CARPINTERIA MAGAZINE
winter2017
It really pays to give the perfect gift.
GIFT ANNUITY BENEFITS INCLUDE:
Lifetime Income | Membership in the Cottage 1888 Society | Charitable Deduction
A Cottage Health charitable gift annuity provides you a guaranteed income for the rest of your life, and the Cottage hospital of your choice will receive your donated assets in the future.
You benefit. Patients benefit. The entire community benefits. Your gift can support the hospital of your choice: Cottage Children’s Medical Center
|
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Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital | Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital Consider trading in your low-interest CD for a charitable gift annuity CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY SAMPLE RATES:
$10,000 gift with one income beneficiary
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For details on this rewarding Cottage Health program and to obtain a complimentary, no-obligation proposal, please contact Carla Long, Director of Planned Giving, at 805.879.8987, 805.879.8982 or clong@sbch.org.
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gary goldberg Realtor | Broker | Attorney
Carpinteria • Montecito • Hope Ranch • Goleta
gary goldberg, Owner & Broker 1086 Coast Village Road Santa Barbara, California 93108
805.455.8910 | BRE #: 01172139 www.garygoldberg.net Email: gary@coastalrealty.com
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Whether you’re buying, selling or vacationing in the Carpinteria or Santa Barbara area, Gary Goldberg will provide you with in-depth assistance for all your real estate needs. Locally owned and operated, Gary’s brokerage, Coastal Properties, has been assisting sellers, buyers and vacationers for 22 years. His team of experienced and knowledgeable agents specialize in all aspects of real estate, including residential, commercial, land development, property management, long and short term leasing, and vacation rentals. We invite you to stop in to our office and experience the friendly, professional and confidential service Coastal Properties provides.
11/10/16 9:03 AM
“GROSS kill it.” WAIT, Don’t kill it!
Did you know that spiders can jump 20–60 times their body length when catching prey?
Making them pest control powerhouses!
VISIT THE SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, WHERE FACTS CAN HELP OVERCOME FEARS.
2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 . 805.682.4711 . sbnature .org 2 CARPINTERIAMAGAZINE.com
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Exceptional Architecture Designed for Views Offered at $8,950,000
DANA ZERTUCHE
SUSAN BURNS
805.403.5520 CalBRE 01465425
805.565.8822 CalBRE 00878065
LORI BOWLES 805 .452.3884 CalBRE 01961570
www.SUSANBURNS.com
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CARPiNTERiA
FiRST FRiDAY LIVE MUSIC Linden’s Seal Fountain 5-8 pm MERCHANT PROMOTIONS Sunrise to Sunset
January 6, 7 February 3 March 3 April 7 May 5 June 2 July 7
2017
Snow Much To Do Where the Heart Is Think Green Carpinteria In Bloom Celebrate Art Artist Studio Tour Sounds of Summer Surf ’s Up/ America the Beautiful
August 4 September 1
October 6, 7, 8 November 3 December 1
Art & Art-niture Chalk the Walk/ Celebrate Education California Avocado Festival Fall Harvest Light Up the Season
carpinteria.ca.us • carpinteriachamber.org
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~
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SENOR FROG’S SENOR FROG’S
— Latin Cuisine & Infused Cocktails — Tequila Flights and Pitchers Specialty Margaritas m e x i c a n Happy Hour & Apps
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CRAFT BEER ON TAP Wine, Cider & Tapas 2 Big Screens
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892 Linden Ave. • Indoor and Patio Dining • Full Bar • 805.684.9352 • See Menu @ senorfrogscarpinteria.com
Carpinteria Valley Water District Committed to: • providing the Valley with safe and reliable water - yesterday, today and tomorrow. • meeting challenges of historic drought through conservation and local, regional and state-wide water sources. • preserving local groundwater resources and exploring use of recycled water to improve local water reliability. 1301 Santa Ynez Ave • Carpinteria 805-684-2816 • www.cvwd.net
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Thank you
Celebrating the arts and all the wonderful artists in Carpinteria has never been more exciting!
CARPINTERIA. There is so much happening at the Carpinteria Arts Center! We have new art programs, events, workshops, gallery tours, free concerts, films, and live poetry, we offer a safe and exciting venue for children to learn art. We are collaborating with Middle School, Boys & Girls Club, and Peoples SelfHelp Housing to bring arts education into the community, and we are poised for an exciting next step.
The purchase and re-purposing of 865 Linden Avenue! Many people have made generous contributions since we closed escrow, but we have more work ahead of us. Please join your neighbors and consider making your own taxdeductible gift to keep the dream alive: a community arts center for all of us to enjoy. Contact the Carpinteria Arts Center at info@carpinteriaartscenter. org to learn more.
THE CARPINTERIA ARTS CENTER – THE HEARTBEAT OF CARPINTERIA Go to our website, carpinteriaartscenter.org and click on the “Support Us” tab to learn more. Gallery Hours: Thursday - Monday, 10am - 4pm 855 Linden Avenue Downtown Carpinteria 805.684.7789
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#carpinteriaarts
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Fine Body Products, Candles, Robes, Loungewear, Jewelry and Purses Unique Gifts From Over Twenty Countries
910 A Linden Avenue Downtown Carpinteria
featuring: Kai, Crabtree & Evelyn, Votivo, Pre De Provence and much more
Tues-Sat 10-5 Closed Sun-Mon
805.684.6695
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Catering for all Occasions Best Bagels Since 1996 • Beautiful Salads • Gourmet Sandwiches Grand Parties • Hors D’oeuvres • Social & Corporate Catering 5050 Carpinteria Avenue • To Go 805.566.1558 • Bistro Dining 6:30am-3pm Weekends 7am-3pm 53 S. Milpas St (in Trader Joe’s Plaza) • 805.564.4331 • Mon-Fri 6am-4pm Weekends 7am-3pm
Catering 805.319.0155 • bagelnet.com
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CARP Winter2017
features 30 THE FRIDAY NIGHT B AN D
It’s Friday night, do you know where your children are? It’s likely they are playing in or listening to the Carpinteria High School Warrior band, whose roots date back to the opening of the school in 1913.
48 SEE THE SEA: HOL LY L OHUIS SPREA D S OCEAN C ONSERVATI O N MESSAGE
Take a dive into the world’s oceans with Holly Lohuis, who works first-hand with Jean-Michel Cousteau (yes, that Cousteau family) of the Santa Barbara-based The Ocean Futures Society.
55 PICK- UP JOINT
If tow trucks could talk, oh, the tales they could tell. Take a drive on the behind-the-scenes of Memory Lane, and head to Colson’s on Sixth for extra credit in Carpinteria History 101.
63 ONE- STOP HOL IDAY S HO P
Santa Claus Lane has moved to west Carpinteria Avenue. Sort of. Susan Willis Ltd. is decked out for the season and ready to celebrate. Get in the mood, be inspired, and start shopping at Carpinteria’s holiday central.
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68 HOL IDAY B RUNC H
Here are the perfect menu and recipes for a delicious and impressive holiday brunch. Foolproof, too – promise! – thanks to locally sourced ingredients. Let the eating begin.
72 Q & A: THE NGOS
Need a real life example of the quintessential American immigrant success story? Pull up your bootstraps, and look no farther than Linden Avenue. Meet the Ngos, Vietnamese refugees who know lots about creating something from nothing.
82 SEAL WATC H V OL UNT EER S
Thanks to a pod of committed volunteers and environmentalists, Carpinteria is the World’s Safest Beach for harbor seals. The nature show runs from Jan. 1 through May 31 at the Seal Rookery and the bluff top overlooking it.
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P DEbbiE MuRphy
Broker/Property Manager/Notary Sales • Property Management • Vacation Rentals
DRE #00580025
www.murphykingrealestate.com 805.689.9696 or 805.684.4101 • 5441 Carpinteria Ave. Carpinteria, CA 93013
IF YOU STAY... YOU WILL VISIT AGAIN & AGAIN!
We offer the finest weekly and monthly condominium rentals just steps away from the “world’s safest beach” in the charming seaside town of Carpinteria. Enjoy resort style living in a completely furnished two bedroom, one bedroom or a cozy studio space with year round heated pool, whirlpool spa, barbeque areas, Wi-Fi, laundry and gated parking. 4980 Sandyland Rd • Carpinteria, CA 93013 805.684.3682 • sunsetshorescarp.com WINTER2017 13
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FROM THE PUB L ISHE R
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CHATTERB OX
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CARPE DIEM
67
ANTIQUES & C OL L E C T I BL ES
78
PHOTO ESSAY: PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE
87
CARPINTERIA KIOSK
88
REAL ESTATE REV IEW
94
CONTRIB UTORS
96
FINAL FRAME
ON T H E COVE R
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DOG DAYS OF WINTER Answering to Bodhi, Bodhisattva is a 2-year-old, purebred English mastiff who digs having the beach to himself. Photo by Robin Karlsson.
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G
R E A L E S TAT E S A L E S • P R O P E R T Y M A N A G E M E N T
Ocean View Realty Bill Crowley, GRI 805.886.2236
BillCrowleyRealEstate.com BRE# 00775392
LIST YOUR HOME WITH BILL, HE’LL GET IT SOLD!
“the perfect place to stay...”
Enjoy a wealth of activities … the “World’s Safest Beach” is right outside your door! Downtown is only a short, pleasant stroll. Oceanfront Two Bedroom Condos with Patio or Balcony • Elevator • BBQ Deck • Laundry • Free WiFi • Privacy • Views • Gated Secure Parking 4975 SanDyLanD ROaD • CaRPinTERia, Ca 93013
Vacation Rentals 805-684-3570 800-964-8540
www.carpinteriashores.com info@carpinteriashores.com Weekly & Monthly Rentals WINTER2017 15
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CARPINTERIA: SCRATCHING THE SURFACE Surprising and long needed rain showers fell right before we went to press with this 21st issue of Carpinteria Magazine. That little splash of weather got me thinking about how the seemingly ordinary can be actually very special and treasured. Don’t you think that describes Carpinteria? Here’s what I mean. To the uninformed driver zipping north or south on the 101, we’re a nondescript blur that defies pronunciation. The vacationing family packed into a SUV stopping for a meal scratches the surface of specialness, giving food for thought on next year ’s holiday destination. Scratching the surface—nonstop—is what Carpinteria VITE Magazine does. Our “future issue story list” is long and keeps growing. Who’d ever think so much interesting and beautiful subject matter is available in such a small dot on the map! In this issue, writer Lea Boyd introduces us to Holly Lohuis, who dives side by side with Jean-Michel Cousteau of The Ocean Futures Society fame. There are spectacular underwater photographs, too. Meanwhile, writer Alonzo Orozco and photographer Michael Kwiecinski move from surf to turf highlighting the Carpinteria High School Warrior band in all their Friday night glory. Our history lesson has its origin on Sixth Street. Writer Peter Dugré documents some of the town’s past through the point of view of Colson’s Towing, and photographer Brian Hopkins captures the garage and the tools of the trade. You might not know them by name, but you certainly do by location. In our Q&A, writer Megan Waldrep asks Ha and Anh Ngo, owners of Linden Laundromat, about escaping Vietnam in 1975 and finding refuge in the United States, where they exemplify the immigrant success story of hard work and commitment to their new country. For our Photo Essay: People Helping People, photographer David Powdrell catches everyday Carpinterians at their volunteering best. Plus, we got you covered for the holidays with all the season’s finery at Susan Willis Ltd. and a brunch menu fit for a king. It wouldn’t be a Carpinteria Magazine without a beer story. We got that covered in the Chatterbox department. (Well, technically it’s a piece on mead and cider.) There’s a lot more in Chatterbox, so don’t miss it. In our feature Carpe Diem, we focus on individuals who are making the town a better place to live by being themselves and following their dreams. There’s more, too. So cozy up on the couch or in your favorite beach chair and start turning pages. Carpinteria Magazine comes out twice a year. Thank you, readers, for supporting the advertisers who make this project possible. Without either of you, we’d have to stop doing what we love doing most – showcasing Carpinteria. Lastly, if you have an idea for the pages of Carpinteria Magazine, please send it my way. The best way to reach me is mike@coastalview.com. Enjoy the winter; let’s hope it’s a wet one. See you next issue in May 2017.
