is amazing. But yeah, when I’m in there working, I’m zoned out in a kind of a meditative state.
And these pans are all handmade by you, correct? Yes, that’s right. It’s very physical work, but I love being tired at the end of the day. Physically drained, I love that. Absolutely love it. It’s good vibes all the way around. I’m not stressing about someone’s home, or doing a project I’ve never done before, or waiting for the concrete guys to finish their deal. I don’t have to think about any of that stuff. And, who knows, maybe someday I’ll get back to large-scale sculpture work, but right now, I love this cookware. The pans are beautiful and they’re going to last a very long time, and I feel like it’s leaving a legacy. As an artist, you always want to leave behind something. And these pans are going to be around cooking for people for generations to come. SLO LIFE
Experience You Can Trust
26-year SLO resident and Cal Poly Professor of City Planning
Served on the City Planning Commision
Known for civility, integrity, and dedication
Focused on open space expansion, safer streets, housing affordability, environmental protection, and fiscal responsibility
“Boswell’s
- Endorsed by The Tribune
377 words with Anicia Barefoot
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER HEIRENDT
I was born in the Bay Area but moved to SLO when I was seven years old. As long as I can remember, I have been interested in exploring different art forms. My mom signed me up for tap, jazz, and ballet classes and when we moved to SLO I took classes at Pat Jackson’s Dance. Through high school, I would stay up late into the night listening to music while drawing or attempting to watercolor; I then got into playing guitar and writing, as well. I started creating paper collages, which eventually escalated to making greeting cards and prints from them.
I opened a shop and began to sell my collage work on Etsy when the website first came out—that was a good soft intro into putting my work ‘out there’ in the world. When I first began creating with clay, Shevon, the owner at Anam Cré, was a patient teacher and I so appreciate all her guidance. I quickly fell in love with ceramics and eventually invested in my own kiln, clay, and glazes.
Years later, my boss and now good friend, Shannon Len, the owner of Len Collective, took a chance on my work and let me put some items that I sewed in her shop way back when it was in The Creamery. It was very exciting to see my work in an actual shop space. I began to work at her store and as my art morphed more into collage work, she carried my greeting cards and prints. And today, she still supports me and has my ceramic work in her beautiful location downtown. She has taught me so much about pushing my visions into reality.
I’m currently focused on creating pieces that invite the viewer to participate. I especially enjoy making ofrendas—a nod to my Mexican heritage—as well as what I call shelter vases. Overall, I hope my work can carry a peaceful energy into a space. I seem to naturally focus on pieces that are reminders to take time to pause; to encourage others to create a space that can hold a remembrance of whatever they want to keep close to their heart. Local shops that carry my work are Len Collective and A Satellite of Love.
More Than meets the eye
BY BRIAN SCHWARTZ
For Melanie Senn, something clicked with a discovery she made while writing a paper about Walt Whitman for her master’s degree in English at Cal Poly, which led her to his friend, Murray Hall, a 19th-Century New York City politician. It turns out that Hall had a secret—a secret not revealed until after death.
Murray Hall was a woman masquerading as a man. Senn’s exploration into Hall’s life during a period of limited rights, before transgender was a concept, adds a new depth of nuance and understanding of the individuals who defy societal norms, while the author also deftly draws attention to the gender inequality that persists today. While her book is based on a true story, Senn took creative liberties to imagine the life of Mary Anderson (a.k.a. “Murray Hall”) in her debut historical fiction writing, “Murray: A Novel.”
In the early 2000s, author T.C. Boyle gave a lecture at Cal Poly. Senn sat in the audience engrossed in the presentation, which eventually sparked her desire to pursue a master’s degree. That degree allowed her to teach English at both Cuesta and Cal Poly, all the while chipping away at her book.
While living in San Luis Obispo, Senn has raised two boys with her husband, Derek. Alongside motherhood, she has participated in audio stories for KCBX
and USC, and recently started working in real estate. Throughout her history, you’ll find a common thread of activism. She passionately stands up for women’s rights— which I’d argue made her the perfect author to write the fictional biography of Murray Hall. It does make me wonder, though, which comes first, the author or the book? And, if my imagination is allowed to run wild, it did occur to me that perhaps Senn was somehow cosmically chosen by Murray to share this previously untold story.
In addition to historical fiction, Senn has written a contemporary novel, “Garden of Eves,” and is currently working on a memoir entitled “Let The Dog Sing: A Human Quest for Transcendence at the Middle of Life.”
Senn offers valuable tips for aspiring writers:
Be passionate about your subject. Her fascination with Murray Hall’s story sustained her through years of research and writing.
Remember that research is not writing. Avoid getting buried in it.
Strike a balance between historical accuracy and creative license, using facts as a foundation while filling in gaps with imagination.
