Tag archives: Ellen

Ellen at Home
By Richard Mineards   |   April 9, 2020

Montecito’s Ellen DeGeneres is set to bring back her hit eponymous TV talk show remotely after suspending production at her Warner Bros. Burbank studio because of the coronavirus. Ellen, 62, reveals she has been filming throughout her entire quarantine, conducting a series of A-list interviews for her at-home edition, including John Legend, Jennifer Lopez, and […]

CAMA Welcomes Three
By Richard Mineards   |   November 21, 2019

Financial executive Christine Emmons, bank president Andy Chou, and former corporate leader Carl Perry have been elected to the board of directors for the Community Arts Music Association – CAMA – of Santa Barbara. Christine, wife of business entrepreneur Robert Emmons, was a financial consultant at Paine Webber, and went on to host the TV […]

The Great Fight
By Richard Mineards   |   November 14, 2019

Elaine Weiss, prize-winning journalist and author of the blockbuster book The Woman’s Hour, was fêted at a bustling reception at Tydes at the Coral Casino after speaking on The Great Fight to Win the Vote at Campbell Hall, part of the UCSB Arts & Lectures series. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is teaming […]

Horsing Around
By Richard Mineards   |   November 14, 2019

The bridle crowd were out in force at Tecolote when Santa Barbara author Deborah Kalas launched her first book The Wild Herd: A Vanishing American Treasure. The 146-page tome is packed with pictures of wild horses at play taken by Deborah, who splits her time between our Eden by the Beach and East Hampton. She […]

Feeling Z.E.N.
By Richard Mineards   |   October 31, 2019

Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West was socially gridlocked when the Z.E.N. Trio, made up from the initials of pianist Zhang Duo, violinist Esther Yoo, and cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, performed as part of UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures series. The concert, part of the long-running Robert Weinman-sponsored Up Close & Musical Series, […]

SBIFF Welcomes Benjamin
By Richard Mineards   |   October 10, 2019

Santa Barbara International Film Festival has hired veteran Benjamin Goedert as its new development director. In his new role, Goedert will be responsible for generating funds to support the fest’s dynamic arts and educational programs through sponsorships, grants and donations. He moved to our tony town 11 years ago to attend City College where he […]

New Manager at the Helm
By Richard Mineards   |   October 3, 2019

Santa Barbara Yacht Club has a new manager, Richard Nahas, who replaces Layosh Toth, heading the charming harborside nautical venue. Richard, a former UCSB student, is normally used to more landlocked activities having been general manager of the Glen Annie Golf Club for 19 years. “Some of my fondest memories as a child are of […]

Pretty in Pink
By Richard Mineards   |   September 26, 2019

Santa Barbara’s Breast Cancer Resource Center hosted The Pink Lounge gala for 300 guests at the Rosewood Miramar, which raised more than $230,000 for programs, which are provided at no cost to recipients. The 21st annual bustling bash in the chandeliered ballroom, co-chaired by Douglas Mackenzie and Joanne Funari, had Hayley Wise, 32, a breast […]

Welcome, Kelsey
By Richard Mineards   |   September 12, 2019

After my exclusive about KEYT-TV chief meteorologist Alan Rose departing for Colorado after 14 years on TV Hill, I now hear he is being replaced by Kelsey Gerckens, a regular on the ABC affiliate’s morning show with her husband, co-anchor Joe Buttitta, according to news director Jim Lemon. The tony twosome obviously work well together […]

Caliente Cocina
By Richard Mineards   |   August 29, 2019

To La Cocina, formerly Somerset, with my snapperazzi Priscilla, to check out the made-over East Anapamu Street eatery, which now features Mexican-Californian cuisine. The charming back courtyard, filled with lavender bushes and gnarled ancient fig trees brought in by flatbed trucks from Northern California and craned in over the rooftops when it first opened after […]

Fiesta Kick-Off
By Richard Mineards   |   August 8, 2019

A positive plethora of presidents, past and present, descended on the Hilton Beachfront Resort for the sold-out 71st annual La Reception del Presidents, kicking off Fiesta Week in grand style. The fun fête in the Plaza del Sol, short on speeches and long on tradition with dancing and music, attracted more than 330 local dignitaries, […]

Bank Bash
By Richard Mineards   |   August 1, 2019

Having won polo’s 55-year-old America Cup three times in the last four years, it seems appropriate that former Santa Barbara Polo Club president and banker Dan Walker should now be sponsoring the three-week annual 16-goal tournament that runs through August 11. To mark the occasion, he hosted a bustling reception at his Farmers & Merchants […]

Two for One
By Richard Mineards   |   March 29, 2019

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 […]

Twenty Years of Tony’s Tacos
By Richard Mineards   |   February 28, 2019

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 […]

Trocks en Pointe
By Richard Mineards   |   February 7, 2019

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 […]

TV Spotlight on the Partnership
By Richard Mineards   |   January 24, 2019

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 […]

Walk to Remember
By Richard Mineards   |   January 17, 2019

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 […]

Think Outside the Bach
By Richard Mineards   |   December 6, 2018

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 […]

Fine Wine
By Richard Mineards   |   October 11, 2018

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 […]

One for the Books
By Richard Mineards   |   June 28, 2018

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 […]