Unparalleled Local Knowledge | Exceptional Service
“I cannot find the words to say how impressed I am with Jon-Ryan and Sarah. I’ve bought and sold a few homes in California over the years, and it’s not new to me. I never imagined an agent that would go to such extreme lengths as Jon-Ryan and Sarah did.” “Jon-Ryan & Sarah are incredible. Hire them!”
-David S.
jr@jon-ryan.com DRE 01876237 Sarah Aresco Smith REALTORS® 805.252.3868
sarah@lovecarpinteria.com DRE 01882574
Buying or selling a home with us is like a walk on
Seascape Realty
55+... ight and right home with lots of natural light. arge living room, dining room, and a room ad acent to the itchen which can be used
BEAUTIFUL VISTA DE SANTA BARBARA SENIOR COMMUNITY! Manufactured in , bedroom, bath featuring vaulted ceilings and lots of closet space throughout. he living room is open to the dining area and large itchen with a wal in pantry and brea fast bar. here are mountain views from the living room and itchen. he laundry room has washer, dryer and storage space. here is a two car covered carport and a large storage shed. wners may have two pets. ar amenities include a ool, acu i, and Clubhouse. OFFERED AT $529,000.
Please call Shirley Kimberlin at 805-886-0228
LOCATED JUST TWO BLOCKS FROM THE SANDY BEACH WITH LOVELY MOUNTAIN VIEWS... Take a short stroll from this charming co age to the beautiful beach or to downtown Carpinteria with uni ue shops, restaurants and more he Wal Score from this location is and the i e Score is . erfect location for a vacation home or for full time en oyment. he large lot o ers the possibility of adding an additional unit.
OFFERED AT $1,600,000.
Please call Shirley Kimberlin at 805-886-0228
STUNNINGLY REMODELED HOME ... with beds plus full baths, where contemporary design meets coastal elegance. very inch of this residence has been though ully updated, open concept living spaces to the meticulously designed itchen featuring top of the line appliances and custom cabinetry. he spacious living room boasts abundant natural light, a beautifully landscaped bac yard that o ers an oasis of tran uility. dding even more value a charming ccessory welling nit .
OFFERED AT $1,789.000
Please Call Diana Porter at 805-452-8931
Debbie Murphy Kim Fly Leah Wagner
Carolyn Friedman Heidi and Jim Michener
CARPINTERIA MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2025
EDITOR: Lea Boyd
PRODUCTION & DESIGN: Kristyn Whittenton
WRITERS
Sarah Allaback • Ryan P. Cruz
Peter Dugré • Chuck Graham
Keith Hamm • Leana Orsua
Amy Marie Orozco • Monique Parsons
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ingrid Bostrom • Matt Dayka
Glenn Dubock • Chuck Graham
PRODUCTION SUPPORT
Abbott Family • Latham Family
Tina Lee • Melton Family
Olmstead Family • Panizzon Family
Kathy Sheaffer • Rosana Swing California Avocado Festival Carpinteria High School
Carpinteria Valley Museum of History Rockwell Printing
Sunrise starts to smile on the Santa Ynez Mountains as the early morning Amtrak chugs its way through town. Every side of the tracks is the right one in Carpinteria.
~ Photo by Glenn Dubock
Published by RMG Ventures, LLC
Michael VanStry, President
Gary L. Dobbins, Vice President
4180 Via Real, Suite F, Carpinteria, California 93013 Tel: (805) 684-4428
Email: info@carpinteriamagazine.com ON THE COVER
Aloha Dental Care
ENJOY
DEAR READERS,
There’s no point in sugar coating it; it’s been a tough year for Carpinteria businesses. Several Linden Avenue merchants closed up shop after decades of business, leaving our downtown speckled with empty storefronts. Regular summer visitors must feel shock and dismay when they discover that last July’s frozen banana from Robitaille’s and T-shirt from Rincon Designs were their last forever.
The holes in the downtown corridor multiplied like a virus as fall became winter and winter became spring. But when spring stood on the threshold of summer, the closure contagion reversed course and Linden Square dropped an atomic bomb of energy and excitement on downtown Carpinteria. We all stopped peering through the windows and started opening the doors. We felt the draw of new tastes, sights, sounds.
Leading up to the late May opening of Linden Square, apprehension threaded the anticipation. Can the economic pie of Carpinteria be sliced enough ways to feed our beloved existing businesses along with these shiny new businesses?
I think the answer is yes, as evidenced by a Memorial Day stroll through the Linden Square courtyard where familiar faces were few and far between. This stunning new space is drawing people and dollars from outside of our little town and introducing them to what you and I know very well: Carp is the best.
And while we at Carpinteria Magazine encourage you to try all the new things, we also remind you to not forget about the businesses that have fed and clothed you for years. These shops and restaurants supported our nonprofits, generated the taxes that pave our streets, bought the ads that make this publication possible and been good community members as summer seasons come and go. It’s important that we continue to open our wallets to ensure they survive and thrive.
Go out and enjoy all that Carpinteria has to offer, readers. Have a wonderful summer!
Onward & upward,
Lea Boyd, Editor
CONTRIBUTORS
“WHAT’S YOUR PERFECT SUMMER DAY IN CARPINTERIA?”
SARAH ALLABACK
As the sun rises, I head down to Jelly Bowl. Tar Pits is still bubbling, and miraculously, the Bluffs remain undeveloped. I settle down on the sand with a book (from the Friends’ Used Bookstore). The waves crash and the tide ebbs and flows.
PHOTO CREDIT: GREG BERNIER ITB PHOTOGRAPHY
INGRID BOSTROM
An ideal Carpinteria summer day for me may have these elements, in any order: beach jog, Pacific Health Foods smoothie, St. Joe’s thrifting, beach hang, Taquería Rincón Alteño burrito, space for spontaneity, family bike ride, snapping photos for fun, sunset with loved ones, sipping a drink from Apiary, a bonfire. IG: ingridbostromphotography
RYAN P. CRUZ
My perfect summer day in Carpinteria begins with a stop at the library to grab something fresh to read. Then it’s off to fill my snack craving — either a concha from Reynaldo’s Mexican Bakery or my guilty pleasure, a burger from Dang Burger — before taking a stroll down Linden Avenue to find a seaside spot to read, munch and people watch to my heart’s content. IG: @ryan.p.cruz
GLENN DUBOCK
Every summer day in Carpinteria is a magical gift that I get to unwrap with an open heart and a sharp lens. It’s the perfect time to strap on my camera, hop on my bike, breathe in all that small town goodness and capture the rapture. www.dubockgallery.com
MATT DAYKA
For me, Carp is all about the people. Luckily, some of my favorite people are my family! The perfect summer day would be some trail time with my cousin, the beach with friends, margaritas on my uncle’s patio and dinner with everyone together. IG: mattdayka.com
Welcome to our office!
We are Aaron Crocker and Beth Cox and we would love to create a personalized strategy to help you achieve your financial goals. We are incredibly passionate about Carpinteria and our community and look forward to helping you turn your financial hopes and dreams into reality.
Our commitment to you
We believe when it comes to your financial journey, you deserve a personal relationship and professional advice. This means focusing on the future you see for yourself, building strategies just for you and helping you stay on track. Our areas of focus include:
• Retirement income strategies
• Estate and legacy strategies
• Saving for education
• Wealth strategies
• Business retirement plans
• Socially conscious investing
Community
Aaron P. Crocker Financial Advisor aaron.crocker@edwardjones.com
It’s hot and sunny. We are all in the water, family, friends and furballs. Body surfing is the way to go and the waves toss our torsos onto the gritty shore, but we jump up and rush to the surf, diving back in, because we can’t squander a second. two-trumpets.com
CHUCK GRAHAM
Embrace the gray. I like foggy, damp days that open up to mild and warm late afternoons with a little texture on the water out of the southeast.
IG: @chuckgrahamphoto
LEANA ORSUA
My day begins with a peaceful walk to the salt marsh bridge with my senior chihuahuas in tow where we scan the water for leopard sharks. Then it’s off to the beach for a brisk walk north, until the shoreline meets the cliff. Finally, time to pull up a beach chair and relax with a good book. A perfect summer day!
IG: @leanabanana2
KEITH HAMM
Camping with the fam at Carpinteria State Beach, we’ll scout for tidepool octopuses, swim to the platform, lament the loss of Thrifty ice cream, get scoops from Rori’s, then glass off the day with some turns at the skatepark. Back to camp for fire time, no screens in sight.
IG: @hamm_nation
MONIQUE PARSONS
The day begins at Hugo’s with family. The owners are wonderful, and my favorite omelet is topped with pico de gallo and slices of perfect avocado. Later I’ll wander Linden, get a Carob Flip from Pacific Health Foods, and meet friends to swim and stroll the beach until sunset.
