In a man-cave bar in the L.A.’s Art District, I watch the World Cup… but I’m really waiting for the Pride event, a packed setlist of queer musicians, to set up next door. I’ve instructed my buddy Stephen Dabby to arrive an hour early for our chat. Stephen is a charming studio artist with a […]
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 […]
What started as cooking hot dogs for rent money has become Santa Barbara’s favorite food entertainment combination: Grill and Groove. Where there’s Grill and Groove, there’s a grill offering delectable burgers and hot dogs with a DJ busting it down on the deck, operated and managed by Katie Cioth and Emma Edmonson, the lesbian DJ […]
Two former employees of the Funk Zone, who met and fell in love in Santa Barbara’s Arts District, share their frustration with the disappearance of locally owned community spaces. For my first article back from hiatus, I contacted my premier source for finding interesting artists to interview in Santa Barbara, my old pal Ariel. She’s […]
It’s been a while, Montecito Journal readers. If this is your first time reading the Dear Montecito column–welcome! This column serves as a space to uplift young community members, from middle schoolers to marine biologists, and put a spotlight on their passions and interests for the Montecito and Santa Barbara community. As for myself, I’m […]
I recently reconnected with an old friend from Crane Country Day School, Blake Ladd. We both entered Crane at the same time and had the same unfettered enthusiasm for the arts and creative energy. For this week’s Dear Montecito, I bring you an update on one of Montecito’s greatest – a great actor, entrepreneur, and […]
For this week’s Dear Montecito, I asked Jules Bartling, one of the core founders of The Girl’s Kitchen, to update our community on the pop-up kitchen and meals team bringing whole foods to our community, and to communities negatively affected by the current administration. From Jules: I like to think of The Girl’s Kitchen (TGK) […]
If you’ve been wondering why I’ve been M.I.A from the Dear Montecito column, wonder no further. My last reflective article chronicled my feelings about the L.A. fires, which broke out across Los Angeles six months ago. A thought that stuck with me was that it only took about 15 minutes for me to gather everything […]
A long-gone California pastime was catching abalone off the coast, but in 2001, white abalone became the first marine invertebrate to be added to the endangered species list, and soon after, all commercial and recreational capture of abalone became outlawed. But just a quick drive up to Gaviota, one can relive the past and see […]
As a kid in Long Island, New York, Jackson Gillies woke up one of two ways: his mother Connie stirring him for his type 1 diabetes insulin shots, or his father Billy “cranking the Grateful Dead and Genesis through the floorboards.” What follows is a life of tireless dedication to music and activism for his […]
My friend Joan Curran and I were walking up State Street on a Tuesday afternoon when she called out, “Hey Nathan!” Sitting cross-legged on the curb was a casually clad guy with softly curled blonde hair and an array of beaded jewelry. As I squatted down to the pavement to behold his work, I immediately […]
When you first meet someone, your eyes naturally meet their gaze. But when I first met Avrae, my eyes went straight to his fingers: bejeweled to the nth degree in silver, catching stray fragments of Captain Fatty’s fluorescent lighting. That coupled with his long locks, cloaked garb, and sprawling hand-poked tattoos, was enough to convince […]
When I challenge myself to start a donation pile, I lament over how many items I can’t imagine parting with; but really, it takes me five minutes to separate out my true valuables. My olive-green electric guitar, a bank box of 20 journals dating back to 2012, and enough clothes to stave me over for […]
“It was a happy accident,” Oliver Welch recalls. It was June of 2022, his first summer out of college on the gloomy east coast; he’s on Maui to surf, dive, throw pottery, and hopefully find a farming gig to support the whole thing before going home to Santa Barbara. “I’m at dinner with my dad’s […]
In the Funk Zone, across from Validation Ale, a large warehouse has sat unoccupied for the past four years. What was once the Santa Barbara Winery is now a collection of cavernous, expansive halls checkered with white walls and exposed concrete. One might say it is the perfect setting for an art gallery; from December […]
Bridget Mitchell is a Montecito native living in Los Angeles pursuing a creative career in costume design. From backstage show repairs for recognizable characters to behind-the-scenes Hulu sets to cruise ship performances at sea, there have been diverse adventures in her craft. Mitchell’s achievements speak for themselves in her over decade-long pursuit towards her craft. […]
My brother Benjamin Tolan – and you can ask anyone who went to MUS, Crane or Laguna Blanca High School – is best known for his uncanny excellence in whatever he pursues. He can pick up any tune on the flute, saxophone, or piano in just a few listens and dominate in any video game […]
“They’re still recovering bodies. It’s the third deadliest hurricane behind Katrina and Camille,” said Yvette Vega, a Carpinteria-native and healthcare professional living in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’s a small community here, so if you don’t know someone directly, you know someone who does.” Vega was fortunate enough to miss Hurricane Helene’s full force. “We didn’t […]
After being paralyzed from the waist down at just 18 years old, British TV presenter, writer, and artist Sophie Morgan has become a beacon for disability advocacy. A jack of all trades, she has reported for the Paralympics for three years, released her debut book Driving Forwards, and most recently co-founded W.E. Rides, a movement […]
Get up and out of your bunk at 4 am. Make coffee and a bagel… it’s burnt. Equip your waders, boots, headlamp, backpack, and lots of surveying equipment. Wade in the river and hike the woods for 12 hours, being cautious not to run into the man who lives in the shack made of bones. […]
Ariel Leira is a multidisciplinary visual artist and writer who grew up amongst the trees of Montecito, documenting her TRAVELS through glowing, abstract photography and heartfelt poetry. She was a lifer at Crane Country Day School – where we met in fifth grade – and graduated from Santa Barbara High School. Leira’s artistic proclivities began […]
Nicole Belton’s art studio, located at 1019 West in Inglewood, feels like walking into a museum of trees frozen in time. Dream-like hills and extending branches captured in a submerged composition (Skyview Drive); a tree in a moment of transition, poised before fading into a muted, decaying terrain (Ash). For the past six years, Belton […]
After years of winning accolades as a director in Santa Barbara, New York and Los Angeles, Kylan Tyng takes to the sky for his new venture behind the camera: aerial photography. Photographer and director Kylan Tyng, born and raised in Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara, has spent the last two years exploring western North America […]
I met Kiara Lin in the place many Santa Barbara natives eventually meet–Los Angeles. She grew up in Santa Barbara, attending Montessori Center School and Santa Barbara Junior High. Even in her youth, Kiara’s dedication to film was unmistakable. After three years enrolled at Santa Barbara High School, she moved to Michigan to complete her […]
Look at your shelves. It’s not the framed photos or unread books that make those shelves uniquely yours. It’s those knick-knacks, collectibles, and tchotchkes you’ve kept, moved, and refused to throw away over the years. What do these trinkets mean about us? Sam Fitz and Bella Vasquez, the co-founders of Santa Barbara’s newest art collective […]
My name may be familiar to you, reader. Maybe you recognize it from the fading memory of your child’s school theater production playbill, or perhaps from reading Stella Haffner’s interviews with me in this very column. Thanks to Stella and the Montecito Journal, you’ll be seeing my name on a much more regular basis as […]