Tag archives: gossip

A Trio of Stellar Shows
By Richard Mineards   |   February 7, 2023

UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures series has been working overtime with three major shows in the last week, two at the Granada and a third at the more intimate Lobero. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s EDEN, a call to action to build a paradise for today fertilizing, nourishing, and protecting the pure bliss that is Earth, with […]

Reflecting on King Constantine
By Richard Mineards   |   January 31, 2023

I remember King Constantine II, the last King of Greece. Monarch for nine years until the abolition of the country’s royal family in 1973, we met at the legendary three-day 70th birthday party thrown by New York publisher Malcolm Forbes at his Palais Mendoub in Tangier, Morocco, in 1989 for 800 celebrity guests, including Elizabeth […]

Playing with Planes and Trains
By Richard Mineards   |   January 31, 2023

Santa Barbara Symphony was clearly on the right track with its first 70th anniversary concert of the New Year! Plains, Trains, & Violins at the Granada under maestro Nir Kabaretti was a celebration of the influence of music of the Americas with local ties to our Eden by the Beach. The entertaining performance included Uruguayan-born […]

Local Air Support
By Richard Mineards   |   January 17, 2023

Larry Feinberg, president of Santa Barbara Museum of Art, must be thanking his lucky stars he lives in our Eden by the Beach. Late last year, his wife Starr Siegele fell off a ladder at their Manhattan apartment breaking her pelvis in two places, shattering her left elbow, and breaking two arm bones. “She lay […]

Restoration Hardware Happening
By Richard Mineards   |   January 17, 2023

Restoration Hardware, the upscale home furnishing emporium, is coming to town! The chain, founded in Eureka in 1979 with 100 stores in 31 states and 6,500 employees, now rebranded RH, is taking over the old Lucca Antiques space in the Old Fire House building on East Valley Road. Its former longtime store on State Street, […]

A 2023 Kick Off Luncheon in the Garden
By Richard Mineards   |   January 10, 2023

As usual, tout le monde was at the New Year’s Day lunch thrown by affable gardening guru George Schoellkopf and international artist Gerald Incandela at their magnificent Summerland aerie. The tony twosome, who fly between their estates here and Washington, Connecticut, kicked off 2023 in splendiferous style with free-flowing vintage Bordeaux and Moët champagne, beef […]

A Present Under Turner’s Tree
By Richard Mineards   |   December 27, 2022

Christmas came early for Montecito’s Turner Foundation when president Dean Wilson was presented with a check for $175,000 by polo playing Farmers & Merchants Bank president Dan Walker at the financial institution’s annual Yuletide fête at its East Carrillo Street branch. The 100-guest bash, which featured Dickensian-costumed carol singers and comestibles from Rincon Catering, attracted […]

Christmas at the Carriage
By Richard Mineards   |   December 20, 2022

Even composer Tchaikovsky would have blushed when social gadabout Rick Oshay and Teresa Kuskey hosted their second annual Christmas bash at the Carriage and Western Art Museum for 150 guests with a decidedly risqué version of The Naughty Nutcracker, featuring the colorful and camp La Boheme dancers and ubiquitous KEYT-TV reporter John Palminteri as the […]

A Golden Eagle Gala
By Richard Mineards   |   December 20, 2022

The eagle has landed! After a major nine-month restoration that used 12 books of 22 karat gold leaf, equal to 312 individual sheets or 5.3 grams of gold, by local expert Chris Bailey, a most impressive golden eagle, which used to hang above the stage at the Lobero Theatre at the turn of the last […]

Christmas Kicks Off
By Richard Mineards   |   December 13, 2022

The Rosewood Miramar was flooded with Yuletide illuminations, as well as dozens of miniature trees, when Managing Director Rick Fidel, accompanied by a very jolly Santa Claus, lit the tony hostelry’s Christmas tree in the grand lobby watched by dozens of parents and their children. As guests quaffed hot chocolate, apple cider, and prosecco cocktails, […]

