Tag archives: Richard Mineards

ZDF at Maison Mineards Montecito
By Richard Mineards   |   April 23, 2024

Another day at Maison Mineards Montecito, another TV crew! This one from Germany’s ZDF network with a five-person team, two of whom had flown in specially and one producer, Mo Davies, who jetted in from London and knew many of my royal expert friends from dealing with them over the decades. Los Angeles-based producer, Melanie […]

Birthday Boy Mineards
By Richard Mineards   |   August 1, 2023

It wasn’t quite the exotic occasion I envisaged when I celebrated the 20th anniversary of my half century last week, but a fun event nevertheless at Ca’Dario on Coast Village Road. Having not been able to fly to Marrakech, Morocco, for the past few years because of pandemic restrictions, my plans were to join an […]

USS Santa Barbara Bash
By Richard Mineards   |   April 18, 2023

It was definitely a ship to shore moment when hotel magnate Pat Nesbitt and his wife Ursula hosted a boffo bash for the captain and crew of the newly commissioned USS Santa Barbara at Bella Vista, their scenic oceanside 20-acre Summerland estate. The fun fête, assisted by the local council of the U.S. Navy League, […]

Super Bowl Bash
By Richard Mineards   |   February 21, 2023

Social gridlock reigned when retired technology executive Howard Cannon opened the doors of his George Washington Smith home, just a tiara’s toss from the estate of singer Katy Perry and her British actor fiancé Orlando Bloom, for more than 90 guests for his sixth annual Super Bowl party. With commercial time during the Fox broadcast […]

Dunbar Ranch Rental
By Richard Mineards   |   February 7, 2023

Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner, 68, is renting out his 160-acre Aspen, Colorado, home for a hefty $36,000 a night. The Oscar and recent Golden Globe winner’s property has 12 bedrooms and eight bathrooms, with it spread over nearly 6,000 square feet and accommodating up to 27 people. Known as the Dunbar Ranch, it is described […]

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 […]

A Heartfelt (and Dry) Lunch
By Richard Mineards   |   November 22, 2022

It was the storm before the CALM when the charity, which helps with childhood trauma, hosted its 11th annual Calm at Heart lunch for 250 guests at Los Sueños, the Montecito estate of uber legal eagle Robert Lieff and his wife, Susan, which raised $370,000. Fortunately, a large marquee was erected before the heavens opened […]

Party for Priscilla
By Richard Mineards   |   September 13, 2022

Social gridlock reigned at Arnoldi’s, one of our tony town’s oldest eateries, when my trusty shutterbug Priscilla celebrated the 30th anniversary of her half century with a dinner for her many friends hosted by social gadabout Rick Oshay. After eclectic cocktails guests tucked into pasta, steak, and other items from the expansive menu as Priscilla, […]

Thoughts for Salman Rushdie
By Richard Mineards   |   August 30, 2022

On a personal note, my thoughts are with writer Sir Salman Rushdie, 75, as he recovers after being stabbed repeatedly by an Iranian sympathizer as he was about to speak at the Chautauqua Institute literary festival in upstate New York. It follows the fatwa issued by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 after his 1988 […]

Bon Anniversaire Mineards
By Richard Mineards   |   August 2, 2022

It wasn’t quite the exotic Moroccan city of Marrakech where I had been scheduled to celebrate the 19th anniversary of my half century, but our rarefied enclave’s newest eatery Local on Coast Village Road served as a suitable replacement locale to celebrate. I joined good friends, animal activist Gretchen Lieff and her fiancée Miles Hartfeld, […]

Trash Pickup
By Montecito Journal   |   July 26, 2022

Is the County going to let Channel Drive go to Hades now that the Biltmore is down long term? Matt McLaughlin  A Laughing Bear Carlos, The Bear, was doubled over, stomping his paws, with tears rolling down his snout as he roared with laughter. A sneak peek at a yet unpublished tome in the Montecito […]

It’s about time…
By Montecito Journal   |   September 14, 2021

It’s about time that we understand that living in a culturally diverse world means that we are also living in and with multiple calendars and structures of time. Philosophers in the 20th century came to understand that time was the most essential dimension of human life. It would not be inaccurate to say that time […]

‘Nothing Could be Finer’ Than This Birthday Bash
By Richard Mineards   |   July 29, 2021

It was a super sunset birthday soirée by degrees when yours truly marked the 18th anniversary of his half-century with a boffo bash at the University Club hosted by Gretchen Lieff and her beau, Miles Hartfeld. Having been scheduled to wing to an old friend Cat Pollon’s home outside Marrakech for the past two years, […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   January 7, 2021

Love for Brilliant Thoughts It is with anticipation that I pick up my copy of the Montecito Journal each Thursday morning to catch up on local news, learn what’s going on in Montecito and Summerland and find entertainment. My favorite column is Ashleigh Brilliant’s Brilliant Thoughts. Your paper never disappoints! While I always appreciate Mr. […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   December 31, 2020

The Real Hoax Dear Mr. Hazard, I think deplorable is an apt title for your article regarding Trump, and your willingness to accept his ignorance by denying the existence of COVID “The Hoax.”  How many deaths and illnesses have occurred because of this denial? How about his 20,000 lies certified by fact checkers over the […]

The People Person
By Megan Waldrep   |   September 10, 2020

Where in the World is Richard Mineards? Our favorite society columnist, Richard Mineards, is missing. Well, his column “Montecito Miscellany” has been missing from our pages, which in itself feels like a big loss. After several months of wondering, Where’s Richard?, I connected with Mr. Mineards via telephone to see what’s shakin’. Right off the […]

Fun With The Force
By James Buckley   |   October 17, 2019

Richard Mineards covered this in last week’s issue, and Maile Kai, coincidentally, sang “America, The Beautiful” that night, but I don’t believe we ran any photos of the size of the audience out to support the law-and-order community at Pat and Ursula Nesbitt‘s Summerland estate. There were over 900 folks sitting at tables and under […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   February 28, 2019

A Simpler Solution In “Sucking It Up” written by Larry Bond (MJ #25/7), he indicates that both he and Mr. Gene Tyburn wonder “…why this common sense solution to our water woes has not been pursued.” The “common sense solution” referred to is to dredge the bottom of the lake when conditions permit to increase […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   February 21, 2019

A Burning Issue Do they read the Montecito Journal in distant Hope Ranch? I hope so.For several months oil has been seeping out of the bluff between Hope Ranch and the beach and it is hot enough that it is burning underground. There have been repeated efforts to stop it by burying it but this […]

Magic Castle Cabaret
By James Buckley   |   February 21, 2019

No doubt our universal man-about-town Richard Mineards has covered the opening of Milt and Arlene Larsen‘s Magic Castle Cabaret, Montecito’s new private club, in his column. And there is no doubt that MJ‘s society maven and beauty expert Lynda Millner will report on the same subject soon after, so no need to add my seven […]