![Orange County’s Original Coffee Man, Martin Diedrich, Moves His Family’s Java Legacy Forward [OC People 2018]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/food-martin-diedrich-credit-John-Gilhooley-1-348x180.jpg)
Tucked in a nook on the western side of Costa Mesa is Martin Diedrich’s wholesale coffee roastery, the place where all Kéan Coffee’s beans are roasted prior to being sold in grocery stores and other retailers. If you close your eyes and inhale through your nose, it smells as if you’re swimming in a cup […]
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![Glenn Brumage Spreads the Stoke as the Ambassador of Surf [OC People 2018]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/culture-glen-brumage-credit-John-Gilhooley-2-348x180.jpg)
Glenn Brumage Spreads the Stoke as the Ambassador of Surf [OC People 2018]
Long before Glenn Brumage began serving on Surfing Heritage and Culture Center’s (SHACC) board in 2014, he had been fulfilling its vision to “spread the stoke” of surfing with the world. As of January, he became the San Clemente nonprofit’s executive director and gets to focus full-time on its mission of sharing the sport’s history […]
![David Valdez’s Beatnik Bandito Is a Slice of Old California Culture [OC People 2018]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/music-david-valdez-credit-John-Gilhooley-2-e1527181281606-348x180.jpg)
David Valdez’s Beatnik Bandito Is a Slice of Old California Culture [OC People 2018]
There’s something immediately familiar about Beatnik Bandito Music Emporium. On the racks and walls of this record shop are not only clothes, records and guitars, but also the spirit of a different time—an old-school roadhouse around the corner from Santa Ana’s rampant revamping of its historical downtown. While most newer businesses rush to slap a […]
![L. Song Richardson Continues to Defy Expectations [OC People 2018]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/news-l-song-richardson-credit-John-Gilhooley-4-348x180.jpg)
L. Song Richardson Continues to Defy Expectations [OC People 2018]
You’d be forgiven if you believed some of the sculptures filling L. Song Richardson’s sprawling office on the UC Irvine campus were picked up during world travels. After all, her mother was born in Korea, where she met Richardson’s father, a U.S. military officer at the time. Because of his orders, the Richardson family resided […]
![Rich Mead Leads the Farm-to-Table Movement By Example [OC People 2018]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/food-rich-mead-credit-John-Gilhooley-2-348x180.jpg)
Rich Mead Leads the Farm-to-Table Movement By Example [OC People 2018]
Early every Wednesday, chef Rich Mead’s day begins with a trip to the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, where he has cultivated long-lasting relationships with the growers to create a menu around freshly harvested ingredients for his restaurant, Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens. It’s all part of his guiding principles, a blend of two philosophies: fresh and […]
![Robert Williams Lives the Dream as Big Sandy [OC People 2018]](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/music-big-sandy-credit-John-Gilhooley-1-348x180.jpg)
Robert Williams Lives the Dream as Big Sandy [OC People 2018]
“I never imagined in a million years where the music would take me to or the places it did,” confides Robert Williams, dressed to the nines in a crisp, black, 1950s suit with a subtly rainbow-flecked vintage shirt he picked up from Elsewhere Vintage in the Orange Circle. His hair is neatly combed and slicked-back, […]
Year of the Woman? Not When It Comes to Orange County’s Congressional Races
With less than a month to go before the June 5 primary election, “The Year of the Woman” in Orange County congressional races is sputtering. There are 15 females on ballots for five of the seven Orange County congressional district elections. Two of these candidates are incumbents, one of whom appears to have a lock […]
Hurricane-Force Musical Hamilton Touches Land at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts
What do you write about a play that has been so written about, talked about, dissected, analyzed and been christened as the Big Theatrical Thing? We’re talking, of course, about Hamilton, the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical that is an international sensation. It entered the American political conversation after Vice President Mike Pence attended a show in […]
Dana Watch: Dems vs. Dems
Dana Watch previously exposed some of the intrigue involving 48th congressional district incumbent Dana Rohrabacher (R-Putin’s erector set) and his Republican rivals Scott Baugh, a former protégé, and Paul Martin, who is endorsed by the Russian leader’s great foe, chess champion Garry Kasparov. But there are also plenty of machinations on the Democratic side of […]