Design Awards 
By Richard Mineards   |   December 13, 2022

The American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara hosted their annual Design Awards gala at the Cabrillo Pavilion honoring the achievements of local architects and architecture. The award program recognizes design excellence in architecture, residential architecture, restoration-renovation, and urban design. Among the honorees was the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Kupiec Architects, with the Cabrillo […]

Celebratory Farewell to Reed
By Richard Mineards   |   December 13, 2022

After more than two decades as the public face of the Unity Shoppe Executive Director Tom Reed, 76, hosted a retirement bash at the Kenny Loggins Pavilion, where much of the 105-year-old charity’s work is based. “It’s time to enjoy some new activities with my wife and grandchildren,” says Tom, who joined the popular organization […]

An Aperitif of Piano
By Richard Mineards   |   November 29, 2022

Italian pianist Alessio Bax, a frequent visitor to our Eden by the Beach, who performed with the Santa Barbara Symphony at the Granada playing Schumann’s “Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54,” gave a private concert 48 hours earlier for VIP supporters in the second of its Concert Aperitif series at the historic APS aerie […]

Celebrating at Jimmy’s
By Richard Mineards   |   November 29, 2022

Oriental art expert Keith Moore celebrated the tenth anniversary of his half-century with a boffo bash in The Pickle Room, formerly Jimmy’s Oriental Garden belonging to the Chung family, where Keith’s father used to play saxophone. Keith, a sixth-generation Santa Barbarian, as well as a life member of the Society of California Pioneers, even brought […]

Waterhouse Turns 38
By Richard Mineards   |   November 29, 2022

Social gridlock reigned when Ralph and Diane Waterhouse celebrated the 38th anniversary of their eponymous art gallery in La Arcada. The popular establishment, just a tiara’s toss from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, was founded in 1984 by Diane. It moved to its current location in 1991 and represents some of the city’s finest […]

Silky Songs
By Richard Mineards   |   November 29, 2022

After staging Puccini’s triumphant work Tosca at the Granada, it was time for Opera Santa Barbara to turn to comedy for its latest production, Rossini’s La Scala di Seta – The Silk Ladder – at the Lobero, a one-act vintage work from 1812. Home-grown soprano Jana McIntyre, who sang in Handel’s Semele last season, was […]

Filling Empty Bowls
By Richard Mineards   |   November 29, 2022

Santa Barbara Empty Bowls celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Foodbank’s Hollister Avenue warehouse when 800 supporters and 50 volunteers, including Congressman Salud Carbajal and Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte, turned out to help raise around $100,000 for the cause. Soups From the Heart provided a selection of liquid refreshments, including Asian noodle, Tuscan whole bean, […]

Mystic Pirates Aboard
By Richard Mineards   |   October 18, 2022

Former Santa Barbara Yacht Club commodore Roger Chrisman and his wife, Sarah, who recently bought the 83-foot steel-hulled schooner Mystic Whaler, which boasts 110-foot masts and 3,000 square feet of sail, sailed it up to our tony town’s harbor from its Channel Islands base in Oxnard for a three-week stay, just a tiara’s toss from […]

Reveling in Equinox
By Richard Mineards   |   October 4, 2022

The Scottish bagpipes sounded loud and clear at the University Club when Susan Keller’s Santa Barbara Revels celebrated its seventh annual Equinox concert celebrating the changing seasons. The al fresco evening on the Sola Patio combined selections from three centuries of Spanish and Mexican music of the New World, in an echo of the Revels […]

Opera on the Ocean
By Richard Mineards   |   October 4, 2022

It was a case of high Cs on the high seas when Hiroko Benko, owner of the popular whale-watching vessel Condor Express, hosted a two-hour opera cruise for 70 music lovers, the first in three years. Featuring new Chrisman Studio tenor artist Kyle Rudolph from San Diego, and soprano Chelsea Chaves from Orange County accompanied […]