We only had a little over an hour with Montecito Fire chief Chip Hickman, as he had to escort some of the people who’d lost their homes back to their property, but we made the most of our time. No Montecito firefighters were lost or even hurt throughout the ordeal. There was one death, that […]
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It was a very in-tents occasion when the 30-year-old World Business Academy hosted a “gratitude gathering” at the home of its founder Rinaldo Brutoco and his wife, Lalla. As smoke from the raging Thomas Fire down south in Ventura filled the skies, which had also effected power supplies to our Eden by the Beach, given […]
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Epicurean Santa Barbara, a group of culinary enthusiasts and oenophiles, has just debuted in our tony town. The group, which currently has 78 members, was founded by the foodie fab four of Leif Pietila, Renee Martin, and dynamic duo Keith and Amy Robinson, who met at the Newcomers club when they moved here from Portland, […]
Lea másTo me, the word “Forever” has always had a certain sanctity. There were only two ways in which I commonly heard it used. One was in prayers and hymns, particularly in what Christians refer to as The Lord’s Prayer (though it is not perfectly clear from the title whether “The Lord” is “Our Father,” to […]
Lea másOn the brink of Santa Barbara County’s wealthiest village, amid the towering eucalyptus and celebrities that are strewed along the popular strand of Coast Village Road, a Santa Barbara company by the name of Kathryne Designs Incorporated continues on after many successful years in the world of interior design. The 14-year-old business is owned by […]
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Music director JoAnne Wasserman, marking her 25th year, was clearly in her element when the Santa Barbara Choral Society, celebrating its 70th anniversary, staged its fifth Hallelujah Project at the Lobero. The concert, which included Vivaldi’s magnificent Gloria and, of course, Handel’s uplifting Hallelujah Chorus, was a glorious Yuletide miscellany of seasonal cheer featuring the […]
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One of the great joys of Yuletide is the Christmas bash thrown by interior designers Peter Kavoian and Ray Winn, who also scribes for this illustrious organ, at their magnificent Birnam Wood manse. The stunning residence – formerly the home of a member the DuPont family who lived to the ripe old age of 107 […]
Lea másMontecito marriage and family counselor Randi Rabin has launched her new book, Grab Your Miracle – The Magic of a Mother’s Love, which recounts her quest to find the meaning of love through the discovery of a great desire to have a child to cherish. As a young women in the early 1990s, Randi had […]
Lea másWhat a ride this has been for us all. While we are not yet out of the woods of what will probably turn out to be the worst wildfire in California’s history, I write this letter with a cautious sense of optimism. There are still over 8,000 firefighters on this fire. On 12-hour shifts, there […]
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On a personal note, I have a great deal to be thankful for. Great firefighters, good friends, and the kindness of Mother Nature. This is the third time I have endured a mandatory evacuation, having experienced the Tea, Jesusita ,and now the Thomas fires in my 10 years here. I fled our rarefied enclave for […]
Lea másSanta Barbara author Elizabeth Gould writes from experience in her first book, Your Best Health by Friday: How to Overcome Anxiety, Depression, Stress, Trauma, PTSD and Chronic Illness. “It is not the first book I started, but it is the first one I’ve finished,” she told me a bijou book bash at Tecolote, the lively […]
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Santa Barbara entrepreneur Patricia Bragg, 88, who makes a number of health products including organic apple cider vinegar, has just got priceless publicity from none other than British fashion designer Victoria Beckham, 43, wife of soccer legend David Beckham. The former Spice Girls singer has revealed she regularly takes two teaspoons of ACV – as […]
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The twenty-sixth annual Catholic Charities Mistletoe Ball took over the Biltmore Coral Casino for a night of wining, dining, and dancing. We began on the terrace and ended in the beautiful ballroom totally decorated with the walls draped in forest-green fabric and the ceiling hung with hundreds of peach-colored balloons with silver milar strings. Co-chairs […]
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Last edition, the cover of Montecito Journal boasted the line “Saving Montecito”, with a photo of a Montecito fire truck at Station 1 on San Ysidro Road. Little did we know that roughly 48 hours after the newspaper hit stands, Montecito firefighters – along with thousands of others from across at least seven states – […]
Lea más(Provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department) At approximately 11:10 am on Wednesday, December 13, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office received a report from the Thomas Fire Incident Command of a potential marijuana Butane Honey Oil (BHO) extraction lab in the 2200 block of Bella Vista Drive in Montecito. The residence was located […]
Lea másDealing with the Thomas Fire likely has been stressful, at the least for those in Montecito and environs who have been lucky enough not to have suffered more physical losses. The mandatory evacuation of such spiritual retreat centers as La Casa de Maria, Vedanta temple, and the MacVeagh House at the Museum of Natural History […]
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Casa del Herrero Board of Trustees invited one and all to Christmas at the Casa, a celebration of preservation. This 11-acre estate was completed in 1925, the day of the great Santa Barbara earthquake. It sustained no damage, and Carrie and George Steedman moved in. It is now a National Historic Landmark and preserved for […]
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The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara gives a Community Leaders Luncheon to thank its donors and volunteers. This year, there were 350 folks attending at the Fess Parker – many to be thanked. Board chair Don Logan told the group, “This year we gave $8.44 million in scholar ships to 2,688 students and helped 25,000 […]
Lea másSanta Barbara Revels, presenting its 10th anniversary production at the Lobero, stayed closer to home this year with its theme from the Alta California Rancho period. Written by my Journal colleague Erin Graffy and Revels artistic director Susan Keller, the 1835-era production centered around the nuptials of Anita de la Guerra, daughter of the presidio’s […]
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At 10 am on Tuesday, December 12, dozens of Montecito firefighters and personnel gathered at Fire Station 1 for a morning briefing on the Thomas Fire, which, as of press time, had burned 234,200 acres and was 20 percent contained. For more than a week, MFPD has been operating in an “all-hands-on-deck” mode, meaning 24-hour […]
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