Michael VanStry, Publisher
CARPINTERIA MAGAZINE WINTER2017 EDITOR Amy Marie Orozco PRODUCTION & DESIGN Kristyn Whittenton WRITERS Pascale Beale Christian Beamish Lea Boyd Peter Dugré Alonzo Orozco Amy Marie Orozco Emily Parker Megan Waldrep PHOTOGRAPHERS Adam Caira Joshua Curry Glenn Dubock Peter Dugré Brian Hopkins Marco Medina Robin Karlsson Michael Kwiecinski PRODUCTION SUPPORT Rockwell Printing SALES Dan Terry dan@coastalview.com (805) 684-4428 ON THE WEB CarpinteriaMagazine.com Facebook
All articles, photographs and artwork appearing in this publication are the copyrighted intellectual property of RMG Ventures, LLC. RMG Ventures, LLC aggressively protects its intellectual property rights. No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form without the express written permission of the publisher. ©2017 RMG Ventures, LLC.
RMG Ventures, LLC Michael VanStry, President Gary L. Dobbins, Vice President 4856 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, California 93013 Tel: (805) 684-4428 Email: info@carpinteriamagazine.com
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where shelter and nature converge
Lighting by Maurice Connolly
3823 Santa Claus Lane • Carpinteria • 805-684-0300 • porchsb.com WINTER2017 17
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“Experience the
Artful Life!”
quilting • Knitting needleworK • arts and gifts
A whimsical store with everything you’ll need for quilting, knitting, needlework, inspired gifts and more… Hours: M-s • 10 to 5 sun. • 11 to 4
919 Maple avenue • Carpinteria, Ca 93013 • 805.566.1250 • roxannequilts.CoM
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VENOCO, INC.
25 YEARS OF COMMITMENT Operational Excellence, Energy Production, Safety and the Environment
Founded in Santa Barbara in 1992, Venoco Inc. has been a consistent presence in the Carpinteria Valley. Our employees live and work here. We are proud of the jobs we provide and our employees’ commitment to exceptional operations and stellar track record of award-winning safety.
Our company does more than create jobs and the energy our society needs. Through tax revenue, royalties and charitable giving we help fund critical community services – including local schools and public safety.
We are steadfast in our commitment to the people of Carpinteria, to protecting the public’s health and safety, and our special environment. We never compromise on operational excellence while providing the oil and natural gas that fuels quality of life.
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6267 Carpinteria Avenue Carpinteria, CA 93013 CarpMag_Winter 2017.indd 20
(805) 745-2100 www.venocoinc.com 11/10/16 9:37 AM
LAGUNA BLANCA
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January 19th, 2017
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FROM THE BEACH TO DOWNTOWN...
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Chatter Box Give peace a dance
It’s a ballerina. It’s a break-dancer. It’s Larry Nimmer dancing for peace! Nimmer created a 12-mile, one-man, concept art performance/dance video. The annual “Dance for Peace” produced by Nimmer, a filmmaker by trade and known to many from his weekly Man on the Street column in Coastal View News, merges zany and thought-provoking in a way only a freethinking product of 1970s U.C. Berkeley could.
The example of a 65-year-old man breaking into an impromptu ballet on a Montecito sidewalk or doing the worm on Santa Claus Beach turns heads and hopefully opens minds, he says. It all began in 2006, the year Nimmer resolved to execute at least one piece of concept art annually, in other words, art that is more about the idea it represents than the executed product. He walked to Santa Barbara that New Year ’s Day wearing the message “Peace begins with a smile.” The dance part of the Dance for Peace was adopted in 2008 and has marched on through most years since its inception. Nimmer says he’s not usually comfortable dancing. “I’m embarrassed to dance in front of people, but not to have it recorded and played in front of people.” Every time it’s a little different. In 2016, the dance began with a conga line of family members in Nimmer ’s Linden Avenue driveway. He then choreographed dances, filming and locations over the 12-mile trek. He decided on eight genres of dance including ballet and busted out his moves at the preplanned venues in front of either a selfie-stick, a camera on a tripod or held by helpers. The ballet performance stood out because it was in front of Los Arroyos Restaurant in Montecito where “they’re kind of stuffy,” according to Nimmer. Another hit is what Nimmer describes as walking meditation, a dance walk that’s more of a slow-motion trance. For effect, he transitioned from the walking meditation to the Pee-wee Herman shuffle, a jig that’s all toe stance and hilarity. Nimmer may never achieve world peace. The performer, who oftentimes during the Dance for Peace brandishes a stick to “conduct the landscape” as he sashays to his own rhythms, might just free a few spirits. – Peter Dugré
Larry Nimmer
He begins each New Year ’s Day at his home in Carpinteria and spends 7-to-10 hours strolling and dancing to Santa Barbara in a spectacle captured and edited on video. The whole exercise in meandering performance art sends the message that freedom to play and dance uninhibitedly promotes peace. Nimmer says, “I like to be a role model for channeling my childlike nature and to get others to channel theirs.”
° ° °
Snow Much To Do on Linden Avenue
Think your kids can’t enjoy snow and ice on the Central Coast? Think again. Take them to the First Friday in January to play in the snow, go ice skating, and listen to live music at the seal fountain. “It’s a great family-friendly event to celebrate the season,”
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says Lynda Lang, a member of the Carpinteria First Committee and past president of the Carpinteria Valley Chamber of Commerce. Most First Fridays are one-day events, but Snow Much To Do is both Friday, Jan. 6, and Saturday, Jan. 7. On Saturday, 10 tons of snow will fill the Carpinteria Art Center yard and Linden Avenue will close for an ice skating rink.
Farm to Table Chef’s Seasonal Specials Sustainable Meats & Seafood Local & Organic Produce
Courtesy photo
“Carpinteria First Fridays are special because of the small city vibe and charm we have here. Especially downtown, most of our shops are unique,” says Brian Barrett, management analyst for the City of Carpinteria and the First Friday city liaison. First Fridays started in June 2009. The first snow day was in February 2010, according to Kevin Silk, assistant to the City Manager and past staff liaison to the Carpinteria First Committee. “Anything that brings energy into Carpinteria is a great thing,” Lang says. “Economically, First Fridays are a really great thing. It helps draw people to Carpinteria to help support our local economy.” The snow area attracts both locals and visitors from Goleta down to Oxnard. In previous years, the line for the snow area extended down Linden Avenue and around the corner, Lang says. Now you can check in and get a ticket for a 15-minute time increment to come back and play. Rather than waiting in line, you can get food, shop, or enjoy the live music. Kids can also create snow-related art projects with local teachers on the art center benches, says David Powdrell, Art Center co-chair.
Lunch 11:30 to 3pm • Dinner from 5pm Closed Sundays • Catering
805.684.8893 Casitas Pass Road at Carpinteria Ave. WINTER2017 25
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C hatter Box First Fridays are a collaboration with the Carpinteria First Committee, the City of Carpinteria and local merchants. “The Carpinteria First Committee always tries to figure out how to help more businesses be involved and use First Friday to promote themselves,” Barrett says. Some merchants give a free gift, some give a discount, some have sales on items related to the First Friday theme. They are all different. While Snow Much To Do centers on the downtown area, merchants throughout the city still participate. Other upcoming First Friday events are Where the Heart Is on February 3; Think Green on March 3; Carpinteria In Bloom on April 7; and Celebrate Art – Artists Studio Tour on May 5.
Dugré
–emily Parker
° ° °
Mead & Cider
The Apiary Ciderworks & Meadery buzzed into The Row, the cluster of businesses on west Carpinteria Avenue in 2016, and owner and brewmaster Nole Cossart, a young businessman looking the casual entrepreneur with brown hair curling out from under his backward trucker hat, sees room for continued growth and a teeming business environment where he now serves craft-brewed apple ciders and honey meads. Cossart has high hopes that his style of small batch cider and mead will follow in the footsteps of craft beer, an industry that seemingly has no saturation point. One challenge is ensuring that the lingo is accessible for the layperson unfamiliar with mead and fine quality ciders. Asked to describe mead, he says, “Mead’s a booze made from honey. It’s any alcohol made from fermented honey.” When originally seeking a location for cider and mead production and tasting, Cossart envisioned a barn or some rustic location to match his philosophy of pure ingredients and handcrafted goods. That ideal couldn’t be landed in reality, so he turned the industrial/retail space on Carpinteria Avenue into the next best thing. The interior was transformed, reclaimed piece of wood by reclaimed piece of wood, into urban farmhouse. No detail went overlooked, down to the fresh herbs strewn across the walls and handmade benches. When done right, Cossart says, mead and cider are tasty sipping beverages that are crisp, clean and refreshing. First-timers at the establishment will be surprised at the
dry subtleties and multi-dimensional flavors. Ciders from large brewers are overly sweet, notes Cossart. “That’s what we’re trying to get away from,” he says. A customer favorite, the Apiary’s Molicious cider is fermented in toasted oak chips with Belgian beer yeast. The 6.7 percent alcohol drink is off-dry with smoky hints of brown sugar. The Apiary meads run on the dryer end, and as opposed to higher alcohol content meads on the market, they are bubbly. The Hopté mead has hops and Yerba Mate tea that add smokiness and a bitter backbone. The bite of the bubbles smacks the tongue. Cossart was introduced to the wonders of bees when working for a handmade lotions company that used honey and beeswax in its products. From there, he began musing about meads and eventually ciders, which blossomed into the business idea. Girlfriend Rachna Hailey has helped Cossart to maintain inspiration. She serves during hours of operation, which are restricted to weekends due to the supply of 15-gallon batches not being able to support daily operations. “We collaborate on the menu and plans. She’s my co-creative schemer. We talk about it endlessly, so it’s good that she’s on board,” Cossart says. – Peter Dugré
° ° °
Kitchen Remodel
Late 2015 the Cajun Kitchen shut down, and while that was sad news for the biscuit and gravy set, the Jimenez family, owners of both the popular restaurant and the
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building it occupied, were willing to sell it to their next door neighbors, the Carpinteria Arts Center, for significantly less than the initial capital campaign the nonprofit’s board developed after the 2005 purchase of the original property at 855 Carpinteria Ave., according to David Powdrell, board member of the Carpinteria Arts Center. Before the fortuitous opportunity arose to buy the Cajun Kitchen property, the Arts Center had hoped to expand within its existing property lines by constructing a contemporary two-story building to house the arts. The board made plans for a hefty capital campaign of $6.9 million. With the purchase of the property next door however, the campaign is now set at $3.1 million and through donations and grants, the Arts Center has raised $2 million in seven months. Powdrell’s personal vision is to “make Carpinteria the number one arts community in America.” Citing the city’s most accomplished artists and its gorgeous setting between the Pacific and the Santa Ynez Mountains, Powdrell speaks with certitude when he says, “When everyone rolls up their sleeves, magic happens. We’ve had checks [and pledges] for $250,000 and $300,000.” He also speaks of the financial benefit that a thriving Arts Center brings to Carpinteria, not only in quantifiable dollars circulating within the local economy, but in the intangible effects that the arts bring to people, everywhere.
