The American left is twisting itself into knots trying to figure out its basic messaging. Once discredited, “democratic socialists” have been re-energized, led by a 76-year-old Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, who has been preaching socialism for half a century, and 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a stunning upset winner over favored Democrat Joe Crowley, a 10-term […]
There is nothing quite like this 6,350-sq-ft former “pool pavilion,” designed by Francis Underhill, on the market here or anywhere else in the Santa Barbara area, at least nothing I’m aware of and… and I can say this because I am not in the real estate business and have no stake or interest in this […]
There’s nothing that will make you feel poorer than perusing the high-end homes for sale in the Friday edition of The Wall St. Journal. Or heck, pick up a paper in Atherton, San Francisco, Pacific Palisades, Beverly Hills, or any upper-end community in Napa, Sonoma, Oakland, or even Oxnard. Everything for sale comparable to what […]
Let’s call it “extraordinary,” as it certainly was out of the ordinary. I am referring to, of course, the recent Our Common Table event that occurred on the grounds of Montecito Union School on July 26. “We were worried we wouldn’t have enough food, and then the firefighters brought in thirty pounds of pulled pork […]
Sharyl Attkinsson is smart. Really smart. And accomplished: previously a CNN anchor, then an on-air investigative correspondent for CBS until after 21 years with the company; the subject matter she chose to cover displeased her CBS bosses. She wrote Stonewalled, which became a New York Times best-seller, and continues to promote that and her 2017 […]
Well, now, here’s a good idea, and it’s one we believe will receive a hugely positive response from Montecito residents. The recent Village Fourth Parade and Celebration – sponsored by the Montecito Association and financed by the Montecito Community Foundation – was an expression made up of equal parts of patriotism, community, joy, and relief, […]
This year’s Montecito Association (MA) Village Fourth Parade & Celebration was the biggest, baddest, boldest parade in Montecito history. Everybody participated: from California Highway Patrol, SB County Sheriff, SB County Fire, Montecito Fire, Boy Scouts, to all the schools, all the organizations, all the groups that matter to Montecito and care about Montecito. Montecito’s Village […]
Okay, quick, what do the following names have in common: Denzel Washington, Jennifer Lopez, Shaquille O’Neal, Edward James Olmos, Jeff Henley (VP, Oracle, also president of United Boys & Girls Club of Santa Barbara County advisory board), and Angel Martinez (former CEO, Deckers Brands)? Give up? They were all at one time or another members […]
I met Ashley Iverson, the widow of Corey Iverson – who died fighting the Thomas Fire last December – at the Kick Ash Bash in Summerland, where I learned that she was not only being sponsored by Nina Tierzan but was also staying with Nina in her beach house in Montecito. I have described Ms […]
In an exquisitely crafted 2006 article about debris flows written for Canyon Voices and specifically about the nature of Rattlesnake Canyon, Karen Telleen Lawton wrote: “Barely a thousand years ago – a second on a geologist’s watch – a rainwater and boulder slurry called a debris flow surged through [Rattlesnake Canyon], strewing its 10 million […]
First, the bad news: “There’s plenty of material up here waiting to come down,” says Kevin Taylor, division chief of Operations at Montecito Fire Department. He says this as he, I, and Montecito Fire chief Chip Hickman examine the Montecito back country and the dry steep mountains directly above in a four-person, single-rotor helicopter flown […]
They looked like ordinary babies when they were born and it wasn’t clear which part of the family either of them took after, but, year after year, both seven-year-old Deacon T and five-year-old Kessler Buckley developed substantial genetic traits, making it quite clear these young men are related to their grandfather, MJ founder James Buckley.
Okay, okay. Yes, most other media have already reported that Mollie Ahlstrand of Trattoria Mollie on Coast Village Road was planning to open a location on State Street next to the Granada, a space previously occupied by the once popular Tupelo Junction. Can I just tell you that I knew about this a couple months […]
More than a thousand participants gathered at the Santa Barbara Cemetery to honor military veterans on Memorial Day. The idea behind this yearly event sponsored by the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation is to celebrate the everyday heroes who’ve given their all and to keep the fallen in our minds. Bill Boetticher and the Sheriff’s Bagpipes […]
Noted Santa Barbara entrepreneur Lad Handelman was recipient of the Second Annual Distinguished Patriot Award. COLAB founder Andy Caldwell spoke early, and called Lad “the personification of the American Dream,” noting that Lad had “started from nothing in some of the roughest circumstances (born in the Bronx) to literally conquer the world. It’s a phenomenal […]
In case you missed last week’s Coming & Going, in which we made our upcoming primary election endorsements, preferences, and suggestions, what follows is an edited version of same, with the addition of races and positions not previously covered: Governor of California: John Cox Lieutenant Governor: Cole Harris Secretary of State: Raul Rodriguez, Jr. Controller: […]
Tuesday, June 5 (polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm) is that time again, folks, when you’ll be asked for “permission” to spend yet even more money that California doesn’t have to fulfill a wish list of spending by our profligate legislators. But hey, what the heck, it’s not only not their money, […]
Harrison Maxwell Gilman, son of Montecito’s Richard Gilman, was born and raised in Santa Barbara, and is a 2018 New York University graduate with a BFA in film (with a minor in art history and a minor in the Business of Entertainment). His focus, though, is not on film but in art. “I have sold my […]
Okay, let’s just come right out and say that Janet Adderley, she of the Santa Barbara Youth Ensemble Theatre (SBYET), is the best. Oh, sure, we’ve got Otto Layman at Santa Barbara High School squeezing and cajoling high-school kids to perform professional-style musical extravaganzas on the high school stage. Otto is as good as it […]
