SLO County News BlogGolf, Wine, Real Estate, Business & Travel NewsShell Beach SunsetWednesday, November 30, 2005 stairway to the sunset - Shell Beach, CA Originally uploaded by Skip Hansen. Click on photo to view "Stairway to the Sunset" at flickr, taken in Shell Beach by Skip Hansen. Paso Robles Harvest TimeTuesday, November 29, 2005 Meridian Originally uploaded by bertakamous. Meridian Vineyards in Paso Robles. Click on photo to view more photos by berkakamous. SLO's Yellow Hills of GoodnessMonday, November 28, 2005 yellow hill (a.k.a. find the bee) Originally uploaded by awfulsara. Click on photo to view more photos of San Luis Obispo County at flickr by awfulsara. Good Year for Grapes for SLO VineyardsSaturday, November 26, 2005The 2005 wine grape harvest in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties has run its course and the news is good: Quantity ran higher than normal while avoiding glut status; and quality looks very good."It is certainly above-average yields ... in our vineyards and I talked to enough people that everybody had a pretty good yielding year," said Kevin Willenborg, wine maker for Firestone Vineyard & Winery in Los Olivos. "I heard that other regions have had good yields. In the Santa Ynez Valley, there were good yields, above average for the area." Statewide, the harvest is expected to be 14 percent larger than 2004's and at a predicted 3.15 million tons of grapes would be the second-largest in state history after the 3.32 million tons of 2000, according to the California Agricultural Statistics Service. Read entire article at: A very good year for grapes Santa Maria Times, Kent Miller Happy Thanksgiving!Thursday, November 24, 2005 Happy Thanksgiving! Originally uploaded by SunnyDaze. Here are some Thanksgiving Events planned today in San Luis Obispo County... Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Cambria. 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St., in Cambria. The event is free and the public is welcome. For details, call 927-5550. Thanksgiving for Paso Robles. Noon to 2 p.m. Centennial Park Activity Center, 600 Nickerson Road, Paso Robles. The event is free and open to the public. Scheduled van pickup times for the dinner are 10:30 a.m. at Paso Robles City Park; 11 a.m. at the Oak Park Office, 3201 Pine St.; and 11:30 a.m. at Sherwood Park (tennis court parking lot). For details or to volunteer, call 238-2410 or 434-0031. Eighth annual Morro Bay Thanksgiving Dinner. 1 to 3 p.m. Morro Bay Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way. Hosted by the Morro Bay Peace Officers Association and the Morro Bay Rotary Club. All members of the community are invited. Transportation and home delivery is available. Call 772-6228. Free Annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Noon to 2 p.m. Atascadero Bible Church, 6225 Atascadero Mall, drive into back parking lot, look for banner, Room 102. For anyone who might be alone, folks who cannot afford to cook a big dinner, homeless people or the elderly. Also invited are families who are new to the area or anyone who needs a dinner and doesn't have one. Hot dinners also will be delivered to residents of California Manor and other seniors in the Atascadero area who have signed up through the senior center or Chamber of Commerce. 466-2051. No Farmers Market in SLO for ThanksgivingTuesday, November 22, 2005San Luis Obispo is saying adieu this year to a familiar ritual -- Farmers Market the Friday after Thanksgiving. Crowds haven't been turning out for the market on Black Friday, as the popular shopping holiday is known, said Katie Winfrey, Downtown Association promotions assistant. She said the low turnout led the association to cancel it. The association traditionally moves the Thursday night market to Friday for the holiday.Read entire article at: No Friday Farmers Market for SLO this Thanksgiving week The Tribune, Leslie Griffy To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Thanksgiving dinners in San Luis Obispo CountyMonday, November 21, 2005Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday. Grass Roots II Inc. will serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and provide home-delivered meals. Veterans Memorial Building, 801 Grand Ave., San Luis Obispo. Free. 544-2333.Annual Senior Center Holiday Feast. Wednesday. Presented by Senior Nutrition. A traditional Thanksgiving meal. Plus a special appearance by The Good Deeds from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Senior Center, 270 Scott St., Paso Robles. Call 238-4831 for lunch reservations by Monday. A $2.50 donation is requested. 22nd annual Pismo Beach Police Officer's Association Thanksgiving Dinner. 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday. 780 Bello St., Pismo Beach. Meals also will be delivered to the homebound. To order home delivery, call 234-6854 or 234-2969. For details, call 773-7018 or 773-2208. Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Cambria. 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St. in Cambria. The event is free and the public is welcome. For details, call 927-5550. Thanksgiving for Paso Robles. Noon to 2 p.m. Thursday. Centennial Park Activity Center, 600 Nickerson Road, Paso Robles. The event is free and open to the public. Scheduled van pickup times for the dinner are 10:30 a.m. at Paso Robles City Park; 11 a.m. at the Oak Park Office, 3201 Pine St.; and 11:30 a.m. at Sherwood Park (tennis court parking lot). For details or to volunteer, call 238-2410 or 434-0031. Eighth annual Morro Bay Thanksgiving Dinner. 