Tag archives: summer

The Miramar Swim Raft is Back!
By Richard Mineards   |   June 4, 2024

The Miramar Swim Raft, an iconic symbol of leisure and fun, is back for the summer. For decades, the Rosewood Miramar’s raft has been more than just a floating platform. It has been a centerpiece for families, friends, and communities to come together and create unforgettable moments. Launched in 1917, the five-star resort has long […]

Spring Upgrades Are Done and Summer Kicks Off Along Coast Village
By Beth Sullivan   |   May 28, 2024

The City of Santa Barbara and the Coast Village Association are pleased to announce the successful completion of the first phase of the road upgrade project, a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to enhancing the district’s infrastructure, safety, and overall appeal. Between March 25 and May 17 of this year, residents and businesses demonstrated […]

A Shining Night
By Richard Mineards   |   May 14, 2024

Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s latest exhibition celebrates half a century of Summer Solstice, the colorful and creative annual parade on State Street. The event started in 1974 when mime and artist Michael Gonzales celebrated his birthday with friends on the town’s main thoroughfare. Fifty years later nearly 100,000 people line the street to experience something […]

AHA!
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 20, 2024

Roxana Petty is understandably proud that AHA! is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024, marking a quarter-century since the nonprofit’s founding as a small summer program just a few months after the infamous Columbine High School massacre. In an effort to reduce the possibility of such a tragedy happening in Santa Barbara, AHA! (which stands […]

AHA!
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

AHA!’s (Attitude. Harmony. Achievement.) multi-faceted programs have been rapidly expanding nearly a quarter-century after the organization’s founding in response to the shooting at Columbine High School back in 1999. The proof is in the post-pandemic pudding, which emerged late last month when some of AHA!’s after-school programs got underway.  “The demand for what we’re doing […]

Quadruple the Fun and Laughs
By Richard Mineards   |   July 4, 2023

The second week of the Music Academy’s Summer Festival lineup goes from strength to strength. Hahn Hall on the 10-acre Miraflores campus was the venue for the String Quartet showcase featuring the Vela Quartet – violinists Aaron You-Xin Li and Harin Kang, violist Vincenzo Keawe Calcagno, and cellist Hamzah Zaidi – kicking off the highly […]

Summer in Santa Barbara Al Fresco Adventures Abound
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 4, 2023

Santa Barbara is by no means unique in taking advantage of the warmer temperature and sunny weather to bring music and movie entertainment to the masses in the great outdoors. But, at least for our size, we sure do have a plethora of places to put up performances, each with its own flavor. Read on […]

Roots in Solstice. The Longest Day Needs You
By Jeff Wing   |   June 20, 2023

Yes. Our warm, wet, and lovely home planet is tilted weirdly on its axis – like a white-wine lightweight after an author’s luncheon, more or less. As it races around the local ball of fire at around 67,000 mph, Earth’s angular disposition in relation to the sun makes the days here longer, there shorter. Over […]

Imagine Your Float: Setting the Stage for a Successful Solstice 
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 2, 2023

The official workshop for this year’s Summer Solstice Parade on June 24 won’t open until mid-May, but festival veterans and newcomers can get a jump on participating in a big way, thanks to a new workshop taking place this weekend. Artist and former high school art teacher Judith Raimondi is facilitating the “Imagine Your Float” […]

Summer Home Buying Spree Continues… With no fall in sight (other than the weather and earlier sunsets)
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   September 27, 2022

The calendar may say that we are heading into fall, but the Montecito Real Estate market is not falling at all, not here in the 93108. It seems like full steam ahead for buyers looking to become part of this community. Taking a quick look back at August, there were only 12 sales reported in […]

Come to the Cabaret… With an Open Mind
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 26, 2022

Don’t walk into the Music Academy’s Cabaret at Hahn Hall next Thursday, July 28, expecting to see a knockoff of the 1966 Kander and Ebb Broadway musical or Bob Fosse’s 50-year-old film adaptation. While both are set in Berlin’s cabaret culture during the Weimar Republic, the Academy event is an originally devised cabaret with a […]

Summer Splendor at Local Eateries The Sweetness and Spiciness of the Season
By Claudia Schou   |   July 26, 2022

Warm summer breezes and longer days beckon diners outdoors to explore the city’s diverse culinary landscape. Although there has been a recent uptick in virus cases, restaurant owners and chefs tempt diners with their summer creations. Several local eateries continue to exercise the same safety protocols at the height of the pandemic. “Our doors to […]

Let’s Make it a Smashing Summer
By Ian Wickman   |   July 12, 2022

This summer it’s time to take advantage of one of the easiest, most refreshing cocktails you can find. Endlessly versatile, and easy to adjust to your tastes, a smash is a cocktail that will make everyone happy. Best of all, they are dead simple to make. Read on to see how to make your summer […]

Focus on Film
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 12, 2022

Hot Fun in the Summertime, UCSB Arts & Lectures’ return to its weekly series of classic movies projected onto a huge inflatable screen at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden, returns for the first time in three years. Monster hits and cult favorites are among the summer-inspired buddy and adventure films that range from […]

Solstice Shines on Parade
By Joanne A Calitri   |   July 5, 2022

To bring some Shine into the summer, the Santa Barbara Solstice Parade returned on June 25 with that theme, and a new route up Santa Barbara Street. Perhaps it should have been on this historic road all along. An estimated over 100,000 attendees paid homage to the sun, and yes, ‘60s hippies crawled out of […]

Summer Solstice Seeks Volunteers
By Montecito Journal   |   June 28, 2022

The days are at the longest and the Summer Solstice Parade is coming back at full force and with a new Santa Barbara Street route. This upcoming weekend promises to be full of costumed revelry and to live up to this year’s theme: Shine. The Solstice crew is also seeking some last-minute volunteers to help […]

Meanwhile, back to Rancho Valencia…
By Leslie Westbrook   |   June 28, 2022

While the world was going to hell in a handbasket, I escaped to Rancho Santa Fe, a sort of Montecito for the horsey set, for a couple of glorious nights at lovely Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa, a Spanish-Colonial hacienda style resort set on 45 acres in north San Diego County that’s a three-and-a-half-hour drive […]

Sum’MAW of 75
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 14, 2022

The Music Academy of the West’s return to its normal extremely event-packed eight-week summer music festival in 2022 happily coincides with a major milestone for the institute headquartered right here in Montecito. If previous partnerships with the New York Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra haven’t already done so, MAW’s 75th anniversary season truly places […]

Mission Possible: I Madonnari Returns
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 31, 2022

Art intended to be much more ephemeral makes its heralded return this Memorial Day weekend as the I Madonnari Festival Street Painting event resumes its annual three-day takeover of the plaza in front of the Santa Barbara Mission after two years as a virtual event. It’s also the first festival since the retirement of Kathy […]

Summer is Coming: Some (Burning) Issues for Montecito Just Got Hotter 
By Sharon Byrne   |   May 24, 2022

Bucolic scenery, coastal oaks, mountains, and ocean. Montecito is lovely, and a terrific community, but we have issues here. If you recently moved in, here’s where you can get resources: Fire Danger – There have been multiple fires in the past few weeks all over the county, well ahead of the official fire season. Of […]