Brewing up a coastal storm

Here are a couple that Scott Martelle missed in his “Coastal Brews and Views” [June 7] : Firestone Walker Brewing Co.’s Taproom in Buellton and Hollister Brewing Co. in Goleta. The latter has some of the best pub fare to be eaten!

Jay Smith

Santa Barbara

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Martelle missed the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. Great location, fun place, good food and beer. He also missed the Marin Brewing Co. in Larkspur, which is one of the Bay Area’s better breweries. There’s also Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Hayward, which may have the best brews in the region, but it’s off the beaten path.

Tom Spitzer

Castro Valley

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When I saw a photo of a brewery on the cover of the Travel section with the words “San Diego” on it, I figured it would be a San Diego location, just as the places in the photos on the left and right were identified as in Ventura and Santa Cruz. But as I looked at the photo more carefully, I realized it should be labeled Escondido. Yes, we’re near San Diego, just as Santa Cruz is to San Jose, but we are a different city. So when you show Escondido -- a wonderful city that I’m happy to call home -- please don’t call us San Diego.

Patricia Mues

Escondido

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I was simultaneously irritated and amused by Scott Martelle’s observation: “We cracked jokes with strangers at missed pool shots and ordered another round until a bunch of clean-cut sixtysomething men in pressed Harley-Davidson shirts showed up. Not our crowd. So we headed back to the hotel.” How closed-minded. Isn’t travel about experiencing new and different places and people? If Martelle had engaged these people in conversation as he did the two Danes that appear later in the article, he would have discovered that they too had interesting stories to tell.

Natalie Long

Anaheim