Magnificent classical music reigned supreme with three impressive concerts in our Eden by the Beach, two at the venerable Granada and one at the Music Academy’s Hahn Hall. Kicking off the week was the Community Arts Music Association’s first concert of the new year with London’s 79-year-old Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko, […]
Get out the Gucci surfboard! Rick Caruso’s Rosewood Miramar is launching a new surf club with the Gold Coast Adventure Company, owned and operated by local surf legend Adam Lambert. “Surfing is a storied tradition in Santa Barbara, and it was time for the resort to celebrate the iconic sport by offering guests a way […]
I also remember Richard “Dick” Meyn, who left us last month at the age of 94. A New Yorker, Dick studied at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan and moved to Santa Barbara in 1954 after studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. He and two colleagues established Byars, Alexander and Meyn – a successful interior […]
Actor and aviator John Travolta was the driving force behind Prince Harry being named a ‘Living Legend of Aviation’ because of a ‘strong emotional connection’ to the Riven Rock resident through the actor’s friendship with the late Princess Diana when the Duke of Sussex collected the honor at the Beverly Hilton this past weekend. Travolta, […]
The Music Academy has elected Montecito residents Susan Lichtenstein and Kelly Teich, and Santa Barbara resident Tom Orlando to the board. Lichtenstein is a retired senior vice president and chief legal officer, while Teich is president of Warner Group Architects, and Orlando is an industrial property manager. The organization also recognized two long-term board members, […]
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have adopted one of former TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres’ ailing chicken, which was being bullied at her $25 million Montecito estate, just a five-minute drive from the Sussexes $14.5 million mansion in Riven Rock. Ellen, 65, updated her 139 million Instagram followers on the progress of Sinkie, so […]
On a personal note, I mark the passing of Alfredo Arroyo, longtime general manager of Café del Sol, the popular eatery owned by the late Jack and Emilie Sears by the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge, who has died at the age of 62. Alfredo went on to manage Joe’s Café on State Street and the […]
Novelist Jane Austen would have been in her element at the Music Academy’s Lehmann Hall when the Miraflores campus’ creative Auxiliary hosted the Aux Ball: Celebrating the Eras with 120 guests in their Regency finery, many donning tiaras, raising around $50,000 towards the SING! choral program for youngsters from first to ninth grade. Mally Chakola, […]
Santa Barbara Historical Museum went to gown with its latest exhibition Seasonal Soirées: Evening Couture 1880-1980 curated by former museum president Sharon Bradford, whose previous show was The West-Dressed Woman featuring frontier wear during the 19th and 20th centuries from the museum’s vaults. Santa Barbara even launched the career of Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo – […]
Santa Barbara Choral Society was in top form under veteran conductor JoAnne Wasserman with its 9th annual Hallelujah Project at the Lobero, which included SING! program choral students from the Music Academy and Dishwalla lead singer Justin Fox in a rocking chair reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Accompanied by an orchestra, the enthusiastic singers […]
The 61-year-old Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara hosted its annual festive Community Leaders lunch at the Hilton for 300 guests to recognize donors and volunteers. Featured speakers included Dr. Richard Yao, President of California State University Channel Islands, who was appointed last year after serving as interim president for a year. Honoree Steve Hicks, who […]
Opera Santa Barbara took over the Paseo Nuevo’s Center Stage Theater when it staged Xavier Montsalvatge’s charming El Gato con Botas with singers from the Chrisman Studio Artists. Puss in Boots, to give it its English title, was a purr-fect production with director of the studio, Tim Accurso, on piano for the hour-long show, mezzo-soprano […]
Singer Cher, 77, certainly has staying power! The American Theatre Guild opened its Broadway in Santa Barbara series at the Granada with The Cher Show, celebrating her six decades of stardom, kicking off with partnering with then husband Sonny Bono in “I Got You Babe” in the ‘60s. She then proceeded to garner an Oscar, […]
