Tag archives: Ellen DeGeneres

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 […]

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 […]

Los Arroyos, the popular Mexican eatery on Coast Village Road, is celebrating 20 years in business. Owner Tony Arroyo opened his first location in downtown Santa Barbara on West Figueroa Street in 1999 and launched his outlet in our rarefied enclave in 2004. The chain now has branches in Camarillo and Goleta, with a nosheteria […]

It was a delightful night of high camp when Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo performed a hilarious program at the packed Granada, part of the of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures series. Music by Chopin, Verdi, Glazunov accompanied the balletic high jinx. Having seen the 45-year-old company a number of times in New […]

Screenwriter/Builder/Designer Les Firestein and former city fire chief Pat McElroy, founders of Partnership for Resilient Communities in Santa Barbara County, established after the Thomas Fire and the catastrophic mudslides a year ago, got priceless publicity, not to mention a $20,000 check, when they appeared on Montecito TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres‘s eponymous Los Angeles […]

As the Santa Barbara International Film Festival celebrated its 35th anniversary, the Anti-Defamation League marked the occasion with a reception in the courtyard of the Lobero Theatre as a rainstorm raged outside. The 120-guest fifth anniversary bash, chaired by Marina Stephens, raised nearly $50,000 towards funds and, as is tradition, honored the film Liberté: A […]

Montecito TV titan Oprah Winfrey, Kenny Loggins, and actor Rob Lowe paid tribute to the 23 people who lost their lives and many who lost everything a year ago, as our tony enclave was ravaged by catastrophic mudslides. Oprah, 64, was among hundreds of local residents taking part in the first anniversary vigil, walking from […]

The late Santa Barbara artist and poet Margaret Singer, who died at the age of 98 last year, is the focus of a new documentary by local director and documentary maker Louise Palanker. The 20-minute short “Margaret Singer: Seeking Light” tells how the Frankfurt-born citizen fled Nazism and lost her family in the Holocaust, moving […]

Santa Barbara Historical Museum set its trustees, past and present, to work choosing favorite pieces of art from more than 3,000 works in the venerable institution’s vault for a Trusted Treasures exhibition featuring 16 works, with each piece accompanied by a photo of the trustee and a quote or two on why the painting was […]

After inviting Montecito firefighters to her home a year ago during the Thomas Fire, former Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres followed up by having them come to her Burbank based studio for her popular eponymous TV talk show. “It was quite a day,” says local realtor Diana MacFarlane, whose son, Dan is pictured third from the […]

A grant of $20,000 from the Music Academy of the West has enabled pianist Evan Shinners, who attended the Miraflores campus in 2009, to put his keyboard talents to good use with a pop-up shop in Manhattan offering Bach prelude, fugues, and even condoms. The Juilliard-trained pianist has been playing five hours of Bach each […]

Restaurateurs Doug Margerum and Mitchell Sjerven have sold their interest in the historic Santa Barbara eatery The Wine Cask. Doug, also a noted winemaker, is also opening a new Margerum tasting room in the Hotel Californian next year, he tells me. “It will be a spectacular space with 22-foot-high ceilings, a kitchen, heated patio, and […]

Members of the tony beachside mecca the Coral Casino were getting in quite a pickle on the Biltmore’s courts the other day. After the mudslides in January, hostelry owner Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner included two pickle ball courts in the pristine racketeer complex, and on Labor Day club members participated in a Round Robin […]

It was a busy week of birthday celebrations as I marked my Medicare moment, the 25th anniversary of my 40th. My longtime friend Cat Pollon ventured up from her home in the Big Orange, bunking at the Hotel Californian, given her usual accommodations at the San Ysidro Ranch were out of action. Dinner at Lucky’s, […]

It was some enchanted evening in the upper village when Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum launched his new well-researched, 386-page book Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution with a bibliophile bash at Tecolote, the lively literary lair. Purdum, who worked for The New York Times for more than 20 years as White House correspondent […]

Barbara Burger and Susan Aberle have been elected to Opera Santa Barbara’s board of directors. “Both Barbara and Susan have many years of service to the community and will be a great asset to our organization,” says Kostis Protopapas, artistic and general director. Barbara has a lengthy career in public relations and marketing primarily in […]

Montecito mudslide survivors Kim Cantin and her 14-year-old daughter, Lauren, were guests on fellow resident Ellen DeGeneres‘s TV talk show and presented with a check for $20,000, courtesy of Walmart, to help rebuild their lives. Both were rescued after their home was demolished by the devastating slides in January, and Lauren’s rescue was seen around […]

To the Bluewater Grill, the buzzing new seafood eatery just a tiara’s toss from Stearns Wharf. The restaurant, formerly Rusty’s Pizza Lighthouse and the Castagnola Lobster House, has been in business for 21 years after being established in Newport Beach by partners Rick Staunton and Jim Ulcickas, and now has branches in Redondo Beach, Coronado, […]

KEYT senior reporter John Palminteri is pulling a few strings! Puppet Palooza Central threw a Puppets in Paseo event honoring the ubiquitous broadcaster and the ABC affiliate’s industrious team for their coverage of the Thomas Fire and the destructive and deadly aftermath. A Palminteri puppet was unveiled, complete with John’s signature moustache, that performed live […]