The best things in life are
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MISCELLANY
18-25 January 2018 Vol 24 Issue 3
The Voice of the Village
S SINCE 1995 S
Thank you: Ellen DeGeneres hosts three fire chiefs and 10 Strike Team members at her home, p. 6
ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT, P. 22 • SPIRITUALITY MATTERS, P. 38 • CALENDAR OF EVENTS, P. 42
REBUILDING MONTECITO
A 200-year event just occurred, changing the lives of hundreds of Montecito residents and, sadly, ending the life of at least 20 of our friends and neighbors (three are still missing and unaccounted for). But Montecito remains a friendly and enjoyable place to live and boasts of one of the most equable climates on this blessed planet. It’s going to take time – perhaps more time than most of us would have expected or desire – but it will happen. We will rebuild. (story begins on page 5)
TOGETHER, BUILDING MONTECITO, EVERY DAY. The loss and devastation to our community impacts each and every one of us, deeply. As members of the community, we have come to know the special place that this area holds in the hearts of many, and we are inspired by the strength of our community in the face of unimaginable loss. We are forever grateful for our first responders — thousands who have come to help from all over the country — as well as each and every one of you who continue to work together to transform this tragedy. There is a strong foundation here; a foundation on which we will rebuild. We’ve been building here for the last 20 years. We commit to you, together, to rebuild this community, every day. Our employees throughout the country have watched closely what has happened, and are committing dollars and resources to help repair and rebuild.
TOGETHER, BUILDING MONTECITO, EVERY DAY.
CUSTOM HOMES www.kitchellcustomhomes.com
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
Our hearts go out to the community and
we are so thankful for the dedication of the first responders. #montecitostrong
Music for Healing and Community
Thursday, January 18, 7:30pm • FREE • Granada Theatre A musical performance featuring Pablo Sainz Villegas, accompanied by a small orchestra
Free Tickets Available Now
Symphony Office: 1330 State St, Suite 102, 9am–5pm • Night of Show: At the door Tickets issued on first-come, first-served basis. For more information, contact the Symphony office: (805) 898-9386
18 – 25 January 2018
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE 5 Editorial
Bob Hazard assesses the damage caused by the mudslide; he reviews evacuations, Birnam Wood, spotlights hard-hit regions, and looks ahead
6 Miscellany
Richard laments hellish times around Montecito; Ellen hosts firefighters; Oprah’s speech; Julia Louis-Dreyfus update; Motown the Musical; MAW awards; Drew Barrymore; Gwyneth’s engagement; Cam Pac concert; Prince William; Sue Grafton and Anne Slater, RIP
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Letters to the Editor
A collection of correspondence from MJ readers comprising Bill Toner, Michael Roush, the Larsens, Leslie Nelson, Guillaume Doane from South Africa, Polly Bookwalter, Polly Frost, Matthew Dunnigan in Italy, Denice Spangler Adams, Anne French, Karen Friedman, the Norbergs, and Dr. Scott Lisea
11 This Week
Flood & Fire trail assessment; benefit concert; Roger Dunham and Radhule Weininger book signings; Republican Club; and free music
12 Village Beat
Kelly Mahan Herrick surveys the Montecito scene again, digging deeper for significant details while searching for the answer to “What now?”
14 On Entertainment
Steven Libowitz interviews musician Curtis Salgado before his Saturday show; Talbott Brothers; Comedy Strippers; classical music; and Parker Quartet
16 Seen Around. . .
Lynda Millner visits the General Patton Desert Museum in Palm Springs; Chiriaco Summit Restaurant; and Coast 2 Coast Collections
EAT | SIP | SHOP | CONNECT
21 Your Westmont
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Students return after evacuating after the mudslides that cut water and sewer service to the campus
22 Brilliant Thoughts
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One Call Does It All
Follow the leader? Ashleigh Brilliant analyzes the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to direction and charismatic individuals
34 Our Town
Joanne Calitri traverses the aftermath of Montecito’s torrential rain and mudslides that shut down the 101 and claimed at least 20 lives
38 Spirituality Matters
Steven Libowitz chronicles support efforts after mudslide; sound healing; free yoga; EmotoSpiritual Healing; Cuddle Connection; SBCC courses; and consciousness
Legal Advertising 42 Calendar of Events
SB Dance Theater; Spoon at Arlington; Lost Art of Love Letters; Ray Ford at library; SYSTEM DISTRUPTION; guitars at SOhO; Trevor Noah; 3 Doors Down; Grandeza Mexicana; and Muriel Anderson
46 Classified Advertising
Our very own “Craigslist” of classified ads, in which sellers offer everything from summer rentals to estate sales
47 Local Business Directory
Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need what those businesses offer
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18 – 25 January 2018
Editorial
by Bob Hazard
Mr. Hazard is an Associate Editor of this paper and a former president of Birnam Wood Golf Club.
Fire and Flood, Mud and Debris
The management, employees and dealers of the Collective share the heartbreak and sorrow of our neighbors, customers, and friends in Montecito and we offer our prayers for peace, strength and recovery. We will Re-Open as soon as access is restored.
Barely recognizable and somewhat disorienting, this grand home was hidden by foliage just south of the intersection of Hot Springs and Olive Mill Road; two nearby homes are no more
T
he catastrophic fire and flood of 2017-18 has changed the face of a number of parts of Montecito for years to come. The mud and debris flow that came down the mountains behind us tossed cars around like Tinker toys and ripped homes off their foundations, filling the landscape with toxic mud and mold. Many homes were completely destroyed, and many others sustained significant damage. But, and this is the good news, 90 percent of Montecito remains intact. It is nearly impossible to describe the enormity of the disaster that befell
EDITORIAL Page 284
2192 Ortega Hill Road, Summerland (805) 565-3189 www.summerlandantiquecollective.com
They were a cross section of Montecito, from all walks of life. They were a part of this extraordinary community. We grieve for them and mourn those still missing. Our hearts go out to the families of those lost, the injured and the survivors. To all first responders, a heartfelt thank you.