To the historic Santa Barbara Club when Lobero Theatre Associates hosted its annual Christmas tea for 60 guests. The bounteous bash, co-chaired by Leslie Haight and Emily Johnson, focused on the organization’s youth events, including It’s Magic!, the Nebula Dance Company, and musician Derek Douget, a New Orleans musician who visits schools in the area. […]
Fiesta may be long over, but flamenco enthusiasts thronged to the Lobero for dancer Maria Bermudez’ Sonidos Gitanos, a 90-minute show showcasing the art of flamenco. Santa Barbara-based Bermudez, who was named an official Flamenco Ambassador by her hometown of Jerez de La Frontera in 2022, has promoted the dance art for more than 30 […]
Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner and singer Jewel are reportedly an item. After the Oscar winner’s acrimonious divorce from wife Christine Baumgartner, he and Jewel were having fun on Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s private Caribbean Island, Necker, in the British Virgin Islands. The twosome were on the idyllic locale for a tennis fundraiser for Jewel’s […]
Empty Bowls, the popular fundraiser for the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, staged its 26th event at the new $20 million Sharehouse in Goleta, with a record 750 guests being shuttled by the Santa Barbara Airbus from the Hilton Garden Inn, a short distance away. The 77,000-square-foot Foodbank property, which boasts 10 times the refrigerated […]
Everybody was certainly in the pink at Arise International’s third 5K run-walk along the beachfront at Chase Palm Park, which had a record breaking entry of 250 participants raising a record $50,000 for Bethel House, a women’s residential treatment program at the Rescue Mission. The monies will enable the facility to complete renovations on the […]
Westmont College fielded its full arsenal at the Granada for its 19th annual sold-out Christmas Festival. Always a great start to Yuletide, the concert Fullness of Joy was the third year at the historic State Street theater after years at the First Presbyterian Church. Ruth Lin, chair of the music department, conducted the Westmont Orchestra, […]
Staff, trustees, and friends of Lotusland, the 37-acre Montecito botanical paradise, gathered at the University Club to celebrate Corey Welles after a career of 33 years tending to the estate of former Polish opera singer Ganna Walska. Welles, recognized today as a leader in the field of sustainable horticulture, pioneered Lotusland’s sustainability efforts and is […]
The Ensemble Theatre Company’s latest production Ring of Fire, Richard Maltby Jr.’s musical review of singer Johnny Cash’s extensive body of work is a real Christmas cracker! The hugely entertaining cast at the New Vic consists of five actor-musicians – L.J. Benet, Glenn Stanton, Valerie Larsen, Kasper,and Sam Linkowski – under the direction of Randy […]
Rick Caruso’s Rosewood Miramar attracted a hoard of parents and children when it staged its colorful Christmas tree lighting by managing director Rick Fidel. Hot chocolate, apple cider, and prosecco cocktails with colorfully decorated cookies and macaroons were the order of the night as the oceanside hostelry lit its 17-foot fir that had been flat […]
UCSB Arts & Lectures provided a wonderful double bill at Campbell Hall when unparalleled Broadway singer Audra McDonald and Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho performed within 24 hours of each other. McDonald, winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards and an Emmy, was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people, and received a National […]
Racketeers were out in force at the Santa Barbara Family Y when the local School of Squash, founded by British champion Robert Graham, opened its first squash court at the popular facility. “We have basically been playing on the club’s racquetball courts, but with the help of $20,000 and a lot of persuasion, one of […]
On a personal note, I remember former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has moved to more heavenly pastures at the grand old age of 100. We met through a good friend Pat Buckley, wife of political pundit and National Review founder Bill Buckley, and I attended a few parties at his magnificent home with […]
The Veterans Memorial Building, a tiara’s toss from Stearns Wharf, was absolutely heaving when 600 needy guests converged on the historic locale for the 4th annual Thanksgiving lunch organized by Adam’s Angels, founded by realtor Adam McKaig. More than 350 pounds of turkey bought at Shalhoob’s, with the PATH Homeless Shelter donating its kitchen to […]