courtesy photo
Pending city approval, the addition of the former Cajun Kitchen property is slated to open in September 2017. Primarily an art gallery, the converted building will also hold a director ’s office and a secondary gallery, as well as an art studio and ceramics workshop. T h e b o a rd envisio ns wide do o r s t hat connect the new space with
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C hatter Box the existing Art Center courtyard for an open yet diverse visitor experience that moves from a spatially intriguing interior to a bright and sunlit outside area—all of this, of course, in the interest of making a bigger, better and more fully realized home for the arts. In particular, the board sees art as an indispensable part of school curriculum, even as budgets for arts instruction are slashed. “When you introduce kids to the arts, they’re four-times more likely to excel at math and science and go on to college,” Powdrell notes. “You take art out of a curriculum and the ripple effect over time is significant … so we’re sending people to the school to teach art, or bringing the kids to the Art Center. Art for the kids is critical.”
Joshua Curry
– Christian Beamish
° ° °
Freedom to be Warm
Edgar “Big Ed” Wesson Jr. is the director of operations for Freedom Warming Centers of Santa Barbara County. Presumably, the “Big” stands for the size of his heart as the warming centers are emergency landing shelters that offer refuge from the cold, a sit down dinner, and a warm bed. “It’s for our friends without homes,” says Wesson. “Anyone in any condition is welcome. We want them in a safe environment.” The warming centers are a seasonal program of sorts. Open hours follow two triggers: a weather prediction of 50 percent chance of rain for two days and/or 35 degrees or lower for two days. Wesson says they try to activate 72 hours beforehand, to get supporters online as well as hospitality teams and to inform friends without homes. Those needing a place to rest their heads may call the Freedom Warming Center hotline number, (805) 324-2372. A number of outreach teams–Common Grounds, county public health, and C3H (Central Coast Collaborative on Homelessness)–help spread the word on where one can find a safe haven for a night, too. “They are doing the footwork, going to homeless camps. They are the eyes and ears out there,” notes Wesson. The outreach teams also post fliers in public places such as libraries and at social service agencies like the Salvation Army, PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), and the
Rescue Mission. Carpinteria Community Church and the City of Carpinteria partnered with the Freedom Warming Center to provide shelter. In Carpinteria, the locations alternate between the church on Vallecito and the Veterans Memorial Building on Walnut Avenue. On average, hospitality teams and church volunteers prepare 15 to 20 beds and dinners per open night. Doctors Without Walls provide health services on nights of activation. “Carpinteria Community Church is referred to as ‘Biltmore South’ because its hospitality team and facilities are second to none,” says Wesson. Doors open at 6 p.m. Dinner is served, most fall asleep by 8 p.m., and wake up around 4 a.m. There’s coffee in the morning as well as a sack lunch. By 6 a.m., the facility returns to its day job. There are no secret passwords, no-preapproval or bureaucratic hoops to jump through. “Anyone, in any condition is welcome,” reiterates Wesson, emphasizing safety. A separate organization under the umbrella of the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, the Freedom Warming Centers of Santa Barbara County started with two or three churches in 2009 after Freedom Bradshaw, a homeless veteran, died from hypothermia in downtown Santa Barbara. Today there are centers in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Isla Vista, and Santa Barbara in addition to Carpinteria. Freedom Warming Center hotline number: (805) 324-2372. ◆ – amy orozCo
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The Friday Night Band BY A L ON Z O OROZ CO PH OT OS BY M I CH A E L K W I E CI N S K I & M A RCO M E DI N A The rat-a-tat-tat of the Carpinteria High School Warrior Band’s drum section echoing throughout Valley Memorial Stadium during football games is a beat that carries with it a rich history. “I do know from looking through old yearbooks that there was music going all the way back to the beginning of Carpinteria High School,” says Performing Arts Educator Elise Unruh of the secondary school that opened its doors to its first freshman class in 1913.
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Hali Schwasnick, on sax, and Amanda Blair prepare for the night’s show.
The Carpinteria High School Warrior Band, past and present, takes the field. WINTER2017 31
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The band.
Alumni. Once a band member, always a band member. Unruh, who has been in charge of the music program since 1986 and also does triple duty as the Yearbook Adviser and the Muses Adviser, recalls there only being a couple of other conductors since the campus was moved from the current Middle School location to its present address on Foothill. “When this school site was opened, I know that Langdon Nevens was the band director until the early 1980s, and then David Flietstra was the band director for the next couple of years, and then I came in,� explains the longtime teacher. Over the years, the size and style of the band has gone through various transformations. At one time, the band
Esteban Zapata keeps the beat.
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Jessica Lord keeping an eye on the action.
Andy Johnson documents his band mates.
And the team takes the field. Band alumnus Del Goodrick.
Waiting for their marching orders.
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Drum majors, as indicated by white pants, Maria Zamora, left, and Ana Delgado, with Amanda Blair on trumpet. Jeremy Saito makes some noise.
consisted of about 20 students and then rose to 44 in 2002. During Nevens’ tenure, the band competed against other schools, and had as many as 50 to 60 members; it also competed with Fleistra and Unruh as directors. Today, Unruh works very closely with Julie Shamblin, High School Advisor and Coach of the Carpinteria High School Cheer Team. “We come up with some sort of theme for each of our halftime shows,” confirms Unruh. One of the more recognized themes has occurred around Halloween on a couple of occasions when the squad does a lively and theatrical rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” But Unruh is partial to the performance based on the musical “Phantom of the Opera,” which was executed in 1994 and 2003 with the band and color guard when the Warriors were involved in competitions and collected several first place awards along the way. Spectators have witnessed a great deal of change in the last 20 to 30 years in the various styles of high school football halftime shows. Instead of the rigid formations of a marching band, playing tunes from the 1960s, contemporary music has become a major part of the landscape. The Warrior band tends to stick with the more traditional tunes. “The more current kind of contemporary pop music, hip hop music, electro music, it just doesn’t work,” concludes Unruh. “We sound silly when we try and play that kind of music.” The very first halftime show of the Warrior year includes the Alumni Band. Every year, the band also holds their annual “Big Show” that includes The Muses, otherwise known as the drama class, and the Middle School Band,
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as part of a unique musical, theatrical extravaganza that takes place during the last game of the football season. Numbering 30 strong for the past two years, the Warrior band has all of the basic wind, brass, and percussion instruments: flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, trombones and drums. The musicians are also involved with the highs and lows of the team. After every Warrior touchdown, the Carpinteria fight song is played, celebrating the team’s success. Although there is a song designated as the school’s alma mater, it’s not tradition to play it at football games. After the conclusion of the football season, the band performs a concert in December as well as in March, along with an additional event that’s held the second to last Wednesday of the school year in the cafeteria. Besides the band’s tie to the cheerleading and football program, it also is part of the school curriculum offering all sorts of options. Band and music appreciation classes are held on the six-period day. Choir courses and/or jazz band classes take place in the evening, so students can take them as an extra class, and they receive course credit for them, too. Although the band and its director are open to the idea of taking to the road to play at different sites, they need to be budget conscious. The good news is that the Carpinteria Unified School District has committed to music education starting in elementary school. And because of that, the band will continue to play on. ◆
Former band director Langdon Nevens leads the alumni and present day bands.
Waiting for their cue.
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C arpe Di e m
David Josh Stanford aka DJ Hecktik. JoshuA CuRRy
Hecktik in the House By m e ga n Wa l Dre p
The party doesn’t start until he walks in. Carpinteria High School graduate David Josh Stanford–better known as his alter ego/creative persona DJ Hecktik – has kept people moving on the dance floor since his days as a young teen. Surprising to some, Stanford honed his DJ skills while attending a youth group class at El Montecito Presbyterian Church. A few lessons in and he was hooked, fine tuning his skills throughout high school to ultimately land a gig at Alex’s Cantina in Goleta. With a professional show under his belt, Stanford nabbed a guest spot with DJ Matty Matt Moore on KISS 107.7 FM in 2003. “Then, thanks to Carpinteria native DJ Wicked, I started to DJ on a local radio station with a monster signal called 103.3 the Vibe in 2005,” Stanford says. “Now, 11 years later, I am still spinning on that station.” One could say it was his destiny to be a Carp kid. “My family moved to Carpinteria when I was born. Seriously, they moved into their Carpinteria home the day I was released from Cottage Hospital,” he explains. “I think I was 3 days old, so I guess you can say my family has lived in Carp all of my life.” A few favorite memories include getting haircuts on
Saturday mornings by Marty at the local barbershop, playing basketball at the Aliso School basketball courts with his father, David, and Friday night Warrior Football games with friends. His first taste of entrepreneurship happened on the grounds of the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History as a teen in the early ’90s when joining his mother, Rosa, at the monthly flea market, where he sold baseball cards. For Stanford, memories live on every corner. It’s been a long, steady ride for DJ Hecktik. He salutes former jobs working for various DJ companies, radio stations and nightclubs, the wedding industry, and the mobile DJ business for schooling him on music industry 101. As it turns out, successful parties can be the most demanding. “I feel most challenged creatively when I have a packed dance floor,” Stanford says. “The challenge is to keep the dance floor full, keep spinning the right songs. One song selection that the crowd doesn’t like can kill the dance floor.” Through good old-fashioned hard work, this local boy has been able to sustain what few are able to do. “My greatest accomplishment as a DJ is building a career from a hobby,” he says. “DJ-ing began as a hobby and now I do it full time as my profession.”
