The Santa Barbara Effect

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THE SANTA BARBARA EFFECT

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hat is it about Santa Barbara that makes real estate here so expensive and valuable over time? We could give you a lot of explanations for this, but when you come right down to it, it is because you and I want to live here and will pay the price to do it. Our beautiful physical setting, mild climate, and little polished gem of a city have a magnetic ...continued p.20 attraction for those of us who reject the L.A. lifestyle.

ALSO:WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BUY A PIECE OF PARADISE? P.21

MESA:P.24

RIVIERA:P.26

SAN ROQUE:P.28

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Weekly Capitalist – Jeffrey Harding takes a hardened look at the residential market and what he dubs the Santa Barbara Effect, so strap on a helmet and buckle up.

Sharon’s Take – In the aftermath of the Isla Vista shooting rampage, Sharon Byrne gives her take on the suspect’s narcissism, online fuel, and downward spiral.

Letters – Ray Benenate sounds off on Jeff Wing’s report about the 1980s music scene, and Wing chimes in; Donna Payne credits The Weekly Capitalist, while Jeffrey Harding again defends his stance against economist Thomas Piketty; and when life gives you lemons...

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an About Town – Our busiest man of leisure, Mark Léisuré, chats it up with San Marcos M High’s David Holmes about The Rocky Horror Show. And do you have the write stuff for the SB Writers Conference in June? Also, updates on James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Karla Bonoff, Merle Haggard, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Jimmy Webb, and the Live Oak Music Festival. Obviously, “Léisuré” is a misnomer.

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Beer Guy – Zach Rosen rolls out the barrels and gazes into a glass of Fig’s new Bieré De Ménage, while pondering beer-wine hybrids and the meaning of life.

15 Days A Week – Jeremy Harbin wants to finish off his craft beers, celebrate Christmas in June, and Second Monday (hoping it’s better than the first Monday) – but our favorite calendar chronicler seems less excited about running for fun.

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Santa Barbara View – The Milpas community (and Sharon Byrne) should take a bow for earning the USA Neighborhood of the Year first-place honors.

In The Zone – Tommie Vaughn touches up her cultural side with Visual Arts and Design Academy (or VADA, to folks in the know), which won the latest Vans grant; also, Paul Chesne returns to Fig in June, so mark your calendar.

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Presidio Sports – John Dvorak and Barry Punzal run down the sports beat and tackle it like nobody else, keeping track of the SB City Championship results. How about a polite round of applause or “golf clap” for Brett Silvernail?

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Keepin’ It Reel – Movie critic James Luksic considers a 50 to 1 longshot and a Million Dollar Arm true tale partially set in India, views plenty of Words and Pictures, along with a Blended family in Africa.

JUS ANNOUNTC

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Real Estate – The cost of buying a home around SB is escalating, to the tune of a $1.08M median sales price. But in this “American Riviera,” we get what we pay for, which includes superior climate, schooling, and scenery. In the first of a two-part series, Ana Mezic takes a comprehensive look at what’s on the market from the Mesa to San Roque, Lower East Side, the Riviera, Upper Eastside, and Mission Canyon.

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Commercial Corner – The math is simple: limited supply plus hungry buyers equals a strong first quarter. As Santa Barbara developments shape up, the market will follow suit. It appears the financial future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades.

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1031 Exchange – Judy Egenolf, CEO of Amherst Exchange Corporation, rolls up her sleeves and scrutinizes tax-deferred exchanges, danger zones, and the market’s future.

Mad Science – Rachelle Oldmixon reflects on the Isla Vista massacre and believes that love and more love will bolster the healing process.

Shop Girl – Kateri Wozny fits right in while perusing Miss Behavin’ in Isla Vista, where boutique owner Kelly Scott cheerfully sets up shop.

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Hands Full – In light of her friend’s children graduating and flying the coop, Mara Peters laments the thought of her son transitioning from 6th grade to 7th – and gets by with a little help from The Beatles.

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Santa Barbara Skinny – The final Skinny slice comes in the form of a goodbye letter and farewell photo. Thanks for your contributions, ladies.

Pet Detectives – While we’re watching the detectives, they’re watching Gango the sheriff’s canine. Youth sleuths John and Hudson Mayfield discover a dog worth barking about.

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In the Garden with Mr. Greenjeans – Come on in, the garden’s vine: Randy Arnowitz returns with more insight about a variety of the vining plants: growing, handling, and caring for them.

Girl About Town – Julie Bifano tips her cap to Girls Inc. Women of Inspiration honorees Cynder Sinclair, Rebecca Costa Smith, and Lindsey Connolly. Congratulations, ladies.

Food File – Christina Enoch takes stock of the Santa Barbara Public Market, delving into Jerry Lee and Emre Balli’s new venture, the far-from-empty Empty Bowl Gourmet Noodle Bar.

Elevator Pitch – Grant Lepper gets a charge out of technical devices, which is why he caught up with Fuelbox entrepreneurs Robert Herr and Dan Friedman.

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by Sharon Byrne

take

Sharon Byrne is a lead writer for www.sbview.com, an outlet for informed opinion writing and thoughtful analysis about the stories, events and people that shape Santa Barbara. Sharon’s education in engineering and psychology gives her a distinctive mix of skills for writing about and working on quality-of-life, public safety and public policy issues. Her hyper-local SB View column can be found every other week on page 12.

Narcissism Unbounded

T

he morning of May 24, I watched on CNN the horror of Elliot Rodger’s rampage unfold. I cried openly for the beautiful young lives taken for no apparent reason, and for the searing, visceral wound our community received, a deep wound that will take years to heal. How could this terrible thing have happened here?

More information about Rodger will undoubtedly come out, and psychologists will be studying him for years to come, trying to find answers.

In “My Twisted World,” he provides a chillingly lucid account as to why he committed these horrible acts. We know so far that he legally owned his guns in one of the toughest states on gun control. His therapist(s) did not detect how dangerous he was, and he wrote often in “Twisted” that he resisted therapy. He planned this out well in advance, first looking at Halloween, then Deltopia, both discarded because of

heavy police presence. He settled on April 26, and began posting some of his darkest videos up on YouTube in late April.

His mother asked the sheriffs to do a welfare check on him after seeing some of that material. He might be suicidal. The sheriffs checked on him, so Elliot reassured them he wasn’t suicidal and naturally didn’t inform them of his plans. He took down his YouTube videos after their visit. In “Twisted”, he writes that he was relieved not to be diverted from his path. He knew exactly how to deflect them. Sheriffs aren’t psychic and we don’t live in the pre-crime world of Minority Report.

This is a case where a lot of people did what they were supposed to do, but the dreadful outcome was ultimately in the hands of one individual.

He had hints that he was on the wrong path: a terrible cold, when he never gets those, on April 24. He questioned briefly if this was a sign from destiny that he was

on the wrong path? Why didn’t he spend more time on that thought, rather than deciding to continue with his terrible course, and pushing the new day of Retribution to May 23?

He was 22, an adult. His parents made mistakes in subsidizing an adult who didn’t have a job and never seemed to sign up for more than two classes. He volunteered once. Giving him a BMW to boost his confidence was foolish. The way to build confidence is to push against your edges and succeed. He should have jumped out of a plane, signed up to drive an ambulance in some war-torn province, or dug wells in Africa. He needed to find out what he was really made of and build a life of meaning.

Instead, his whole life was an endless navel-gazing whine about what he lacked, which was sex and success on the party scene.

I watched his Retribution video before it was stripped off YouTube and was stunned at his vapid spiel. Chills ran up my spine.

How does one constellate a worldview, as Rodger did, that the world is here simply to serve his pleasure? And when the world doesn’t serve up satisfactorily, he’s entitled to exact a brutal revenge on it?

Seeds He was brought up on the fringe of Hollywood. It’s not hard to imagine the pretty, plastic people there sidling up to

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him, batting eyelashes, eyeing a hopeful gig on Daddy’s next film. In a shallow mind brought up in a shallow world, this early attention probably rooted as an anchor. He was owed fawning. People living in a bubble tend to believe the rest of the world operates just like their bubble.

As he went through puberty, he shifted to a fixation on sex. His entire existence was reduced to one aim: get laid.

Online Fuel

Having moved outside his bubble to Isla Vista, and finding that world not so acquiescent to his desires, Rodger entered an online world catering to his ‘get laid’ ambition: Pick-Up Artists (PUA) sites.

And in this world, he was introduced to “Harem control”, 7s, 8s, and 9s (ratings for women you should aim to pick up), Alpha Males, Beta Males (the ones who feminism-indoctrinated women shun in favor of Alphas), Game (how one gets women into bed), and other frankly misogynistic nonsense that continually presents women as opponents to be conquered.

Elliot Rodger spent quite a bit of time percolating in online cauldrons of this thinking. Most people are perfectly capable of looking at hyperbolic, even vitriolic, Internet content, whatever the subject, set their BS filter to ‘high’ and not get incited by it. For some reason, Rodger ...continued p.12

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Publisher • Tim Buckley | Co-Founder • Matt Mazza Design/Production • Trent Watanabe | Managing Editor • James Luksic Contributing Partners Opinion • sbview.com | Sports • Presidiosports.com Santa Barbara Skinny • SantaBarbaraSkinny.com Columnists Shop Girl • Kateri Wozny | You Have Your Hands Full • Mara Peters Plan B • Briana Westmacott | Food File • Christina Enoch Journal Jim • James Buckley | Real Estate • Michael Calcagno Commercial Corner • Austin Herlihy | The Weekly Capitalist • Jeff Harding Man About Town • Mark Leisure | In The Garden • Randy Arnowitz The Beer Guy • Zach Rosen | Elevator Pitch • Grant Lepper Girl About Town • Julie Bifano | In The Zone • Tommie Vaughn Mad Science • Rachelle Oldmixon | Keepin’ It Reel • James Luksic Pump It • Jenny Schatzle | Stylin’ & Profilin’ • Megan Waldrep State Street Scribe • Jeff Wing | American Girl • Tommie Vaughn 15 Days • Jeremy Harbin | Cut.Chew.Eat.Repeat • Jacquelyn De Longe Advertising/Sales Tanis Nelson 805.689.0304 • tanis@santabarbarasentinel.com Sue Brooks 805.455.9116 • sue@santabarbarasentinel.com Judson Bardwell 619.379.1506 • judson@santabarbarasentinel.com Published by SB Sentinel, LLC PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Santa Barbara Sentinel is compiled every other Friday 133 EAST DE LA GUERRA STREET, #182, Santa Barbara 93101 How to reach us: 805.845.1673 • E-MAIL: tim@santabarbarasentinel.com

Letters

Although you might not believe it, we actually want to hear from you. So if you have something you think we should know about or you see something we've said that you think is cretinous (or perspicacious, to be fair), then let us know. There's no limit on words or subject matter, so go ahead and let it rip to: Santa Barbara Sentinel, Letters to the Editor, 133 East De La Guerra Street, No. 182, Santa Barbara, California 93101. You can also leap into the 21st century and email us at tim@abarbarasentinel.com.

Taking A Stand

D

on’t yawn, this is a first in the Funk Zone – a lemonade stand at the corner of Yanonali and Anacapa streets. Two young ladies sport their FZ permit and a $1 treats sign (gotta start somewhere!). The adjacent businesses are two wineries, a firewater plant, and a brewery, so I guess a lemonade stand is the obvious stepping-stone. I have been here since the Civil War, and testify under oath that this is a first.

Jim Mahoney Santa Barbara

Bands on the Run

I really like your paper. It is a refreshing read compared to the other tree-killing rags that I use to light my charcoals.

That said, I wanted to throw out a rant regarding Jeff Wing’s article, “Where Were You In ‘82?” I don’t know Jeff, but I’m sure I saw him around back in the day as I was checking out most of the “garage bands” that are mentioned in his article. I have a pretty good grasp on what was going on back then, because my family was deeply involved in the Santa Barbara music scene.

Two young ladies stand tall and display their refreshing wares at Anacapa and Yanonali.

In Jeff’s article, my brothers Perry and Jesse Benenate barley got a mention (used only their first names), and my ...continued p.14

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CELEBRATING

DADS and GRADS

with Mark Léisuré

Mark spends much of his time wandering Santa Barbara and environs, enjoying the simple things that come his way.

A show here, a benefit there, he is generally out and about and typically has a good time. He says that he writes “when he feels the urge” and doesn’t want his identity known for fear of an experience that is “less than authentic.” So he remains at large, roaming the town, having fun. Be warned.

The Horror of It All

D

avid Holmes, the theater director at San Marcos High School’s (SMHS) Performing Arts Department, is calling it quits after 30 years, but not before one more big bang of a show. The concept, though, has been in the works since he first took the teaching job at the school.

Back in 1984, his first class of students begged Holmes to direct The Rocky Horror Show – then not even a decade old – on San Marcos’ stage. Of course, the show, a campy irreverent and sexually explicit musical tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1940s, was, at least back then, rather improper for a student production. But the idea became David Holmes, director of The Rocky Horror Show at a running joke for future classes.

“The students were excited about San Marcos High having a new young dude drama teacher So I said, ‘Oh, yeah. I’m going to do it. show.’ I who seemed pretty hip and cool,” Holmes For sure. It will be my retirement Winner recalled a few weeks ago. “They all wanted told that story every year.

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by Zach Rosen

I’m a Believer in Bieré De Ménage

Roll out the barrels at Allagash Brewery

About the Beverage

M

y experiences with beer-wine hybrids have left me underenthused. We don’t need to name names or state what I have found wrong in these concoctions (believe me, ignorance is bliss); however, many of the examples of beer-wine blends I’ve sampled have left me skeptical of this style.

I have always enjoyed the beers from Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co and

consider their brewmaster, AJ Stoll, extremely accomplished at what he does.

So when my nose first went into my glass of their newly released beer-wine hybrid, Bieré De Ménage, I had mixed feelings of what to expect, given my history with this genre. To say the least, I was pleased and from a purely subjective standpoint, I believe this is the most interesting beer they’ve produced to date.

Bieré De Ménage was commissioned

by Whole Foods Market and is a collaboration between Figueroa Mountain and their Buellton neighbor, Margerum Wine Company, which has also worked with Whole Foods on their One Wine program. This line of wines uses local vintners to produce wine exclusives for the Whole Foods markets. Bieré De Ménage is the first beer to be released in Figueroa Mountain’s new secondary label, Liquamentum, which is Latin for mixture

or concoction. These beers will be hybrid styles and push the boundaries of how we think about beer.

The base beer for Bieré De Ménage is of the dry, spicy Saison style, which originated along the border of Belgium and France.

The beer was stored for a period of time at a cold temperature (similar to how lager beers are produced) to give it a crisp, clean edge. The three groups then got together and did a blending trial between the Saison and Margerum’s Sauvignon Blanc wines. After the final blend was decided, the mixture was added to neutral oak and aged for several months with latent wine yeast.

The resulting liquid has a pale, brightgold color and a dense, cream-colored head. The Sauvignon Blanc aromas leap out of the glass with a gooseberry, lemon hyssop, and lime character. The Saison note comes out underneath the wine aromas with a peppery, grass-like quality.

The taste has a rush of semi-sweet malt flavors that drops off into a fruity, fragrant finish before leaving wine notes drifting through your palate.

The mouthfeel has an interesting blend of both wine and beer attributes. The body is crisp, with a fine carbonation moving throughout the flavors. The bubbles have a refreshing tingle that reminds you of the lively spray of white water as you make your way through the waves and out into the sea. The liquid lingers on

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of Allagash’s Tribute Series, a line of their beers that donate $1 per bottle to a different group, organization, or fund.

Victoria benefits and derives its name from the Victoria Mansion, a national historic landmark and pre-Civil War mansion in Portland, Maine (which also happens to be where the brewery is located). The brewers toured the mansion and noticed several images of the Roman wine god, Bacchus, throughout the building, and decided that a beer-wine blend would best suit the establishment.

To create Victoria, the must of more than 200 pounds of Chardonnay grapes were added into the mash (the first step of brewing that converts the carbohydrates in grain into sugar). The mash is basically a big pot of grain and water being kept at a particular temperature. The resulting liquid was fermented out with a Belgian yeast and had a gentle taste of biscuit, sour grape, and pepper with mojito-like undertones.

Victor was a later addition to the Tribute Series as a benefit for Portland’s St. Lawrence Arts Center and was actually inspired by Victoria and the arts center’s Romanesque architecture. This time, though, they added more than 100 pounds of Cabernet Franc to the mash and fermented the liquid with a wine yeast. Victor takes on the reddish-tinge from the grape skins and tastes of sweet cherries, pear-cranberry pie filling and has a copper-like tone in the finish.

Zach Rosen is a Certified Cicerone® and beer educator living in Santa Barbara. He uses his background in chemical engineering and the arts to seek out abstract expressions of beer and discover how beer pairs with life.

