7 Feb 2023
The Annual Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Legacy Awards
Society News is pleased to share the 2023 Legacy Award Winners of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH), which were announced at a private Leadership Circles of Giving soirée last week. The Legacy Awards went to philanthropists Elisabeth and Greg Fowler; Renee Grubb,owner of Village Properties; andornithology supporter, John O’Brien. In his speech […]
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A Seat at the Table
Anita Hill never wanted to testify before the Senate Judiciary committee. In fact, despite a stellar academic record, you probably would not know the name Anita Hill if not for veteran NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg. The same way you wouldn’t know the Watergate Hotel, if not for Woodward and Bernstein. How it came […]
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A Scarcity of Abundance
If you are looking for a significant estate in Montecito and are willing and comfortable paying over $10,000,000 to get it, I would in normal years have 25 or 30 homes to show you, most of them in the $10 to $20 range… million that is. However, in the aftermath of the estate rush that […]
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Standing with Our Jewish Community
Last week, the County of Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to honor International Holocaust Memorial Day. This resolution honors the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Jana Zimmer, a second-generation Holocaust survivor, community leader, and author of Chocolates from Tangier, was present to accept the resolution. She […]
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How To Be a Pedestrian
Until recently, the only way for most people to get to most places was on foot. Horses were too expensive, and trains, planes, and cars didn’t yet exist. “Shanks’ Pony” was a jocular way of referring to walking. But with the development of modern street-traffic, among the automobiles, trucks, buses, motorcycles, and regular bicycles, there […]
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Miranda’s Movie
Few and far between are folks who are not familiar with the Miranda warnings, the ones that police have to read to criminal suspects that remind them of their right to be represented by an attorney and to refuse to answer questions at all. Far fewer are the people who know anything at all about […]
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4Qs: Forever Young with “Get Together” Singer
If Jesse Colin Young never sang another song besides “Get Together,” his place in rock history would be assured. Indeed, the ‘60s feel-good, quasi-protest song is so iconic that FestForums has borrowed it as the title of their tribute concert to the late producers of Woodstock and Newport Folk & Jazz festivals. Young will both […]
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Dancing to the Keepers of the Flame
Dana Lawton has admitted to being obsessed with the Farallon Islands and the swarthy keepers and families who served as lighthouse keepers there back in the mid-1800s, working the Fresnel lens that warned ships approaching San Francisco to stay away from the fog-shrouded rocky islands. Fortunately, Lawton is a choreographer who also runs a Bay […]
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A Comet Occurrence 50,000 Years in the Making
Get your popcorn and astronaut ice cream ready for some rare astral entertainment. The famous Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF – at its peak February 1 and 2 – can be viewed at NNE, 23 to 40 degrees above the horizon, from 9 pm to sunrise, with amateur telescopes and possibly your 10x binoculars. The significance […]
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Emergency Management Matters
I read with great interest Gwyn Lurie’s recent editorial Q&A with Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor. As a retired Certified Emergency Manager, with 23 years of experience in County Emergency Management, I find these topics very interesting from both a personal and professional perspective. I’ll preface my comments by saying that I have an enormous […]
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Raising Our Light
A community-wide event was scheduled on the evening of January 9, 2023, to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the 1/9 Debris Flow; the event was canceled by organizers a few days prior, as Montecito prepared for a significant storm event that would eventually lead to an evacuation of the entire community. This past weekend, Bucket […]
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The Elephant Project Continues its Mission
Kristina McKean, founder of the philanthropic toy company The Elephant Project, is proud to share that she has returned from a life-changing, successful journey to Chiang Mai, Thailand. She just completed a visit to the source of her company’s initial inspiration, Elephant Nature Park. McKean crossed the globe to meet the world-renowned sanctuary’s staff and […]
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Making a Claim to Reclaim
It’s a marriage made on Earth! Michael Smith, entrepreneurial son of Montecito philanthropist Anne Towbes, has partnered with Oscar superstar Leonardo DiCaprio in Regeneration.VC, an early-stage venture capital fund supercharging consumer-powered climate innovation driven by circular and regenerative principles, which he co-founded. The fund’s vision, according to its literature, is “to empower all consumers in […]
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A Trio of Stellar Shows
UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures series has been working overtime with three major shows in the last week, two at the Granada and a third at the more intimate Lobero. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s EDEN, a call to action to build a paradise for today fertilizing, nourishing, and protecting the pure bliss that is Earth, with […]
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An Evening with the Choral Society
President Todd Aldrich and his wife, Allyson, opened the doors of their Montecito aerie for Santa Barbara Choral Society’s annual Canto Society bash for more than 30 top donors. The fun fête was catered by Italian eatery Via Maestra 42 with music from the dynamic duo of Kim Collins on double bass and Debbie Denke […]
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CAMA Kicks Off
CAMA’s first concert of the New Year and its 104th season at the Granada was an absolute cracker! Chicago’s 132-year-old symphony under renowned Italian maestro Ricardo Muti, which first visited our Eden by the Beach at the Arlington 58 years ago, was in rare form with not a single seat available in the 1,553-capacity auditorium. […]
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A Saint Remy Courtyard
Social gridlock reigned when the ubiquitous Andrew Firestone and his partner Jess Parker threw an opening bash at their new 122-room State Street hostelry, Courtyard by Marriott, formerly a La Quinta Inn. After imbibing wine, beer, and specialty cocktails on the roof, guests headed downstairs to Saint Remy, the Cearnal Collective-designed hotel’s new poolside eatery […]
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Shining a Light on Photography
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has just opened its latest illuminating exhibit, The Lure of Lighthouses & Dancing Waves, an impressive collection of more than 35 large-scale images and panoramic photographs of waves and lighthouses around the world taken by renowned Emmy Award-winning surfing photographer and videographer Dan Merkel. “I first met Dan when he joined […]
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New Principal Flutist for the SBS
Amy Tatum has been chosen out of 150 applicants to be the new principal flutist for the Santa Barbara Symphony. Tatum, who was one of 70 musicians traveling to our Eden by the Beach for the final auditions, made her debut at the Granada with the “Plains, Trains & Violins” concert last month (Jan). As […]
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Dunbar Ranch Rental
Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner, 68, is renting out his 160-acre Aspen, Colorado, home for a hefty $36,000 a night. The Oscar and recent Golden Globe winner’s property has 12 bedrooms and eight bathrooms, with it spread over nearly 6,000 square feet and accommodating up to 27 people. Known as the Dunbar Ranch, it is described […]
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