G E N E R A L CO N T R AC TO R S , I N C
18 gcr06107_MJad_FNL.indd – 25 January 2018 1
I bought a tape that teaches you Spanish in your sleep. During the night, the tape skipped. Now I stutter in Spanish. – Steven Wright
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MONTECITO JOURNAL 1/16/18 2:51 PM
Monte ito Miscellany
CHANGING THE WAY THE WORLD AGES
by Richard Mineards
Richard covered the Royal Family for Britain’s Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, and was an editor on New York Magazine. He was also a national anchor on CBS, a commentator on ABC Network News, gossip on The Joan Rivers Show and Geraldo Rivera, host on E! TV, a correspondent on the syndicated show Extra, and a commentator on the KTLA Morning News. He moved to Montecito ten years ago.
Life Has Been Hell!
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L
ast month, after a mandatory evacuation because of the Thomas Fire that destroyed 1,063 structures, which saw me fleeing to animal activist Gretchen Lieff’s ranch near Santa Maria, and then flying to England to spend Yuletide at a 400-year-old cottage in Cornwall with Santa Barbara Polo Club sponsor Cat Pollon, I thought the disruption was well and truly over. But last week, I returned to our rarefied enclave drenched with torrential rain, mudslides and flash floods that killed more than 20 people, including local realtor Rebecca Riskin, 61, who died with her two dogs when a mudslide swept down on her. In the early morning after I arrived, a flash flood destroyed a creekside home just 300 yards down the road from me, with two fatalities, while
Sunday January 28 2-4 pm
my home and I are still, fortunately, standing. Oprah Winfrey’s East Valley Road estate escaped the brunt of the disaster, being situated on a knoll, but neighbor and Oscar winner Jeff Bridges’s $6.8-million home, which he bought three years ago, was severely damaged. “But we are safe,” tweeted The Big Lebowski star. “We are thankful for that and for the first responders who are working tirelessly to save people.” Also unlucky was Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow’s recently acquired $4.9-million home, whose Monet-like gardens were wiped out in a mudslide, as was my friend author Robert Eringer’s home, just a tiara’s toss from Casa Dorinda, which escaped rela-
MISCELLANY Page 184
1795 SAN LEANDRO LN MONTECITO 805-969-7732 admission@ craneschool.org
OPEN HOUSE and
ART SHOW
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
1-Day Only: This Saturday, Jan. 20th
Parking Lot Sale!
40 Stressless Recliners & Ottomans at $1,000 Off!
PLUS, Over 100 Stressless in Stock, All Marked Down!
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The Factory has given us a tremendous price break on a great selection of beautiful Stressless Recliners and Ottomans! So, we bought a truckload and we’re passing the savings on to you! Great selection of styles, colors, leathers and bases, but quantities are limited to stock on hand, so they are all subject to first-come-first-get!
Bring Your Van, Truck or SUV and Take One (or Two) Home! Doors Open Saturday 10 am to 6 pm – Rain or Shine!
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18 – 25 January 2018
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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When you launch a business, don’t start with a blank canvas.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
If you have something you think Montecito should know about, or wish to respond to something you read in the Journal, we want to hear from you. Please send all such correspondence to: Montecito Journal, Letters to the Editor, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA. 93108. You can also FAX such mail to: (805) 969-6654, or E-mail to jim@montecitojournal.net
A Montecito “Boulder” Park
P
Naomi Dewey BFAS Partner
Maria Wilson Painted Cabernet Owner
To find out more, visit BFASlaw.com/stories
our team starts here Any time you launch a business, a number of questions arise. What type of entity? Who is considered an employee? How do I open a second location? As business advisors, we are here to support your long term growth and success.