Old Sayings, New Beer-Wines

Have no fear of Bieré De Ménage

the lips and its persistence does not stick in the way associated with the sweetness of beer. Rather, there is a coating quality that could be closer compared to wine displaying its lush legs along the side of a glass, as if a mannequin exhibiting its flawless structure in a window display.

Branching Out With my opinion on wine-beer hybrids now changed, I was passing through the esteemed Mercury Lounge one day and ran into some beer-centric friends of mine. I mentioned Bieré De Ménage to them and our conversation turned toward Victor and Victoria by Allagash Brewery, both of which had just been delivered to the Merc. I had never tasted either one of them, and so we quickly ordered both and set up a taste test right at the bar.

Now in its eighth year, Victoria is part

As the adage goes, “it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine.” This saying is known in both industries. After a long day of toiling on the grape harvest, many vintners will not resort to a glass of wine but rather a cold, refreshing beer to help take the edge off of a day’s work. Hence the saying.

I like to see this expression as the universal appreciation for quality fermentation from anyone who works with fermentation. Now, I believe that it takes a lot of good beer and good wine to make a good beer-wine hybrid, and that is exactly what Figueroa Mountain has done with its Bieré De Ménage. The bright, characterful qualities of this beer highlight the endless summer that we live in out here and encompass what makes the Central Coast great for growing grapes and even better for having a beer.

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15•Days• a•Week We Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Love, Babe…

by Jeremy Harbin

Want to be a part of Fifteen Days A Week?

Space is limited, but if you have an event, exhibit, performance, book signing, sale, opening, trunk show or anything else interesting or creative that readers can attend, let us know at 805-845-1673 or email us at tim@santabarbarasentinel.com. We’ll consider all suggestions, but we will give extra consideration to unusual events and/or items, especially those accompanied by a good visual, particularly those that have yet to be published.

Saturday

Wednesday

It’s Not That Far Away

Mid-Week Music

May 31

It’s the last day of May, so you know what that means: the final day of the Santa Ynez Valley’s Craft Beer Month. The celebration concludes at the Solvang Brewing Company (1547 Mission Street) with an event called Name That Beer. Imbibers who purchase a six-beer flight will try to guess the style of each beer. If all six guesses are correct, that guesser will win a pint… that he or she will pay $2.50 for. Really, SBC? You can’t shill out a couple free pints for winners? What are you afraid of – you think Beer Guy Zach Rosen is going to show up with a crew of cicerones and clean you out? It’s okay, SBC, I’m sure I’ll be paying full price anyway; I’ve been having trouble telling my blonde ales from my pale ales. But I’m up for a little practice.

Sunday June 1

Restaurants Under One Roof

Like you, I enjoy dining in Santa Barbara’s finest eating establishments (these have come to be called “restaurants”). Also like you, I enjoy sipping on Santa Barbara’s finest wines and spirits and saying things like, “Mmm… oaky.” My biggest frustration is that I can usually only visit one eatery and taste offerings from only a few wineries per night. So you can imagine my joy when I found out about The Santa Barbara Fork and Cork Classic: An Annual Foodbank Event. From 3 until 6 pm today at the Montecito Country Club (920 Summit Road), we’ll all be able to sample fare from dozens of top spots all at once. Blue Owl, Blush, Ca’Dario, The Lark, and McConnell’s, just to name a few, will serve up food. Wine-wise, Carr, Firestone, Lincourt, Jaffurs, and many more will be there to pour. Get your tickets and more information at www.forkandcorkclassic.org.

Monday June 2

Christmas in June

So how do all you guys and gals out there feel about interactive costumed pageants of traditional singing and dancing? You love that sort of thing? That’s great, because today is your day to try out for the Solstice Singers and Revels Dancers.

If you make the cut, you’ll get to join the cast of The Christmas Revels: An Irish Celebration of the Winter Solstice come Christmastime.

Just show up to El Montecito Presbyterian Church (1455 East Valley Road) from 6 to 8 tonight ready to sing or dance. (Kids’ auditions for the Yuletide Children’s Chorus are in the same place today from 3:15 to 4:30 pm.) If you can’t make it today but have a burning desire to dress up like a dragon and do a jig, auditions continue next Monday. For more information, call (805) 565-9357 or go to www.santabarbararevels.org.

Tuesday June 3

There’s a Flea on Your Market

It’s Tuesday; you should be at work. Why aren’t you at work? You better hope the boss doesn’t find out you’re not at your desk. If you don’t get those spreadsheets done for the Jenkins account, we’re all in hot water. (I don’t know… does that sound like realistic office-speak to you?) Jenkins account be damned, you’re playing hooky today whether your corporate overlords like it or not. So what now? Well, you could always hit up that Early Bird Flea Market that you’ve wanted to check out but never could because you’re always at work. It’s at Earl Warren Showgrounds (3400 Calle Real) from 7 am to 6 pm. You could pick up some nice flowers and knickknacks for your desk.

June 4

By day, Sandbar Cocina y Tequila (514 State Street) is a great place to get some Mexican food and spirits. After dark, however, that’s when things start to get wild. Take Wednesday nights, for example.

You might not think to yourself, “Self, it’s Wednesday night and that makes me think of live reggae music.” But guess what? That’s all about to change, you crazy kid. Wednesdays at Sandbar are called Big Wednesdays, and that’s because they have, you guessed it, live reggae music! How’d you guess that?! All right, smarty, see you there if you’re ready to stir it up. The music starts at 9:30 pm.

Thursday June 5

Fight for Your Right to Foo

Good news, Foo Fighters fans! Tonight, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants will bring their cover songs to SOhO Restaurant and Music Club (1221 State Street). That’s it.

That’s the news. Oh, right: Chris Shiflett plays guitar with the Foo Fighters. You might also know his other bands No Use For a Name and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

No, he’s not covering the Foo Fighters. What’s that? What’s he play then? Country songs.

He plays country songs. And he’s from here, so… maybe there will be lots of people there having a good time?

Let’s find out together, SB! Also playing: Dead Winter Carpenters. Doors open at 7 pm; music at 9. Get your tickets at www. sohosb.com.

Friday June 6

Microsoft Thinks Carp is a Fish

Hows about some love for Carpinteria? If Microsoft Word can’t be cool to our Santa Barbara County compadre to the south, then we’ve got to step up and send our good vibes that way ourselves.

Now, what do I mean by that? Well, go ahead and boot up your Windows computer. I’ll wait here.

Okay, now double-click on that Word icon. Now type the sentence “Carpinteria is all right with me.” See that squiggly red line underneath “Carpinteria?” (You don’t? You must have all those autocorrect features turned off. Respect.) That red line means Microsoft officially doesn’t recognize Carpinteria as a real place. That’s messed up. But I don’t care what one of the most successful tech companies of all time says about you, Carp, I think you’re great. That’s why I’m heading right to you today for First Friday. I’m going to walk your streets from 5 to 8 pm and soak up all the live music, art, shops, and food. Here’s hoping that one day we can get Bill Gates to update his software to accept “Carpinteria” as a correctly spelled word.

Saturday June 7

Oyster in a Strange Land

Why would anyone leave Santa Barbara? For oysters, of course! But that doesn’t make any sense. You can get oysters in Santa Barbara at any number of places. Okay, you’ve got me there, guys, but can you attend the Central Coast Oyster and Music Festival in Santa Barbara? Nope, you gotta travel up the road just a lil’ bit to the Avila Beach Golf Course

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Resort (6464 Ana Bay Road) in San Luis Obispo. Is it worth the drive? You be the judge.

The fest will offer tastings, competition, art, booze, and bands. It sounds so good it almost makes me want to make a pun with the word “shucking” (but I won’t, because this is a family calendar). To buy tickets to this event, go to eventbrite.com and search for it (I’d include the full address here, but it’s got so many digits, numerals, backslashes, and dashes that I just can’t bring myself to put it on this page. [Event organizers, take note: splurge for a domain name!]).

at 6 pm at Leadbetter Beach. Each week features different food and entertainment. Race you there!

Sunday

Earlier this bi-week, we went to Fork and Cork. Well, if you just can’t get enough of events that serve wine and have names that rhyme, then today’s entry is for you. It’s called Pork and Cork, and it’s at Finch and Fork (31 West Carrillo Street). Let’s break this thing down: The first word in the title is “pork.” That refers to the fact that the restaurant will serve pork, as in meat from the pig (the same animal we get bacon and ham from). The second word, “and,” is a conjunction alerting you that there will be a second item highlighted. Then we have the third word, “Cork.” Here’s where it gets tricky. Cork? What do they mean by that? Let me explain: Cork is closely associated with wine, because wine bottles are traditionally plugged with this naturally occurring material – though less and less so as more wines employ synthetic corks and twistoff caps. The use of the word “cork” to refer to wine in general is a type of metaphor known as metonymy. So when the restaurant calls tonight’s event “Pork and Cork,” they mean to convey that they will serve pork and wine. They’re open 5:30 to 10 pm. Call (805) 879-9100 to make a reservation.

June 8

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Fun Run: a true oxymoron if you ask me. What could be less fun than running? Here’s a short list: being poked in the eye, a triple root canal, tripping down several flights of stairs. That’s all I can think of that would be less fun than running. But – I take it from all of these people I see on a daily basis running Santa Barbara’s streets, trails, and beaches – running is a popular pastime many take up because they like it. So here’s something for the tracksuit set to do today: the Montecito Family YMCA 5K Run/Walk. You’ll get to do that thing you like, running, and you’ll help raise money to perpetuate the Y’s Open Doors Financial Assistance Program. It all starts with check-in at 8 am (extra fun!) and continues after the running is over with a pancake breakfast. Register at the Montecito YMCA (591 Santa Rosa Lane) or online at ciymca.org/ montecito.

Monday June 9

Second Monday

Loyal readers of this column know at least one thing: Second Monday is the day during which we seek out restaurants that are open on Mondays and go spend our entire paycheck there just to say “Thank you for being open on Monday, a day that sees the closure of most of Santa Barbara’s eating establishments (‘restaurants’).” Today, we’re just straight-up ignoring the food aspect of this special monthly occasion, and visiting Figueroa Mountain (137 Anacapa Street). “Why?” you might ask. Well, I’ll freakin’ tell you if you just calm down. Gee Whiz. It’s because we’ve just got to get our tongues on Fig’s new Lizard’s Mouth Imperial India Pale Ale. Now, I don’t know too much about beer except that I like to drink it – I’ll admit that – but I think what that name means is that this new beer is like an IPA, but it’s imperial, so that means it’s, like, really IPA – know what I’m saying? See you there!

Tuesday June 10

The Earlier, the Better

Question: What’s better than an artist? Answer: A Californian artist. Question: What’s better than a Californian artist? Answer: An early Californian artist, of course, but I’m sure you already knew that. If you agree with my capricious qualitative rating system, you’ll definitely want to figure out how to get yourself down to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum (136 East De la Guerra Street) for their current exhibit called Impressions in Ink: Etchings from the Collection. Will you take a car? A taxi? Will you walk or ride your bike? That part is totally up to you! If you love your etchings, landscapes, and plein air from early California artists, you’ll figure it out. The museum is open today from 10 am to 5 pm.

Wednesday June 11

Another Reason to Run

You have a choice to make. This could be your average hump-day evening: a microwaved dinner, two bags of potato chips because you couldn’t decide on a flavor, a date with Netflix, and crying yourself to sleep. It’s your usual routine – your usual sad and depressing routine. (I’m not sure why I’ve decided to paint you as such a pathetic character. My apologies.) Or, this could be quite an unusual hump-day evening – the start of a new you.

All you’ve got to do is log onto runsantabarbara.com and register for their Nite Moves events. These are swimming, running, and biathlon races that take place every Wednesday

Thursday June 12

Foodsplaining

Friday June 13

Not So Scary Movie

It’s Friday the 13th, so put on a scary mask and watch the movie Friday the 13th. If you have kids and are trying your best to be a good parent, you might want to opt for a less-traumatizing film.

How about Despicable Me 2? You say you never saw the first one? I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to keep up. It’s screening for free at La Cumbre Plaza (121 South Hope Avenue) as part of Family Flick Night. Bring your own chairs and snacks.

The movie unspools at 8 pm.

Saturday June 14

Art Walking in the Zone

There’s no question about where to be tonight; it’s the second Saturday of the month so the Funk Zone Art Walk it is. The Arts Fund Gallery will be open from 1 to 5 pm today, and at 2:30 they’ll have a performance by the creative writers of their Teen Arts Mentorship program. I’ll probably check that out, then just spend the rest of the afternoon hiding in bushes to eavesdrop on area artists. I want to hear what they have to say about the new development that was on the cover of the last Sentinel. (I do this often. They usually just talk about what kinds of paintbrushes they prefer. It’s really boring.) See you there, Santa Barbara, and see you here next bi-week!

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Alignments He also moved over to anti-PUA sites. an individual devoid of any meaning in The anti-PUA crowd doesn’t disagree with his life from spiraling into an absolutely PUA philosophy that women are opponents poisoned, insular, narcissistic mindset that Welives Sellas Elliot Rodger did. He is Milpas Wins Neighborhoods to be conquered. They’re just pissed that destroys All Major the PUA sites sell stuff to desperate guys… 100 percent responsible for his actions. USA’s Neighborhood of the Brands to lay blame elsewhere. This stuff that doesn’t work. They also indulge in Do not Ofseek Tires Year Contest a fair amount of self-loathing. Rodger was one rests with the individual.

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it’s really cool, and even though I made the presentation, it’s our community that won the gold.

So, here it is.

Neighborhoods USA is an organization that promotes stronger communities and neighborhoods. It hosts an annual conference that neighborhoods across the country attend. I was stunned by the size of the delegations from Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and Seattle. These people are serious about neighborhoods! They put on workshops about neighborhood topics: sustainability, matching neighborhood grant funds (yes, some cities do provide these!) organizing, involving youth in the community, and more. It’s very inspiring to see what other communities are doing.

Some neighborhoods, Milpas included, compete in the Neighborhood of the Year contest. We were beaten out last year

by Eugene, Oregon, host of this year’s conference. The Sentinel smelled a fixed contest, and I suspect the mayor did too, but our team was energized by placing second nationwide, as all the entrants had done amazing things. The mayor, district attorney, sheriff, Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and First District supervisor Salud Carbajal all commended Milpas for being the first neighborhood in Santa Barbara to step up and compete, and then to take second nationally.

The Milpasarenos dispatched me to Eugene to compete this year, with an order not to come back without that first-place prize. I sweated the presentation. I put us in for the Taste of Milpas because it brought our whole community together to produce. We got everyone to taste fabulous food and wine available in our area, hosted art galleries in our empty buildings, put on live music, funded eight non-profits out of half the proceeds, and put the remaining funds to the 60th Holiday Parade, first Milpas Neighborhood Holiday Party, and first-

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I thought we had a pretty good case, and the judges did, too. We can now proudly wear the title of Neighborhood of the Year 2014. A $500 cash prize means we’ll be throwing a celebration soon!

I saw some cool things in Eugene, like great bike lanes. Sadly, they too have the bike / car / pedestrian conflict, and point to bicyclists as the most egregious offenders of the lot. Sigh.

I could see this being useful in some land-use fights around Santa Barbara: Eugene has a fair amount of the traveling vagabond set downtown, so we’re not alone, folks.

Their pedestrian signals “talk,” verbally counting down how many seconds you have left to cross the (named) intersection.

That must be very useful to the blind.

I found myself feeling a lot of sympathy for “the Whitaker” neighborhood, as

Artistic bus stop in Eugene, Oregon

residents called it. A funky, rundown area young families started moving into, planting their sidewalk strip gardens, living alongside some nefarious elements.

Over time, they developed neighborliness,

and the area picked up.

Mural wall in the Whitaker neighborhood.

Note the planter boxes – they plant veggies in their sidewalk strips. Sustainability and local food growing is very big in Oregon.

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Then the craft breweries moved in (beer is really big in Oregon, along with granola, sustainability, and “back to the land” sentiment). Now their little funky ‘hood is getting commercialized, which will be followed shortly with gentrification and sanitization suitable for Starbucks, and thereafter, a newly unaffordable neighborhood. Milpas has been nervous about that fate, and of course, the Funk Zone is living it. These things have to be navigated carefully, as I was reminded in Eugene.

I also met a cool crew from Long Beach and Pasadena doing some interesting gang intervention work. They’re up for a field trip to visit us, which would be cool.

It’s a great conference – I encourage any neighborhood to attend. Check them out at www.NUSA.org. Maybe we can be the host city one year, and get everyone to come here. (I’ve been nudging the mayor… she seems up for it!)

Be Our Guest at a Free Salon Friday, June 27 | 4:00–8:00pm NOW ENROLLING FOR FALL 2014

Featuring presentations by members of Pacifica’s faculty on Jung, Yoga, Body, and Soul, and Vocation and Career.