PHOTO CREDIT: KELLY FELDMILLER
AMY MARIE OROZCO
My perfect summer day is any ol’ day of the week. The sun is shining and the mercury hits the sweet spot between warm and hot. There’s plenty of time for reading and playing at the beach followed by serving the dinner I spent yesterday prepping for family and friends. amymarieorozco@gmail.com
Farm to Table
Farm to Table
Chef’s Seasonal Specials
Sustainable Meats & Seafood
Sustainable Meats & Seafood
Extensive Wine List • Patio Dining
Extensive Wine List • Patio Dining
Farm to Table • Chef’s Seasonal Specials
Farm to Table
Sustainable Meats & Seafood
Cheese & Bread
Cheese & Bread
Specialty Grocery
Specialty Grocery
Wine & More
Wine & More
Extensive Wine List • Patio Dining
Extensive Wine List
FLEET-FOOTED FAMILIES
FIND FRIENDSHIP IN CARPY RUNNING CLUB
WORDS BY LEANA ORSUA
At the intersection of Tomol Interpretive Play Area and Carpinteria State Park, a group of millennial couples, singles and their energetic offspring prepare to em ark on the first of many hursday night ad entures. More than six months has passed since the mostly 30-something-year-olds last met up. Each spring they gather at the same familiar location where a cluster of tree stumps marks the unofficial starting line for fitness, fellowship and fun.
They call themselves the Carpy Running Club. There are no dues, no formal sign-ups and no skill level requirements — just a shared interest in well-being. The running begins with the kids, who vary in age from toddlers to tweens, racing each other around Linden Field, as parents provide the moral support, cheering, whistling and encouraging the friendly competition.
“Kids love to see what their parents are doing,” says Katie Dwyer, a runner and mother of two. “We see the kids are interested in learning about exercise and that includes the role it plays in supporting overall wellness.”
Once the kids have completed their run, the adults get their turn, taking their sneakers off the grass for a 5-K along the rugged but picturesque Carpinteria Coastal Vista Trail. The run provides a platform for social connections. “I feel like the vibe is really positive,” says Dwyer. “It’s a lot of people supporting each other. We talk the whole time that we’re running. It’s not competitive at all. It’s very casual and encouraging.”
The club took root in 2023 when working mom Dwyer sparked a conversation with a fellow parent during a routine school drop-off. Dwyer and Meagan Stirling quickly connected over a mutual passion for running and the ongoing struggle to wea e fitness, social time and family into their packed routines. “We wanted to build community out of the shared passion for running and share with our kids, something that we love to do,” says Dwyer.
Because the emphasis of the group is on togetherness rather than performance, the intimidation of differing skill levels disappears. “We lean more toward the community aspect,” says Dwyer. “We have some people who are super-fast runners, but they are still willing to stay at the pace of the group.”
Parent partners and friends stay behind with the kids for additional playtime and await the runners return — encouraging their progress and returning the cheers as they cross the finish line.
Since its inception, the group has developed a Carpy Running Club Instagram account, a logo, sweatshirts and some fun messaging to spark community interest. t caught on uickly, recalls wyer, who says the first few weeks they had small groups, but by week 3 or 4 there was a noticeable increase. The club generally sees anywhere between 25 and 30 participants, with their largest gathering peaking at 60. And the fun doesn’t stop at the finish line music, tacos and cold eers follow at sland rewing ompany.
Carpy Running Club meets between May and September on Thursdays at 6 p.m. at Tomol Interpretive Play Area. All ages and skill levels are encouraged to participate. For more information, follow @Carpy_Running_Club on Instagram.
TOP, From left, club co-founders Katie Dwyer and Meagan Stirling.
FROM CURB SLIDES TO COMMERCE: Carp skaters graduate to SB skate shop owners
WORDS BY KEITH HAMM • PHOTOS BY MATT DAYKA
Naren Porter-Kasbiti and Spencer Navarro were kids living in the same Carpinteria neighborhood when the familiar sound of skateboarding brought them together — a raspy hum of wheels on asphalt, that clickclack click-clack across the seams of the sidewalk. Young Porter-Kasbiti looked out the window from his family home as Navarro and a small crew rolled past; he grabbed his board from the garage and joined in. They’ve been friends ever since.
They’ve also been business partners since 2016, when they opened Lighthouse Skate Shop across the street from downtown Santa Barbara’s beachfront skatepark. Through high school and into their early 20s, both had worked in skateboard retail — Navarro at Carp Sports and the Powell Peralta shop, Porter-Kasbiti mostly at Church of Skatan — but they never really talked about branching out on their own. They focused on work and skateboarding (not necessarily in that order), while Navarro studied graphic design and business at Santa Barbara City College and Porter-Kasbiti took economy, accounting and finance classes.
“When Church of Skatan closed, I called Spencer and was like, ‘Do you wanna open a shop?’” remembers Porter-
Kasbati, who was 22 at the time, a year younger than his soon-to-be shop co-founder. They both had experience and, more importantly, connections to skate-gear account reps. With a handshake and some cash up front, they cut a deal on a Funk Zone storefront with then-property manager Jim O’Mahoney, curator of the now-shuttered Santa Barbara urfing useum and recipient, in , of the con ward from the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.
“It was never really a huge dream or desire to open our own shop,” remembers Porter-Kasbati. “But when that opportunity opened up,” Navarro adds, “we were thinking, ‘We both love skateboarding, and we both care about the local skate community. Why not us?’”
In time, as their Funk Zone property changed hands, the real estate givens of Santa Barbara demanded that their rent go up every year as the condition of the building fell deeper into disrepair. In 2024, they decided to make a change, spotting a bigger, less-expensive State Street space that had been vacant for years.
In early November, the big move began. Late into the night for weeks, they outfitted the new space as the unk Zone shop stayed open for business. Lighthouse closed for
one day — Thanksgiving — and reopened in its new spot on Black Friday, just in time to attract masses of foot traffic through the heart of anta ar ara’s downtown shopping corridor.
When they look ack on the eginning and how things are going now, they recognize a pattern of mutual respect and complementary skillsets, onded y skate oarding, says orter as ati.
orter a ati’s really good with num ers, ta es, paperwork super smart with that stuff, adds a arro. do things like uying, organizing and taking on more managerial roles. We need all of it to tackle everything that needs to get done. lus, we’re oth in a good mindset a out the shop. t’s a cool thing we ha e going, and we’re ust super passionate a out skate oarding.
From left, Naren Porter-Kasbiti and Spencer Navarro in front of their shop.
Artist Ben O'Hara with paddles painted to serve as trophies for the Junior Lifeguards "Carp Comp."
TROPHIES WITH A TWIST
WORDS BY PETER DUGRÉ
PHOTOS
BY
INGRID BOSTROM
Carp Comp” is what the kids call it. Local artist Ben O’Hara used to be one of those kids, a Junior Guard, one of the hundreds who swarm to Carpinteria City Beach most summer mornings to participate in the popular camp emphasizing water safety and physical fitness.
On the day of the Carpinteria Invitational Competition — aka Carp Comp — the City of Carpinteria Junior Lifeguards Program blows up. In addition to a couple hundred local JGs, eight programs from as far away as Avila Beach and Long Beach take over the beach for a day of furious competition in running, paddling and swimming events.
The top four teams at Carp Comp get a unique Carpinteria-style trophy, a 4-foot, wooden paddle hand painted by O’Hara.
“(JG coordinator) Lexi Persoon asked me if I could paint the paddles and donate them a couple of years ago,” O’Hara says. “It was an easy yes, because some of my best memories growing up in Carp were from JGs.”
Last year, he painted recognizable sea birds onto the trophy paddles — snowy egrets, pelicans, ospreys, sandpipers. The year before he did local beach scenes — Rincon Point from a bird’s eye view, First Beach — and generally wants to “capture beach life in Carp” in order for the paddles to be proper mementos representing and emphasizing Carpinteria when competitors take them to their home beaches.
Wooden paddles are fi tting for O’Hara to paint. He had an early breakthrough as a young artist exhibiting a collection depicting local animals painted on wood. It was one of Lucky Llama Coffeehouse’s earliest art shows. Before painting sea birds on last year’s paddles, O’Hara had shifted subject matter in his painting to landscapes, more like the Rincon image he painted on paddles two years ago.
