19 Sep 2019
She’s a Legend!
Veteran Montecito comedienne Carol Burnett, 86, was front and center at the fifth annual Legends gala on the stage of the venerable Granada Theatre. Carol, whose eponymous award-winning show ran on CBS from 1967 to 1978, was introduced by her good friend, fellow Montecito author and film writer Fannie Flagg, as video showed some of […]
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ABCs of Montecito
Q: I just opened my September calendar and staring up at me is a bowl of alphabet soup – BOS, MLUDC, LUC, MCP, MAG, MPC, MBAR, MA! Can you help me sort out some of Montecito’s abundant and confusing acronym code? A: What a perfect “Back-to-School” question! Take a seat, grab your pen, and I’ll […]
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Buonasera!… again… and again…
Turn right,” Jeeves, our Garmin GPS told us. Right would have taken us over the cliff. “Jeeves is lost,” I said. “Swell,” Pat, who was driving, said. We were trying to get back to the tiny Tuscan village of Castiglione d’Orcia where we were renting an Airbnb just inside the Porta, the entrance into the […]
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The Animal Zone
This show has become a local favorite in the two years it’s been on and is going national with a one-hour special that will be aired at 8 am on Saturday September 21 on Cox Cable Channel 4 and 1004. The Animal Zone special will feature highlights from the first two seasons including stories of […]
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Neighborly Discussions
The first of Erin Graffy‘s almost always informative and often amusing talks, this time covering (and uncovering) the history of four different Santa Barbara neighborhoods has already taken place, but there are three more and they’re all worth attending. The neighborhoods are Samarkand, Hope Ranch, Montecito, and Hidden Valley, and Erin says her four-part series […]
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Maile Kai and Kristin On Stage
If you missed Maile Kai Merrick‘s performance with Kenny Loggins and Sofia Schuster at the Marjorie Luke in August during a special “Footloose” Summer Stock concert, you’ll have another chance to hear the young singer, as Maile is scheduled to join Kristin Chenoweth on stage at the Granada on October 2. Here’s how that happened: […]
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The Montecito Motor Classic
The annual Montecito Motor Classic, going into its eighth year, has officially outgrown its Coast Village birthplace and has moved to the larger venue of the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, 3375 Foothill Road, Carpinteria (805-684-6683). Without the move, it’s safe to say, there would have been no car show this year. Damage to […]
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Possession
How can anybody own anything? The most popular methods are: by Law, by Custom, or by Force. And often they’re combined. But we all know that, ultimately, none of this makes any real sense, and that, in the broadest perspective, nobody can ever own anything. Take our bodies, for example – and surely that must […]
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Men Versus Women
Ever since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden for taking a bite out of the “Big Apple,” men and women have been arguing over who is smarter, stronger, and the most trustworthy. So, let’s examine some of those traits. Intelligence Men and women seem to be equal in general intelligence (IQ […]
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12 Sep 2019
Montecito Market Update
Montecito continues to enjoy a healthy real estate market, with sales up 22% over last year; 131 homes and condos have sold so far this year, compared to 107 by the end of August in 2018. By this time in 2017, prior to the Thomas Fire and debris flow, we were at 149 sales. Looking […]
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East Montecito
In the past half dozen or so articles we have worked our way across Montecito, looking at different neighborhoods and homes for sale within these pockets. We have covered areas such as western Montecito’s edge on the border with Santa Barbara, the Cold Spring School area, the now-open-again, San Ysidro Ranch and Montecito Union School […]
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Good Time to Buy
As we head into the last quarter of the year, it is interesting to look back at where we have been and then forward to what lies ahead. Back in November, hardly a long time ago, most forecasters believed that mortgage rates would rise to 5% or higher this year. Don’t laugh. At the end […]
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Welcome, Kelsey
After my exclusive about KEYT-TV chief meteorologist Alan Rose departing for Colorado after 14 years on TV Hill, I now hear he is being replaced by Kelsey Gerckens, a regular on the ABC affiliate’s morning show with her husband, co-anchor Joe Buttitta, according to news director Jim Lemon. The tony twosome obviously work well together […]
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Mental Health Matters
A record 190 guests turned out at the Biltmore for the 73-year-old Mental Wellness Center’s 9th annual Merryl Brown-designed lunch, which was expected to raise $175,000 for general funds to help families, adults, and teens. The keynote speaker was Sonali Beaven, an author and mental health advocate, who lost her father, Todd, on United Boeing […]
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Impressive Pair
The La Pacifica Ballroom at the Coral Casino was socially gridlocked when the Santa Barbara Foundation honored its 76th Man and Woman of the Year in front of 280 guests. Between them, Montecito philanthropist Jelinda DeVorzon and David Boyd, a member of All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, have a combined half century of service to the […]
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Salt of the Earth
Santa Barbara Museum of Art is accentuating the negative with its latest exhibition Salt & Silver. The show, featuring more than 100 seldom-displayed salt prints from the Wilson Centre for Photography in London, provides a rare chance to experience some of the earliest photographs ever made by many of the most important and groundbreaking figures […]
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Wine and Dine
The rotunda at the Hilton was jammed when the 38th Taste of the Town threw its 10th annual Connoisseurs’ Circle gala, co-chaired by Lori Farnsworth and John O’Neill, for 213 foodies and wine lovers 48 hours before its popular Riviera epicurean festival with a tidal wave of restaurateurs, caterers, winemakers, and breweries serving samples of […]
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Double the Fun
It was a double occasion for celebration when Montecito animal rights activist Gretchen Lieff threw a sunset soirée at Tydes at the Coral Casino when her longtime beau medical equipment executive Miles Hartfeld celebrated his 66th birthday. The peripatetic twosome just returned from sojourns in Oahu and Kauai where they got engaged, Gretchen tells me. […]
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Vitamin Sea
A tidal wave of generosity swept over the 147-year-old Santa Barbara Yacht Club for the 15th annual Yachts of Love regatta, which was expected to raise more than $120,000 for the 111-year-old Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care from the more than 400 guests. The nautical jolly, which since its inception has raised more than $1.4 […]
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Letters to the Editor
Understanding Tragedy As our hearts grieve the loss of our beloveds in the Channel Island boating accident, we search from a deep place within our soul to find a way to process such a tragedy. Every day I look out to the Channel Islands from my home in Montecito. So many times my children and […]
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