(805) 966-7000 | BFASlaw.com | 820 State Street, 4th Floor, Santa Barbara CA 93101 PaintedCabernet_4,85x6,19_MontecitoJournal.indd 1
3/31/17 12:19 PM
The best little paper in America (Covering the best little community anywhere!) Publisher Timothy Lennon Buckley Editor At Large Kelly Mahan Herrick • Managing Editor James Luksic • Design/Production Trent Watanabe Associate Editor Bob Hazard
Account Managers Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Leanne Wood, Caroline Harrah, DJ Wetmore, Ashley Rochestie Bookkeeping Christine Merrick • Proofreading Helen Buckley • Arts/Entertainment/Calendar/Music Steven Libowitz • Columns Leanne Wood, Caroline Harrah, Erin Graffy, Scott Craig, Julia Rodgers, Ashleigh Brilliant, Karen Robiscoe, Sigrid Toye • Gossip Thedim Fiste, Richard Mineards • History Hattie Beresford • Humor Ernie Witham, Grace Rachow Photography/Our Town Joanne A. Calitri • Society Lynda Millner Travel Jerry Dunn • Sportsman Dr. John Burk • Trail Talk Lynn P. Kirst
Brightest of Gems
Published by Montecito Journal Inc., James Buckley, President PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA 93108. How to reach us: Editorial: (805) 565-1860; Sue Brooks: ext. 4; Christine Merrick: ext. 3; Classified: ext. 3; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Letters to Editor: Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA 93108; E-MAIL: news@montecitojournal.net
You can subscribe to the Journal!! My name is:____________________________________________________________________________ My address is:____________________________________________________________ ZIP__________ Enclosed is ____________ $150 for the next 50 issues of Montecito Journal to be delivered via First Class Mail P.S. Start my subscription with issue dated: Please send your check or money order to: Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite D, Montecito, CA 93108
MONTECITO JOURNAL
My very best wishes and prayers to everyone affected by such overwhelming events. Montecito remains the brightest of gems in all of our wonderful state and country, and deepest thoughts and regards to all of the very special people in the community. Michael Roush Beverly Hills
Still Magical
Please fill out this simple form and mail it to us with your payment
8
lease, let’s keep as many boulders that have clobbered our community as possible; place them someplace in Montecito (Manning Park, Toro Canyon Park, the Cold Spring area, the lot we traded with the Y next to MUS) and build a big, big awesome (think Awahnee) community stone house recreation center. Have several big outdoor stone fireplaces, several stone fire pits, stone swimming pool, volleyball courts... and Make Montecito Greater with what we have been given: stones. big stones. And call it “Stonehouse Park” or “Stonewalls with No Gates Park” or something, and we dedicate it to all our precious beloved Montecitans who lost their lives in this tragic event and to the firefighters and first responders. We can do this. We can turn today’s tragic reality into recreation and education, and forever have it as a reminder, especially for the youth and for Montecitans to come. (FYI: native Montecitans, now in their 90s, told me years ago that they remembered as youngsters seeing truck-sized boulders roll down from the mountains above and into the lemon grove that is now Birnam Wood.) This has happened before here. We Montecitans must respond; think big, and respond with glorious thoughtful exuberance. We must do this. I’m in. Bill Toner Montecito (Editor’s note: Good idea, Bill. We can get behind something like this too, so count us “in.” – J.B.)
Our hearts go out to any of our new friends and members who have suffered losses in this unbelievable tragic event. Please pass the word that we are okay and work has not stopped. Naturally, this will result in further delays, but we are very happy with
• The Voice of the Village •
our progress so far. We appreciate the early support of our invited charter members. If you have friends that are considering joining, please urge them to send in the application. More information on my blog: mistrals@ tumvlr.com Just remember — we are wonder workers and Montecito is still a magical paradise. Milt and Arlene Larsen Santa Barbara (Editor’s note: The Larsens are behind the creation of the Magic Castle Cabaret on the site of the former Cafe del Sol, scheduled to open as a private club sometime before spring, this year. Milt Larsen is owner and founder of Hollywood’s Magic Castle. – J.B.)
Peace and Harmony on Call
How surreal 2018 has evolved. I recorded governor Jerry Brown’s candid comments in which he described the “new normal” on December 11 on my favorite news show: BBC World w/ reporter James Cook. I learned at that early date that the Thomas Fire had already reached the size of Manhattan and Paris combined: 90 miles long by 40 miles wide. It was predicted that it would become the largest wildfire in the history of California at the rate it was spreading. Jerry Brown said we would be experiencing firefighting as late as Christmas: “the new normal.” For me, the zenith of 2017 occurred on December 1. The turnout for the 65th Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting on State Street was a tremendous success. The atmosphere was lively and joyful wherever I looked. I ducked into the Funk Zone to celebrate the 1st year anniversary of the chic boutique named The Shop Keepers. To my surprise and complete delight, Kenny Loggins stepped up onto stage and entertained the full house. And before too long, the “Dude” Jeff Bridges also joined in. It made for a perfect day of wonderful people and many memories. I already anticipated more enjoyable events as the holiday season unfolded. My Christmas calendar was jam-packed. John Lennon comes to mind. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans!” On December 4, something unforeseen happened: The Thomas Fire started to take center stage. I didn’t
LETTERS Page 264 18 – 25 January 2018
We extend our heartfelt sympathies to all those who suffered loss in this shocking and devastating blow to our community. In our 128-year history as a family owned Santa Barbara business, we’ve seen our town come back after disaster and destruction many times before, and we look forward to the rebuilding and healing to come.
7 PARKER WAY SANTA BARBARA (805) 966-1390 haywards1890.com
Music for Healing and Community Pablo Sáinz Villegas presents
A Free Community Benefit Embracing the Healing Power of Music TONIGHT Thursday,
January 18, 2018 7:30pm The Granada
TheSymphony.org 18 – 25 January 2018
805.898.9386
Conductor – Nir Kabaretti, Music Director Guitar – Pablo Sáinz Villegas, Artist-in-Residence The Santa Barbara Symphony invites the community to gather for a free concert featuring Artist-in-Residence, Pablo Sáinz Villegas. Volunteers from Montecito Bank & Trust will be at the concert to accept donations to fund area disaster relief and recovery efforts.
Tickets are free, and required. Tickets issued on a first-come, first-served basis and are available at the Santa Barbara Symphony Offices at 1330 State Street, Suite 102, 9AM-5PM or at the door prior to concert.
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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...caring for anyone experiencing the impact of a life-threatening illness or grieving the death of a loved one. In light of the devastating events that occurred during
the recent mudslide, Hospice of Santa Barbara (HSB) is providing counseling services to individuals and families who may be grieving during this painful time and we are collaborating closely with schools, first responders, governmental agencies, and the Red Cross to provide bereavement support to those families who need us most. HSB is, as always, incredibly grateful for the many brave first responders who worked so hard to keep everyone safe and out of harm’s way. It has been an incredibly difficult few weeks for our county, which is still recovering from the effects of the Thomas Fire. However, our Hospice of Santa Barbara family is convinced that our community will pull together as it has in the past, and together, we will make it through this challenging time. Since its inception in 1974, HSB has been providing care for individuals and families grieving the loss of a loved one or struggling with life-threatening illness. Children, teens, adults, and seniors receive supportive counseling, practical care services and/or medical navigation services at our main office in Santa Barbara, in homes, on school campuses, at workplaces, in hospitals, and in long-term nursing facilities from Carpinteria to Gaviota. All services are offered free of charge and are available in English and Spanish.
