Tommy Bahama, Chaps, Ralph Lauren, Coach, A/X Armani Exchange, Ralph Lauren Footwear – Homer Montecito founder Terry Pillow has been around the block. More recently, the gentleman has rediscovered what the block is for. “Yeah, we sit outside,” Terry sings in his unhurried, melodious accent. The man’s southern purr is a rocks glass of barrel-aged […]
When Michael Holliday, Lawrence Scarpa, and Angela Brooks were juggling their T-squares, balsa wood, and glue guns at the University of Florida in Gainesville (go Gators), they likely didn’t foresee the momentous project on which they would be collaborating in far-flung 2025. Even as these architects-in-training made final preparations to enter the profession, some 2,500 […]
I’m having a conversation with Rabbi Chaim Loschak – founder with his wife Mushkie of Montecito Chabad – and it’s impossible not to notice that he is bouncing his right leg at a frequency suggestive either of two strong cups of coffee, or the anticipatory effect on his physiology of a frenetic day ahead. I’m […]
Christmastime is here. And so we turn to mezzo-soprano Xeni Tziouvaras. As her five-syllable name and homestead in Florence, Italy, don’t necessarily suggest, Xeni is a Californian and graduate of Dos Pueblos H.S. in Goleta. This holiday season she is making a special trip home to perform at the annual Sounds and Stories of Greek […]
Someone unwisely humblebrags about their artistic skills and you take the bait. When they obligingly doodle a horse on the back of an envelope, it looks like a spider scrawled with the wrong hand by a tilt-a-whirl drunk wearing a blindfold. You nod and fail to sound convincing, which you later regret. “Wow. Now that […]
The holidays approach. In old timey lingo? “The holidayeth approacheth” (I’m pretty sure). December’s “Peace on Earth” pandemonium will be heralded as usual by the early warning system we call Thanksgiving; a commemoration turkeys movingly refer to as “Pilgrims Are Jerks.” Their naming convention is awkward, their ennui more than understandable. Today, many enlightened holiday […]
When the short film clip begins, an audience member – Toya Banks of Chicago’s southside – is on her feet. The setting is a cozy corner of Godmothers Bookstore in Summerland. Self-made “Eyebrow Queen” Anastasia Soare and Oprah Winfrey are sunk into enormous Alice in Wonderland wingback chairs that look to be upholstered in something […]
In 1970, future Montecitans Tom and Christine Frisina were headed back to the States. Both in their twenties, the young marrieds had spent two years in Chuo-Rinkan,Japan –Tom working in Naval Intelligence with a top-secret cryptographic clearance, Christina finding a career with a Tokyo agency as a top model. Their respective endeavors in Japan may […]
Once upon a time, an English lad named John Holman was sojourning in Australia some 10,000 miles away from his home village of West Grinstead in the U.K. Searching for himself, really, John had incautiously entered a passageway provided by his family’s wartime past. At Tecolote Book Shop this coming Saturday, November 8, from 3 […]
When local investment empath (and healthy hair exemplar) Graham Duncan bought Pierre Lafond’s beloved and fallow Wine Bistro space in the Upper Village, local eyebrows arched as one. There were whisperings in the woods. A jewel in the Upper Village crown, the cozy retail oasis perched above the miraculous Corner Green has long been a […]
“Community.” The word has been hijacked by powerfully bland ne-er-do-wells. “I’m happy to report Q2 revenue suggests we have a robust and dedicated community!” “Let me give a shout out to my wonderful online community, 143,000 strong!” and so on. Community is not a featureless mob of prospects, a fanbase, or a “crowd” by another […]
The Ashleigh Brilliant commemorative gathering on October 21 saw the SB History Museum’s lower courtyard outfitted as an Ashleigh tribute, the space’s perimeter an alfresco exhibition of archival photos, news articles, Pot-Shot memorabilia, and a Brilliant hodgepodge of amusingly diverse “found” mementoes plucked from the ground over decades of the restless gentleman’s walks around town. […]
Jorge’s nephew is a curious kid who wants to know stuff. That bodes well for the youngster growing up to be an interesting adult. One day, though, he stumped his uncle with a fairly straightforward question. “What’s your job, uncle Jorge?” East Camino Cielo Road in the Los Padres National Forest is the northernmost boundary […]
