South County Beat

Ella Thorp Ellis recently visited her “old stomping grounds” in Oceano and Halcyon, giving a presentation in Arroyo Grande to discuss her recent book, “Dune Child.”

In past years, sixth- graders at Branch Elementary School in Arroyo Grande have raised money to pay for items at the de Groot Nursing Home for Children, stocked the local food bank, and collected donations to build and fill a shed at the Prado Day Center for the homeless in San Luis Obispo with supplies for children in need.

The Mother Corn Shuckers is an acoustic bluegrass band that “started out as a bunch of guys around the campfire” playing music, said Mark Hughes of Arroyo Grande.

From time to time, a railfan — an enthusiast of railways and train operations — will wander into an antique shop on East Branch Street in Arroyo Grande, look around and exclaim something along the lines of: “Wow, this is the depot!”

Steve, Erin and 4-year-old Tyler Tullius of Shell Beach will soon leave on a 10-month trek around the world.

At a recent Pismo Beach City Council meeting, Jennifer Blonder came armed with props: three empty Rolling Rock beer cans and an empty 24-ounce can of Tecate.

Adel Mazen of Pismo Beach was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1932. He says his family can be traced back 1,400 years to a sheik who is still revered and celebrated in the town of Sohag.

Before she flew to Houston in January to compete in her fifth U.S. Olympic marathon trials — she’s qualified for seven — Linda Somers Smith of Arroyo Grande was realistic about her chances of winning a ticket to London.

On Feb. 1, at a mental health forum in Arroyo Grande sponsored by Transitions-Mental Health Association, called Journey of Hope, I was entranced by a vocal and guitar song presented by James Statler, executive director of the Community Counseling Center, and Helen Tang, 17, of Nipomo High School.

Lucy Lepley recalls the first time she heard about an aging, dilapidated home off a dirt road in Pismo Beach that was being used as a rental.

Harriet Quimby was an aviatrix, a woman aviator, the first woman with a pilot’s license and the first woman to fly across the English Channel. She was born in 1875 and died in 1912 in an air show, according to Kathy Cohon of the Five Cities branch of the American Association of University Women.

Pismo Beach native Nicholas Trundle thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he drove into downtown a few weekends ­ago and noticed that a large, vacant dirt lot was once again open for parking.

When Kaye Eisenhower Morgan of Arroyo Grande began college in 1952, her uncle Ike (Dwight D. Eisenhower) was running for president of the United States. She tried to hide her last name from her dorm mates, not wanting the notoriety.

As the restoration of the Dana Adobe in Nipomo nears completion, the nonprofit group behind the work is seeking funds to help preserve three maps created in the 1840s depicting the California and Oregon territories.

Kelli Howard of Pismo Beach has been the organizer and director of the South County production of “The Vagina Monologues” for the past three years.

The morning that Akash Salam left his ancestral village, his beloved grandfather pulled him aside. “Akash, babba, study as hard as you can,” Akash recalled his grandfather saying. “But never forget us. We will always be with you.”

As a new empty nester, Janine Stillman of Arroyo Grande was sitting in her studio with friends and found herself making a puzzle piece out of her medium — fused glass. A friend reminded her it was the autism puzzle symbol. And a whole new career began.

When Nipomo teen Michael Blanchard first visited a small Oceano park this past spring, he noted a number of areas needing improvement.

Last March I was trying to do my income taxes. Some new laws were hard to grasp. As I grappled with trying to understand them, it came to me that the American Association for Retired Persons has a free tax-aid program.

It was Melodrama Day on Dec. 7 for seniors living in care centers in the South County. After being transported to the Melodrama Holiday Extravaganza show in Oceano, they got to enjoy the program with free popcorn and a soft drink.

It was Melodrama Day on Dec. 7 for seniors living in care centers in the South County. After being transported to the Melodrama Holiday Extravaganza show in Oceano, they got to enjoy the program with free popcorn and a soft drink.

Ask almost anyone in South County about Ira Hughes, and they will probably have a story to tell.

Young children were getting their faces painted and receiving balloon animals. Santa Claus was taking requests from children seated on his lap. A very merry party for South County children enrolled in the Five Cities Head Start program was under way Dec. 3 at the Women’s Club in Arroyo Grande.

For several minutes, Lisa Ray didn’t recognize the well-dressed young man who was helping to load piles of impeccably folded and wrapped shirts, pants and sweaters into her car.

‘Edgar” sits outside the SLO Down Pub on East Grand Avenue in Arroyo Grande, pouring red “wine” from a bottle into a wine glass. He is life-sized and totally made of recycled parts, the metal sculpture brainchild of the pub’s manager, Mark London.