Use compelling details to bring the past to life, immersing readers in the world you are creating.
Be prepared for a long and challenging process, but don’t give up. Never give up. Senn’s first novel took fifteen years to complete, but her dedication and disciplined writing practice helped her persevere.
Seek feedback and guidance from other writers and editors through workshops and conferences.
Embrace the challenge of finishing your work and sending it out into the world, even when it’s difficult to let go.
Senn’s journey as an author underscores the importance of passion, persistence, and a willingness to embrace both the challenges and rewards of bringing history to life through fiction.
LIFE
You can learn more about the author at melaniesenn.com and subscribe to her newsletter at melaniesenn.substack.com.
Hannah Garrett STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAYLA MASON
What extra-curricular activities are you involved in? I play indoor volleyball for my school and beach volleyball up and down the coast of California. I am a leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club. I am also in Campus and Music Ministry and was a leader and the Co-Rector for our senior class Kairos retreat 2024. I am a volleyball coach for youth at a local club and enjoy teaching the sport that I love.
What is going on with you now? Currently, I am busy with school and volleyball. I am enjoying the beginning of my senior year and looking forward to the next stage of my life by preparing for college. I’m excited to apply to colleges, but I have a verbal offer to UC Davis to play beach volleyball and am preparing to play at a higher level. I am enjoying my last year living in beautiful San Luis Obispo and taking advantage of every warm evening to spend time outside and at the beach.
What’s important to you outside of high school? The most important things in my life outside of school are my relationships with my friends, family, and God. While high school and my education is important, I prioritize spending quality time with my family and friends as I only really have one more year with all of them. I also value my relationship with God and am involved in a local youth group, where I recently joined Student Servant Leadership to further my faith journey.
Where do you get your inspiration? There are many moments and people who have influenced my life, however, my Nana Debbie has been the most influential. Nana D is my biggest role model, as she is the most loving person I know and works super hard for her family. She is humble and kind and has taught me how to have a far-reaching heart for service. Having a child with special needs already fills her plate, however, she continues to pour out her love and make time for those she cares about, which has inspired me.
What is one of your favorite memories? Traveling last summer—I finished finals early in the spring and left for two weeks to visit a past exchange student in Argentina, by myself. I then traveled to Iceland with my family and roadtripped across the southern coast. I finished my traveling by driving down to Hermosa Beach for two beach volleyball tournaments, back-to-back weekends, beach camping down in San Elijo, San Diego in-between the two tournaments.
What is something not many people know about you? I love to sing, especially worship music. Last year, I joined the music ministry team at school and we sing at our monthly masses. Whether it be Country, Folk, or Christian music, I love to sing while blasting music whenever I get the chance.
Do you have a career Path in mind? My goal is to go into a field of design, either graphic design, interior design, or architecture. I have always had a passion for beautiful and unique houses, as well as creative designs for online marketing campaigns and events. I have many different ideas on how I can apply my creative energy to my work and I’m excited to find a way to do what I love. SLO LIFE
This Mission College Preparatory High School Female Athlete of the Year holds Academic Achievement Awards in physics, chemistry, and Hebrew scriptures and was named League MVP for beach volleyball. Know a student On the Rise?
This five-and-a-half-year-old Cocker Spaniel loves spending time at the beach, paddle boarding, and enjoying nature with her care takers and Central Coast natives Johl and Vanessa Wallace. SLO LIFE
Anderson
BY DANA LOSSING
Hotel
AA story about dwelling is a story about the people and community that call that place home. And as the historic Anderson Hotel goes through a modern revival downtown, its dusty doors have opened to share quite the tale about housing.
Before the construction fence went up, the Anderson’s dingey yellowing stucco and tired brown trim were hardly noticeable. Even though the tenants were lively, it was more of a backdrop than a feature of Morro Street.
But things have changed. Standing on Morro Street this past summer, in front of the freshly painted white façade, I prepared for a tour of the renovated building with Michael Burke, the director of construction and development for the Housing Authority of SLO (HASLO). As we waited, Burke mentioned how people, seeing the bright new exterior, often exclaimed, “Wow, was this building here before?”
building in downtown SLO thanks to the copper patina spire on its rooftop. Back in the 1920s, the downtown area was a mix of mercantile shops, industrial factories, and smaller hotels. But this hotel was different— “five stories of elegance” designed to host the likes of William Randolph Hearst’s guests, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Clark Gable, and Jack Benny. The Anderson marked a turning point, placing SLO on the map as a destination for world travelers and Hollywood celebrities.
The Anderson Hotel operated as a lodging until the 1970s when HASLO leased the property and converted it into sixty-eight units of affordable housing for at-risk, vulnerable populations. It was an ideal location, close to services, and walkable, perfect for tenants without private transportation. Over the years, improvements to the building became few and far between and the once grand marble clad stairs and decorative plaster ceilings began to tarnish and fade.
