Tag archives: Oprah
Social gridlock reigned at the Hilton, formerly Fess Parker’s, when 620 guests packed the ballroom for the 24th annual South Coast Business and Technology Awards, which raised $271,000 for the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara. The gala, co-chaired by uber realtor Renee Grubb and Yardi Systems honcho Arnold Brier, presented the Excellence in Service award […]
Los Angeles entrepreneur Michael Rosenfeld, owner of the Hotel Californian, has donated part of the tony hostelry’s extensive grounds fronting State and Mason streets, to the popular charity, the Dream Foundation. The area, to be known as the Dream Plaza, will feature 1,140 stones, measuring 3×2 to 1×1 in size, which can be engraved with […]
I have lived on Santa Rosa Lane for over 30 years. The ugly power lines have always been a blight on what should be beautiful mountain views. Years ago, I asked Southern California Edison to take a look at the mess for safety reasons and to discuss the possibilities of putting the wires under the […]
Montecito computer whiz Henri Grimm may have a most melancholy last name, but the future is decidedly bright. Henri, 23, who was born in London and raised in the postage stamp-sized principality of Monaco, learned his trade at Mac Mechanic, which closed its doors last year. The former Marymount and Bishop Diego High student, whose […]
Montecito firefighters were out in force at the San Ysidro Ranch, but there were no flames to extinguish or new mudslides to clear up. Just the opportunity for more than 100 blaze busters and other VIP guests to enjoy the bounteous hospitality of Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner, who hosted a dinner party in a […]
Nearly three months after launching the grassroots effort of organizing volunteers to clear mud from residents’ homes following January’s mudslides, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is launching a new pilot program to further help mudslide victims. Bucket Brigade founder Abe Powell and co-founder Josiah Hamilton explained to the Montecito Association board last week and at […]
Rather than decomposing, the four musicians featured in Camerata Pacifica’s latest concert at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall were very much alive and well. Normally, the classical music troupe’s monthly repertoire includes one or more famous past composers, but Irish founder Adrian Spence decided a more contemporary program was needed with a […]
Santa Barbara’s musical youth shone at the First United Methodist Church when the youth opera and youth symphony under Opera SB artistic director Kostis Protpapas performed a creative production of Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood. The 1958 work, based on a 15th-century Chester mystery play, featured bass-baritone Vincent Grana and mezzo soprano Chelsea Melamed as his […]
It was child’s play when Kids Helping Kids, the 10-year-old organization launched by students at San Marcos High School, raised a record $501,251 to help local children in need with two sold-out concerts at the Granada. The group, headed by economics teacher James DeVries, has raised more than $2.5 million since it started. Singer-songwriter Andy […]
Former Oscars emcee and TV talker Ellen DeGeneres put the generous in her name when she hosted local firefighters to a bash at her Montecito home, Villa di Lemma, to thank them for their help during the Thomas Fire. Ten members of Strike Team 2040A from various departments in Contra Costa County and three fire […]
Montecito author Robert Eringer has been following in the footsteps of award-winning novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who died in 2007 aged 84. The odyssey to the writer of the darkly satirical best seller Slaughterhouse-Five, as well as 13 other novels, began when fellow Montecito writer T.C. Boyle suggested the trip to Robert when they bumped into […]
