Cover Story
Reuniting sideways: The cast and crew of ‘Sideways’ return to celebrate the film’s 10th anniversary and its lasting impact on the Central Coast
When Paul Giamatti arrived in the Santa Ynez Valley 11 years ago to portray a pretentious wine aficionado in the dark comedy film Sideways, he relied on his considerably gifted acting chops, because he had little interest in wine. “I just drank beer at that point,” Giamatti admitted. “I still wouldn’t know that much about…
What is the most important issue that Santa Maria City Council needs to tackle?
Miguel Cardenas car dealer “The City Council really needs to see the community, the streets. … Economic development would be a big one, because if you think about it, the biggest building we have is the Santa Maria Inn.” Alma Marquez school program manager “There isn’t development, and we are the most populated city in…
Circle V Ranch kids help craft gifts for Flutes Across the World
Examples of the flute—possibly the oldest instrument, other than the human voice—can be found in cultures across the world and time. There’s a good argument that the flute is an almost universal example of our collective musicianship. Composer, musician, and educator John Zeretzke saw this commonality and used it to start a program to connect…
¡Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara! announces its upcoming season
¡Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara! is bringing its 10th season of free, family-friendly professional Latin American music and dance ensembles to Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, and Guadalupe. The season includes five ensembles performing from September through April of next year. The first concerts will feature the family legacy group Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar…
Discovery Museum fires up the grill
The Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum is celebrating local rancher and museum donor R.H. Tesene with a barbecue cuisine and ranching event on Aug. 21. The day will include food, presentations, and an exhibit about local barbecue and ranching. The exhibit is the Rancho Pasquini barn and bunkhouse, which includes the R.H. Tesene BBQ Hall…
Santa Maria Civic Ballet holds auditions
The Santa Maria Civic Ballet is a coalition of advanced dancers in the Santa Maria community, all meeting to work together for professional dance recitals. Founding artistic director Diane Zink, who also directs and teaches at the Everybody Can Dance Studio, uses both organizations to collaborate on big productions. Upcoming auditions include a Santa Maria…
Theaterfest awakens the past in ‘The San Patricios’ by Jose Cruz Gonalez
One hundred and sixty-seven years ago, on a blisteringly hot Mexico day in Chapultapec, the remaining members of St. Patrick’s Battalion stood sweltering in the backs of wagons, waiting to be hanged. The group of 30 Irish and European immigrant soldiers were captured during the Mexican-American War, not by Mexico’s forces, but by the United…
The Dana Adobe premiers a gallery space with works of local artists
After the immense success and interest in the recent Gold Rush Fever! exhibit in July, the Dana Adobe Nipomo Amigos (DANA) opened up space in the historic building for local artists to share a variety of media. “Since we finished the house, we have always utilized one side as a historic home, and the other…
Veni, Vidi, Vegas
What a month July was here at Waterman Estate! It started off with a bang to remind my husband, The Brit, why his people lost the war. I must say, he does look good in red! July culminated in our trip to Las Vegas so that he could attend the annual ICPCR cigar convention, and…
New faces at the Discovery Museum
Hello, Sun readers! For the past seven years I’ve used the byline Amy Asman, but I’ve decided that in my new capacity as program director at the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum, I should go by my full name. No, I didn’t just get married. My husband and I are actually about to celebrate our…
Former prisoners graduate from the county’s reentry program
More than 70 formerly incarcerated Santa Barbara County residents are better equipped for society now that they’ve completed a reentry program at the Day Reporting Centers in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara. Graduate John Piccirillo, who served 30 years in prison on a bank robbery conviction, said in a press release that the Day Reporting…
Santa Maria is hosting another cardboard boat race
The fifth annual Teen Cardboard Boat Regatta will take place on Sept. 13 at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center from 1 to 5 p.m. It’s a free event hosted by the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department that is open to all teens in junior high and high school. Certificates will be awarded for…
Righetti gets a new music director
As Ernest Righetti High School plows into the school year, a new face is helping students perfect their instrument playing. Nicholas Burdick is taking over the school’s music program, which has more than 50 students involved in marching, jazz, and beginning band. He also instructs a music history course designed to capture the interplay between…
Spotlight on: Patricio’s Pizzeria
Years ago, during the heralded pizza wars of yore, a line was drawn between those with toppings above their cheese, and those with cheese on top. To be honest, pizza wars didn’t really happen, but maybe they should have, because a local pizzeria honors the legacy that could have been by selling pizzas that include…
Political Watch 8/21/14
• After months of party-line squabbling that followed January’s drought emergency declaration, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on Aug. 13 to put a comprehensive water bond before voters in November. “Water is the lifeblood of any civilization and for California, it’s the precondition of healthy rivers, valleys, farms, and a strong economy,” Brown said in…
Community Notebook 8/21-8/28/14
MONDAY, AUG. 25 • The South County Advisory Council has its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Nipomo Community Services District Headquarters, 148 S. Wilson St., Nipomo. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. Agendas are available at cityofsolvang.com. TUESDAY, AUG.…
Hobnobbing With Helen
Here’s the lowdown on the hoedown: It was hobnobbing with the hounds, and it was a hoot and a half. Santa Maria’s celebrity canine, Targa, the Santa Maria Police Department’s new K-9 Unit police dog, made a guest appearance with her handler, Officer Steve Flick and Sgt. Duane Schneider. The handsome black shepherd—trained in Germany—knows…