Yes, it was. In fact, the Anderson Hotel has been standing tall for a century. Built in 1922 by Jefferson Lee Anderson, it remains the tallest >>
The building functioned this way until 2020, when its dilapidated condition forced HASLO to renegotiate its lease, and the building ended up on the market. Miraculously, through a combination of public funds (Project Turnkey) and private investments, HASLO secured the necessary funding to purchase the Anderson Hotel. Just as importantly, they arranged to provide Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) for the sixty-eight tenants who would have been unhoused during the renovation. Securing these vouchers usually takes months, but HASLO expedited the process, ensuring that every single tenant found housing.
The design team assembled by HASLO became modern stewards of the historic building. This team, which included Arris Architects, Bloch Construction, and Beuhler Engineering, took on the role of historians to truly understand the building before starting any renovations. Without existing plans, they relied on old photographs, word of mouth from occupants, exploratory demo, and Ground Penetrating Radar to piece together the original construction. One such discovery was made by Beuhler Engineering’s Michael Parolini and Colin Blaney. They found an old postcard on eBay that revealed a single arch on the Monterey Street side, confirming that a second arch was a later addition and not structural. They gifted the postcard to Michael Burke upon the project’s completion.
Throughout the eighteen months of construction, the Anderson Hotel revealed many architectural secrets. A visit to the basement, for instance, showed that the sidewalk along Morro and Monterey Streets had been floating overhead. Remember the purple glass circles embedded in the sidewalk there? They were skylights shedding light on the basement below. Although it wasn’t seismically required, HASLO chose to infill the basement with a mix of structural-grade permeable concrete, supporting the sidewalk above and providing a foundation for new trees to line the street. Other structural upgrades included thoughtfully designing coupling >>
beams instead of large industrial brace frames, the preservation of the lobby’s iconic interior columns, and the addition of seamlessly integrated concrete walls on Morro and Monterey Streets. Every improvement was made with careful consideration of maintaining the building’s original architectural details and design intent.
Additional historical elements were uncovered, like a set of original arches on the Monterey side that had been hidden in a restroom addition. Later, research from Cal Poly’s photo archives confirmed these arches were part of the 1922 building, leading into a courtyard where Court Street stands today.
The construction process was an iterative dialogue between the contractor, design team, and HASLO, with the shared goal of restoring the building while integrating modern safety features and technology. This collaborative approach, rooted in respect for the building’s history and the people connected to it, was essential to the success of the Anderson Hotel’s transformation. By the time you read this article, eighteen original tenants and forty-six new residents will call the Anderson Hotel their home. Many of the units are now accessible and some are equipped with communication features and medical equipment. >>
The lobby still boasts its original architectural details and light fixtures that have been restored. Many of the existing tubs, sinks, cabinets, and tile remain in the units. Energy efficient windows have been installed, including the replacement of the original transom windows on the first-floor storefronts, which had been filled in with stucco in the 1970s. New paint and flooring throughout breathe new life and durability into the building. Efficient refrigerators, new electrical, upgraded egress lighting and smoke detectors will keep the building sustainable and safe for many years to come.
The restoration of the Anderson Hotel is more than just a physical renovation of housing; it’s a testament to the social, economic, and sustainable impact that thoughtful development can have on a community. Socially, it has preserved affordable housing for vulnerable populations, ensuring that long-term residents are not displaced in a city where housing is increasingly scarce. Economically, the project has injected new life into downtown San Luis Obispo while preserving a historic landmark. From a sustainability perspective, the reuse of this existing structure, combined with modern upgrades, reflects a commitment to reducing environmental impact by minimizing waste and preserving resources. The Anderson Hotel now stands as a symbol of what can be achieved when a community comes together with a shared vision of progress that honors the past while paving the way for a more inclusive and sustainable future. SLO LIFE
in the Details
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AVERAGE PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT
ACTIVE LISTINGS
1,552 UP FROM 1,481 LAST YEAR AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
THIRTY
PROPERTIES SOLD
1,275 UP FROM 1,206 LAST YEAR
$522 UP FROM $493 LAST YEAR MEDIAN % OF ASKING PRICE
seven UP FROM 34 LAST YEAR
MEDIAN SELLING PRICE
97.7% DOWN FROM 99.2% LAST YEAR
$810,000 UP FROM $742,500 LAST YEAR
REAL ESTATE
country club
down town
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boulevard
BY THE NUMBERS
2023 $1,166,823 $811,542 $1,766,444 $1,259,784 $1,806,204 $911,959 $806,455 $1,018,731 $1,098,423 $1,116,479 $748,985 $1,341,675 $706,052 $733,167 $1,045,711 $1,073,816 $1,264,563 $929,385 $1,228,916 $1,007,317 2024 $1,216,753 $857,718 $1,918,108 $1,159,888 $1,983,860 $1,257,835 $816,484 $953,522 $1,105,165 $1,062,880 $736,514 $1,717,652 $778,020 $937,968 $1,043,282 $937,318 $1,272,466 $820,100 $1,215,528 $1,054,332
Anger: Navigating the Storm Within
BY PADEN HUGHES
Back in my college days, I took too many personality tests to count during Psychology 101. Most were forgettable, but one stuck with me—and not in a good way. It was an anger assessment, and I was shocked to learn I ranked in the 90th percentile for rage. I felt instant shame. I knew anger wasn’t a socially acceptable emotion, and it made me feel like I had something to hide.