ADULT BEREAVEMENT SERVICES
HSB provides individual and support group counseling for adults and seniors grieving the death of a loved one and navigating that loss.
CHILD BEREAVEMENT SERVICES
HSB provides individual and support group counseling children and families grieving the death of a loved one and navigating that loss. HSB serves children both in our offices and at schools throughout the South Coast.
PATIENT CARE SERVICES
HSB provides patients with a life-threatening illness and their families with comprehensive patient care management along with medical navigation and guidance from initial diagnosis through the death and dying process.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EDUCATION
HSB provides educational workshops and trainings surrounding issues of death, dying, aging, illness, bereavement and endof-life preparations. We also provide local nonprofits, businesses, and schools with ongoing support after traumatizing death has affected their communities.
VOLUNTEER SERVICES - HSB provides patient and caregiver bereavement support, respite care, and companionship, in addi-
tion to real world practical support such as transportation to and from medical appointments, help with household chores, errands, etc. HSB is curently seeking volunteers to provide patient and caregiver bereavement support, respite care, and companionship to our clients.
www.hospiceofsantabarbara.org . 805.563.8820 2050 . Alameda Padre Serra, Ste 100, Santa Barbara, CA
10 MONTECITO JOURNAL
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
This Week in and around Montecito
(Editor’s Note: Due to last week’s mudslides in Montecito and the evacuation of the majority of Montecito residents, this calendar is a shortened version, featuring Santa Barbara events only. All ongoing events in Montecito are presumed canceled.) THURSDAY, JANUARY 18 Flood & Fire: Thomas Fire Trail Damage Assessment Now the largest fire in California’s recorded history, the Thomas Fire has burned more than 280,000 acres, significantly altering our local mountains. More than 180,000 of those acres are within Los Padres National Forest, which includes the front country trails behind Montecito and Carpinteria. The combined affect of fire damage and subsequent flooding has posed some of the biggest threats our front county trails have ever faced. Tonight, local trail expert and author Ray Ford will be discussing current trail conditions and closures in the mountains above Montecito and Carpinteria. He will be sharing his first-hand knowledge of Cold Spring, Hot Springs, San Ysidro, Romero, and Franklin trails and will provide an overview of the damage these trails sustained, as well as the challenges that lay ahead before these popular trails can be reopened to the public. Ford will also provide an update on the Tequepis Trail, which was burned in last year’s Whittier Fire and remains closed to the public. Ford has been involved with trail management issues for more than 25 years and has written numerous articles about our trails and the fires that have affected our area. He is the author of Santa Barbara Wildfires: Fire on the Hills and Santa Barbara Day Hikes. When: 6:30 pm Where: Santa Barbara Public Library’s Faulkner Gallery, 40 East Anapamu Street Cost: free and open to the public Free Benefit Concert The Santa Barbara Symphony, in partnership with Montecito Bank & Trust and the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts, invites the community to gather at the Granada Theatre for a free concert featuring guitarist and artistin-residence Pablo Sáinz Villegas accompanied by a small orchestra. Montecito Bank & Trust volunteers will be on hand to collect donations for disaster relief and recovery efforts in Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria. Tickets will be available during business hours Wednesday and Thursday at the Symphony office, 1330 State Street, suite 102, and at the door on concert night. The Granada Theatre seats 1,500 people, and tickets will be issued on a first-come, firstserved basis. When: 7:30 pm Where: Granada Theatre, 1214 State Street Info: (805) 898-9386 Book Signing at Chaucer’s Santa Barbara physician Roger C. Dunham, M.D., will discuss his next
18 – 25 January 2018
book, Surviving Mortality. He will recount Santa Barbara patient experiences with impending mortality and will discuss factors that may affect the challenges from this difficult time of life. When: 7 pm Where: Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State Street Info: 682-6787
FREE IN HOME CONSULTATION
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 Book Signing at Paradise Found Clinical psychologist Radhule Weininger shares her powerful book, Heartwork: The Path of Self-Compassion-9 Practices for Opening the Heart. Book signing to follow. Nine simple mindfulness practices anyone can use to generate compassion – toward oneself, others, and the world – and to live from that place of intelligent kindness in the face of life’s difficulties. Compassion is the urge to understand and alleviate the suffering of another being. And if that being happens to be you, then the technique called self-compassion can be the greatest of blessings. With the nine simple mindfulness practices she presents here, Weininger provides a step-by-step course in self-compassion. Weininger, Ph.D., M.D., clinical psychologist and meditation teacher is the founder and guiding teacher of the One Dharma Sangha, as well as the resident teacher of mindfulness practice at La Casa de Maria Retreat Center. When: 7 pm Where: Paradise Found, 17 E. Anapamu Street
www.MontecitoKitchens.com Don Gragg 805.453.0518
License #951784
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 Republican Club Luncheon The Santa Barbara Republican Club will hold this month’s luncheon today. The officers for this year will be installed. The Club will enthusiastically greet the speaker who is a returning favorite, Dr. Barbara Stone, a retired professor of political science at California State University at Fullerton. Her subject is “Okay, we won the presidency. Now what?” When: 11:30 am Where: La Cumbre Country Club, 4015 Via Laguna Info & RSVP: 684-3858 Free Music The Santa Barbara Music Club will present another program in its popular series of concerts of beautiful music. A valued cultural resource in town since 1969, these concerts feature performances by instrumental and vocal soloists and chamber music ensembles, and are free to the public. When: 3 pm Where: Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 East Anapamu Street Cost: free •MJ You’ll never be as lazy as whoever named the fireplace. – Longwall26 on Twitter
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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Village Beat by Kelly Mahan Herrick
Kelly has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond. She is also a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, and is a member of Montecito and Santa Barbara’s top real estate team, Calcagno & Hamilton.