The Pacifica Experience

And Join Us for a One-Day Introduction to Pacifica’s Graduate Degree Programs Saturday, June 28 8:30am–6:00pm

Special Expanded Program Includes Friday Evening Salon and Full Day Introduction on Saturday

This special program will feature a student/alumni panel, time to explore Pacifica’s two campuses near Santa Barbara, as well as the Opus Archives, where the works of Joseph Campbell are housed.

Representative classroom presentations include: Dream Tending: An Archetypal Approach to Dreamwork with Stephen Aizenstat, Ph.D. The Psychology of Money with Aaron Kipnis, Ph.D.

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...continued from p.14 sister Bridget Benenate didn’t get a mention at all. I wonder why? I get that there is limited space – but please, Jeff, if you are going to do an article on the SB music scene you’ve got to add more quality and less kids’ wannabe garage bands. To be nice, some of the musicians in the article have stayed the course, but I remember walking out on quite a few of those mentioned.

When my brothers Perry and Jesse began playing with my sister Bridget along with Ric Streeter and Jack Folks in the Dreamers, they packed every club in SB and Ventura. Bridget was, and still is, a phenomenal vocalist. Most locals who went to see good bands will remember her talents. What most locals don’t know, but had Jeff simply inquired, Bridget has gone on to compose number-one hits here in the U.S. and around the world.

She has co-written songs with Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Chris Botti, to

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name a few. Google her, Jeff. Dig down just a little. After having played in just about every great band in SB, Perry and Jesse have been the backbone of the Tearaways since their beginning. Talk to any Tearaway fans and they will tell you the Benenate brothers rock. That is why they have been asked to sit in with Badfinger and many other great acts.

There are quite a few other really good musicians left out this article and it’s a shame. For now, I will keep my rant simple.

Most of the time when we see pieces like this, we laugh and say how typical.

A writer talks to a couple of his buddies and creates a hipster-dufus fluff piece that is supposed to be cool. I guess it is to an extent, but I think that if the Sentinel is going to feed us “look back into the past, we were so cool” articles on our history, let it feast on reality. Here, we were served a crust-only sandwich.

I feel better now. Thanks.

Ray Benenate Santa Barbara (Jeff Wing’s response: Ray, thanks for the modulated and, at least initially, classy and literate rant. I love the keynote and agree. What I really love is someone finally writing a letter about a piece I wrote, even if the intent and, indeed, effect of the letter is to thrash me like a puppy and fling me into rush-hour traffic – still, a letter about my article! Woo hoo! (pumps his little arms by lamplight, resumes typing). Yeah, The Dreamers, you say? When I first came to SB to visit friends – I mean, the very first time here – the Dreamers were on a stage one night at East Beach and had what must have been thousands of moonlit revelers eating out of their hands. I was one of them. I’ve watched the extremely cool and tuneful vid of The Dreamers singing and playing “Hey B” at DP in ‘84 maybe...

50 times? It’s just freaking amazing.

They completely dazzled me when I saw them in those early days and inform some of my earliest, warmest memories of moving to this town I adore. I know.

I didn’t need to inquire. You do not have to “dig” to find The Dreamers. I’m aware of Bridget’s songwriting partnerships and prowess, reputation, artistic integrity, and professional station.

Of course I wanted The Dreamers in the story, big time. Bridget did not get back to me. I dropped her a line and Bridget did not return my call. While I broadsided the whole membership of the SB 80s Band Facebook site, I individually messaged Bridget; the post-modern version of the hand-delivered postcard. No dice. I figured someone of her stature didn’t want to be a part of a little article like this. I did not

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think she was putting on airs. People have their reasons, I dig. I was going to wave her and the Dreamers’ banner in the piece anyway but then thought better of it, that I might be disrespecting her wishes to recuse herself from the project.

To be clear, I don’t know any of the other folks in the story, Ray. They are not my “buds.” My nerdy band kept to themselves and were not back-slapping comrades of the extremely cool people I document in this story. They are the small group of helpful, still-excited strangers who came forward to talk to me about something they cherish, people I’ve gotten to know and love in the course of writing the story, the impassioned, scant handful who answered my two-month long, repeated, deadlinebusting calls for contributions. Believe me, I wanted to write the definitive essay on that era with the cooperation of as many of the players and club-goers as I could gather to me and made that approach through the damnable glowing box and its overpraised social network. Everyone who felt compelled to step forward and speak did so, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to those new friends. I was cool with the idea that many (many many many, to state it more accurately) did not want to participate. The story is what it is, and these folks who spoke to me rang my bell.

Despite being collectively around 1,400 years old, they’re still excitable kids with stories to swap. What a great thing. Writing this piece, I feel like I finally understand the family these people comprise, to this day. It is bitchin’ and enviable.

Lastly, I am just pitiable enough to have thought, in the wake of the story’s being published, “Is there any chance Bridget Benenate is seeing this sort of neat, humble, color miniature of her era, and regretting not having got back to me?” Your broadside is kinda the last thing I expected, and is, in a way, a delicious layer of icing on a cake I’m increasingly delighted with. Everything you say about Bridget and the Dreamers is true, though. I’m sorry Bridget didn’t respond.

Maybe it was a misunderstanding or miscommunication. I know the Benenates (too many vowels!!) are SB rock royalty.

Jessie knows all. Bridget is an artist, yes.

Which makes even more tragic the crush I had on her back in the day. She had me in the palm of her hand, Ray. It is, as Robert Frost so accurately says, the gravel path less trod-upon that causes the heart to bitterly leap and whirl. I think that’s how it goes.

– J.W.)

Much Appreciated

Thank you for presenting Jeff Harding’s “The Weekly Capitalist.” I find his common-sense articles about

many complicating issues to be spot-on.

His embrace of the free-market system should be duplicated throughout our educational facilities. It is what built our country to what it is today, and it is what will continue to sustain us. He unmasks and sorts out the politics from issues to focus on the core. Identifying the problem is the first step to solve it, and that is what he does. Thanks for providing a platform for Jeff to share his cornerstone philosophy.

Donna L. Payne Santa Barbara

Piketty, Wealth, and The Economy

In our last issue (Sentinel #3/11), the Sentinel printed a letter from John D. Kelley criticizing my article on French economist Thomas Piketty and his new book Capital in the Twenty-first Century.

Mr. Kelley never likes what I have to say. He accuses me of being close-minded, willfully ignorant, and failing to address Piketty’s central issue concerning wealth inequality.

Here is my response: Thank you for your letter, though it was highly critical of my commentary on economist Thomas Piketty.

But John, if you think Piketty has something new to offer, you would be quite wrong. The conclusion of Mr. Piketty’s research is that he advocates confiscating much of the wealth from the very wealthy. This is not surprising, since he comes from a long line of French Marxist-influenced economists who, like most of his fellow French socialists, hate wealth and rich people. I do not exaggerate here. France’s socialist president François Hollande and many French politicians and intellectuals have repeatedly and publicly expressed their hatred of the rich. Piketty’s entire premise is based on that intellectual foundation. The book’s data dump means nothing, because his theoretical foundations are wrong, have been proven wrong over time, and always lead to disastrous economic results. Basically, Piketty is guilty of curve-fitting his data to “prove” his thesis. He may be hailed by some neo-Keynesians as a genius, but I see his epistemological foundations as intellectually weak. He really doesn’t understand how economies, especially capitalist market-based economies, work, and the voluminous data provided only serves to obscure that fact.

His basic premise is that wealth somehow automatically perpetuates itself and this gives rise to a permanent ...continued p.19

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with TOMMIE VAUGHN

A Changing of the Guard

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Yoskay Yamamato puts the finishing touches on his mural. (photo by ichiro)

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santa barbara’s premier

hhhh, I don’t know if you noticed, but The Anacapa Project has had a facelift (a non-surgical one, of course – this is Santa Barbara). But a colorful facelift all the same, as a changing of the guards has occurred on the murals that cleverly hang from the industrial chic, metal gates protecting the entry doors of such Yanonali businesses as The Guitar Bar, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, Cutlers Artisan Spirits, River Bench, and Area 5.1.

Not only are the new, beautifully crafted murals the work of local artist – in fact, they are the exciting collaborative project from our local teens from Santa Barbara High School’s VADA (Visual Arts and Design Academy) program with artists J. Shea (www.jshea9.com) and Yoskay Yamamoto (www.yoskay.com), both former residents of Santa Barbara, but who now live and work in Portland, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Shea and Yamamoto have acted as mentors to the VADA students, who

worked alongside the professional artists in the creation of 12 4’x8’ mural panels.

The mural panels will be on display for the next six months, and after their deinstallation, will be used to fundraise for the VADA program.

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www.presidiosports.com Presidio Sports is a provider of local sports news and information for the Santa Barbara community. Founded in 2008, the small team at Presidio has covered hundreds of local sporting events and published thousands of articles connected to Santa Barbara’s athletic community. Please visit their website for more local sports news and information.

Silvernail Secures Second Straight City Golf Title

by John Dvorak

Six-time champion John Pate finished in a tie for second place at Santa Barbara Golf Club.

Brett Silvernail was 16-under-par for the weekend to triumph at the 55th Santa Barbara City Championship.

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near bogey-free final round clinched a repeat title for Brett Silvernail at the Santa Barbara City Golf Championship held at Santa Barbara Golf Club over Memorial Day Weekend.

Silvernail finished off his tournament with a four-under 66 on Monday that gave him 194 through three rounds. The UCSB golfer, who won with a comfortable six-shot lead, dedicated his victory to the victims and their families of the deadly shooting in Isla Vista on Friday night.

“My heart goes out to them. This victory is for them,” Silvernail said.

The 21-year-old produced five birdies and one bogey in his final round.

“I didn’t really feel like there were any holes that gave me too much trouble,” Silvernail said. “And any holes that I wasn’t too comfortable on, I made adjustments so I could give myself the best odds.”

He said he was nervous teeing off on the first hole, but he kept his first shot in the fairway using a 3-iron. He went on to par the hole and birdie the second. Silvernail’s one bogey came on the par-four No. 4.

He was bogey-free the rest of the way, adding birdies on holes 6, 7, 9, and 14.

Silvernail improved on his three-day total of 204 last year. He came from behind on the final day to win by a single stroke in 2013 but was the dominant force throughout this year. His opening-round 62 on Saturday was the tournament’s low.

“It’s much sweeter,” Silvernail said of this year’s championship.

Silvernail is the first back-to-back champion since Andrew Perez won in 2010 and 2011. Silvernail was playing in a final group with Dave Aarons and Brian Helton. Aarons ended up in 4th place and Helton settled for 6th.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE… GLUTEN-FREE

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Six-time champion John Pate tied with Cal State Northridge player Satch Herrmann – both playing in the secondto-last grouping – for second place at 200.

Pate said that 10-under was a personal goal of his. His career best at the SB City is 199. He had a chance to match that and go to 11 under but missed a birdie putt on 18.

“I’ll take 200 every year. It’s a good score,” Pate said.

Pate was resigned to not winning his seventh title early on Monday. He started off well but a bogey on hole 5 was deflating.

“I never thought I had a chance today,” Pate said.

Silvernail, who started the day with a four-stroke lead, didn’t give his opponents any opportunities to catch him.

“He’s pretty solid. There weren’t too many weaknesses,” Pate said of Silvernail.

“It’s not like he made a ton of putts; he just hit a lot of great shots. When he missed the green, he chipped it close, and he was just solid.”

Herrmann was in fifth place after two rounds and said he just tried to keep up with Pate. He ended up in second with a final-round 65, the lowest score of the day.

2014 SB CITY CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS Santa Barbara Golf Club Par 70, 6,037 yards Championship Flight

1 Brett Silvernail 62 66 66 — 194 T2 John Pate 64 70 66 — 200 T2 Satch Herrmann 67 68 65 — 200 T4 Dave Aarons 67 67 70 — 204 T4 Nicholas R Jan 69 67 68 — 204 6 Brian Helton 68 64 73 — 205 7 Brennan Amirkhizi 67 70 69 — 206 8 Cody P Hall 67 72 68 — 207 T9 Parker Colvin 71 69 69 — 209 T9 Tyler Ley 68 70 71 — 209 T11 Alex Romo 67 73 72 — 212 T11 Brett T Patton 67 69 76 — 212 T13 Grant Amerson 70 74 69 — 213 T13 Joakim Flinck 70 69 74 — 213 T13 Jonathan Collins 72 71 70 — 213 T13 Kevin Marsh 73 69 71 — 213 T13 Matthew Thomas 70 73 70 — 213 T13 Max Alcorn 70 72 71 — 213 T19 Jeff Lewis 67 71 76 — 214 T19 Jonathan Hogan 74 69 71 — 214 T19 Karma Lama 70 70 74 — 214 T19 Scott Macdonald 66 75 73 — 214 T23 Alec Constantinides 70 73 73 — 216 T23 Michael Nam 74 70 72 — 216 25 Hunter D Robinson 71 73 73 — 217 T26 Johnny Henno 69 75 75 — 219 T26 Sam Metzger 71 73 75 — 219 T26 Scott Snowbarger 71 73 75 — 219 29 Steven Lam 70 74 76 — 220 30 Timothy Snyder 72 71 78 — 221 31 Tyler Davis 73 71 81 — 225

Graduating Student-Athletes Invited to Foresters Game

by John Dvorak With high school graduations fast approaching, Presidio Sports and the Santa Barbara Foresters would like to extend an invitation to all graduating studentathletes and their families to attend the Santa Barbara Foresters baseball game on Sunday, June 8.

Prior to the game, the All-City AllStar athletes from spring sports will be introduced on the field and one will be picked to throw out the ceremonial first

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Opening Day for the Santa Barbara Foresters is Saturday, May 31, at UCSB’s Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Foresters and Presidio Sports are hosting an appreciation day for high school graduates on Sunday, June 8, at the ballpark.

pitch. Presidio Sports selects its All-City All-Star Teams for high school sports to recognize local athletes demonstrating excellence in leadership and performance.

The Sunday, June 8, game is against the Neptune Beach Pearl and begins at 1 pm at UCSB’s Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Foresters’ season begins on Saturday, May 31.

The college all-star summer team has more than 30 former players in the big leagues, including James Shields, Matt Garza, Ryan Cook, and AJ Griffin.

Please contact Presidio Sports through its website in order to receive a complimentary pass to the game.

Next Level Watch

by John Dvorak & Barry Punzal Former Dos Pueblos Charger J. Patrick Smith won his third-straight NCAA Division II championship in the decathlon in Allendale, Michigan, while competing for Chico State.

“The first one was kind of out of the blue,” Smith told Lenny Padilla of NCAA.com. “The second one, I wasn’t the favorite and the third one [here], I came in with a bull’s-eye on my back.

So it was pretty stressful, but I’m glad I had these two guys with me through the whole thing.”

Teammates Teddy Elsenbaumer and John Brunk gave the Wildcats three of the top six spots in the decathlon, finishing second and sixth, respectively.

Smith had earned the country’s number-one seed in the decathlon thanks to a 7,351-point performance April 4-5 at the Sam Adams Combined Events Invitational at Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

On May 23 in Michigan, Smith scored a career-best 7,645 points and set a school record in the process.

Smith, who was a Santa Barbara County champion in the long jump and triple jump as a high school senior, graduated from Dos Pueblos in 2009.

Before the national championships, Smith was recently named the West Region Field Athlete of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Nick Scarvelis, UCLA Track & Field – Another Dos Pueblos grad, Scarvelis captured his first Pac-12 title in the shot put for the Bruins. Scarvelis threw 63 feet and 10.25 inches. The sophomore’s best throw of the season came on May 4 against USC, traveling 64’ 4.5k.

Scarvelis added a sixth-place result in the discus at the Pac-12 Championships held in Pullman, Washington, with a throw of 174-2.

Next for Scarvelis is the NCAA Far West Regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas, from May 29-31. There he will be competing as a top-10 seed nationally in the shot put.

Chloe Madill, Dartmouth Softball – Madill completed her rookie campaign at Dartmouth with 42 starts in 44 games.

Still a high school senior at this time last year, Madill posted the fifth-best batting average for Dartmouth. Madill was a major contributor for the Big Green, who won their first-ever Ivy League Championship and reached the NCAA Regional.

In the Ivy League championship series, Madill batted second in the lineup and recorded a double in the title-clinching 7-3 win over Penn.

Jack Perry, Northwestern Golf – Perry, the leader of the Santa Barbara High team that won a CIF State Championship in 2010, finished third overall at the Big West Championships in early May. The 72-hole tournament was played at the Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Indiana.

Perry spoke with the Daily Northwestern after the tournament.

“Individually, if I don’t win Big Tens, it’s not a success,” Perry said. “There was a lot of encouraging golf, I just had some silly bogeys, which I’ve had the last few tournaments and I need to get sorted out.

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Dos Pueblos alum J. Patrick Smith recently won a national championship for Chico State in the decathlon.