Yet, as it turns out, I’m far from alone. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), around 35% of Americans admit to feeling angry and frustrated regularly. And 64% of adults report being stressed—whether about money, work, or life’s curveballs— factors that can fuel our anger.
Certain groups are at an even higher risk of experiencing intense anger: those facing financial struggles, people dealing with mental health conditions, victims of discrimination, parents balancing work and family life, teens, young adults, trauma survivors, and individuals with chronic health conditions. Anger touches more lives than we might realize.
Men vs. Women: A Gender Divide in Anger
Studies show men are more likely to express anger outwardly, sometimes through aggression, while women often internalize it, leading to emotional distress, chronic stress, or even depression. Dr. Angela Johnson, a therapist specializing in gender dynamics, explains, “Men are often encouraged to externalize anger, while women may be taught to suppress it, both of which can be harmful if not handled correctly.” This gendered response to rage can have profound impacts on mental and physical health.
>>
Despite that wake-up call in college, I ignored my anger for nearly a decade. It wasn’t until I became a parent that my rage started to show itself more clearly. There were moments when I snapped at my kids for no good reason. The guilt and shame that followed were unbearable, pushing me to seek help.
During a session with a healer, I finally confronted my rage. I could physically feel it—a burning heat spreading across my chest. The healer told me to find a way to process my anger, but I was stumped. How do you process something you’ve been taught to suppress your whole life?
I left that session with no clear plan, but on my drive home, an idea struck me. What if I just screamed? Really screamed, loud and raw. No one was around to hear, so I gave it a shot. I let out a roar from deep within, and it startled me. It was so primal, so loud—it felt like I’d unleashed a beast. But with it came a surprising sense of relief. For the first time, I had released the fire burning inside me.
The Toll of Suppressed Rage
Unprocessed anger isn’t just emotionally taxing—it can also wreak havoc on your health. Research shows that chronic anger is linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system. A study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine confirmed that the health risks associated with bottled-up rage are real, making it all the more essential to address anger before it turns destructive.
Psychologists agree on the importance of finding healthy outlets for rage. Dr. Jennifer Guttman, a clinical psychologist, says, “Unprocessed rage can lead to anxiety, depression, and conflicts in relationships. It’s crucial to learn how to express and manage this powerful emotion in a healthy way.”
Healthy Ways to Process Anger
If you’re struggling with anger, there are strategies that can help you channel it productively. Here are a few methods that can bring relief:
1. Step Away: If you’re in the heat of the moment, create space. Take a breather, step outside, or simply move to a private space. Let out a deep sigh, maybe even a breathy shout, and allow yourself to release the tension.
2. Move Your Body: Dance, exercise, or simply let your body move in any way that feels good. Free-flowing movement releases tension and boosts endorphins, which can lift your mood and alleviate stress.
3. Get Creative: Artistic expression is a powerful way to channel anger. Whether it’s painting, writing, or playing music, creativity provides an outlet for intense emotions.
4. Breathe It Out: Slow, deep breaths can calm you down in moments of rage. Techniques like meditation, mindfulness, and yoga help you regain control and lower your physiological arousal. A report published in Clinical Psychology Review by Sophie Kjærvik analyzed over 150 studies and found that reducing physiological arousal is one of the most effective ways to diminish anger.
Understanding Anger: A Messenger, Not a Monster
Anger is not something to be ashamed of. It’s a natural, even useful emotion that often signals feelings of vulnerability, frustration, or hurt. What matters most is how we handle it. Unchecked anger can damage our mental and physical health, as well as our relationships. But with the right tools, it can be managed in ways that promote healing rather than harm.
The next time you feel anger rising, remember that it’s a normal part of being human. Use it as a message, a signal that something needs attention. And most importantly, find ways to process it that help you move through the storm with strength and resilience.
Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science
Higher Heights
The
eats (and vibes) are elevated at SLO’s Irie & Ites
BY JAIME LEWIS PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIAH VANDENBERG
On a weekend morning, my daughter and I stroll to the little brick building at the corner of Broad and Upham Streets, once home to the Giant Grinder Shop. The place still looks much the same, aside from some new outdoor seating and a curtain over the entrance on which the phrase “I & I” is printed. As we walk up, I notice that the curtain splits through the middle, and when the two halves magnetically come together, the word “We” appears below the ampersand.
“That’s cool,” says my daughter, and I agree. Even before we set foot inside, peruse the menu, or taste the food, I can tell Irie & Ites is on track to give the world something it needs.
“You’ll hear the term ‘I and I’ a lot in Jamaica,” explains owner Chef Stan Kelly as he joins us at a table in the comfortable dining room; between the exposed brick and open, stainless-steel kitchen, it feels reminiscent of a bistro in Greenwich Village. “It stands for ‘Irie & Ites,’ which describes something positive and joyful, but it’s also patois for ‘We,’ meaning not just you or me, but us together, as part of the one we come from and belong to.”
This might sound like heady stuff for a Saturday morning, but coming from Kelly, it’s all of a piece with the West African, Caribbean, and soul food he prepares—as well as the kind of community he seeks to serve.
A Philadelphia native, Kelly spent the better part of two decades working in restaurants in Los Angeles before the pandemic inspired him and his wife to move to SLO.
“We have a nine-year-old daughter,” he says. “We didn’t want her to go to school in L.A., so we left.”
After a couple years working in Central Coast kitchens (including the now-defunct food truck Wicked Garden Cuisine), Kelly knew he wanted to start his own thing and searched for the right spot. By April of this year, he held the keys to the little brick building on Broad; by June, he’d opened its doors for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch, alongside a tight list of local wine and beer.
“I wanted to have a small menu that fit the building,” he says, referring to the limitations of the space. But as Kelly starts cooking, and as we taste the complexity and elegance of his dishes, I remember that limitations often precipitate and define the world’s best cuisines. This is particularly true in the case of dishes in the lineage of the African Diaspora, which often sent cooks to the ends of the earth with only the most durable of preserved ingredients to use.
“The cross-pollination of West African, Caribbean, and Southern cuisine gives you all these different cultures that blend together just like the spices they used to come up with these dishes,” Kelly explains. By way of example, he presents his Jollof Rice dish: a bowl of luxuriously silky grains, tomatoes, Andouille sausage, and shrimp. “Every country in West Africa has its own version of Jollof Rice, and each will claim to have the better one,” he says.
When I ask which one he cooks, he tells me it’s a cross between the Nigerian version and the one he grew up eating with his mother’s family in Charleston, South Carolina.
“Charleston was a huge slave port,” he says. “Sixty percent of slaves came through there because it was a massive rice plantation. That’s why in South Carolina people still eat rice with everything.”
Kelly and I share a love of food history, and find ourselves falling down long trains of thought as my daughter quietly nibbles on whatever dish he places before her. Every bite is wildly fresh, from the jicama-pear slaw and curry-yogurt dressing on the Jerked Chicken Tacos to the sweet-tart hot sauce Kelly makes in house. At one point, I realize she has polished off an entire Collard Greens Salad—every candied cashew and delicate collard shred
in coconut-chipotle dressing. While I’m miffed I only got a few forkfuls, I receive the message loud and clear: She who is too busy talking about food is doomed never to eat it.
As we prepare to leave, I spy something taped to the counter beside the register:
“The neighborhood kitchen aims to promote positive energy, emotions of Irie & Ites, to the community.”
It occurs to me that everything about I & I, from the cuisine to the location to the name of the restaurant, contributes another verse to the vast story of the African Diaspora; that right here in SLO, Kelly has opened space at that long table, and invites anyone with an appetite to pull up a chair, taste, and listen.
Sunny Disposition
BY BRANT MYERS
If you’ve seen me out and about lately, it’s likely been somewhere in Duncan Alley, glass in hand. This new development, just a stone’s throw up Orcutt Road from Broad Street, is a sippers haven. It’s a little microcosm of adult activities from the highly visible Ancient Owl Beer Garden to the myriad of winery tasting rooms—and for morning people, coffee shops, Pilates, and a yoga studio. The latter not really being my jam, I focus on where to get the good evening bevvies without the need to post up at one place for the whole night.
This particular morning I do actually pass the coffee shops and wellness studios to go talk to some guys that I’ve heard good things about. I’ve had my eye on Shindig Cider for some time, mainly because when I see something new in the coolers around town I start to wonder why I don’t already know everything about them. Well, this morning that’s all about to change. Sauntering into a bright white production facility and pulling up a seat at the tasting room bar, I’m greeted by the two friends and co-founders, Tommy Valois and John Wilson. We do the “SLO dance” of getting to know our six degrees of separation from anyone in town and delve deeper into the industry as a whole. I find out that Wilson and I might have crossed paths during his time brewing at Firestone, Toro Creek, and SLO Brew. Small town indeed.
