25 Oct 2018
Just for Funds
Philanthropist Sara Miller McCune was front and center when CAMA – the Community Arts Music Association – threw its centennial gala at the Biltmore, with 110 guests raising around $210,000 for the organization that brings many of the world’s most famous orchestras and performers to our Eden by the Beach. Sara, who has donated millions […]
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All Dressed up
Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s Costume Council has opened its new exhibition, The West-Dressed Woman, featuring 11 outfits from pioneer days to the 1960s, including a colorful kimono made for the late copper heiress Huguette Clark. Other restored exhibits include an ornate bodice owned by community activist Pearl Chase and a gown worn by opera singer […]
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Ball and Gain
Santa Barbara Symphony, celebrating its 65th anniversary, is having a ball! To mark the occasion, the magical music makers held a glittering sold-out fête for 250 guests in the Hilton rotunda, creatively decorated by local event designer Percy Sales. The boffo bash, co-chaired by Anne Towbes and Janet Garufis, featured the Youth Symphony Chamber Orchestra, […]
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A Troubling Series of Events
Something smells at the Montecito Sanitary District, and its not coming from the sewage. On Monday, October 15, Warner Owens, a long-time, never-elected member of the Sanitary Board announced his resignation, effective immediately. Less than 24 hours later, the “Notice of Vacancy in Office” was posted “By Order Of the Board of Directors of the […]
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Jess Eugene Pagliassoti – November 8, 1937 – October 11, 2018
Jess Eugene Pagliassotti, 81, of Montecito, California passed away while on vacation in Lake Tahoe, California, on October 11, 2018. Jess was born on November 8, 1937, in Los Angeles, California; he was the only child of Jess Pagliassotti Sr. and Terresina Pagliassotti. Jess’s father passed away in 1942 when he was only five years […]
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The Woody Robinson Experience
In 1985, an unfamiliar face appeared at a Santa Barbara car dealership and demanded a job as an auto detailer. The man who moved from the San Fernando Valley convinced the owner of his skills and devotion when he donated three days of labor free of charge. Yes, Lynwood “Woody” Robinson landed the job. Then, […]
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The Montecito Water & Sanitary Votes
Montecito’s vaunted “semi-rural” ambiance was shattered along with residents’ confidence after the Thomas Fire and the ensuing mud and debris flow that took the lives of 23 of our friends and neighbors and destroyed or seriously damaged nearly 10% of our housing stock. It is going to take a little time before the idea of […]
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To the Rescue
One of the most hallowed of all Hollywood clichés is that of being saved at the last moment. This was the basic appeal of such ongoing series of narrow escapes, as The Perils of Pauline, or the weekly serials which many of us fondly remember, in which the hero was left in some precarious position, […]
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Firefighter Paramedic Shawn Whilt
Thirty-six-year-old Shawn Whilt is the second of Montecito’s heroes that I am fortunate enough to interview. Shawn, a younger, handsome Tom Hanks-ish kind of guy with blue, blue eyes is a Santa Barbara Native. He was born here, went to Santa Barbara High, Santa Barbara City College, and then UCSB. He was active in sports […]
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Adjunct Professor Joins Foundation
Jason Eldred, adjunct professor of history at Westmont and vice president of the family management company operating the Storage Place, has joined the Westmont Foundation Board of Directors, which helps build connections between Westmont and the greater Santa Barbara community. “Having the opportunity to serve the Christian community locally and globally through the college’s outreach […]
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Theater Stages Playful Pride and Prejudice
Westmont Theatre Arts brings a contemporary energy and sense of humor to its staging of Pride and Prejudice on Thursday, October 25, and Saturday, October 27, at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, October 28, at 2 pm, all in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. Tickets to the play, which is based on the novel by Jane Austen and […]
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Clothes Encounter
Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s Costume Council, which is restoring hundreds of clothes that have been stored in the museum’s 10,000-sq.-ft. basement for decades, hosted a lunch featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bill Dedman, whose book Empty Mansions – about the late copper heiress Huguette Clark and her imposing 23-acre cliffside estate, Bellosguardo – was a New York […]
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18 Oct 2018
Family Circle
Major supporters of the 119-year-old Family Service Agency came together for a President’s Circle reception at the rustic Birnam Wood home of Carole Macelhenny. UCSB professor Mario Garfield spoke about the pressures facing young people in this age of new technology to the 30 guests, including Jim and Shirley Ann Hurley, Kevin and Marianne McCarthy, […]
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Here Comes the Judge
I am getting very judgmental! Having judged the hat contest at the Santa Barbara Polo Club for 11 years, last month I added chili to my subject matter at the Navy League cookout at the Carriage and Western Art Museum, and this weekend I was a judge at the second annual gelato festival at La […]
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Clef Notes
It was like a scene from a Merchant-Ivory movie when CAMA – the Community Arts Music Association – kicked off its 100th anniversary season with a Music on the Riviera reception for major donors at Riviera Park. More than 100 guests strolled the grounds, seeking shade under the umbrellas from the blazing sun, as the […]
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Cottage Cheese
After 13 years and at a cost of $820 million, more than $110 million of which came from our community, Cottage Hospital is finally ready for its close-up. The 713,000-sq.-ft. property, which boasts 337 beds, has just opened its final two pavilions – the Compton and the Arlington – with a launch bash with more […]
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Roaring Twenties Revisited
Bellosguardo, the 23-acre estate 100-million-dollar estate of the late reclusive copper heiress Huguette Clark overlooking East Beach, opened its imposing doors to the public for the first time in six decades when the 22,000-sq.-ft. mansion’s newly formed foundation threw a memorable Great Gatsby gala, which attracted more than 500 guests and is expected to have […]
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The Montecito Store
Some dozen years ago, long after most of Europe had succumbed to the “super market” concept, my husband and I found, in the tiny Tuscan village of Montecchiello, a perfectly preserved and functioning alimentari run by a gracious and quite elderly couple. We had rented a casa for the week and were in need of […]
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Oh, Hi: Halifax Returns with Words
Joan Halifax is the rare Zen Buddhist visionary whose background and education traverses Western and Eastern practices and study, and it’s an astonishing background that has brought her to where she is today. Among the many early accomplishments of the activist, author, caregiver, teacher, and Zen Buddhist priest, who will be the subject of the […]
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Haven Salon’s New Offerings
Haven Salon in Montecito, owned by master hair stylist and color expert Cynthia Brokaw and her business partner Brian Bailey, is now a certified Natulique salon and offers clients Natulique’s certified organic professional hair color from Denmark. “We’ve been looking for something natural for a really long time, and we finally found a superior product,” […]
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