Cover Story
A golden institution: PCPA celebrates its 50th anniversary season
The Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts—known to everyone as PCPA—started with a gentle humility that mimicked its small-town origins. The theater arts company, designed to teach young performers and technicians under the guidance of professional resident teachers, went through several transformations before coming close to the conservatory locals know today. But the mission of…
What’s your favorite PCPA performance?
Monica Barragan receptionist “I remember taking the kids to The Wizard of Oz years ago. The whole family really enjoyed it.” Daisy Rich unemployed “Cinderella is a classic I’ll always remember. PCPA deserves every upgrade.” Debara Vidro retired “I absolutely love the Solvang venue. Legally Blonde is my favorite, but I’ll see any musical.” Yolanda…
Local musicians vie for the Newtie Award at the NTMAs
A hailstorm of harmonies descended on the ubiquitous SLO Brew on Aug. 28 when the New Times Music Awards began. The annual music awards ceremony was at once a celebration and epic competition, showcasing the collected musical talents of artist from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Before the bands battled, the winners of…
Lompoc Pops welcomes guest artists
The Lompoc Pops Orchestra’s new season has been branded with the theme New Beginnings, welcoming a new guest conductor to each concert event. The first concert begins with Olivia Tsui, founder and music director of the Los Angeles Virtuosi, which will sponsor three performers who will also visit for the concert on Sept. 15. Tsui…
Camp Fire cabin gets a makeover
The Camp Fire cabin in Buena Vista Park in Santa Maria recently received a new coat of paint thanks to a donation by Home Depot and volunteer work by Buena Vista Beautifiers, Camp Fire Central Coast, and helpful locals on Sept. 3. After recent vandalism of the cabin, plans to paint the structure were aided…
Explore watercolor at the C Gallery
The C Gallery is offering a special watercolor class with award-winning artist and teacher Carole Patton. The five-week class meets on consecutive Fridays from 2 to 4 p.m. beginning Sept. 5. The class will focus on the gesture techniques and figures of Tony Van Hasselt. The C Gallery is at 466 Bell St., Los Alamos.…
New show at Betteravia Galleries
The Santa Barbara County Arts Commission has announced a new show at the Betteravia Galleries North and South, titled Under the Influence: Responses to Place. The exhibit, which was co-curated by Kam Jacoby and Karen Gearhart-Jensen, features the works of seven North and South Santa Barbara County artists showing through Jan. 22. Artists include Kit…
New coat of chalk: SLO’s famous street-painting festival debuts a new name, Via dei Colori
When Shelley Triggs first moved to the Central Coast, she spent an entire day with her young son painting a 2-foot-by-2-foot square in the parking lot of the SLO Historical Center. It’s a scene many families and individuals, both local and visiting, have come to expect from downtown SLO. Every year, for two days, the…
Spicing it up: P.L.A.Y. Inc. holds its annual Tastes of Mexico event including food, drink, and music
Every year, a local nonprofit that helps supplement Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department programs holds a fundraiser that gets everyone’s taste buds talking. People for Leisure and Youth Inc. (known as P.L.A.Y.) serves up Tastes of Mexico as a special annual celebratioan of Mexican cuisine and culture, with several local restaurants serving up their…
California speak
These days I’ve been afraid to talk. I don’t mean that I’m afraid to speak my mind but I’ve been afraid to speak at all. I’m afraid that if I open my mouth a ‘dude’ might slip out. ‘Totally’ may force its way into a sentence or, heaven forbid, a ‘fer sher’ might pepper my…
Road trip: Santa Barbara
To celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday, I treated her to a mother/daughter weekend last month in beautiful Santa Barbara. We started our road trip the day after she flew in from Wisconsin, lunching at Bell Street Farm in Los Alamos, then wine tasting at Dierberg-Star Lane tasting room, which is tucked away in a scenic…
Discovery Corner: Back-to-school traditions from around the world!