Montecito Mudslide Latest Pinit Sutthithepa lost his life in the mudslides in Montecito
T
Jack Cantin, Lydia Sutthithepa, and Faviola Benitez Calderon are still missing as of press time
housands of firefighters, utility crews, contractors, and rescue workers have been working around the clock following last week’s deadly mudslides in Montecito. Now considered a search and recovery mission, three people remain missing as of press time; 20 people have perished, and the majority of Montecito residents remain under a mandatory evacuation as crews search for the missing, clear debris, and attempt to fix local utilities.
As of this publication, the missing include 17-year-old Jack Cantin, 2-year-old Lydia Sutthithepa, and 28-year-old Faviola Benitez Calderon. The number of casualties from the January 9 storm and subsequent mudslides/flooding include 30-year-old Pinit Sutthithepa, his son, 6-year-old Peerawat “Pasta” Sutthithepa and his father-in-law, 79-year-old Richard Loring Taylor. Ten-year-old Jonathan Benitez and his cousin, 3-year-old Kailly Benitez, as well as her mother,
27-year-old Marilyn Ramos, were also killed. Sisters Sawyer Corey (12 years old) and Morgan Corey (25 years old) are also among the dead. Other victims include 87-year-old Joseph Francis Bleckel, 48-year-old Martin Cabrera-Munoz, 49-year-old David Cantin, 73-year-old Peter Fleurat, 69-year-old Josephine Gower, 61-year-old John McManigal, 78-yearold Alice Mitchell, 89-year-old James Mitchell, Mark Montgomery (54) and his daughter Caroline Montgomery (22), 61-year-old Rebecca Riskin, and 84-year-old Roy Rohter. We will have much more on the victims in a future tribute edition. At a community briefing on Tuesday, local government agency representatives presented information from their respective departments. Kevin Taylor, division chief of Operations for Montecito Fire Protection District, said his department began planning
Mudslide victims Richard Loring Taylor and Peerawat “Pasta” Sutthithepa
for a potential mudslide event the day after Christmas. Since then, the District has been coordinating with other local fire departments, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department, Flood Control District, and Office of Emergency Management, identifying resources and determining how those resources should be deployed in an emergency. “As the national weather service provided us updates, we
VILLAGE BEAT Page 204
SELLER FINANCING AVAILABLE WITH ONLY $500K DOWN AND $15K MONTHLY PAYMENTS ON EITHER PROPERTY ALSO AVAILABLE FOR RENT OR LEASE/PURCHASE OPTION 2835 Gibraltar Rd
2690 Gibraltar Rd
SANTA BARBARA COMPOUND
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tunning home where peace and quiet prevail. Gated, private, 18 acres with expansive city, ocean and island views. Custom 4/4 home with wine cellar, finished attic, pool, spa, sauna, cabana, 1/1 guesthouse, 3-car garage w. office and bath. 16’ x 1500’ concrete driveway, mature landscaping, 30,000 gal. in-ground concrete water storage, private water wells. Helicopter pad possible. MLS # 17-1585 Price: $3,498,000.00.
Just 3.3 miles from Foothill Rd., 11 min. to Milpas/101. Both properties can be bought together for anyone looking for an extended family compound for $6.3 M. Properties Unaffected by Thomas Fire or Flooding.
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ost spectacular view property in Santa Barbara Co. with views from Pt. Concepcion to Pt. Mugu. Gated, private, 22 acres, zoned 40 acre AG, esp. important for cannabis growers with permits. Room for green houses. Building plans available for 4500 s.f. 4/4 home with 4-car garage on 3/4 acre site, all amenities in, just pull permits. 16’ x 1500’ concrete driveway. Existing 3/2 guesthouse w. 3-car garage. 300 Hass avocado trees. Private water wells. 11 min. to Milpas/101. MLS # 17-1447 Price: $2,998,000.00
HELEN LARSEN REALTY
OPEN HOUSE
Helen Larsen, Broker
Sunday, January 21, 1-3pm
Home/Office 805-964-1891 | Cell: 208-755-2616 | www.HelenL@helenlarsenrealty.com CA. License # 00893031
12 MONTECITO JOURNAL
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
Wide Horizons
Riviera Classic — “El Reposo”
1508 East Mountain Drive
1101 Garcia Road
$6,250,000
$2,095,000
5 Bed | 4.5 Bath | 2.86 Acres
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Compass is a licensed real estate broker (01991628) in the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdraw without notice. To reach the Compass main office call 805.253.7700
18 – 25 January 2018
MONTECITO JOURNAL
13
On Entertainment
Steven Libowitz has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years; he has contributed to the Montecito Journal for more than 10 years.
