- preg_match: documentation ( source)
<?php
$string = '(Dec 27, 2013 05:26:29 PST)';
$tz = 'America/Los_Angeles';
preg_match('/^\((.*) PST\)$/', $string, $matches);
$string = $matches[1];
$dt = new DateTime($string, new DateTimeZone($tz));
echo $dt->getTimestamp();