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She sells at Seastrand
C ar pe Di e m
B y Lea B oyD Taylor Bush is just one of those people. You know, the kind who asks how your day is going, and before long you’ve told her about the argument you had with your spouse last week and divulged your secret dream of enrolling in culinary school. Her attention is all yours. Her warmth encourages speaking the unspoken. And where does Bush offer her listening services? At Seastrand, the women’s clothing boutique on Linden Avenue she and her husband Erik co-own. The young shop owner and new mother chuckles when she admits that her master’s degree in school counseling unexpectedly comes in handy as owner of a retail shop. “I’m using my counseling skills with grown-ups,” she says. Though Bush’s academic career never predicted boutique ownership, she has always loved fashion. Her overflowing closet speaks for her three and a half years in the retail biz. “How many outfits does one person need?” she laughs. The shop allows her to express her creativity and interact with the people of her adopted hometown. She grew up in San Diego, but has become a devout Carpinterian. The merchandise she stocks reflects the local style—beachy, comfortable, moderately priced, and fashionable but not overly trendy. Bush experiments with new offerings often and loves having the freedom to fail. Heels just didn’t move, so she didn’t order more. Gift items have sold well, so she’s dedicating more of her precious space (the store is under 1,000 square feet) to merchandise people buy for others. Her most recent addition, baby clothes, is a bit more personal. Little Adelyn Bush arrived on May 21, 2016 and started working alongside mom not long after. Taylor counts that as another perk of shop ownership—every day can be bring your baby to work day. She narrates her work while the happy infant takes it all in. Now we’re folding sweaters. Time to close out the credit card machine. “I haven’t wanted to be away from her at all. She goes where I go,” says the smitten mom. And just like Adelyn, Seastrand is the product of a partnership between Taylor and husband Erik Bush. Erik encouraged Taylor to take over the business location’s lease from George Manuras and Lisa Carey, who had operated By The Sea for several years. Erik put his handyman skills to work to make the space their own. Taylor keeps what she calls “Carpinteria business hours.” Seastrand is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but if Adelyn feels like catching the sunset, don’t be surprised if there’s a note on the door.
Taylor Bush of Seastrand on Linden Avenue. JoshuA CuRRy
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The SalSa legacy B y alonzo oroz C o
Being one of seven children, David Hernandez was accustomed to having a lot of people around the house. “Everyone had been to our house, one time or another to eat. My mother always had food cooking,” says Hernandez, who grew up in Carpinteria. His mother, Lupe Hernandez, began to cook at a very young age. Born in Yahualica, Jalisco, Mexico, she moved to Santa Barbara with her family at the age of 2. The eldest of four kids, she cooked meals for the entire family on a regular basis at the age of 13. “She was the one who was responsible for the evening meal because both her parents worked,” explains David of his “Mama Lupe.” As a result, Lupe became a fabulous cook, developing her own recipes over the years. When the neighbors
frequented the Hernandez household for dinner, they took a liking to one recipe in particular. “Everybody would say, your mother should do something with that salsa,” recalls David. Despite coaxing from her son, Lupe had no interest in turning her specialty into a moneymaker. About 15 years ago, David with the blessing and skepticism of his mother decided to take matters into his own hands by attempting to put the salsa on the market. After researching, he discovered that selling it could be a complicated and costly process. David learned how to make the salsa, but converting it into large quantities proved to be somewhat tricky. “You have to do the nutritional facts, so [the salsa] has to go to the lab. You have to decipher this and that,” says Hernandez whose mother ’s The Hernandez family in 1957. In the front row, from left, are Ruben, Domingo (dad), Danny, Lupe (mom), and David. In back are Hank and Vincent.
formula wasn’t concocted with precise amounts in mind. On top of all the analyses, the product also needed to meet state approval and be fitted for a UPC code. Then David caught a big break when a firefighter friend, who had connections indirectly with Naked Juice, was able to get someone within the company to taste the salsa. Shortly after that, the salsa was introduced to Trader Joe’s, where the Hernandez elixir in both medium and mild, would soon be bottled under the grocer ’s “Salsa Especial” label. For both Lupe and David, the concept of having the family recipe converted into jars for market shelves was difficult to fathom. “It’s kind of nice and great to hear, but until I see it in the stores, it’s a whole different story,” says the son. Unfortunately, Lupe passed away before her popular recipe actually made it to Trader Joe’s. Today, the family bottles another salsa that can be found at smaller markets in the area, such as Pacific Health Foods on Linden, Albertsons and Cantwell’s Market in Summerland. Soon to hit the larger markets, the salsa embodies a spicy, smoky, roasted garlic and tomato flavor, and carries the label, Casa Hernandez, complete with a picture of the matriarch who created it. “I feel [the label] is kind of a tribute to my mom, and that way we can carry on her legacy,” explains Hernandez. A legacy that will undoubtedly be passed around the kitchen table for generations to come.
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David Hernandez shops the Carpinteria Farmers Market for tomatoes for his salsa. JoshuA CuRRy
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c Arpe Di e m
Richard Villegas is giong to the dogs. RobIN KARlssoN
by A m y OrO z cO Richard Villegas is the guy driving around town in the white pickup with the five barking dogs in back. You know, the exuberant yellow Labrador Retrievers loudly greeting everyone up and down the streets and in grocery store parking lots. “Carlos starts barking, then the others join in,” Villegas says of the pack’s patriarch. Related by blood, the dogs are from three different litters. Carlos is 8 in human years, and described as the “Chill Dog.” IC, 4.5, is the matriarch. Rico, 3.5, known as the barker, and Ohana, 2.5, who cleans and nurses the other dogs, make up the second generation. Six-Pack, 1.5, who has a distinguishing birthmark on his front right arm, represents the third generation. “He’s a handful. He’s the most loving dog,” says the owner of the labs. Villegas, a born and raised Carpinterian as were his parents, grandparents and entire lineage, lives on the 4-acre piece of land he’s been managing almost 25 years. “They help at the ranch. Keep bears away. Coyotes, too,” notes Villegas. “Every time I go to town, they go. No dog left behind.” Trips into town are for errands, food shopping. There’s also breakfast with his 97-year-old grandmother, Josephine Villegas, at least once a week at her home. (She cooks him breakfast.) Mostly, the destination is a place where he can let the dogs out for a long run. Bates Beach is a favored spot as Villegas finds Summerland too oily for the dogs. There’s also a yearly reunion of
IC’s offspring and descendants at Bates. Villegas trained his four-legged family members with hand signals, and, not surprising for retrievers, they love chasing balls. “Thank goodness for the guy who invented the Chuck It (a ball launcher for fetch). My hand tires out, and they run a distance,” he notes. Sometimes Villegas drives a large flatbed, which he converted from a motorhome, rimmed with a fence and resembling a cage for circus animals, like on a box of Animal Crackers. He and the pack have cruised around on national holidays, with flags flapping and mouths yapping, as a one-float parade; other times they’ve cruised around just for the heck of it. The five canines sleep inside the house. Villegas wakes them between 4:30 and 5 a.m. and, before he eats, he serves them breakfast. The menu is store bought dog food, bought in 65-pound packages. Around 200 to 300 pounds of the kibble are stored in the garage for emergencies. He’s always been partial to yellow labs. Townspeople can recall his first, Baunz, a surfing and sunglass-wearing media darling in the 1980s. Long before the days of going viral, videos of a shades-clad Baunz riding a board onto the beach were seen across the country. “Rock sculpting is my passion, property manager is my job, and the dogs are my life,” he says. “I love driving the dogs. When people see them, there’s big smiles and then scrambling for a camera.”
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Top O’The Morning Trail
C ar Pe Di e m
B y Peter Du gré
Nearly every morning these overachievers walk or trot through the orchards and up the hillside switchbacks to greet the sun. Like clockwork, they salute each other and warm up to the day that will be. The Franklin Trail morning crew finds community and cardio in nature. Jeff Moorhouse, who ascends the trail before 5 a.m. with Hans Brand and their headlamps, says they’re the “spider crew.” Spider webs that have spread across the trail in the overnight hours get swept away by the first passers. “We have a pretty good gauge on where we’ll start to see the others on our way down,” Moorhouse says of the Franklin regulars’ synchronicity. Beth Cox views her near daily jaunts up Franklin as a mindbody exercise in spiritual fulfillment. Her photo hashtag #justmeandthewildones on Instagram and Facebook speaks to her celebration of solitude in nature. “It’s magical every morning,” she says. “The other day, I could tell the sunrise was going to be spectacular. There was a fog bank to the right of Rincon Mountain, so I waited and when the sun came up its rays just came down the mountain over the fog.” Cox aims to inspire others to get out and on the trail through her trail challenges. The Turkey Trot in the 40 days leading up to Thanksgiving has hikers and trail runners pushing themselves to see how many times they can get out to the trail in that time period. She encourages hikers to donate a dollar for each hike to the ongoing effort to finish Phase 3 of the trail, which will punch and permit the trail all the way to the summit of the Santa Ynez Range, about a 10-mile path. Most morning hikers complete Phase 1 only, the first 2.25 miles to a gate over the fire road. Some venture into Phase 2, which extends to the 6-mile marker, but at dawn, bear sightings deter use of the area behind the gate where the trail drops below the first crest in the foothills. If Cox’s motivational efforts aren’t enough, look no further than Anita Pulido, a morning stalwart and a 77-yearold marathon runner. Fellow trail users call her Mama Bear and are motivated by marveling at her healthy habits. She says the common greeting while passing morning groups on Thursday is “one more day,” words of encouragement for the weekday hikers looking forward to Friday’s signaling of sleeping in for the weekend. Her hiking and jogging on the trail serve as the foundation for her marathon training. She’ll take a longer run on Pacific Coast Highway in Ventura when ramping up for the Los Angeles Marathon. Pulido says the summer bear scares, alerts of which can be found on different Franklin Trail Facebook pages, don’t faze her. She suppresses fear of wildlife encounters at 5:30 a.m. when her headlamp is needed to detect any pockmarks in the footing in front of her. She says, “I kind of saw (a bear), but I put it out of mind.”