by Steven Libowitz
Deep Dive from Blues Duo
Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager are in tune for Santa Barbara Blues Society’s show at the New Vic on Saturday, January 20
C
urtis Salgado harmonica and singing added color to both Robert Cray’s band and Roomful of Blues for years before he started making records on his own about 25 years ago. Five years after that, Salgado, who also has an attention-grabbing highly emotive blues voice, started playing with Portlandbased guitarist Alan Hager. Just this week, the pair released Rough Cut, a stripped-down album featuring a half-dozen originals that blend seamlessly into the covers of blues classics such as Elmore James’s “You Got To Move”, Big Bill Broonzy’s “I Want You By My Side”, and Muddy Waters’s “I Can’t Be Satisfied”. Subjects range from personal loss and challenges to off-the-cuff funny, with the musical contexts covering acoustic blues duo to flat-out soul-shaking R&B. Salgado and Hager headline the
14 MONTECITO JOURNAL
Santa Barbara Blues Society’s annual acoustic Member Appreciation Show at the New Vic Theatre on Saturday night, January 20. (Tickets are $10, or free for members.) He talked about Rough Cut and more over the phone earlier this week. Q. You and Alan Hager seem very simpatico. Why does it work so well? A. We just hit it off. It’s a common story, you hear it all the time. Why did The Beatles blend so well? They were just buddies. Nobody thought they’d last a week. So, you don’t have to understand, but me and Alan played together immediately. We speak the same language. Like a lot of baby boomer musicians, I grew up with parents who were hip jazz enthusiasts listening to Earl Hines and Ray Charles and Paul Butterfield when I was a kid. He did too. So, it comes
easily. He was into blues even before he earned his master’s degree. Over the last couple of albums you’ve shown a real knack for wordplay and clever turns of phrase, and not just in the so-called lighthearted songs. That’s pretty rare for the blues. Are you putting a lot of thought into crafting the songs now? Yeah, that’s exactly it. Thank you so much. I am trying to be a songwriter. You know, back when I was younger, I really didn’t get Bob Dylan. I wanted somebody who played harmonica like Little Walter and sang like Sam Cooke. I didn’t get it. But one day the switch just came on. It was, oh, it’s this vibe he puts out and he’s an amazing lyricist. You can write volumes about his songs. That’s why I put that line about “I wish I wrote ‘’Blowin’ in the Wind’ on the last album. I want to be a real songwriter, as good as the people I admire. So, I’m trying. You survived liver cancer in 2005, lung cancer a few years ago, and had quadruple bypass last year. But it only shows up in your music as material for songs. I mean, the first verse in your “Walk a Mile in My Blues” – which one Song of the Year last year – has more milestones than most people go through in a lifetime. It’s like you’re determined to win. I’m just not the type of person who goes “Oh, woe is me.” I’m more “What is going on!?” I didn’t want to be known as an artist who had to deal with all this. I didn’t ask for it. But it does add to your character. You just pick yourself up and dust off and get back on the horse. That’s really all there is. Deal with ‘em and then move on down the line... We all have stories around us. “Going to Hell in a Hand Basket” reminded me of Mose Allison, and some of the other ones have a lot of John Hammond going on. Yeah, sure. I was thinking more of Memphis Slim or the piano player from Casablanca. That kind of talking way of singing is what was on my mind. I’m a Hammond fan too. Alan used to play with John Fahey. So it was more like Ry Cooder, Leo Kottke. I wanted to make an elegant straightahead blues album, not the derivative cookie-dough monster that the kids who are coming up now are doing. They’re staying on the surface, not really digging into it. I saw all those blues masters when I was young. This is my wheelhouse. This is what I want to make. It was like “Here. This is how
• The Voice of the Village •
it’s done.” I’m not being pretentious. You just have to have that attitude.
Brothers in Song
The Talbott Brothers, another Portland-based acoustic duo albeit one with a hankerin’ for harmony rather than harmonica, are also headed our way this week. Nick and Tyler Talbott, who were born and raised in southwestern Nebraska before relocating to the Northwest, have the kind of blood harmonies that and infectious melodies inform Mumford and Sons. Catch them at SOhO on Tuesday, January 23.
Taking off for Laughs
There are so many genre mashups in the Comedy Strippers show, it’s hard to keep them all straight. The Canadian company combines a parody of a male strip show – the latter already a bit self-referential off-center – with improv games from middle-aged men. But that’s nothing compared to the full-length documentary film of their act they made not long after first hitting the road back in 2012, which then adds in the element of a nonfiction movie about a fictional troupe doing parody-improv. Even fellow Canadian Christopher Guest’s (This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show) head would spin. “Yeah, a fake parody stripper group, but it isn’t as dumb an idea as it seemed,” said founder Roman Danylo, who came up with the idea after his wife came home from a real male strip show raving about how the audience went crazy. As a comic looking for a new angle, Danylo figured, “Well, we’ve got torsos. We could do that. It was a whole genre of entertainment that nobody had done a parody of yet.” All three of his fellow Canadian comics immediately took to the idea of “doing a crazy parody version of a stripper show” and Comedy Strippers was born. “We were all veterans of improv and knew that whipping off a shirt or dancing around always got huge reactions,” he recalled. “We figured a bunch of middle-aged guys with not-so-hot bodies would be even funnier.” The show sets it up as a weary strip troupe taking on improv games to improve their fortunes, so all of the sketches have “stripper-themed twists.” In essence, Danylo said, “it’s really a shirtless Whose Line is it Anyway? with goofy dancing.” Emphasis on the goofy. There’s a dance number called “The Slug”. A thing with ping-pong balls shooting out of one performer’s mouth into another’s. And, for the first time in town to highlight the gang’s return – Friday night, January 19, at the Lobero – an original song. “With boy band moves,” Danylo said. 18 – 25 January 2018
Clothes encounter: Comedy Strippers don’t give a shirt at the Lobero Theatre
Emphasis also on the shirtless. It’s a parody-improv act, not a titillating strip show. The pants stay on. “No G-strings or anything like that,” Danylo said, adding that even though the audience is still 75 to 80 percent female, men are more than welcome and usually end up roaring as loudly as their dates. “We’re not trying to turn anyone on. It’s all irony. Even the audience is pretending that we’re sexy. I mean, we’re all in our late 40s.” As for the doc? That’s also related to the actors’ age. “We got amazing reactions out of the gate, but we didn’t know how long we could do it, because it’s by far the most physically demanding show any of us have done. There are lots of visits to the chiropractor. So we just wanted to document it while we could. But it’s pretty good. And it’s free! At real stripper shows, they charge $20 or more just for photos with the cast. You get our whole movie for free!”
