Tiny Turbines
County preps for a surge in rooftop wind power.
The potential clash between condors and wind turbines has slowed a proposed big renewable energy project in Salinas Valley. But it may be smoother sailing for local residents and businesses who seek to harness the ...
Gulf Stream
The impacts of BP’s oil spill still linger in the Southeast – and Monterey County.
Water is ubiquitous in southern Louisiana. The air itself is wet, thick with palpable humidity. Highways run inches above swamps; bayous descend into channels that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. On the GPS, I ...
Travels with Charlie
Singer-songwriter to appear at Steinbeck Fest with tales of life as a road warrior.
Singer-songwriter Charlie Faye talks about cities as though flipping through a calendar: “May was Shreveport. June was Burlington. August will be Milwaukee.” For Faye, touring isn’t a drop-in and get-out-of-town kind of event. She likes ...
Sweet Home California
Greening a Seaside foreclosure brings joy and pain.
In the dead of the night, in a tiny Monterey apartment, my toenail became the first casualty of my future home’s eco-retrofit. A few curses later, I managed to fire a grumpy question at my ...
Body of Work
Carmel woman’s new 'The Body Love Manual' navigates how to survive self-loathing slimmed down and amped up.
Some who pick up Elizabeth “Lily” Hills new book The Body Love Manual may be struck by a seeming contradiction in its subtitle: How to Love the Body You Have as You Create the Body ...
Not Dead Yet
Monterey County remains a historic home for a host of ghosts – or so people say.
When he went downstairs to visit the old Hotel Del Monte’s front desk, he left his new wife in bed. Then the 1906 earthquake hit. A chimney collapsed. She was killed instantly. Decades later, witnesses ...
On the Road
Kelley Calvert embarks on a cross-country journey, powered by biodiesel, in search of something elusive.
Weekly contributing writer and MIIS instructor Kelley Calvert decided to find herself some hope this summer. How she's doing it, though, is a little different: The thirtysomething bought a biodiesel VW and is going to ...
Artistic Nature
Sand City’s newest gallery leverages the area’s environmental appeal.
Tucked in Sand City’s industrial fabric, Fine Art Base could almost be overlooked – if it weren’t for all the cars outside its inaugural exhibition. Inside the well-hidden structure, the space opens to high ceilings ...
Well Versed
Poet Donald Hall’s work is non-confessional, but moving and carefully wrought.
Imagine knowing what you will do with your life before knowing how to drive. Impressive – but not nearly as remarkable as actually doing it. “At 14, I decided to spend my life writing poetry, ...
Let the Film Roll
Monterey Movie Tours star enough information to entertain and educate locals as wells as visitors.
y theories on the Monterey Movie Tours don’t survive past the opening credits. I figured it was a gimmick – no great movies or stars came together here. The seat covers brightly displaying the names ...
Old School Cool
Carmel’s last bookstore survives with a nose for important ideas and exchange.
Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur,” says Cynthia Fernandes, co-owner/manager of Pilgrim’s Way, a singular bookstore in Carmel and the sole survivor of a mass extinction. There was a time when there were so many ...
The New American Apartheid
Why we can’t wait to stop hate.
Standing before a crowd of thousands in Washington, D.C., the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. told audiences 45 years ago: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out ...
Novel Concepts
Salinas’ Kelly Parra follows well-received Graffiti Girl with quirky Invisible Touch.
Budding local author Kelly Parra creates characters with a challenge ahead of them. “I like to write about girls who are strong at heart,” she says. “They have their faults, but they have a journey ...
At Long Last, Love?
Is the debate on gay marriage in California – and Monterey County – finally coming to an end?
Surrounded by the bright decor of rainbows and the pounding rhythm of drums, Sandy Hamm and Adrianne Jonson held their banner high: First Married Couple Monterey County. As Marshals of the Salinas Valley Pride Parade, ...
Pomp and Politics
Third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez visit Monterey.
Some rally attendees distribute something other than “Nader for President” pamphlets outside Monterey Peninsula College’s lecture forum on Sept. 29. Fliers accusing Ralph Nader of “single-minded egotistical narcissism” circulate through the crowd. They blame Nader ...
Tiny Park, Big Idea
Group transforms parking spaces into parkland.
On any given day, Alvarado is a one-way concrete street framed by the metallic glow of parked cars. One local organization, Orange Poppy Productions, visualizes Alvarado Street as more than a car receptacle. On Friday, ...
From Russia With Love
Real-life spy speaks at annual Author’s Dinner in Seaside.
Tinseltown has espionage all wrong. The cold, detached personas of Bond and Bourne simply do not fit the profile of real-life former American spy in Russia, Michael Ramsdell. Within five minutes of our conversation, the ...
Bordering on Genius
An innovative immigration tale as only El Teatro can tell it.
Mexican music sails out the doors as a line of people spills down the wooden porch of El Teatro Campesino in San Jaun Bautista. Two people working the box office pace nervously up and down ...
Kittens and Cougars
Recent urban sightings underscore the need to study local mountain lions.
On a typical foggy morning in early July, Kathy Aliotti’s walk with her chocolate lab in Monterey’s Via Paraiso Park took an unexpected turn. As she neared the baseball diamond, she came upon a mountain ...
Mad Dope Mag
New local literary journal Cadillac Cicatrix quietly gathers quality content with plenty of edges.
When a new magazine appears on local news shelves, its cover typically features a sultry woman emerging from a pool or a picturesque sunset along the coast or, equally predicatable, a heavily shadowed lone cypress. ...
Guitar Hero
The original rock goddess visits Salinas.
For kids who grew up with plastic bangles, spandex and Nintendo, Pat Benatar will always be remembered as the defiant, youthful figure holding her own against the world in the video “Love is a Battlefield.” ...
Around the Horns
How a steer wrestler flies from his high-speed horse to collar cattle.
Charles Harris is practicing the art of visualization. In the next 10 seconds, he must wrestle a steer three times his weight to the ground while moving at a speed of roughly 30 mph. Sitting ...
Something Building
CET success story and aspiring contractor inspires by example.
Behind Soledad’s Center for Employment Training (CET) facility, an old power plant looms like a ghost against a backdrop of rolling hills. Inland heat warps the landscape and draws sweat to the faces of men ...
Getting Things Straight
A day’s worth of drama– from protests to long-awaited wedding papers– help local gays find some peace.
This isn’t what locals expect to see as they drive to lunch in downtown Monterey. A twentysomething jumps from the curb shouting, “Hey Wonderbread man! Honk for gay marriage!” Behind her, dozens of protesters hold ...
Too Good to Be True High
After just two years, Marina High has realized some impressive accomplishments.
When the final bell of the year rang at Marina High last week, not a single student was looking forward to a graduation ceremony. It’s a scenario unique to Monterey County, but at this school, ...
What has been your greatest travel debacle?
Asked on Pacific Street in Pacific Grove.
Follow-up: How many vacation days should Americans get? JOE SHAMMAS | Travel Consultant | Pacific Grove A: I took a group to Istanbul and I lost a woman. I finally saw her wandering outside the ...