Valois stands behind the bar and does most of the talking, while Wilson breaks out his laptop to get his workday started and peppers in facts and details while I learn about how
Shindig came to be. It’s a story I’ve heard iterations of many times, the two being college friends and going down the corporate route after graduation, taking the path they’re supposed to, but volatile economic times and a sense of wanderlust takes them down a different path. Valois gets laid off and takes the opportunity to travel to Australia to make wine, Wilson stays a bit more local and makes his girlfriend a wife. After a few twists and turns the two buddies are now living near each other in Atascadero making homebrew cider inspired by their time sitting at another wonderful cidery, Bristols Cider House. One day Wilson is browsing Craigslist for some cider-making equipment and comes across a massive press being sold in Gold Country. Recently unemployed, they rub their last nickels together, rent a U-Haul, and bring it back to SLO County. Even though it was only three thousand dollars, this was the most expensive press they’d ever buy, because now they’re going to have to open a cidery. Naturally!
Like any good scrappy startup, they lean into their friends and family to get connections to growers with fruit. They’re happy to help anyone unload excess apples whether it’s a full orchard or a half dozen trees in a friend’s backyard. Valois and Wilson are eager to travel up and down the state hunting for apples that they can blend into their portfolio of draft and canned ciders or even their seasonal one-offs in large-format wine bottles. I get the skinny on which ones they use and from what part of the state, but I can’t write fast enough so the pen gets set down and I instead drink >>
in their enthusiasm. Glancing past the tasting room into their production facility I wonder about the bigger plans. The dust is starting to settle on the new venue and they are already getting excited for a foray into side activities—rye and tequila barrel aging programs, memberships that see customers coming in for blending and apple pressing days, making more naturally fermented beverages, and playing mad cider scientists in their laboratory.
My first impression of Shindig Cider’s tasting room was a bright and cheerful watering hole with an open floor plan and plenty of room for parties. After sitting for a while, I start seeing their ubiquitous smiling sun logo hidden in plain sight all over. Already having delved into their backstory and day-to-day operations, I began to get curious about the story behind the name and logo. The smiling sun is a nod to their exuberance, being the antithesis of the industry-standard image of ciders being “hard,” that is, dark orchards and angry apples. Having tried a few cans they gave me to take home, I can’t say I agree more. Using fresh apples, champagne yeast, and even adding fun adjuncts like kiwi, ginger, hibiscus, and lemon—there are plenty of ways to enjoy and even change your perception of what a cider can be. Bright, dry, and refreshing, Shindig Ciders are a little party in your mouth. Some would say it’s a little soiree, gala, fête, or . . . shindig—a theme they’re playing on with the myriad of events and live music they host. I hear their mid-week trivia nights are not to be missed.
Despite being generously given cans and bottles to enjoy at home, and at a reasonable drinking hour, I can’t help but get excited to visit during one of their many busy nights. I take a break from writing and text a friend. We make plans to go there one afternoon, and maybe even check out a couple of other spots in Duncan Alley while waiting for a hot dinner from one of the many food trucks in the area. Phenomenal drinks shared with great friends are one of the best feelings in the world and I can’t think of a better place to share stories. So keep that doctor away and raise a pint glass with me toasting the cool drinks and sunny disposition that is Shindig Cider. SLO LIFE on tap
!Cowabunga
You can never go wrong with a portfolio drink, and their Cowabunga does not disappoint. Dry, yet fruity, I poured the can’s contents into a stemless wine glass and glad I did because this was more sparkling rosé than cider of old. Wonderfully refreshing on a warm day, the addition of hibiscus and lemon meld harmoniously with the apple base making me wish I had another one.
Shindig Cider
3055 Duncan Road, Suite D, San Luis Obispo Open: Tue-Th 3-8 | Fri-Sat 12-9 | Sun 12-8
November 24
Sunday at 3:00
November 23 & 24
Sat. at 3:00, Sun. at 1:15
December 21
Saturday at 7:30
A selection of movements from favorite compositions from 40 years of performances
BEYOND THE NOTES
Informative presentations by Dr. Alyson McLamore - See website for details
Holiday Festival
Handel’s Messiah Sing-along choruses Forbes Pipe Organ, Westwood Brass
For tickets and more information, visit slomasterchorale.org or call 805-538-3311
Performances are held at the Performing Arts Center 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo
old-World influence
BY DAN FREDMAN
As of last year’s opening of their winery and tasting room, Aaron Guerrero and Kirsten (Kiki) Thom are learning that you can have it all, if you’re willing to work for it. Tucked away in the back corner of the Duncan Alley development is Rhônedonnée. “We make wine in the hundreds of cases, not thousands, so our small winery in an incubator-sized space works for us. We also live walking distance,” they share. Together, Guerrero and Thom have two young sons, Mateo and Andrés. With Thom managing the tasting room, marketing, and winery administration, the family spends a lot of time at Rhônedonnée.