Famed western Bonsai master Ernie Witham sent us the following: The Bonsai Club of Santa Barbara will hold its annual show, sale, and demonstrations Saturday and Sunday, May 19-20, in the Fellowship Hall at Trinity Lutheran Church, 909 La Cumbre Road at the corner of Foothill Road. Admission is free and open to all who […]
For those keeping track, little Otilia Marie Harbin came into this world at approximately 11:30 am on Cinco de Mayo (May 5), weighing in at 7 lbs., 5 oz., and measuring all of 20”. Otilia is the daughter of Lily (Buckley) Harbin and Jeremy Harbin, who live in Silver Lake in the Los Angeles area. […]
Seventy-seven years ago, after a Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the United States declared war on Japan. That war resulted in the death of millions of humans and was the only conflict in history in which weapons ranging from swords to Atomic bombs were used. The U.S. prevailed, and the two countries signed […]
When he awoke the morning of January 9, wine maker (2018 “Vintner of the Year”) and longtime Montecito resident Fred Brander found himself sharing space with nearly 900 tons of mud, rocks, and boulders that hadn’t been on his property the night before. His home is north of East Mountain Drive and none of the […]
Family update: Lily Buckley Harbin and her husband, Jeremy Harbin, expect to welcome into their home their first child – a little girl – on or around the 10th of May. Traveling from all over the United States and even London, England, to help Lily celebrate the upcoming blessed event, nearly two-dozen of her friends […]
The idea is unique, at least in Santa Barbara, and we’ve not heard of such an event having been done elsewhere: Put 12 designers together, have each choose a piece of art from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s permanent collection, and then create a dining design to enhance the artist’s choice. All in the […]
It’s not scheduled until Sunday, September 23, but planning is fully underway for this year’s Montecito Motor Classic. The Montecito Inn, a landmark on Coast Village Road, celebrates its 90th birthday this year, as does the Model A Ford, and the September event will reflect that dual celebration of the two American classics. MCC founder […]
Lots of people only know the name James Paul Brown for his unique paintings that appear on bottles of Sunstone wines. But that isn’t even half the story, as a short conversation with the now octogenarian Mr. Brown reveals. During our short talk at Sunstone Winery headquarters in Santa Ynez, James Paul tells me he […]
There are four women responsible for the attractive, busy, and critical resource center known as the Recovery Free Store, dedicated to victims and first responders of the Thomas Fire and Montecito debris slide. They are Berna Keiler, Cathy Link, Heather Sage, and Susan St. John. The store, currently parked directly across from Vons in the […]
Well, new U.S. Secretary of Defense former U.S. Marine general Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis for one, who, along with the new president, adjusted the rules of engagement in the Syria-Libya corridor to allow for more on-the-ground control of U.S. forces. Presto, ISIS was on the run. Lucky for us, commander Richard J. Witt is someone […]
It looks like our “New Normal” is to be the evacuation of upwards of 30,000 residents who live below the Thomas Fire boundary from Carpinteria to Goleta, where the now bare soil has been completely upended and exposed to drying winds and constant desiccating sunshine. Every time a hint of precipitation shows up on a […]
In its heyday, Santa Barbara’s Channel City Club hosted some of the biggest names in the country. Senator Fred Thompson, for example, then considering a run for president of the United States, addressed a crowd of some 400 or so at the old Miramar. The event was memorable in that “Mr. Santa Barbara,” the late […]
Could not pass up the opportunity to play a round at the fabled Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, so accepted an invitation from the folks presenting the Genesis Open, which runs February 15 to 18, to cover world number 1 golfer Dustin Johnson (D.J.) at a press conference there a couple weeks before he […]
It was a double whammy. First the fire, and then came the flood. And, in this case, it wasn’t so much a “flood” as a debris-laden runoff from the denuded hills above Montecito. The flow of boulders, mud, and timber that came crashing down, crafted a direct route from the burn area to the ocean, […]
We only had a little over an hour with Montecito Fire chief Chip Hickman, as he had to escort some of the people who’d lost their homes back to their property, but we made the most of our time. No Montecito firefighters were lost or even hurt throughout the ordeal. There was one death, that […]
A virtual army of nearly 6,500 firefighters, along with 30-plus helicopters, various other aircraft, fire trucks, bulldozers, and more are, as we write this, working in the back country, mostly out of sight, securing fire lines and control points by a combination of controlled backfires, soaking unburned vegetation, creating breaks where no dry foliage is […]
Santa Barbara Revels founder and fifth-generation Californian Susan Keller moved to Canada with her new husband after graduating from Stanford but returned to California, sans husband, some years later. She is not only a lifelong stage and TV performer but has also earned a law degree from UCLA. She moved to Montecito in 1994 with […]
Both Erin Graffy de Garcia and her husband, James Paul (Jim) Garcia, will be honored by Catholic Charities at the upcoming 26th Annual Mistletoe Ball at Coral Casino on Friday evening, December 1. The meal will no doubt be excellent, as the food from Four Seasons Biltmore always is, but the real attraction will be […]
It’s not just Whole Foods or Lazy Acres that tries to accommodate local food purveyors, though their reputations for doing so deserve notice. Ever since Roxy and Michael Lawler purchased Montecito Village Grocery, their aim has also been to include as many local food producers’ items on their shelves. And, at this point, there are […]
While at Montecito Village Grocery, I spotted Emily Mullisen surrounded by boxes of Table 5 frozen pizza and offering tastes of her company’s product. Table 5’s pizza dough is made with a mix of cornmeal and wheat, giving its crust a heft not often found in pizza. Table 5’s top seller is the mushroom-and-basil combo […]
It’s not easy being a working artist, but as long as one doesn’t expect to make a living at it – sort of like writing these days – one can find release and satisfaction in creating. One such creator is Swedish-born Birgitta Baker, whose impressive paintings were on full display at the Santa Barbara Club […]