Tag archives: holidays
Tartan ruled supreme at the Lobero when Santa Barbara Revels founder and artistic director Susan Keller staged her 13th Yuletide production, a Scottish celebration of the Winter Solstice. Set in an imposing baronial hall in the 18th century, the entertaining show opened with a Scottish overture played by the Ben Nevis Brass Ensemble and the […]
Scientist, inventor, and real estate investor Ray Winn, 88, and his partner of 34 years Peter Kavoian, 66, pulled out all the stops when they hosted their first Christmas bash for 100 guests in five years at their magnificent Birnam Wood home. Peter used his gleaming red Bentley convertible as Santa’s sleigh with six reindeer […]
Just about everything Hillside does is for its residents, the 59 people who live at the facility that have developmental disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism, and epilepsy. That includes everything from the intensive medical support and empathetic caregiving to things like its annual Shining Light on Abilities event, a festive display of holiday […]
With the holidays upon us, here are a few places for putting those finishing touches on the home, last-minute local gifts, or just spots to go get some fresh air and holiday cheer. During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s easy to let things slip through the cracks and this week is […]
Last week, the usual crew of Montecito locals gathered to decorate the giant pine tree near the Manning Park tennis courts. It’s a festive tradition that goes back many decades, and we retell it here each year to keep the memory alive. As the story goes, in the early 1960s, then Montecito Fire Chief Don […]
It wasn’t the COVID pandemic that caused Trinity Backstage Coffeehouse to come to a close after a Christmastime holiday show in 2019. The underground listening-room series that spent nearly 20 years bringing some of the finest, if often unheralded, acoustic singer-songwriters to Santa Barbara had already scaled back from monthly shows to quarterly concerts for […]
A wet and windy evening did not derail the annual Christmas at the Casa fundraising event at Casa del Herrero on December 10, as guests were chauffeured from the El Montecito Church parking lot to the event. There we were greeted with elegantly dressed staff who escorted us with umbrellas to the host desk and […]
On Sunday, December 11, the 36th Annual Parade of Lights Boat Show was held at Stearns Wharf and seen along the city beachfront from West to East beaches. The parade was founded by Captain Don Hedden, a former president of the Stearns Wharf Business Association, in 1985 and has since become a holiday favorite. The […]
Richie’s Barber Shop on Coast Village Road is having its 11th Annual Holiday Donation Drive, this year for St. Vincent’s Santa Barbara and Adam’s Angels. The Shop’s event chair and lead barber Jessica Jay is coordinating with Regina Ruiz, Chief Development Officer of St. Vincent’s Santa Barbara, and with Adam McKaig, who formed Adam’s Angels […]
A Christmas ‘Unicorn’: And Now for Something Completely Different… It would be hard to imagine something more polar opposite from a Christmas show than Bulletproof Unicorn, a one-woman show from Los Angeles-based comedian and singer-songwriter Stacie Burrows rife with dark humor about trying to fix her dysfunctional family that culminates in her estranged, alcoholic brother […]
What could be more festive for Yuletide than Charles Dickens’s classic ghost story A Christmas Carol? It is a show dear to my heart as it was the first-ever theater production I saw at the tender age of eight at the Northampton Repertory Theatre in England with a group of classmates from my local prep […]
We’ll have the coolest classic cars, lit up to brighten the night sky (briefly). We’ll have dancers, singers, and so much fun! The route starts from the Upper Village, and heads down Hot Springs to Coast Village, and then back up Olive Mill to the end. We encourage you to support our local merchants and […]
For a decade, the Organic Soup Kitchen (OSK) hosted community meals on Christmas Day at the Veterans Memorial Building on the Santa Barbara waterfront, serving hundreds of warm nutritious meals to the homeless and others. The event eventually grew to include an appearance by Santa to hand out gifts to people of all ages and […]
The veteran actor, director, and choreographer Jamie Torcellini is no stranger to Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC), having performed at ETC in The School for Lies and The Mystery of Irma Vep, and directed both Tell Me on a Sunday and The 39 Steps. It’s the latter play that’s most germane, as Torcellini has been enthralled […]
All that glitters may not be gold. But when it comes to these sparkling wine bottles – glittering and bursting with color – the flavors definitely shine. Just in time for the holidays, Riverbench Winery is bringing back this unique festive packaging for its full line of sparkling wines. The “Glitter Bottles” are fully covered […]
The second in a four-part series on shopping locally in Montecito, we’re shining a light on the Lower Village: Montecito’s Coast Village Road and beyond, which has long been a shopping and dining destination for locals and visitors. Many shops along Coast Village Road are gearing up for the holiday season, decorating their windows and […]
Photos by Joanne A Calitri It’s not every Thanksgiving this society gal takes off, but with my hair newly colored by Montecito’s own French Hair Salon expert, Eliane Alexandre International, I was ready to take on the sun-bleached blondes of the Florida coast in true Parisian style. Saving the almost impossible details of getting to […]
After a two-year hiatus, a contest for holiday window decorating on Coast Village Road is back, marked as the last hurrah for the outgoing Coast Village Association, which is evolving into the Coast Village Improvement Association thanks to the approval of the Coast Village Community Benefit Improvement District earlier this year. Holiday cheer is already […]
Santa Barbara’s regular traditional holiday shows such as The Nutcracker and Christmas Revels will be arriving next month, along with sing-along Messiahs and holiday parties. But the highlight of the season just might be taking place even before the calendar flips to December as American Theatre Guild’s Broadway in Santa Barbara series presents A Magical […]
The turkey has been put to rest (or maybe it put us to bed), and the holiday season is underway. With so much around our beloved town, it is easy to shop and support local. This is part one of four articles featuring the local stores that make our area so distinct. This week features […]