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday. Morro Bay Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way. Hosted by the Morro Bay Peace Officer's Association and the Morro Bay Rotary Club. All members of the community are invited. Transportation and home delivery is available. Call 772-6228. Free Annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Noon to 2 p.m. Thursday. Atascadero Bible Church, 6225 Atascadero Mall, drive into back parking lot, look for banner, Room 102. For anyone who might be alone, folks who cannot afford to cook a big dinner, homeless people and the elderly. Also invited are families who are new to the area or anyone who needs a dinner and doesn't have one. Hot dinners also will be delivered to residents of California Manor and other seniors in the Atascadero area who have signed up through the senior center or Chamber of Commerce. 466-2051. SLO High Density Housing ApprovedSaturday, November 19, 2005 grapes and fog Originally uploaded by aroid. Click on photo to view larger image and to see more photos at flickr by aroid. On the news front, SLO approves a proposal for high-density housing near Broad and Orcutt Rd. About 17 acres of former horse pasture is giving way to 264 new homes, under a high-density housing plan the San Luis Obispo City Council approved Tuesday night. Two new housing projects near Broad Street and Orcutt Road will include small single- family homes, duplexes and condominiums designed to sell below market rate, and a first-time home buyers' program will be implemented to increase affordability in the new neighborhoods. The council allowed both projects to break city rules for building. One includes some of the highest buildings outside downtown, and some buildings are closer to creeks than the city recommends. Read entire article: SLO high-density housing proposals approved The Tribune, Leslie Griffy Close Friends at Pismo BeachFriday, November 18, 2005 Close Friends Originally uploaded by JoshMock. Click on photo to view larger image and to view more San Luis Obispo County photos at flickr by JoshMock. Black Friday Deals from Cal Poly student websiteMichael Brim's BF2005.com is posting the sales and deals that national retailers will dangle to draw shoppers on so-called Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.The student, studying electrical engineering at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., has scanned holiday-sale circulars and lists of items from dozens of national retailers on his "Black Friday 2005" site. So if you're the kind of person who likes the post-Thanksgiving crowds and want to organize your store assault, this site may be for you. It's Brim's second effort. But this year, "Sears sent us two letters complaining we put up their circulars," he said in an interview. "We took them down, but added Sears again after the ads were given out to the general public." Last year, Brim received cease and desist letters from Home Depot and Office Depot. Merchants complained that their copyrights on the ads were being violated, and that publishing their plans was revealing trade secrets. Brim thinks the retailers should thank him for giving their ads wider circulation. Many of the files on the site are digital photographs of the flyers that will appear in newspapers Thursday morning. "People send them to us," Brim said. "They come from people who have early access to the ads on a job, or they work for newspapers or the company that prints them." Traffic to the site is high, requiring Brim and his partner to add servers and bandwidth. "Last year, we had 11 million hits on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving." This year, visits have quadrupled. The college freshman generates the money to pay for the site's operation by carrying advertising. He said that he checks his account balance six times a day to see how much he's making from ad click-throughs and displays. Looking ahead to next week, Brim added that computers and high-definition TVs will be heavily promoted. Three retailers, including Wal-Mart, CompUSA and Best Buy will be offering laptops for less than $400. "Sears and Best Buy will also have 51-inch projection HD sets for under $900," he said. After Thanksgiving, BF2005.com goes into hibernation. "This site only happens once a year. It'll be the same until next October." Big 5 Sporting Goods Store Opening in Pismo BeachThursday, November 17, 2005 Big 5 Sporting Goods plans to open its newest store in Pismo Beach the day after Thanksgiving, a day when shoppers are out in droves buying gifts for the holiday season. Workers have spent the last several weeks putting the finishing touches on the building and stocking shelves, and the scheduled grand opening appears to be on track, according to store manager Josh White. "Because it's the day after Thanksgiving, it's going to be a huge day anyway," said White, adding the store is tentatively scheduled to open at 6 a.m. that day. The store is located in the Pacific Oaks Plaza in half of the former Ralphs grocery store. Ross Dress for Less opened in the other part of that space in August. Read entire article: Big retail market move-in Times-Press-Recorder, Karin Driesen Morro seaweed sunsetWednesday, November 16, 2005 Morro