In addition to her daily treks on the Franklin Trail, Beth Cox does her best to inspire others to challenge the trail. JoshuA CuRRy
Anita Pulido jogs the Franklin Trail as part of her training for running marathons. JoshuA CuRRy
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C arpe Di e m
By L e a BoyD “People don’t want stuff; they want experiences. And Waxing Poetic is both,” says Patti Pagliei-Simpson, her dainty wrists twisting to set down a steaming mug on the Lucky Llama patio. Pagliei-Simpson blends in well among the salt-of-the-earth café clientele. No make-up, no hair products and a worn flannel over a shapeless embroidered Mexican dress. She doesn’t come across as a fashion designer or the founder and creative director of a company that employs over 100 people here and at its factory abroad and serves thousands of clients around the world. But she does come across as smart and creative, and comfortable in her skin. At this stage in Pagliei-Simpson’s life, success need not be conveyed outwardly. Success is waking up every morning with her husband and daughter. She waged a war on breast cancer this year, a triumphant trial that has given her a new lens through which to view the world. When she turns that lens on the company she created, she finds renewed respect for its message and philosophy. Waxing Poetic gives jewelry a voice, allowing it to speak for personal history and celebrate individual hopes. The company, which is headquartered in Carpinteria, set a fashion trend when it developed the first wax seal jewelry charms— letters and designs stamped into sterling silver, chosen to represent loved ones and to mark moments. And as with any trend, they’ve been imitated by scores of brands since. Pagliei-Simpson recalls the popularity pivot. One day, she woke up the owner of a small-scale fashion accessory label and the next that of a jewelry company whose clients salivated for more. She had launched her first brand, Pagliei Collection, in the fashion market where the charms initially caught on, then tapered off. Pagliei-Simpson’s sister Lizanne Pagliei-Hales suggested they team up and shift the target market. The pair took Waxing Poetic to a gift trade show in 2006, and when Patti opened her email inbox at the end of the show, she discovered $60,000 worth of orders. “We realized it was something special. We weren’t just selling jewelry,” she says. Now, like Pagliei-Simpson herself, Waxing Poetic is reimagining its future. Customers want immersion in the Waxing Poetic world, Pagliei-Simpson says. With that in mind, the company is focusing on its big clients and on launching its own retail stores where people are free to get creative, free to play, and make pieces that look beautiful and have deep significance. In the Summerland store, which opened in 2012 on Lillie Avenue, the sisters created “a temple to the brand.” Images and icons representing the Italian-American Pagliei family abound. Loyal customers flock there for meaningful pieces
from each new collection. This fall, Waxing Poetic popped up in Santa Barbara’s La Arcada plaza. If a success, Waxing Poetic boutiques could be sprouting nationally. Pagliei-Simpson, meanwhile, is preparing to pop out for a while. Her cancer journey forced her to re-evaluate, and next year she will pack her most precious jewels, her husband and 6-year-old daughter, to spend a year abroad. There’s a good chance the experience will find its way into a jewelry collection to come. ◆ JoshuA CuRRy
Waxing Poetic’s Patti Pagliei-Simpson.
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Hungry Locals & Travelers Enjoy Family-Style Good Times
“Famous Charbroil Grill” Original Salad Bar • Filet • 16 oz. T-Bone • Ribeye Steaks Teriyaki Chicken • Beef Kabobs • Norwegian Salmon Halibut • Alaskan King Crab • Rack of Lamb
Cocktails • Happy Hour • Live Bands • Dancing Linden Avenue at 7th St., Downtown Carpinteria • 805.684.3811 WINTER2017 47
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See the sea: Holly Lohuis spreads ocean conservation message BY L E A BOYD The sea and all its creatures could not have hired a better spokesperson than Holly Lohuis. Trim, blonde and with a smile that shines easily and often, Lohuis has a look that cameras love. They’ve cast their lenses on her for seven documentaries as Jean-Michel Cousteau’s dive partner. Yet Lohuis is oh-so-much-more than a Vanna White of underwater exploration. The marine biologist pairs her encyclopedic knowledge of underwater ecosystems with a passion for ocean conservation that has infected thousands around the world. “Jacques Cousteau used to always say people only protect what they love. It’s my job to give people that sense of understanding so they have their own emotional connection to the ocean,” says Lohuis.
CARRIE VONDERHAAR-OCEAN FUTURES SOCIETY
Hawksbill Sea Turtle and Lohuis in Papua New Guinea.
Lohuis, who lives within earshot of the Carpinteria surf, counts Dr. Sylvia Earle as her first hero. When the renowned marine biologist and explorer appeared in the pages of National Geographic, a 10-year-old Lohuis poured over the images, enthralled, and used Earle as the subject of a fifth-grade report on what she wanted to be when she grew up. “I just thought she was such a rockstar,” she remembers. “I fell in love with the fantasy of what it would mean to spend a career out at sea swimming with whales and dolphins and trying to create a better picture of our ocean world.” And she turned the fantasy into reality. She started by earning a degree in aquatic biology from U.C. Santa Barbara in 1991, then worked at Divers Den in Santa Barbara as a swim instructor, which led to SCUBA certification and a job as a PADI open water dive instructor. In her very first saltwater dive, the awestruck Lohuis followed her instructor down to about 90 feet below the surface off Anacapa Island. He gestured for her to look, “And there was a black sea bass the size of a Volkswagen Bug,” she says. “I will never forget that. I thought, ‘OK, I’m hooked. This is where I’m meant to be.’” Since then Lohuis has logged hundreds of hours under the sea. She spent most of the 1990s working as a naturalist for Island Packers on the Channel Islands National Park. That led to her first assignment for Jean-Michel Cousteau, whose very famous father had introduced a young Lohuis to the wonders of the ocean from a small screen for an hour every Sunday night in her Sacramento living room. Lohuis speaks of Jean-Michel with great reverence. His efforts, and those of his Santa Barbara-based nonprofit
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Lohuis with Humboldt Squid in the Sea of Cortez. CARRIE VONDERHAAR-OCEAN FUTURES SOCIETY
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Hammerhead shark with Lohuis and Cousteau in Bimini, Bahamas, filming the recent IMAX film, “Jean-Michel Cousteau Secret Ocean 3D.” RIchARd MuRphy
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On the Carpinteria beach, Lohuis shares her knowledge with locals Cassidy Thompson, left, and Iris Phillips. DAvID PoWDREll
The Ocean Futures Society, go well beyond basic marine science education. Jean-Michel and his team use the ocean’s captivating creatures as the tools to teach sustainability and ecological principals that relate to all ecosystems, Lohuis says. Jean-Michel, likewise, speaks of Lohuis with great reverence. “She is an amazing, talented young lady in many, many ways,” he says. “Although she is a scientist, she speaks a language everyone understands, which is very difficult for scientists.” From showing impoverished island villagers the wonders of their own coral reefs to designing curriculum to connect children staying in Ritz Carlton hotels to the ocean environment, Lohuis has trained an army of educated ocean lovers to start righting the wrongs done by humans. Lohuis first was contracted to work at Jean-Michel’s Fijian eco-resort as a staff biologist from 1999 to 2001. The following year she accepted a fulltime job with Ocean Futures Society as a marine educator and diver. Within six months, she and the team were headed off to the Tuamotu Islands in the South Pacific to film sharks. “We were on this tiny little island, Rangiroa, and diving with hundreds of reef sharks every day,” she says. “Sharks at Risk” aired on PBS a couple years later.
A childhood dream comes true. Lohuis, left, dives with her lifelong hero, Sylvia Earle, 81, in December 2016.
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Lohuis and her son, Gavin, with a manatee in Crystal River, Florida.
@ AlARy-GIlbERT
Cousteau and Lohuis diving off of Rangiroa, Polynesia, for the PBS special “Sharks at Risk.” ToM oRdWAy, ocEAN FuTuREs socIETy
Since then, she has traveled the world as JeanMichel’s dive partner for filming and shaping footage into visual stories that foster a better understanding of the ocean in audiences around the world. A special on orcas took her to five countries, a beluga whale feature found her and the team in the Arctic, and the Amazon hosted dives that Lohuis described as amazing. Her role on the productions has evolved over time. She contributes to the creative team’s story building, conducts interviews with scientists, fact checks and helps articulate the message in post-production. Ocean Futures Society now faces the challenges of reaching young people in a new era of information consumption. “What is popular with kids today is not a one-hour documentary,” Lohuis says. In response to the shift, the nonprofit has built a hardy social media following and will continue to evolve its programs. “Today’s message is the urgent need for people to feel more connected to the ocean and to really instill in people the sense that the ocean sustains all life on this planet and we have to stop taking it for granted,” Lohuis says. While she works relentlessly to deliver that message, Carpinteria children need not scour National Geographic for career role models. They have a living breathing heroine of the sea right in their own town. ◆
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A SeNiOr CAre HOMe
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Contact Cathy Miller 805.729.8347 or 805.220.6234 License Facility # 425801797
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playalodging.com Reservations: 805.684-6555
PROTECT YOUR HOME & PROPERTY Fire Sprinklers/Extinguishers Fire Suppression Systems Fire Pumps, Hoses, Nozzles Kitchen Hood Systems Wildland Property Assessment Protection Gels, Foams, Paints “Your Fire Protection Connection since 1978”
(805) 684-0805
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…simply fine wines at great prices!
Wines for all occasions Breakfast Burritos • Homemade Tamales Quesadillas • Enchiladas • Catering & More!
Full Specialty Breads & Pastries
Bakery Cakes for all Occasions
Linden Ave. @ 9th St. • Downtown Carpinteria • (805) 684-4981
NEW ARRIVALS WEEKLY Stop in and shop our excellent selection! 4193-1 Carpinteria Ave.
684-7440 M-F 10-6pm Sat 10-5pm Take the Carpinteria Avenue exit from 101 South - 4th building on the right
Rainbow Bridge Ranch Palm Growers Carpinteria, California
Succulents! Over 20 Varieties of Climatized Coastal Grown Palm Trees, Tropicals, Bananas, Plumerias & More at Wholesale Prices
WE DELIVER Open to Public by Appointment Bruce Montgomery at (805) 684-7976
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The Pick Up Joint BY PE T E R DUGRÉ • PH OT OS BY BRI A N H OPK I N S Look around Colson’s Towing garage, and there’s a lot that’s new. The hydraulic lift designed to straighten alignment still shines after its summer 2016 installation, and the black Mercedes it hoists head-high is a specimen of modern luxury. Screens wired to onboard auto computers blink their readings and digitally diagnose what ails customers’ cars. The tow yard/auto repair
shop, founded at its 6th Street location in 1949 by Frank Colson Sr. has evolved with the decades and projects 21st Century auto shop. There are the age-old fixtures of an anytime garage. Motor oil and exhaust fill the air and the concrete floor bears the discoloration of years of unruly engine fluid. Burly, friendly lifetime tow trucker Frank Colson Jr. is
As evidenced by the original business license issued in 1949, Colson’s Garage on Sixth Street is a Carpinteria map fixture. WINTER2017 55
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Steven Colson’s hobby project is a 1969 Chevy El Camino. A family celebration in the 1960s includes, from left, Mary, Frank Sr., Clare, and Frank Jr. Colson.
greeted by employees as “J.R.” His son Steven, who goes by “Bubba,” has been part of the business for nine years. He is eager to show off his hobby project, a partially assembled 1969 Chevy El Camino. He pumps the throttle on the hoodless hot rod and fires up the orange/chrome eight cylinder 392-cubic-inch engine. It roars to life like an angry T Rex. The business predates J.R., who was born in 1959. He reminisces about living next door growing up and the tow yard being as much a part of his life as his own yard. “When I was a kid, as soon as I started walking, if I was missing, they’d know where to find me: out on the tow trucks,” he says. J.R.’s grandparents on his mother ’s side owned the 6th Street property, and Frank Sr. decided to start his own business after working for an auto mechanic. “Everybody kind of pitched in and built the garage really inexpensively,” J.R. says. “That’s the way it usually is with family.” Clare, J.R.’s older sister, kept the books for 20 years, starting in 1973, shortly before their mother Mary died, and Clare has
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So clean, you could eat off of it.
