For 30 years, Santa Barbara has been taking care of wildlife. In 1984, 12 people decided to share resources to care for injured and orphaned wildlife. In 1999, Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) leased a small downtown center that housed songbirds and small mammals. In 1992, June Taylor opened up a seabird pond in […]
Lea másIt might be obvious to state that Thanksgiving week could be the perfect time to launch a gratitude practice. The holiday stress can be greatly reduced by remembering all that we are grateful for in our lives. But research and plenty of anocdotal evidence has indicated that a daily practice of not only taking note […]
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Even in today’s post-#MeToo/women’s movement era, just about every little girl in America still dreams about being a princess. Witness the number of Cinderella dresses out on the streets and trick-or-treaters just three weeks ago on Halloween. On the other hand, not too many harbor a desire to wind up as a wicked stepsister, but […]
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Eight decades or so into the Great American Songbook, it would seem to be near impossible for artists to find a new way of taking on the classic show tunes and pop hits of a couple of generations of songwriters. There have been straight-ahead vocal stylists bebop jazz interpretations, soul-shaking R&B rounds, and even a […]
Lea más“The saddest part about these fires in California is that they are self-inflicted. Californians should not allow such mismanagement to continue. At what point will common-sense forest management practices win out over the ideologically driven environmental lobby? Soon, I hope, or Paradise might not be the only thing lost.”– Krystina Skurk (The Federalist) (Ms Skurk […]
Lea másWith the Democratic sweep in the November 2018 statewide elections, the Republican Party in California continues its descent into oblivion. The GOP won no statewide office. Democrats now have a death grip on California’s two U.S. Senate seats, all but eight of the 53 California U.S. House seats and a supermajority in Sacramento in the […]
Lea másIf anybody asked you (for some diabolical reason) to use the word “unpremeditated” in a poem, you might think it a considerable, almost an unfair, challenge. The word isn’t very poetic-sounding, is it? But prepare to be flabbergasted: That word happens to appear in the first stanza of one of the most famous poems in […]
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The ballroom at the Hilton was packed when Human Rights Watch held its 12th annual Voices for Justice dinner, which raised around $600,000 for the 40-year-old nonprofit, which is a leading defender of fundamental freedoms, the activists who uphold them, and vulnerable people worldwide in 90 countries globally. The bustling bash for 460 guests, co-chaired […]
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The 21st annual Empty Bowls fundraiser at the Ben Page Youth Center was so oversubscribed, there had to be three seatings for the simple soup and bread meals, which allowed the 1,000 participants paying just $30 to choose a hand-crafted bowl and, after dining, take the colorful ceramic home. The bustling event, founded by the […]
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A tony triumvirate of talent came together as one for the Santa Barbara Symphony’s back-to-back Igor Stravinsky fest at the Granada, with the performers including the State Street Ballet and members of the Ensemble Theatre. Montecito Emmy-winning actor Christopher Lloyd narrated the Faustian story of The Soldier’s Tale with Ensemble regular Jamie Torcellini as the […]
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Social gridlock reigned when Calcagno & Hamilton, the Coast Village Road realtors, hosted its third annual Gratitude party with 200 guests spilling out on the ritzy rue’s sidewalk. The company, which recently opened a Goleta office, pulled out all the stops for the bustling bash, catered by Richard Maxwell‘s The Bending Fork, and featuring ace […]
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Santa Barbara Choral Society, which performs its Hallelujah Project 6 at the Lobero on December 8 and 9 with Sound of Music actress Angela Cartwright narrating ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, celebrated with a fall soirée at the Montecito aerie of Todd and Allyson Aldrich. The fun 30-guest fete, after the Thomas Fire caused the […]
Lea másCondor Express owner Hiroko Benko has been having a whale of a time visiting her native Japan with friends, including Montecito’s Anne Towbes and her sister, Suzy Farbman. The eclectic itinerary included the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto, which had particular meaning for Hiroko, given a relative, Kobori Enshu, designed the garden in the Edo […]
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The preschoolers at Montecito Family YMCA spent last week learning about the traditions of Thanksgiving, concluding with a Thanksgiving Feast made by the preschool staff in the Y kitchen. “The Thanksgiving Feast was a chance to bring the entire school and their families together, while teaching students the history and significance of the holiday,” says teacher Annie […]
Lea másAudrey Murphy, 11th grade Laguna Blanca student, has been invited to perform for the Honors Concert Choir – 2019 High School Honors Performance Series to be held at Carnegie Hall in New York City this February. The Honors Performance Series was created to showcase accomplished individual high school performers on an international level by allowing them […]
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During closed session at the SB Board of Supervisors hearing last week, the BOS voted unanimously to begin negotiations with homeowners on Randall Road in hopes of buying seven properties (plus one on East Valley Road) to build a new debris basin where the multimillion dollar homes were once located. The short road, which ends […]
Lea másAlso at last week’s MA meeting, Montecito Fire’s Division chief of operations Kevin Taylor urged the audience to register for our local notification system, Aware & Prepare, following the release of discouraging notification statistics from the County Office of Emergency Management. According to the County, only 12 percent of residents countywide are signed up for […]
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At last week’s Montecito Association (MA) board meeting, Brett Matthews with the Partnership for Resilient Communities reported that his group has filed an emergency permit to install 15 temporary steel nets for five canyons in Montecito; the MA board voted unanimously to support the group’s permit application, agreeing to send a letter to the director […]
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Westmont continues to innovate and respond to students’ interests by adding new programs and more choices that fit well with the liberal arts and prepare graduates for a variety of careers. Music students focused on performing can earn a Bachelor of Music once the National Association of Schools of Music approves the program. Beginning in […]
Lea másAlex, a younger Robert De Niro lookalike, was born 51 years ago in Queens, New York, in August 1967. He moved to Santa Barbara in 1970 with his parents and that’s where he grew up. His father owned an antique shop on Coast Village Road, and his mother worked at Churchill Jewelers on State Street. […]
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