His landscape works are gaining notoriety. Recently, the Oak Group, a collection of renowned local landscape painters who are dedicated to land preservation around Santa Barbara, opened a show at the Faulkner Gallery at Santa Barbara Public Library and included O’Hara’s work. Officially, O’Hara is a guest artist and not yet an initiated Oak Group member, but he highly regards the artists and opportunity to be shown alongside local legends like John Wullbrandt, Arturo Tello, and Meredith and Whitney Abbott.
“It’s the biggest honor to be noticed by the Oak Group, their art, their legacy of preserving the bluffs and so many landscapes,” O’Hara says.
For this year’s Carp Comp, O’Hara has yet to select his theme or subject matter. “I’m still looking for inspiration,” he says. Check out the paddles the Carpinteria Junior Lifeguard Program has won from Carp Comp in photos here and on display at the Carpinteria Community Pool.
THE HOSTS WITH THE MOST
Every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a stroll past Seal Fountain Plaza on Linden Avenue will put you in the path of red-vested, smiling volunteers who tell you with their open expressions that they’re rich in information and happy to share it. These are the City of Carpinteria’s HOST Program volunteers and many have decades of local living to inform their great advice.
Carpinteria Magazine asked members of the HOST Steering Committee to share the questions they most commonly receive from visitors to Carpinteria. You might be surprised by their responses!
• DONNA JORDAN
Q: “How much can I get a house for in Carpinteria?”
A: After telling them they might be staggered by the answer, I refer them to the real estate pages of the Coastal View News or Santa Barbara Independent.
• BARBARA M. SMITH
Q: It’s questions involving food: “Where can we get good Mexican food or a fish restaurant? What’s your favorite restaurant?”
A: “Let’s look at our menu book for Mexican, Little Dom’s and Teddy’s for fish, and my favorite restaurant is no longer in business.”
• FRED SHAW
Q: “Where can I get a good cold beer?”
A: “You want beach casual ambiance? Island Brewing Company. With food? Rincon Brewery. Craft brews? The Brew Lab. Each one has a locals’ vibe.”
• JOANNE BANKS
Q: “What’s there for us to do in Carp?” This is universally asked by visitors from seniors to families with kids on bikes, and the “ready to party” crowd.
A: “We have something for everyone!” I give a short rundown from the Seals to Island Brewing Company, and I offer them multiple handouts/pamphlets that we have with info about what’s available. Very frequently, they are drawn to a variety of things to do in our town that aren’t what they originally asked about. It’s an interesting and fun experience for us all.
• RICHEON SOLIS-HERMAN
Q: Where is the closest real estate office?
A: I share that we have a free weekly newspaper, Coastal View News, that is filled with weekly fun things to do in town and advertisements for many businesses, along with school sports and tidbits of Carpinteria history. Enjoy!
From left, Elise Winneguth and Glynn Birdwell
Elise Winneguth helps a visitor
Sally Graham with the downtown map
Vallecito Rd. (Sold)
Sandyland Rd A (Sold)
Toro Canyon Road (Sold)
Linden Ave (Sold)
Cravens Ln. (Sold)
8th St. (Sold)
through the years Warrior Spirit
WORDS BY RYAN P. CRUZ
Before the irresistible aroma of the Booster Club’s World Famous tri-tip sandwiches on Friday Night at Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium, or the ping of a baseball bat at John Calderwood Field, or the furious splash of a water polo match at Carpinteria Community Pool, there was a simple dinner conversation between Carpinteria Union Grammar and High School’s first Principal, Francis Figg-Hoblyn, and local resident Dorman Pischel in 1913, where the two had the idea to host the city’s first ever scholastic sports competition. Later that spring, they organized a series of foot races and athletic contests in a dusty empty field, laying the foundation for what would become the annual Russell Cup.
Since then, the tradition of Carpinteria High School (CHS) sports has built a reputation for teams that punch above their weight class, holding their own against larger programs and living out the motto of “Warrior Spirit Never Dies” in every sense of the word.
THE BIRTH OF TRADITION
The Russell Cup grew from its early days, where Olympians such as Clarence “Bud” Houser and Nick Carter came through as high school athletes, through the early 1960s
when future CHS Hall of Famer Sari Small broke the gender barrier for local high school sports as the rst girl to compete in the Russell Cup, to today’s iteration, which is the longeststanding annual track meet in the state.
1920
It wasn’t until 1920 that Carpinteria’s enrollment grew enough to field its first baseball and basketball teams, both coached by Joe Fraga, a military veteran who had made his home in Carpinteria. By 1928, a group of 17 boys came
This
1935 Carpinteria Russell Cup medal depicts what was then Carpinteria High School and is now Carpinteria Middle School.
Pictured in 1928 is the first Carpinteria High School football team. Years later, teammates Tom Ota (front row, right end) and Frances Hebel (middle row, second from left) would both have their lives changed by World War II. Ota and his Japanese-American family were interned at a camp in Arizona, while Hebel joined the Navy and was killed at Pearl Harbor.
together to form the school’s first-ever football team.
Within four years, that roster had doubled in size, with a group of more than 30 players representing the town’s diverse backgrounds — with white, Black, Japanese, and Mexican American players all sharing the same sideline (something that was rare during that era).
The entire community rallied behind these early football teams. In 1932, assistant coach Fred Greenough, who would eventually become principal and superintendent, hand-painted the team’s leather helmets red before a game against Santa Paula (which the team won 19-0), and the next year, the senior class elected to skip its prom and instead donate the money to the still-growing football program.
During World War II, athletics took a back seat to the war effort. These years had a profound effect on the future of Carpinteria sports, as former Warriors enlisted and new families arrived in town through military service. The war also highlighted the disparate experiences for two members of that first 1928 football team, Tom Ota and Francis Fritz Hebel. Ota, a Japanese American, was interned with his family at a camp in Gila, Arizona. Fritz Hebel enlisted as a pilot in the Navy, and on the morning of the attack on Pearl
Harbor, he was one of the first Americans to be killed when his plane was shot down by friendly fire.
The post-war years also introduced a new generation of Warriors. There was Dick Olmstead, who landed in Carpinteria after being stationed in Port Hueneme, then had an immediate impact as a coach for the Warriors’ first undefeated football seasons in 1945 and 1946. One of the stars of that team was Bob Latham, a towering player who would go on to play for Stanford. Olmstead’s son Rick became one of Carpinteria’s best basketball and volleyball players, and two of Rick’s children, Shawn and Heather, started as successful CHS volleyball players and now coach Division 1 college teams. Latham’s two kids, Ann and Van, both went on to be Warrior legends in their own right.
PAGE 37, The Russell Cup is California’s oldest high school track meet. In 1913, Carpinteria School Principal Francis Figg-Hoblyn formed a track team of local boys and invited other nearby schools to a competition. A year later, Howland Shaw Russell, a trustee of what would later be called Cate School, donated a silver cup for the winner of the meet, and the event gained its name: The Russell Cup.
The 1920 Carpinteriabaseball team, from top left, Principal H. G. Martin, Jim Deaderick, Clinton Farrar and coach Joseph Fraga; middle row, from left, Harold Talmadge, Shelton Martin, Bill Miller and Walter Hunter; front row, from left, Donald Bailard, Li nn Unkefer and Johnny Lobero.
CARPINTERIA HIGH SCHOOL
Over the next few decades, the family-oriented identity of Carpinteria athletics came into the forefront, as siblings and family members carried on the Warrior tradition. In 1953, Warriors running back Tony Jimenez earned All-CIF, an honor his son Tony, Jr. would earn in 1975. In the mid ‘50s, the Warriors football team had at least three sets of brothers: Jim and Ed Damron, Joe and Dan Velasquez, and Llew and David Goodfield.
CHAMPIONSHIP CULTURE
It’s impossible to tell the story of Carpinteria athletics without Coach Lou Panizzon, the winningest coach in school history. After starring in three sports for the Warriors, Panizzon enlisted in the Army, where he was wounded as an infantry platoon leader in Vietnam. He landed back in town in 1969 to a hero’s welcome and was hired as a teacher and head coach of the baseball team.
Panizzon brought a sense of magic to Carpinteria sports, starting with a string of three-straight league titles in baseball and the school’s first ever CIF title in any sport in 1974. That year, the Warriors, led by southpaw pitcher John Moreno, earned the state championship as well.
The next year, Panizzon was handed the keys to the football team, and almost immediately he brought a championship culture to Carpinteria, leading the 1975 team to its first CIF Championship in football, then following up with a historical run of three consecutive CIF titles in 1986, 1987 and 1989.
Now in his 80s, Panizzon is reluctant to receive praise for his contributions to Carpinteria sports, but it’s hard to talk to anybody about the Warriors without his name popping up.