Community Corner: Restored ReStore
Habitat for Humanity operates a shop where home-builders, DIY types, and anyone working on a project from full-on construction to remodeling to some light sprucing up can find new and used building materials, fixtures, and more—but, truth be told, the physical store is a bit difficult to locate. That’s part of why volunteers are holding…
Five candidates vie for two Santa Maria City Council seats
Two incumbents are among the small herd of Santa Maria residents who want to ring in 2015 with a seat on the City Council. Five candidates signed up by the Aug. 8 filing deadline in a race for two spots now occupied by Council members Jack Boysen and Willie Green. Since the last election cycle,…
Best Of corrections
• The write-up for Omakase, winner of Best New Restaurant of 2013 in our Aug. 14 Best Of issue, reported the wrong city and incorrectly spelled the owner’s last name. Omakase is in Old Orcutt, and the owner is Eric Huynh. • Mary Jo Pedersen’s name was misspelled once in the write-up for Best Marriage…
Corrections
• The article on Mayor John Linn in our Aug. 14 issue (“Linn responds to his challenger’s claims”) referred to the wrong meeting in relation to allegations of Brown Act violations that Linn was refuting. The meeting in question should have been noted as a Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting Linn attended earlier…
More financial scrutiny is coming for Guadalupe
Guadalupe City Administrator Andrew Carter doesn’t mince words when describing the current state of the city’s money situation. “We are in severe financial distress, if you want to use that term,” he said. This is no surprise to anyone in city leadership. Mayor Frances Romero indicated at the Aug. 12 council meeting that she would…
Supervisors get behind Jackson’s bill to ban drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted on Aug. 19 to back state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s (D-Santa Barbara) bill to ban offshore drilling along the Tranquillon Ridge in the Santa Barbara Channel. The vote was 3-2, with 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino and 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam opposing the resolution. A letter of…
Water rights releases are flowing from Bradbury Dam
On Aug. 18 at 8 a.m., the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation started releasing water into the Santa Ynez River from Lake Cachuma’s Bradbury Dam. But before you get all bent out of shape about fish getting water to which humans are entitled, you should know the releases aren’t for fish. The downstream water rights releases…
Cachuma’s emergency pumping system is ready to deliver
As the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation gifted emergency drought relief funding to the Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board (COMB), things were wrapping up on an emergency pumping facility project that will help Lake Cachuma’s water get to Southern Santa Barbara County. The $300,000 federal grant announced on Aug. 14 is earmarked for the cost of…
Monthly community walks start in September
Riddle Walk is the first event in the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Fall/Winter 2014 Let’s Walk series. It’s also free. Participants can exercise their minds by solving riddles as they stroll through Preisker Park on Sept. 6 starting at 10 a.m. Walkers who arrive early can use the newly installed Life Trail exercise equipment…
Beattie Park fun run is coming up
The Beattie Park Fun Run is an event geared for all ages and ability levels. Participants can register for either a 5K or a 10K race, and all participants will get a shot at first- and second-place awards. T-shirts can be purchased for $10 and the pre-registration deadline is Sept. 5. The Fun Run takes…
Kids raise money for food bank through Santa Barbara Triathlon
Two years ago, third-grader Jacob Mansbach combined his love for triathlons with his desire to help kids in the community and raised more than $4,600 for the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. He had a friend join him last year, and together, they participated in a triathlon and raised more than $13,000. This year, Mansbach,…
Emily Mathis
Emily Mathis, who graduated from Orcutt Academy in June, left for Boise State on Aug. 20, but even with a big move looming, she decided to train with the Santa Maria Swim Club until the day she left. “I swim today, Tuesday, and then leave Wednesday,” Mathis said on Aug. 18, and her break won’t…
ESPN televises the Chumash Casino’s Friday Night Fights
The Chumash Event Center is buzzing on Aug. 15, even more so than it usually does during Friday Night Fights. Camera crewmembers are wildly running around putting wires where they need to go while two men, groomed far beyond everyone else in the event center, are waiting. It wasn’t going to be a typical lineup…
Vintage 2014: Unique project documents Santa Barbara County’s grape growing season
For several years, Wil Fernandez crisscrossed the country in an RV, trying to figure out where he wanted to live. He returned to Santa Barbara County, intrigued by the landscape, the people, and the bountiful food and wine. “People ask me, ‘Where’s your favorite place?’ This is my favorite place. This is it. There’s nowhere…
Let’s have another round!
Labor Day is right around the corner, and with it comes the end of summer. By that point, all of the “non-harmful algae compounds” that recently found their way into the State Water Project’s supply should be out of the local system. If you hadn’t heard about the incident, you might have smelled or tasted…
We have been desensitized
I have been pondering this subject for sometime—“desensitization of our population.” Enjoyed reading your column (“All the world’s a stage?” Aug. 7). I believe that as a whole, our society can’t grasp the bigger picture, and we focus on what appears to be the fix, which really doesn’t fix anything. You give the example of…
We can’t afford Measure P
It appears there is a new “F” word in the language of Californians, especially here on the Central Coast. The proponents of Measure P have used it so much most people probably believe “fracking” has anything to do with this ballot initiative. It does not, as there is no fracking in Santa Barbara County. But…
Parents: Pitch in for children’s education
Some children get excited about a new school year beginning, while others seem to dread the end of summer vacation. Either way, parents have an important role in preparing children for a smooth start of the school routine. There is a requirement for a whooping cough vaccine booster, “Tdap,” for seventh- through 12th-graders. Older children…
