Some of you may fondly remember pre-pandemic days when local jazz musician Stu Reynolds coordinated a Sunday jazz music series at East Village Coffee in Downtown Old Monterey. Well, Stu and his friends are still around and now they're taking their shows online!

The Stu Reynolds Saxtet, together with guest composer and pianist Biff Smith, will be live-streaming a performance on YouTube this Sunday, November 22, 1pm-3pm. Simply click here to join in at the appointed time. This is a free concert, but donations will be gratefully accepted.

The Stu Reynolds Saxtet is Steve Uccello (bass), Billy Jones (drums), and Stu Reynolds, (saxes and clarinets).

At Parker-Lusseau Pastries, we have some delicious seasonal cakes available for your Thanksgiving dinner! Our Pumpkin-Apple-Cinnamon Cake is apple cake topped with pumpkin creme brûlée and a cinnamon mousse. Our Caramel-Pear-Spice Cake contains pears baked in a ginger-spice cake topped with caramel mousse and a hint of ganache.

We know that Thanksgiving gatherings will be smaller this year due to the (never-ending) pandemic. Our cakes are available in sizes as small as 4 servings. Want something larger? No problem! We also offer larger-sized cakes (going up in size in 2-serving increments). Just ask. Please place your order early as we are flying like blind turkeys this season!

Parker-Lusseau Pastries and Cafe is located at 539 Hartnell Street in Downtown Old Monterey. Please phone us at 831-641-9188 or contact us through our website.

It is with great joy that Youth Arts Collective presents our annual Holiday Art Show online! You can view all the artwork on our website now. Now, as ever, YAC is a great place to shop for holiday gifts, as artwork featured in the show is for sale.

Since you’re not able to meet these young artists in person, we’ve asked each of them to produce a short "meet the artist" video for the exhibit. The videos are as varied and engaging as they are. We think you'll enjoy the variety of voices and media in this year's show, which includes paintings, drawings, digital, and animation.

For 20 years, YAC has been able to make a lasting impact on many lives due to support from our community. We intend to keep providing YACsters with art and life skills training through new and ongoing virtual workshops, Zoom meetings, outdoor meetups (weather permitting), and exhibit opportunities like this this one.

But most of all, we provide these young artists with community and individual mentoring so they feel supported and less lonely, until we can all be together again in person. We’ve been able to help many of them stay emotionally buoyant and inspired and they've continued to make art and work toward their futures. Please consider supporting Youth Arts Collective with a tax deductible donation.

Monterey Public Library Friends and Foundation is holding a Used Book Grab Bag Sale on Saturday, November 21, 11am-2pm, on the back patio of Monterey Public Library, located at 625 Pacific Street in Downtown Old Monterey. (Weather permitting! They'll be there if it’s cold but not if it rains.) All funds raised will be used to purchase and catalog new library materials.

They have the bag for you, and you get to fill it yourself, choosing from a few select genres: fiction, science fiction/fantasy, mystery, history, biography, and children’s.

How it works:
*Put on your face-covering and come to the Library’s back patio.
*They will have your $10 grab bag(s) waiting for you
*Cash or check only. No credit cards.
*Careful health protocols will be observed.
*Enjoy “new-to-you” books – or share them with friends, family, and neighbors!

UPDATE: We're actually going straight to the Purple (widespread) risk tier. An updated announcement was made this morning by Santa Clara County Public Health that the situation has devolved enough that we're skipping right over the Red Tier. This information is now out of date. More updates coming later today.

It's never a good thing when Santa Clara County's Public Health department sends you an email that reads like this:

After multiple weeks with slowly rising case counts, Santa Clara County is now seeing a sudden and rapid spike in cases. The average daily case count has jumped 56% in the past week for which we have full data. Similarly, hospitalizations are on the rise...

For several weeks, Santa Clara County seemed to be defying the odds. Despite escalating infection rates in counties around us, we managed to keep our rates low enough to stay in the Orange Tier.

Changes to What's Allowed

Our good fortune has finally run out. Starting on Tuesday, November 17th, the following activities will no longer be permitted or have to follow more strict guidelines:

• Indoor dining is prohibited
• Indoor gyms and fitness centers maximum capacity drops to 10%
• Indoor retail maximum capacity at 50%
• Indoor entertainment centers prohibited
• Outdoor bars cannot sell alcohol without also serving food on the same order
• Indoor museums reduced capacity to 25%

In October, the State of California's Covid-19 risk reduction guidelines were updated to allow for personal services to remain open with modifications in the Red and Purple Tiers. You will still be able to get massages, facials, and haircuts.

Please Be Responsible... Super Responsible

In the late summer months as our infection counts pressed downward and we were allowed to resume more and more activities, a lot of people let their guards down. If we all return to being our most cautious and responsible selves, we just might be able to avoid stumbling all the way back to the most restrictive tier of California's risk reduction guidelines or at least keep our stay in the basement as short as possible.

That's going to start and end with wearing a mask at all times except when it's simply not possible to be wearing one and limiting your interaction with people from outside of your household as much as possible. The virus doesn't care how long you've known someone or if you're best friends with them.

You can be vigilant and still be good friends so keep your mask on, keep your distance, and be super responsible.

Just in time for the extended holiday shopping season in this Year of Our Pandemic, we've added a Gift Ideas Gallery to our website to help you shop our stores online. Keep an eye on the gallery because we'll be adding to it several times a week throughout the holiday season. You'll be pleasantly surprised at all the wondrous things packed into our mighty little Downtown.

You can use our Gift Ideas Gallery to help you browse our shops virtually and plan out your shopping in advance so you don't have to wander into every single store in search of the perfect token of your affection. In normal times, we'd have hot chocolate and a red carpet out to welcome you to explore every last shop your heart desires, but it's 2020. We want what's best for everyone's safety and sanity. We want to help you find what you're looking for so you can get back home and stay away from people you don't live with.

The Gift Ideas Gallery also might save you a trip entirely too. Many of the items featured in it are available directly online from the e-commerce stores of our retail shops. For the items that can't be purchased online, a phone call to the store is often all you need to order the item for store-front pick-up or delivery by mail.

Take Me to the Gift Ideas Gallery!

Monterey Museum of Art's favorite annual fundraising exhibition, Miniatures, is now virtual! That means everyone can enjoy the entire Miniatures exhibition from the comfort and safety of their own home. Beginning November 12, we'll exhibit 155 miniature works of art in our first-ever digital catalog on our website. All proceeds will support exhibitions and programming at Monterey Museum of Art.

How It Works

1) View the digital catalog of 155 Miniatures online.

2) Donate in support of your favorites! All proceeds support exhibitions and programming at MMA.

3) At the end of the exhibition we'll randomly select one donor from each piece to add it to their collections, and you can take that piece home with you.