Veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti has signed a multi-year extension as conductor of the Santa Barbara Symphony, which is celebrating its 66th season. Nir has been with the orchestra since 2006, when he was chosen from a pool of 300 candidates for the position. Since then he has used his considerable experience and talent in symphonic […]
It couldn’t have been the more perfect evening when the 25-year-old charity Food From The Heart, which prepares food for 160 clients each week, hosted its 8th annual fundraiser in the historic El Paseo courtyard, with wine provided by Doug Margerum and the Happy Canyon and Grassini vineyards. The organization, with its new executive director […]
It was an eggs-cellent and eggs-travagant weekend as two of our rarefied enclave’s toniest hostelries, the Four Season Biltmore and the Rosewood Miramar, hosted Easter events for the youngsters in our Eden by the Beach. More than 700 parents and children turned up at Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner‘s hotel where two Easter eggs hunts […]
Just three hours later the energized Andrew Firestone was at it again when he emceed Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s 19th annual Blue Water Ball in the Deckers rotunda, with the 230 guests expected to raised around $185,000 for the popular environmental non-profit. The bustling bash, chaired by Kristin Larson, featured climber and world renowned adventurer Rick […]
UCSB Arts & Lectures supporters, Richard and Annette Caleel, opened the doors of their magnificent modern and tribal art filled Birnam Wood home for a reception for violinist Jennifer Koh, who later performed to a sold-out audience at St. Anthony’s Chapel, her second consecutive year, featuring works by Philip Glass, David Lang, Bryce Dessner, Andrew […]
The Granada stage was positively heaving when the Santa Barbara Symphony, accompanied by 150 singers from local choirs, performed a rousing concert of Verdi’s Requiem under conductor Nir Kabaretti. Featuring the Santa Barbara Choral Society, City College choirs, and the North County Chorus, I sat in at a rehearsal earlier in the week at the […]
Billionaire Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso nearly came a cropper at the final hurdle when developing the Rosewood Miramar, he has revealed. Rick was at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the oh-so tony five star resort and recounted he was in our Eden by the Beach for the final hearing on his $200 million development, […]
The Council on Alcoholism and Drugs Abuse’s 33rd annual Amethyst Ball at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara was a real gem! The bold-faced name-filled bash attracted nearly 360 glamorously garbed guests, many in Western outfits, and raised around $650,000 for 70-year-old CADA, which has an annual budget of $5.6 million serving more than 8,600 people with 23 […]
Popular Santa Barbara charity, the Unity Shoppe, hosted an appreciation lunch for more than 100 senior volunteers at La Casa Nichita, the historic Mission Canyon home of veteran supporter Barbara Tellefson. “Last year was a very trying time for us,” Barbara tells me. “Disaster relief cost us more than $300,000, which severely depleted our funds, […]
A mélange of magnificent millinery swept over the impeccably manicured lawn of the Biltmore when Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara held its 8th annual lemon and blue-themed Al Fresco Afternoon on the Riviera. The 13-year-old charity, which has placed 252 babies and had 119 adoptions, had a record 250 guests helping raise around $100,000 […]
The Pacific had some competition when a sea of blue descended on the Coral Casino for the 20th annual Santa Barbara Police Activities League (PAL) Putting Kids First! gala, which raised around $200,000 supporting after school programming, leadership training, and summer camps for more than 1,000 local youth annually. The 210-guest bash, which honored former […]
The fields are impeccably groomed, the horses are ready, and the best of the best competitors are heading to our rarefied enclave for the hotly anticipated opening of the Santa Barbara Polo Club’s 108th season on May 5. The season at the Engel & Volkers stadium will feature an exhilarating summer of action-packed tournaments and […]
Tony twosome Jerry Jacobs and Angela Perko celebrated the opening of Montecito’s latest lively literary lair, Lost Horizon, in the upper village with a bijou bash. Dozens turned out for the fun fête at the San Ysidro Road store, which shares space with Diane Stewart‘s fine art emporium. Among the bibliophile bunch were Mahri Kerley, […]
