The year’s end always feels monumental – filled with endings, beginnings, stock-taking, plan-making and desk-clearing to create a clean slate for all the positive developments we hope will come along with our next giant circle around the sun. So, what do we hope 2025 will bring? More importantly, what are we going to do to […]
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January As 2024 unfurled along California’s gilded coast, Santa Barbara’s January presented itself as a month of stark juxtapositions – where celebration and loss, preservation and development, tradition and change played out against a backdrop of perpetual sunshine. The Ritual of Renewal On New Year’s Day, while most of America huddled under blankets nursing champagne […]
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Allow me to share with you some thoughts and memories about a place called Dover, a town on the south coast of England. As you may know, it’s the closest land to France, across the English Channel which, at that geographical point, has the name of the Strait of Dover. The Channel between the two […]
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It’s Merry and Bright at the San Ysidro Ranch now through New Year’s, with festive décor, music, and twinkling lights from the resort entrance and throughout the restaurants, cottages, and outdoor gardens. Holiday trees colorfully decorated were placed in key locations and the Speakeasy has an array of 2,500 twinkling ornaments cascading from the ceiling. […]
Lea másIn November of 2024, a banana that had been duct-taped to a white plaster wall sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Auction. Conceived as an edition (a series) of 5, titled “Comedian,” the artist Maurizio Cattelan had instructed buyers to change the banana and duct tape when the banana gets brownish, or, conversely, […]
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Santa Barbara’s holiday season shimmered to life at “A Glamorous Holiday Affair,” a dazzling celebration hosted by Michele Janin, Tom Linebarger, Jamie (our own Montecito Journal wine columnist) and Joel Knee. Their 3rd annual Montecito holiday soirée brought together over 70 of Santa Barbara’s beloved residents for an evening of elegance, style, and festive cheer […]
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The most looked forward to holiday party behind the hedgerow in Montecito is the Casa del Herrero Soirée, titled Home for the Holidays, held this year on Saturday, December 14. Upon entering, guests were greeted by lovely ballerinas from the State Street Ballet, celebrating The Nutcracker. Spanish guitar études by Chris Fossek filled the atmosphere. […]
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The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s 12th Annual Conservation Symposium, titled “Seeds of Change: Conservation Through Diversity,” will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2025, at the Santa Barbara County Education Auditorium, and online. It is presented by the Nakashima-Rennie Family and sponsored by S&S Seeds. Two keynotes will be guest presenter and symposium honoree Peggy […]
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Without attempting to be a statistical tower of stats and figures, I have attempted here to give an overall look at Montecito’s Real Estate market – and her nuances – through an analysis of homes sales thus far, January 1 to November 30, 2024. To summarize some thoughts about the Montecito and 93108 Real Estate […]
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It was certainly a Nutcracker with a difference when State Street Ballet – alongside the Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra conducted by Brian Asher Alhadeff, and a chorus of youngsters from the Music Academy of the West’s Sing! Project and the State Street Ballet Academy – joined in the spectacular production at the Granada. […]
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Now celebrating its 30th anniversary Pink Martini brought its signature multi-lingual blend of jazz, classic and pop music to a festive, sold-out Arlington Holiday Show staged by UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures program. With a dozen musicians, founder Thomas Lauderdale on piano, and the undoubted vocal talents of leader singer China Forbes (a fellow student […]
Lea másQuire of Voyces under founder and musical director Nathan Kreitzer was in fine form at St. Anthony’s Chapel for its annual Yuletide concert. Traditional favorites like “Away in a Manger” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” were on the menu with the 11-part concert wrapping with “Silent Night.” A joyous afternoon full of Christmas spirit.
Lea másMontecito political pundit Dennis Miller has signed up for a new docuseries for the Fox News streaming service Fox Nation. The series, The Infomercials That Sold Us, is steaming on the platform now and takes “a nostalgic and poignant look back at the years when infomercials ruled late night TV, featuring interviews with the colorful […]
Lea másLou was born in 1933, the surprise gift to her mother Clarine, father Fred, 16-year-old brother Fred Junior, and 12-year-old sister Janet. She was beautiful, smart and delightful, a ray of sunshine at a very dark time in America, which was in the depths of the Depression. When she was five she contracted rheumatic fever, […]
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Usher in 2025 at San Ysidro Ranch’s Stonehouse Restaurant with a six-course pre-fixe NYE dinner, live music, and an enchanting ambiance that will form the final, lasting impression of the year and begin the next one in unforgettable style. Revel around mesmerizing ice sculptures and balloon displays before heading to dine on Executive Chef Matt […]
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Thirty years ago this coming April, FEMA-Certified Canine Search Specialist Wilma Melville and her black lab Murphy spent a week rummaging through the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma. What stood out was just how few other rescue dogs were on site to search for survivors. When Melville realized only […]
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On the evening of Thursday, December 12, an unveiling took place in the heart of our Upper Village. RH Montecito – The Gallery at the Old Firehouse opened its doors with a flourish and in poured a colorful sampling of gifted local burghers, noted interior designers, and other species of happy creative gravitas – all […]
Lea másThis article is about my early 19th century medal, an Order of Knighthood, which may be connected to my partner’s family history. When objects of history lie in a drawer for years (I don’t remember where I got this) and are rediscovered – the find is historically relevant to my partner! You see, my partner’s […]
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Until the era of electronic communication, getting word of happenings in other places (to say nothing of instantaneous moving pictures in color) used to be a long, slow process. News could travel on land only as fast as the fastest runner or rider. A man living in California might get a letter from his brother, […]
Lea más“Pass the salt, willya?” “I swear if you keep using that much salt, you won’t live to see 130,” my wife told me. “I hope you’re wrong. I want to see the great-great grandkids graduate.” I cleared my throat. “Oh no, you’re not going to sing again are you?” I strummed my air guitar. “Imagine […]
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