25 Aug 2026
Squeeze Play: Trio of Accordionists at the Grand
Cory Pesaturo remains the youngest person to win the National Accordion Championships almost 25 years after he achieved the feat in 2002. He’s the only one to ever claim the Triple Crown of World Championships, notching victories on Acoustic, Digital, and Jazz Accordion. Pesaturo was the first musician ever to major and graduate in the […]
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18 Aug 2026
Pup with a Purpose
Hi Amy! I’m Olof (w/ an “O” per Swedish). I attend most every local rally. The unconditional love of dogs ripples out to everyone. Dogs can unify us all. My protégé Mikaela Schlesinger just moved here from Colorado to take a job at Direct Relief. Have something to HOWL about? Please send your dog questions […]
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Sheriff’s Blotter — 93108
Open Mailboxes / 800 block East Mountain Drive — Sunday, July 26, at 09:36 hours Deputies responded to a Reporting Party (RP) having seen open mailboxes on E. Mountain Dr., possibly associated with mail theft. The RP found some of her mail on the ground but could not confirm if anything was taken. Attempts were […]
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A Crown Jewel: Jada Elevates Paso’s Wine Scene, and One Family’s Legacy
The Jada estate is stunning. Its 95 acres are sloped and terraced, tucked into steep hillsides, and the towering oaks dappled across the rolling ridges of the woodland floor, with their twisting branches and dense green canopies, cast constant shadows. It all coalesces to mirror beautifully the dramatic, rugged charm of the Paso Robles wine […]
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A Pawsome Page-Turner
Carpinteria’s canine community has something to bark about. The Carpinteria Dog Owners’ Group (C-DOG) has unleashed Dogs of Monte Vista Park, a new book celebrating the four-legged regulars of the city’s temporary off-leash dog park – and helping make a permanent park a reality. Featuring 108 full-color photographs of Monte Vista’s most fetching faces, the […]
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Sunflower Stars: Hope Shines at the Sea Center
Imagine looking down into a tide pool and discovering a creature that seems to have come from another universe with dozens of arms and hundreds of “feet” – a creature that moves with surprising speed across the sea floor. This resident of the diverse world beneath the waves, known as the sunflower star, is one […]
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Fiesta, Five Ways
By Lisa Duncan For one week each summer, Santa Barbara slips into Fiesta mode – flamenco skirts swirl, horses take to the streets, and seemingly everyone finds a reason to dance. This year, Old Spanish Days unfolded everywhere from the grand terraces of Bellosguardo to the Courthouse, the Zoo and the waterfront, before one last […]
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Booked Solid for Summer
‘The Witches of Cambridge’ The Witches of Cambridge from Alice Hoffman is everything you want and expect from the writer of “The Practical Magic” series. The story mixes magic and longing as two friends attending Radcliff navigate their burgeoning power in a buttoned down 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ava, a beautiful redhead who has always felt […]
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Peak Polo has Arrived, Plus a Paddle Raise
Time was that the very venerable Santa Barbara Polo Club fielded 20-goal teams that competed in high-goal season, meaning the total handicap (a high number is better) could not exceed a total 20-goal rating among the four players. That’s what allowed the then-consensus best player in the world Alberto Cambiaso to grace us with his […]
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Eleventh Heaven for Foresters
On August 1, the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to acquire reigning two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers in a blockbuster trade in a bid to increase their championship streak to three years, once again prompting complaints that the SoCal team, which has the highest payroll in history, was ruining […]
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Polo’s Silver Sunday
By Lisa Duncan Sunday brought championship silverware to the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, where Delta Defence captured the Whittier Trust Silver Cup following the three-week tournament, which ran from July 19 through August 9. The winning foursome of Jared Zenni, Segundo Bocchino, Costi Caset, and Ivan Weiss stepped forward to collect the trophy, […]
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Symphonion Music Box
LB has an 1898-1902 Symphonion crank-operated tabletop music box whose spinning, perforated 7 ½-inch steel discs play on a double-comb movement patented in Leipzig by Symphonion Musikwerke. The photograph shows a bound album beneath the player which originally contained twelve discs. It is the music played by these discs which tells the story of an […]
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Don’t Know Much About History*
I have yet to encounter any Progressive or socialist with a well-rounded knowledge of history, economics, and philosophy. They don’t seem to be open to ideas other than socialism as Marx-Lenin-Marcuse-Piketty espouse it. They have little understanding of the ideas of Aristotle-Spinoza-Locke-Adam Smith. As a result, their circular reasoning gets things wrong and, when reduced […]
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Punishment: Certainty vs. Severity?
If there were cameras in every public space, it might lower the prison population. How? Fear of being caught is an effective deterrent. That concept comes from Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria’s 1764 publication On Crimes and Punishments: Certainty of punishment is more important than severity of punishment. Researcher Daniel Nagin refined this claim in his […]
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Grace Fisher Foundation
Grace Fisher’s story has been shared frequently in Santa Barbara and beyond, but it bears repeating as it relates to her remarkable accomplishments and perseverance. The locally-raised Fisher was just about to graduate from high school and very active in a number of areas, including as a classically-trained multi-instrumentalist and dancer. But her goal of […]
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The Teacher’s Fund: Because TeachersHave Enough Homework
There are certain things teachers should reasonably be expected to bring to school. Patience, for one. A working knowledge of long division. The supernatural ability to detect chewing gum from thirty paces. What they should not have to bring is half the contents of Staples, purchased with their own money. And yet, back in 2002, […]
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Ice Cream Social
Recently the bored and sated West has directed its gnat-like attention to two truly stomach-churning stories: 1) the intestinal assault of the grotesque but well-meaning cyclosporiasis parasite, and 2) increasingly bold public utterances of the soul-vaporizing S-word, if you can imagine. Two quick comments: neither the flaw-expunging rigors of long-game Darwinism nor the prospect of […]
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Montecito Country Mart Lemonade Stand and More News Bytes
August 15: Montecito youth and her friends raising funds for the Dream Foundation August 22 and 23: Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation To sign up your organization: www.montecitocountrymart.com Summerland Citizens Town Hall Held in the Summerland Church on Lillie Ave. on August 18, at 5:30 pm. Regular town hall meetings for residents and business members in […]
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Two Photography Exhibitionson View Now
The Channel City Camera Club’s (CCCC) August photography exhibit is on view now through August 31 at the SB Downtown Library during normal business hours. Putting her PR hat back on for the CCCC is Katrina Carl, former head of marketing and communications at the SB Museum of Art. Katrina reached out to me about […]
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98th Annual SB Women’s Club’s La Merienda Fiesta
Hello Loves! On Wednesday, August 5, the Santa Barbara Women’s Club (SBWC) held its 98th Annual La Merienda Fiesta celebration, on the opening day of Fiesta in Santa Barbara. This longstanding tradition resides deep in the club’s history and is truly a part of SB history, as well. Back in the daze, think 1927, a […]
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