Social gridlock reigned when attorney Michael Bollag and his wife, Tracy, hosted a super sunset soirée at their stunning aerie near Hope Ranch for Granada Premier Patrons. “It has just gone from strength to strength over the past few years and is a vital part of the theater’s fundraising,” says Craig Springer, who retires next […]
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It was a night on the tiles when Monarch Wealth Strategies celebrated its 10th anniversary on the roof of the MOXI museum with 100 guests quaffing the vino and noshing on the comestibles. President and founder Aaron Clark, who has more than 500 clients and also just opened an office in Santa Maria, said: “It […]
Lea másHarrison Maxwell Gilman, son of Montecito’s Richard Gilman, was born and raised in Santa Barbara, and is a 2018 New York University graduate with a BFA in film (with a minor in art history and a minor in the Business of Entertainment). His focus, though, is not on film but in art. “I have sold my […]
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Peoples’ Self-Help Housing finally (postponed due to fire and flood) were able to have the grand opening of their new affordable housing development at 510 North Salsipuedes St. If you’ve driven down Haley Street, it’s that beautiful Spanish-style building on the corner. There were 300 applications, and a lottery was held for the 40 apartments […]
Lea másAt first, Santa Barbara Centre for Aerial Dance founder-director Ninette Paloma was none too pleased when she discovered that several of her planned guest artists for this weekend’s Floor To Air Festival had been saddled with visa issues and weren’t going to be able to arrive in time to participate in the high-flying show’s fifth […]
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The oenophiles we’re out in force when Grassini vineyards opened its new 1,400-sq.-ft. tasting room at the historic El Paseo. The 104-acre vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley was planted in 2002 and mayor Cathy Murillo cut a ribbon to mark the new opening. Among the guests quaffing the vino and noshing on the bounteous […]
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And I don’t mean just for Prince Harry and his new wife Meghan Markle. Having covered the British Royal Family for more than four decades, I was deluged with interview requests on TV and radio nationwide to bring my 40 years of expertise to the forum. The local ABC affiliate, KEYT-TV, had presciently booked me […]
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Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care (VNHC) held its 17th annual Mother’s Day Luncheon to honor and remember our mothers in the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. It was a poignant event and totally heartfelt. It began with emcee Pamela Dillman Haskell moderating the lively (cool?) teen-parent fashion show from K.frank. The Santa Barbara Arts Performance […]
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It couldn’t have been a more perfect evening when the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara threw its 80th anniversary gala at the Heartstone Ranch in Carpinteria, with the 220 guests raising $200,000 for the popular organization. The super soirée, emceed by Montecito Bank & Trust chairman Janet Garufis and the ubiquitous Andrew Firestone, […]
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While great works of art have survived centuries and millenniums, with each new generation having the chance to appreciate what came before, there’s also something magical about embracing the ephemeral. Perhaps it’s in the parallel to our own lives, which – though they span many decades on average – are only a brief instant in […]
Lea másAnyone who has attended any of Lisa Citore‘s Anima offerings of Women’s Ritual Theater is aware of the solid mind-body-spirit connection exemplified by the self-described “pleasure activist,” writer, sex educator, and healer brings to her work, whether in the field of performance art or sacred sexuality workshops, or anything between. But for the last several […]
Lea másSanta Barbara Choral Society marked its 70th anniversary with a Sentimental Journey-themed gala at the Rockwood Woman’s Club, with 125 guests raising more than $60,000. The boffo bash, co-chaired by Marylove Thralls and Mary Dan Eades, revisited the post-war era with the Broadway musical and the Big Band sound. JoAnne Wasserman, who is celebrating her […]
Lea másAs the local climate starts to shift into something resembling a mid-season, pre-summer pattern (both with the weather and with real estate sales), we can feel it in the air… the upcoming graduations in local schools, college students coming back to visit families and reconnect with their friends in town, residents preparing to head out […]
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To say it’s a new day for live concert music fans is clearly true. By the use of holograms with audio, many great classic rock to metal musicians who have passed away are being “reunited” on stage with their original band mates for an almost all-live concert. This surreal experience was tested at the Wacken […]
Lea másBrad Nack‘s 100% Reindeer Art Show has been an annual tradition in town for more than two decades. The native second-generation Santa Barbara painter never expected a one-off show of antlered-animal art to be such a hit, but the tiny, elegantly framed oil paintings featuring wittily and whimsically rendered creatures, have virtually sold out ever […]
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The Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation (PCVF) held its 22nd annual Military Ball honoring excellence in service and to remember Armistice Day at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. Philanthropist Pierre Claeyssens initiated the Ball in 1996 as a way of paying tribute to the U.S. Armed Forces, past and present, in Santa Barbara and Ventura […]
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Okay, let’s just come right out and say that Janet Adderley, she of the Santa Barbara Youth Ensemble Theatre (SBYET), is the best. Oh, sure, we’ve got Otto Layman at Santa Barbara High School squeezing and cajoling high-school kids to perform professional-style musical extravaganzas on the high school stage. Otto is as good as it […]
Lea másFood writer and inveterate traveler Michael Cervin has just completed his eighth work and fifth travel book, The Santa Barbara Know-It-All: A Guide to Everything that Matters. “I really wanted to write a travel book that was fun, entertaining, and funny,” says Michael, who I used to work with at the News-Press when he was […]
Lea másWhen the mud and debris from the mountains coursed through Montecito back on January 9, Robert Cassidy immediately felt the need to support the victims and the community in some way. “Like so many people, I wanted to help, but I didn’t really know what I could do,” said Cassidy, a classical pianist who only […]
Lea másMontecito Family YMCA has partnered with more than a dozen local organizations and leaders to provide assistance to the Montecito community in response to the Thomas Fire and mudslides. In collaboration with these local organizations, the YMCA was able to assist in providing childcare, mud removal, youth activities, clothes, and toys for affected Montecito residents. […]
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