28 May 2020
5G Impact and Santa Barbara City Council Update: Part 1
Most people have heard of “next generation” 5G wireless signal, its technical merits, and you may have even perused some research on its effects on humans including in utero. This series presents published 5G information, the status of 5G in our town, and interviews to provide current vetted information with references for the reader. About […]
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People of Summerland
From long held memories with old neighbors to first impressions upon new encounters, one thing remains true in our “People of Summerland” snippets: from the terrific views to thoughtful neighbors, the pop. 1,500 town is a magical place. Fran Davis, Writer; Roger Davis, Retired Editor “As Summerland residents for fifty years, we’ve accumulated a staggering […]
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People of Montecito: Lynn, Montecito Flowers
When Did You Start Your Business in Montecito? “I’ve been here for twenty-six years. I used to work at the café at the Montecito Inn. I can’t remember the name now, it was so long ago. But I came to Montecito and was working there for a while and there was a little flower stand […]
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It’s a Wonderful Life (Really?)
The American Film Institute honored Frank Capra by selecting his movie It’s A Wonderful Life as the Most Inspirational Film of all time. It was a great pick. Not only has it become a “Christmas Classic” for decades, but Frank Capra is quoted as saying it was his favorite film of all the incredible classics […]
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Letters to the Editor
Water Well Done Great job on the first water piece in last week’s Journal by Nick Schou. Water is very critical for us and a healthy environment but the issues surrounding it can get complicated very quickly. I have been very involved in both our local and statewide water issues for over three decades and […]
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Masks Matters. As Do You.
The cover of this week’s Sunday New York Times was stunning in its simplicity, yet powerful in its portrayal of the gravity of this moment. The headline: “U.S. DEATHS NEAR 100,000, AN INCALCULABLE LOSS” loomed above a thousand names of human beings, in tiny print, one after another, row after row – a newsprint version […]
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Giants and Germans Lose
At the time of World War I, I hadn’t even been born yet, and in World War II, I was still only a child. But those two catastrophes have shaped all our lives. Between the official end of the First, and the outbreak of the Second, was only 20 years. But it was enough time […]
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Duck Duck Two
In last week’s Journal you’ll recall “ducknappers” had snatched a nest with a mamma duck, three ducklings, and seven eggs from under an oak tree at Montecito’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church parking lot. Our “Duck Column” describing the story had “gone viral” as pressure mounted to “find the ducks.” It’s been an exhausting […]
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Zip up Your Zoom
Fight fatigue and pep up the popular pandemic platform Late in April, The New York Times published an instantly popular essay called “Why Zoom is Terrible.” The piece posed that the problem with the platform is that the way the video images are digitally encoded and decoded, altered and adjusted, patched and synthesized introduces such […]
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The Time to Plant Your COVID Victory Garden is Right Now
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” – Alfred Austin Couldn’t we all use some nurturing right now? Planting and harvesting your own food is rewarding and even more so now, with fewer […]
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Coast Village Road’s New Moment in the Sun
Montecito may oddly benefit from California’s post-COVID grand reopening. Coast Village Road may be one of the few dining, shopping, and hotel areas that is elegant, energetic, and well designed for the next new normal. You know the Pandemic New Normal – that’s the normal after the Debris Flow New Normal and that other new […]
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San Ysidro Roundabout at MPC
After nearly 12 hours of discussing the proposed roundabout at San Ysidro Road last Wednesday, the Montecito Planning Commission agreed to continue their hearing on the project until June 10, in order to give County staff time to formulate additional conditions to the project. In what Commissioner Susan Keller called Montecito’s biggest land use and […]
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Real Estate Remains Strong
The real estate market in Montecito and Santa Barbara remains strong, despite major changes to the way properties are marketed and viewed. Sales in Montecito are up from last year in May; as of press time 16 homes have sold in May, with five full days still left in the month. This is compared to […]
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Montecito’s Water Supply Much Improved. Still Needs Love, Luck, and Lucre
An Historic Vote On June 25, the five members of Montecito Water District’s Board of Directors will hold a public hearing – almost certainly to take place via Zoom – to discuss a proposed change in water rates for its customer base of roughly 4,000 Montecito households. The hearing will allow affected ratepayers as well […]
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Exclusive Music for Mountain Series
Clarinetist Narek Arutyunian was supposed to make his Ojai debut on May 3 for the Chamber On The Mountain series that honors the traditional while celebrating the innovative. However the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans, so instead Arutyunian recorded a concert from his home in Queens, New York, exclusively for Chamber On The Mountain donors, […]
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Santa Barbara Symphony, Under New Management, Segues to Streaming
Having your CEO depart in the middle of a pandemic that caused cancellation of the rest of the season’s concerts probably isn’t the best thing for building the confidence of the local classical music community. Fortunately, the Santa Barbara Symphony was able to announce its Interim CEO, Kathryn Martin, even before the then-current Executive Director/CEO […]
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21 May 2020
Potter Tales: Genesis
When Jose Lobero expanded the old adobe Sebastopol schoolhouse and created his Opera House between 1871 and 1873, Chinatown was already established on the first block of East Canon Perdido street. At that time, the street was nothing more than a narrow dirt track and an article from November 1873 stated, “This narrow and disagreeable […]
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New Listings in Montecito
I hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying “at-home time” as much as is possible. Perhaps by the time this article is out on the streets, there will be more people out and about. In the meantime, regardless of being somewhat back to normal or not, we are all spending more time at home and […]
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Ready for the Rush
Over the past 10 weeks, Santa Barbara, along with the rest of the world, has been paralyzed with fear over the scourge of COVID-19. People remain frozen in fear of venturing outside, of touching a foreign or unknown object, and in fear of coming within six feet of another person. As the medical community grapples […]
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