Obviously, I’m happy with third place, but to never get a Big Ten championship ring either with the team or individually is a bust that will go on my golf career no matter what I do.”

Perry and Northwestern then wrapped up their season at the NCAA Regional in San Antonio. The Wildcats failed to advance by finishing in 12th, while Perry was 35th individually.

NCAA Baseball Tournament – Three former high school baseball standouts will be playing in the NCAA Baseball Tournament this weekend.

Danny Zandona of Cal Poly and UC Irvine’s Johnny Brontsema are Santa Barbara High alums, and Steven Reveles of Nebraska is a graduate of Dos Pueblos High.

Zandona is a junior middle reliever for the Big West-champion Mustangs (45-10), who are hosting a four-team regional this weekend. They’ll be joined by Pepperdine, Sacramento State, and Arizona State. Cal

Poly opens against Sacramento State on Friday. Zandona is 4-0 with a 2.66 ERA in 47.1 innings of work.

Brontsema is a freshman infielder at UC Irvine. The Anteaters (35-22) are playing in the Corvallis Regional at Oregon State with the host Beavers, UNLV, and North Dakota State. They open Friday against UNLV. Reveles, who was an All-American infielder at SBCC before moving on to Nebraska, started 48 games for the Cornhuskers (40-19), posting a batting average of .254 and a fielding percentage of .937. Nebraska is in the tournament for the first time since 2008. It opens against Cal State Fullerton in the Stillwater, Okla.

Regional.

A pair of Reveles’ SBCC teammates also are in the regionals: outfielder Zach Zehner with Cal Poly and pitcher Brendon Shoemake of Youngstown State. Zehner is the second leading hitter for the Mustangs with a .329 average.

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by James Luksic A longtime writer, editor and film critic, James has

worked nationwide for several websites and publications – including the Dayton Daily News, Key West Citizen, Topeka Capital-Journal and Santa Ynez Valley Journal. California is his eighth state. When he isn’t watching movies or sports around the Central Coast, you can find James writing and reading while he enjoys coffee and bacon, or Coke and pizza.

Santa Ynez Valley Stars

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he Santa Ynez Valley’s own Jim Farnum and Gerald Di Pego provide fine work in their respective new movies: Farnum has a tasteful, professional cameo in 50 to 1, while screenwriter Di Pego keeps the vocabulary flowing for Words and Pictures.

As my reviews below indicate, both men’s contributions are among the films’ splashes of bright spots.

Elsewhere: Judging from its box-office haul during the holiday weekend, it would appear X-Men Days of Future Past was seen by more Americans than not. Although regular filmgoers and critics alike are showering Wolverine and cohorts with praise, I’ve grown weary of the comic-book and video-game infiltration, whose novelty is wearing out its welcome. Oh, look – there’s Spider-Man here, Iron Man there, Captain America again – and we can only hope an inevitable third version of 300 disappears for the betterment of mankind.

Any ending to the onslaught isn’t on the horizon: Guardians of the Galaxy, whose trailer is the poorest I’ve witnessed all year, lands this summer.

One-Trick Pony

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he title 50 to 1 reflects the odds that faced Mine That Bird in the 2009 Kentucky Derby before he proceeded to win. The picture, largely shot and set in New Mexico, seems torn between serious drama and outrageous comedy – saddled with tacky scenes and trampled platitudes: “Anything can happen,” “You can’t win unless you’re in,” and so forth.

The climactic outcome is so strongly hinted at, so heavy-handed, that it’s only a mystery or suspenseful to the folks on screen. Even the most casual, uninitiated movie-goer will sense what’s coming; the filmmakers use everything but cue cards and Twitter to inform us who will win the race. (Subtle hint: It won’t be the heavy favorite I Want Revenge, because we’re reminded ad nauseum of his superiority.)

As the gruff and determined protagonist, Skeet Ulrich delivers an unvaried performance that’s intermittently a blessing and curse. William Devane, whose soothing demeanor has made him a personal favorite since Knots Landing’s heyday,

INTERMEZZO & A MOVIE

adds refined touches (“Why’d you hire him?”), while Madelyn Deutch does well in an unrewarding role as the stubborn assistant.

Real-life jockey Calvin Borel portrays himself and walks, or rides, away with the movie. Down the stretch, he boasts moments that generate more feel-good goose bumps than all previous scenes combined.

More Than Words

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ords and Pictures is a romantic dramedy that pits a pair of prep-school teachers – an English expert (Clive Owen) vs. the painter and art instructor (Juliette Binoche) – in the titular contest among students and faculty.

In the midst of ice-breakers, literary insults, and sexual tension, the spotlighted stars find a patch of common ground – when the hero isn’t preoccupied with alcohol.

Although adequately shaped by director Fred Schepisi, the film isn’t outside the realm of a made-for-television Hallmark or Lifetime production. Gerald Di Pego pens a crafty if somewhat contrived narrative, rife with wordplay and banter. Indeed, Owen finally finds a worthy script – the first since brilliant Children of Men eight years ago – that he can bite his talented teeth into, and he shines in the bargain.

Binoche, given short shrift in the concurrent Godzilla, receives an abundance of screen time and takes advantage in supplying chemistry (and friction) with the male lead.

Money Ball

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illion Dollar Arm is a live-action Disney sports dramedy that follows the true tale of two young men (should the title be pluralized?) from India who earned a trip to America and potential tryouts with Major League Baseball teams.

Craig Gillespie (Lars and The Real Girl) takes care not to over-direct, sidestepping the touristy views around India: We get unpretentious glimpses – the real, everyday country – not flashy, trumped-up shots. (Rarely has the Taj Mahal looked so subdued.) If the titular tryout and contest is – to quote one character – a “circus,” it can be expected of a fame-parched country of a billion people starved for such attention. Speaking of which, Gillispie pays a good deal of consideration to the significance of family, commitment, and loyalty. And the actors portraying the pitching prospects are affable and respectful in every aspect.

I could’ve done without the subplot involving a greedy NFL star; its predictable details echo too much of Jerry Maguire. As the sports agent herein, Jon Hamm (television’s Mad Men) – like the players he’s striving to sign – takes awhile to warm to the task. Lake Bell rings true as the love interest who happens to live on the hero’s property; Alan Arkin, though suitably cast as a semi-retired baseball scout, doesn’t try to rise above being himself.

Throughout the past couple of decades, has there been an American actor more typecast?

Shaken and Stirred

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lended, a two-hour sitcom that pairs Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore on screen for a third time, isn’t the charm.

The two single parents survive an exasperating blind date and vow to never be seen together again – or until they each take their kids to Africa, where they bump into each other at a safari resort. Any credible specifics about how the families procured the tickets get glossed over, and for that we should be grateful.

Director Frank Coraci – who showed promise with The Wedding Singer more than 15 years ago – here continues a personal lapse (Click, The Waterboy, Here Comes the Boom) and his favorite sacrificial ham, Sandler, is no tonic. But then, our marquee star gets scant support: The likes of Kevin Nealon and Shaquille O’Neal behave in a way that prizes audience reaction over integrity; it’s as if they’re auditioning for Blended’s potential TV spinoff.

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...continued from p.14 wealthy class that would control government for itsown benefit and that endangers “democracy.” He concludes that capital automatically grows at 4% a year. How does he determine that?

He pulls together copious amounts of data on capital growth and concludes that “capital” has grown by 4% over time, but he never explains why that is so, other than making conclusory statements. This is ludicrous and demonstrates a facile grasp of the foundations of economics. He ignores almost all endogenous factors that go into the creation of wealth. Wealth grows because people do something productive to make it grow; it doesn’t just happen. Yet he believes that somehow it magically just grows.

It is easy to demonstrate his error.

If you look at the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans, you would find that the list always changes, and the very rich win and lose over time. Larry Summers(!) pointed out that by 2012, less than a 10th were still on the list of those who were there in 1982. Ditto the data from the IRS on the top taxpayers in the U.S. So where is this permanent, wealthy elite that pulls our strings?

There is none: there is a revolving door at the top. Yet despite the fact that wealth is created and lost by the actions of entrepreneurs over time and does not create some permanent dominant wealthy class, Piketty still believes that these permanent elites exist and somehow rule the world and endanger democracy.

There are definitely problems with democracy, but a permanent, wealthy class that just sits on its ass and lets capital magically grow isn’t it. Perhaps instead it might be politicians who buy votes with reckless spending and create deficits resulting in generational-crushing debt.

With this in mind, Piketty’s conclusion that wealth must be confiscated from this mythical permanent, wealthy elite to prevent its dominance to “save democracy” is, to use a more polite word, poppycock. As I pointed out in my article, it would only destroy the economy, not save it. If that (wealth destruction) is any economist’s conclusion from his research and data, we need to look no further because it is wrong. It unmasks such a proponent as an intellectual fraud, ignorant of the reasons societies prosper or fail.

So in that respect, if you think that I am being close-minded because I don’t consider his ramblings worthy of serious consideration, so be it. I don’t.

Anyone who believes that Piketty is offering something new or intellectually daring would be wrong. Piketty is just another neo-Marxist economics poseur who appeals to those who don’t understand economics or how the world really works. He should be ignored.

Jeff Harding Montecito

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The Weekly Capitalist

by Jeff Harding

Jeff Harding is a real estate investor and a writer on economics and finance. He is the former publisher of the Daily Capitalist, a popular economics blog. He is also an adjunct professor at SBCC.

...continued from COVER

I

would love to blame high prices on our local governments for deterring growth, but that is just one factor contributing to our high prices. Maybe not even the most important one. The real answer is an economic one: the South Coast is on a narrow shelf of land that is pretty well built-out and, as to those parts that aren’t, we are pretty content to have it not, or very lightly, developed. Since none of us wish to have our lovely area look like L.A., we are willing to pay the price for what we have.

I am always asked: Are property prices going up? The easy answer is yes, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

The Residential Market

The conventional wisdom was that Santa Barbara home prices pretty much just always went up and were immune to down cycles. That was sort of true throughout Santa Barbara’s early history, but it’s mostly a myth. The data I found for the 30 years from 1983 to 2012

showed that home prices increased in 19 of those years and declined in 11.

During the 1990 cycle, it took six years to recover. If you bought at the top of the bubble in 2007, you have yet to break even.

The best way to understand overall price trends is to look at the average persquare-foot sale price in order to even out the confusing mix of prices between condos and single-family homes.

The average per-square-foot sale price sank like a rock from a high of $725 p/ sf in 2007 to about $430 p/sf in 2009, it began to rise in 2012, and now it is about $591 p/sf, up about 38% from the bottom. But the recent rapid rise of home prices has led to the inevitable, which is that home sales and prices are flattening out.

This tells me something about the housing market: the craziness of 2000 to 2007 isn’t going to repeat itself. To look back at prices at the top of the housing bubble and think that is where we should

be is wrongheaded. This time is different; people don’t have as much wealth.

Present home prices are the new normal.

But, you say, the stock market is booming, the tech sector is flying high, and debt is low; certainly this wealth effect will drive up housing prices. No, it won’t. If you are in the epicenter of the tech bubble, the Bay Area, yes. If you are in New York City, where financial bubble bonuses are driving up the price of everything, yes. But for the rest of America, including Santa Barbara, no.

Not even in Montecito. Median prices there, far from the wealth epicenters, peaked at about $3,500,000 at the top of the bubble and now hover at the $2,000,000 range.

So, as we see, Santa Barbara is not immune to the forces that drive the rest of America, and you can’t just ignore what happened in the last seven years.

Here is the reality of housing in Santa Barbara: For the last 10 years, our median income has flattened out. It’s a national trend.

The housing market here and in most of the U.S. is being driven by artificially low mortgage rates. You can see the market’s relative weakness by its sensitivity to interest rates. When mortgage rates spiked in 2013, sales dropped off.

The economy is riding on a bubble of

the twin federal policies of low interest rates and injections of monetary steroids.

The beneficiaries have been the financial markets where all the juiced money has landed (record-high stocks, crazy IPOs, Ferraris); the housing market; interestrate-sensitive auto sales; and cheap-dollar driven exports. It has helped Wall Street, but not so much on Main Street. Bubbles never last.

After digging out of their debt holes for the past six years, consumers are inclined to save rather than spend, so sacrificing the kids’ education and retirement to get into a McMansion isn’t in the picture.

Homeownership is declining nationally.

At the height of the Fed-induced credit bubble in 2004, homeownership reached 69% of families. Now it has receded to its historical norm of about 64% to 65%.

This is a sea change, and I believe it will continue as a result of current economic policies.

But the politics of the South Coast will allow only limited development over time. It’s supply and demand, and as long people are willing to make sacrifices to live here, prices will remain at relatively high levels – but don’t look for runaway prices any time soon.

I am a long-time homeowner here, so I can’t complain; Santa Barbara has been good to me. But those were different ...continued p.31

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What Does It Take to Live in Santa Barbara?

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Over $1 Billion in Sales!

by Ana Mezic

(Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series.

In the next edition, our focus will be condominiums, downtown, West Beach, Westside, Montecito, Hope Ranch, and the future of affordability.)

I

f all you can afford is a $1.2-million dollar “fixer-upper” on the Mesa or San Roque, would it really be worth buying at this point? Surprisingly enough, the answer around here is Yes. Yes it is.

It is worth it because of the lifestyle that comes along with living in what chamber of commerce types like to call the American Riviera.

It is worth it because the quantity and quality of local schools is unparalleled in a city so small.

It is worth it because artistic and cultural endeavors are far superior to anything a city even four times the size of Santa Barbara can offer.

It is worth it because we not only have year-round resort-type weather, but that yearround weather is often better than anybody’s weather, anywhere. It is rarely over 80 degrees and rarely under 32 degrees.

It is worth it because right behind this little city of Santa Barbara lies a vast terrain of unspoiled and unique backcountry, protected by state and federal government parks.

There is at least one drawback to living here: shopping isn’t nearly as good as it is in say, Los Angeles.

But you knew that.

The cost of homes in Santa Barbara has been on the rise for a good while, cushioned – mostly (read Jeff Harding’s Weekly Capitalist on page 20 for more on this subject) –from the blows of recession by its high-demand, low-supply market. The median price has risen to nearly its pre-recession high, although the number of sales has dropped since last year. Before the bubble burst in 2007, the median price of a Santa Barbaraarea home was $1.26 million. The current median sales price for 2014 is $1.08 million, according to Stan Tabler’s Real Estate Market Trends.

It’s going to be a stretch for many to figure out how to come up with enough of a down payment to manage to buy a home and live in it comfortably, and not everyone will be able to manage that. But, ask anyone who bought a home, let’s say, more than 10 years ago. There will be very few who’ll argue that it wasn’t worth it. And the nice thing about a 30-year mortgage is that your “rent” – thanks to Proposition 13 – can’t go up more than two percent a year. Thirty years of “rent control” fixes a lot of financial feebleness.

What follows is my assessment of eight different Santa Barbara communities and what they offer. Here’s hoping you find one that suits your needs, desires, and/or pocketbook: ...continued p.24

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a touch of Provence | Santa ynez $1,695,000 | WeB : 0621600 Patty murPhy 805.680.8571

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The Mesa

Can I Afford It? Mesa Least expensive home: $799,000 Median Home Price: $1,225,000 Down Payment: $245,000 (20%) Payment including insurance and taxes: $6,682 Required monthly income: 16,000 per month (pretax) Yearly required household income: $192,000 (pretax) Numbers brought to you by: Austin Lampson Sr. Mortgage Consultant, NMLS # 517060 Phone:805-335-8200 Cell: 805-450-4548 www.austinlampson.com Disclaimer: Payments and terms are for informational purposes only. Programs are only available to qualified borrowers, and subject to change. Underwriting terms and conditions apply; some restrictions may apply. OnQ Financial does not guarantee every program is available to all applicants, nor that every application will receive a loan.

T

he Mesa sits parallel to Hope Ranch, though the prices between the two areas are starkly different. One of the greatest perks of living atop a coastline hill in Santa Barbara is beach access, and the mesa provides plenty at a lower cost than most other locations in town.

Mike Richardson, a realtor, has lived on the Mesa for 35 years. In that time he has watched his community morph from copious rentals to family homes at relatively affordable prices, for our city, at least.

“The Mesa has gone through a beautiful transition. Remodels, homes being torn down and rebuilt... even over the last fifteen years it has been changing, residentially and commercially,” says Richardson.

He also says the majority of people buying on the mesa right now are owneroccupants looking for good schools like Washington and Monroe, or affluent out-oftowners purchasing a second home by the beach.

“When I first started working on the Mesa, there were a lot of older people transitioning to retirement facilities and selling. Right now, the buying public is a nice combination of young families, as well as people looking for second homes,” Richardson notes.

The Mesa is more than an area; it is its own small village with various restaurants, shops, and parks bustling with life.