When I was 12 years old the classic Hollywood star machine was in the throes of extinction (not to suggest I had anything to do with that). Tinseltown was being overthrown by UnmediatedGritTown as a new generation of auteurs stormed the Dream Factory ramparts, broke into the place and tore down the velvet curtains. David […]
In 1923, two builders named Woodruff and Shoults built a huge promotional gimmick on Mt. Lee above Los Angeles. The row of standalone white block letters, each measuring 30’ x 50’ and visible for miles, would proclaim their new housing development in those hills: HOLLYWOODLAND. Nine years later a forlorn actress would leap to her […]
“If I can survive death, I can probably survive anything.” – Ashleigh Brilliant[9 December, 1933 –24 September, 2025], Pot-Shot® # 805 A footloose former teacher with the unlikely name Ashleigh Brilliant grabs his portable microphone, bullhorn, and milk crate and bounds down the stairs. The date is May 21, 1967 – yeah, “The Summer of […]
There are eight million stories in the naked city, but only 8,600 or so in our own sun-soaked jungle, baby. How do I know this? Because I’m your town crier, baby; your chronicler, your truth-teller and tour guide to the dark underbelly of this coiled serpent we call Montecito. Me? You never saw me, you […]
You’re the top, you’re Mahatma Gandhi. You’re the top, you’re Napoleon Brandy. You’re the purple light of a summer night in Spain. You’re the National Gallery, you’re Garbo’s salary. You’re cellophane. Cole Porter’s famous lyric was surely written about the human race. Yeah, we’re the top! [cut to outdoor shot – two strangers on Coast […]
Songwriter, rocker, former Montecitan, and SBHS Don (go) – Matt Blitzer is casing the joint, as they used to say. His band, Superet, is on the cusp of releasing a new album, and for some time Matt’s been in search of the perfect venue for the launch. The place should be a sensory analogue to […]
1974. The Oscars. The place is packed with Old and New Hollywood cognoscenti. Groucho Marx and Tatum O’Neal are breathing the same air, though likely from separate tables. Henry Mancini (Henry Mancini!!) is in the pit conducting the Academy Awards Orchestra. Now Burt Bacharach and the amazing Ann-Margret are at the dais – Burt in […]
Tecolote Bookshop? Our flagstone-wrapped salon in the Upper Village? This year the place turned 100. Yeah, as in “years old.” This means [holds fingers aloft like a savant and moves them algebraically] … Tecolote Bookshop opened in 1925. There’s more. “My mother would drop me off at Cold Spring Elementary School every morning and I […]
Here it comes now, written in a hurried and bulleted present tense meant (frankly) to offset the section’s brevity with a mitigating sense of telegram-like urgency. Please play ball, reader. •Roger Sherman Gates Boutell, Sr. retires from the Library of Congress and moves to, of all places, Santa Barbara, California. •A comfortably liquid […]
When I was about 14, my sister, Jill – an award-winning equestrian – took me horseback riding. I was uneasy with the whole deal because I’ve always been scared of horses. Always. As a seven-year-old I’d lived on Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. That being Cowboy Country (and Missile Country, but that’s another […]
When I was in high school, I was hijacked by Christ. It wasn’t bad. My girlfriend had asked if I wanted to go to a Young Life meeting with her. “Uh, what’s that?” “Just a bunch of singing and hanging out and doing skits and stuff.” My family had relocated to Phoenix from Boulder, Colorado, […]
It’s not an uncommon occurrence. For his own reasons, a nefarious jackass unleashes a quantum mechanical nuisance, which quickly goes haywire and wreaks the usual havoc at scale. The destruction is apocalyptic. Skyscrapers topple and plow into each other, the townsfolk scatter and shout amid boxcar-sized hunks of plunging masonry, the film score hollers with […]
“I was a tile contractor, and then joined the army and ultimately deployed to Iraq. When I got back, life to me … well, my little portion of what I can do for this world is to spread the message of unity.” Reader, if you know any other contractors with this perspective, you are in […]
I just flew back from The Netherlands, and boy are my arms tired. This old sepia-toned quip still charms me with its Americanness – its nod to Henny Youngman and to the large, ornate pre-television radios families once gathered round, heads bent in rapt concentration. But, yeah. Holland is a round trip 20-hour journey through […]