Classical Corner – Postponements and Updates
Due to the continued closure of Highway 101, the Santa Barbara Symphony’s pair of concerts that would have featured Canadian violinist Lara St. John performing Corigliano’s Academy Award-winning score for The Red Violin accompanying the film and conducted by guest Carolyn Kuan have been postponed until June. In its place, the community is invited to a free concert at 7:30 pm this Thursday, January 18, featuring guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas, the Spanish guitarist currently serving as the Symphony’s first-ever Artist-inResidence, who will be accompanied by a small orchestra. Montecito Bank & Trust volunteers will be on hand to collect donations for disaster relief and recovery efforts. Tickets are available Wednesday and Thursday at the Symphony office, 1330 State Street, suite 102, or at the door. The year ’s first Santa Barbara Music Club concert, postponed from last Saturday afternoon, is now slated to take place this Saturday, January 18 – 25 January 2018
20, at 3 pm at the Faulkner Gallery. Bassoonist-composer-conductor Mathieu Lussier’s “Spring Lullaby” (2005) and Vivaldi’s Bassoon Concerto No. 23 in G minor, F. VIII, will be played by soloist Paul Mori and a string quartet comprising violinists Andrea Lárez and Mirah Ray, violist Erik Fauss, and cellist Timothy Beccue. Pianist Robert Hale, violinist Marie Hébert, and cellist Elizabeth Olson will also perform Brahms’s Piano Trio #1 in B major, Op. 8. Quire of Voyces has also announced a Sunday, January 28, make-up date for its winter concerts that were canceled due to the Thomas Fire. The a cappella chorus’s annual “Mysteries of Christmas” will be adjusted to now encompass “A Healing Concert for our Community”, with traditional Christmas carols replaced by the Quire singing “music that soothes and heals.” Tickets purchased for the December 16-17 concerts will be honored, and seats will also be available at the door and in advance at the SBCC Garvin box office. Firefighters or other first responders will be admitted free.
Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone in Montecito.
Ready for Ligeti, Pt. 2
As of this writing, the Parker Quartet’s recital at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Mary Craig Auditorium slated for this Thursday is still booked. The 15-year-old foursome that won the Concert Artists Guild Competition and nabbed the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at France’s Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, are something of specialists in György Ligeti, the contemporary Hungarian composer whose Trio for Violin, Horn & Piano was just performed by Camerata Pacifica at the Lobero last Friday night. The Parker’s Naxos recording of Ligeti’s complete works for string quartet won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. They’ll play his String Quartet No.1 Métamorphoses nocturnes along with Mozart’s B-flat major, K. 589 Quartet and Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4 in the 7:30 pm concert on Thursday, January 18. •MJ
The Hair Lounge of Montecito is open for business! To book an appointment please call the salon at 805-695-0100. Or you can contact the owner, Pam Peterson, at 805-220-8669. Access to the salon is possible from Cabrillo Blvd and parking is free.
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Off Los Patos near The Bird Refuge.
When people say they love the smell of books, I want to ask, “Do you know how reading works?” – Bridger Winegar
MONTECITO JOURNAL
15
SEEN AROUND. . . by Lynda Millner
One of the tanks used for training
General Patton Desert Museum General Patton photo inside the museum
A
s many times as I’ve been to Palm Springs and the desert towns, I’d never heard of the General Patton Desert Museum. It’s located off Interstate 10 about 30 miles east of Indio at Chiriaco Summit, which was the entrance to Camp Young command post for the Desert Training Camp (DTC). It was the largest military installation and maneuver area in the world at approximately 18,000 square miles. Historically in January 1942, just a month after the United States entered the war, German troops under the command of Field Marshal Rommel started pushing toward Egypt, threatening the Suez Canal. The British had trouble fighting Rommel, not being experienced in the use of tanks as a tactical weapon in the desert. We didn’t know how to do that either. Major general George S. Patton, Jr. was chosen to establish the DTC to train our men and machines for action under the harsh conditions of the African deserts. With staff officers, he flew over a vast expanse of sand and brush in southern California and part of Arizona and Nevada. Later, he covered much of it on foot and horseback, choosing this area as the place. As he said, “The best I have ever seen… it is desolate and remote… large enough for any kind of training exercises.” The first troops to arrive described it
The outdoor chapel built by soldiers at the camp Ms Millner is the author of The Magic Makeover, Tricks for Looking Thinner, Younger and More Confident – Instantly. If you have an event that belongs in this column, you are invited to call Lynda at 969-6164.
Statue of general George Patton in front of his museum
as “the place God forgot.” Eventually, more than a million men went through training there. Patton wasted no time. It became operational in April 1942. Four days later, he and the troops took their first desert march. Within 15 days, all units had been on a desert march. Conditions were primitive. Some had wooden floors in their tents,
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but none had electricity or sheets for their cots. Within a month after arrival, every man had to be able to run a mile in 10 minutes, wearing a full backpack and carrying a rifle with only a canteen of water. When General Patton started operating the DTC, he knew little about the desert, so he used the expertise of Roy Chapman Andrews, an explorer who had been to the Gobi Desert several times. Patton explained, “If you can work successfully here, in this country, it will be no difficulty at all to kill the assorted sons of bitches you meet in any other country.” Patton was respected by his troops in spite of his harshness. The troops thought the camp should have been named for the general instead of for Young, who had fought Indians. Instead of living at an Indio hotel or at the ranch house where his wife stayed, he lived with his troops in the same primitive accommodations. Even though Patton was only at the DTC for four months, his impact lasted. He was sent overseas to start planning the North African Campaign, which was an Allied victory. Because of that, the Bureau of Land Management and General Patton Memorial, Inc. has established a memorial at the location to the flamboyant, colorful, and controversial
• The Voice of the Village •
general and the troops who served there. The mission of the General Patton Memorial Museum is to promote peace by honoring the service and sacrifice of America’s veterans while educating the public on modern U.S. military history through the preservation and interpretation of artifacts from the major conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries. For more information, call (760) 227-3483.