One of the most popular establishments is Lazy Acres —a food store akin to Whole Foods but uniquely located only in Santa Barbara and Long Beach. It is now owned by Bristol Farms, which itself is owned by Albertsons, but it began as a health food store right here on the mesa and continues to offer its unique stable of food and goods. A hike down the hill brings you straight to the harbor, restaurants, bars, and Leadbetter beach.

A single-family home on the Mesa is currently selling for an average price of $1.5 million, while condos sell for an average of $774,000.

Santa Barbara City College – which in 2013 received the Aspen Institute Prize as the nation’s top community college – brings an influx of young people seeking rooms to rent, and apartment complexes surround the school. But the presence of so many young people brings life to the area.

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This 1033 square-foot 2bd/1ba home is currently listed at $799,000 by Mike and Kyle Richardson. The house has a large backyard and an additional 800 square-foot workshop.

Richardson has seen buyers flocking to the Mesa in light of the recent dry spell and increased fire hazards.

“If you look at a 365-day year you’ve got 330 days that are usually sunny. A big reason that I see people wanting to live on the Mesa now is their concern about fires, but also living by the ocean is a ten-to-twelve degree difference. In the summer, if it’s 80 on the Mesa it’s 90 downtown,” he says.

“I’m very emotionally tied to the Mesa. I’ve lived here since 1978,” Richardson says.

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Office: 805.963.1704 Fax: 805.965.1139 1806 Cliff Drive. Santa Barbara. CA 93109

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SOLD

The Richardson Team

330 Mohawk Road Santa Barbara, CA 93109

Mike & Kyle Richardson

Your Santa Barbara Realtors

To anyone buying or selling real estate, this is my opinion of Mike Richardson, Realtors, I knew when I selected Mike as my real estate agent that I would be writing a great review for his services, but I had no idea that I would be writing it this soon. When we decided to sell our house in Santa Barbara, I wanted to pick somebody who really knew the area and knew the mesa, and had a great deal of expertise and experience. As I looked at all my choices, Mike clearly rose to the top. When I went into his office, he greeted me very warmly, made me feel comfortable, asked me what my plans were for timing, etc., and gave me some great advice around the best time to sell the house and what I needed to do to get the house ready for sale.

We decided to do a lot of the work ourselves, and Mike was a great partner in terms of helping us really do the things that would make a difference to a potential buyer versus the things that we might have done for our own personal taste. In every step of the way from picking the countertops to the flooring to retiling the bathrooms, he was there advising us and helping us make the choices that would be the best for the marketplace. Mike also has a crew of people that he works with, and at first I was somewhat suspicious about using his people that they were going to be expensive and actually cost me more, but what I found in reality was that his landscaper was more than reasonable, his carpenters that had to do some finishing work and all of the other contractors that he utilizes were all very reasonable and had competitive prices which I greatly appreciated. Mike has a great sense of taste, he has a very perfectionist eye. He insisted on things being done right versus done fast or sloppily, and as he would walk through the house at the very beginning and throughout the process, he really brought a level of attention to detail that for things that we wouldn’t normally see but popped out in his mind and he really insisted that we take the house to the next level.

Mike also very delicately handled the relationship between me and my exwife, which I greatly appreciated, and was very professional and respectful of our relationship.

As we came close to the sale date, we were hustling to get all of the changes done and work completed, and at some point, he very graciously said, “I need to take over now,” which he did and executed everything exquisitely.

Mike has a great sense of humor which made the process fantastic and fun, so there not only was a great business transaction but a great personal interaction as well. I hope that when it comes time for you to choose an agent that you’ll pick Mike. I mean I recommend him without any reservation and I think he should definitely go to the top of your list. In a market where the average days on market is 50 days, as a result of his work and his expertise, 21 days after the house was on the market, we got our first offer and we were able to negotiate the price that we were looking for. What more could you ask for in a business partnership?

Jim Peal

$1,250,000

The Richardson Team

Kyle Richardson, Realtor CDPE & NOTARY kyle@mrrealtors.com cell: 805.680.3131

Mike Richardson, Broker GRI, CRS, SRES, CDPE, PMC mike@mrrealtors.com cell: 805.451.0599 BRE Lic. # 00635254

BRE Lic. # 01902531 REALTOR

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The Riviera, Upper Eastside and Mission Canyon

Can I Afford It? Riviera Least expensive home: $906,000 Median Home Price: $2,310,000 Down Payment: $462,000 (20%) Payment including insurance and taxes: $11,722 Required monthly income: $27,500 per month (pretax) Yearly required household income: $330,000 (pretax)

Upper Eastside This three bedroom, two and a half bathroom house overlooking Santa Barbara was listed for $1,699,000 and sold above asking price. Home’s listing agent is Kathy Spieler.

Least expensive home: $959,000 Median Home Price: $1,457,500 Down Payment: $291,500 (20%) Payment including insurance and taxes: $7,959 Required monthly income: $21,000 per month (pretax) Yearly required household income: $252,000 (pretax) Numbers brought to you by: Austin Lampson Sr. Mortgage Consultant, NMLS # 517060 Phone:805-335-8200 Cell: 805-450-4548 www.austinlampson.com Disclaimer:Payments and terms are for informational purposes only. Programs are only available to qualified borrowers, and subject to change. Underwriting terms and conditions apply; some restrictions may apply. OnQ Financial does not guarantee every program is available to all applicants, nor that every application will receive a loan.

T

he Upper East Side remains one of the most prestigious parts of town to live in, cradling the American Riviera, Mission Canyon, and the mouth of Montecito.

Living there provides great opportunities for walking downtown or even so far as the beach, if you’re a particularly eager walker. Apart from that, it’s biggest draw are the views, and the uncanny similarity the houses peeking out from Santa Barbara’s hills have to the famed French coastline.

With mountains to the back and a sprawling city by the sea in front, it’s not shocking that buyers are paying an average of $1.2 million for single-family homes in the area.

However, that number is a composite of all Eastside sales, including those in the lower area, so it’s safe to estimate the houses on the Eastside hills will sell for a significantly higher average.

Drive far enough and Alameda Padre Serra – the road that twists through the Riviera – will lead straight to Montecito, where single-family homes are currently selling for a median of $2 million, which is actually lower than last year’s $2.7 million. According to Tabler’s Real Estate Market Trends, Montecito is the only chunk of Santa Barbara selling with a median lower than last year’s.

The Lower East Side

T

he lower east side is a mixed bag of apartments, condos, and small single-family homes. Although parts of it look weathered, remodels litter the map.

Many (who don’t live here) view the long stretch of Milpas Street, by which the area is defined, as a passing point, one that only leads to the freeway. But at least one local resident saw the vacant buildings scattered around Milpas as a beckoning opportunity instead. There is way more to Milpas than meets the eye.

Chris Vigilante attended UCSB before deciding to open a restaurant with his wife, his college roommate, and a close friend.

“I lived on the [lower] east side when I opened the shop,” he says during a short conversation. “I liked my neighborhood,” he continues, “but it wasn’t the best walking neighborhood; other than Mexican restaurants, there wasn’t much to do. We saw that

the neighborhood could benefit from our plans,” says Vigilante.

They named their new restaurant, which they opened about 18 months ago, The Shop Cafe, as their building is surrounded by car mechanics and tire-changing stations.

“I think the eastside is representative of Santa Barbara as a whole. We thought that whether you’re a white guy or Mexican or black, it has nothing to do with success.

As long as you show that you care about the neighborhood, the response should be positive,” said Vigilante.

Recent improvements include an expanded bike lane on Cota, and constant efforts by the Milpas Community Association to make Milpas a safer place.

“We’re part of the Milpas Association. There’s a real sense of neighborhood pride here,” says Vigilante, “but we would love to have more neighbors. The building across the street has been vacant since we opened, so there are a lot of opportunities to expand business,” he notes.

The Milpas community, in fact, recently earned top honors in the latest USA Neighborhood of the Year contest. For more details, read Sharon Byrne’s “Santa Barbara View” column on page 12.

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Riviera

FOR SALE

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- Sought after by locals and newcomers alike,

the Santa Barbara Riviera neighborhood is known for its incredible ocean, island, harbor and city views, ideal climate and historic charm. Demand for this area is strong and this year the toughest part about buying a home on the Riviera has been the lack of homes available. All areas of the Riviera are popular, but recently there is an increased demand for lower Riviera homes that combine the views and charm with the

202 Loma Media Road, $1,495,000 Breathtaking views from this 3BD/3BA Riviera gem!

convenience of being minutes from downtown Santa Barbara shopping, restaurants and theaters.

Current Year to Date Statistics: 22 Closed Sales - Lowest Sales Price - $875,000, Highest Sales Price $6,778,000 Average Sales Price - $2,010,00 - Median Sales Price $1,867,062 Average Days on the Market - 37 Days List Price to Sales Price Ratio - 98% There are 17 homes for sale on the Riviera and 2 Duplexes ranging in price between $1,100,000 and $6,995,000.

Nine of the homes are priced under $2,000,000 and eight are priced over $2,000,000. Well-priced homes continue to sell within days of being listed and although the number of homes for sale is increasing, we are still below 2013

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numbers. Prices seem to be leveling off after a sizable doubledigit increase in 2013.

Kathy’s Recent Riviera Sales Include: 1742 Prospect Avenue, $1,353,000 1620 Grand Avenue, Price Upon Request 1621 Oramas Road, 1,225,000 1746 Prospect Avenue, $1,715,000

1621 Oramas Road, SOLD FOR $1,225,000 Classic Riviera 3BD/1.5BA with charm & views.

If you would like to receive more information on the Santa Barbara Real Estate Market, call Kathy Strand Spieler at (805) 895-6326 or email, KathySpieler@gmail.com

Kathy Strand Spieler (805) 895-6326 KathySpieler@gmail.com www.KathySpieler.com

CA BRE: 00851281

© 2014 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices does not guarantee the accuracy of square footage, lot size or other information concerning the condition or features of property provided by the seller or obtained from public records or other sources.

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San Roque

Can I Afford It? San Roque Least expensive home: $562,500 Median Home Price: $849,000 Down Payment: $169,800 (20%) Payment including insurance and taxes: $5,333.33 Required monthly income: $12,500 per month (pretax) Yearly required household income: $150,000 (pretax) Numbers brought to you by: Austin Lampson Sr. Mortgage Consultant, NMLS # 517060 Phone:805-335-8200 Cell: 805-450-4548 www.austinlampson.com

“I

’m just eyeballing it, but when I first moved here, the area was referred to as a place “for the newly wed or nearly dead,” says San Roque resident Elizabeth Berlese. “Now,” she observes, “I feel that we’re seeing a lot more young families, and lots of children.”

Berlese has lived in San Roque for 26 years and is mother of two boys who grew up roaming the area’s notoriously safe streets. San Roque suffers from its popularity, in that the median price for a single-family home here is $849,000.

“I really like the family-neighborhood feel to it and that we have all kinds of houses, big and small. There’s no such thing as a modest neighborhood in Santa

Disclaimer: Payments and terms are for informational purposes only. Programs are only available to qualified borrowers, and subject to change. Underwriting terms and conditions apply; some restrictions may apply. OnQ Financial does not guarantee every program is available to all applicants, nor that every application will receive a loan.

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Barbara – but this one, to me, doesn’t have a poshness to it,” says Berlese.

San Roque is just a short jaunt from Gelsons, Chaucer’s Books, Renaud’s French Bakery, Jeannine’s, and many other fine and popular restaurants and local favorites like Pizza Guru.

La Cumbre Plaza is a short walk away. The outdoor mall hosts a variety of retail and designer stores from Sears to Tiffany’s. At sundown – every Friday in June – families descend upon the mall with lawn chairs, snacks, and the occasional blanket for Family Flick Night, a free event hosted by La Cumbre management.

“It’s a great place to live because you never know the commercial part is over there; it’s so quiet, but at the same time so convenient,” said Berlese.

“And the kids are great,” she adds. “It’s really lovely to be in a neighborhood which has the sound of children around.”

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...continued from p.20 times. The economy has changed, and we are entering into a period where booms and busts will occur more frequently and subsequent recoveries won’t be as vigorous as the previous cycle.

Is Santa Barbara housing a good investment? In the long term, yes. I don’t think Santa Barbara’s appeal will change.

If you buy at the bottom of a business cycle, you will be okay for the very reasons why we all live here. But, if you buy at the top of a cycle, you’ll probably need 10 years to make things work out.

Investment Real Estate

I teach real estate investment at SBCC, and I invite local real estate investors to come to the class to talk about what they do and how they got to be successful. Each of them does something slightly different in the real estate investment world. All of them said that it’s very difficult right now to find anything in California, much less Santa Barbara, that makes any sense. The exceptions were those who found special situations that they couldn’t pass up, but even then, they stressed the long-term nature of those deals.

If this is the case, why are investors pouring money into Santa Barbara real estate?

One of the effects of the federal policies that I mentioned above (artificially low interest rates plus a lot of new money injected into the financial markets) is that everyone is chasing the same thing: yield. What that means is that because returns are very low in traditional investments (bonds, mortgages, dividend paying stocks, CDs, and savings accounts) investors look for better returns in different and often riskier types of investments.

The result is that there is a lot of money seeking investment real estate, from the large funds that have billions to invest on down to small investors. All of them are looking for better returns on their money. And that is the problem. This “chasing yield” phenomenon has driven investment-grade real estate prices up and returns down.

For example, large apartment complexes, the types that are favored by big investment funds, have been bid up on a national basis to the point that investors have to pay all cash to receive a return of only 4½ to 5½%. With price inflation running at about 2%, that’s not exactly a blistering return.

A good example of this is the recent Harbor Heights Manor sale of 97 apartments on Cliff Drive near SBCC. The property sold for an estimated $33,500,000, all cash to a local investor.

The $345,000 per-unit cost blew by last year’s average of $225,000 per unit. The buyer’s return on his all cash investment is only 4.5%.

The commercial market (retail, office, and industrial) is seeing much of the same price pressure.

There have been three kinds of recent

deals: hotels, owner-user commercial acquisitions, and, according to my broker friends, 1031 (tax-free) exchanges. In order to avoid taxes on the sale of a property, investors exchange their property for another and there are substantial time pressures to acquire a replacement property in order to meet IRS requirements.

Hotels: Last year, hotel deals accounted for about half of commercial sales. The Hyatt and two other hotels sold in 2013, and this year it was the Oceana hotel on Cabrillo Boulevard. All sold for big bucks. Hotels are basically investments in businesses, rather than strict realestate deals and low interest rates make them more attractive.

Commercial: Transactions have breached the $700 p/sf wall with the sale of the Lark property, the Firehouse in Montecito, and the Be Bop and Blush properties on State Street. Owner-user deals accounted for about one-half of commercial transactions. The rest were acquisitions by large-fund investors (e.g., the LOOP in IV) or small investors forced to pay high prices in order to complete a tax-free exchange.

Owner-user deals are driven by the desire to secure their ability to remain in Santa Barbara. One could say that companies like Citrix and Yardi don’t worry as much about the price paid than they are about finding and securing space to accommodate their expansion plans. For these kinds of businesses, the cost of space is not the major factor in their overall costs of operations.

Apartments will always be in demand here in an area of high home prices and limited new apartment construction, and their values are less affected by the business cycle, but investor demand is continuing to drive up prices resulting in negligible yields.

Santa Barbara doesn’t have the usual economic drivers that influence commercial real estate values: population growth and a booming business sector.

We have high prices for the same reasons that houses are priced so high, and that is because (1) it’s difficult to build new commercial space, (2) businesses that want or need to stay in Santa Barbara are willing to pay the price to do so, and (3) artificially low interest rates drive money into the market.

I am not saying the underlying factors that make Santa Barbara a good very long-term investment aren’t valid; Santa Barbara’s appeal is real and that is why values here will remain relatively high. I am saying that the current “recovery” is driven by the federal and the commercial market here, and everywhere is riding on air. Because these markets are so sensitive to rising interest rates, the only way to make sense of deals at historically high prices is a 10- to 20-year hold.

Thanks to Hayes Commercial and the Radius Group for the valuable data on Santa Barbara’s commercial market.

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COMMERCIAL CORNER

Bekins/Sonos Building | 25 E. Mason St. | Asking Price: $21.5 Million The February sale of this landmark Funk Zone building marks the largest deal involving office/R&D property in Santa Barbara since 2007, when the El Paseo building at 820 State Street traded for more than $25 million.

Once the headquarters of Bekins Moving & Storage Company, the property now houses the R&D arm of wireless sound system giant Sonos, which occupies all 47,000 square-feet on a 10-year lease.

Chris Parker Austin Herlihy

Commercial Real Estate Agents with Radius Group who have completed over $550,000,000 in total transaction value and Leased/Sold over 2,000,000 SF since 2005. In 2012, along with Radius principle Steve Brown, the team completed 42 deals comprised of 19 sales and 23 lease transactions totaling $113.5 Million in sales volume and more than $21.5 Million in lease value upwards of 500,000 square feet.