Since his election in 2007, Sheriff Bill Brown has been the chief law enforcement officer for Santa Barbara County. While “Santa Barbara County” may suggest to some the varied and gorgeous environs associated with the “Santa Barbara” brand – sandy beaches, the rolling hills of wine country, wildflowers, a puzzling Danish village with windmills – […]
“The company was pretty small then, but lemme tell you – on a typical Sunday I would be washing my car.” His name is Pete Jordano and he is an institution. I’ve come to his office to interrogate him. He’s taking it well. “I drove a ‘39 Pontiac. While I would be washing my car, […]
When we yet had the luxury to do so, my friends and I chose art, with the result that one evening in the bar-spangled early 1980s I found myself in the restroom of a chicken sandwich joint, dressed in a New Wave rock n’ roll getup and helplessly retching over the single sink. Ah, I […]
I occupy a very particular demographic; balding older men who don’t know how awful they look in skinny jeans. We are many. It’s nearly an epidemic. A teary woman in the Vons’ parking lot shakily pointed her finger at me and used the word “plague,” which I thought was going a bit far. And for […]
When the invitation arrived, we were intrigued by one of its particulars. The hosts, our dear old friends the Smythmires (names have been changed to guard privacy and amuse the author) would be offering roast pig as the culinary centerpiece of their yard party. “Whoa,” I thought. The pig roast as ritual feast is popular […]
My parents met at a serviceman’s dance in 1942. I’m grateful for having been born to a couple whose generation continues to suffuse me like gentle lamplight through drawn rayon curtains. Theirs was a world of scotch-and-soda, weekend bridge with the neighbors, dancing at the Officer’s Club, service to country, and music. We had one […]
As everyone knows, Cinco de Mayo commemorates 1862’s Battle of Puebla. That’s the one in which an underequipped, outnumbered, and profoundly annoyed collection of hastily summoned Mexican army regulars absolutely clobbered several thousand haughty French marines, who at the battle’s denouement could be seen actually fleeing down a hill with the Mexican army in hot […]
“So 90% of magicians are hobbyists. They don’t perform. They might for a little dinner party at home for a family member, but that’s about it.” Gene Urban is a professional magician – a card-carrying performer and habitue at the storied Magic Castle in Hollywood, and a guy who has traveled the world, his skill […]
In idle moments we mull unimaginable experiences beyond our own. What’s it like to be launched into space? To be on a sinking ship in mountainous, hurricane-tossed seas? To be homeless? “I was never embarrassed about being homeless. It was just a fact. I wasn’t psychologically traumatized by it all. Yes, it was very stressful […]
Brian O’Laughlin was born to it – his awkward orientation at Washington State University notwithstanding. “Everybody shows up and all the other students are holding their major signs. You know, ‘What’s your major?’ And I was just walking around aimlessly looking for my group. I asked someone from admin, ‘Excuse me. Where’s Turf Management?’” The […]
Today’s increasingly grey digital blandscape could be described as a bummer. Busybody machines that can paint cats, forge photos, and write crummy songs have us all hunching shoulders and shaking our little fists in excitement. Why? (etc.) The numbing Age of Machines is truly upon us and we couldn’t be more thrilled. In this context, […]
Montecitans Mike and Linda Ofner have been a dynamic team – as coaches, mentors, and life partners – through more than 50 years of marriage. Never mind that they’ve also been the backbone of a Santa Barbara waterfront institution for nearly 40 years – a beachfront outfit called Ka Nai’a Outrigger. “So, 1986,” son Greg […]
Higher education is expensive. It’s no accident that for decades academic dorm cuisine has been lovingly built around the Cup O’ Noodles® tradition, an affordable scholastic delicacy whose variants include beef, chicken, shrimp, teriyaki, and the always-worrisome “spicy” – an indefinable “flavor” commonly avoided the night before a mid-term. Apart from higher ed’s tuition, fees, […]