Response to Buckley’s Opinion
By Montecito Journal   |   August 22, 2023

In his dirge over the demise of print daily newspapers, James Buckley seems to assign the initial cause of the recent shuttering of the Santa Barbara News-Press to The New York Times’ purchasing of that publication in 1985. He expounds on that curious contention by stating that The New York Times didn’t “know” Santa Barbara […]

Some Thoughts on the Passing of the News-Press
By Lou Cannon   |   August 15, 2023

When the Brooklyn Eagle, a circulation leader among afternoon papers, closed its doors in 1955 after 114 years of publication, few tears were shed outside of Brooklyn. The Eagle was not much of a newspaper, observed press critic A.J. Liebling of The New Yorker. Nonetheless, he continued, the death of the Eagle was an occasion […]

 

Recently Trending

More from Montecito

Required Reading
By Montecito Journal   |   August 15, 2023

Gwyn Lurie’s Editorial, “Wreck-Quiem for the Santa Barbara News-Press” (MJ August 3-10) should be required reading for every high school Civics class in the land. It captures the infinite value of “The Third Estate” (sic), as journalists and newspapers were once called. It describes in fearsome detail what happens when there are no gatekeepers watching […]

Thoughts on the Death of Our Newspaper World
By James Buckley   |   August 8, 2023

I grew up with newsprint. As a 10-year-old newspaper delivery boy for the Lowell Sun, I spent many a Sunday morning on my new Schwinn Birthday Bike delivering the very large (and prosperous) Sunday edition of the Lowell Sun. Over the course of two years or so, my route went from 41 to 123 customers, […]

The Ways We Celebrate 100
By Stella Haffner   |   August 8, 2023

Dear Montecito, Welcome to the 99th edition of Dear Montecito!  Even though this column was started three years ago, I have been looking forward to our 100th edition practically since Day 1. It is not unpopular to say 100 is a very nice number. It is round and also somehow circular in that it encourages […]

WRECK-QUIEM for the SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS
By Gwyn Lurie   |   August 8, 2023

We live in this time of great schadenfreude – consider the case of the OceanGate submersible. I’ve never seen so many posts online from random people gloating over the misfortune of a billionaire. However, I for one take no joy or comfort in the death of the Santa Barbara News-Press, our town’s only daily newspaper, […]

Big Box Thoughts
By Montecito Journal   |   August 8, 2023

I just read Jeff Harding’s piece on the addition of Restoration Hardware in the Vol. 29 Issue 30 edition of the MJ. While I generally agree with a lot of what Jeff had to say, I feel like the piece requires some clarification. The reason these formulaic retailers he mentions are on Coast Village is […]

Advertisement
  • Re: Restoration Hardware/Big Box Issue
    By Jeff Harding   |   August 1, 2023

    The Montecito Association is considering recommending to the County a ban on “big box,” “formula” retailers in Montecito. I oppose such a ban. My wife and I have lived in Montecito since 1978. We are members of the Montecito Association. We have been active in the community over the years. Recently I was a promoter […]

    Life in Casa
    By Montecito Journal   |   May 30, 2023

    When I moved to Casa Dorinda on January 1, 2009, after being on the waitlist for five years, it was the height of the 2008 financial disaster which cost me a $300,000 loss on the sale of my house. I had friends from the Music Academy of the West here, and the first four years […]

    Read more...

    Standing up to Dictators… and Facebook… to Save Democracy
    By Gwyn Lurie   |   May 24, 2023

    I don’t have many heroes. Maybe because I’m too easily disappointed. Or that just beneath my optimistic surface lives a somewhat jaded self. Or perhaps it’s simply that it’s hard to find heroes these days who stand up to the test of time, not to mention under the harsh glare of modern-day journalism. But when […]

    Food Trucks are Part of the Real World
    By Montecito Journal   |   May 23, 2023

    I read in last week’s edition [of MJ] that someone has told the food trucks not to come to Montecito because of complaints. I find this shocking – that someone would complain when the people eating lunch at these trucks are mainly working for them! I am a direct next-door neighbor to the Olive Mill […]

    “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”
    By Montecito Journal   |   May 16, 2023

    I am glad that “Robert’s Big Questions” are published regularly in the weekly Montecito Journal. The writer is among my most interesting friends (among other things, he’s the widely grinning high-brow guy cavorting about on his unicycle in parades and events around town), and I find it worthwhile to consider how and what he thinks. […]

    Supervisor Capps’ First 120 Days in the Game
    By Gwyn Lurie   |   May 2, 2023

    In November 2020 2nd District County Supervisor Laura Capps, then School Board Member Capps, took a run for the 1st District County Supervisor seat challenging Supervisor Das Williams. Despite this paper’s strong endorsement of Capps for her refreshing perspective on campaign reform, the need for more transparency in the government (on issues like cannabis and […]

    Sound Wall Considerations
    By Montecito Journal   |   April 18, 2023

    I would like to add something to the comments on the recent Board of Supervisors’ decision regarding sound walls along the 101 corridor in Montecito, which meeting I attended. My concern is that in this conversation we are perhaps disregarding the “elephant in the room,” which would be the status of our creeks and their […]

    Advertisement