Desmo, the shop dog, has been working the Colson’s yard for all of his 13 years.
Frank Colson Jr. is in charge of the family business his father started in 1949.
A peek at the employee break room. WINTER2017 57
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Frank Jr., on right of truck, retrieves a car from the bank of the 101 in the mid-1980s.
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since returned to the business. She helped to raise J.R., who was 14 when their mom died. Clare met her husband, Robert Westfall, when he worked for Colson’s. When they were in high school, the garage was a hangout spot. Brother Jim “G.G.” was highly involved in the business in the 1970s and ’80s before he switched careers to work for the cemetery district. The garage originally opened as a body shop, and the family raced and fixed banged up cars at Thunderbowl Raceway on the Bluffs. The family— which J.R.
Tooling around Sixth Street. Colson’s Garage fixes cars old and new. Hot rodders at Thunderbowl include, from left, Joe Carreno, Frank Colson Sr., and Lee Hammock.
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Today’s Colson’s crew include Tim Hendricks, Larry Wood, Steven Colson, Frank Colson Jr., Clare Colson Westfall, and Abraham Coleman.
describes as competitive to this day when it comes to motorsports—lived for the races and maintains its lust for barreling around courses. Steven’s son Ezren, 6, competes on his dirt bike, and his brother, Kyro, 3, will likely follow. The towing business is no cakewalk with 24-hour service and the rigors of pulling tons of twisted metal from dicey places. J.R. recalls before the guardrail was installed on Highway 101 along Rincon vehicles tended to plummet to the sand. One night at high tide, a car was washing in and out with the surf, smashing into the rocks with each surge. He decided to leave it until morning and a lower, friendlier tide to winch the crumpled car and lift it off the beach. A handful of years ago, Colson’s pulled a vehicle from a 217-foot deep ravine at Bella Vista in Montecito. It didn’t seem like there was a way, but they slung several cables together and managed to drop down to the car to yank it out. “That’s where Steven comes in,” says J.R. of
the perilous job requiring the agility of youth. J.R. has felt the wear on his body resulting in hip and shoulder replacements. “Towing big rigs out of ditches, you name it. That stuff just beats you up,” he says. Clare recalls a steady flow of oddballs, regular folks, and celebrities streaming into the tow yard. “One of my dad’s favorite sayings was, ‘They’ll end up here eventually.’” Colson’s has had AAA contracts, sheriff’s department, and California Highway Patrol tow contracts. Clare recalls the sometimes combative nature of the business where suspected drunk drivers had their cars impounded by the police at Colson’s. “They’d come in hungover and unhappy about the towing fees,” she says. “So we’d have to call the cops.” She’s also an eyewitness to the importance of auto safety upgrades over the years. “Thank God for airbags now; it’s not like when I was a kid seeing teeth on the floor and body parts,” she says. ◆
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GIANNFRANCO’S T R AT TO R I A
since 2007
Bellissimo!
FROM THE GRILL, FROM THE SEA, FROM THE GARDEN
Join us for Northern and Southern regional Italian cuisine using local ingredients.
Reservations 805.684.0720 Weekday Lunch 11 to 3 • Weekend Lunch 12 to 3 • Dinner 5 to 9 • Closed Tuesday
666 LINDEN AVENUE ~ DOWNTOWN CARPINTERIA • giannfrancos.com
CELEBRATE OUR 50TH YEAR WITH US!
FA MOU S FA M I LY D I N I N G Classic Mexican Food Fresh Chips & Salsa
HORNITOS GRANDE MARGARITA
Weekday Lunch Specials Sunday Breakfast 7:30 am
F U L L S E RV I C E C AT E RI N G M E N U D O • C A R N I TA S • F U L L BA R 805-684-4822 • 4401 CARPINTERIA AVE. MON. 11:30-8:30 • TUES.-SAT. 11-9 • SUN. 7:30-9
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SUPPORTING PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE CARPINTERIA WARRIORS
Brew by the beach…
private party room availaBle For eveNtS
SERVING CARPINTERIA FOR OVER 50 YEARS Downtown at 5205 Carpinteria Ave.
805-684–3602
New expaNded taproom! taproom opeN: monday-thursday 12-9pm Friday 12-10pm Saturday 11am-10pm Sunday 11am-9pm
5049 6th Street - Carpinteria islandbrewingcompany.com
805-745-8272
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S u S a n W i l l i S lt d .
Susan Willis and her dog, Buddy, in the holiday spirit.
One-Stop Holiday Shop by Em i ly Pa rk Er • Ph ot os by Jos h ua Curry For Susan Willis, the holidays aren’t about finding the latest fad — they are about timeless decorations and thoughtful gifts. “Christmas was always a special time with family and friends and decorating from my childhood and when I was raising my own kids,” Willis says. “It’s a very festive time.”
Willis’ shop — Susan Willis Ltd. located at 4488 Carpinteria Ave. — offers all you need to make the holiday season festive, including decorations, home decor, ornaments, jewelry, leather purses, pajamas, candles, gifts for babies, and more. Willis first opened her shop 23 years ago, in the fall of 1993. At the time, she ran a sewing business out of WINTER2017 63
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Susan Willis Ltd. is popular year round with gift givers. Holidays are made special by the details.
her home. Her husband runs his own cabinet shop, and when the front portion of his building became vacant, she moved her sewing business to the storefront. “I didn’t think I would be here so long, but I really enjoy it,” she says. “I love fabrics. I love helping people put fabrics together for decorating. I like helping them zero in and choose.” Willis still sells fabric and sews custom pillows for clients, but her shop has evolved and grown. During the holidays, the store features several different (but cohesive) themes. There’s a tree decorated with traditional and timeless ornaments, a whimsical tree, and a tree with a beachy, ocean feel. Willis has a degree in fashion design and studied interior decorating. Her design background gives her a vision for the store as a whole. “I don’t see the store in sections,” she says. “I see the whole store. Everything has its own place, but it blends.” “I try to find new decorations that have that forever feeling,” Willis explained. “I want to help people celebrate for more than just this year. I want my decorations to stay alive for years.” In fact, Willis says she hopes her customers use her decorations year after year and pass them down to their children. Besides helping people decorate for the holiday season, Willis loves helping people tackle their Christmas shopping without leaving town. “My favorite part is
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Two little somethings for the tree make a big statement.
Susan Willis Ltd. offers a variety of home furnishings.
A purse makes a perfect gift. This is the view of the holiday table for those who believe in Santa Claus.
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There are food items available too.
Tools for building the perfect table-scape. just the joy of giving,” she says. “When people come in, I love helping them find the right gifts. I love knowing they’re making someone happy. Also, I know my customers, so it’s easy for me to pick out gift ideas for them.” She intentionally stocks small, personal gifts that people will not find on the Internet. Some friends and family members are difficult to shop for, but Willis tries to make it easier by hunting down unique personal items for her clients. She says many of her clients come into her shop with their Christmas lists and try to get as many gifts taken care of as possible in one fell swoop.
A nice selection of body care items delights shoppers. “The holidays are a good time for people to discover me and find what I have to offer,” she says. “They can do all their holiday shopping here. They don’t need to leave town.” Willis also has food items to make hosting dinner parties easier. Her food items work great as hostess gifts and in Christmas gift baskets, too. She can vouch for the treats she stocks, “I use the food items all the time myself.” Susan Willis Ltd. is located at 4488 Carpinteria Ave. (805) 684-5085. Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. To stay up-to-date on new items and spontaneous sales, follow Susan Willis Ltd. on Facebook. ◆
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Thrift
PADARO LANE
REINCARNATEd TREAsuREs SANTA CLAUS LANE
laughingbuddhathrift.com • (805) 220-6622 NEW LOCATION! 771 Linden Ave.
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7070CARPINTERIAMAGAZINE.com CARPINTERIAMAGAZINE.com
Gallery Hours: Thursday - Monday, 10am - 4pm 855 Linden Avenue Downtown Carpinteria 805.684.7789
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ALL PHOTO CREDITS TO M27 EDITIONS
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A Holiday Brunch BY PA S CA L E BE A L E Many years ago I was invited to a New Year ’s Day Brunch that began around 11 and lazed-on until mid-afternoon. Friends and family popped in and out of the house, wandered in and out of the kitchen and sat by the fireside delving into the plates of salmon or bowls of the house-specialty: a hearty chili. It was a beautiful, relaxing day filled with laughter and good conversations, children chasing the dogs around the house and everyone helping themselves to sweet treats set out on the dining-room-table-turned-buffet. With the holidays upon us, and the all-encompassing flurry of activity that is emblematic of seasonal gettogethers and dinner parties, I remembered that lovely
day and thought it would be a great idea to invite friends to a holiday brunch. I like the fact that it’s less formal and guests don’t have to get all dressed up. This is the proposed menu. Some of the items can be prepared ahead of time, easing the morning of to-do list. I often ask friends to help in the kitchen (doesn’t everyone congregate there anyway?) and that way I don’t feel that absolutely everything has to be finished before they arrive. The strudel will fill the kitchen with a fragrant cinnamon-spiced aroma that always makes me think of wintery landscapes, hot cups of tea (even if it is 80 degrees outside) and seasonal celebrations. Bon Appetit!
Goat Cheese, Caramelized Shallot & Smoked Salmon Tartlets I love these delicate, savory tartlets. They have a little crunch that combines with the delicate buttery texture of the salmon. I like to serve them as an appetizer for a brunch or dinner party, or as part of a lunch served with a green salad. Serves 8 people
FOR THE PASTRY DOUGH: 8 OZ (1 2/3 CUPS) UNBLEACHED ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR 1 TABLESPOON PISTACHIO NUTS – ROUGHLY CHOPPED 1 TABLESPOON FENNEL SEEDS – DRY ROASTED, THEN SLIGHTLY CRUSHED 1 TABLESPOON CHIVES – FINELY CHOPPED 5 ½ OZ (1 1/3 STICKS) SLIGHTLY SOFTENED BUTTER – CUT UP INTO SMALL PIECES ZEST OF 1 LEMON 1 LARGE EGG PINCH OF SALT
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place all the ingredients in the bowl of the food processor fitted with a metal blade. Use repeated pulses until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Use longer pulses until the dough has formed a ball. The texture is very smooth and slightly moist. Wrap up the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 20 minutes before using it. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter or an upturned glass, cut 3-inch disks out of the dough. You should have 16 disks (2 per person). Place the disks on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before assembling the tartlets.
