Tag archives: covid 19
This week, both sides of State Street would typically be lined with crowds watching men and women wearing traditional Mexican costumes parading on horseback or dancing in formation from one end of town to the other. But thanks to COVID-19, the annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta has been called off for the first time since […]
The folks who run these one-time beachside events are getting pretty good at doing them online considering the first three have sold out. Maybe that’s because while the meet and greet and see-who-you-can-pick-up action can only happen virtually, the beer is real, as the organizers send samples to your home in advance. And while it’s […]
American Son, a play by Christopher Demos-Brown, already had a power-packed premise before recent events. On the night a teenage boy goes missing, his parents end up at the police station trying to figure out what happened while dealing with officers who aren’t the most forthcoming with information and assistance. While old wounds concerning their […]
The Ocean Renegades at the Miramar Things Fall Apart; the center cannot holdMere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywherethe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction while the worstare full of passionate intensity. WB Yeats Miramar oh Miramar, you are an icon of beauty, a tribute to […]
With so many schools having to turn to online classes, students in need are having an even tougher time getting the educational resources they need. One organization, United Way of Santa Barbara, has been helping at-risk and low-income students and members of the community since 1923. Of their many community programs, two of their educational […]
Last Thursday, August 6, over 250 employees from the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore took to the streets of Montecito to protest unanswered questions about their employment status at the resort, as the Biltmore, Coral Casino, and The Montecito Club have been closed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve given nearly fifteen years […]
At this month’s Montecito Association board meeting, Montecito Union School and Cold Spring School superintendents reported that school will begin next week, on a virtual platform. Dr. Anthony Ranii from MUS reported that enrollment is up to 376 students, and the school is in process of distributing computers to each student. Administrators are also preparing […]
Two popular salons on Coast Village Road are yet again doing the “pandemic pivot,” and are now offering their services outside, in alignment with guidelines from the State of California that went into effect in late July. Salon owner Xavier Scordo, who took ownership of the salon known as Belle de Jour in Olive Mill […]
In an exclusive interview with the Montecito Journal, Ty Warner, Montecito resident, Beanie Baby creator, and billionaire owner of the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club, the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore, the Montecito Country Club, and the San Ysidro Ranch, said he had no plans to sell any of his local properties, all of […]
Virtually all of Old Spanish Days’ annual celebration of the city’s heritage have been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. But apparently even a deadly disease can’t rain metaphorically on the most popular events in the five-day Fiesta as the 2020 El Desfile Historico has been reimagined as the Caravan Fiesta Parade. As always, […]
Summer is a great time of year for grilling fish, and Santa Barbara Harbor, with its fleet of 200 commercial fishing vessels, boasts a bounty of seafood this season. Wild king salmon, ahi tuna, halibut, white sea bass, black cod and spiny lobster are just a few. If you’re already in the mindset of shopping […]
The Truth About Kelp I read with interest Mr. Zach Rosen’s article on Chris Goldblatt’s reef project. I am uncertain if Mr. Rosen was obtaining his information from Chris, but his initial statements are inaccurate under any circumstances. First, El Niño events are directly correlated with warm waters and heavy rainfall. Not, “droughts” as he […]
It seems apropos to be writing about one of my newfound loves, pottery, on the 30-year anniversary of the movie Ghost, in which a clay-splattered Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze share the pottery wheel in one of cinema’s most famous romantic scenes. As inspiring as that movie scene was, after months practicing how to “throw […]
Remember the movie Home Alone? It’s a fantasy, a comedy, and a horror film wrapped in one. The parents leave for a family vacation and amidst the chaos of preparing to leave, they forget the most important thing… their son. So the kid gets left home alone with no grown-up in charge, no one to […]
My wife and I have significant comorbidity issues that would be extremely dangerous were we to contract COVID-19. Many of us have been self-quarantined since mid-February with no end in sight. Why are we here? California started way behind New York in experiencing large pandemic infections, only to pass it. Why are we here? Santa […]
The Montecito Country Mart (MCM), located at 1016 Coast Village Road, is home to 21 boutique shops anchored by the Vons grocery store and Union Bank. MCM owner Jim Rosenfield acquired the mall in 2010, reconstructed its original 1960s façade and added outdoor patios to make it an upscale Montecito shopping destination. “I am so […]
Planning for future events in the face of the pandemic continues to be a major challenge for all arts organizations. Some have chosen to sit out the upcoming 2020-21 season (among them Camerata Pacifica) while others are cautiously rejiggering their bookings in hopes of being able to stage socially distanced performances after the first of […]
Uneasy about dining outdoors in public? Bring the chef to your home for an intimate social distance gathering with loved ones On a recent sunny afternoon, Chas Escalante, SB Event Co.’s co-founder and chef, takes a tape measure in hand to assess spacing for a backyard barbecue at a home perched atop the Riviera. Just […]
In the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the candy mastermind’s base of operations first appears as a nondescript, smoke-stacked factory with no obvious hints outside as to what goes on inside. But something does; and passersby want to know what. Carpinteria’s Airplant Alchemy is like that. Owned and operated by Brian Kollenborn, a […]
The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum, which remains closed to in-person visits due to COVID-19, offers an online exhibition, “Matter + Spirit: A Chinese/American Exhibition,” which reflects on the perennial tensions between the material and the spiritual in human life and in society, through August 15 at westmont.edu/museum/matter-spirit. The exhibition is a product of a gathering in […]
