Soprano Audra McDonald, who has a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammys, and an Emmy, was in top form when she appeared in the last Granada performance of the UCSB Arts & Lectures current season. New York-based McDonald, who received a National Medal of Arts in 2015, the highest honor for achievement in the arts, […]
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing finally (postponed due to fire and flood) were able to have the grand opening of their new affordable housing development at 510 North Salsipuedes St. If you’ve driven down Haley Street, it’s that beautiful Spanish-style building on the corner. There were 300 applications, and a lottery was held for the 40 apartments […]
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The oenophiles we’re out in force when Grassini vineyards opened its new 1,400-sq.-ft. tasting room at the historic El Paseo. The 104-acre vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley was planted in 2002 and mayor Cathy Murillo cut a ribbon to mark the new opening. Among the guests quaffing the vino and noshing on the bounteous […]
And I don’t mean just for Prince Harry and his new wife Meghan Markle. Having covered the British Royal Family for more than four decades, I was deluged with interview requests on TV and radio nationwide to bring my 40 years of expertise to the forum. The local ABC affiliate, KEYT-TV, had presciently booked me […]
Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care (VNHC) held its 17th annual Mother’s Day Luncheon to honor and remember our mothers in the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. It was a poignant event and totally heartfelt. It began with emcee Pamela Dillman Haskell moderating the lively (cool?) teen-parent fashion show from K.frank. The Santa Barbara Arts Performance […]
It couldn’t have been a more perfect evening when the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara threw its 80th anniversary gala at the Heartstone Ranch in Carpinteria, with the 220 guests raising $200,000 for the popular organization. The super soirée, emceed by Montecito Bank & Trust chairman Janet Garufis and the ubiquitous Andrew Firestone, […]
The Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation (PCVF) held its 22nd annual Military Ball honoring excellence in service and to remember Armistice Day at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. Philanthropist Pierre Claeyssens initiated the Ball in 1996 as a way of paying tribute to the U.S. Armed Forces, past and present, in Santa Barbara and Ventura […]
Food writer and inveterate traveler Michael Cervin has just completed his eighth work and fifth travel book, The Santa Barbara Know-It-All: A Guide to Everything that Matters. “I really wanted to write a travel book that was fun, entertaining, and funny,” says Michael, who I used to work with at the News-Press when he was […]
Goats were in abundance when 12-year-old African Women Rising, a northern Uganda charity, held its second Goat Fest with more than 200 guests at a rustic Cold Springs Road estate, raising enough to purchase 300 of the animals. “It’s not so much a fund raiser as friend raiser, to draw attention to the 11-year-old organization,” […]
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Santa Barbara Polo Club opened its 107th season with a bang when former patron Andy Busch and his wife, Kim, threw a bash for his new Folded Hills 15-acre vineyard in Santa Ynez. Andy, whose Grants Farm team used to be a regular feature at the Carpinteria club, bought the 600-acre ranch some years back […]
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. […]
The mad social whirl took on a whole new meaning when Montecito realtor Randy Solakian and Beverly Hills real estate powerhouse, Rick Hilton, hotel heir father to Paris and younger daughter Nicky, who married banking heir James Rothschild three years ago, hosted a Cinco de Mayo fete, just a tiara toss or two north of […]
The amazons ruled when Girls Rock, which helps youngsters through music and arts appreciation, threw a beach bash at the rustic Carpinteria home of music entrepreneur Marla McNally Phillips and her husband, Lee. Our tony town is home to the largest Girls Rock program in the world, says president Kerri Murray, who is also president […]
Theatrical coach Janet Adderley has another winner on her hands with 13-year-old Dakota Lotus, who has just landed a star role in a new Disney TV series Coop and Cami Ask The World. Janet, who founded the Santa Barbara Youth Ensemble Theatre, is also helping coach Dakota, a Santa Barbara Middle School student, during the […]