Bullish Start to 2014 Commercial Real Estate Sales

A

s we predicted, the combination of limited supply and hungry buyers started the year with a bang.

The first quarter of 2014 was undoubtedly the strongest first quarter we have seen in three years. The 23 commercial sales recorded easily trumps

Q1 2012’s 11 deals and Q1 2013’s 14 transactions.

The trend continues beyond the 1st quarter, as year to date there have been 32 sales. This bodes well for the market when you consider we are already halfway to 64, which is the annual average number

of sales – and we still have nearly a month and a half left in the 2nd quarter.

In addition, there is a high number of properties currently in escrow scheduled to close prior to June 30, so expect a strong first half of the year.

If this pace continues until year’s end – with inventory remaining low and investors poised to pounce – 2014 could produce the greatest number of commercial sales in the South Coast in more than 17 years.

Historically speaking, 2012 and 2013 year-end numbers have been very strong with 85 and 83 sales, respectively. In 2014, we have a potential of seeing 92 sales transactions, which would mark the highest average sales volume in Santa Barbara for a three-year period in more than 17 years.

Development Is Back!

Several new development projects are beginning to take shape in different parts of Santa Barbara: • The Alma Del Pueblo Public Market on Chapala and Victoria streets opened in April with much fanfare. The market offers a unique shopping and eating experience, with an eclectic mix of upscale restaurants and artisanal shops selling wine, cheese, seafood, meat, fresh bread, and other pantry goods.

• In the Funk Zone, the freeway-visible Youth Hostel located at State Street and Highway 101 is now under construction.

Several new multifamily projects are also under way, including one complex on the corner of Olive and Canon Perdido streets, in which a local developer is building 19 apartment units with ocean views attached to an existing 18,000-squarefoot office building. Additionally, the site

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at 1820 De La Vina Street is being graded in preparation for a 40-unit, residential care facility to house Alzheimer’z patients.

• The long-awaited Entrada de Santa Barbara Hotel project is expected to break ground in June, and the Prado Hotel located at 1601 State Street has also undergone a major renovation and is now flagged as a La Quinta Inn. • The Sevilla condo development project at 401 Chapala Street downtown was completed in May, all of the commercial units are currently in escrow, and a number of the residential units have already sold.

What Is Driving The Market?

As we alluded in our 2013 year-end report, one major factor driving this sales activity is the proliferation of 1031 exchange transactions. We expect this practice to continue. New buyers are absorbing the limited supply, driving prices ever higher and breaking offmarket properties loose, forcing otherwise unwilling sellers to then 1031 Exchange into new properties to avoid paying capital gains, which only continues the cycle. So what exactly is a 1031 Exchange?

Simply put: “Whenever you sell business or investment property and you have a gain, you generally have to pay tax on the gain at the time of sale. IRC Section 1031 provides an exception and allows you to postpone paying tax on the gain, if you reinvest the proceeds in similar property as part of a qualifying like-kind exchange (IRS Website www.irs.gov/uac/ Like-Kind-Exchanges-Under-IRC-CodeSection-1031)”.

To read more about 1031 exchanges, please turn to page 33.

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1031EXCHANGE

by Judy Egenolf

Judy is the founder and CEO of Amherst Exchange Corporation.

Dust Off Your Tax-Deferred Exchange

N

ow that the market has heated up and selling property will possibly produce a taxable gain, it is a good idea to get the facts straight about 1031 requirements and options. You likely remember that from the close of the sale of Relinquished Property the taxpayer has 45 days to identify (ID) potential Replacement Property, and from the same start date, 180 days to complete the exchange.

To avoid the payment of any tax, three elements must be considered: Cash, debt relief and property value. Taxpayer must utilize all exchange funds and replace all debt relief in the new property. If there is unspent cash (“cash boot”) and/or unreplaced debt relief (“debt relief boot”), tax is paid only on the boot. The balance of the exchange remains tax-deferred.

When strategizing an exchange, the structures available are: 1) Simultaneous or Concurrent Exchange: the purchase closes the day of, or the first business day following, the close of the sale; 2) Deferred Exchange: 45 days to identify replacement property and 180 days to complete the exchange; 3) Part-Exchange/ part-sale of personal residence: sell a percentage of property as an exchange if it has been held for productive use in a trade/business or for investment; and 4) Improvement or Construction Exchange: Qualified Intermediary (QI) takes title to replacement property and pays for improvements managed by the client using exchange funds. The improved property is transferred to the client within the 180-day exchange period; 5) Reverse Exchange: the replacement (new) property can be purchased before the relinquished property is sold. The client must have

adequate liquidity to loan funds to the Exchange Accommodation Titleholder (EAT) for the purchase by EAT of either the relinquished or replacement property, without the benefit of sale proceeds since the sale has not yet closed. The warehoused property in a Reverse Exchange can also be improved.

Converting Use from Commercial to Personal When a taxpayer decides to move into a property purchased in an exchange, 24 calendar months has become the mantra holding period in the 1031 realm. Any less time prior to conversion of use from commercial to personal should be discussed with a tax advisor. The same consistency of use is true of converting a personal residence into a rental.

Vacation homes are deemed personal use (non-qualifying for exchange treatment), unless they are rented most of the time and are personally used no more than 14 days/year or 10 percent of the number of days the property has been rented, whichever is greater.

There are three primary Identification Guidelines: 1) List three properties of any value; 2) If more than three properties are listed, Safe Harbor 2 states that you may list any number of properties so long as their combined fair market values (FMVs) do not exceed 200 percent of the value of the Relinquished Property; and 3) If you ID more than three properties and their combined FMVs exceed 200 percent of the value of the Relinquished Property, you must purchase 95 percent of the properties identified. The ID letter must be dated and signed by all parties.

Political Danger Zone for 1031 Exchanges As most of you know, 1031 exchanges always seem to be on the tax reform “hit list.” They have escaped the ax because they are so integral to real estate investment.

Political winds are again blowing strong and Congressman Dave Camp, House Ways and Means chairman, recently proposed a bill that essentially eliminates exchanges altogether. The administration’s current concept limits their use to defer a maximum of $1,000,000 in gain.

The underlying mood in Congress is the most threatening to Exchanges in history. This time around, the Republican controlled House, where all tax bills must originate in the Ways and Means Committee, has a nearly single-minded goal of reducing the corporate tax rate.

To accomplish that goal, the revenue that would be lost must be recovered by closing other tax incentives so the new tax reduction is essentially “paid for.”

The other tax incentives that are being considered are called the “pay fors.”

Because the revenue loss that would result from a reduction of the corporate tax rate is substantial, all possible “pay fors” are truly on the table.

This is an election year, so no significant tax legislation will be considered until 2015, but since the Republicans are likely to continue their majority in the House and the Senate may well be GOP controlled, too, the landscape for major

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33

tax legislation in 2015 is significant.

Some of the most influential lobbies have traditionally protected the real estate industry, and they will certainly wield their considerable influence to turn the tide. With such important items as the mortgage interest deduction also on the cutting block, they are indeed gearing up as we write.

The ability to restructure your investment without the imposition of a tax is one of the best incentives to invest in commercial real estate. Given that we have only recently begun our climb out of the great recession of the 21st century, and further given that a vibrant real estate economy is critical to recovery, it would seem foolhardy to even consider such a change right now. Even though Congress is rarely influenced by rational thoughtful actions, one can hope such a drastic step is not in our future.

Where Are We Headed and Will the Market Slow Down?

The most logical obstacle to sales continuing at this pace would be a rise in interest rates.

Rates did jump dramatically in May 2013, yet more recently 10-year treasury rates have come down significantly to 2.50% range and the new Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen appears to echo the views of Ben Bernanke, so it does seem unlikely that we will see a sharp jump in rates.

For the moment, it looks like the train may keep rolling unimpeded into 2015.

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by Rachelle Oldmixon

Love Can Mend Isla Vista’s Heart

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he events of May 23 were devastating. It may sound trite or overly poetic, but my heart weeps for everyone in Isla Vista. I have not felt this kind of pain since I was very young.

The following day was one of shock and horror for me. As more and more reports flooded in, I could only imagine the pain that the victims – and their friends – must have felt. After all, I was nowhere near Isla Vista, and I felt like I could barely breath when I heard the news 12 hours after the shootings ended.

Some of my pain came from having lived on the edge of Isla Vista during my first year in Santa Barbara. I frequented the restaurants, attended open-mic nights, and even ventured out to a party or two. I was critical of Isla Vista’s party reputation when I first arrived, but my students and peers quickly showed me that Isla Vista is a place of creativity and personal growth.

One young man’s actions have changed that. Now, Isla Vista is a place of such sadness that I doubt I could bear to walk its streets. I am in awe of the strength the residents of Isla Vista are showing. Even struck with grief and horror, they have come together to honor their fallen. And they are doing so under the scrutiny of the entire country. The nation has turned its gaze to Isla Vista to watch, and critique, the aftermath of one violent night. While some offer their support and sympathies, still more are using the tragedy as a platform for their own agendas. Some are connecting the Deltopia riots with this event. Others are shouting about gun control. Even more are shouting about misogyny and its inherent violence. And nearly every one of them is discussing the state of mental health in our country.

I’ve even made a few short comments on social media myself. I’ve expressed my sadness over the ineffectiveness of our mental health system, but I have kept most of my thoughts to myself. Now that a tragedy of this magnitude has hit me so close to home, I cannot imagine using someone else’s sorrow as a platform for my own personal beliefs about the state of our society. The residents of Isla Vista, the victims, and the families affected all need respect and privacy right now. It is going to be a long process of healing for all who were touched by last Friday. I don’t wish to make the emotional wounds deeper by analyzing the events or ranting about how they could have been avoided.

And yet, I cannot bring myself to write about anything else, either. Isla Vista, I mourn with you. UC Santa Barbara has become my home. My friends, be they

A self-professed science nerd, Rachelle has her B.A. in neuroscience from Skidmore College in upstate New York, and is working towards her Master’s in psychology at UCSB. In her free time, she blogs at www.synapticspeculations. com. She never could quite understand why she had to choose just one area of science; they are all fascinating.

Especially when paired with some classic rock.

peers or former students, live and work there, and I am there nearly as much now as I was when I was still a student. And Isla Vista is an essential part of UC Santa Barbara. Isla Vista, you are strong. You will heal.

I will offer some advice to the residents of Isla Vista, and to all the students of UC Santa Barbara: talk to someone you trust. Take advantage of the counseling the university is offering. Seek therapy from someone outside the university.

Do whatever you can to work through the wounds you have suffered. Do not presume that you do not deserve counseling because you think you weren’t as affected by the violence as others were. Everyone is hurting, and everyone needs to heal. The community as a whole cannot heal if its members do not first help themselves to heal. This wound will take a long time to scar over, and that is normal. But do not let it fester. Continue to live. Live in honor of those whose lives were taken from them.

As a good friend has said many times in the past few days: love, love, love, love, and love.

Gateway to Education On a less somber note, a wonderful (and local!) nonprofit is looking for some community support. Gateway Educational Services caters to underrepresented students who need a “leg up,” academically speaking. This summer, they would like to offer an intensive SAT and ACT preparation course to 24 students who could not otherwise afford it. However, there is a small funding gap between what the students need and what Gateway provides. You can support Gateway’s efforts and donate here: http://igg.me/at/gatewayedu/x.

Or, if that is too frustrating to type out, go to www.gatewaycamps.com, click on “Crowdfunding Campaign” under Events in the right-hand column, and follow the instructions to donate.

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GIRL

by Kateri Wozny Kateri is an award-winning journalist with a

background in print, online, radio and TV news. A native of Minneapolis, MN, she has written for the Chicago Sun-Times Media Group, Pepperdine University and Acorn Newspapers. She works full time as a public relations manager locally and loves exploring the Santa Barbara fashion scene. Follow her on Twitter @kitkatwozny.

Miss Behavin’ Boutique Brings Out Sass Oh, behave!

Many playful clothes hang out while waiting to be bought.

Owner Kelly Scott and her dog, Riley, are always ready to serve.

memorial. One of her customers, Katie Cooper, 22, was killed and others who were hurt are dedicated shoppers.

“My heart goes out to everyone that has been affected by this tragedy,” Scott said.

W

ith all the responsibilities in my life, I needed to let loose and walk among the young in Isla

Vista.

As I searched for my fun time, I discovered Miss Behavin’ boutique on Trigo Road. Ding! Thank God I had my wallet on me! As I climbed the stairs, I was greeted by owner Kelly Scott and her adorable Chihuahua-Shih Tzu mix (and store mascot), Riley.

“It’s trendy and fun here. Everyone is welcome,” Scott said.

I definitely felt the energy as grooving music immediately got me in the mood to shop. Even posters of the band Blondie, Marilyn Monroe and the movie Lolita fill the walls to give off the hip, edgy vibe – or as Scott calls it, “bad girls with great style.”

“My customers are super-smart and ‘miss behave’ a little,” Scott said. “Getting dressed for fun and class is what the store is all about!”

Opened in April 2007, Scott was inspired to name her boutique “Miss Behavin’” after a former New York magazine called Miss Behave.

“The name fits the vibe of IV,” she said.

“I always thought it would be a good idea to have a cute store here.”

Scott has always had a passion for fashion and the local scene. A Santa Barbara native, she graduated from UCSB in 2002 and later ventured to the Big Apple to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She even worked different jobs at Vogue, Simply Chic and Intermix in New York City for 4½ years before deciding to come back to her roots.

“I was over-working for a corporation and wanted to own my own store,” she said. “Having this store was always a dream of mine that I didn’t think would

Good Morals To show her appreciation to her lovelies, Scott hosts five parties and sales a year. A

M AY 3 1 – J U N E 1 4 | 2 0 1 4

Salt Swimwear trunk show is also held annually in March before UCSB’s spring break. Free drinks and food are served to satisfy cravings.

“My customers are great and mean a lot to me. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “I am happy to have clients that are getting dressed to go out and have a good time.”

Scott also loves helping out the local sororities by donating a sales percentage that goes to their cause. She also plans to give all proceeds from sunglasses sales now through Friday, June 6, to the Isla Vista victim’s fund.

“It feels good to help them out,” she said.

With much success with Miss Behavin’, Scott hopes to continue growing into the future.

“I hope to keep doing what I’m doing and that the store continues to evolve as fashion does,” she said.

I felt mischievous as I left with my purchase to find the next hot spot… party anyone?

Miss Behavin’ is located at 6551 Trigo Road. Hours are Monday-Saturday from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm, and Sunday from noon to 6 pm. For more information, call 968-2840 or visit online at www. shopmissbehavin.com. Don’t forget to like the boutique’s Facebook and Instagram (@shopmissbehavin) pages, where new items are posted each week!

It’s tIme to

Diamonds – no, sunglasses – are a girl’s best friend.

be a reality. Then I made it one.”

Miss Behavin’ carries a variety of tops, shorts and dresses from designers such as MINKPINK, Motel and Audrey. I picked up a cute floral crop top from Audrey that would go perfect with my new high-waist pencil skirt. The boutique even carries sunglasses galore (a whole section is dedicated to it) and even the local jewelry line ZAD. Prices range from $8 for a pair of stunning earrings to $58 for a romper.

Tops run between $24 to $30 and dresses from $38 to $42.

“There’s a lot of vintage-inspired pieces that are classic,” Scott said.

Isla Vista Tragedy Miss Behavin’ was also affected during the unfortunate crimes on May 23. Scott made the decision to shut down her boutique out of respect for the victims the following day and also on the day of the

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You Have Your Hands Full

by Mara Peters Former editor for the fashion/lifestyle section of the New York

Post, Mara moved to London and worked as a contributing editor for the Daily Mail’s You Magazine, freelancing for Look Magazine, NY Post and the Style Magazine for The Sunday Times. To remain sane during diaper years she writes a mommy blog, You Have Your Hands Full – www.handsfullsb.com.

An Empty Nest on the Horizon

R

ight before her daughter Brianna left for college, my good friend told me she’d lay down on her bed and imagine she was gone. You see, the room was going to change dramatically once she left. Her brother Pierce was getting older, and the girly room with a pink duvet, flowers, and heels would be transformed with blue paint, a train set, sneakers, and an American flag.

“I’d close my eyes, and just feel her leaving me,” she told me, “then tears would just stream down my face.”

Amazingly, a full year has passed. And now it’s my turn to feel the combination of wonderment and sorrow watching a child growing older – my son is graduating from 6th grade and can no longer be called a “kid.” He will be singing with his class The Beatles’ version of “My Life” at their ceremony. Distracted and irritable over the crazy ending of the school year, I Googled the song on a whim: “No one compares with you, and these memories lose their meaning, when I think of

love as something new, though I know, I’ll never lose affection, for people and things that went before, I know I’ll often stop and think about them. In my life, I love you more…”

The words forced me to stop my frenetic movements at the sink. I had to sit down at the kitchen table to absorb the magnitude that my first-born was going to middle school – more than halfway to college. And in the moment, in his celebration of growing up, it hits me hard that he is also growing away from me.

