For holiday shoppers who are out of time, patience or ideas, we present our handy-dandy, cut-to-the-chase, Very Busy Person’s Last-Minute Gift Guide, a collection of suggested gifts with broad appeal (with the possible exception of the disc golf driver) compiled by actual former and present gift recipients with reasoned opinions, fine instincts and excellent taste.
Articles by Jessica Lyons
The Reluctant Mr. Clean
The smell hits first. As soon as the helicopter lifts off the ground in Venice, La.— 60 miles away from the BP oil spill—the pungent odor settles in the back of your throat and you can taste the toxic fumes. Once in view, the spill is a mélange of bizarre shapes: thick bands, ribbons, textured patches that look like hamburger patties, sheens that stretch to the horizon.
Ear Surgeon Makes His Mark in Santa Cruz
Dr. Douglas Hetzler pioneered a drill-less surgery for fixing “surfer’s ear” a dozen years ago and has since treated some 800 ears. He’s also one of just a handful California doctors who performs the minimally invasive procedure, which is why patients come from Long Island and beyond to have Hetzler chisel tiny pieces of bone out of their ears.
Making Scenes Around Santa Cruz
Customers coming into Santa Cruz Stoves & Fireplaces sounded alarm bells. “There’s a kid outside the store with cans of paint,” they fretted to employees. “He looks like he’s going to spray the walls!” Spray the walls is exactly what Elijah Pfotenhauer was intending to do. It was late 2006, and Pfotenhauer had already established himself as a talented Santa Cruz muralist with two other projects, one depicting dancers on the former Motion Pacific building on Front Street and another at the former Santa Cruz Teen Center on Laurel. With slide show.