“Don’t put me on a throne,” Panizzon says. “I’m just a guy who enjoyed what he did and tried to do the best job he could, and only did it well because he had a lot of good support. I don’t care about ‘Lou Panizzon’ — You can’t do it by yourself. I couldn’t do it without all these other folks.”
His face lights up when he talks about Warriors sports. Every memory conjures a sparkle to his eye and paints a smile across his face. “I remember when we won that first championship in 1975,” Panizzon says, taking a minute to relive the memory. “We drove down Linden Avenue and The Palms was loaded. And all the boys were there with part of the crossbar from the from the goalpost, and we came around, went down to the beach, cruised like the kids
LEFT, Dick Olmstead refs a Carpinteria High School basketball game circa 1970.
ABOVE LEFT, Carpinteria High School senior Bob Latham, left, with Tino Fabian, 1947.
The 1932 Carpinteria football team, from top left,assistant coach Fred Greenough, Kenji Ota, Taka Hirishima, Phil Bates, James Hendy, Joe Jimenez, Fred Lopez, Duke Petit, Talmadge Masonheimer, Fernando Ramirez, Bud White, Ralph Smith and coach Irving Mather; middle row, from left, Walton Kendrick, Ed Maxfield, Roscoe Masonheimer, Bob Maxfield, Jack Schweitzer, Frank Smith, Bob Opple, Bufford Haddox and Martin Bowler; and front row, from left, Elmer Martin, Nat Hales, John Brown, Ray McPherson, Ken Opple, Toma Hirishima, Dale Schuyler, Ed Sechrist, Ralph Woods and Eul Husted.
did, and stopped right in front of The Palms and all those people came out and there was a celebration on the street.”
Panizzon’s staff was filled with experts in every phase of the game. Coach Jim Bashore and former team captain Van Latham joined on as assistants (Latham now coaches track and field and runs the annual Russell Cup). The dominant defense in 1987 allowed just over four points a game, and was a quarterback’s nightmare, led by the twin threats of Darshawn Etz and Shad Lara, who broke the CIF record for most interceptions. In those three championship seasons from 1986 to 1989, the Warriors’ fierce defense combined for 114 interceptions.
But Panizzon’s secret weapon, he says, was the team’s kicking game. With the help of Dick Olmstead, who was by then a career sports official, Panizzon learned to exploit little-known rules that could be used to a team’s advantage in specific game situations. One of his favorite memories as a coach was taking advantage of the fair-catch rule to set up a 50-yard field goal by Walter Requejo in a win against Santa Ynez in that first championship season in 1975.
Coach Panizzon had a way of connecting to his players, and getting them to buy into the team success through shared goals and work ethic — “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary,” he says.
In 1999, Panizzon needed each one of those connections to help raise the $1.25 million needed for the newly built Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium. Over 180 alumni donated toward the stadium, which was dedicated in 2000 when Panizzon was school principal. “The connections you make in sports are almost bigger than the game itself,” he says.
THE RISE OF WATER SPORTS
To date, Carpinteria High School — with an enrollment of just over 600 — has 18 total CIF Championships in seven different sports: baseball, football, tennis (boys and girls), soccer, swimming (boys and girls), track and field, and water polo. CHS alumni have gone on to compete and coach at the college and professional level.
Coach Lou Panizzon with his 1971 Carpinteria High School baseball team. CARPINTERIA
In recent years, aquatic sports have been especially dominant, with the city’s deep connection with the water, surfingand swimming naturally flowing into CHS sports. In the past seven years, water polo and swimming, both boys and girls, have dominated in the Citrus Coast League. In 2021, Carpinteria won both the boys swimming and water polo CIF titles.
Coach Jon Otsuki has watched the growth of the water polo and swim programs firsthand. A former Division 1 swimmer and water polo player at UCSB, Otsuki moved to Carpinteria in 2001, and he says it was the aquatics community that really made him feel welcome. His children grew up riding bikes to the community pool to catch high school matches, and participating in the Junior
LEFT, Asher Smith, Carpinteria High School class of 2024, helped to lead the Warriors to become the 2021 CIF Southern Section D5 water polo champions and Regional D3 State runners up.
KATHY SHEAFFER
The 2021 boys swimming and water polo teams march down Linden Avenue to celebrate Carpinteria High School’s 17th and 18th CIF Championships.
TINA LEE
Lifeguard program, which has become the early training ground for future Warriors.
Otsuki says the relationship between Junior Guards, the Tritons youth program (which his wife, Sharon, has helped coach for eight years) and CHS aquatics go hand in hand. When he joined the CHS coaching staff, Otsuki made it his mission to nudge the kids who were interested in water polo to join the swim program, helping expand the swim team roster from about five swimmers to more than 30.
“Since my kids were all involved in Junior Lifeguards, I would spend a lot of time down at the beach watching competitions and morning training swims,” he says. “I would be out there recruiting kids for water polo, then try to hook them for high school swim.”
The new batch of Warriors are making a splash on the school record books. Since 2019, every single boys swimming record has been broken, and it seems each year a new class of swimmers is poised to get their names on the ever-present record board, which Otsuki says has become a huge motivator for the program.
“The record board has been the best item we have ever purchased,” Otsuki says. “Kids look at it daily. It inspires them to swim fast and gives them hope to see their names on it someday. It has been a blessing.”
ROSANA SWING
The 2024 Carpinteria High School swim team included record-breaking swimmers in numerous events.
Jackson Melton swims toward one of the many school records he set in his 2023 and 2024 seasons at Carpinteria High School.
MELTON FAMILY
In good taste
Carp Kitchen savors its niche
For some COVID was a recipe for disaster, but it made Carp Kitchen what it is today in a making lemons from lemonade sort of way. The pandemic served as the catalyst for the business’s retail grocery emporium, the deli and bakery cases, and its grab-n-go menu.
“We never wanted to be a restaurant,” says Debra Goldman, the high energy and quick-with-a-smile copartner and co-founder of the popular Carpinteria Avenue eatery and its sister business Savory Thyme, a catering company. “We envisioned a catering kitchen for the space.”
Quarantining and social distancing saw the cancellations of parties and banquets and the plummeting of guest lists from 120 to 12. It was a hard time for event planners and caterers. Goldman needed to cook something up.
Given its Carpinteria Avenue location and foot traffic, it made sense to pair the retail aspect and grab-n-go food with the catering. A couple of tables on the sidewalk in front of the store and a back patio with picnic tables accommodate eat-in diners.
WORDS BY AMY MARIE OROZCO
PHOTOS BY INGRID BOSTROM
From left Debra Goldman and John Trotta of Carp Kitchen.
Encouraging customers to curate their own dinner, the idea behind the to-go menu is to take it home, take off the lid and put it in the oven. Customer menu favorites include the chicken club salad, the Lito Sandwich (fresh mozzarella, arugula, tomato, avocado, aioli, and balsamic on a hoagie roll) and salmon with an amazing tartar sauce. The groceries lining the retail shelves are inspired by recommendations from friends, touring the Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas and solicitations from vendors. There’s an importance to both local goods and European popular
brands of French mustard and tinned Portuguese fish in the inventory. “I don’t want to sell anything someone else is selling,” says Goldman, ensuring a treasure hunt feel to shopping at Carp Kitchen. “I’ve learned a lot. What sells, what doesn’t. Like spaghetti, throw it against the wall and see if it sticks.”
Goldman met co-partner and co-founder John Trotta when they worked together for three years at Rincon Catering before starting their own kitchen. Executive chef Trotta is in charge of the kitchen; Goldman does everything
else. He’s from Goleta, graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and was executive chef at San Ysidro Ranch and the Four Seasons Biltmore, among other big culinary spots along the South Coast. A New York City transplant who came to California for a wedding and decided to move here for the food, Goldman earned certification from the National Gourmet Institute in the Big Apple, with an emphasis in natural and health supportive cuisine.
“[In house] menus are decided on whatever I can get my hands on (that’s) fresh, cost effective …,” clarifies Goldman. “It’s fun. Tomato season is gazpacho, salsa …” There are always special holiday menus to match occasions like St. Patrick’s Day, Passover or the Fourth of July.
Savory Thyme’s catering menus are decided by the customer, and sometimes a family favorite recipe such as a hanksgiving side dish is re uested and ful lled . Professional suggestions and guidance are readily available. Full-service caterers, Savory Thyme can provide rentals, servers and whatever else is needed for any si e affair.
Happy to share her knowledge and empower consumers, Goldman offers the following tips for hiring caterers:
1. Get more than one quote. Go for two or three. “I want you to be able to compare me. Catering is expensive. Information and knowledge are the only ways to make an educated decision.”