It was a splendid kickoff for Yuletide when Montecito Bank & Trust hosted its 21st annual Community Dividends lunch at the Hilton, which distributed $1.1 million among nearly 200 local nonprofits. More than 280 guests turned out for the seasonal meal in the oceanside hostelry’s tented rotunda for the joyous occasion – which since its […]
Montecito sailmaker Tim Kirshtner, who also ran a business he dubbed “The Beach Doctor Beach Cleaning Service,” has taken his love of the ocean a step further as he notices more and more litter, particularly the detritus of doggie dinners past. Tim, 47, has been recognized for his good deeds, including the Butterfly Beach Association, […]
The Music Academy staged its third and final performance of its Mariposa series at Hahn Hall with two former alumnae, Frank Huang, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, who attended the Miraflores campus in 1998, and Natasha Kislenko, who was at the academy in 2001 and has also served as a teaching artist since 2004. […]
As if starring in the Fox Texan firefighting drama 9-1-1: Lone Star for four seasons isn’t enough, Montecito actor Rob Lowe is set to host a new game show, The Floor, in the New Year. The ultimate trivia conquest quiz show, which Lowe, 59, will helm and produce, is described as “a spectacular battle of […]
Dynamic duo Rick Oshay and Teresa Kuskey, in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Symphony, hosted Joy, a private concert with the Grammy Award and Emmy-winning trio Time for Three in the historic Presidio Chapel, after dinner for more than 100 guests in the tented front courtyard. The talented triumvirate – violinists Nicolas Kendall and Charles […]
Lotusland, the 37-acre botanical paradise that is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, received a Happy Birthday gift from Mayor Randy Rowse, when he presented board members of the historic estate with a colorfully inscribed vellum proclamation on behalf of our Eden by the Beach. The tony twosome, Laura Bridley and Jeanne Anderson, joined the […]
There was a lot of sole searching going on when Bob and Holly Murphy, co-owners of Coast 2 Coast Collection in La Arcada, hosted a “jock hop” at La Cumbre Club to raise funds for the men’s baseball and basketball teams at UCSB. Forty-five items of sports memorabilia were up for grabs in the sports […]
British pianist Stephen Hough, making his fifth appearance with the Community Arts Music Association, mesmerized in a Masterseries concert at the Lobero. Hough, 61, who was recently knighted by King Charles, received a Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School in New York, was clearly at the top of his game with his Yamaha grand piano […]
Simon Kerry, great nephew of the late visionary Pearl Chase, has been busy publicizing his book Miss Chase: Santa Barbara’s Trailblazer in our rarefied enclave. Simon, 53, educated at Eton College, as were princes William and Harry, and Cambridge University, also holds the title of 11th Earl of Kerry, and in due course will become […]
Members and special guests of Montecito Bank & Trust’s MClub, on a cultural tour of Japan, were treated to a rare invitation to visit and partake in a tea ceremony with Kobori Sojitsu, the 13th Grand Master of the Enshu Sado School in Tokyo. The invitation, not normally available to the public, was made possible […]
The Music Academy’s Hahn Hall was socially gridlocked when the ILLUMINATE Film Festival, a leading event for evolutionary cinema, celebrated its 10th anniversary and move to Santa Barbara from Sedona, Arizona. The fun fest included an exclusive screening of The Monk and the Gun, a charming and provocative feature film set in Bhutan in 2006, […]
Christmas got off to an early start at the venerable Santa Barbara Club with the launch, for the second year, of its holiday boutique. The event was founded by general manager Linda Spann with her choosing the 18 vendors showing their wares to members of the club, founded in 1892. “It’s a great way to […]
Yellowstone star Cole Hauser has a distinct Santa Barbara connection and has just become the face of Lucky Brand’s holiday collection. Hauser, 48, recounts his “idyllic” upbringing in our Eden by the Beach with his film producer mother Cass Warner. Hauser, who has co-starred with Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner on the CBS series for five […]
Bubbly show woman and former Broadway actress Janet Adderley’s students from four of her five school’s locations – Santa Barbara, Pacific Palisades, Austin, and New Orleans – were front and center when local rock icon Kenny Loggins, 75, performed the sold-out final show of his “This Is It!” tour at the 4,500-seat Santa Barbara Bowl. […]