Tag archives: Erin Graffy
It’s painful to think, to imagine, to realize, that I’ll never experience the joy of being with Erin Graffy de Garcia ever again. She passed away – surrounded by family – at Cottage Hospital at 2:54 am on January 21 after a frighteningly short bout with cancer. To say that she’ll be missed is a […]
Fittingly enough, a variety of spaghetti was on the menu when local historian and Noozhawk scribe Erin Graffy spoke to members of the Montecito Bank & Trust’s MClub about our Eden by the Beach’s rich Italian heritage, which started from the Piedmont region in the late 19th century. The influx continued from the Veneto region […]
“Clarence Mattei painted a portrait of our nation from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Shoreline… His portraits formed an album of an era which was melding the personalities of the fearless, rugged stagecoach drivers of the Wild West to the quiet confidence and well-bred sophistication of East Coast Philanthropy,” Erin Graffy, local historian, wrote […]
It is a warm summer afternoon in 1950, and you are resting in the shadow of the Courthouse Clock Tower. Your gaze lights upon two well-dressed young ladies as they follow a docent into the cool entry of the Grand Archway. Intrigued by the history lesson unfolding, you mount the staircase and join the group […]
Beginning on Tuesday, February 25, local historian Erin Graffy will host a special lecture series on Montecito history, as part of Santa Barbara City College’s School of Extended Learning. “In the past I’ve hosted lectures on Santa Barbara history, and I’ve been asked to focus now on Montecito,” Graffy said. “We’ll cover such themes as […]
The first of Erin Graffy‘s almost always informative and often amusing talks, this time covering (and uncovering) the history of four different Santa Barbara neighborhoods has already taken place, but there are three more and they’re all worth attending. The neighborhoods are Samarkand, Hope Ranch, Montecito, and Hidden Valley, and Erin says her four-part series […]
The Day The Hill Came Down First, of course, there was the fire. The Thomas Fire, so named because it began on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula before devouring nearly 300,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara County along with nearly one thousand homes and/or structures. Following California’s cycle of cataclysms, […]
Santa Barbara Revels, presenting its 10th anniversary production at the Lobero, stayed closer to home this year with its theme from the Alta California Rancho period. Written by my Journal colleague Erin Graffy and Revels artistic director Susan Keller, the 1835-era production centered around the nuptials of Anita de la Guerra, daughter of the presidio’s […]