2. Don’t be afraid to ask how many pounds or how many pieces are included in the price. “How much food
am I getting? Are my guests going to be full? If you know how much food you’re getting, the price isn’t so hard. It’s OK to negotiate. Talk out the servings with the caterers.”
3. Appetizers are the most expensive part of a party because someone must touch it numerous times — the cracker topped with a slice of cheese, a dollop of relish and a chive blade. It’s the labor that adds up, not the cost of the food.
The food is her passion, and she loves that, but the part of the job she really loves is the people. “I talk to (the customers) every day. I want to know what they’re eating, where they’re from, how they’re doing,” says the restaurateur. “I just love that … telling people the story of where I get my flour from … educating people about food.”
Owning a small business is tough, and a restaurant especially so. Carp Kitchen opened out of necessity and on a shoestring budget — there is no sign out front as the costs associated with it aren’t about the food. “We have a sticker,” smiles Goldman. Though its co-owners are hustling all the time to keep the ovens running, there’s an eye to the future.
“I would love to have a shop in the Santa Ynez Valley with its so many wineries,” Goldman shares. “Pairing wines and cheeses … I dream of creating a winemaker’s dinner.”
Carp Kitchen is located at 4945-A Carpinteria Ave. 805-722-4652. carpkitchen.com.
Forrest Van Stein considers his next move along the Sespe Creek, the last remaining undammed river in Southern California.
the STROLLING Sespe
WORDS AND PHOTOS
BY CHUCK GRAHAM
The last time I saw Carpinterian Solomon Nahooikaika he was bounding down the scenic Sespe River well before sunrise. The night before, winter solstice, he’d told me he wanted to play soccer at Viola Fields at noon the next day. He’d need to get an early start to catch his ride in Fillmore and make his kickoff time on the Carpinteria Bluffs. Between sunrise and Fillmore lay some hard, boulder-filled miles. I thought to myself, “Oh, to be 24 years old again.”
That was our last day of seven in the 219,468-acre Sespe Wilderness in the Los Padres National Forest, and I was feeling it. Sespe comes from an old Chumash word, S’eqp’e’, meaning “kneecap.” I wondered, did the Chumash experience joint pain like I was in this maze of colossal boulders carved and sculpted by the ever-present flow of the Sespe?
The 61-mile-long Sespe Creek zigs and zags all the way to Fillmore, where it converges with the Santa Clara River that finally rushes into the Pacific Ocean in Ventura. The Sespe is special, though. It’s the last undammed river in
Southern California, and it’s fed by over 30 tributaries from the Sierra Madre and Topatopa Mountains. The last 31 miles are a Wild and Scenic River, as designated by Congress in 1992. Those last miles are arguably the most scenic and most challenging to navigate.
LIFEBLOOD OF THE FOREST
As the raven flies, our group, consisting of myself and seven other guides and lifeguards I work with, was only 30 miles east of coastal Carpinteria. However, once we began bounding, bouldering, scrambling and swimming along the 61-mile-long Sespe River, it felt like we were hundreds, even thousands of miles away. Certainly, we weren’t far from home, but it felt far away. Parts of it reminded me of the American Southwest, while other sections of deep red cliffs resembled the arid Waterberg Plateau in Namibia of Southwest Africa.
The mileage wasn’t long, but much of our attention was required by the intensity of navigating and maneuvering over and under seemingly immovable massive sandstone. Forrest VanStein, another Carpinterian, is 6-foot 3-inches
ABOVE, Carved out of Los Padres National Forest, the Sespe Wilderness covers more than 219,000 acres of Ventura County.
RIGHT, Acorns collected along the Sespe.
Summer days along the Sespe get hot, but cold water pools offer relief.
A sandy beach along the
offers a nice place for the
to lay their heads.
Sespe
Carpinteria crew
Bright yellow cottonwoods light up the banks of the Sespe.
tall and 200-plus pounds. While hiking not far ahead of me, he would easily vanish into the heaping clusters of purplish-colored Sespe sandstone. Before I knew it, I couldn’t locate the path he took, the only consolation was the sand between boulders that held deep imprints discovered between butt slides down the gritty sandstone with my 60-pound pack. There were disheartening sections of the Sespe that saw us moving no more than a half mile per hour, a relentless slog only interrupted by the soothing serenade of the Sespe.
Then there were those tough decisions to either ascend and bucket brigade our packs up and over vertical sandstone, a notch here, a crack there, or swim sections of 40-degreeish water. When it came to taking the plunge, it was all mental, just like ripping off a band aid. It required jumping in and quickly swimming around the next sandstone monolith to the next muddy shoreline.
One other pearly white cliff looked impassible on foot, but Solomon and Forrest scoped out a low-lying route. From the opposite side looking across I didn’t see a path, handholds and foot placements were mere finger cracks and toeholds just above a deep emerald-green pool.
SESPE CHRONICLES
Every major side canyon held a tributary for the Sespe River. The gorge I remember most, however, featured endangered California condors soaring out of a steep and craggy ravine. The three Pleistocene relics never batted a wing as they looped and arced in rising thermal updrafts.
All eight of us backpackers had soft sandy terraces to relax and sleep on that night. As the afternoon melded into sunset, we all marveled beneath the same three Old World raptors. They repeatedly soared over us, cresting the ridgelines and circling the river, as we counted their wingtips that resembled long velvety black fingers.
As shadows crept up the east side of the Sespe River, I lay in my sleeping bag listening to the flow of the Sespe. Surprisingly, it was another mild night in the backcountry, and at dawn everyone packed up and clambered downriver.
That final early morning, I followed Solomon as he steered to the right of the river. I didn’t see a path, though, and soon found myself climbing above massive boulders. The next gully was washed out and sheer, and I continued ascending a steep slope. Before I knew it, I was hundreds of feet above the river, bushwhacking for three hours in tangled overhead chaparral, but not lost.
MIDDLE, The eight backpackers and their gear in the author’s van.
BOTTOM, A soaring California condor.
I walked into an abandoned marijuana grow, then crossed over a seasonal gully where I discovered a gurgling spring that I drank from. I didn’t have any water with me because all travel was along the Sespe, but I was working hard to find a way back to the river and needed to hydrate.
Picking the right gully was a gamble. Lots of them point toward the river but run out, spilling off sheer cliffs. Fortunately, the first one I picked was the right one, leading me down to the Sespe. Eventually, I found seven guides and lifeguards waiting for me on the south side of what is known as the Devil’s Gate.
There was one more massive sandstone obstacle to navigate before our finish, but the friendly banter of seven filthy friends gave me permission to pause. It put a jump in my stride and lifted the weight of my pack. I was spent, but a soak in a shimmering pool and the steady flow of the Sespe revived me.
LEFT, Rock banks and deep water slow the pace of the hike downstream toward Fillmore.
Taking notes
PHOTOS BY INGRID BOSTROM
What does it take to keep the beat in Carpinteria? In the face of budget cuts and global pandemics, what makes it possible for local children to keep squeaking out notes on the recorder, graduating to an instrument of their choice, practicing and performing until one day they are grownups whose lives have been influenced and possibly shaped by the beauty of music making? It takes the fundraisers, the conductors, the fixers and the culture keepers. It takes a community that’s committed to musical education, one that has put its trust in key individuals who are most dedicated to this celebration of sound. On the following pages, you’ll find a handful of the key individuals who keep the beat in Carpinteria.
{}
Elise Unruh: The conductor
WORDS BY AMY MARIE OROZCO
Elise Unruh has the calm demeanor of a favored aunt, a go-to mentor or a loveable stock character out of a teen drama. That attribute may have been instrumental in wooing her out of retirement for an encore performance of teaching music at Carpinteria High School, where she conducted classes from 1986 through 2021 then rejoined the faculty on a part-time basis in fall 2023.
In the arts, the Michigan native explains, the running joke is, don’t quit your day job. Hers has been music teacher. After graduating from U.C. Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s in bassoon followed by a master’s in conducting and before joining the Carpinteria Unified School District, she taught for 10 years at a combination of elementary schools in Santa Barbara.
For other jobs, she always has been a performer — conducting for the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera, which she and friend Paul Iannoccone founded in 1984, and she now conducts “The Nutcracker” at The Arlington every year, as well as waving the baton for two other orchestras. Nowadays, she only plays for fun, not professionally.
When asked the proverbial, “why is music education important?” Unruh answers that it’s how humans are wired, and we couldn’t exist without music or art. “We must be able to serve (the students) by providing opportunities for them so they may find their passion.”
