Instances of theft and vandalism in early 2025 prompted Solvang officials to consider rebooting the city’s surveillance camera operations. After months of consulting with local law enforcement and a camera contractor, Solvang is set to expand its city-run video surveillance—currently limited to City Hall and a handful of water wells—to cover various corners of downtown […]
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Santa Maria Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes violinist Amy Sze to the main stage for Tchaikovsky concerto
Amy Sze isn’t old enough to vote in the midterms, but this kid already has one impressive resume. A 17-year-old violinist who grew up in Pismo Beach, Sze now studies at the Crossroads School of Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica and violin at the Colburn School. Her list of awards, recognitions, concert credits, and […]
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Up on the hill: An iconic Los Alamos motel gets a makeover
The motel with the campy, giant yellow sign was never talked about much. But I had always been curious–myself a bit of a retrophile–about the Skyview Motel in Los Alamos. The sleepy motel had earned a dubious nickname from some locals. They dubbed it the Psycho motel, and its seemingly ominous and withdrawn presence overlooking […]
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Start your batteries: Die-hard radio-controlled car enthusiasts meet up to race, jump, and kick up some dirt on the Central Coast
Rain usually cancels the regular meetup of Central Coast radio-controlled (RC) car enthusiasts at a home on the Nipomo Mesa. But it wasn’t quite raining on April 7, more of a drizzle, and plenty of diehards still made it out. The heavy fog didn’t slow down Tony Drake or his black and red-striped Traxxas RC […]
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U.S. Forest Service wraps up winter controlled burns
Riprap clatters and clangs against U.S. Forest Service Battalion Chief Chip Laugharn’s government-issued pickup truck. The sun beams down and blankets the landscape with washed-out midday light. The air is rich with the smell of pine and woodsmoke. “It’s a killer view,” Laugharn says, pointing to the wall of mountains dominating the horizon. “This is […]
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Hidden history: The Chumash rebellion of 1824 illustrates the changing conversation surrounding life at California’s missions
View a slideshow from La Purisima Mission. The salmon-hued tower of Mission La Purisima looms over the pastoral grounds near Lompoc where generations of California fourth-graders field trip each year to learn about the state’s mission era and the people who called Purisima home centuries ago. But life at the mission wasn’t always so serene. […]
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A river runs through them: Six artists take ‘A River’s Journey’ through the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley watershed at the Wildling Museum
View a slideshow from the hanging of the exhibit. There is an idea of water. There is an idea of how it bends. It cools, quenches, consumes. It drowns, rebirths, soothes. And it carries. Artist Nicole Strasburg has been alive with all of these ideas about water for the better part of two years. Stepping […]
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Vandenberg primed for 2018’s first West Coast SpaceX launch
The first SpaceX launch of the new year is set for Vandenberg Air Force base one week after the company blasted into the national spotlight with the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy—the most powerful actively used rocket on the market—from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 6. While the launch will only feature the diminutive […]
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Student art at Hancock’s Ann Foxworthy Gallery presents work from all walks of life
View a slideshow from the exhibit. Linda Metaxas simply refers to her painting as “the girl.” Formally titled A Girl and Her Dog, the painting features a young woman gently holding a friendly faced basset hound in her arms. The dog hangs from her thin arms like a hastily folded lump of fresh laundry, illustrating […]
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Skin you’re in: Estheticians on the Central Coast beautify skin with techniques old and new
As Alana Silva hovers over a client in her cozy Santa Maria beauty salon, she is armed with a powerful wand that makes a noise like something between a quiet buzz and a zap. Looking like she’s ready to powerwash a window, Silva, a professional esthetician, is actually performing a highly sophisticated procedure that will […]
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Prepared: Learn from the locals who are ready for the next natural disaster
The first rain of the season always brings a distinct wave of scents with it, and in the yard of Renee O’Neill’s Tepusquet Canyon home, the flat smell of ash emanated from the hillside. The hilltop behind her home was stained black, the result of the Alamo Fire’s southernmost spread through Tepusquet. The fire, which […]
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Santa Barbara County law enforcement officials say their methods for battling sex and human trafficking are improving
View a video of Megan Rheinschild’s TedX talk. Santa Barbara County law enforcement, spearheaded by the District Attorney’s (DA) and Sheriff’s offices, ramped up their activity this past year to limit human trafficking in their jurisdictions, in part thanks to a $1 million-plus grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. “Human trafficking is the 21st […]