19 Dec 2023
Lighting Up ‘The Tempest’
There’s something quite magical and yet weighty in the way in which Lights Up! Theatre Company has taken a firm toehold in the Santa Barbara youth theater scene – one that has never been sorely lacking in the first place. Theater stage and screen veteran Amy Love has parlayed her professional and teaching background into […]
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Holiday Shows of the Week: Hot and Cold Christmas Shows
Choral concerts don’t come much more compelling than the Quire of Voyces, which Nathan Kreitzer founded at SBCC back in 1993 and still enthusiastically leads 30 years later. The a cappella sacred music ensemble has a remarkably crystalline sound cultivated by both Kreitzer’s exacting ear and regular rehearsals. There are but two full weekend programs […]
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Setting the Stage
Ensemble’s Johnny Cash tribute/story-through-song musical revue winds up its run at the New Vic with a final extended weekend through December 17. The Alcazar Theatre in Carpinteria has a second and final weekend helping of its homegrown adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street featuring an all-local cast and production crew, also closing December 17, the […]
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Gwyn Lurie — Woman of the Year — Democratic Women of Santa Barbara
Gwyn Lurie is my business partner and political opposite. The one thing we agree on is that we make each other better. Well, better and more tired. I was proud that Gwyn was honored this past Sunday as the Dem Women of Santa Barbara’s ‘Woman of the Year.’ Had the Dem Women checked with me […]
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12 Dec 2023
Sansum Clinic
The Montecito Journal’s 2024 Giving List book for Santa Barbara was just published last month in time for Giving Tuesday, but already the two-page spread about Sansum Clinic is out of date. Not the part that takes note of the fact that Sansum’s breadth of services are so pervasive in the area that it’s likely […]
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‘Dream Scenario’
“Have you been dreaming about me?” It’s a question asked by Paul Matthews, played to perfection by Nicolas Cage, in Kristoffer Borgli’s newest surreal dark comedy, Dream Scenario. And the answer to that question? Yes. In fact, millions of people around the world have! In a bizarre, Luis Buñuel-esque turn of events, Paul Matthews – […]
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Duty
There are many different kinds of duty, but one thing they all have in common is a sense of obligation, which often attaches to a particular role or job. It can also be an amount owed to a government, or to some other authority, especially as a form of tax, in connection with imports and […]
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The Mystic Whaler: A Schooner for the Schools and Community
Hello Santa Barbara! There’s a new charity in town. Organizations devoted to charitable endeavors are the beating heart of our generous community, but this foundation brings something very special into the mix. Officially designated as the Central Coast Ocean Adventure Foundation (CCOAF) its main venue is a 110-foot-tall ship called the Mystic Whaler, areplica of […]
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Men’s Soccer Wins National Championship
Westmont men’s soccer beat Campbellsville (Kentucky) 3-1 on December 2 in Kissimmee, Florida, to claim the 2023 National Championship of the National Christian College Athletic Association. This is the second time Westmont Men’s Soccer has claimed a national title. The first was by the 1972 team that won the NAIA National Championship. “There is nothing […]
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Bidding Underway for Five-Inch Artworks
A lively and enthusiastic crowd packed into the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art for the opening reception of “5×5: Westmont College Celebrating 85 Years” on November 30. There is certainly a lot to see with more than 675 small pieces of art hung in the gallery – all of which are being auctioned off to […]
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Mr. Monopoly Goes Straight to Westmont
Westmont is on the board! Monopoly: The Santa Barbara Edition includes a space featuring the Montecito campus in the light purple section where Virginia Avenue sits in the classic game. The only college featured on the board, Westmont appears between two iconic locations: the Santa Barbara Harbor and the Santa Barbara Airport. The square features […]
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Businesses Bring the Holiday Spirit to Town
Summerland – an impossibly picturesque village arrayed along .7 miles of oceanfront hillside – will be rolling out its holiday finery for the aptly-named Winter in Summerlandthis coming Saturday, December 9, from 11 am – 4 pm. In the event, 38 of the town’s businesses will be opening their doors to offer holiday spirit to […]
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Why Montecito’s Nets Got Das’ Boot
Have we no memory? Have we no leadership? Who in our local government is representing the interests of Montecito residents? Are we considered too privileged to merit concern? When the debris nets on the mountains above Montecito were taken down on November 1, I was beside myself. As photos came in of helicopters lifting the […]
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Totally Local: The Indefatigable Mollie Ahlstrand
After nearly 30 years, the mudslide of 2018 put an end to her elegant Trattoria Mollie on Coast Village Road. She opened a new Mollie’s next to the Granada on State Street, but COVID-19 crushed that endeavor too. Armed conflict broke out in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in 2020 and the country is now […]
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Vintage Mallory Hat
FM of Montecito sends me a photo of his grandfather’s vintage Mallory hat, and wonders what became of the venerable custom and manufacture of American fedoras. The story is a sad one in my mind because a handsome man with a hat is irresistible. FM’s hat was made in 1920 by the great American hatmaker […]
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A Well-Rounded Musical
In a strange coincidence, three Broadway music revues have arrived on our shores in sequence, and, as it turns out, you have your choice to see any of them for one night on Thursday, December 7. The Cher Show winds up its two-day run at the Granada, Ensemble’s Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny […]
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Final 1st Thursday of 2023
The holiday shopping season is as good a time as any to open your doors, and the monthly art and culture walk on lower State Street and environs known as 1st Thursday has a few new folks participating for the December 7 event. Broc Ellinger Gallery (931 State) features artwork by the surfer and photographer… […]
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A Grace-ful Evening
Most folks in town are familiar with Grace Fisher, the Santa Barbara native who contracted a virus that spread to her spine and left her paralyzed from the neck down in her senior year in high school in 2014. The story bears repeating, especially at this time of year, as Fisher quickly turned her tragedy […]
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Diggin’ the Beats…and Dignity
Even more locals know about Unity Shoppe’s annual holiday telethon, which was co-founded by Montecito’s own Kenny Loggins during the heyday of his career back in the mid-1980s. That was also when the nonprofit opened its first store after six decades of moving around, engendering the idea of maintaining dignity and autonomy for low-income residents […]
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