This Sunday, downtown Benicia will feel like the lyrics to a Beach Boys song as vintage automobiles line the First Street Green for the Classic Car Show. This annual event, now in its 25th year, brings families and classic car enthusiasts together for a good cause as money is raised for Benicia High School’s Panther […]
Benicia is setting for Sam London book series
Author to host signing at Bookshop Benicia What if the mythical creatures that people have been reading about for ages are secretly living among us? That is a question posed by author Todd Calgi Gallicano in his children’s book series on the adventures of Sam London. Gallicano will be at Bookshop Benicia for an Author […]
First Street bakery, coffee shop slated for HPRC design review
Two First Street businesses are slated to arrive in the next few months. Due to their location in the historic downtown, they will have to undergo design review by the Historic Preservation Review Commission at this Thursday’s meeting. The first new business is One House Bakery, an upscale bake shop in the former location of […]
Benicia hosts finale to Pleasanton-Tulancingo’s Sister City visit
The Tulancingo delegation of the Pleasanton-Tulancingo Sister City Association wrapped up its six-day excursion to the Bay Area yesterday. This trip included a stop in Benicia, which has its own Sister City partnership with the town of Tula, Mexico. In 1956, then-President Dwight Eisenhower— who had previously been a top-ranking general in World War II— […]
Review: BOTTG’s ‘Coming Apart’ anchored by excellent cast
Benicia Old Town Theatre Group opened the final play of its 2017-18 season, Fred Carmichael’s “Coming Apart,” to a well-attended gala at B.D.E.S. Hall on Friday. It is the second comedy BOTTG has put on this season, following October’s “Having a Wonderful Time, Wish You Were Her,” which similarly put a humorous take on relationships. […]
School board rejects bids for fire alarm upgrades
Bids will reopen at later date At Thursday’s meeting, the Benicia school board unanimously voted to reject bids for fire alarm upgrades at two elementary schools and reopen them at a later time. As part of the Measure S initiative, which was approved by voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond funding to […]
BUSD community urges equal pay for teachers at board meeting
Students, faculty and parents took to the lectern during the public comment portion of Thursday’s school board meeting to stress the importance of equitable pay for teachers. On Jan. 24, Benicia Unified School District and the Benicia Teachers Association (BTA) held a negotiations meeting following a budget workshop. BUSD proposed a one-time bonus of 1 […]
Poetry event to raise money for Joel Fallon Scholarship
Joel Fallon, Benicia’s first poet laureate, died in 2016 but his legacy as an architect of poetry in Benicia lives on, in more ways than one. One of these legacies is the Joel Fallon Poetry Scholarship, which is awarded to two poetically savvy graduating seniors, one from Benicia High School and the other from Liberty […]
BOTTG spring play captures crumbling marriage
The title of the play is “Coming Apart,” but Benicia Old Town Theatre Group’s spring play is coming together nicely and will open on Friday. Fred Carmichael’s 1994 play centers around married couple Frances and Colin Kittridge, whose marriage is crumbling. Colin works as a humor columnist and Frances as a romance novelist, giving them […]
BUSD to discuss sunshine proposal negotiations with classified employees union
(This post has been updated from the original version.) A little sunshine is on the horizon— both in the weather and at Benicia Unified School District’s Governing Board meeting, where a 2017-18 sunshine proposal between the district and the California School Employees Association (CSEA) is on the agenda. Per Education Code, BUSD must publicly disclose […]