{ SCENE IN S.B. }
Hot Wheels and Herpetology Text and photos by Jack Crosbie
Nicholas Thompson hoists 17-month-old Samuel during a walk along State Street to meet Sam’s mom (Nicholas’s wife) after work. The Thompsons live just south of Oxnard. Nicholas said he loves getting to rediscover old toys with his son. “Playing Hot Wheels — going out and buying Hot Wheels with him, that was really fun,” Nicholas said.
At the end of the alley right by the S.B. Art Association’s offices between Figueroa and Anapamu streets on State Street, there’s a round fountain that’s home to close to half a dozen Western painted turtles and a handful of koi. The friendly shell-dwellers are usually out sunning themselves on rocks, but take care not to feed or disturb them.
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{ QUIZ }
Planned Parenthood
Book Sale
1}
In ancient Rome, which of the following did women use to try and dye their hair blonde?
❏ Pigeon poop ❏ Horse urine ❏ Lemon juice
2}
What year was it discovered that hydrogen peroxide could bleach hair?
3}
How many years ago did the genetic mutation for blonde hair occur?
❏ 1818 ❏ 1867 ❏ 1913
❏ 50,000 ❏ 23,000 ❏ 11,000
Settling in with a good book is one of the simple pleasures of life; browsing for the perfect tome is another. Both of these can be achieved by visiting the annual Planned Parenthood Book Sale. It’s a treasure trove of the written word — from contemporary works to out-of-print editions on every subject imaginable. There are literally thousands of titles for kids and adults; and all proceeds from the event go to help fund the invaluable works of Planned Parenthood, which provides medical care, education, and advocacy for area families and individuals. The opening-night reception ($25) is Thursday, September 19, 5-9 p.m. The sale runs Friday, September 20 - Sunday, September 29. Times vary: Friday (9/20), 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Sundays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Monday-Friday (9/27), 12 - 8 p.m. It takes place at Earl Warren Showgrounds, 3400 Calle Real. For more information, call 722-1522, email development@ppsbvslo.org, or visit plannedparenthood.org. — Michelle Drown
living FEATURES • STARSHINE • SPORTS • FOOD & DRINK
{ BOOKS }
The Mysterious Heiress Empty Mansions Sheds Light on Eccentric Life of Huguette Clark
T
rue, heiress Huguette Clark led a reclusive life despite her $300 million-plus fortune; her mansions were vacant, and she had few visitors. But she still apparently led a busy life within the cocoon of her hospital room. Eccentric? Yes. Out-of-her-mind crazy? No. That’s the conclusion reached in Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, a well-researched book by NBC investigative reporter Bill Dedman and Huguette’s cousin, Paul Clark Newell Jr. Whether her multimillion-dollar Santa Barbara estate, Bellosguardo, will become a hilltop art foundation, as she wished, or be sold by 19 distant relatives challenging her will depends on the outcome of a New York trial scheduled this week. Another rich heiress might have flitted between New York, London, and Paris, summering at her Santa Barbara hilltop estate, showing off her art collection. Not Huguette. For the last 20 years before she died in 2011 at 104, she enjoyed good health in her hideaway New York hospital room at Beth Israel Medical Center, creating lavish doll houses, watching cartoons with delight, carrying on a busy social life via telephone, and showering friends, caregivers, and others with millions. Huguette was very, very generous, to put it mildly — a soft touch. She was a sheltered, somewhat naïve woman with a big heart and a sucker for a sob story. Even hospital officials kept trying to hit her up for large donations. Her attorney, who stands to gain big-time from the will, is under criminal investigation. If Huguette liked you, you became rich. She lavished $30 million on her Philippinesborn nurse/companion, Hadassah Peri, and then tossed her another $15 million in the p disputed will.
4·1·1
Author Bill Dedman will be in S.B. to talk about Empty Mansions. Reception/ lecture on Wednesday, October 6, 5 p.m.; lecture on Thursday, October 7, 11 a.m. The events take place at the S.B. Historical Museum, 136 East De la Guerra Street. For more information, call 966-1601 or visit santabarbaramuseum .com. Empty Mansions is available at area bookstores.
2%
SHY TIMES: Huguette Clark, the Frenchborn daughter of American copper king W.A. Clark, lived an eccentric and reclusive life despite being one of the richest people in the world.
In her first will, in 2005, she left most of her fortune to the distant relatives, 14 of whom she had never met. The others hadn’t seen her for decades. But in a second will just six weeks later, she cut them out entirely. Why? They sued, claiming that she’d been mentally incompetent when she signed the will and had been fraudulently influenced by her attorney and others who stood to gain. Happily for this shy, French-born daughter of copper king Sen. W.A. Clark, all this nastiness took place after her death. Santa Barbara has a major stake in all this. The 19 distant relatives, descendants from Sen. Clark’s first marriage, want the second will thrown out, allowing them to sell her Santa Barbara property on East Cabrillo Boulevard rather than it become a foundation housing her collection of paintings and other collections. Along with Huguette’s bizarre, fascinating story, the authors paint a detailed picture of what lies behind the walls of Bellosguardo, which only a lucky few have seen in the decades since she and her mother, Anna, made their last visit in the 1950s. The “empty mansions” mentioned in the title are Bellosguardo and a Connecticut estate, La Beau Château, which she bought in 1951 but never lived in, and several multimillion-dollar Fifth Avenue apartments where she lived before moving to the hospital. Empty mansions, but an empty life? — Barney Brantingham
BY THE NUMBERS The amount of the world’s population who are naturally blonde. SOURCE: facts.randomhistory.com/blonde-hair-facts.html.
september 12, 2013
THE INDEPENDENt
41
answers: . Pigeon poop; . 1867; . 11,000.