2 Jun 2026
Thermal Quest
It felt like lying on gritty sandpaper. A broad, wide-open, sandstone plateau surrounded in a deep gorge choked in dense chaparral, was a hot spot for spotting endangered California condors in the mid-1990s. Lion Canyon is an impressive, stratified canyon deep in the Sierra Madre Mountains, a “condorminium” in the middle of the Los Padres […]
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Why Poland May Be Europe’s Most Unexpected Wine Escape
Last month, I traveled to Kraków, Poland, where I was invited to speak at the International Wine Tourism Conference. I arrived expecting to find an emerging category that felt technically promising and logistically interesting while still finding its footing. I left thinking about something else entirely. Beauty. Ambition. The thrill of discovering a wine region […]
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A Reflection on HearthLands’ Community Convergence
These days, knowing your neighbors is a dying art. While some may meet others through systems like school, faith groups, or country clubs, it can be a challenge to meet new community members if you exist outside these spaces. For young people, this is exacerbated by social media and the rising cost of participating in […]
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Sheriff’s Blotter — 93108
Retail Theft / 500 block San Ysidro Road — Wednesday, May 13, at 16:53 hours The general manager of a women’s retail store in Montecito called to report a 459 PC (Burglary) that occurred at the store during normal business hours. The Reporting Party (RP) believed a male customer, who had entered the store on […]
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Woodcut Insects
This detail is from a 1658 edition of a work that began in the late 1500s: The Theater of Insects, or Lesser Living Creatures by British physician Thomas Moffet. Originally published in Latin, it was translated into English and appended to the back of Edward Topsell’s History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents. That enormous tome […]
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Bureaus and Clawed Feet
MS sends me pictures of a table she felt compelled to buy because of its unique feet in the shape of paws with toenails. Animalistic feet are the most common body part to be carved onto furniture since the days of the Egyptian pyramids. The symbol of a bird’s talon was carved on furniture; likewise, lion’s […]
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Meet Urologist Ron Golan, MD
What drives someone to spend a life in medicine? In this new Q&A series, a group of leading local physicians share the moments that set them on their path, the breakthroughs shaping their fields, and the realities behind the work. Their answers are candid, occasionally surprising, and grounded in experience. Together, they offer a clear-eyed […]
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Our Town’s 24th Annual Graduation Issue Week 1: Cate School
It was all “Go Rams!” with parents and families attending Cate School’s 113th graduation held on Sunday May 25, at 10 am, outside at the school campus in Carpinteria. The just under three-hour ceremony began with the graduates’ traditional processional wearing the school colors of blue (boys) and white (girls), arm-in-arm in pairs. Music was […]
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1 Jun 2026
LA Stopovers at Palisociety’s “Houses and Hotels”
To begin with, I really like the Palisociety hotel brand. Their website – “World Famous Palisociety – Hotels by Avi Brosh” – is easy to navigate, and the staff, from the front desk to the bartenders, are consistently warm, friendly, and stylishly unpretentious. The interior design is fun and hip without trying too hard. I […]
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