Further explaining, she quotes Founding Father John Adams, “… I must study politics and war, that our sons
may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, …”
Her class load is one period of orchestra and one period of musical theater. She’s creating a full orchestra, along with putting on a play in the fall and a musical in the spring. She can play any instrument, self-described as “not good at piano,” but does what is necessary to have the show go on. “I’m the performing arts department at Carpinteria High School,” she laughs about doing it all — costumes, sets and whatever needs to be done. It’s her favorite part of the job — the collaborative process with the students, sharing something she loves and a common goal.
“COVID nearly killed this program. You can’t really play in Zoom. We lost a lot of students,” says Unruh, whose program competes for student participants with a variety of extra-curricular activities on campus. She’s counting on colleagues in elementary and middle schools to help feed and grow the program.
Watching the “Music Man” as a child sparked her interest in being in band, and as a young student she was good at math and science, entering UCSB as a chemistry major and soon switching to music.
But why a high school music teacher and for so many years? Because her family couldn’t afford private music lessons and relied on a public school education to fill that gap. “If I didn’t have the education at public school, I wouldn’t be who I am,” she shares her style of payback. “I always wanted to teach and share.”
Langdon nevens:
{}
The fixer
WORDS BY KEITH HAMM
Saxophonist and band leader Langdon Nevens and his wife, Linda, met at the University of the Pacific, where Nevens graduated from the school’s Conservatory of Music. After college, she wanted to live close to her parents in Santa Barbara; at the same time, he was searching for a job in his field. When a position opened for a music teacher in Carpinteria, they found their win-win.
Nevens’s arrival to Carpinteria Unified School District, in 1968, was also a win for the young musicians in his junior high and high school band classes and, as he shifted a few decades later, in the district’s four elementary schools. Early on in his nearly four-decade teaching career, Nevens deployed an allied vocation to keep his students in tune — the maintenance and repair of their woodwind and brass instruments. The sidework became so steady he made it official in 1976. Music Unlimited was born.
“It started as a lark,” Nevens says, referring to his college days as an apprentice to a retired band leader who repaired instruments. “But the more I did it, the more I enjoyed it. And it became a good source of income on the side.” From the get-go, he made a point of investing half of this new take-home to beef up his toolbox of specialized equipment, from dremels and bench grinders to soldering kits and glueguns. He also upped his technical game by taking classes
with the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians.
Initially, his shop was headquartered in an extra bedroom, he remembers, but it was too closed off from Linda and their two young daughters. So when the Nevenses built a new home in Carpinteria, its layout included a modest workspace in the family room near the TV and fireplace, and with an accordion door to hide his workbench and wall of tools during off hours. The space also takes advantage of the home’s wide views across Carpinteria Valley and out to sea.
Music Unlimited specializes in woodwind and brass instruments, from flutes and saxophones to trumpets and trombones — replacing worn pads, knocking out dents, cleaning, oiling and buffing. He also rents instruments to students and sells related equipment and course material.
When he was a teacher, he’d offer free repairs to his students, he says. “Kids can be hard on their instruments. I thought it was a good idea to have those skills handy.”
Today, the shop services primary and secondary public schools from Goleta to Oxnard, with a big bump in business arriving at the end of each school year.
“Every summer I’m piled to the rafters,” Nevens says. “I’ll have 300 or 400 instruments that I need to get back in order before September.”
Suzanne Requejo: The Culture Keeper
WORDS BY AMY MARIE OROZCO
Mariachi music originated in the western part of Mexico. On that much music historians agree. Later, indigenous cultures mixed musical styles with African slaves and Spanish conquistadores during colonial times. Melding over centuries into the distinctive combination of the brass and string sound of today, mariachi has traveled far and wide. Thanks to Suzanne Requejo, it’s here to stay in Carpinteria.
She’s the program director of Artesania para la Familia, which operates under the umbrella of Friends of the Carpinteria Library and produces many free cultural events, think Dia de los Muertos and Chinese New Year, for families. Many may know Requejo’s face from her tenure as program director of the afterschool program at the Carpinteria Library.
A few years ago, she started a youth mariachi group for Carpinteria elementary school students with grants from the La Centra-Sumerlin Foundation and the Santa Barbara County Bowl along with loaned violins from the Santa Barbara Symphony, money and instruments from local Barry Enticknap and assistance from the Carpinteria Noon Rotary Club.
With family roots in the community longer than 150 years deep, Requejo grew up in Old Town Carpinteria with her uncles playing music for as long as she can remember. Uncles Frank, Lencho and Sabino Garcia played various instruments — piano, saxophone, guitar, marimbas, trumpet and accordion.“In the 1950s my Uncle Frank had his own big band orchestra and played throughout Santa Barbara County.Later in life, all three formed their own group, Los Bandoleros, and played for fiestas in Santa
Barbara, privateparties and Carpinteria events,” reports Requejo. “They paved the way for their children, nephews and nieces to not only appreciate music, but to carry on the tradition of playing various instruments.”
Carrying on the work of her uncles, Requejo notes that a big part of the program’s success is there is no cost for participants. One marker of the success is many parents with younger students requesting their children be registered. “We do not have the capacity to have a beginner’s class along with other students in the fourth grade and up. Hopefully, in the future we will.” On another note of the program’s success, she reports there are currently two students who play the violin, and because of the mariachi class, are teaching their younger siblings(both 5 years old) how to play the instrument.
Requejo’s job satisfaction is high. She loves the tightknit community and celebrates former students’ milestones such being accepted to and graduating from college. And why does she keep the beat going? “It’s important because music education improves skills — social, learning, cognitive and academic skills,” Requejo explains the importance of the mariachi program and adds, “Whether learning about a new culture or celebrating their own, it’s a way of being more connected with others.”
Plans to keep the music alive and available to all include continuing the present programs while expanding the outreach to Canalino, Carpinteria Middle School and Carpinteria High School in addition to starting a trumpet class and, as any director of a nonprofit well knows the necessity of, more grant writing.
From left are Roland Rotz and David Powdrell.
A{}
david powdrell & Roland Rotz: The fundraisers
WORDS BY PETER DUGRÉ
bout 16 years ago, a few of the masterminds at Carpinteria Noon Rotary Club hatched a sinister plot to exploit the hidden talents of neighbors for money, aka the Talent Showcase. The elegant scheme has been wildly successful but not so wildly sinister. All proceeds — $437,432 to date — benefit school music programs, mainly by putting instruments like trombones in the hands of budding musicians, while the performers bask in the limelight, happy to get in front of a crowd.
Historically, the Carpinteria Noon Rotary Club had sold churros at the California Avocado Festival as its primary fundraiser. The masterminds wanted to upend the status quo. David Powdrell and Ryan Nakasone began musing on the concept of a talent show, but they wanted to avoid the trappings of youth competitions made prominent on every television sitcom ever made.
This would be a “showcase” and not a competition, all ages welcome. Roland Rotz and Barry Enticknap piled on their own ideas about how and why this show would go on. They saw that financial times were tough for public schools during the Great Recession, and extracurriculars like art and music were on the chopping block. Talent show proceeds would attempt to stop the bleeding by providing instruments to supplement music in schools.
“We’d seen parade images in old newspapers and there’d be a couple of dozen students in the marching band on Linden Avenue with their tall hats, and we wanted to make that possible again,” Rotz says. “Once we zeroed in on it being for instruments for students, donors started opening their wallets.”
The show is a labor of love. Participants are jazzed to be
able to perform on stage at the Alcazar Theatre. Organizers are still unearthing fresh local acts for at least 50 percent of the show each year. Overall, 1,333 people have performed in the 16 annual events.
“There are no winners,” Powdrell says. “Everyone in the green room is applauding one another. Newcomers are shaking in their boots before they perform, but when they finish and the audience goes wild, their feet are three feet off the stage. They’re so elated. That’s what it’s all about.”
Behind the curtains there are stories. The late Lyman Barrett, a then 92-year-old retired music teacher and harmonica player, went missing before he was due on stage. He was a past performer and crowd pleaser with his “soft-shoe shuffle.” He’d gotten cold feet and needed a moment. The production crew found Barrett rehearsing in a porta potty. He made his curtain call and finished his performance to rumbling applause.
A panel oversees auditions, and those who don’t make the cut one year will likely make it the next. From dance troupes to storytellers and comedians, it’s a true variety show. The fire juggler was not a favorite of the theater, but no harm, no foul. Local songstresses Xenia Flores and Cecilia James have dazzled the stage with their homegrown playlists, and to add a solar glow to the star power, John Palminteri emcees.
Affirmation comes from all those who want to be involved. A big supporter has been the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, helping to award the 95 scholarships that have resulted from the show. Powdrell recently presented about the showcase to 800 incoming Rotary Club presidents. No other clubs had managed to engage their communities like Carpinteria Noon Rotary.
