Cover Story
Best of Northern Santa Barbara County 2022
Summer is heading toward its end, but there’s still lots of warmth left before those leaves start to fall and plenty of peaks left to summit. We asked you to pick those trailblazers in the community that deserved a very special merit badge, to tell us about your favorite businesses, leaders, restaurants, and community members…
BINGEABLE: HACKS (2021-present)
BINGEABLE: HACKS (2021-present) Where’s it playing? HBO Max What’s it rated? TV-MA Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are comedy gold in this HBO series that follows the aging career of stand-up comedian Deborah Vance (Smart) and her new writer Ava (Einbender) as they try to reinvigorate Deborah’s career after she loses her Las Vegas residency. …
Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons perform at the Chumash Casino Resort
The Chumash Casino Resort presents Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, live in concert, on Friday, Aug. 19, at 8 p.m. The pop group is best known for “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “Candy Girl,” and other hits. Considered one of the best-selling bands of all time, The Four Seasons have sold about 100…
The Great American Melodrama presents ‘Sand In Our Shorts: A Night of Sketch Comedy and Song’
Performances of Sand In Our Shorts: A Night of Sketch Comedy and Song, which debuted in mid-August, will be held through Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Great American Melodrama in Oceano. The two-act production is described as a beach-themed vaudeville and variety show, similar to the Melodrama’s previous sketch comedy showcase, Comedy Tonight, held last…
Central Coast artist and teacher Lynnae Lane captures the joy of gardening in a new exhibit
Roses, poppies, sunflowers, and cacti are among the subjects found in Lynnae Lane’s paintings on display in a new garden-themed exhibition. Lane based about half of the show’s featured paintings on plants found in a garden close to her home in Orcutt. The other half were inspired by Lane’s “beautiful secret garden” in Fresno, where…
Na Na Thai brings pop-up dinner events to Los Olivos every Tuesday
Technically, Bar Le Côte in Los Olivos is closed on Tuesdays—except for the two to three hours when a Thai food pop-up takes over the venue. For the past two months, husband and wife Nik and Ashley Ramirez have been hosting their weekly pop-up business, Na Na Thai, at the restaurant every Tuesday starting at…
Call the doctor
I’m not sure why the fine folks who appealed the Santa Barbara County planning director’s decision to OK a land-use permit for Dr. Greenthumb’s to open a cannabis dispensary in Orcutt felt that lyrics from a song released in 1998 would persuade planning commissioners to deny said permit, but they did. The full lyrics of…
A response to John Donegan’s Aug. 4 gun article
As a teenager in south Texas in the early 1950s, I grew up among guns. They were just a natural part of things. Every household seemed to have some. Our kitchen pantry, for example, housed a .30-06 deer rifle because my old man had once hunted deer. We also had a semiautomatic .22 caliber pistol…
Political Watch: August 18, 2022
• Former Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso started a new position as chief customer experience officer at CenCal Health, the Medi-Cal managed care plan for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, according to an Aug. 9 statement. In this position, she will provide strategic leadership for the management of relationships with…
Employees at Santa Maria Starbucks want to unionize
After seeing employees at the Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, win their vote to unionize, Shift Supervisor Jaylee Moore at the Santa Maria Starbucks on Broadway and McCoy decided her location could unionize, too. “I’ve been working here for almost 4 1/2 years. I was the one who started all of the conversations and talked…
Dana Reserve housing project proposed amid critical water shortage
Nipomo groundwater is facing its lowest levels in history, and the basin’s facing severe water shortage conditions for the eighth consecutive year. Despite this, the Nipomo Community Services District (NCSD) will continue planning for the Dana Reserve development, a 1,289 single- and multi-family unit housing project with a focus on injecting more housing into the…
County Planning Commission greenlights Dr. Greenthumb’s Orcutt cannabis shop
Parking concerns, traffic safety issues, and the lyrics to Cypress Hill’s “Dr. Greenthumb” were included in an appeal to overturn the Santa Barbara County planning director’s approval of the site for an upcoming cannabis dispensary in Orcutt. The appeal was submitted by a group of unnamed homeowners in the Cimarron Estates, a neighborhood near the…
Lompoc-based nonprofit recently opened its doors to provide free medical services to community members
Housing, food, child care, and energy bills often come before paying for doctor’s appointments in some low-income households, which can cause people to avoid primary, preventative care, leading to future emergency room visits—particularly in northern Santa Barbara County, according to Eryn Shugart. Shugart is the executive director of Savie Health—a 501(c)3 nonprofit clinic based in…
