Every November, I look forward to the Holiday Home Tour in nearby Ojai that benefits the annual Ojai Music Festival, now entering its 75th year. Organized by the OMF Women’s Committee, this year, due to COVID, they have done a terrific job of creating a video tour of three lovely homes. Narrated by architect/designers Steve […]
Santa’s elves have been working hard to prepare Summerland emporiums with festive atmosphere and sparkling gift choices for the holiday season. In fact, most places were already sporting Christmas trees and décor the weekend before Thanksgiving and more than 45 flocked wreaths had already flown out the door like hot cakes at Field + Fort, […]
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Karl Storz Imaging, which has been of a pillar of the Central Coast’s technology industry and is one of the area’s largest employers with nearly 400 staff, just celebrated its 30th anniversary. KSI is a subsidiary of Karl Storz SE and Co. KG, a family-owned company based in Germany that employs more than 8,000 people […]
A new home design store has opened in San Ysidro Village; TF Design Montecito softly opened earlier this month. Namesake owner and designer Tina Frey has personally curated the space with a comprehensive collection of her simple and modern resin designs. All pieces are conceived and hand-sculpted by Frey, and handmade by a talented and […]
Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner didn’t have to look very far for a new manager at his 500-acre, 41-cottage, five-star hostelry, the San Ysidro Ranch. Ian Williams, who replaced bonnie Scottish lass Maxine Rutledge as overseer of the historic property where the late President John Kennedy and wife, Jackie, spent their honeymoon, and actor Laurence […]
Hacienda, by Bonita Lifestyle, the latest incarnation of retail shopping therapy in Summerland by Rita Villa, opened its doors mid-November. Located just down the street from the Summerland Beach Café (and in the same row as Garde on the street behind the liquor store), the shop is the culmination of the many years of Rita’s […]
Even movie stars and the rich and famous need to play by the rules, so it should seem simple for the rest of us mere mortals. At a Summerland Architectural Board of Review meeting a few years back, the board approved a 26,000-square-foot house (by virtue of a variance on the 25-acre beachfront property) for […]
To the Hotel Californian for the re-opening bash of Blackbird, the hostelry’s signature restaurant, which has been reimagined with “a beverage-forward atmosphere” featuring cocktails by celebrity mixologist Devon Espinosa, alongside a thoughtfully curated menu of light bites by executive chef Travis Watson who pays homage to the culinary bounty of the Central Coast. My trusty […]
We could all use a virtual vacation. Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary board member Leslie Rugg reached out to me enthusiastically via email to get the word out about the parrot haven and rescue center in Summerland whose director of the Sanctuary is longtime Montecito resident Jamie McLeod. Birds with chronic conditions remain at the Sanctuary […]
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Revelations From the California Insurance Commissioner’s Marathon Virtual Hearing The good news from the pandemic: the state has learned how to do Zoom. We no longer have to trek to Sacramento to work with state officials; we can now do it from our living rooms. Direct democracy in action! We met Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara last […]
Like every performing arts venue in town, the Magic Castle Cabaret has been closed since March as even private club prestidigitation has been rendered powerless by the pandemic. But the charming year-old establishment that serves as the local Santa Barbara-Montecito offshoot to the famed Castle in Hollywood co-founded by Milt Larsen in the early 1960s […]
Montecito Deli celebrated 19 years on Friday, September 11, on Coast Village Road. The deli has stayed open throughout the lockdown to keep its regulars and new customers going, with takeout or outdoor patio dining. “Our menu is the same as it’s always been – create it and we will make it,” said owner Jeff […]
Normally a designation as a red zone would mean no parking or even stopping. But when it comes to pandemic procedures, the designation is more like rolling out a red carpet, as two weeks of reduced cases means more businesses can reopen. Accordingly, Metropolitan Theatres plans to welcome back moviegoers at two of the Santa […]
Artist Cassandria Blackmore, along with her husband, Jon, have opened a new gallery on Coast Village Road, in the space once occupied by Viva Oliva, which moved to downtown Santa Barbara earlier this year. Blackmore, with her eye-catching reverse paintings on glass, is world-renowned for her unique work, which has been exhibited and collected internationally. […]
