Sad News

Jack Sears, who with his wife, Emilie, owned one of Montecito’s most iconic watering holes, Cafe del Sol, for nearly half a century, has died in San Diego, aged 84.

The tony twosome sold the property by the Andree Clark Bird Refuge, now the Magic Castle, in 2013 and closed the popular nosheteria the following year.

A charming man who will be much missed and fondly remembered…

Fashion Loses an Icon

On a personal note, I mark the passing of fan fluttering fashion kaiser Karl Lagerfeld, who has died aged 85 in Neuilly, an achingly exclusive suburb of Paris.

The German-born artistic director of Chanel for three decades and an icon of the global fashion industry for more than half a century, including Fendi and Chloe, was instantly recognizable with his pony tailed white hair, high necked shirts – he reportedly had a collection of 2,400 – and ever-present sunglasses.

I first met him in 1978 at one of the more decadent parties I’ve attended at Fabrice Emaer’s Le Palace, Paris’s version of Studio 54, for a Venetian Evolutif bash when the former Empress of Iran, Princess Soraya, was carried in on a gondola by six Nubian slaves, and Lagerfeld, dressed like Casanova with an entourage of handsome flag bearers, made his entrance, while nightclub legend, Regine, sang the Gloria Gaynor anthem “I’ll Survive.”

Lagerfeld was an extraordinarily talented individual whose eccentric presence on the fashion scene will leave yawning gap.

Sightings: Singer Katy Perry‘s parents, Keith and Mary Hudson, checking out the Rosewood Miramar… Actor Christopher Lloyd picking up his Java jolt at Pierre Lafond… Former Wimbledon ace Jimmy Connors picking up stamps at the Montecito Post Office

Gunning for the Top

Montecito developer Richard Gunner‘s Santa Barbara Inn has just received the coveted AAA Four Diamond Award, one of just five hotels in our Eden by the Beach to get the ranking, with only 6.3 percent of more than 27,000 hostelries inspected garnering the accolade.

The 70-room oceanside hotspot, which also includes the popular eatery, Convivo, reopened in July, 2016, after a two and half year multi-million dollar renovation.

The Santa Barbara Inn on Cabrillo Boulevard, joins the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort, the Harbor View Inn, and Simpson House in getting the award, the second time for Richard, who also developed San Ysidro Village.

Pip! Pip!