In Russia the first day of school, Sept. 1, is called the “Day of Knowledge.” Do you know how they celebrate that day? According to the website Russia Beyond the Headlines, rbth.com, “As August comes to a close, Russian school children return from holidays away at summer camps, dachas, or their grandmothers’ homes in the…
City and district grants collaborate for safer school routes in Lompoc
Education and construction will be working together over the next three years to make Lompoc school routes safer for students through grants from the California Department of Transportation. The Lompoc Unified School District and the city of Lompoc applied for separate grants through the CalTrans Safe Routes to School program. The district was awarded $411,000…
Central Coast colleges get a federal funding boost
Through a recent allocation of federal grants from the Developing Hispanic-serving Institutions Program, Santa Barbara City College received $511,338 and Allan Hancock College received $469,872. The grants are designed to expand and enhance the academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability of colleges and universities that have an undergraduate full-time equivalent enrollment of at least…
LUSD has a public natural gas station in its future
With diesel costs on the seemingly inevitable rise, Lompoc Unified School District has a way to cut costs and protect the environment—at least when it comes to buses: Use natural gas. Of the district’s 43 buses, 13 run off of compressed natural gas, and the plan is to expand that portion of the bus fleet.…
Spotlight on: Penfield & Smith Engineers, Inc.
Penfield & Smith has been expanding since it opened in Santa Barbara in 1946. The civil engineering firm now has 90 employees and offices in Santa Maria, Camarillo, and Lancaster, serving customers from San Luis Obispo County to Los Angeles County. Hady Izadpanah, the company’s president and CEO, said the company is poised to grow…
Political Watch 9/4/14
• On Sept. 11, the Vandenberg Village Library Speakers Series will feature a forum for candidates in the Vandenberg Village Community Service District race. Local resident Dianne Owens will moderate; candidates are Charles Blair, Robert Bumpass, and Tony Fox. The forum starts at 6:30 p.m. at the library, 3755 Constellation Road, Lompoc. • State Sen.…
Community Notebook 9/4-9/11/14
MONDAY, SEPT. 8 • The Santa Maria City Block Grants Advisory Committee has its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room, 110 E. Cook St., Santa Maria. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. agendas are available at…
Hobnobbing with Helen
More than 300 friends and supporters of Allan Hancock College athletics turned out for the 13th annual Joe White Memorial Dinner and Auction on Saturday, Aug. 16, at the Fairpark. Not only did folks turn out, but they bid stratospherically high (and we mean high—how about $1,000 for a cake?) on a number of live…
Reawaken Muhammad’s words
A fourth century Christian saint once declared, “The world is a book … and those who do not travel read but one page.” Over the years, my eleemosynary wanderlust has led me to many remote, intriguing, and tumultuous places. And true to the adage, each peregrination added a page to my understanding of our world.…
Community Corner: Camp Fire’s historic cabin gets a fresh look
Organizers of the local Camp Fire group have been intending to freshen up the building where they meet in Santa Maria’s Buena Vista Park, but a crime sped up their timetable. “A recent tagging of the building has fast forwarded our plans to paint the historical cabin,” Ken Miles, executive director of Camp Fire Central…
A recently passed bill tightens sexual harassment regulations for field contract laborers
In August, state regulators passed a bill designed to address sexual harassment in California’s agricultural fields—something the bill’s proponents say is far too common. Sen. Bill Monning (D-Salinas), the bill’s author, said he was inspired by a documentary produced by Frontline and the Center for Investigative Reporting, Rape in the Fields. The documentary highlights instances…
Santa Maria considers a bike safety ordinance
The Santa Maria City Council considered an ordinance at its meeting on Sept. 2, requiring bicyclists to wear protective equipment while riding in a city bike park. In 2008, City Council approved an ordinance that laid down rules for the use of city-operated skate parks to ensure safety and comply with state law. It required…