FOR THE TOPPING: OLIVE OIL 12-14 SHALLOTS – PEELED AND THINLY SLICED 1 TEASPOON BALSAMIC VINEGAR SALT AND PEPPER 4 OZ GOAT CHEESE – CRUMBLED 8 OZ SMOKED SALMON 1 LEMON – QUARTERED FRESH BLACK PEPPER
Pour a little olive oil into a heavybottomed skillet placed over medium heat. Add in the shallots and the balsamic vinegar and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the shallots are golden and completely soft. Set aside. Once the tartlet disks are cooked, divide the shallot mixture equally and spoon it onto each tartlet base. Sprinkle the goat cheese all over the shallots and then top each tartlet with a slice of smoked salmon. Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over the smoked salmon and add black pepper. WINTER2017 69
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Wild Mushroom & Persimmon Ragout
Mache Salad With A Pomegranate Vinaigrette I originally made this salad with orange Vincotto, a delicacy I had come across in a wonderful cheese shop in Los Angeles. Having run out and unable to find a replacement, I tried using pomegranate molasses, a semi-thick, sweet (but not in a cloying way) syrup made by cooking pomegranate juice and sugar. It is widely used in Middle Eastern cuisines and has a unique flavor, akin to a good balsamic and mashed up fruit all in one. Adding white wine or Champagne vinegar to the vinaigrette lightens the mixture yet maintains the flavor and texture of the molasses. Be sure when you make the salad that the greens do not sit in the vinaigrette for too long as mache greens are quite delicate and will wilt. Serves 8 people
As often happens, I will read about a dish or see a tempting photograph that makes me think, “I have to try this.” About a year ago, I came across a recipe that called for mushrooms and persimmons. The flavor combination sounded intriguing; however, persimmons were not in season. Months later, the market was filled with these lovely fruits and I thought, “Ooh, I know — I’ll make that dish.” But could I find that recipe? No! I searched high and low, but to no avail. Finally, I set about creating my own version. Thank you, whoever you are, for putting these two items together and inspiring me. The combination is terrific! Serves 8 people 4 TABLESPOONS BUTTER 5 KING TRUMPET MUSHROOMS — HALVED LENGTHWISE, THEN THINLY SLICED ON THE BIAS 4 OZ SHITAKE MUSHROOMS — STEMS REMOVED, CAPS SLICED IN HALF IF SMALL, OR IN STRIPS IF LARGE 1 TABLESPOON OLIVE OIL 1 SMALL RED ONION — THINLY SLICED
3 TABLESPOONS OLIVE OIL 2 TEASPOONS POMEGRANATE MOLASSES 1 TEASPOON WHITE WINE VINEGAR LARGE PINCH GREY SEA SALT FRESHLY GROUND PEPPER 8 OZ MACHE SALAD GREENS 1 OZ POMEGRANATE SEEDS
Pour the olive oil into a large salad bowl. Add in the molasses and vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk well to combine. Place salad utensils over the vinaigrette and then place the mache on top of the serving utensils so that the mache is not sitting in the vinaigrette. When you are ready to serve the salad, toss it gently so that everything is well combined. Divide the salad evenly among the salad plates and then sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top.
1 BUNCH SMALL GREEN ONIONS — THINLY SLICED 1 LARGE FUYU PERSIMMON — HALVED, THEN THINLY SLICED 1 TABLESPOON FRESH OREGANO — CHOPPED 1 TABLESPOON LEMON THYME — CHOPPED SALT AND BLACK PEPPER
In a large skillet, heat half the butter until it begins to foam. Add half the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until they are just browned. Remove from the skillet and place in a large serving bowl. Repeat with the remaining butter and mushrooms. Heat the olive oil in the same skillet. Add the red and green onions, stirring frequently, about 3-4 minutes or until the onions are soft. Add the persimmon slices, oregano, and thyme, stirring gently, and continue to cook the mixture another 3 minutes. Transfer the onion-persimmon mixture to the bowl of cooked mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and combine gently. Serve warm. 70 CARPINTERIAMAGAZINE.com
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Spiced Apple and Pear Strudel There is something magical about phyllo dough with its gossamer thinness and flaky layers that hide all sorts of treasures within. The dough is remarkably resilient as long as you work fairly quickly with it. The key is having everything ready before you unroll the dough. A variation on classic strudel, this has the addition of pears — with the really yummy crunchy nut topping that runs down the center of each piece. Be sure everyone gets some of the crunchy bits. Serves 8 people 3-4 LARGE APPLES — PEELED, CORED AND THINLY SLICED 3-4 LARGE PEARS — PEELED, CORED AND THINLY SLICED 1 CUP GOLDEN RAISINS JUICE AND ZEST OF 1 LEMON 4 OZ BUTTER 1 TABLESPOON SUGAR PINCH ALLSPICE ¼ TEASPOON CINNAMON 10 SHEETS PHYLLO DOUGH — THAWED ¼ CUP EACH OF HAZELNUTS, ALMONDS AND PISTACHIOS — CHOPPED 2 TABLESPOONS BROWN SUGAR 1 TABLESPOON BUTTER — MELTED 1 TABLESPOON POWDERED SUGAR CRÈME FRAÎCHE OR VANILLA ICE CREAM (OPTIONAL)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss the apples, pears and golden raisins with the lemon zest and juice. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, with the sugar, allspice and cinnamon. Remove from the heat. Unroll the phyllo dough and cover with a slightly damp cloth. (The dough dries out very quickly.) Place one sheet of phyllo dough onto a large, parchment lined baking sheet and brush lightly with the melted butter mixture. Place a second sheet of phyllo dough on top and brush with more of the butter mixture. Repeat this three more times for a total of 5 layers of phyllo dough. Starting from the edge, place half the fruit lengthwise on one third of the dough. Carefully roll up the fruit inside the dough. Fold in the ends of the dough. Brush the finished strudel with a little more of the melted butter mixture. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to make a second strudel. Bake both rolls on a single baking sheet for 25 minutes. Combine the chopped nuts, brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a small bowl. Remove the strudels from the oven and top with the nut-sugar mixture. Continue baking for another 10-15 minutes. The strudels should be golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm. It’s particularly good with some crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream. ◆ WINTER2017 71
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Ha, left, and Anh Ngo in 1975 at Camp Pendleton.
question & answer
Ha & Anh Ngo By M e ga n Wald r ep p h ot os B y Bri an ho pkins
On April 30, 1975, Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam, fell to North Vietnam, marking the end of the Vietnam War. It also marked the end of life as Ha and Anh Ngo knew it. The couple and their then-4-month-old son fled their homeland to an unknown destination on the other side of the globe. In a Horatio Alger-style of grit, hard work, and honesty can conquer anything, the Ngos built a new life in Carpinteria. Today their business, Linden Laundromat, and the building they own that houses it, is part of the downtown heartbeat and a community-gathering place.
Your family left Vietnam 41 years ago?
Anh, left, and Ha Ngo.
Ha: Not my family. Only me. Anh was in the Vietnamese Air Force. He was a captain fighting the communists so he couldn’t stay. Anh’s family had some of the members with them but out of my family, it was only me. At that time, we didn’t know if we would make it out of the country. So we left the country on the last day. Anh: We left by Vietnamese Navy ship with 5,000 people on it to The Philippines. Subic Bay on Mindanao. Then we went by commercial liner, with 6,000 people, to Guam. That took eight days. Then we flew to Camp Pendleton. WINTER2017 73
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Anh in the South Vietnamese Air Force, 1968.
And from Camp Pendleton?
Ha: Then some churches in Montecito, Goleta, and Santa Barbara sponsored four families. They came and picked us up on the same day, July 17. They brought us to All Saintsby-the-Sea in Montecito. We lived in the church house for three years and the members of the church found jobs for us. Anh: We came on a Friday and I started working that Monday at Forms + Surfaces. We made big doors. Special, for like a bank, or industrial doors.
How were you adjusting?
Because the Navy ship was unable to accommodate any more refugees, a helicopter was thrown overboard.
Ha: I cried all the time since my [immediate] family was left behind. I had seven other sisters and brothers. I would stay home and watch a movie and just cry. When I left the country my son was not even 4 months old. He was born in January ’75 and we left in April ’75. His name is Son, which means mountain in Vietnamese.
Does it make you sad to this day?
Ha: No, just back then. The church members saw that and they said it was not good for me to stay home so they found me a job.
Where?
Ha: At Casa Dorinda. I washed dishes until we saved up enough money to buy an old car. Then I applied for a job at AMC in Goleta. They’re out of business now, an electronic company. I assembled there for two years. 74 CARPINTERIAMAGAZINE.com
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Anh: She also worked with the Catholic Welfare Bureau with refugee people. She taught high school in Vietnam, so they hired her part time. Sometimes before work, she’d make egg rolls or something to sell. Ha: I’d mend clothes, too, so we saved all the money we made for three years and then we started looking for a business.
The Laundromat?
Ha: Anh kept talking with people and they said Asians are really good at the restaurant and dry cleaning businesses. I did not know anything about either and I do not like to cook! Then he came home and said the Laundromat’s for sale. It’s really old but not expensive so we will be able to get into it. So that’s how we started in 1978.
Vietnamese Air Force logo.
A representative from All Saints-by-the-Sea church, Walter Lemke, meets Anh at Camp Pendleton in 1975.
The Ngo family left their country on this Vietnamese Navy ship bound for the U.S. Naval base Subic Bay in the Philippines.
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Anh: Three years after we came here, we opened the Laundromat. June 1 made it 39 years. But it was hard. Everything fell apart. The place was really old. We were running it day-by-day. Ha: After three months, we couldn’t make it so Anh went back to work full-time. We were working 18 to 20 hours with three to four hours sleep a day to really keep things going.
How did you keep things going?
Ha: Work! Work! Work! And Bradley Miles helped at night with the machines. He would come and fix the machines. In the beginning when we were really have a hard time he didn’t charge us. If no Bradley, there’d be no business. Roy Whittaker [the commercial real estate agent who sold them the business] helped out too. He helped us plan for the future. Remember we had our own police? Officer Saragosa would check on us. Sometimes, I’d be working 2 or 3 in the morning, the police tapped on the window and wave and point to his watch. Anh: Then in 1983, we opened a tiny little video store in front of the Laundromat.
How long did you own the video store?
Anh: Almost 20 years. We closed in 2002 when Blockbuster and everything went really bad. We rented out the space that held the dry cleaning and video store and kept the Laundromat. Ha: That’s when my little grandson was born. Not a little baby anymore. He’s 15 now! His brother and sister are 12 and 7. Ha remembering the early days in the United States.
When were you able to settle in Carpinteria?
Ha: In ’81, we saved enough money to put down for the house.
Ha’s fired glass jewelry.
Ha and Anh. Still together after all these years.
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The Ngos own the Linden Avenue building nestled in the heart of downtown.
Now the video store and dry cleaning is your studio?
Ahn: Ha makes fired glass art and jewelry and I’m a photographer. We make all our own frames. Ha: (Laughing) I love everything about glass, so…people think I’m crazy with all the pieces I have. When I get started, I don’t even eat or sleep!
The Ngos at their Carpinteria home they bought in 1981.
What if a boutique wanted to carry your jewelry?
