Tag archives: Christmas
Hospice of Santa Barbara is celebrating 35 years of its popular and poignant series of tree lighting events, called Light Up a Life. This year, Hospice has announced the addition of a fourth ceremony location: Montecito’s upper village, on the corner green. “We’ve been wanting to add a Montecito location for awhile, and it felt […]
For some reason the memory of silent-film star Charlie Chaplin is exploited with the fantastical myth that he “built” the Montecito Inn. Totally untrue. In David Myrick’s definitive history (“Santa Barbara & Montecito,” Volumes I and II), he explains the origin of the Montecito Inn in some detail. “Don B. Sebastian and William S. Seamans,” […]
Westmont junior Michael Oldach defended his title and senior Blake Fonda finished second at the Golden State Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships on November 3 in Santa Clarita. Oldach of Colorado Springs completed the 8,000-meter race in a time of 25:26, and Fonda of Lodi finished in 25:39. They earned All-GSAC honors for their […]
Brad Nack‘s 100% Reindeer Art Show has been an annual tradition in town for more than two decades. The native second-generation Santa Barbara painter never expected a one-off show of antlered-animal art to be such a hit, but the tiny, elegantly framed oil paintings featuring wittily and whimsically rendered creatures, have virtually sold out ever […]
Beverley Jackson gives an annual Christmas party with all the guests bringing an unwrapped toy to be donated to needy children. This year she had to postpone it twice because of the fire and floods. About 100 folks gathered at her cozy condo in Montecito Shores armed with precious stuffed animals, games, and books that […]
While retailers across the country enjoyed a very Merry Christmas, retail in Montecito struggled. From hair salons to gift shops to restaurants, business owners watched helplessly as fire and ash led to mandatory evacuations, intolerable air quality and the absence of holiday tourists, all of which put a damper on holiday parties and decimated local […]
Remember December? Or better not. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church (OLMC) had scheduled a Christmas concert for December but had to cancel it because of the Thomas Fire. So, there was Christmas in January. The church and concert were free and open to the public. The poinsettias still filled the altar area, and […]
At Christmas 1914, when World War I had already been raging for several months, an odd phenomenon occurred along the Western Front. Men from both sides briefly stopped fighting and fraternized. This “Christmas truce” is remembered as a freak occurrence. Some were punished for having engaged in it. Fighting resumed, and the war went on […]
Every year, the Casa del Herrero staff gives a “thank you” Christmas cocktail party for its docents and volunteers. It follows a few days after the gala fundraiser so the house is decorated for that soirée and for the upcoming Christmas tours – a truly special time to visit the Casa. As they say, “It’s […]
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 […]
Music director JoAnne Wasserman, marking her 25th year, was clearly in her element when the Santa Barbara Choral Society, celebrating its 70th anniversary, staged its fifth Hallelujah Project at the Lobero. The concert, which included Vivaldi’s magnificent Gloria and, of course, Handel’s uplifting Hallelujah Chorus, was a glorious Yuletide miscellany of seasonal cheer featuring the […]
One of the great joys of Yuletide is the Christmas bash thrown by interior designers Peter Kavoian and Ray Winn, who also scribes for this illustrious organ, at their magnificent Birnam Wood manse. The stunning residence – formerly the home of a member the DuPont family who lived to the ripe old age of 107 […]
With dozens of participants, Westmont College’s oh-so-popular 13th annual Christmas Festival at the First Presbyterian Church is undoubtedly the hottest ticket in town, with four performances staged to cater for the demand. With the full force of the Montecito college’s music talent on display, including the orchestra, women’s and men’s chorale, and the chamber singers, […]
Noell Grace, Ejé Lynn-Jacobs, and the SpiritSings Band have a Yuletide offer: Come all ye merry souls for a magical evening of Christmas carols, mystical solstice chants, and original spirit songs celebrating peace on Earth and the darkest days returning to light. The long-running SpiritSings turns its attention to the holidays, a special show when […]
Montecito is small in size but famous for its natural beauty and relaxed lifestyle. Whether you hike the Montecito trails, stroll Butterfly Beach, order a cup of coffee or a snack – the community character remains the same – unhurried, laid-back, charming, uniquely engaged, small-town friendly service, and locally owned businesses. The shops and businesses […]
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 […]
As always, Festival Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker – at the Arlington on Saturday and Sunday – is performed by a huge cast and backed by a full orchestra conducted by Elise Unruh playing Tchaikovsky’s iconic score. Kids of all ages who are attend the company’s school are augmented in a big way by several […]
Maria Muldaur already had a decade-plus of experience in music that had spanned jugband to folk-rock to bluegrass, when out of the blue she scored a mega-hit in 1974 with “Midnight at the Oasis”. But as she readily admits, fame, and fortune beyond that blip wasn’t in the cards, nor something she desired. Eschewing pop, […]
Ensemble Theatre Company’s charming production of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley is a real Yuletide cracker! The New Vic show, directed by Andrew Barnicle and written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, follows the colorful characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice two years later as they gather at Pemberley, the stately pile of Fitzwilliam […]
Champagne and apple cider were flowing freely when the Ritz-Carlton Bacara threw a socially gridlocked reception for the lighting of the tony hostelry’s Christmas tree. The 11-feet-high fir was stunningly decorated by in-house designer Rosie Neely for the occasion, when Goleta mayor Paula Perotte threw the switch, watched by the 195 guests, many of them […]
