Tag archives: Prince Harry

Dear Ms Read
By Montecito Journal   |   March 11, 2021

Regarding the letter by Eileen Read. I have never met her nor Bob Hazard. I don’t care if he’s a motel franchiser from Phoenix, or a right-wing political gadfly. I and my surf-rider friends, fishermen, ocean swimmers, and beachgoers ONLY care about the quality of effluent that enters the surf and that is only treated […]

What a Year
By Richard Mineards   |   March 11, 2021

It has been quite a hair-raising year for Montecito crimper Marcus Boyle, owner of the Halo & Horns salon on Coast Village Road with his wife, Clara, just a curling tongs’ throw from Ca’Dario. Marcus, 45, who trained at Vidal Sassoon in London, celebrates the first anniversary of his business this month having worked for […]

A Good Start
By Richard Mineards   |   March 4, 2021

Now that Governor Gavin Newsom has lifted the total ban on eating out, I ventured to the historic Santa Barbara Yacht Club to dine with my trusty shutterbug Priscilla, the Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff and her longtime beau Miles Hartfeld. The dining room on the outside terrace overlooking the Pacific was socially gridlocked, with […]

Welcome to the Board
By Richard Mineards   |   February 25, 2021

Five new members have joined Santa Barbara Zoo’s board of directors. The menagerie’s quintet includes attorney Jessica L. Diaz, Tracy Krainer, Bob Myman, retired veterinarian Dan Segna, and the Zoo’s former education director Betsy Turner. Montecito Bank & Trust executive George Leis chairs the board. Wedding Bells CBS morning show anchor Gayle King’s daughter, Kirby […]

Just in Time
By Richard Mineards   |   February 11, 2021

Santa Barbara City College’s Atkinson Gallery and the SBCC Foundation have been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Getty Foundation to prepare for the next edition of the region-wide arts initiative Pacific Standard Time, scheduled to open in 2024. Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented series of collaborations among institutions across Southern California. In each, […]

Young Artists Shine
By Richard Mineards   |   February 4, 2021

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara has named 22 student artists as winners of its art scholarship competition. Each will receive a colleague scholarship for the 2021-22 academic year. “Under normal circumstances we would hold the competition at the Ridley-Tree Education Center and host a reception for the winners at the Santa Barbara Museum of […]

Let’s Hear it for the Girls
By Richard Mineards   |   January 14, 2021

Having completed five years leading Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara, Barbara Ben-Horin is leaving the pro-girl nonprofit. Since joining the organization in January 2016 it has expanded its Teen Center programming, overhauled its emergency planning, and advanced its advocacy efforts on behalf of girls’ rights and opportunities. “I deeply believe in Girls Inc.’s vision […]

Welcome to the Neighborhood: Montecito is experiencing a once-in-a-generation real estate boom that is reshaping the once sleepy, bucolic town
By Peter Kiefer   |   December 24, 2020

Signs that a community is in the throes of an historic transformation are rarely overt and almost never seismic. They’re small yet perceptible shifts that, in aggregate, tell a story of where a town or a city is coming from and where it’s most likely headed. In the case of Montecito those signs – at […]

A New Role for Roling
By Richard Mineards   |   December 17, 2020

Santa Barbara Symphony has appointed Rebecca Roling as vice president of patron and community engagement. A lifelong classical music fan, patron of the arts, and musician, Roling will build upon and leverage the popular organization’s impact and momentum, and be responsible for the growth of donation and ticket revenue through patron connection and loyalty. Five […]

The ‘Disturbing Drama’ of the Duchess of Sussex
By Richard Mineards   |   December 3, 2020

An old friend, Sean Smith, former gossip columnist of London’s Sunday People newspaper and now a successful celebrity author, has sent me his latest book, Meghan Misunderstood, on the Duchess of Sussex. Sean, who has also penned bestselling tomes on singer Adele, George Michael, Tom Jones, Ed Sheeran, Kate Middleton, Kim Kardashian, Justin Timberlake, Britney […]

A Talented Tandem
By Richard Mineards   |   December 3, 2020

UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures series has obviously been scrambling during the pandemic lockdown to present its normal program of international acts and artists. I took the opportunity at the weekend to watch 21-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his pianist sister, Isata, play a virtual concert from their home in Nottingham, England, and couldn’t fail […]

Blackbird Sings Again
By Richard Mineards   |   November 26, 2020

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 […]

McMansion on the Market
By Richard Mineards   |   November 12, 2020

A stunning 554-acre ranch once owned by McDonald’s mogul Ray Kroc in the Santa Ynez Valley is up for grabs, for $29 million. Kroc and his wife, Jane, a former secretary to the actor John Wayne, bought the property in the Happy Valley area 16 miles from the late singer Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in […]

Welcome to the Neighborhood
By Richard Mineards   |   November 5, 2020

It was just four months ago that singer Ariana Grande splashed out $6.75 million for a Tudor-style home, The Porter House, consisting of two bedrooms and three bathrooms in two antique barns that had been imported from England, and just a month later Prince Harry and his wife Meghan spent $14.5 million for a nine-bedroom, […]

Harry and Meghan’s Riven Rock Estate on Giggster
By Richard Mineards   |   October 29, 2020

The Riven Rock estate Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bought for $14.5 million had been listed for rent on the website Giggster. The listing, which was taken down on Sunday after media reports, advertised the nine-bedroom, 16-bath property on 5.4 acres for $700 an hour. The listing said the lush estate could be used as […]

“Tabloid Culture” – A True Oxymoron
By Gwyn Lurie   |   August 20, 2020

For a few decades before and one decade after the Millennium, there was a well-known restaurant in New York named Elaine’s, known as the “it” celebrity hang-out and “the private place where public people go to be private in public.” There was a rigorous selection process to get in (which was conducted by Elaine herself). […]

Leading the Way
By Richard Mineards   |   May 21, 2020

Along with key community partners, United Way of Santa Barbara County is leading a multi-pronged response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on needs assessments conducted with dozens of community partners, the response efforts are focused on providing direct assistance to local individuals, families, and nonprofit organizations, supporting essential workers and workplaces with emergency childcare services […]

Farewell, Oliver’s
By Richard Mineards   |   May 14, 2020

Oliver’s, the Coast Village Road vegetarian restaurant that took five years to transform from the old Peabody’s space under owner cell phone billionaire Craig McCaw, 70, has been sold, says my mole with the martini. McCaw, who has moved back to Seattle, has been divesting himself of his properties in our rarefied enclave, including his […]

Remembering Peter
By Richard Mineards   |   April 23, 2020

On a personal note, I remember dashing Yale-graduate Peter Beard, the legendary wildlife photographer, who has died at the age of 82 after going missing from his Montauk, Long Island, home. Peter, heir to two great fortunes in tobacco and railroads, was a fixture on the New York social scene, where I first met him […]

Selling New York
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2020

Santa Barbara resident and horse racing enthusiast Barry Schwartz, the co-founder of Calvin Klein Inc., is selling his sprawling equestrian estate in New York’s Westchester Country for $100 million. Spanning around 740 acres, the property is among the largest privately held estates in the county, according to Christie’s International Real Estate. Known as Stonewall Farm […]