Film Adaptation Breathes New Life Into The Seagull
How do you breathe new life into a play Anton Chekhov wrote in 1895? First, you have it adapted by a relatively young but talented writer. Next, you turn the project over to a hungry director. Finally, you assemble a talented cast of veteran actors and acclaimed newcomers. That strategy was employed for a thoroughly […]
Sheriff’s Orange County Crime Lab Murder Scandal Unfolds in Courts
It took nearly two decades for anyone outside of law enforcement to discover that an Orange County Crime Lab official aided one prosecutor in winning a murder trial with sworn forensic scientific testimony and a year later altered her opinion to help a second deputy DA prevail in a separate capital case without jurors knowing […]
CAIR-LA Offers SJC Councilwoman Gift Card For Halal Eatery She Refused to Order From
UPDATE, MAY 16, 8:10 A.M.: The Los Angeles of Anaheim chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) partnered with Muslim residents in San Juan Capistrano to offer councilwoman Pam Patterson a gift card to NYC Cafe, the local eatery she refused to place an order from for a city meeting in March cause halal! Sophia […]
Penny Slinger: Out of the Shadows Tracks the Career of the Lost Surrealist Artist
In a moment when forgotten artists and iconoclasts are finally getting their due through documentary films, Penny Slinger: Out of the Shadows sheds light on an underrated artist who created most of her seminal work during the 1960s and ’70s. Slinger was most active in the London art scene and presented a series of surrealist […]
Lost In OC: The Desert, a Dead Musician and a Disappeared Comedian
Is it a sign of age that I really don’t care anymore where my toenail clippings land? Or if they’re still where they landed a month later? Just this morning, I found a large clipping on my office rug, so I naturally tried using it for a guitar pick and managed to drop it in […]
A Collegial Appreciation of Laguna Project Mastermind and BC Space Curator Mark Chamberlain
BC Space curator Mark Chamberlain died April 23. He was 75. In lieu of retelling his accomplishments, so numerous they wouldn’t fit on this page, I asked his local friends and colleagues to briefly write what he meant to them. Lev Anderson, documentary filmmaker: “A self-proclaimed river rat, Mark relished any opportunity to talk about […]
Bao-N-Baguette Is the Latest Bánh Mì Purveyor in Little Saigon to Get it Right
Decades ago, I discovered the foodstuff that has made me return to Little Saigon week after week: the bánh mì sandwich. It is nothing short of a miracle. And I’m not being hyperbolic here. If Philly is known for its iconic cheesesteaks, the bánh mì should be the sandwich that defines our region. Where else […]
Club R.I.P. Brings a Fresh Batch of Deathrock to the Doll Hut
Deathrock has a tendency to not stay dead. Ever since the spooky little brother of punk rock was born, in late 70’s Los Angeles, it has seen several departures and revivals. This goes for a few of the original bands, including Christian Death and 45 Grave, as well as for deathrock clubs. And while there […]
Garden Grove School Trustee Walter Muñeton: I Mustache You a Few Questions!
Whether walking in the Lunar New Year parade, speaking at a ribbon cutting ceremony for Santiago High School’s new gymnasium or wearing a red scarf in support of public education, Walter Muñeton is passionate about his community. The Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD) trustee is a product of its schools, having grown up in […]
Chuck Palahniuk Brings Adjustment Day to Southern California
If you thought that author Chuck Palahniuk didn’t have anything to say about the current political climate just because he’s not spouting off on social media or in news outlets, you’ve clearly missed the first two rules from his original breakthrough novel, Fight Club. Rather than meaninglessly talk about the state of the world, Palahniuk’s […]
The Recently Appointed Queen of Medieval Times in Buena Park Is Met With Cheers and Jeers
“Are you ready to be a queen?” Queen Isabella asks the young girl standing in front of her as a mid-size crowd of tourists gathers in the main hall of a replica castle on Beach Boulevard on a recent Monday night. “It’s quite exciting,” she assures the child. Just before show time at Medieval Times […]
Dana Watch: Never Trumpers Clash
In an April 23 letter to Orange County GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker, 48th congressional district candidate Scott Baugh and 19 other prominent local Republicans call for the stop of campaign ads for incumbent Dana Rohrabacher that spread “false information.” In the bid by Rohrabacher (R-Putin’s Clutch Purse) to win a 16th two-year term in Congress, […]