Tag archives: local business
An earthquake a century ago shook Santa Barbara but united the city. Can today’s housing and economic crises coalesce to effect similar change? The retail closures of State Street and local housing crisis are familiar topics in the area and have been discussed for years. In 2017 the Santa Barbara chapter of the American Institute […]
For a limited time through the holiday, Ca’Dario Ristorante is offering a complimentary bottle of wine with orders of $75 or more. Seasoned chef Dario Furlati creates rustic Northern Italian dishes served family style. Pair your next meal with the merlot or viognier by Dard. Available for carryout. Ca’Dario is located at 1187 Coast Village […]
Giving Santa Barbarans yet another reason to venture out for wine is Aperitivo, an Italian-inspired wine bar from owner-operators Brian Dodero and Andrea Girardello – two food and beverage veterans who met while working at the Four Seasons Biltmore. Taking its name from the Italian tradition of gathering after work for a pre-dinner drink and […]
The Governor Who Stole Christmas The Board of Supervisors approved sending a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom at last Tuesday’s meeting. I was elated to hear Adams and Lavagnino lead a stronger pushback with the idea of keeping our County evaluated separately. However, Santa Barbara County needs to take even a stronger stand with a […]
More than one hundred Montecito and Santa Barbara residents gathered at noon on Saturday, December 12 in front of Tre Lune Ristorante to protest California Governor Gavin Newsom’s ban on outdoor dining in several Southern California counties including Santa Barbara. Although Newsom’s order aims to help local hospitals avoid an unmanageable spike in COVID-19 patients […]
These days it’s hard to get excited about anything when days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and the only glimmer of hope is your next home-cooked meal. Same salad dressing, same lemon chicken, same wine, and the same cloth napkins (just washed). Life has been, well, uneventful. That is, up until last […]
Growing up, Mark Szekrenyi ’23 fell in love with Hawaiian sea turtles while snorkeling during family vacations. “Their peaceful majesty created a lasting bond with me,” he says. On his last visit to Hawaii several years ago, he learned just how endangered the creatures were. In the last two decades, the population of green sea […]
Natural wine refers to wine made from grapes farmed without pesticides and with minimal intervention in the cellar, meaning nothing is added or removed. Devotees think of it as the purest form of wine, and something as essential as choosing to eat organic foods. The arrival of two new natural wine-focused bars to downtown Santa […]
Retail shops were some of the first businesses to close when the pandemic hit. Yet they’ve slowly opened up inch by inch as regulations allowed, finding new ways to connect with customers. The silver lining to the world’s current state is a forced creativity it has spurred in us all. For business owners, the pandemic […]
Just hours into what is hopefully our final lockdown order, it’s deja vu all over again. I’m worried about my mother in Los Angeles and my in-laws cooped up in assisted living at Maravilla. As we head into the holidays, I’m missing my family and friends, I’m feeling bad for my kids, and I’m concerned […]
Montecito’s legacy shops have stood the test of time, braving the lightest of lulls to the meanest of bear markets. And in a year that has cratered traditional retail, the village’s small businesses have stood tall again. In the midst of yet another crippling lockdown, we feature a few of the area’s celebrated boutiques for […]
I’ve often extolled Mollie Ahlstrand’s food. She’s the owner/chef of Mollie’s on State, formerly Mollie’s Ristorante on Coast Village Road. In recent months, she has had her challenges. Upon closing her Coast Village Road eatery (after a 25-year run), for example, she and her son, Ali Ahlstrand, opened Mollie’s on State. Then, of course, the […]
With City officials urging a Safer at Home order aiming to slow the spread of the coronavirus, now more than ever is the time to support local businesses. Indoor dining is banned for the time being, and as we move into the winter months, dining outdoors is not ideal. But Summerland, a sleepy seaside community, […]
It was back to the past when my trusty shutterbug Priscilla and I attended the opening night celebrations of La Paloma, on the site of the former Paradise Café owned by Randy Rouse and Kevin Boss for 37 years. The wonderfully reconfigured eatery, a tiara’s toss from the Santa Barbara News-Press HQ on Anacapa Street, […]
Santa’s elves have been working hard to prepare Summerland emporiums with festive atmosphere and sparkling gift choices for the holiday season. In fact, most places were already sporting Christmas trees and décor the weekend before Thanksgiving and more than 45 flocked wreaths had already flown out the door like hot cakes at Field + Fort, […]
A new home design store has opened in San Ysidro Village; TF Design Montecito softly opened earlier this month. Namesake owner and designer Tina Frey has personally curated the space with a comprehensive collection of her simple and modern resin designs. All pieces are conceived and hand-sculpted by Frey, and handmade by a talented and […]
Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner didn’t have to look very far for a new manager at his 500-acre, 41-cottage, five-star hostelry, the San Ysidro Ranch. Ian Williams, who replaced bonnie Scottish lass Maxine Rutledge as overseer of the historic property where the late President John Kennedy and wife, Jackie, spent their honeymoon, and actor Laurence […]
Hacienda, by Bonita Lifestyle, the latest incarnation of retail shopping therapy in Summerland by Rita Villa, opened its doors mid-November. Located just down the street from the Summerland Beach Café (and in the same row as Garde on the street behind the liquor store), the shop is the culmination of the many years of Rita’s […]
Even movie stars and the rich and famous need to play by the rules, so it should seem simple for the rest of us mere mortals. At a Summerland Architectural Board of Review meeting a few years back, the board approved a 26,000-square-foot house (by virtue of a variance on the 25-acre beachfront property) for […]
To the Hotel Californian for the re-opening bash of Blackbird, the hostelry’s signature restaurant, which has been reimagined with “a beverage-forward atmosphere” featuring cocktails by celebrity mixologist Devon Espinosa, alongside a thoughtfully curated menu of light bites by executive chef Travis Watson who pays homage to the culinary bounty of the Central Coast. My trusty […]