If you rush out to the newsstand every Thursday morning eager to learn of local happenings, clip photos for your refrigerator, or consider it your civic duty to engage with Carpinteria content exclusive to CVN, then it’s your time to become a Sustaining CVN Member. While we plan to continue to distribute CVN as a free publication, please consider supporting us and becoming a member who can proudly participate in our future.
SEIZE THE DIAL
Carpinteria Valley Radio commands local frequency
WORDS BY PETER DUGRÉ
PHOTOS BY MATT DAYKA
Carpinteria Valley Radio is a new take on an old thing. Local radio pros Dennis Mitchell and Peter Bie are among an ensemble of hosts on the 3-year-old station who see the recent surge in podcast popularity as evidence of audience rebellion against the soul-sucking consolidation endangering traditional radio stations and their DJs. Listeners want to turn back the clock to when radio represented a more democratic and edgy sound for the people, by the people.
“Old DJs never quit, we just keep talking,” Bie says in his involuntary radio baritone on a fresh spring
ABOVE, Peter Bie on the mic.
LEFT, Dennis Mitchell in his Carpinteria Valley Radio studio.
Dennis Mitchell's extensive collection of Beatles memorabilia.
From left, Dennis Mitchell, Bryan Mootz and artist Arturo Tello enjoy a chat on the Alcazar Theatre stage for an episode of On The Couch.
PETER DUGRÉ
day from the hillside overlooking Rincon Point. CVR is recorded in Mitchell’s live-in studio on the Bies’ property perched hundreds of feet above the freeway, with a view out to Rincon Point and beyond to the Santa Barbara Channel.
The view is epic, but the studio is modest and makeshift. CVR headquarters is a homey contrast to the bustling bygone radio stations where Bie and Mitchell once polished their on-air personalities. They started their careers in an exciting era when stations were motherships of culture complete with sales staffs and newsrooms and the voice of the DJ anchoring broadcasts transmitted to the hungry masses.
As the story goes, starting in the 1990s companies like Clear Channel bought up all the radio stations and turned them into cookie cutter versions of themselves to create profit-driven efficiency favoring centralized power over the creativity and spontaneity of live DJs.
About KTYD, where Mitchell used to work, he says, “We used to have a full staff. Now there’s no cars in the lot. The door’s locked. There’s hardly anyone there anymore.” That shift was dismaying but also inspirational. Mitchell saw an opportunity. “Carpinteria exists between Santa Barbara and Ventura and is sort of forgotten, which we like, but there’s also nobody covering us,” he says.
MYSTERIOUS FIRE LAUNCHES LIVE NEWS PROGRAM
The down years of COVID had everyone looking to break out. Mitchell, who has produced the syndicated “Breakfast with the Beatles with Dennis Mitchell” radio program for years, remembers the first night of CVR as serendipity that illustrated the need for such a station.
On February 19, 2022, Mitchell was live on scene for an arson on Via Real near the bicycle path cutting under the freeway to Carpinteria Avenue. Down a culvert, somebody had set a fire that proved tough to snuff out. It kept burning, and CVR was born as a streaming broadcast covering this mysterious and newsworthy fire.
“There was nobody else to cover it,” says Mitchell, who was at one time an awarding-winning news director on a Las Vegas radio station. “I stayed on air. We didn’t have a lot of listeners, but I wanted to show that the station was there to share what was going on.”
Prior to that, traffic had been the impetus for the station. The studio is the perfect vantage point to report in real time on the gnarly snarls that plagued the 101 through Carpinteria in 2022 and 2023. “Carp was ground zero for the bad traffic, but I knew that nobody local was covering it. All local traffic reports were coming out of LA. When I was program director at KTYD, I had to train remote staff on the local pronunciations.”
Local news is now a key element of CVR, which maintains a comprehensive Carpinteria news scroll on its website and at its Facebook page. The 7 to 9 a.m. morning show is chock full of local news from Peter Bie.
INTO THE GREAT UNKNOWN
CVR launched with Mitchell’s original show, “Something to Carp About.” By design, the station would be a talk-show driven experience, a corollary of podcasts. Little, forgotten Carpinteria would finally get its rightful airwaves dedicated to covering local people and topics.
“When we started, we were wall-to-wall talk, thinking we’d be like a podcast and talk radio delivering stuff that
From left, Melinda and Peter Bie, Dennis Mitchell and Bryan Mootz.
people in Carpinteria were interested in,” says Mitchell. “It was a great concept, but nobody listened.”
To add variety, Mitchell included episodes of “World’s Safest Podcast,” a show produced by the late David Jay, another former DJ who was gathering his own new media audience at the news-driven Facebook page “World’s Safest Beach.” Jay let Mitchell broadcast his material to fill the hours and round up a local audience.
FINDING A VOICE WITH “BRYAN’S LUNCH TRUCK”
Mitchell and company started to move in the direction of a streaming music station instead of leaning heavily on the talk model, which required more voices and original content to ll time. C adopted California rock as its genre, a slice of the mostly classic rock genre that follows loose rules of being laid back, sometimes funky or beachy and often, but not always, having the artist or song linked geographically to the olden tate. here are no algorithms on C .
Mitchell and his buddy Bryan Mootz then struck a balance by conceiving of “Bryan’s Lunch Truck,” a freeflowing variety show featuring local guests who pick out their own music. ecently local film producer teve Nicolaides and screenwriter wife Caroline Thompson — credited with “When Harry Met Sally” and “Edward Scissorhands” among other titles — were guests on the show. Other guests have included Carpinteria City Councilmember Julia Mayer and Santa Barbara County upervisor oy ee.
“I’ve always been a sidekick or third wheel, even in the newsroom in egas. here were two guys who were funny, making jokes,” Mitchell says. “So now I have Bryan. He’s a natural. He puts everyone at ease and is very positive and hilarious.”
In addition to “Bryan’s Lunch Truck,” Bie came on to do the morning show and his wife, Melinda Bie, started “Sunshine Soul” during the lunch hour. Previously, Melinda had done a talk show spin off of “Cannabis By the Sea” magazine, offering sympathetic coverage of local cannabis, before transitioning to being a radio DJ for the first time. nother program, adio El oodo, features local Jordan Palmer, who lacks the years and radio experience of Bie, Mitchell and Mootz, but gets props from the radio mentors on C for his deep appreciation and knowledge of music. key philosophy of C is that the is akin to a storyteller who leads listeners down an interpretive journey into the art of music. Palmer represents the promise that the next generation will maintain its passion for musical discovery.
s a modern streaming station, C is available to stream at carpinteriavalleyradio.com and is streaming 24/7 on adio . ryan s unch ruck can both be live streamed on Thursday at noon and Saturday morning at 10 a.m. along with being a stand-alone podcast on Mix Cloud.
Bryan Mootz keeps it fun on "Bryan's Lunch Truck."
“Always good for an armload. Kids books, too!”
5103 Carpinteria Avenue
Next to the Carpinteria Library • Donations welcomed.
805-566-0033
The Carpinteria Community Association was formed in 2023 by community members who recognize the unique spirit of our special town of Carpinteria.
As a nonprofit, CCA’s primary charge is to host the annual Community Awards Banquet which honors students, educators, community members, and the esteemed Carpinterian of the Year.
Featured Exhibits: Chumash • Summerland
Spanish & Mexican Ranchos
World War I • Carpinteria Pioneers
Robin Karlsson
Victorian Homes • Agriculture & Tools 19th Century Schoohouse Discover Carpinteria’s Rich & Colorful Past at the
carpinteriahistoricalmuseum.org
KARLSSON
LOCAL PIONEERS CHART THE COURSE OF AVOCADO HISTORY
CALIFORNIA AVOCADO FESTIVAL
Alejandro LeBlanc’s tree in Atlixco, Mexico. In 1911, California botanist Carl Schmidt traveled to Mexico and took cuttings from this tree, which were then used to develop the avocado industry in California.
BY KATIE
From left are authors Sarah Allaback and Monique Parsons at Parsons Ranch in Carpinteria.
IMAGE
WORDS BY SARAH ALLABACK & MONIQUE PARSONS
Our relationship with avocados began with our childhood in Carpinteria and led to our collaboration on a recently published book, “Green Gold: The Avocado’s Remarkable Journey from Humble Superfood to Toast of a Nation.” Our friendship stretches back to the 1970s when we were third-graders at Main School and created vivid childhood memories of adventures among the avocados. We remember climbing trees together on the Parsons’ ranch and picking up perfectly ripe fruit from the orchard floor. Sarah ran in the city’s first road race, “The Big Avocado,” and recalls buying bags of fresh avocados, twelve for a dollar, in front of Jordano’s in Casitas Plaza. When we moved East for college, however, avocados rarely crossed our paths.