Growing up in Monterey with dreams of becoming a custom engine builder, Guerrero headed East to attend a machinist school in Houston. It was there he began working in restaurants. “I noticed that knowing something about wine helped sell more of it, resulting in bigger paychecks,” he laughs. As his experience in the restaurant industry grew, so did his interest in wine. “As is the case with most engineers, I’ve always been very inquisitive and I’d want to understand everything there was to know about a subject. Wine was the perfect rabbit hole for me to fall into.”
During that time, an astute instructor suggested that he’d have more to offer the world as an engineer than as a machinist, so Guerrero returned to the Central Coast, ultimately earning a master’s degree in the Materials Engineering program at Cal
Poly. While attending school, he met Thom, a Liberal Studies student. It all coincided with the founding of the school’s Vines to Wines Club. While Cal Poly’s motto is Learn by Doing, the Vines to Wines motto is Learn by Tasting. Visits from wine industry pros and field trips to wineries throughout the state inspired Guerrero, “It elevated my wine interest into becoming a passion and got me thinking about going into wine rather than engineering.”
While volunteering at Hospice du Rhône, Guerrero met Matt Trevisan of Linne Calodo Winery in Templeton and in 2009 he began working at the tasting room. “Matt would hold tastings for the staff with wines from around the world. We tasted a lot, with an emphasis on France, particularly the Rhône Valley, Provence, and Languedoc. We’d taste and talk, comparing and contrasting these benchmark wines and producers with what we were making in Paso Robles. I fell hard for wines made from the Rhône grape varieties, in particular the Bandol wines from Domaine Tempier. They’re mainly Mourvèdre, and the fact that this grape does well in SLO County got me thinking about what I could do with Mourvèdre if I ever became a winemaker.”
Giving into temptation, Guerrero left the tasting room and began working in the vineyards alongside his mentors McPrice Myers (2024 SLO County’s Winemaker of the Year), Russell From at Herman Story Wines, and Edgar Torres of Bodega de Edgar. >>
Once he began making wine, Guerrero’s conundrum lay in figuring out how to make wines showing his favored oldworld influence while working with fruit from the warmer sections of Paso Robles. He’d built relationships with vineyard managers and wanted to continue using their brightly fruited grapes, so he began blending the Paso Robles grapes with lighter-bodied, earthier, and higher-acid grapes from Edna Valley and Santa Barbara County. These regions are cooler (the SLO Coast AVA has the coolest temperatures of any AVA in the state) and this blending approach works. The style is balanced with a lot of presence and grace, and maintains the satiny, long finish one looks for in warm-climate bottles.
Guerrero explains, “I want the wines to show some restraint while maximizing the terrific fruit persistence and the sense of place we get on the Central Coast. The pick-date is really important, and I use whole-cluster fermentation to flesh out the wine’s texture and tannin structure. I don’t use a lot of new oak barrels, and that also helps keep the focus on the wine, not the winemaking. Kiki and I still taste wine as often as possible, often gathering wines similar in blend and style, price point, too, to see where our wines are in comparison. I like geeking out on wine, but not every setting is appropriate for analyzing what’s in your glass. Sometimes you just have to turn it off and enjoy the wine on an emotional level.” SLO LIFE
*Rhônedonée Wines
3055 Duncan Rd, Suite E, San Luis Obispo
2023 Trailside Flowers White Wine // $40
100% Roussanne with intriguing spicy/herbal notes on the mid-palate and finish, hints of nutmeg but not that overwhelmingly. Fresh, fruity, with underlying pineapple notes and a complex finish. Makes me want to go to the Galley in Morro Bay and order some fish and chips.
2023 Dawn Patrol Carbonic Grenache Nouveau // $40
The grapes come from Morro View Vineyard in Edna Valley and after harvest, whole cluster fermentation is started in a sealed tank for two-plus weeks before being left on its skins until dry. It spends five more months in stainless steel before bottling, resulting in a versatile, refreshing wine with a lot of personality. It’s earthy and herbal, highlighting a savory character one expects from Rhône Valley wines, not Edna Valley wines. Perfect to pair with dishes ranging from pizza to grilled veggies to lamb chops. This is Nouveau style but is not a wimpy Beaujolais Nouveau wannabe, nor is it a Paso ooze-monster Syrah. It’s just right down the middle, kinda remarkable. Serve it slightly chilled.
