By The Book
Jose Castañeda can’t seem to shake the controversy that’s dogged him for years - but that might be precisely what Salinas needs.
Salinas City hall was packed on Dec. 18, as an overflow crowd filled the hallway to watch as Mayor Joe Gunter, Councilwoman Gloria De La Rosa and Councilman Jose Castañeda were sworn in to office. ...
Issues / 2013 / Jan 10
Survival of the Literate
Taking food orders and reading Darwin, English learners at the local library evolve with oomph.
When Rocio Marin moved from her home in Michoacan, Mexico, to Salinas at age 22, she didn’t need to learn English. “In Salinas, most people can speak Spanish and I could speak with everybody,” she ...
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Writing at io9.com, Charlie Jane Anders provides “10 Signs You Could Be the Chosen Savior.” Among the clues are the following: 1. “How often does someone comes up to you on ...
By The Numbers 01.10.13
Real Estate
$1,294,545 Recent Sale 574 Watson St., Monterey Built: 1905 Size: 3,755 square feet Features: 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 2-car carport, half acre Amenities: 3 fireplaces, bay views, Craftsman style, hardwood floors, built-in shelving, chef’s kitchen, ...
Recipe for Love
The dedicated catalyst behind Rosine’s earns a much deserved hospitality award.
All four nominees for the third annual John “Spud” Spadaro hospitality award – Carmen Banka (formerly of Mike’s Seafood), Rosine Culcasi (Rosine’s), Terri Scardina Hernandez (Sandbar & Grill) and Anna Vindiola (Schooners) – have huge ...
Letters To The Editor 01.10.13
Good Medicine Concerning the piece “Patient Patients” (“As SVMH mulls the future of healthcare, business leaders ponder how to stay afloat,” Dec. 27, 2012-Jan. 2, 2013), the most commentary I have heard about this important ...
Major Movement
Musician, author and artist Bill Minor combines mediums and genres in his first memoir.
William “Bill” Minor, longtime local jazz pianist, author, poet and artist, now 77 years old, is looking back onto his life in the form of a memoir, The Inherited Heart: An American Memoir. But like ...
Gangster Squad
Darkly Delicious: Gangster Squad embraces noir of ’40s L.A. cops and cons with reckless, fun abandon.
If L.A. Confidential were a comic book, this is the movie spun outta that: blustery postwar mythologizing about the violent birth of the modern metropolis, all pulpy-bright even when it’s night, bursting with violence that ...
Zero Dark Thirty
Uncomfortable Reality: Zero Dark Thirty has the potential to be great, but rips off the Bin Laden bandage too soon.
Too soon? Too soon for a kickass political action movie about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden? It’s been less than two years since a black-ops team of elite American soldiers executed the purported mastermind ...
La Balena Cucina Toscana
Whale of a Spot: La Balena quickly gains a loyal following with Italian authenticity and strict sourcing
I am a food voyeur. I get hot seeing what other people order. So much desire, so little table space. At 10-week-old La Balena, I coveted every dish I saw. Each could have been delivered ...
Arachnid Rock
May Black gives Oakland garage rockers Spider Heart an unforgettable edge.
Within the ribcage-rattling, garage-punk rock and tinges of psychedelic textures that fuel Spider Heart’s forthcoming debut Under the Gun, a tale circulates throughout all nine tracks. “When I write songs, I sit down with an ...
Far Out Sound
A chance meeting between folks from two different continents turns into a lasting musical relationship.
A couple years ago, the planets aligned in the Santa Cruz Mountains when Swedes Eva Hillered and Patrick Rydman crossed paths with Janni Littlepage of Pacific Grove. The three musicians – Hillered, a Stockholm singer-songwriter ...
Blues Blood
Self-taught musician Marty O’Reilly and his trio serve up Americana and folk built on a foundation of Delta blues.
Marty O’Reilly used to sit in his room strumming the same chord on his guitar for as long as two hours straight. He was learning how to play the blues and early on he discovered ...
Land Locked
Yacht Club, Sapporo tussle with Monterey over leases; planning commish cries foul.
It’s easy to pass the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club on Wharf 2 without noticing the boxy structure, which looks more fitting for a utility building than a private club. But it’s rustic and cozy inside, ...
The Culture Cure
Nonprofit 2nd Chance takes aim at getting kids to talk about, reshape self-image.
Hard work, respect, honesty: values some community members say are rooted in Latino culture, but discarded by some of today’s youth. A Salinas nonprofit is trying to re-instill those values through a program called La ...
Potty Break
Chinatown seeks to clean up its act with one new program, another in the works.
Plans to bring a portable toilet to Salinas’ Chinatown could be a major relief, in more ways than one. For the homeless living on Soledad Street, finding a bathroom is a challenge. When nearby service ...
Monterey County Gives! raises more than $750,000 for local nonprofits.
Ninety-six local nonprofits planted the seeds of their charitable projects, and Monterey County residents dug deep to help them grow. The 2012 Monterey County Gives! campaign raised $750,669, according to the latest available count. (More ...
Monumental Asset
Activists push Seaside to start marketing Fort Ord National Monument to tourists.
The most likely access point from the city of Seaside to the newly minted Fort Ord National Monument is a dead-end road. There’s no visitor center, no parking, no bathrooms – not even any signs, ...
Racial tensions inspire new Alisal newspaper.
How many pissed-off Chicano activists does it take to start a newspaper? No seriously, how many pissed-off Chicano activists does it take, especially when the end goal is smacking Salinas’ Gannett-owned daily straight where it ...
Will Diane Feinstein lead congress through the door left open by the NRA’s disaster of a press conference?
Thank the National Rifle Association for the continued momentum toward gun control. One week after the horrific shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and only hours after a nationwide moment of silence for the victims, the NRA ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen 01.10.13
ONGOING SPEAK FOR YOURSELF | SALINAS – Radio Bilingüe’s Salinas Youth Radio Project trains bilingual 13-to-19-year-olds with DJ, newscaster and radio announcer skills on 90.0 FM. Participants receive a $40/week stipend for the program. Feb. ...
Squid Speak, Spoken Here
CATCH AND RELEASE… Squid’s in favor of people eating less calamari; it gives other ocean species a chance to be consumed with lemon and tartar sauce. Still, Squid was sad to see the Salinas Valley ...
Street Talk 11.08.12 (asked @ Happy Girl Kitchen in Pacific Grove.)
Street Talk 11.08.12 (asked @ Happy Girl Kitchen in Pacific Grove.)
Follow-up: What do you love to read the most? JAMESON MOHAMMADI| Painter | Monterey A: Love is the best and worst thing that can happen to someone. It leaves a hole like a cavity in ...
