Something Fishy
Seafood fraud disguises farmed salmon as wild, tilapia as snapper and sole as sand dabs. What’s on your plate – and how did it get there?
After scanning the menu at Rappa’s seafood restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, Geoff Shester settles on sand dabs. Ashley Blacow goes with king salmon, and I opt for local Pacific cod. The waiter looks ...
Issues / 2012 / Aug 02
The 40-Year Lunch
Local artists and art lovers make a lasting tradition of meeting at Fifi’s for lots of talk.
In the back corner of Fifi’s Bistro, aging artists gather over red wine and French bread. The weekly gathering, which they’ve named “Fifi’s Salon,” started in the late 1960s, but the individuals at the table ...
Free to Read
A new exhibition at Steinbeck Center fights censorship so readers can decide what to read.
Oakland Artist Woody Johnson admits he was ignorant. “I was fooled into thinking the U.S. was so free and that banning books was something… dictatorial nations did,” he writes. “Until I saw the list.” That ...
Total Recall
Memory Maker: Revamp of Schwarzenegger hit Total Recall lags in the beginning, delivers in the end.>Memory Maker: Revamp of Schwarzenegger hit Total Recall lags in the beginning, de
It’s an ingenious premise: Life is boring and you’re unfulfilled. How cool would it be to have new memories implanted in your brain, and you can’t tell that they’re fake? What Total Recall does with ...
By The Numbers 8-02-12
Real Estate
$9,250,000 • Recent Sale 14 Spindrift Lane, Carmel Highlands Built: 2001 Size: 4,980 square feet Features: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 3-car garage, guest house Amenities: Ocean views, 3 fireplaces, elevator, library, gym, two refrigerators, indoor ...
Letters To The Editor 8.02.12
Ord-inary People It amazes me that you keep printing John Hutcherson’s letters as he is obviously confused about what is happening at the former Fort Ord (“Letters,” July 26-Aug. 1). As a lifelong resident of ...
So Fresh So Clean
The Bench lays out an eye-catching reinvention of the longtime Pebble Beach legend Club XIX.
Take the old stately lady of Pebble Beach restaurants, give her a bath and flip her on her head. Shoo away the pretentious-and-fading French food. Sweep in a new patio with firepits and a wide ...
Quick-nics, Baby
Fast-but-fabulous ideas for gourmet-sandwich-lunch-in-the-sun.
Sometimes the Epicurean culture needs new terms to keep track of all the updates. Think about it: None of the now-commonplace terms like “locavore,” “gastropub,” “probiotic,” “slow food” – or even “sustainable” and “foodie” – ...
The Queen Of Versailles
Damned Dream: The Queen of Versailles shows the diminishing American Dream through one billionaire family.
Director Lauren Greenfield struck documentary gold when she started filming the Siegel family in 2007. At that time, the billionaire couple was constructing their dream home, a 90,000-square-foot house with 30 bathrooms and 10 kitchens ...
Tuff Stuff
The Woodsist Fest sold out months ago but there’s still plenty of music rising in Big Sur on Friday.
Kyle Thomas is en route to a swimming pool in Portland. The vehicle driving him is zipping way above the legal speed limit to ensure that he’ll have time for a dip before a show ...
Getting Heavy
Maryland doom legend Scott “Wino” Weinrich and Conny Ochs kick off U.S tour with two stops in Monterey.
Henry Rollins might describe Scott “Wino” Weinrich best in a documentary on the history of the rocker’s doom metal outfit The Obsessed. “The guy’s got no bullshit,” Rollins says. “He says it and if you ...
Holman In One
Texas hotel developer flirts with downtown Pacific Grove; city scurries to accommodate.
Nader Agha, who owns the historic Holman Building in Pacific Grove, has a new BFF in San Antonio, Texas-based hotel developer H. Drake Leddy. The two recently joined forces to build the hotel city leaders ...
Swimming Upstream
Steve Collins portrays himself as victim of county scheme; county might sue him back.
The abandoned Regional Water Project still isn’t water under the bridge. For the first time since the project agreements started unraveling, former Monterey County Water Resources Agency board chair Steve Collins is speaking up to ...
Carmelita Conflict
Deals with developer Agha complicate P.G. mayor’s role in Peninsula water authority.
The city of Pacific Grove and its mayor, Carmelita Garcia, have been getting cozy with the leader of a proposed water desalination project. And some are questioning how it might color P.G.’s role on the ...
$1.3 million federal grant aims to boost community health in Seaside.
The leading causes of death in Seaside are heart disease, cancer and accidents, according to a California Department of Health report. But a new initiative aims to make the city a healthier place all around. ...
Hospital Hole
Salinas Valley Memorial faces costly future solo, FPPC investigates board chair Jim Gattis.
After a failed courtship with some of the country’s biggest health care providers, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare is left with looming massive financial obligations it has to face alone. The hospital needs to be rebuilt ...
The feds are poised to cut another $1.5 trillion from the deficit, and women will suffer the most.
Remember when Congress almost defaulted on our debt? It may seem like a distant nightmare, but we’re still living with repercussions from the debt ceiling showdown. In order to get Congress to lift the ceiling ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen 8.02.12
ONGOING ALZHEIMERS SUPPORT | VARIOUS LOCATIONS – The Alzheimer’s Association offers support groups for caregivers, family and friends. 1:30-3:30pm Wednesday Aug. 8, Sally Griffin Center, 700 Jewell Ave., Pacific Grove; 6-8pm Monday Aug. 13, 1000 ...
Salinas rallying cry: Don’t let the sun go down on V.
Set aside, just for a minute, the public relations disaster the city of Salinas has created by the way it has handled the messaging around Measure V, the half-cent sales tax measure Salinas voters passed ...
Squid Fry 8.02.12
Hable, Calamar
POKER HAND… Squid thinks eight-legged creatures should qualify as a full jury. On another legal note: As alleged victims of sex abuse by former Salinas High School counselor Gilbert Olivares start seeking compensation for their ...
Street Talk 08.02.12 (asked @ Marina Goodwill.)
What could you talk about for 40 years without getting bored?
Follow-up: How would you describe your oldest friend? LINDA STEWART | Art Curator | Marina A: Nature. I hike. I camp. I ski. I water ski. It’s better than walking around a gallery all day. ...