Destination Love GSM Blend // $60
76% Grenache + 15% Mourvèdre + 9% Syrah = 100% bliss—and maybe love if you’re lucky. It’s about the berries. How can there be so much fruit without the wine being sweet? Doesn’t much matter, this is just a fun wine to drink. A big one, too at 15.5% alcohol, but it’s not ponderous or ungainly, just big-boned while remaining lithe and plush.
Culture & Events
THE JILL KNIGHT BAND
The 2024 “Live at the Lighthouse” concert series concludes with the soulful sound of local legend Jill Knight and her bandmates, whose textured blending of Americana, blues, and R&B take you on an unforgettable journey. Come by land—with a shuttle ride—or by sea—paddling or boating to Lighthouse Beach with your craft. October 12 / pointsanluislighthouse.org
WALK TO END ALZHEIMER’S
BUTTERFLY BALL
Welcome the annual return of western monarch butterflies when the Central Coast State Parks Association holds its annual gala fundraiser at the Octagon Barn in SLO. “Crystals and Crysalises” is an evening of elegant performances, fine dining, and a silent auction to support critical butterfly habitat and environmental education.
October 12 / centralcoastparks.org
ETERNAMENTE
Cal Poly Arts presents a celebration of life with lively music and dance, beautiful costumes, and a virtual altar in a Día de los Muertos spectacular at the Performing Arts Center SLO. Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar and Ballet Folklorico del Rio Grande present an homage to Mexico’s rich cultural heritage in which tradition and spectacle converge. October 30 / calpolyarts.org
The walk begins and ends at Mission Plaza in downtown, but the services provided by the Central Coast chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association—including free education programs, support groups, and care consultations—continue. With new treatment breakthroughs, there’s never been a more important time to join the world’s largest event to fight this devastating disease.
November 2 / alz.org
OPEN STUDIOS ART TOUR
More than 150 fine artists and crafters from throughout SLO County open their studios to showcase their art and share their processes, letting you see where their art is made. It’s open two weekends, it’s free to the public, and you can create your own self-guided tour using the 2024 Open Studios Art Tour catalog, available in print or online from SLO County Arts.
October 12-13 & 19-20 / slocountyarts.org
PADEREWSKI GALA
The SLO Symphony partners with Paso Robles’ Paderewski Festival to bring famed pianist Janina Fialkowska to the Performing Arts Center SLO. Mozart’s “Magic Flute Overture” and Paderewski’s “Piano Concerto in A minor” share the evening’s program, which concludes by celebrating the 100th anniversary year of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” with the famous orchestrated version by Maurice Ravel.
November 2 / slosymphony.org
�oin our S�� �ind �rchestra for an unforge�able e�ening of music, featuring a special collabora�on with the world-famous Atascadero UMC �andbell Choir. �repare to be cap��ated by the harmonious blend of handbell melodies and the rich sounds of our wind band. The concert will showcase a mesmerizing performance of “Russian Christmas Music,” transpor�ng you to a winter wonderland �lled with tradi�on and �oy. Don’t miss this unique musical experience.
GIROUX: Away in a manger REED: Russian Christmas Music
BILIK: The 12 Days of Christmas ANDERSON: Sleigh Ride
NIEHAUS: �es��al of �anu��ah SING ALONG
to schedule your tour
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Safety Last
Michael Nowak and Orchestra Novo proudly present the 1923 Silent Film starring Harold Lloyd with Live Orchestra Music by Carl Davis held at Cuesta College Harold J. Miossi CPAC. Early bird tickets available through October 10th. Period Costumes Encouraged. November 10 / orchestranovo.com
MOONLIGHT HOURS
Bring the whole family to the SLO Children’s Museum from 5 to 7 p.m. during a special free night of exploring, discovering, and learning through hands-on exhibits and programs. Three floors and an outside playscape are jam-packed with fun and unforgettable experiences. Be inspired to learn through play, whatever your age.
November 21 / slocm.org
STRANGE MAGIC
Seattle-based artist Julie Alpert creates an exuberant, site-specific installation at the SLO Museum of Art using ordinary arts supplies, hardware store materials, and household objects. Her intention is to spark delight, curiosity and wonder, feelings that come naturally to us as children, but ones we have to work hard to cultivate as adults, in a single, threedimensional scene akin to a stage set. November 15-March 3 / sloma.org
HOLIDAY PARTY
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s unique take on American swing and jazz music thrills audiences around the world, and their unique and spirited “Wild and Swingin’ Holiday Party” is an eagerly anticipated annual family event. The band brings its world-renowned live show with fun and quirky takes on holiday classics and Christmas originals to the Performing Arts Center SLO for one performance only. November 27 / pacslo.org