If you were at the Hitching Post on a certain night of the week, you might have encountered an elderly man sitting at his favorite seat at the bar. Listening to him make small talk about the food or local happenings around town, you might never have realized you were talking to legendary Newsweek photographer […]
REBECCA ROSE
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Weed me out
Rebecca Rose loves legalization but is also completely terrified of it
As Californians gear up to wait for the 650,000 rules and laws our legislators come up with to regulate marijuana into the unfun zone, I’m still grappling with one thing: my absolute fear and terror associated with smoking pot. Allow me to explain. I grew up in the 1980s, in the midst of the War […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Los Alamos chefs take the reigns at Plenty on Bell
Inside Plenty on Bell on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, chef and new co-owner Alec Roehl makes small talk with a pair of customers. They tell him how much they love the food and ask him questions about his family. They’re more like visiting relatives than fussy diners, which is the norm inside the Los Alamos […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Santa Maria Arts Council Student Art Show features powerful work
Walking through the halls of consumerism at the mall, it might be easy to miss something truly unique. In the second floor, sandwiched between the escalator and a cookie store near Macy’s, dozens of works of beautiful artwork hang on the walls of a makeshift gallery. The artistic geniuses behind this work aren’t famous photographers […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Santa Maria’s public arts plan splits artists, developers
A mural on a wall at 420 S. McClelland St. depicts a couple holding up a glass of wine between a young girl clasping a giant strawberry and a chef cooking vegetables in a pot. Spilling out from them are rows of a field complete with a tractor. All the images represent the many facets […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Burton House brings upscale steakhouse to Nipomo
I went into mourning like a Sicilian widow when The Market closed in Santa Maria. I miss their hearty and creative dishes and their uniquely down-home take on fine dining. There are plenty of good restaurants (and great ones) that fill the void the eatery, which closed in 2016, left behind. But it wasn’t until […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Santa Ynez Valley business offers art retreats for all skill levels
At a farmhouse in March, a group of people gathered to spend the weekend together. Some of them were friends but many were strangers. They would spend the next three days sipping wine, eating freshly prepared meals, strolling through the quiet town of Ballard, and getting to know each other. They came from different backgrounds, […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Allan Hancock College faculty exhibit highlights work of art instructors
An evocative portrait of a woman peering shyly over her shoulder. A crisp inked drawing of an ancient fish. A photograph of well-worked fishing boats, sunset tickling the tools strewn about their surface. These are just some of the images featured in the annual Fine Arts Faculty Art Show showing at the Ann Foxworthy Gallery […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Bad hair days
Rebecca won’t stop experimenting with bad hairstyles
Have you ever had a bad hair day? Well, I’ve been having one since 1984. For many of us, hair is so attached to our personal identity, we can’t function properly when it goes wrong. I’ve called in sick to work because my hair was looking like a hot mess. And I didn’t even lie […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Presqu’ile Winery’s Tri-Tip Cook-Off fuses modern cuisine with Santa Maria tradition
In the 1980s there was an Oldsmobile ad campaign that featured Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley (Elvis’ daughter and wife, respectively). As the mother and daughter came peeling around the bend in a zippy red Cutlass Calais, a slogan reminded viewers, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” For the venerated car company, it was an […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Lompoc Civic Theatre celebrates the ‘Glorious’ singing of Florence Foster Jenkins
There is a fascination with bad singers that the public has unabashedly embraced in recent years. Thanks to shows like American Idol, we can satiate our desire to laugh at those who fancy themselves the next Beyoncé. When William Hung famously belted out Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs,” on the show, audiences fell in love with […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Santa Maria’s Downtown Fridays are back, with extended hours
Ed Carcarey doesn’t need to be convinced that Santa Maria can have a vibrant downtown community—he plans to make it happen with events like Downtown Fridays, now in its second year. “I think Santa Maria has been hungry for this forever,” Carcarey said. Returning on March 31 and running through Sept. 29, Downtown Fridays boasts […]