1 Jul 2021
Concrete Changes Exciting for MUS alumna
Summer is here and so is Dear Montecito’s one-year anniversary. To celebrate the column’s one-year run, I wanted to invite back some of my favorite people featured in Dear Montecito from the past year. Meredith Urschel was a natural first choice. Since speaking to us last, the Montecito Union School alumna and concrete enthusiast has […]
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“Forgive them Father, For They Know Not…” A Goodbye to Patriarchy
This column is being written on Father’s Day — as the humorist Jim Gaffigan observed, “the government mandated day of paternal gratitude.” By now, everything conventional that needs to be written already has been. What motivates this column is to look behind the conventional nostrums of the day to the more basic, the more archetypal, […]
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The History of Complaining
Many large businesses have or used to have “Complaint Departments,” where a specially trained employee deals soothingly with dissatisfied customers. To my knowledge, there is never a corresponding “Compliments Department.” The only approach I’ve ever seen to that idea has been an occasional jar labelled “TIPS.” In this online age, it can be much more […]
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A Gift to the Community: SBCC Foundation Receives $20 Million Donation
It was recently announced that Santa Barbara City College and the SBCC Foundation will receive a $20 million donation from MacKenzie Scott. This gift is one of 276 donations to universities and community colleges that total to $2.7 billion and marks the largest gift in the 112-year history of SBCC. The donation was made directly […]
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Rattlesnakes Rearing Their Heads; SBWCN Has Some Tips
It wasn’t a message that any neighbor wants to see on the NextDoor app: “Rattlesnakes Galore. We found FOUR RATTLESNAKES on our property TODAY! My nerves are shot!!! Also saw a bear last week. It’s a jungle out there, neighbors. Please keep a watchful eye out everywhere you step and be really careful with your […]
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A Time For Reinvention
Opera Santa Barbara won’t ease back into action, instead taking on a first-time production of Das Rheingold at the Lobero Theatre Anyone who thought Opera Santa Barbara might ease its reentry into live indoor operas with something out of the standard repertoire clearly doesn’t know Kostis Protopapas very well. OSB’s artistic and general director has […]
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Aquatic Jewels Opens in Upper Village
A new aquarium store has opened in the Upper Village, in the space formerly occupied by Stationery Collection. Aquatic Jewels is owned by longtime aquarium enthusiast Dottie Allen and her business partner Mark Amescua, who opened the shop in late April. “We’ve always wanted to open a shop here in Montecito, and when this space […]
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Rosemary Phyllis Looney: 1926-2021
It is with great sadness that the family announces the passing of Rosemary Phyllis Looney after a brief illness. She was born in Norwood, Massachusetts, on December 20, 1926, and passed at home in Carpinteria on June 8, 2021. She is survived by her daughters Sharyn Plunkett (Richard) and Sheryl Ford of Carpinteria, and Cynthia […]
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Don’t Bother Talking Parklets, State has a Plan Anyways
Mayor and Councilmembers, You have an agenda item coming up June 22, agenda item No. 16, that could remove parklets in July, or impose onerous modifications on them. Please avoid doing this. It is the most business unfriendly thing you could do right now. Thanks to the quick actions of Anthony Wagner, and the blessing […]
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Reflect. Restore. And Revival is Coming.
La Casa de Maria has stayed dormant since the Montecito Debris Flow. The organization has chosen to learn more about the land before redeveloping. More than three years later, it has a plan and a potential reopening date. Cindy Faith Swain peeks through a chain-linked fence that was once completely unnecessary, as separation from San Ysidro […]
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Town Hall Will Aid Those Struggling with Post-Pandemic Re-entry
California and much of the country reopening have been met with rejoicing by many people, but not everybody is completely comfortable with jumping right back into their old lives. That’s the impetus behind Hospice of Santa Barbara’s “Navigating Re-entry” Town Hall, an online forum featuring a half-dozen community leaders discussing the fears, anxiety, and issues […]
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In the Kitchen with Art Sevtap
As foodies return to dine-in service, one local eatery is commanding attention with its authentic and flavorful approach to Spanish-Mediterranean cuisine and robust wine selections. Sevtap Winery is a new tasting room in the Presidio that lures food and wine lovers on its breezy umbrella-shaded patio or inside, a naturally lit and airy dining room. […]
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With Charles in Charge, Polo Community Soared into New Territory
On a deeply personal note, I remember Charles Ward, the longtime Texan publicist and promoter for the Santa Barbara Polo Club, who left us for more heavenly pastures at the age of 80 in his hometown of Dallas. We first met in 2007 when I moved to our rarefied enclave from Hancock Park in Los […]
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Wildling Museum Collab with SBC Trails Council & Healthy People Healthy Trails
The Wildling Museum’s Valley Oak Gallery current exhibit, “Art from the Trail: Exploring the Natural Beauty of Santa Barbara County,” is a collaboration of Stacey Otte-Demangate (Director of the Wildling Museum), Margaret Weiss (Health Education Director, Sansum Clinic, Steering Committee for Healthy People Healthy Trails SB) and Mark Wilkinson (Executive Director of SBC Trails Council). […]
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Charles Ward: December 27, 1940 – June 15, 2021
Charles Lowell Ward, Jr., passed away peacefully on June 15, 2021, from complications of heart disease. The Houston native was preceded in death by parents Judy and Charles Ward, Sr., as well as brother Jeffrey S. Ward, Sr. He leaves behind nephew, Jeffrey S. Ward, Jr., grandnephews Tyler, Mason and Braden, and longtime business ally, […]
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Montecito Best Buys: The $20s… Million, That Is
In addition to more than double normal sales volume for the past 15 months, there have been more sales over $20 million in the past year or so than at any other time in history. Sales in the $20s have happened in the past, and a very few have sold at more than $20,000,000 in […]
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A Birthday Bonanza
Teresa Kuskey Nowak’s deliciously decadent La Boheme Dance Company, who were attired in Versailles 18th century Marie Antoinette costumes at the Santa Barbara Polo Club earlier this month, were back at the picturesque locale for the birthdays of ubiquitous KEYT-TV reporter John Palminteri and former Cottage Hospital orthopedic nurse Rochelle Mirabello. As guests feasted on […]
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