One of the things I love most about living in California is the diversity and abundance of floral life throughout the year. Taking road trips is a hobby of mine, and I especially adore the drive from Santa Barbara to San Francisco Bay. I’ve compiled a list of 10 amazing flower walks that can be […]
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The Fund for Santa Barbara was founded way back in 1980 as a means to support local organizations working for progressive social change. Nearly 45 years later, while the issues, its methods and organization might have grown, that purpose has not been altered at all: The Fund remains dedicated to helping to find solutions to […]
Lea másToday was an interesting news day. The Supreme Court just ruled that “bump stocks” cannot be banned. Even though these devices effectively turn legal guns into machine guns. And even though the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 banned civilians from owning any machine guns manufactured after that date. The bump stock ban was a […]
Lea másThe sun has been playing hide and seek with us lately. Even with the little we have had, however, the Farmers’ Market shows all the signs of Summer! Moua Family Farm has one of my daughters and my favorite snacks, the Kirby cucumber. This little crunchy fruit, yep not a vegetable, is full of beneficial […]
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I traveled to the Hawaiian Islands for eight nights and visited four hotels this past spring for three reasons: 1. To see my dear friend of half a century – the amazing octogenarian artist, Dr. Masami Teraoka and his family who live on the island of Oahu, while reporting on my tourism stops. 2. To give […]
Lea más‘In Search of the Romanovs’ To know me is to know I love Russian history. In Search of the Romanovs: A Family’s Quest to Solve One of History’s Most Brutal Crimes by Peter Sarandinaki does an excellent job of reconstructing exactly what happened to the Tsar and his family on that fateful day in 1918, […]
Lea másWhen I opened that antique dresser drawer, a stiff, corpse-like doll stared up at 12-year-old me. I reeled back in horror, and I have never liked dolls from that day. So as fate would have it, I have an online reputation as a doll expert. A case in point is a photo sent to me […]
Lea másDear Montecito, Four years later and here we are. This column started during the first COVID-19 lockdown, when I found out that half of my exams were being canceled. “Hey Gwyn… mind if I start a column?” And, well, you know the rest of the story! One hundred hours of phone calls, emails, and interviews […]
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It was almost half a century ago, but I can still remember driving home after seeing Jaws in the movie theater on a rainy night in New Jersey – so much so that when we came to a freeway underpass that had flooded with several feet of water, I was happy that the police were […]
Lea másIt’s also time for the 15th Asian American Film Series, whose films speak to the Asian American experience as an exploration of the history and cultures of the Asian communities that once thrived in and around the Santa Barbara Presidio area. Held at 6 pm on Fridays in July at the Alhecama Theatre, the 2024 […]
Lea másLady Leslie and Lord Paul Ridley-Tree, considered one of Montecito’s premier philanthropic power couples, generously supported the Santa Barbara Museum of Art for more than a quarter of a century. To help fulfill SBMA’s mission to integrate art into the lives of people, the Ridley-Trees made major gifts to aid in acquiring art to build […]
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What is it about the human psyche that makes so many of us want to collect things? Does it go back to our animal ancestry, in which many creatures’ survival depended on their collecting materials to eat, or from which to construct their homes? Maybe, but I think it also reflects our very human desire […]
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The artworks from the collection of Paul and Leslie Ridley-Tree will be honorably on view in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s McCormick Gallery, July 7 through November 3. The exhibition is titled A Legacy of Giving: The Lady Leslie and Lord Paul Ridley-Tree Collection. During installation week, I interviewed the exhibit’s curator, James Glisson, […]
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The energy and face of Amy Alzina EdD, Cold Spring Elementary School District (CSESD) Superintendent/Principal, is well noted in our town. For the past seven years, she has led the school and increased growth levels in education, STEAM, and community interface. She and her team have maintained this through multiple environmental disasters and lockdowns, without […]
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UCSB’s Media Arts and Technology Program (MAT) 25th Annual End of Year Show titled soft AI+ M: Realities Altered Realities Emerging, was a dual treat with students showing at UCSB and SBCAST. I attended the SBCAST show on June 6. The poster for the show quipped, “No AI was harmed in the generation of this […]
Lea másI support both Russel Ruiz and Cliff Gherson’s thoughtful and on-point letters to the editor in opposition to the glitz shopping center about to be dropped from the Trojan horse of “affordable housing.” I’ve known both of these good fellows for probably 50 years as a resident and small business owner here in this wonderful […]
Lea másThe Montecito 101 segment is located between Sheffield Drive and Olive Mill Road. Plan summary: Highway 101 in Montecito adds a new peak-period carpool lane in each direction from the Romero Creek Bridge north to Olive Mill Road; new on- and off-ramps with northbound and southbound auxiliary lanes (lanes connecting on-ramps and off-ramps to improve […]
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Terry Pillow, former head honcho of Ralph Lauren, Coach and Tommy Bahama, hosted a bijou bash at Homer, his popular leather store on Coast Village Road, to launch Baja Montecito, founded by Blake Siemens, grandson of entrepreneur Wayne Siemens. The first product in the new line is a cap emblazoned with the mountains of our […]
Lea másWriter and comedian Steve Martin turned up at Tecolote, the bijou bibliophile bastion in the upper village, when prolific Montecito author Steven Gilbar launched his latest tome Montecito Noir: True Tales of Murder & Mayhem in Paradise. Gilbar has lived in our rarefied enclave for 40 years and has written myriad works over four decades.
Lea másThe Music Academy of the West hosted the second of its five-part orchestra series when the Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Anthony Parnther, the Yale-educated music director of the San Bernardino Symphony since 2019, performed at the Granada Theatre. Joan Huang’s “Tujia Dance,” and Florence Price’s “Symphony No. 3” kicked off the entertaining concert, wrapping […]
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