It was all about accentuating the negative when Cabana Home, the interior design store, just a tiara’s toss from the Funk Zone, hosted a reception for Santa Barbara artist George Legrady. Legrady, 69, described as a multidisciplinary digital media artist, had 13 of his interesting works, based in Transylvania, Athens, Greece, and Montreal, on display. […]
Just ten months after opening their new State Street outpost, Mollie’s, next to the Granada theatre in the former Tupelo Junction space, culinary dynamic duo Mollie Ahlstrand and her son, Ali, have launched another eatery, Alito’s, further downtown on the busy thoroughfare. However, unlike their former nosheteria on Coast Village Road which closed in August, […]
CAMA – Community Arts Music Association – hosted a centennial season subscriber dinner at Opal just before the last performance of this season’s international series with the debut of the 128-year-old Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Danish music director Thomas Sondergard at the Granada. Kicking off with Symphony No.7 in C major by Finnish composer […]
Aussie music maker Peter Clark has debuted his homage to our Eden by the Beach, 16 months after the Thomas Fire and devastating mudslides. Montecito-based Peter, whose songs have been recorded by Eartha Kitt, Jane Russell, and Don Ho, is currently producing 2013 Teen Star winner Mary-Grace Langhorne, whose first CD will debut next month. […]
On a personal note, I mark the passing of a good friend and great adventurer Julian Nott, who has died in a hot air ballooning accident near San Diego aged 74. A British boffin par excellence, Julian, who received a Master’s Degree from Oxford University, was an exceptionally brilliant man and world-record aviator, who was […]
Montecito Bank & Trust chairman and CEO Janet Garufis has now added another hat to her collection. In July Janet takes on the mantle as president of the Santa Barbara Symphony replacing current head honcho Don Gilman. Her extensive community service includes working with the Sansum Clinic, the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, the Music […]
Johann Sebastian Bach was certainly ready for his closeup when the Music Academy of the West hosted a Council of Contributors alumnus recital at its cavernous Lehmann Hall with 32-year-old pianist Evan Shinners, who gained considerably notoriety last year when he performed works of the German composer for five hours daily for 37 consecutive days […]
If you’re looking for the Wow! factor, look no further than Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner‘s totally made-over Montecito Country Club, which threw an opening bash for 400 guests to mark the completion of a three-and-a-half-year $75 million renovation. Now renamed the Montecito Club, the 125-year-old establishment which closed in January, 2016, moved to its […]
Santa Barbara Choral Society has plenty to sing about as the tony troupe celebrates its 70th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of its director JoAnne Wasserman. To mark the double-header, longtime supporters Gary and Kate Rees hosted a sunset soirée for premier Canto donors at their charming mountainside home before next month’s anniversary concert at […]
To mark its 44th anniversary, Montecito Bank & Trust hosted a grants reception at its majestic State Street headquarters when president and CEO Janet Garufis handed out checks worth $20,000 to 10 local charities. Along with the checks, the nonprofits also received a professionally produced one-minute promotional video. Employees of the bank, which since its […]
Santa Barbara Symphony was in fine form at the Granada when it presented Amadeus Live, with the talented musicians under Belgian conductor Dirk Brosse, music director of the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra; the symphony chorus; and pianist Natasha Kislenko, a Music Academy of the West faculty member. The film about Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based […]
Bucking the trend of bookstores closing, our rarefied enclave has welcomed another bibliophile bastion, Lost Horizon, to our Eden by the Beach. Owners Jerry Jacobs and Angela Perko have set up shop on San Ysidro Road, just a tiara’s toss from Richard Gunner‘s development, sharing store space with friend Diane Stewart‘s fine art store. Lost […]
Montecito attorney David Gersh has just published his sixth book, How to Collect Great Art on a Shoestring. David, who studied at UCLA and Harvard, says his latest work talks about how to acquire paintings by artists who are in the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and MoMA for just a few thousand dollars, not tens or […]
