Tag archives: locals
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 […]
Sure, the discovery of fire was kind of a big deal for humanity. But little did we know that that was also the moment we discovered a way to light up our life every single day. As early man and woman sat around their newly-invented flame, the enticing aroma of (let’s just assume) woolly mammoth […]
Bridget Mitchell is a Montecito native living in Los Angeles pursuing a creative career in costume design. From backstage show repairs for recognizable characters to behind-the-scenes Hulu sets to cruise ship performances at sea, there have been diverse adventures in her craft. Mitchell’s achievements speak for themselves in her over decade-long pursuit towards her craft. […]
My brother Benjamin Tolan – and you can ask anyone who went to MUS, Crane or Laguna Blanca High School – is best known for his uncanny excellence in whatever he pursues. He can pick up any tune on the flute, saxophone, or piano in just a few listens and dominate in any video game […]
It’s fair to say the path to everlasting love comes in many shapes, sizes, colors, and in some cases fabrics. Just steps away from the white sands of Montecito’s Butterfly Beach, there is a quiet beauty and tranquil ambiance lining the road to one such love story that sits on full display – many years […]
You’re driving south on the 101, headed down to the celebrated City of Angles (or whatever it’s called) when you suddenly get a hankering for what your grandpa used to call “a sody pop”. Happily, a left-lane exit looms just there – the deceptively nondescript Exit 94B – and you ease over and hop off […]
“They’re still recovering bodies. It’s the third deadliest hurricane behind Katrina and Camille,” said Yvette Vega, a Carpinteria-native and healthcare professional living in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’s a small community here, so if you don’t know someone directly, you know someone who does.” Vega was fortunate enough to miss Hurricane Helene’s full force. “We didn’t […]
Get up and out of your bunk at 4 am. Make coffee and a bagel… it’s burnt. Equip your waders, boots, headlamp, backpack, and lots of surveying equipment. Wade in the river and hike the woods for 12 hours, being cautious not to run into the man who lives in the shack made of bones. […]
Ariel Leira is a multidisciplinary visual artist and writer who grew up amongst the trees of Montecito, documenting her TRAVELS through glowing, abstract photography and heartfelt poetry. She was a lifer at Crane Country Day School – where we met in fifth grade – and graduated from Santa Barbara High School. Leira’s artistic proclivities began […]
After years of winning accolades as a director in Santa Barbara, New York and Los Angeles, Kylan Tyng takes to the sky for his new venture behind the camera: aerial photography. Photographer and director Kylan Tyng, born and raised in Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara, has spent the last two years exploring western North America […]
On a lark, Michael and Gabriella Salsbury walked into Madame Rosinka’s fortune-telling shopfront on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara. Rudderless and adrift on the open ocean of unspeakable parental sorrow, the couple were emphatically not looking to Madame Rosinka for the answers that had otherwise so eluded them. The Salsburys were not seekers after the […]
Blessings Porter has yet to meet a human he hasn’t liked. And, in his 14 years, he’s met hundreds of people. Since moving from Orange County to Montecito more than ten years ago, he’s become a frequent beachgoer on the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts Miramar Beach’s oceanfront sand. He’s a favorite unofficial “ambassador” to other […]
My name may be familiar to you, reader. Maybe you recognize it from the fading memory of your child’s school theater production playbill, or perhaps from reading Stella Haffner’s interviews with me in this very column. Thanks to Stella and the Montecito Journal, you’ll be seeing my name on a much more regular basis as […]
Newish Montecitan Susan Sofronas – recently arrived from the isle of Manhattan – is settling in nicely. She already adores our little woodland getaway, and as we sip java at sun-soaked Bree’osh on Coast Village, she charmingly parses her personal Tale of Two Cities with open delight. “If you think of New York City – […]
Troubled Surf legend Miki Dora – the Dark Prince of Malibu – remains a cipher. His lifelong desire to live in the moment has made him a mythic figure in the surf pantheon; a stature that in his lifetime royally pissed him off. Pop culture shorthand has reduced Dora to a James Dean for the […]
Pete Muller didn’t set out to make a record in Memphis with an entirely new band when he visited producer/engineer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell) on the advice of his manager. But the two hit it off, and when his previous producer Rob Mathes proved too busy with his Sting projects to get away, Muller committed […]
“I didn’t always know I wanted to be a doctor. Actually, I hadn’t really considered medicine until my sister was diagnosed,” says 17-year-old Natalie Martinez. Natalie and her family are Carpinteria locals. On the weekend, they enjoy hiking the Franklin Trail and visiting family in Ventura. But their lives were upended when Natalie’s 13-year-old sister, […]
When I read Editor-In-Chief Edward Kobina Enninful OBE’s final issue of British Vogue, which he dedicated to 40 women, I realized that it is fitting fashion designer Catherine Gee be featured in my Women’s History Month issue. From 2016 – with her hand-painted designs for the prints on her signature silk line of women’s clothes […]
Dear Montecito! I miss you! I can’t wait to be home for Spring Break next week! I’m getting ready to finish my second year at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and a lot has happened since the last time we spoke about my single “Oblivious,” which at the time was […]
In the war’s aftermath there were hundreds of thousands of scores to settle, and the new government wasted no time getting down to business. Former army officers, religious leaders, those who had worked for or with Americans or the old government; they were all asked to register with the new authorities, who would call them […]
