After seven weeks of vacancy while mitigating the damage caused by the January 9 debris flow, Montecito Inn is scheduled to reopen its doors this Friday, March 2. “We are grateful to the community for the ongoing support, and the crews that worked so hard to get us back in business,” said Jason Copus, whose […]
Lea más(Information provided by Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department) Tuesday, February 23, Carpinteria – Deputies from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Coastal Division, investigated reports that a threat of violence involving a firearm was made by a Carpinteria Middle School student. Numerous deputies were assigned to the investigation and met with staff at the middle […]
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Santa Barbara Natural History Museum’s 31st annual Wine and Food Festival on June 30 is going to be the biggest and best yet, raising around $110,000, predicts president Luke Swetland. The popular tourist attraction hosted a pre-fest bash for 60 guests at the Grassini Wine tasting room in El Paseo to promote the event. “There […]
Lea másAt last week’s Montecito Planning Commission hearing, the commissioners were briefed on the rebuilding efforts in Montecito by director of recovery Matt Pontes, First District chief of staff Darcel Elliott, and County planning staff. The County has been working the last few weeks to assign property owners to case managers and launched a new interactive […]
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Pioneering winemaker Fred Brander was honored as Vintner of the Year at a socially gridlocked gala in aid of Direct Relief at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara. The biennial oenophile bash and wine auction, which attracted 600 guests and was emceed by The Bachelor host Chris Harrison, raised a hefty $1.2 million, with a third of the […]
Lea másDespite FDR’s famous dictum, that “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” we do have plenty of other things to be afraid of. But what matters is how we deal with them. The ones really worth fearing are those we can’t prevent and can’t adequately insure against. Crossing a street is a […]
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The opening ceremonies for the Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s latest exhibit began with a moment of silence and prayer for the victims of the Thomas Fire and the tragic flood/debris flow. Although the exhibit focuses on the victims of another disaster, the wholesale internment of Japanese, German, and Italian residents of California during WWII, the […]
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An Abbreviated Guide to the Holiday Coast of Maine (In our first thrilling installment, we took a family vacation to Maine. Today we look at popular vacation spots along the state’s coast, from north to south.) Bar Harbor Where: In what Maine folks call “Down East” (which is actually up, toward Canada). Bar Harbor lies […]
Lea másI love kids. And fortunately, they seem to like me okay, too. Which is good, because between my wife, Pat and I, we have five children, four grandchildren and one granddog that I love teaching new tricks. “Roll over, no? Sit, no? Shake, no? How about lay there like a lump? Yeah!” And now, I […]
Lea másFor most residents of Montecito, a large portion of their investment portfolio and net worth is tied up in the value of their home. What will be the long- and short-term impact of the twin tragedies of the Thomas Fire – the largest in California history – and the destructive 1/9 debris flow on real […]
Lea másJust last year in the dawn of November, the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission (SBRM) and Frank Schipper Construction began a $10-million renovation on the organization’s 30-year-old building at 535 East Yanonali Street. The devoted neighbors of the 101 freeway and sanitation plant on the southern end of town is the same building that – according […]
Lea másI believe you are off on this one (“Who Should Pay?” MJ #24/7). Most of the merchants I spoke with were paying their workers at least part of their wages. You might want to call around. After all these years, you would think a business could protect workers from their losses. I don’t want to […]
Lea másFor Santa Barbara’s first PuppetPalooza, creator Mitchell Kriegman has come up with a festival so vast and imaginatively populated with puppets, marionettes, and just about every other possible permutation of the genre giant and small, including literally the hand and glove, even his own character Clarissa might have a hard time explaining it all to […]
Lea másRemember Frank Galvin from Sidney Lumet’s 1982 film, The Verdict? Paul Newman played Galvin, an ambulance-chasing attorney who reads the obituaries to get clients. When we first meet Galvin in the movie, he is bribing funeral directors to let him pass his business cards to the bereaved. Galvin’s ghosts have been trolling for business in […]
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Our Town’s latest millennial superstar is Torrie Cutbirth, artist, arts community enthusiast, and recently appointed executive director of the Arts Fund Santa Barbara [AFSB]. She is making headway as the youngest E.D. for the organization with an art background, education, and passion to move its mission forward. I met with Torrie at the AFSB gallery […]
Lea másI must say that the events of the past few months sort of slid right past me, both emotionally and literally. I remained stoic as we got past the fires; the flames stopped six houses up the hill from me. We moved back in, sort of. And then the evacuation warning on January 7, which […]
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Everyone says we live in paradise, but there is another paradise in Goleta at the state-of-the-art ice skating rink called Ice in Paradise. It’s located not far from Costco at 6985 Santa Felicia. The rink’s main donor (more than $1 million) was Ed Snider, who owned the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. In […]
Lea másThe Ritz-Carlton, Bacara was the site of the 10th Santa Barbara Wine Auction given by the Santa Barbara Vinters Foundation (SBVF) to benefit Direct Relief. The charity has many supporters, with 530 of them showing up in black tie for this every two-year event. The foundation is the charitable umbrella under which the Santa Barbara […]
Lea másI really can’t recall how many time shivers ran up and down my spine as I talked with Martin W. Ball last weekend about his upcoming talk at Unity of Santa Barbara this Saturday, March 2, when Ball – one of the world’s leading experts and proponents of entheogenic/psychedelic medicines and an authority on the […]
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