seaweed sunset Originally uploaded by awfulsara. Tonight was an exceptionally lovely night. Warm, calm, clear, and magic. Found me some seaweed (which I took home with me it was so cool) & crawled around on the wet sand in blue jeans for this shot. :) So worth it. See more photos by awfulsara at www.saraheinrichsphotography.com. Cayucos SunsetMonday, November 14, 2005 cayucos Originally uploaded by emdot. Cayucos is a small little coastal town less than a quarter mile wide. About 2000 people or so live there. You can see pretty much the entire town from the highway. Morro Rock and Spring Mustard - Montana de Oro coastSunday, November 13, 2005 Morro Rock and Spring Mustard - Montana de Oro coast Originally uploaded by Patrushka. Just enjoying looking through some photos of San Luis Obispo County at flickr.com. I especially enjoyed browsing Patrushka's photos! Click on photo to view larger image and to see more photos at flickr by Patrrushka. Madonna Inn's Phyllis MadonnaSaturday, November 12, 2005Throughout their marriage, Phyllis Madonna often told her husband, the late Alex Madonna, that she wouldn't be able to survive without him.Alex Madonna, she said, was a complicated businessman who exuded power, strength and fortitude. But after his death in April 2004, Madonna discovered that she could lead the family business, and then some. Madonna told her inspiring story to more than 100 people at the Central California Women's Business Partners Roundtable luncheon Friday at the Madonna Inn, which she and her husband built in 1959. Women's Business Partners is a nonprofit collaborative organization managed by Mission Community Services Corp., which serves Kern, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The group helps women and men achieve business success by providing mentoring, business and education resources to promote professional growth, leadership, self-sufficiency and small business success. Madonna's keynote speech was a fitting kickoff to the program titled "Strength through Women's Stories." Madonna explained that the love of her family and support of other women in the community have helped her to succeed. Since her husband's death, she's closed Madonna Construction Co. and developed the Alex Madonna Expo Center, where she holds her annual fashion show benefit for the San Luis Obispo Women's Shelter. She's renovating the inn's rooms, improving the clothing shop and has plans for a spa and salon on the Madonna Inn property. As well, the family has plans to develop the 140,000-square-foot Irish Hills Plaza shopping center off Los Osos Valley Road. Read entire article at: Biz Buzz The Tribune, Julie Lynem To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Harvest Rush for SLO VineyardsFriday, November 11, 2005The weather has posed a challenge for grape growers on the Central Coast, who are rushing to bring in the number one crop in San Luis Obispo County before the rain falls.Nearing the end of the grape harvest, every barrel and tank are full at Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles. Extra bins and tanks have been brought in to hold the especially large crop this year across California. Crews picked Cabernet Sauvignon grapes on Monday night to avoid the rain and potential rot, and delivered the fruit to the winery on Tuesday. "We anticipated rain in the wee small hours, which didn't materialize to be a big rain," says winemaker Don Brady. "But had it, it can be difficult to get equipment into the field to harvest because everything gets really muddy." Several wineries in Paso Robles still have grapes to pick. 90% of the grapes in Santa Barbara County have been harvested, and everything is off the vine in the Edna Valley. San Luis Obispo FurnitureThursday, November 10, 2005As SLO Pages nears completion of a new website for Willis & Bennett, a popular home furnishings store in the Village of Arroyo Grande, we're learning that other furniture stores in San Luis Obispo County are not fairing as well.According to a recent article in The Tribune, competition for shoppers is taking its toll on some San Luis Obispo furniture stores. Old Paris Furniture Gallery, which opened nearly a year ago, will close in mid-December. The business, which has locations in San Luis Obispo County and Visalia, did not get enough foot traffic, said Joe Lorence, general manager. Several new furniture stores opened in 2004 and early 2005, and some owners interviewed for a Tribune story about the furniture business in January feared that there would not be enough traffic to support the new shops. Last year, nine home furnishing stores took out new business licenses in San Luis Obispo, making a total of 59 furniture stores in the city. Earlier this year, Spencer's Furniture closed after 15 years in business. Owner Gay Spencer said that growing competition played a role in the closure. Daylight Home & Garden in San Luis Obispo has changed some of its merchandise so that it will not overlap with items in other stores. Stores near Old Paris could have played a role in attracting customers away from the store, Lorence said. Pacific Coast Home & Garden, which is across the street from Old Paris, began carrying furniture last April. Read entire article at: SLO furniture battle claims a store The Tribune, Dawn Rapp To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. SLO Walk for LifeSunday, November 06, 2005Hundreds of people walked the