Ha: I don’t do that because they would have to pay me the same price that I sell them here. If they want to mark up, OK. If you try to focus on making money, that’s another job and it loses what’s exciting about it.
That makes total sense.
Ha: People tell me I could make more money. But I tell them I don’t want to. I want to be free and clear. If I enjoy it, I do it. If I don’t, then I don’t. I could sell the rest of my life and still make more. I go really low, so I can make enough for supplies and little for myself, but I don’t know if a lot of people understand….
The passion?
Ha: Right! I’ve worked hard all my life and I’ve come to this point that I want to leave myself with something I really enjoy doing. ◆ WINTER2017 77
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People Helping People
By Davi D Pow Drell The charm of a small town comes from the people that live there. Small towns with people that quietly, often anonymously, donate their time to help their neighbors are magical. Carpinteria, California leads the pack for small towns with mystical allure. What I’ve learned in my few years in Carpinteria is that most everyone is rolling up their sleeves to help make the world a better place. These photographs only scratch the surface of people helping people in Carpinteria.
Two Water Rescue Team members at Carpinteria State Beach. 78 CARPINTERIAMAGAZINE.com
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P H O T O E S S AY
At a meeting of The Crafty Ladies, Sally Bateman, right, teaches Jean Kosztics to sew dresses from pillow cases, T-shirts, or other fabrics to send to girls in Rwanda. Amy Stanfield guides an emerging artist at Art-by-the-Sea Summer Camp.
A fashion show of The Crafty Ladies dresses. WINTER2017 79
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P H O T O E S S AY
Marlene Hazen is a litter picker-upper.
Thelma Schmidhauser, left, gets a lift from Trudy Olmstead from HELP of Carpinteria. The Carpinteria Beautiful team keeps the town green and clean.
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Jennifer McCurry tutors Irma Arreola at the Carpinteria Library.
John Wullbrandt teaches mural art at the Carpinteria Arts Center.
Marge Kelly, left, and Claire Marhefka of the Carpinteria Host program, help visitors with information. Staying in shape to save lives.
From left, Lorenzo Martinez, Dave Bloedel, and Andy Bailard pack groceries for the Food Bank. WINTER2017 81
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The Seal
BY L E A BO YD PH OT OS BY M I CH A EL KWIECINSKI
Watch Saga
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The Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary. ADAM CAIRA
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Harbor seal moms and pups basking in the winter sun. ADAM CAIRA
David Allen on the lookout for threats to seal safety.
Passion, mystery, rage, love, birth and death—the sandy, blubbery drama at the Carpinteria harbor seal rookery is reality television gold. “Real Housewives” meets “Survivor” on a few hundred feet of rocky beach where the action unfolds slowly among stars who are really more Carpinteria Magazine than Us Weekly. Carpinteria Seal Watch, meanwhile, has functioned for nearly three decades as both fan club and security team to the best show in town. “It’s such a rare opportunity to see life in action, not in a zoo. Animals doing their thing,” says Susan Allen, one of the group’s founders and longtime volunteers. The organization can appear loosely bound. It has no 501c3 status. Everyone is a volunteer, and there’s no bank account supporting the efforts. But, in fact, Seal Watch ticks along with incredible efficiency. The structure, carved into shape over many years, produces a manned blufftop overlook from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week over a five-month period, January through May. This is the seals’ pupping season. Pregnant females, looking slightly more rotund than their unpregnant companions, pop out babies starting in January. “It takes about 15 seconds for a seal to be born,” says volunteer Fred Shaw. The 20-pound newborns are “so tiny and so
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Kathleen Lord is a founding member of Seal Watch.
cute” after they slip out of their 300-pound mother, Shaw adds, noting the young pups are really what Seal Watch is all about. Pups can swim immediately, but they rely on mom’s high-fat milk to pack on the pounds over their first few months of life. They double their weight in four to six weeks. At a low tide, the rookery looks like a beach strewn with gray boulders, and by March and April, 50 to 60 of those granite-colored masses have wee ones suckling away alongside. Seal Watch aims to get the pups to adulthood without human interference. The boulder pile scatters immediately when beach walkers enter the scene. Massive adults stampede when disturbed, leaving little ones at risk of being crushed or abandoned. According to Seal Watch records, the number of animals on the beach at low tide has remained fairly constant at around 350, while the number of humans admiring them from the blufftop has skyrocketed. In the 2016 season, Seal Watchers recorded 30,424 visitors. The volunteers provide visitors with information about the seals and the rookery, but warding off potential disturbances is priority number one. Disturbances come in various shapes and sizes—offleash dogs rank high on the severity scale, but even loud voices on the blufftop can cause the animals to move seaward. The most common cause of fleeing seals is walkers and joggers who have ignored signage in the sand indicating that the beach is closed. “The signs on the beach don’t really stop them,” said longtime Seal Watcher Susee Smith. “It’s the people.” When Seal Watchers notice people approaching the rookery on the beach, they avert the disturbance by moving toward the pedestrian and waving a hand-held stop sign. Communicating can be difficult because, as Shaw said, “If you yell, you’re going to do The Seal Sanctuary is off limits from Jan. 1 through May 31 for pupping season.
Mother and a fresh-from-the-womb pup. WINTER2017 85
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Brown pelicans are regular visitors to the Seal Rookery.
Seal pups are born knowing how to swim.
Kathleen Lord, left, and David Allen are ready for the 28th year of Seal Watch.
exactly what you don’t want them to do—startle the seals.” Kathleen Lord, a founding member of Seal Watch, said she has noticed less resistance from beach users in recent years. Conflicts were more common in years past, but now people seem more respectful of the Seal Watchers’ efforts. It could be the organization’s 27 years of influence. Seal Watch came to be after biologists started reporting on the rookery’s sensitivity to human interference. The seals would up and leave unless something was done to protect the rookery, biologists told the Carpinteria City Council in the late 1980s. Lord along with David and Susan Allen, who are still active today in the organization, were among the first residents to chime in, asking the city to close the beach seasonally and forming Seal Watch to provide another critical layer of protection. Seal Watch has been accused of promoting the rise of white sharks on the Carpinteria coast. Where there are seals, there are sharks, some residents argue, and the best way to protect people in the ocean is to stop protecting seals. David Allen notes the seals aren’t the culprit. A moratorium on killing sharks has led to more great whites reaching the age where they prey on pinnipeds. “The bottom line is that there are more great whites,” he says. Even if the seal rookery were gone, “you’re still going to have great whites cruising offshore.” Though pockets of Carpinterians disagree with Seal Watch’s mission, the organization remains unfazed. Coordinators are gearing up for the Jan. 1 beach closure, and soon volunteers will be on the blufftop watching another season of riveting Carpinteria harbor seal drama. ◆
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REAL ESTATE REV I EW
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
SALSA, GREEN OR RED?
HOW DO YOU VOLUNTEER OR HELP?
PERSONAL HERO?
FAVE MARINE MAMMAL?
BOOTY SHAKER OR WALLFLOWER?
NEWEST CARPINTERIA DISCOVERY?
CONTACT
Red
Save the Children Fund, The Alzheimer’s Association and other organizations
My parents
Whales
Booty shaker
[Presumed still searching]
info@ pascaleskitchen. com
Red
I use my turn signals & volunteer one day a week in my daughter’s class
Sir Ernest Shackleton
Pacific bottlenose dolphin
Confirmed booty shaker
Don Rogé now offers burritos (¡Carnitas, por favor!)
christian@coastal view.com
I’m on the board of the Friends of the Carpinteria Library
My mom & dad
Gray whale
writer
Green (or whichever is just a tad spicy)
Booty shaker (no parking on the dance floor)
The sketchy, skinny trails from Thunderbowl to Rincon County Park
lea@ coastalview.com
Adam Ciara
Green (its more interesting)
Volunteer Firefighter and EMT at home in Northwest Montana
Gandhi
Sea Otter
Wallflower
The local talent
adamcaira@ gmail.com
Green
Working with students with disabilities
My father Bill Curry
Dolphin
Booty Shaker
Franklin Trail
joshua@ joshuacurryphoto .com
Red
Pick up plastic/ trash at the beach
David Powdrell
Dolphin
Wallflower
Carpinteria Photography Club
dubock@cox.net
Green
I’m knee deep in school responsibilities for the kiddos
Batman
Otter
Twerkers anonymous member
Newly preserved Thunderbowl
pbdugre@ gmail.com
Green
I ride my bike
David Powdrell
Navy Seal
Wallflower Shaker
Bike path to Rincon
photography@ robinanne.com
Pascale Beale writer
2
Christian Beamish writer
3
4
Lea Boyd
photographer
5
Joshua Curry
photographer
6
Glenn Dubock
photographer
7
Peter Dugré writer
8
Robin Karlsson
photographer
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CONTRIBUTORS 9
10
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13
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SALSA, GREEN OR RED?
HOW DO YOU VOLUNTEER OR HELP?
PERSONAL HERO?
FAVE MARINE MAMMAL?
BOOTY SHAKER OR WALLFLOWER?
NEWEST CARPINTERIA DISCOVERY?
CONTACT
Red, unless it has avocado in it then green
Volunteering my photo skills and helping grandparents with Apple IT
The Dalai Lama
Dolphin
Booty Shaker
Smoke Mountain Brewery
Happy@ wondertribe.co
Red
Catalyst for Cats volunteer
Lech Walesa
Blue Whale
Wallflower
Happy hour at Nutbelly
OrozcoAlonzo@ outlook.com
Green
Animal advocate
Rosa Parks
Sea otter
Booty shaker
Bike rack behind Linden Laundromat
amymarie@ amymarie orozco.com
Green salsa… I’m allergic to tomatoes
I keep Cliff Bars in my car in case I see someone on the road who may be hungry
My mom
Dolphin
Wallflower
The seal rookery
emyloupark@ gmail.com
David 13 Powdrell
Red please; hot and spicy
Peer counselor for stroke survivors Cottage Rehab Hospital
My wife, Valerie
Orca
Marginal dancer... wallflower typically
All the amazing new art classes, tours and music at our arts center
powdrell@ gmail.com
Megan Waldrep 14
How ‘bout a little bit of both
I send good vibes
Anyone who is doing the best they can
Dolphins, no ka ‘oi!
Boo-tay
The walking gals: Jane Bianchin, Bonnie Milne, and Martha Hickey!
meganwaldrep @icloud.com
Green as long as it has a kick
Junior Warriors Football boardmember
My parents
Orca
Shaker of the booty
Every day is an adventure!
kris@coastalview .com
Michael 9 Kwiecinski photographer
10
Alonzo Orozco
11
Amy Orozco
12
writer
editor/writer
Emily Parker writer
photographer
writer
15
Kristyn Whittenton designer
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Final Frame
S m ok e S i gn a l S Rose-tinged clouds serve as a barometer to the intensity of an out of control wildfire burning in north county. No stranger to the whimsy of Mother Nature, Carpinteria Avenue pays no mind to her fury and continues its passion for patio dining.â—† Pho to b y g le nn Du b ock
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