It’s December and all around you everybody is caroling and decking the halls and eggnogging and generally getting into the holiday spirit. But not you. You have a high school senior and that can mean only one thing: Your house is filled with the loud, desperate angst of a teenager going through the final agonizing […]
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More than 150 guests arrived at The Well in Summerland on December 1 to view owner Shane Brown’s first art exhibition at the venue, co-curated by Ashley Woods Hollister and Tedde Minogue, who chose the work of photographer Michael Haber. The exhibition features nine black-and-white large-scale framed photographs of the collaboration of Haber and his […]
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Credit Béla Fleck’s son for sparking the banjo master’s desire to return once again to his bluegrass roots. Fleck, who was first inspired to take up the five-string instrument as a child when he heard Earl Scruggs play the theme song for Beverly Hillbillies, has long since become an ambassador of the instrument who has […]
Lea másRome, I barely know thee. I visited you briefly in the 1980s on a whirlwind trip through Italy on my first European travel writing assignment and carry a few impressions in my memory bank. Now, along with legions of visitors over the centuries, I too have fallen in love with Roma, la citta bella, one […]
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As we head into the holiday season, the Montecito real estate market has slowed considerably; as of press time there have been just 39 sales so far in Q4, compared to 99 sales in the same time period last year. Q3 saw a slowdown as well, with 82 sales from July through September, compared to […]
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The iconic Hotel Santa Barbara has been sold for $41.9 million to the Geronimo Hospitality Group, ending a 46-year run by the current ownership. Hotel Santa Barbara, located at 527-533 State Street, has seen renovations as recently as 2019, but the new ownership will be utilizing 2022 to prepare upgrades to the 75-key facility. “We […]
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With the theme “Holiday Magic,” it was indeed a magical evening for the 1st Annual Montecito Holiday Car Parade. Huge nod to the co-chairs Sharon Byrne, Mindy Denson, and Dana Newquist, along with their committee members, for a most upbeat treat for our town and its annual visitors. Kids from 1 to 92 lined the […]
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I had to admit it. I was lost and feeling a little vulnerable, the grandeur of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the largest refuge in North America, was swallowing me whole. Located in northeastern Alaska, the braiding Canning River was a maze of channels that separated me from the rest of my group. I had […]
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“Engineering is so hard you have to have fun,” said Dan Jensen, director of Westmont engineering, as small, remote-control cars zipped along the road in front of Kerrwood Hall. On December 6, students in Jensen’s Machine Design course raced their foot-long RC cars on a short, figure-eight racetrack as part of their coursework. A few […]
Lea másHave you heard all the news stories lately about “the Great Resignation” (or as some podcasters are calling it, the “Take this job and shove it” moment)? Tune into CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, or pick up a copy of the Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post, or even your […]
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Tea was served in copious amounts as CommUnify invited dozens to an outdoor event at the gorgeous Santa Barbara Club on December 2. Good thing, because one simple statement was quite sobering. Santa Barbara County is essentially tied for first in California for highest poverty rate. With the sale of countless multi-million-dollar homes in the […]
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The Santa Barbara Woman’s Club (SBWC) recently held its annual fall fashion show with styles from Mandana in the Upper Village of Montecito. Seven, mostly member models, strutted the stage and the dining tables. Those twirling were Janet Patton, Kris Proksch, Jama Scarlett-Lancaster, Mandana Mir, Simar Gulati, Salli Peterson, Kohanya Groff, and yours truly, while […]
Lea másFor nonprofits, there are many barometers of success. One is fundraising, obviously. The more a nonprofit can raise, the better its odds become of fulfilling its mission. Another is outcome. One advantage enjoyed by Mission Scholars, the program I run under the aegis of the Santa Barbara Education Foundation, is that its goals are clear-cut […]
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Susan Venable can’t help but get choked up a bit, as the mental images that come from weeks of helping clear out other people’s homes amid natural tragedy are something that will stick with her for the rest of her life. As an artist, the Montecito Debris Flow was chockful of visual reminders, but none […]
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Shopping local isn’t just something that Montecitans say, it’s something that they do — 365 days a year. That becomes especially apparent over the holidays, when boutiques, pop-ups, and mom-and-pop shops get the opportunity to help all of us provide a bit of holiday cheer through locally crafted gifts. The Upper Village in Montecito has […]
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It was a welcome sight, two years in the making: the usual crowd of Montecito locals gathered this past Saturday to trim the giant tree near the Manning Park tennis courts on San Ysidro Road. The tradition took a hiatus last year because of the pandemic; the tree was trimmed quietly by a skeletal crew […]
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Carpinteria native Mike Eliason has taken tens of thousands of photos over the course of his 35-year career as a photographer in town. Eliason spent the first quarter-century as a newspaper photojournalist who worked for just about every paper in town, capturing sunsets and shooting alongside wildlife and wildfires before the Santa Barbara County Fire […]
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Waterhouse Gallery is celebrating its 37th year of fine art for us to buy and enjoy in La Arcada Court. To celebrate, Ralph and Diane Waterhouse invited four artists to set up easels in the courtyard and paint so we all could watch. They were Thomas Van Stein, Derek Harrison, Craig Nelson, and Wyllis Heaton. […]
Lea más“We are a community of dreamers,” Anthony Yount tells me as we sip al fresco on the Denner Vineyards patio, overlooking a landscape of green, undulating hills and dozens of acres of proprietary vines. I’d asked the winemaker what he feels makes the Paso Robles wine world unique. He went on to find a silver […]
Lea másHolidays bring a jumble of emotions and 2021 is no exception. But there’s a particular grimness this season and I find myself lingering in the shadows of Thanksgiving for illumination. November in Santa Barbara: Why have there been so many deadly traffic accidents? Just earlier this month we saw dark smoke along Highway 101 and […]
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