26 Nov 2020
Rolling Over for Beethoven
One of the perks of the Santa Barbara Symphony’s decision to dive into digital rather than completely forgo its 2020-21 season is the opportunity to celebrate an important milestone for Beethoven, perhaps the most important composer in the classical music canon. The symphony is marking his 250th birthday with “Beethoven @ 250,” a chamber music […]
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COVID-19 Couldn’t Stop Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation from Honoring Heroes
For the past 22 years, the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation has celebrated Veterans Day in style with gala events at the Hilton Waterfront Resort (formerly the Fess Parker). The group is named after the Belgian-born architect and humanitarian who fondly remembered his homeland’s First World War rescue by allied troops before moving to Santa Barbara […]
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Talking Tapas
The first time I ever heard of tapas was when my Navy pilot husband, Cork, our two young children Kim and Dane, and I moved to Spain in 1969. The kids went to school on the Rota Navy Base but we lived on the economy. When Friday night came we didn’t go to McDonald’s (there […]
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In Passing: Alex Trebek
On a personal note, I mark the passing of Alex Trebek, the long-running host of the TV quiz show Jeopardy! for 36 years who died at the age of 80 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. I started watching the Merv Griffin-produced show in the 1980s and have been hooked ever since, learning much […]
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A Santa Barbara First: Winemaker Greg Brewer Gets Top Honor
The latest honor for winemaker Greg Brewer is a perk for Santa Barbara County, too: it’s the first time a Santa Barbara-based vintner has been named Winemaker of the Year by the popular publication, Wine Enthusiast. “The accolade is flattering because my name is on it,” Brewer said last week after the award was announced. […]
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Blackbird Sings Again
To the Hotel Californian for the re-opening bash of Blackbird, the hostelry’s signature restaurant, which has been reimagined with “a beverage-forward atmosphere” featuring cocktails by celebrity mixologist Devon Espinosa, alongside a thoughtfully curated menu of light bites by executive chef Travis Watson who pays homage to the culinary bounty of the Central Coast. My trusty […]
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Getting Into the Holiday Spirits
I was recently explaining to a clinical psychologist friend of mine that a coping mechanism I use during the pandemic is to mentally escape to another destination when times get stressful. “I’m sure I’m not the only one using escapism to cope,” I added. My friend, Weston, a college buddy, said he couldn’t understand why […]
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Dennis Miller Sells Montecito Spread
Comedian and political pundit Dennis Miller, 67, has sold his Montecito spread for $49 million in an all-cash deal. It’s the second largest amount recorded for a home in our rarefied enclave in recent years, behind only the $63.3 million paid by construction heir Riley Bechtel for a much larger estate last month. According to […]
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For Christmas, Mi Casa Es Su Casa
Christmas at the Casa: From Our Casa to Yours” will be a new experience this year. Usually Casa del Herrero is decorated with all the traditional trees and twinkling lights and is one of my favorite holiday events. This year it will be an amazing online Christmas boutique silent auction that opened November 1 and […]
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Felder Finds a New Forum: 6Qs with the musician-actor
Prior to the arrival of COVID-19, veteran virtuoso playwright, performer, and pianist Hershey Felder had made a career out of creating and performing solo shows about composers Claude Debussy, George Gershwin, Frédéric Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky that have been seen across a wide range of […]
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Saluting Navy Art
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is hosting an extensive collection of 53 paintings that chronicle the accomplishments of the U.S. Navy, from the USS Constitution to atomic bomb tests, and expeditions to the North and South Poles. The colorful show, Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea, who was known as the Artist of the Fleet, […]
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Arts in Lockdown Series Part 15: Film Director and Producer Ivan Reitman
Epically known as the one director who can harvest the funniest talent for his movies, Ivan Reitman continues his film making legend during lockdown with eight screenplays in the works, a sequel to Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting, and the next installment of the Ghostbuster series, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, to be released in theaters in June […]
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Tasting Notes with Belmond El Encanto Sommelier Jordan DeVille
The holidays are all about celebrating the season and the start of a new year with family and friends. One of my favorite wine selections this season – and one to consider for your own holiday tables – is the 2016 Joyce “Massa Estate” Chenin Blanc. Joyce Vineyards is a family-run small-batch winery that began […]
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Tesla Investor Takes Tuscan-style Home
One of the major investors in the electric car giant Tesla has splashed out $18 million on a new Montecito home and is moving here from Beverly Hills. Alan Salzman, 63, heads VantagePoint Capital Partners and owns 7 million shares in the auto company worth more than $2.3 billion. His new hilltop Tuscan-style property was […]
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Out the Window
There are many things we don’t have words for – and if asked, you’d probably never have thought there was a word for throwing somebody out of a window – but there is such a word, and in fact I’ve known it most of my life, although I have never had any pressing occasion to […]
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A Spaceship Named ‘Resilience’
The crew capsule aboard the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket that NASA successfully blasted into space last weekend achieved an amazing milestone. This incredible event was the remarkable result of the public-private sector partnership between NASA and SpaceX that sent astronauts directly from the U.S. to the International Space Station for the first time in nine […]
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Letters to the Editor
Bear Necessities Carlos here! Since I have good Wi-Fi here in my den, I was able to watch the Town Hall meeting a few weeks ago about me. I was grateful for a large attendance of twenty-something people who logged in to learn, listen, and let their thoughts be known about my presence. Fish and […]
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The Indelible Legacy of Prize-Winning Journalist Ann Louise Bardach
To say that 2020 has been a challenging year is the understatement of the century. We’re approaching a full year of being held hostage by a global pandemic that’s brought face-to-face social interaction to a near standstill. And with sheltering in place comes more reliance on gathering information and news from the internet, where the […]
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What’s Better Than Buying Property in Montecito? Buying Two, Of Course
That’s what ultra-wealthy San Francisco locals, Marc and Elisa Stad, have just completed in our Eden by the Beach. The first deal closed in September when the couple forked out $12.2 million for a shingle-sided mansion with seven bedrooms and 13 bathrooms in nearly 14,000 square feet of living space. Built in 2008, the 2.1-acre […]
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Still-Furloughed Four Seasons Biltmore Employees Now Seeking Lost Wages
Santa Barbara’s hospitality industry still isn’t close to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic but few employees have had it as bad as the roughly 450 workers from the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore Santa Barbara, all of whom were furloughed last March and who lost their employer-funded medical insurance in July. Although the resort is […]
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