Social gridlock reigned when developer John Price and wife, Janna, and business partners Tod and Audrey Berlinger, opened The Villas at Olive Mill, nearly 15 years after first submitting their building application and going through 28 hearings between 2004 and 2017. The Spanish colonial-style, three-story mixed-use property on the corner of Coast Village Road and […]
Locals dreaming of warm summer weather have a chance to do so while viewing new local art, and at the same time help the Montecito Association get a jump on planning the popular July 4 parade, where I have become a regular participant as King George III. The benefit art show Postcards from the Beach, […]
Jeff and Hollye Jacobs opened the doors of their charming Montecito manse to host a reception for author Lisa Genova, who was speaking at Campbell Hall as part of UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures series. Genova, who has a doctorate in neuroscience from Harvard and is acclaimed as the “Michael Crichton of brain science,” is […]
Gourmands and oenophiles were out in force at the Wine Shepherd when the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum threw an intimate bash to mark the 38th year of its popular wine and food festival in June, which is expected to raise $130,000 for educational programs. The fest on the 14-acre campus along the shaded banks […]
The literati and the glitterati were out in force when the CALM – Child Abuse Listening Mediation – Auxiliary hosted its 33rd annual celebrity authors lunch at the Hilton. More than 450 guests attended the fancy fête, chaired for the eighth and final year by dynamic duo Carolyn Gillio and Becky Cohn, which raised around […]
The historic Riviera resort, the Belmond El Encanto, celebrated its 101st anniversary in grand style, with many of the 250 guests turning up in period costume to mark the boffo bash. The 92-room hotel, where a host of Hollywood stars including Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr rested their heads, was purchased in 2004 from the […]
It was an early start when the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation hosted its 5th annual Little Heroes breakfast for 350 guests at the Hilton, which was expected to raise around $100,000 for the popular charity. The boffo bash, co-chaired by Heather Ayer, Matthew Fish, Emilee Garfield, and Nina Johnson, featured keynote speaker Eduardo Garcia, a […]
Lotusland hosted a fabulous feast of folded artwork with its new opening representing the work of 12 renowned origami artists throughout the U.S. The overflow crowd for Lotusland in Origami: Flora, Fauna, and Ganna included Asian art historian Meher McArthur and Montecito’s own artist Holly Sherwin, co-curators. Origami is no longer limited to Japan, with […]
The Amazons were out in force when United Way’s Women United hosted its second annual event, a Classic Storybook lunch at the Coral Casino, with the 200 guests expected to raise around $100,000 to help the charity’s literacy programs for children. Former supermodel turned business tycoon Montecito-based Kathy Ireland spoke eloquently at the Beauty and […]
Montecito author Jane De Hart, who spent 15 years researching and writing a hefty tome on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is reaping the rewards for her Herculean project. Jane, a professor of women’s history at UCSB, tells me her mammoth 752-page work, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life, is now in its seventh printing […]
Animal activist Gretchen Lieff and Lucky’s owner Gene Montesano have teamed up to create Montlieff Rosé, a combination of their last names. “Rosé is the fastest growing varietal along the Central Coast and we’re among a number answering the call,” says Gretchen, whose 40-acre Alamo Creek Ranch vineyard in southern San Luis Obispo County produces […]
After 12 years of frustration and determined perseverance, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso has opened his $200 million-plus, 161-room, 16-acre Rosewood Miramar Hotel, with its 495 feet of Pacific Ocean frontage. To mark the occasion he threw a bustling bash, appropriately enough at Caruso’s, one of the tony hostelry’s restaurants, run by Roman chef Massimo […]
The mad social whirl was at full throttle when UCSB Arts & Lectures hosted parties for guest speakers at the Granada and Campbell Hall. The first was held at the charming Montecito residence of Audrey and Tim Fisher, the former home of actor James Brolin, for global photographer James Balog, who spoke about his new […]
It was all too monochromatic for words when the Junior League of Santa Barbara threw its 12th annual Black and White Ball at the Coral Casino. The bustling 300-guest bash, held in memory of S.A.F.E. House founding donor Ethel Scar, was expected to raise $155,000 for the non-profit and was hosted by KEYT-TV Emmy Award-winning […]