“Whoa, Mom!” Jackson said as he walked in from lacrosse practice and caught me staring into space. “Why are you crying? Did Teddy do something?”

The answer is not all that easy. You see, there is not one mom in my life who doesn’t want to see their child grow into a capable, amazing young adult, ready and prepared for life. It’s just that, well, we get left behind.

“Did you see that sappy Rob Lowe excerpt about sending his kid to college?”

One graduation down, two more to go...

another friend asked me. Lowe had written about the tough moment in parenting when he dropped his son off at his dorm. He had to let go and say goodbye. “I know you want me to be that, but it was seriously over-the-top,” she laughed easily.

I have patiently watched this close friend transition into an empty nester.

Her last son is graduating from Santa Barbara High. Throughout the year, she has made sure I knew she couldn’t wait for him to leave. She called me from a road trip that she and her husband took to Vegas to assure me that the whole empty-nesting thing was something they’d celebrate. I’d go to her house where a million teenagers were hanging out, and she’d sarcastically tell me she really was going to miss feeding them all.

I marveled at her ability to go completely unfazed by Harry’s departure.

And then the call came.

“I just got through watching his last baseball game,” she said through a shaky voice, “and I am gutted, are you happy?”

In a way, I was. Because instinct tells me that no parent goes unscathed: The empty rooms, the quiet house. The duty to take

care of and provide is not turned off like the running water of a faucet. It is a gradual process, that I’m not sure can be ever mastered.

“I open the door and watch her sleep,” a woman confided to me at Trader Joe’s; her daughter just got back from her second year in college. “I can’t help myself, I watch for hours.

She is gone in a week, back for summer school.”

As we spoke, the kids were all over me, asking for ice cream and snacks for school; Charlie is crying because he can’t find Wally. I feel guilty that I have so many of them – that my home is so full. (In fact, I often wish it were less full.) But when I see the painful steps all those empty nesters are taking, I recognize I’m in some seriously glory days.

We mothers are also true survivors. My road-tripping Vegas friend has offered to start all over and take Charlie to T-ball next year. “Write one kid’s sports needs off, the husband and I got it from here,” she said in the same conversation we had about Harry’s last game.

Let’s be honest, I have a long way to go.

As I watch one leave elementary school, another is entering kindergarten. Empty nesting is a solid 12 years away for me.

I’m just saying, my time will come. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy every moment. Minus the T-ball games. Thank heavens someone else has that covered.

Peters Pick I’m not sure why I didn’t think about it before, but it dawned on me by chance.

I was getting my haircut when my great friend Erin walked in. Joel had us overlapping. The next two hours at the salon was priceless: the three of us caught up together. Cracking jokes and gossiping about the celebrities we don’t care about. The beauty treatments that revolt us and those that intrigue us. It was so good, we’ve booked our cut and color together ever since. Revolutionary.

Get a friend and call Joel – he is the best.

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SANTA Byo urARBARA S KINNY gui de to

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.com

SANTA BARBARA LIVING

A Fond Farewell, Skinny Style

THE PET DETECTIVES

by John and Hudson Mayfield

Hudson (9) and John (7) are brothers and students at Montecito Union School. Hudson loves boats and the ocean, he can be found sailing around the harbor in his free time. John enjoys Minecraft, dogs and all kinds of animals. John is often spotted making new friends with dogs all over town.

Sheriff Canine Deputy Gango

Y

Eve, Sarah, Kim, Briana, Sylvie, and Courtney

Dear Santa Barbara Skinny friends,

or the past five years, we have enjoyed waking up by your side – sharing insider bits and tips on art, culture, food, trends, fashion and more in Santa Barbara. It has been our esteemed privilege to research and report back to you (with our bird’s-eye view) on all that our glorious coastal community has to offer.

Each day, we ventured out into our town to make fantastic new friends, experience an endless amount of local culture and feel inspired by the undeniable talent that hails from the Santa Barbara community. We hope that “The Skinny” has enlightened you, too!

However, on this bittersweet day, we bid you farewell.

Although our nest will be empty, we invite you to swing by and visit our website anytime (there are more than 1,000 posts... great summer reading). Who knows, perhaps one day these birds of a feather will flock back together for a little more skinny love.

Thank you for the memories, Santa Barbara!

F

Love, Eve, Sarah, Kim, Briana, Sylvie & Courtney

ou think you know the pet detectives? You’re wrong; this is The Real Pet Detective. Meet the highly trained sheriff canine deputy Gango. He is a German Shepherd and you guessed it, he speaks German. Gango has his own office in the back of a police car. A cool fact is that his nose knows where to find bad guys. He has received extensive training in “hard surface tracking” and he can sniff out “explosive devices.” Out of the three dogs for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s office, he is the most vocal. Gango has a lot to say.

Not only is Gango an awesome police dog, that saves and protects the lives of people including his handler, but when he is off-duty he is a pet. Gango lives with his handler, deputy sheriff Patrick Hayes. He is allowed in the house and treated with the utmost care and love. One of his favorite playtime activities is to go to the woodpile and find the biggest piece of wood to drag around proudly! We loved meeting Gango.

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This Program is funded by California utility ratepayers and administered by Southern California Gas Company, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.

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In the Garden with

Mr. Greenjeans

by Randy Arnowitz “Mr. Greenjeans,” as he is known around

Santa Barbara, is a gardener, horticulturist and writer. He particularly enjoys working with roses, orchids and sharing the day with his golden retriever Peaches, who faithfully accompanies him in the field. Contact him at greenjeansmr@gmail.com

Vines II: More Than You’ll Ever Want to Know

In only two years, my Passion Fruit Vine had covered this pasture fence. (Dog sold separately.)

Seems like this guy has stayed clean of avian scaly leg mites.

No small feat! (Photo courtesy Bill Charnley)

Cup Of Gold Vine needs chain link to contain and support it. Not for “small-space” gardening.

L

ast time, I went on (and on) about how to refurbish, or rehab a vine that may have gotten too large and out of control, or had become fat and hedge-like from being sheared inappropriately and too often. Like I promised, here is more stuff I thought of about growing vines.

As always, most of the information has some basis in horticultural fact or truth and has been gleaned from my many years in the field. The rest I made up because it sounded good.

Many vines or vining plants can actually be used as sprawling groundcovers, such as pink jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum), star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) and Purple Vine Lilac (Hardenbergia violacea, “Happy Wanderer”). However, mostly they are used to enhance trellises, cascade over walls, or to cover or hide walls and fences.

Up Against the Wall • When growing a vine on a wall, be sure that you’ve fastened your wires or other means of support securely. It’s always better to use stronger support wires or cables than you think you’ll need.

• A south- or west-facing wall can be harsh. Sometimes even a sun-loving plant will suffer when exposed to the Martian temperatures of a scorching, reflective wall. Make sure the vine you choose can take the heat and that adequate irrigation will be provided down below.

• If your wall is on the down side of the grade and you have a planting bed on top of or behind it, consider planting your vine there and let the plant cascade down and over the wall, rather than trying to get the thing to climb up the wall.

Sitting on the Fence • Whoever said, “Fences make good neighbors” probably hadn’t planted a vine on his side of one. Before attaching a vine to your fence, it’s always a good idea to ask your neighbor if he wants any of it on his side.

• If you’re training a vine to gracefully drape over your fence by selectively thinning and cutting it back, you won’t get the desired effect if your neighbor takes a machete or Round Up to his side of the vine.

• If you do choose to keep a vine exclusively on your side of a wall or fence, use more horizontal support wires and keep the upper one well below the top of the structure to prevent it from draping over to your neighbor’s side.

• If your neighbor does share your passion for vines, run the wire close to the top of the fence and allow the vine to wander over the top to cascade over to his side.

Hanging Around (and Down)

• Add color and interest to an arbor, pergola, or lanai by growing a vine up and over it. Make sure to choose one that is in scale to the size and sturdiness of the structure. For example, it’s probably not the best idea to plant and confine a Cup Of Gold Vine (Solandra maxima) to a small, flimsy redwood trellis when the thing wants to grow to a whopping 40 feet in length.

• Remember that some vines such as wisteria and grapes are deciduous, meaning they lose their leaves in the winter. The upside to this is that more light and warmth is allowed through in the cooler months, while providing

cool shade during the warmer months.

The downside may be that some folks don’t like the bare-skeleton look of a bare vine.

• Plant a vine with pendent, or hangdown flowers such as wisteria, Blue Sky Flower (Thunbergia grandiflora) or the spectacular Brick and Butter Vine (Thunbergia mysorensis), with its clusters of cartoon-like, yellow and red blooms. The dangling flowers can be enjoyed from below. The fruit of the passion fruit vine (Passiflora edulis) will hang down like Christmas ornaments when allowed to grow over a lath structure and can be harvested without going up a ladder.

There are many vines and vine-like plants that grow and thrive here in SB. Most get bigger than you’d think.

I know, I know, I sound like a broken record (I mean CD), but do your homework before choosing and decide on one that is appropriate to your needs and your spacial limitations.

No need to settle on the ever-present and inescapable red or purple trumpet vine (Distictis buccinatoria) (Distictis ‘Rivers’) that seems to be one of Santa Barbara’s signature vines. There are many suggestions and options at your nursery or on the San Marcos Growers site.

Check out their vine pages for ideas, as well as their H2O info page for practical irrigation recommendations. www.smgrowers.com/info/vine.asp H2O info page: www.smgrowers.com/ resources/Irrigation.asp Here are a few of the vines that I like.

Not exactly your grandma’s Swedish ivy: Chocolate Vine (Akebia quinata) Pelican Flower/Giant Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia gigantea)

This Butterfly Vine is very aggressive. Keep pets and small children away. The bright yellow, orchid-like flowers are followed by papery, winged pods that resemble butterflies.

Calico Flower (Aristolochia littoralis) Cross Vine (Bignonia capreolata ‘Tangerine Beauty’) Evergreen Clematis (Clematis armandii) Purple Wings (Dalechampia dioscoreifolia) Mandevilla (Mandevilla hybrids) Chilean Jasmine (Mandevilla laxa) Butterfly Vine (Mascagnia macroptera) Bower Vine (Pandorea jasminoides) Variegated Bower Vine (Pandorea jasminoides ‘Variegata’) Silver Vein Creeper (Parthenocissus henryana) Purple Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis) Red Granadilla (Passiflora vitifolia ‘Scarlet Flame’) Madagascar Jasmine (Stephanotis floribunda) Brick and Butter Vine (Thunbergia mysorensis) Snail Vine (Vigna caracalla)

Randy’s Quick Pick Dani Hahn of Rose Story Farm in Carpinteria will be the speaker at June’s meeting of the Santa Barbara Rose Society (SBRS). Rose Story Farm grows 18,000 rose bushes, with more than 120 individual varieties. Come and get your rose questions answered, talk roses with other rosarians – become a member of the SBRS! The meeting begins at 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 12, at the Louise Lowry Davis Center, 1232 De La Vina.

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Amanda Lyon, Anthony Castillo, and Jamie Collins gather together, delighted to celebrate women of inspiration.

with Julie Bifano Ms Bifano is drawn to micro-fiction and is currently writing her first novel – The Grace Below. She has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in writing from the University of San Francisco and a M.F.A. in Creative Writing, also from the University of San Francisco. More of Julie’s stories and poetry can be viewed on her website juliebifano.com.

Girls Inc. Presents Women of Inspiration Carrie Lundquist, Susan Robek, and Carol Palladini represent one of the honorees, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara.

T

he sun beamed down in Carpinteria during the Girls Inc. Women of Inspiration luncheon.

Women and men gathered together to celebrate honorees Cynder Sinclair, a nonprofit leader and current CEO of NonprofitKinect with more than four decades of work; and Rebecca Costa Smith and Lindsey Connolly, founders of Destined for Grace, an organization that provides aid and educational opportunities to children in Haiti, and The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, a collective volunteer donor group that enables women to combine their dollars to provide grants.

Lively hosts Ana Delgado and Maria Zamora took the stage and recapped their involvement with Girls Inc. Both girls are positively influenced by a program called Eureka! This program encourages girls to explore STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields and trains them to engage in the job market. They both plan on attending college and continuing to be a positive role model for girls everywhere. Ana and Maria are only two examples of the more than 700 girls, ages 15-18, who are served by Girls Inc. of Carpinteria through a plethora of programs that motivate girls to master physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges.

Keynote inspirational speaker Alix Generous took the stage. Misdiagnosed

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Inspirational speaker Alix Generous poses with her best friend, Renee Koppelman, and Stefanie Herrington.

Lori Murray, Patricia Alper, and Antoinette Chartier love to celebrate inspirational women in our community.

Girls Inc. Board of Trustees member Stefanie Herrington with Randy Weiss, representing one of the event sponsors, Union Bank.

as a child, Alix went through her childhood feeling misunderstood and isolated. She is now a 21-year-old with Asperger Syndrome, attending college, giving inspirational TED talks about her triumphs, and even presenting her scientific work to the United Nations.

Victoria Juarez, executive director of Girls Inc., expressed, “Alix is a tremendous role model for not only women but also people who are living with challenges.

She is a true star and her story proves that when we invest in our youth, we enable them to do big things – and in turn, the

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community is stronger for it.”

I took note as Alix stated, “Listen to your inner compass and your core.

Everyone has it. The problems we have don’t define us. It’s how you cope.” Alix was also humorous in parts of her speech, quoting the film What About Bob? “There are two types of people: those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t.”

A standing ovation was well-deserved as she concluded her speech. Looking around the auditorium surrounded by inspiring women, I realized the immense impact Girls Inc. has on so many women’s lives, including my own.

For additional information on Girls Inc. of Santa Barbara visit www.girlsincsb. org/.

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...continued from p.7 “Now I’m retiring. It’s probably still inappropriate for high school. But what are they going to do? Fire me?”

In truth, though, it won’t be high school students putting on the popular musicalturned-movie that became a staple of midnight screenings in the late 1970s and ‘80s, when audiences would dress in costume and bring rice and other objects to throw at the screen. It’s former students.

Holmes still keeps in touch with many of the SMHS Performing Arts alumni, and they weren’t about to let him forget his promise.

“Last summer, just to test the waters, I posted on Facebook that this would be my last year, and what should I do for my retirement show? Within 20 minutes, I got 40 responses from all generations saying, ‘Rocky Horror! You promised.’”

Now, more than 80 of his former students are returning to San Marcos from near and far to take part in the production, in honor of a teacher who so many cite as a major influence in their lives. The allalumni cast, crew, band, and support staff cover the full 30-year spectrum, making it the biggest performing arts reunion ever to take place in the community.

Among the entertainment industry professionals taught by Holmes are all the members of pop bands Toad the Wet Sprocket and Dishwalla, nearly all of whom are returning for the show; Brian Wankum, producer Once Upon a Time and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; actor Garrett Swann (Milk, Fashion House); and Tariqh Akoni, the musical director for Josh Groban, who will serve in the same role for Rocky Horror and also play Eddie.

“It’s very cool. We have a huge cast,” Holmes said. “I had to double and triple cast the show. We’ve got two Rockys, four Janets, two Brads. There’s a whole group that’s working on the retirement party, aspect. It’s really been one of the most gratifying experiences, to see all these people coming back together for this huge reunion centered around my retirement.

A giant lovefest – it’s a wonderful way to go out.”

Holmes has lots of memories of his former students, starting with the members of Toad, many of whom still live in Santa Barbara.

“The whole band was in theater,” he recalled. “Todd Nichols was narrator in Our Town. Dean Dinning played Annie’s dad in Oklahoma!. Glen Phillips was Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls.

Randy was in Oklahoma! and The Music Man. And I used to go see them play garages in town.”

The alumni were only too happy to return the favor for Rocky Horror.

Nearly to a person, Holmes’ former students credit him with not only launching their professional careers but helping them mature into positive, conscious adults.

“David Holmes was the guy who was the inspiration for me,” Phillips said recently. “He told us that first year that he

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loved the theater more than anything, but knew he didn’t have that competitive ego that would let him go to L.A. and fight, so he’d rather teach. I was gong to be a theater major and go into education. I basically wanted to be David Holmes.”

Told of Phillips’ comments, Holmes paused.

“You never know the influence you have. But you hear about the things that happened for these students, and sometimes I hardly remember the incidents. But they tell me, you did this and said that and it really affected me....

What I’m proud of is that most kids I taught are grateful they’re in this business.

They don’t take it for granted. They’re very humble. They’re stellar human beings. I always stressed that how you treat people is important. You don’t have to stop being decent to succeed.”

But if you want to come see Rocky Horror on stage, you do have to get your tickets, and Holmes would also like it if you got into the whole spirit and dove in with audience participation.

“Oh, yeah. We’re going to be doing the rice and all of that. Please. That’s what it’s all about.”