The USDA urges farmers to apply for disaster assistance by Oct. 1
Livestock producers who’ve experienced grazing losses due to drought or fire since October 2011 may be eligible for benefits through the Livestock Forage Disaster Program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent out a press release on Sept. 2 in which it encourages producers who have suffered from eligible disaster-related losses to make an appointment with…
A Nipomo woman is sentenced to a year in jail for a hit-and-run while texting
The woman who struck and killed a pedestrian while texting and driving was sentenced on Aug. 27 to a year in jail by San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Dodie Harman. Nipomo’s Marie Coyner, 24, hit the victim, Christopher Corey Tietjen, also from Nipomo, from behind in November 2012 and drove off, according to police…
Law enforcement agents diffuse a grenade in Santa Maria
The Santa Maria Courthouse was evacuated on Labor Day after a man notified police that he had a potentially live grenade inside his vehicle. The man was standing in the Santa Maria Police Department lobby when he made the call. The police report states that the man said he had bought a storage locker in…
Bills stemming from Isla Vista shootings pass the state legislature
Family members of victims from this May’s Isla Vista shooting and stabbings gathered on the steps of the state Capitol on Aug. 27 to urge lawmakers to pass a gun violence restraining order bill. Richard Martinez, father of victim Christopher Michaels-Martinez, spoke at the press conference. “Many have heard me say the words, ‘Not one…
What’s On Deck 9/4/14-9/11/14
Thursday, Sept. 4 Football RHS vs. Santa Barbara @ SBHS, 5 p.m. Girls’ Golf RHS vs. Cabrillo @ Village Country Club, 2 p.m. St. Joseph vs. SMHS @ Marshallia Golf Club, 2:30 p.m. Girls’ Tennis RHS vs. Nipomo @ RHS, 3 p.m. St. Joseph vs. Morro Bay @ SJHS, 3:30…
The Hancock youth basketball league needs players
The Hancock Youth Basketball Club wants teams and individuals to register for its first fall boys’ league. The league offers divisions from sixth grade through varsity, and still needs teams for its seventh- and eighth-grade divisions, as well as freshman and junior varsity. Games begin Sept. 7, and the season runs through Oct. 12. Games…
Nonprofits get a shot at auctioning big game tags
Nonprofit organizations will have the chance to raise money by auctioning off big game hunting license tags for the 2015-2016 season. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is reserving 12 to 13 tags for organizations that apply. These special fundraising tags have been successful for nonprofits in the past by attracting bidders to…
Miller School honors former teacher
Students and staff from Isaac Miller Elementary School will celebrate the opening of their new track with a jog-a-thon fundraiser starting at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 5. The track will be dedicated to the memory of Elaine Barnard, a former teacher at Miller Elementary School who passed away unexpectedly in March. The dedication begins at…
Kate Hardisty
Ernest Righetti High School girls’ tennis coach Patrick Ortiz named Kate Hardisty the varsity team captain this week. The move highlights her skill level because the newly appointed captain is just entering her junior season. “She has tennis DNA,” Ortiz said. “You have to have someone in the leadership role, and that is going to…
The Warriors’ water polo team dominates at an open water tournament in Oregon
The Ernest Righetti High School boys’ water polo team stepped out of the heated pools they’re accustomed to and braved the open water for a summer tournament on Foster Lake in Oregon. “Once in a while you’ve got to change it up,” head varsity coach Kyle Shaffer said. This July, it wasn’t necessarily other teams…
Damned if you do …
Which would you choose? Your physical, mental, and emotional safety or your sole means of supporting your family? That’s a choice some women face as they work in the fields in and around Santa Maria, picking the produce that literally feeds the nation. You’ve seen these women. They stand and stoop among vines and rows,…
For the economy, vote no on Measure P
After reading and hearing about Measure P and having worked for 30 years in the oil industry, I will be voting no. As long as we live in an oil-dependent society, driving our cars, and using the many products made from oil, we should support local oil and gas operations. By voting no, we won’t…
