Real cheese, real ingredients Wild West Pizza is open from 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 9:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Located at 1137 N. H St., suite W, the Lompoc mom-and-pop pizza shop is known for its unique pies. It can be found on Instagram @wildwestpizza and online at wildwestpizza.menu. […]
Lompoc’s Wild West Pizza selected as finalist for National Real California Cheese Pizza Competition, honored for dedication to community service
Posted inNews
Santa Barbara County ag grosses $2 billion in 2024
Nearly half of Santa Barbara County’s ag gross revenue for 2024 stems from a single fruit. According to the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, strawberry producers raked in $860 million last year. That’s more than 40 percent of the county’s total gross production value—which the department’s 2024 crop and livestock report listed as approximately $2.01 billion. […]
Posted inNews
Santa Maria youth respond to stepped-up ICE enforcement
Fed up with the federal government’s policies and their impact on communities like his in Santa Maria, 17-year-old Cesar Vasquez recently shifted the focus of his organization, La Cultura Del Mundo. “We are here to protect all immigrants—no matter where you are from, who you believe in, who you love, or where you stand,” Vasquez […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
The Old Guard 2 delivers some heart-pounding supernatural action
The Old Guard 2 What’s it rated? R When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Netflix If you want to see Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde) and Uma Thurman (Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2) square off in epic hand-to-hand combat, step right up to this sequel to The Old Guard (2020), based on […]
Posted inNews
Madre Fire consumes 80,000-plus acres across the Cuyama Valley
It took less than a day for a wildfire near New Cuyama to grow into California’s largest of the year by acreage so far. While the cause of the Madre Fire remains under investigation, fire officials traced back its point of origin to the early afternoon of July 2, along Highway 166 in the Cuyama […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Sirens examines family dysfunction and the weird power dynamics of the uber-wealthy
Sirens What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Netflix Based on show creator Molly Smith Metzler’s 2011 play Elemento Pea, Sirens is set over the course of a long weekend in one of those beach communities whose only non-millionaire visitors are the workers who drive in to serve the uber rich homeowners and […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Jurassic World Rebirth is predictably derivative but entertaining
Jurassic World Rebirth What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria, Movies Lompoc, Regal Edwards Arroyo Grande Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) directs this new installment in the Jurassic Park franchise. Written by David Koepp (Jurassic […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Guadalupe Buddhist Church hosts annual Obon festival to honor ancestors
Savor Japanese cuisine, partake in traditional dance, and bask in the Taiko drummers’ traditional booms. The Guadalupe Buddhist Church will host its annual Obon festival July 27 from 12 to 6 p.m. at the Santa Maria Veterans’ Memorial Building. Join community members in the sea of smiles and colorful kimonos to honor Japanese Buddhist ancestors’ […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Cellist-led rock band will blend blues, classical music at Lost Chord Guitars in Solvang
A globetrotting blues, rock, and Americana band will take the stage in Solvang on July 25. With a set list ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Charlie Daniels, Dirty Cello will perform at Lost Chord Guitars at 8 p.m. Instead of a guitarist, cellist Rebecca Roudman leads the band. “We’re all about the fun at our […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Chumash illustrator John Khus highlights cultural heritage, fight for social justice with colorful imagery
When pen meets pad Chumash artist John Khus has been keeping the spirits of his Central Coast ancestors alive for more than four decades. You can find him on Instagram @john.khus. A faceless Statue of Liberty with flowing, black hair dons a colorful array of Indigenous tattoos. The white “Be Human” book she holds in […]
Posted inOpinion
This administration threatens our land, sea, and air
It is all too clear that California’s communities and environment are not immune to the Trump administration—and that state and local leaders’ pushback is powerful and necessary. Having already moved to open public lands to mining and drilling, the Trump administration is now making its presence known off the Central Coast. On April 30, the […]
Posted inOpinion
Swapping dollars
Santa Barbara County is losing its cannabis enforcement team. That’s one way to save $3 million! Apparently illegal cannabis activities in the county have declined significantly since 2018, when the Sheriff’s Office Cannabis Compliance Team first started ripping through illegal grows, weed whacking, bagging, and confiscating all things pot. I remember the images that the […]