Tag archives: Maritime Museum

New Exhibit Celebrates the Women of the Santa Barbara Harbor
By Sigrid Toye   |   April 2, 2024

In keeping with the celebration of March 2024 as Women’s History Month (spoiler alert!) this column is going to contain some seriously shameless bragging! At the close of this month I’d like to send the memo that, both in a professional capacity and as volunteers, every month of any year Santa Barbara women make huge […]

A Maritime Mystery
By Richard Mineards   |   March 19, 2024

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was even more magical than usual when it hosted the “Heist at the Harbor: An Evening of Mystery and Intrigue” gala for 120 guests, which raised around $100,000 for the harborside institution. The boffo bash, co-chaired by immediate past president Sigrid Toye and Cindy Makela, also celebrated benefactors Robyn Parker and […]

Setting Sail to New Educational Horizons
By Richard Mineards   |   October 24, 2023

The pier opposite the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was heaving with guests when the recreation of the 19th century gaff-rigged 110-foot 98-ton steel-hulled schooner Mystic Whaler was recommissioned in its new role – an educational vessel for youngsters, 10 to 18, run by Central Coast Ocean Adventures. Originally launched in Florida in 1967, it spent […]

New Members on Board
By Richard Mineards   |   July 4, 2023

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has three new board members – Don Barthelmess, Tom Elliott, and Chad Makela. The 21-member board provides oversight to the stewardship of the harborside organization, and the tony triumvirate brings a unique skill set and experience to the role.

A Commanding Adventure
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 2, 2023

The 2003 epic period war-drama Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World concerns a British captain pushing his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a French war vessel off the South American coast. Based on Patrick O’Brian’s beloved series of novels set in the Napoleonic Wars, the film received 10 […]

Tade Made Deputy Director
By Richard Mineards   |   March 14, 2023

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has a new deputy director, Jessica Tade. Tade, who holds a Ph.D. in art history from UCSB, has worked for more than a decade for organizations either promoting the arts or providing access and opportunity to the community. Among other positions, she has served as the director of communications and marketing […]

Shining a Light on Photography
By Richard Mineards   |   February 7, 2023

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has just opened its latest illuminating exhibit, The Lure of Lighthouses & Dancing Waves, an impressive collection of more than 35 large-scale images and panoramic photographs of waves and lighthouses around the world taken by renowned Emmy Award-winning surfing photographer and videographer Dan Merkel. “I first met Dan when he joined […]

Artistic Sips
By Richard Mineards   |   September 20, 2022

Social gridlock reigned at artist Colette Cosentino’s Atelier and Gallery on West Anapamu when she opened her latest exhibition in collaboration with former Sunstone Winey vintner Anna Rice, who is using Colette’s artwork for her labels on her wine, including the Brut Rosé and Chardonnay. “It’s the perfect melding,” says Anna, now owner of the […]

Celebrating Under the Sea
By Richard Mineards   |   August 23, 2022

Teresa Kuskey Nowak’s birthday bash at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum may have had an Under the Sea theme, but there was not a flipper or snorkel to be seen when 112 guests descended on the harborside institution for the fun fête hosted by social gadabout Rick Oshay. After margaritas and comestibles on the museum’s […]

Ranger Revered
By Richard Mineards   |   April 26, 2022

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum suffered major social gridlock when the 1917-built vessel Ranger, familiar for leading the annual Christmas Parade of Lights, was officially re-admitted into the Classic Yacht Association’s Southern California Fleet. The 46-foot-long classic wooden fishing boat has been the museum’s flagship since being donated to the harbor-side institution in 1997 by Jack […]

Bringing Mermaids to Life
By Zach Rosen   |   November 22, 2021

The wild and mysterious ocean has inspired stories of mythical creatures for millennia, but the image of the mermaid remains one of the most popular and iconic throughout time. From the Assyrian goddess Atargatis to the explorers of the new world, mermaids make up the dreams, tales, and deities of many cultures. These fantasies have […]

Paddling with a Purpose
By Lynda Millner   |   July 8, 2021

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) staff likes to tell you, “You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.” And so, they did. When they couldn’t have their fundraiser for two years in a row, they pivoted and came up with a different event. This was due to the legendary world-famous surfer […]

Art of the Sea
By Lynda Millner   |   January 7, 2021

There is a wonderful art exhibit of 55 naval paintings at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum awaiting your visit as soon as lockdown is over and executive director Greg Gorga can unlock the doors. The exhibit was scheduled to open December 3, 2020 until May 30, 2021. It’s sponsored by George H. & Olive J. Griffiths […]

Saluting Navy Art
By Richard Mineards   |   November 26, 2020

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is hosting an extensive collection of 53 paintings that chronicle the accomplishments of the U.S. Navy, from the USS Constitution to atomic bomb tests, and expeditions to the North and South Poles. The colorful show, Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea, who was known as the Artist of the Fleet, […]

Twenty Years Behind the Mast
By Greg Gorga   |   July 23, 2020

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum celebrates a milestone and sails into the future Back in 1994, a small group of divers, fishermen, and sailors began meeting at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club and the Breakwater Restaurant to start planning a museum that would “present and interpret the rich and diverse maritime history of the Santa Barbara […]

Seas the Day
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2020

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is riding the crest of a wave having been designated Nonprofit of the Year. The harborside museum, which has received the accolade from the Chamber of the Santa Barbara Region, opened 20 years ago with the mission of interpreting the colorful maritime history of the Santa Barbara Channel. It was founded […]

Rum Running, Sailors & Prohibition
By Lynda Millner   |   May 16, 2019

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum also just opened its newest exhibit “Rum Running, Sailors & Prohibition” which covers more than 400 years of history and connects Santa Barbara to those times. Why Santa Barbara? Because we have more coastline than any other county in the United States including the Channel Islands. A perfect place to […]

Harbor of Spies
By Lynda Millner   |   May 16, 2019

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) recently had author Robin Lloyd for an evening to tell us what Havana, Cuba was like in the mid-1800s. That would be in our Civil War era. This is chronicled in Lloyd’s book, Harbor of Spies: A Novel of Historic Havana. This historical novel is set at the height […]

Stars & Stripes USO
By Lynda Millner   |   April 18, 2019

They were all there! Rosie the Riveter, movie stars, socialites, dancers, military, and medical personnel in the USO Hollywood Canteen aka the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM). This was their annual fundraising gala stepping back in time to the 1940s. The evening’s honorees were Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation and the Santa Barbara Navy League. Sounds […]

Ray of Light
By Richard Mineards   |   November 30, 2017

Hospice of Santa Barbara couldn’t have had a nicer evening when its hosted its annual Shining Light Society sunset soirée at SB Maritime Museum for VIP donors. District attorney Joyce Dudley joined the more than 70 guests quaffing the wine and snaffling the comestibles, including Gerd Jordano, Hiroko Benko, Chris Davis, Roger and Robin Himowitz, […]