Tag archives: Orlando Bloom

An Obama in Ojai
By Richard Mineards   |   August 8, 2019

After Queen Elizabeth‘s granddaughter Princess Beatrice dining at Lucky’s with her boyfriend, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, it was the turn of former President Barack Obama‘s daughter, Malia, and her beau Rory Farquharson, to check out the area. The twosome, who both attend Harvard and have been dating for three years, were spotted at the Ojai Valley […]

BoHo Manifesto
By Richard Mineards   |   July 4, 2019

Social gridlock reigned at fashion designer Kendall Conrad‘s Montecito Country Mart store when she hosted a book launch bash for writer Julia Chaplin‘s 191-page The BoHo Manifesto, An Insider’s Guide to Postconventional Living. Brooklyn, New York-based Julia has already written and produced three books – Gypset Style, Gypset Travel, and Gypset Living, and has founded […]

Reunited after 50 Years
By Richard Mineards   |   June 27, 2019

Former Montecito resident Jim Sokolove, who moved with his wife, Stephanie, to Boca Raton, Florida last year, has just attended his 50th reunion at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Jim, who was in the class of 1969, founded his firm Sokolove Law in 1979. The tony twosome used to host the annual Table of […]

Generous Grants from Garufis
By Richard Mineards   |   March 28, 2019

To mark its 44th anniversary, Montecito Bank & Trust hosted a grants reception at its majestic State Street headquarters when president and CEO Janet Garufis handed out checks worth $20,000 to 10 local charities. Along with the checks, the nonprofits also received a professionally produced one-minute promotional video. Employees of the bank, which since its […]

Not All Heroes Wear Capes
By Richard Mineards   |   March 14, 2019

It was an early start when the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation hosted its 5th annual Little Heroes breakfast for 350 guests at the Hilton, which was expected to raise around $100,000 for the popular charity. The boffo bash, co-chaired by Heather Ayer, Matthew Fish, Emilee Garfield, and Nina Johnson, featured keynote speaker Eduardo Garcia, a […]

Golden Mike Winners
By Richard Mineards   |   February 21, 2019

It wasn’t quite the Olympics, but KEYT-TV reporters Mike Klan, Kelsey Gerckens, Joe Buttitta, Kacey Drescher, and Tracy Lehr were definitely going for gold at the 69th annual Golden Mike awards in Los Angeles. The ABC affiliate broadcaster won the coveted trophies at a glittering Radio and Television News Association of Southern California gala at […]

SB Gains an Ace
By Richard Mineards   |   February 14, 2019

Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club has added a new tennis pro to its talented staff. Born and raised in Scotland, Nikki Slater grew up playing with Wimbledon champ Andy Murray and his brother, Jamie, as her coach was the ace racketeers’ mother, Judy. She graduated from Florida State University where she was number one […]

Remembering Gene
By Richard Mineards   |   January 24, 2019

To Solvang for the memorial service for the late Gene Sinser, former board member of the Santa Barbara Symphony and ex director of the Montecito Fire District, who left us last month at the age of 85. The German Holocaust survivor, whose birth name was Gunther Zinser, was a longtime member of our rarefied enclave […]

Stand Up Film
By Richard Mineards   |   January 23, 2019

As the Santa Barbara International Film Festival celebrated its 35th anniversary, the Anti-Defamation League marked the occasion with a reception in the courtyard of the Lobero Theatre as a rainstorm raged outside. The 120-guest fifth anniversary bash, chaired by Marina Stephens, raised nearly $50,000 towards funds and, as is tradition, honored the film Liberté: A […]

Seeking Light
By Richard Mineards   |   January 16, 2019

The late Santa Barbara artist and poet Margaret Singer, who died at the age of 98 last year, is the focus of a new documentary by local director and documentary maker Louise Palanker. The 20-minute short “Margaret Singer: Seeking Light” tells how the Frankfurt-born citizen fled Nazism and lost her family in the Holocaust, moving […]

It’s a Glamourous Life
By Richard Mineards   |   January 9, 2019

An old New York friend, international interior designer Geoffrey Bradfield, sends me his latest hefty 288-page tome Stage Set, which chronicles in lavish detail the past 50 years of his glamorous life. Geoffrey details his unlikely ascendance from a farm in a remote South African province to a glittering career that has earned him worldwide […]

New Addition
By Richard Mineards   |   December 27, 2018

William Gallivan and staffers at the Orthopedic Institute of Santa Barbara welcomed some new bones to the roster at the annual holiday celebration at their downtown offices. The boffo bash, held in an enormous tent connected to the Junipero Street office, became the vortex for the festive fest that included music by guitarist Bruce Goldish, […]

Gift Keeps Giving
By Richard Mineards   |   October 11, 2018

Christmas came early when Chris Toomey threw a pre-Mistletoe Ball pizza party at his Carpinteria aerie, complete with Yuletide carols, for supporters of the Catholic Charities of Santa Barbara, our Eden by the Beach’s oldest social services agency, which helped more than 12,000 people county-wide last year. The festive fete, which has been held at […]

Helping Hands
By Richard Mineards   |   July 26, 2018

Social gridlock reigned when the Arthritis Foundation hosted a reception at the sleek BMW Hope Avenue showroom to publicize the 37th annual Taste of the Town at Riviera Park on September 9. The popular 800-guest event is expected to raise more than $200,000, which helps 200,000 sufferers in the tri-counties, according to executive director Michael […]

Changing of the Grau
By Richard Mineards   |   May 17, 2018

After 10 years as film commissioner for Santa Barbara, Geoff Alexander is moving on to pursue a career in real estate sales. He is being replaced by Ryan Grau – whose title is director of film and special events – who grew up in Ventura and moved to our Eden by the Beach in 1995. […]

Rock on
By Richard Mineards   |   March 8, 2018

Montecito mega philanthropist Leslie Ridley-Tree is a rock star. The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Foundation has declared Leslie, the CEO of Pacific Air Industries in Los Angeles, its new Rock Star: Life Achievement Award recipient. Leslie, who has given millions to innumerable local organizations, including Cottage Hospital, the Granada, and All Saints by the Sea Episcopal […]

Ain’t Love Granada
By Richard Mineards   |   February 22, 2018

The venerable Granada threw its second annual Love Your Theater event for 80 members of its Premier Patron Society, when the inner workings of the stage, basement, and upper gantries were open to all and sundry. Champagne and comestibles sated the guests as they toured the labyrinth of corridors and dressing rooms as flamenco guitarist […]

Soothing Sounds
By Richard Mineards   |   January 25, 2018

Santa Barbara Symphony, under conductor Nir Kabaretti, in partnership with Montecito Bank & Trust, held a free concert at the Granada to raise money for disaster relief and recovery efforts in our rarefied enclave. Guitarist and artist in residence Pablo Sainz Villegas, accompanied by a small orchestra, gave an intimate and uplifting performance. “It was […]