streets of San Luis Obispo yesterday for a good cause.The 14th annual Walk For Life benefits the local Aids Support Network, and helps raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in San Luis Obispo County. About 900 people have tested positive for HIV in San Luis Obispo County and more than 500 have been diagnosed with AIDS. "For me personally, it's inspiring," said David Kilburn, AIDS Support Network. "I've been living with HIV myself for almost 20 years and its nice, people coming out and caring, supporting others and people like myself living with this disease." The walk started at Santa Rosa Park and ended in downtown San Luis Obispo. Arroyo Grande Village Improvement Association raising hurricane relief fundsSaturday, November 05, 2005The Arroyo Grande Village Improvement Association is continuing efforts to raise funds for hurricane relief and requests that anyone wanting to contribute purchase a special button for a $5 donation.To date, the VIA has sent more than $8,000 in donations to relief efforts. Of that, $2,000 was donated by the VIA and $6,000 was raised from public donations. The buttons were designed by Ross Kongable, a member of the South County Historical Society. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Kongable designed a similar button to raise money for victims of that disaster. The buttons are currently available at 14 businesses in the Village, and other merchants are encouraged to begin selling them, said a VIA spokesman. A complete list of vendors, as well as other information on the fund-raising efforts, is available at www.southcountyhistory.org/relief.htm. Call 473-2250 for more information. Tour de California includes SLOThursday, November 03, 2005Vowing to someday rival the Tour de France, the organizers of the Tour of California professional cycling race laid out their plans Wednesday in San Francisco for next year's inaugural event.Starting with a short time-trial prologue in San Francisco on Feb. 19, the race will travel 750 miles up, then down the coast over the next week to finish on Feb. 26 in the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach. In between, the 128 cyclists representing 16 teams will begin or end each stage in such cities as Sausalito, Santa Rosa, Martinez, San Jose, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Thousand Oaks. "The event will celebrate not only the athleticism and grace of cycling, but also the beauty of ... California," said Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) which is organizing the event. "The Tour of California will soon take its place among the sport's best, most respected races. That's some mighty big talk for a first-year event, but the Tour of California has nonetheless attracted some big-time interest: Amgen, a Southern California biotechnology company, is the title sponsor; ESPN2 is a broadcast partner and will present an hour-long highlights show each race-day evening, and such high-profile European- centric trade teams as Discovery Channel, Gerolsteiner, Davitamon-Lotto, Phonak, Saunier Duval Prodira and T-Mobile will be represented in the peloton. "This is a huge landmark day for U.S. cycling; I felt like we've hit the lottery," said Sean Petty, chief of staff at USA Cycling, the sport's governing body in the United States. "The magnitude of an event like this ... is huge. ... With the quality of the teams coming here the Tour of California will be a showcase event for the sport of cycling. ... This will provide a platform for this sport like never before." San Luis Obispo County expects this event to pump up to $10 million into the local economy. Ambitious dreams for big California cycling race SF Chronicle, Dan Giesin Governor schmoozes in SLOWednesday, November 02, 2005Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger brought his last-minute campaign in support of four propositions to Apple Farm restaurant in San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, meeting with diners and brushing aside the latest Field Poll that shows the initiatives are unpopular with voters. He will return Thursday for a TV forum.Schwarzenegger spoke to a friendly crowd inside the Apple Farm restaurant on Monterey Street as an evenly split group of about 80 protesters and supporters lined the parking lot, holding glossy signs and shouting their views about the measures on the ballot in next Tuesday's election. Read entire article at: Governor schmoozes in SLO The Tribune, Sally Connell and Cynthia Neff To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. San Luis Obispo Yoga ClassesTuesday, November 01, 2005Tony Criscuolo is now offering individual and group yoga classes in San Luis Obispo.Tony has been teaching yoga for 30 years and presently works with athletes of all kinds, teaching the football, women's soccer team and men's and women's golf teams at Cal-Poly. Prior to Tony's recent move to San Luis Obispo, Tony taught 10 different varsity teams at the University of Florida and taught for three years at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, as well as working with many LPGA and some PGA touring professionals. For more information, contact Tony Criscuolo via email at yogitony [at] juno [dot] com or by phone (805) 542-0137. Tony is a now featured at www.golfslo.com for yoga classes being offered specifically for golfers. Read More
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