And if Holmes is leaving San Marcos behind, he’s also leaving a legacy: all proceeds from the show go to the school’s Performing Arts Department. Really, could there be a happier ending?

(David Holmes directs The Rocky Horror Show at midnight and 7:30 pm on Friday the 13th of June at San Marcos High School Theater, 4750 Hollister Avenue. Tickets cost $20-$25. Call 967-4581 or visit www. shopsmroyals.org.)

Write from the Start

Want to join the ranks of professional writers? Maybe end up penning an anonymous column in a distinguished upstart biweekly newspaper? Or do you somehow have even higher aspirations?

Well, it’s not too late to register for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, which takes place June 7-12 at the Hyatt Santa Barbara by East Beach.

The SBWC, as it’s acronymically known, has been around since 1972, save for one year when financial difficulties caused its cancellation before novelist and Santa Barbara resident Monte Schulz – son of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, a longtime conference supporter – resuscitated the gathering. The list of writers who have either taught workshops, served as guest speaker, taken classes or some combination of the three over the four decades is astounding, including a plethora of Pulitzer Prize winners and many other famous names we won’t go into here beyond the perennial participation of Ray Bradbury before his recent death, because I’m too lazy to look them up. (Laziness, by the way, is not one of the habits you’ll learn at the conference).

Full-time conference attendees can immerse themselves in writing workshops

Glen Phillips and Toad The Wet Sprocket will perform at Green & Blue-Coastal Celebration.

– up to three a day – that go on from 9 am to well past midnight, with breaks for guest speakers, panels, a couple of parties, and more. Nearly every genre, style, and form of writing is covered in one capacity or another, from basic fiction, to memoirs to travel writing.

But if you don’t want to fork over the $650 registration fee, you can still dabble in the SBWC delights via the guest speakers, one per evening from June 7-11. Coming this year are Jane Smiley, who won the Pulitzer in 1992 for A Thousand Acres; Maile Meloy, who work for young readers has captured an E. B. White Award; Caitlin Rother, a Pulitzer nominee and New York Times bestselling novelist who started as an investigative reporter; Mark Childress, whose Crazy in Alabama was made into a hit movie by Antonio Banderas; and Laura Moriarty, a former social worker whose Jazz Age novel The Chaperone was a New York Times bestseller.

Those speeches, which can be not only fun but mighty inspiring, will only set you back $5-$15 a pop. Stick around in the bar afterward to hobnob with the real writers. Or if your mind wanders, you can always gaze out the picture window at the beach volleyball courts and wonder why you didn’t take lessons from Karch Kiraly when he was in town. Details at 568-1516 or www.sbwriters.com.

Musical Memories

Some true classics of country, folk-pop and soul are due in our environs over the coming fortnight, one at the city’s most gorgeous outdoor venue, another at a recently renovated venerable opera house, and the two others up at the Chumash Casino’s quite fine hall. Folkrock singer-songwriter James Taylor makes his first visit to the Santa Barbara Bowl in quite a few years on Wednesday, June 4, while Bakersfield outlaw country pioneer Merle Haggard is due at the Chumash the following evening. One week later, on June 12, take the midnight train to Georgia – excuse me, the 7 pm bus to Solvang – as the Chumash gets all soulful with legendary R&B singer Gladys Knight. Lastly, Jimmy Webb – the songwriter behind “Wichita Lineman” and “MacArthur Park”, among other great hits of decades ago, comes to the Lobero Theatre with Montecito’s own Karla

Bonoff, a wonderful singer-songwriter whose best-known work includes “Someone to Lay Down Beside Me” and “Lose Again”.

Save the Toad!

Speaking of Toad the Wet Sprocket, in the have-fun-by-doing-good department, the band, which has notably avoided its hometown during its more than year-long tour promoting the 2013 reunion album New Constellation, will play a special acoustic set at the Environmental Defense Center’s annual Green & Blue-Coastal Celebration fundraiser on Sunday, June 8, out at the Stow House in Goleta.

Good cause, yummy food and drink, and a chance to hear Santa Barbara’s most successful homegrown band in a rare local concert, and an unplugged one at that?

I’m there! Info/tickets at 963-1622 or www.edcnet.org.

In addition, Glen Phillips will play Wednesday, June 4, at the Guitar Bar, 137 Anacapa Street, as part of a Songwriting and Performing Workshop. Call 7707242 for more information.

Live Oak Looms

The best annual local music festival takes place, as always, on Father’s Day weekend, when the Live Oak Music Festival takes over the campground by the same name. What started as a bluegrass gathering has become three days of virtually non-stop music covering a wide swath of genres, typically the ones, and bands, you’d hear on radio station KCBX-FM, which just happens to be the producer and beneficiary of the event. Coming this year are a bunch of bands with local connections, including the Cache valley Drifters, Erin Inglish, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Panga and the first local appearance

by Marley’s Ghost since – heck, when Marley must’ve still been alive.

Headliners include Railroad Earth, J.D. McPherson and Dave & Phil Alvin, and with both Guthrie and Holly Williams playing the main stage, that means we’ll be seeing the granddaughters of American folk music icons Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie in the same place over the weekend. Reason enough to attend, if you ask me. Get tickets, info, and all that sort of thing at 781-3030 or www. liveoakfest.org.

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...continued from p.15 VADA students Tess Dewell & Mirra Tubiolo

Visual Arts and Design Academy wins the Vans grant.

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In 2010, youth brand Vans developed the Vans Custom Culture Art Competition to encourage high school students across the United States to embrace their creativity and inspire a new generation of youth culture.

Vans Custom Culture is committed to investing in the arts as an integral part of all students’ education.

In 2012, Vans Custom Culture approached Americans for the Arts to

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This School Rocks

It’s no wonder Santa Barbara High School students at VADA are so excited.

Wait, what is VADA again? I spoke with Calico Brown, the assistant to the director at VADA and she explains it as: VADA is a “school-within-a-school,” one that integrates rigorous academic coursework with project-based, career-focused art, and design instruction in a supportive and creative environment. VADA serves 175 culturally and economically diverse

students in grades 10 through 12 and is located on the downtown Santa Barbara High School campus.

Now that’s cool and the finished murals are even cooler; since their installation and public unveiling on May 24, locals and tourists have been flocking to see yet another reason why the Funk Zone is the hottest spot for every hip happening in Santa Barbara. For more information on the VADA program, go to: vadasbhs@mac. com.

Through the Grapevine:

Not to repeat myself, from a previous American Girl column, but if you missed

Paul Chesne returns to Fig. (photo courtesy of Paul Chesne)

my buddy Paul Chesne and his amazing band of demons when they came to town before, they are back again at Fig on Saturday, June 7, from 6-9 pm. This time, Paul is shaking it up with a few heavy hitters to help back him, like Jimmy Ashhurst of Buckcherry, and Travis Popichak of Leslie and the Badgers. If you love a good time and need a dandy hangover of fun, please support one of the hardest-working musicians in Los Angeles and grab yourself a copy of his new album Downright Up and Left. I’ll see you there. www.paulchesne.com

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by Christina Enoch

The famous, Mama’s handwrapped Jiaozi pot stickers – Jerry’s mom makes them.

Thanks, Mom!

Empty Bowl, Indeed.

More, Please.

Northern Thailand curry noodle: flat egg noodles and stewed chicken in a curry-based broth

Bravo to the Fab Three at Empty Bowl

I

have an Asian stomach. I need noodles and rice at all times. Believe it or not, after a full meal, (non-Asian that is), I still have room for a bowl of noodles.

Why do you think it’s always the small Asian who wins an eating contest? I can definitely win one, no doubt.

Santa Barbara Public Market. We all waited so long for its opening. Let’s admit it: every time we pass by there, we tried to peek inside to see any signs of life. I was especially excited for Empty Bowl Gourmet Noodle Bar. I knew Jerry Lee and Emre Balli from San Ysidro Ranch, where I did my culinary internship, so they had my blessings on this new culinary adventure. Since I lived in ethnic-food-abundant San Francisco for years, my heart was jumping out of, well, my stomach due to excitement.

Let me give a quick rundown on the three fabulous partners at Empty Bowl: Jerry was born in Taiwan and came to the U.S. when he was seven years old.

He grew up in his grandma’s restaurant, inevitably inheriting cooking talents from his restaurateur family. After working many years as a wine director at San Ysidro Ranch and as director of restaurant at El Encanto, he left his fancy job to pursue

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After years of working full time for an ad agency, Christina found her passion in cooking and food.

Now armed with her newfound title, “Culinary School Graduate Food Blogger,” she writes and shares her passion for food, cooking, restaurants, photography and food styling in her popular blog, black dog :: food blog. Christina’s a proud mommy of not one but two shelter dogs and lives here in Santa Barbara with her husband. She’s also an avid Polynesian dancer, beach lover, traveler, swimmer, snowboarder and most of all, a lover of anything edible and yummy. Check out her ramblings here and at www.blackdogfoodblog.com.

his life-long dream to open his own.

Emre, who arrived stateside five years ago from Turkey, worked with Jerry as a beverage manager both at San Ysidro Ranch and El Encanto. (Note to self: good friends change jobs together).

Nui Pannak, who is the talent behind the kitchen, has been good friends with Jerry for nearly 20 years. Hanging out and cooking together, Jerry knew how amazing a cook she was. The thought of having Pannak, from Thailand, as a chef someday had been in the back of his mind. Pannak has a big Thai influence on the menu.

“Many people travel to South Pacific Asia and when they come back, they miss that food they had on a street corner. I want to recreate those travel memories in the heart of Santa Barbara, bringing different, fresh, and clean Asian dishes ranging from Taiwan to Northern Thailand.” Jerry’s mission concluded when a space in Public Market opened up. What a perfect location!

Empty Bowl Gourmet Noodle Bar is

Empty Bowl Gourmet Noodle Bar sits in the center of the new Public Market. Really, you can’t miss it. Just look for bright red/green chopsticks on the counter.

located in the center of the new Public Market on Victoria. You can’t miss it. Just look for bright-red-and-green chopsticks on a long bar table. It reminds me of street vendors in Thailand (cue the scooters) – just a little fancier version.

As Jerry and Emre are both sommeliers, their wine/beer list is serious. They tried 300 to make Top 10 choices that go with their menu. I had a glass of Nicolas Feuillatte.

It was an absolutely beautiful, sparkling choice. Don’t mess with sommeliers at the noodle bar. Now my appetite is more sparkling than ever. You see the exquisite way Emre pours wine? You can take Emre out of a five-star restaurant, but you can’t take a sommelier out of Emre.

I had heard about Jerry’s mom’s pot stickers through mutual friends. Mama’s hand-wrapped Jiaozi Pot stickers are made daily. So flavorful, thank you. Jerry, make sure you give her a glass of bubbly, okay?

Summer rolls – soft rice paper rolled with seared shrimp, cucumber, carrots, red cabbage, and fresh mango – are served with homemade hoisin tamarind-peanut sauce. Shrimps, of course, from the Santa Barbara Fish Market. You can taste the

When talking about street food, you can’t miss out on Pad Thai.

freshness: clean and lovely.

Roasted duck noodles with fresh egg noodles are Jerry’s personal favorite, and it’s mine, too. It’s deeply Asian street food that I absolutely loved! It’s all about broth in this case.

Northern Thailand Curry Noodle is a dish from, you guessed it, Northern Thailand – with Burmese and Laos influences. Deep-fried, crispy egg noodles and boiled, flat egg noodles, stewed chicken in yellow curry, pickled mustard greens, red onions, chili oil, and lime.

Unique and exotic. If you want to stay on the “safe” side, try their Pai Tai and chow mein. Equally delicious.

It’s kind of embarrassing to admit that I go to the SB Public Market almost every day. This girl’s gotta get her noodles in – after a full meal of sandwich, handmade pasta, cheese/meat cone, bread samples – and will hit a mini cupcake and ice cream on her way out. No problem: it’s just another day.

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ELEVATOR PITCH

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Wall art of the new charging device Fuelbox

by Grant Lepper

Grant’s an entrepreneur, start-up strategist, digital marketing pro, sailor, hiker, cyclist, mentor and writer. With more than 20 years of creative marketing experience, Grant’s been on the founding team of four startups, run his own shop and delivered forward thinking digital marketing and creative solutions to emerging and established companies in technology, hospitality, education and active-lifestyle industries. Today he’s the Senior Partner of Digital Strategy at PULL Brand Innovation (pullinc.com).

All Charged-up About FuelBox Fuelbox co-founders Dan Friedman, left, and Robert Herr

I

t’s a constant quest in our house: “Where’s the charger?”

Of course, specifying which charger comes next, the one for the iPhone 4, the new 5, the iPad, the Verizon Jetpack, the old Mac, the new Pro, or the PC laptop.

Crazy, I know.

Well, I met up with a couple of young entrepreneurs, Robert Herr and Dan Friedman, who believe they have the solution with their new charging device, Fuelbox.

Nestled discretely in the Funk Zone above Pali Wine and across from the AVA Santa Barbara tasting rooms, I entered a startup space that would bring envy to any team looking for cool, hip, digs.

First, I notice a large chalk illustration adorning the walls – apparently inspired

by Seth Kunin’s AVA tasting room below.

The well-executed chronology spans across two walls from floor to ceiling, illustrating the adventure these two have been on since the end of 2011.

“We began at City College two-anda-half years ago,” explains Robert, sitting across a DIY-constructed plywood conference table supported by a 2x4 lumber frame they built. “The original concept started with building phone chargers into the wall, which we soon scrapped.”

Behind me is a faux-retail display board adorned with competitor products and a

vintage payphone against the wall that Neo could have used to exit the Matrix (circa late-1990s). Beyond that are a flight of stairs, which elevate you to a rooftop patio that overlooks the vibrant Funk Zone scene flanked on all corners by tasting rooms, breweries, and restaurants – all abuzz with activity. It’s truly a 20-something’s entrepreneurial dream office scene with computers and desktops everywhere.

Robert, CEO and co-founder, shares with me the ready-for-launch version, “Fuelbox is a universal phone charging system, it’s a dock that has all the relevant charging tips that cover everything on the market right now,” he says. “In addition, it has a removable and portable system that sits on top.” I like that. “The portable unit has 30 hours of battery life in it, so you can take with you anywhere you go. You no longer have to be tied to the outlet,” he says.

As the chalk art explains visually, “We had been pretty much figuring it out from ground up,” the lanky entrepreneur describes. “We started out at City College at the Scheinfeld Center for Entrepreneurship. Looking back, we felt like we were at the start of that program, and now it’s thriving!” What an exciting experience for these two at that early stage of their careers.

Their next step was to move into the local

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incubator space of Synergy on Calle Cesar Chavez. Not familiar with an incubator?

They are essentially office spaces that help new startups survive by providing them with additional support and services, usually at a below-market rate for the space. According to Techstars, a Venture Capital firm in Boulder, Colorado, businesses that incubate historically have close to a 90-percent survival rate.

“Synergy was really cool for us because it’s an Incubator. Being in Synergy gave us the opportunity to meet a bunch of people and attract some great advisors.

It helped us make it to the next level and continue to grind.” Robert says. “About eight weeks ago we moved into this space, and are ready to launch on Indiegogo.com on May 31!”

Indiegogo.com is a popular crowdfunding site that was founded in 2007, two years prior to its biggest competitor, Kickstarter.com.

The goal, explains Dan, CMO and cofounder, is to build a great company. “We want to be the next Sonos of Santa Barbara.

Everything we build will be quality. When you have a Fuelbox product, you’ll have all the cords you need built into the device.

With a Fuelbox, you’re ready to go.” he says with enthusiasm.

Environmental concerns are also an issue for the two, explains Robert. “We’re in Santa Barbara, we like to surf, hike, and all that good stuff.” It’s important, he says, “that we don’t keep creating more and more cords that you have to throw out

when you get a new device.” The idea is one universal charging station, no matter the product. Keeping on the green theme he continues: “All of our packaging is made of compostable material, bringing that Santa Barbara vibe into our products.”

What happens when device manufacturers update their device to new charging cards like the change from the iPhone 4 to the 5, I ask? “It’s been an interesting evolution in technologies,” Robert tells me. “Originally, each device had its own type of charger, and now it’s narrowed down to just three different types.” And they’ve got those covered in their current version of Fuelbox.

“Where the industry is going is just down to two charging connectors – the micro USB and wireless, which will be the next stage in the evolution of device charging. And we’re ready for that. We have two patents pending now, but for consumer products, it’s really about wellexecuted packaging and utility as the technology moves so fast,” Roberts adds.

Both guys claim it’s going to be the last charger you’ll ever need. So SB folks, why don’t we look them up on Indiegogo. com this week and pre-order the first ever Fuelbox, and see if it is truly the last charger we’ll ever need?

Learn more: myfuelbox.com indiegogo.com scheinfeld.sbcc.edu synergybtc.com

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