Today avocados are everywhere—not only in grocery stores and on menus across the country but emblazoned on products from dog toys to jewelry and featured on television shows, social media memes and emojis. Our curiosity about the avocado s rise led to a nearly four year effort to track down the avocado’s roots, so closely tied to our hometown.
Long before Hass avocados dominated the marketplace, Californians embarked on a spirited race to identify the best varieties for the region. The California Avocado Association (now the California Avocado Society), formed in Los Angeles in 1915, was organized to develop an avocado industry. Among the first Carpinterians to join the effort were O.M. Cadwell, who submitted avocados to U.C. Berkeley researchers studying the fruit’s health benefits that year. By 1929, the CAS’s membership included Carpinteria growers George R. Bliss, H.P. Drake, Thomas N. Fish, Felicie Hubbard, Luis McGeary, Sarah Fleischmann and W.H. Yule.
A “Variety Committee” composed of University of California scientists, experienced nurserymen and
TOP RIGHT, Tirey C. Abbott was one of the early growers of avocados in Carpinteria Valley. A 1942 California Avocado Society article stated: “A repeat call was made at the Carpenteria (sic.) grove of T. C. Abbott. Still another of the Society test plots is located here, and further comparisons were made. A planting of two-year-old grafts of Edranol was inspected, and estimated to be carrying an average of 25 pounds of excellent looking fruit. Mr. Abbott demonstrated some home-devised, home-made orchard equipment, including a brush remover of considerable merit. This device, patterned after an ensilage cutter, chops the brush into small pieces, and returns it to the soil, where it can be incorporated as organic material.”
ABBOTT
Robert Abbott, grandson of Tirey C. Abbott, manages the Carpinteria avocado groves his grandfather first planted nearly a century ago.
Carpinterians Stanley Shepard, right, and his father, John Shepard Sr. Along with his brother, John Jr., Stanley played an important role in developing new avocado rootstocks for commercial growing. A 1942 California Avocado Society article stated: “The next stops were at the J. H. and Stanley Shepard properties in Carpinteria, where another of the California Avocado Society variety plots is located. Many little-known varieties were studied by the group, and comparisons were made of the appearance and condition of the test varieties to those on other plots in other areas. Stanley Shepard has a personal Fuerte seedling proj ect, from which he has obtained some promising fruits. Some of these were taste-tested by members of the party, and pronounced excellent in flavor.”
entrepreneurial farmers, busily planted test plots up and down the coast, studied dozens of varieties and occasionally argued over the best-tasting, hardiest, most productive and reliable avocado to bring to market. The Fuerte, a selection from Atlixco, Mexico, propagated in Fred Popenoe’s Altadena nursery in 1911, was the first variety to see widespread commercial success in California.
Carpinteria growers quickly embraced the trend. In a 1929 report to the association, Ventura County Farm Advisor Vincent Blanchard described a group of growers visiting local orchards. In addition to admiring the 35 acres of one-to-three-year-old Fuerte trees on J.D. Atkinson’s Carpinteria ranch, “the growers were especially impressed with the heavy production of Fuertes” on Felicie Hubbard’s property, where some of the trees were nearly 15 years old. George Hodgkin, manager of Calavo Growers, reported to the association that Hubbard’s orchard was the most productive and lucrative in the state.
The Hubbard family’s interest in avocados extended to Felicie Hubbard’s sister and niece, Djalma and Rosemary Carton. In 1938, the mother and daughter joined dozens of California growers on a pilgrimage to Atlixco, Mexico, to honor Alejandro LeBlanc. The owner of the parent Fuerte tree, LeBlanc had generously shared the fruit and budwood that launched the California industry. The visit was national news in Mexico, and the Californians left with a heartfelt letter from LeBlanc, who commended their “courteous words of appreciation” and the “genuine spirit of cooperation” between the U.S. and Mexico. Rosemary would go on to marry Carpinterian Henry Brown, and their descendants, including Emily Miles and Melissa Brown Simpson, remain active in avocado cultivation to this day.
Carpinteria avocado farmers Stanley and John Shepard donated to the CAS’s effort to present LeBlanc with a medal and place a commemorative plaque at the base of his tree. The following year, Stanley Shepard hosted the CAS subcommittee on rootstocks, which focused on finding varieties most resistant to pests, severe weather and disease. The Shepards propagated numerous promising varieties, including the Rincon (a dark green, oil-rich variety discovered in Carlsbad), the Twomey (a Fuerte-like variety that matured in late spring), and 500 seedling trees of the Newman Fuerte variety, grown in partnership with researchers at U.C. Los Angeles. Neighbors Tirey Abbott and William Yule joined the Shepards in planting the seedling trees, eager to see how they fared in Carpinteria’s soils and temperate climate.
Today, John Shepard’s son-in-law, Carl Stucky, manages avocado orchards in the valley and is a leader in championing the state’s avocado history. His many contributions to this cause include leading the charge to
CARPINTERIA VALLEY MUSEUM OF HISTORY
Carpinteria avocado grower Carl Joos harvests his fruit in 1982.
ABOVE, Ali Mauracher, left, successfully farmed a large block of avocados in Carpinteria. For several years he served on the board of directors of Calavo Growers of California.
RIGHT, Longtime avocado grower George Bliss founded Carpinteria Motor Transport, a company that hauls avocados from the grove to the packinghouse. George passed away in 2008, but his family continues to grow avocados in Carpinteria.
preserve historic varieties in an orchard at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena.
Back in the 1930s, Jack Rock of Carpinteria spent a decade developing a new hybrid avocado, which he christened the “Fairbank.” At the time, five test plots throughout Santa Barbara County featured 14 varieties vying to unseat the popular Fuerte: Coit, Clifton, Hass, Juan, Munro, Clifton, Hazzard, MacArthur, Pierce, Edranol, Hellen, MacPherson, Ryan, Henry’s select, and Middleton. In Carpinteria, the MacArthur was a particular favorite; university researchers described it as a “bell-shaped, green fruit of moderate quality and vigorous growth” with “fine flavor.”
Even after the Hass became the state’s dominant avocado variety in the 1970s, Carpinteria growers continued to contribute to vital research. Researchers at the University of California embarked on an ongoing battle against a deadly root disease, phytophthora cinnamomi . Much of the effort focused on developing a rootstock that would resist the disease. In the 1980s, local growers, including Carpinterian Betty Spaulding and ranch manager Bob Branstetter, planted 100 trees on five different rootstocks so plant pathologists could compare their productivity and resilience. The Abbott family, continuing the tradition
of patriarch Tirey, has also consistently worked with the University of California to develop test orchards in the Carpinteria Valley.
Researchers continue to admire the quality of Carpinteria avocados. Mary Lu Arpaia, lead avocado breeder at the University of California, Riverside, notes that Carpinteria’s mild climate and nutrient-rich soils allow the local orchards to extend the Hass growing season. They “have very good quality fruit into October,” Arpaia said. “The Hass fruit’s been on the tree, then, for almost a year and a half by the time they pick it,” she explained, a phenomena that leads to creamier fruit with higher oil content.
Today, Carpinteria’s groves represent a small but historic part of the global avocado landscape. In 2023, Americans ate more than 3 billion pounds of avocados, tying a record set in 2021. Some analysts predict that by 2030, the average American will eat more than 11 pounds of avocados a year. Only about 10% of the avocados consumed in the United States come from California. But as a center of avocado expertise making an impact on the development of today’s industry, and the site of the annual California Avocado Festival, Carpinteria will always be a crucial part of the avocado’s story.
CALIFORNIA AVOCADO FESTIVAL
In “Green Gold: The Avocado’s Remarkable Journey from Humble Superfood to Toast of a Nation,” historian Sarah Allaback and journalist Monique Parsons return to the avocado orchards of their childhoods to uncover the remarkable story of how the avocado became a global phenomenon. The first in-depth history of the US avocado industry, “Green Gold” is told through the people who moved an exotic, non-native fruit across international borders to a central place in the American diet and launched today’s $18 billion global industry.
Each chapter begins with a recipe related to the story. The book includes a custom-designed map identifying significant avocado-producing regions and an eight-page photo insert.
“Green Gold” can be ordered at www. counterpointpress.com/books/green-gold/. Signed copies can be purchased at Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara.
Some of the best Carpinteria summer memories are made about 100 yards offshore. Every year, the City of Carpinteria dusts off and drags out two swim platforms just beyond the breaking waves. Most sunsets are magical in Carpinteria, but none more so than the ones experienced atop a swim platform.
