Cover Story

The letter was written on a single sheet of ruled notebook paper. Neatly folded and just four paragraphs long. The words, penned in a looping cursive, were hopeful but pleading.  “I am in need of a stable, clean and sober living environment,” it stated. “I am totally committed to living life in a productive manner.” […]

Wide, bald, and barrel chested with a thick dark mustache wrapped around the top of an almost always half-cracked grin, Lompoc Police Sgt. Mauricio Calderon exudes friendliness and calm as he takes long strides toward the first makeshift shelter in the Santa Ynez Riverbed. Calderon became the department’s liason to the city’s homeless population earlier […]

The building that sits on Elverhoy Way is an illustration of exceptional contradictions. At once giving off a staunch sense of antiquity, with its half-timbered building style indicative of the Danish architecture reflected throughout Solvang, the facade of Elverhoj Museum of History and Art is nothing if not traditional. It’s the kind of building you […]

The reggae that had been bumping softly throughout the gym for nearly an hour suddenly stopped, and about a dozen barefoot children stood and lined up along the edge of a bright yellow mat. Each dressed in a different colored gi, the traditional uniform worn by Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors, the students waited to be handpicked […]

“You’ve got to ac-cen-tuate the positive/E-lim-inate the negative/Latch on to the affirmative/Don’t mess with Mister In-Between” The 20-plus members of the Oasis Senior Center Choir all sang in unison with the piano accompaniment. Gruff baritones and lilting sopranos blended together, filling the room with melody. Karen Eastey led the group from the piano, where she […]

    DINING OUT Best Santa Maria Restaurant Shaw’s Steakhouse 714 S. Broadway, Santa Maria You might have the nicest roadster or hot rod in town, but you’ll still struggle to find some parking at Shaw’s Steakhouse in Santa Maria. The famous restaurant is almost always packed with locals looking for a perfect sit-down dinner […]

 You probably should’ve died,” the husky, walrus-mustached U.S. Forest Service worker told me that balmy July evening.  It was 2015, the height of the last so-called drought that never really ended on California’s Central Coast. And the animals, myself included, were restless. One long summer after another, interrupted by brief winters that brought only sputters […]

Samantha Basulto was only a junior in high school when she had to let go of her first big dreams.  As a bright-eyed freshman who had never before struggled to make the honor roll, Basulto had imagined her future self running off to a four-year university immediately after high school graduation, leaving Santa Maria and […]