Chiriaco Summit Restaurant
When you visit the museum, plan on stepping back in time to the 1950s and having lunch at the Chiriaco Summit Restaurant. It has been owned and operated by the Chiriaco family since 1933. The founder was Joe, who came west in 1927 to see Alabama play Stanford at the Rose Bowl and never returned to his home state of Alabama. He got a job with the Los Angeles Bureau of Water and Power as a surveyor. Hence a trek into the Mojave Desert and this area then known as Shaver Summit site, which he later purchased. There used to be only a gravel road that ran east toward Blythe. When Joe heard of a new paved road between Indio and Phoenix, he began constructing a building. He opened his gas station and general store August 15, 1933, with one dollar in his cigar box till and it’s still there. With the new opening of U.S. 60, business was good. Joe met and married a blond Norwegian nurse, Ruth from Minnesota. They raised four children in pioneer conditions with 18 – 25 January 2018
gas-light generators for power and a limited supply of water, plus working 18 hours a day at their businesses. In 1942 when the soldiers were there, they loved Joe and Ruth’s place. In 1945, they established a rugged memorial to General Patton at the Chiriaco Summit. The name was changed in 1958 from Shaver to Chiriaco Summit. Joe and Ruth passed away months apart in 1996. In 2000, commercial power arrived and the generators were powered down for the last time. The family constructed the new Chevron Station and Food Mart in 2004. We were so glad to see that station, as we were running out of gas on the trek there. Joe and Ruth were honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars, located in front of See’s Candies, which were their favorite. If you’d like to know more, read Chiriaco Summit: Built by Love to Last in the Desert by Dr. Mary Gordon.
Mara Abboud Show
Coast 2 Coast Collection in La Arcada Courtyard and its owner, Holly Murphy, invited the public to an artist’s reception of Mara Abboud’s paintings and tile works. Twenty percent of all sales benefited the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Women’s board. The board president Fran Morrow told me, “We use our
18 – 25 January 2018
funds to help the museum buy works of art for its permanent collection.” As Holly said, “Mara’s painting style is uniquely her own, interweaving a palette of spectacular colors with the fantasy designs, achieving a jewel-like tapestry effect on her canvases reminiscent of tiles and stained glass.” I’ve known Mara for 30 years, and it always amazed me how “in the genes” art is. Her brother is Joseph Abboud, who has designed men’s clothing for many years. Her cousin is the poet Kahlil Gibran, who wrote The Prophet. Mara’s art can be found throughout the United States and Europe. She has been exhibited in 25 one-woman shows and appeared in 26 publications, including Architectural Digest, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. Some of her local commissions are the 2014 Granada Theatre 90th anniversary celebration poster, five paintings for Cottage Hospital, 1998 International Artist of the Year, the Natural History Museum, and many more. One of her latest, a tile work of sunflowers, is in the Montecito upper village on a wall behind the pharmacy and near the new shops. Next time you’re in La Arcada Courtyard, stop in Coast 2 Coast Collection. It is a treasure trove of goodies that you need or want. Eye candy everywhere! •MJ
Artist Mara Abboud at her reception at Coast 2 Coast Collection
Actor Don Murray and his wife, Bettie Johnson, with Coast 2 Coast Collection owner Holly Murphy at the art reception
MONTECITO JOURNAL
17
MISCELLANY (Continued from page 6) Richard Mineards, Cat Pollon, and her pet Shih Tzu named Peter at Penberth, Cornwall, a cove popular for shooting the Masterpiece series Poldark
tively unscathed. The deluge also devastated Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner’s 500-acre San Ysidro Ranch, with many of its 41 individually styled cottages buried under thick mud or destroyed completely. Also lucky was TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, 59, who fled her $40-million estate with actress Portia de Rossi, two days before the downpour, before learning later that Elliot, her 92-year-old father had died of natural causes. But former tennis ace Jimmy Connors was trapped in his 8,000-sq.ft. home and had to be evacuated by helicopter, as did many other local residents. Supermodel Gigi Hadid, a former student at Montecito Union School, asked for prayers on Twitter. “Please keep the families of Santa Barbara in your thoughts and prayers,” she asked, complete with an emoticon of a broken heart. With more than 115 homes destroyed and 250 others damaged, the 1,250 responders, armed with search dogs, have done sterling work, sifting through the mudslides for signs of life, and manning the barricades at important junctions throughout our tony community. When I tried to leave, I was informed by police and sheriff personnel at the junction of Hot Springs Road and East Valley that I couldn’t until a safe escape route had been worked out with an escort, given telephone poles were falling on Hot Springs Road and the bridge over the creek near Parre Grande Lane was dangerously unsound, given the flash flooding. “I wouldn’t even want to walk over
it,” one officer explained, “let alone drive in a car.” Fortunately, power and water have been restored. But, like the legendary phoenix, Montecito will rise again and become the idyllic community I have loved since moving here from L.A. 11 years ago. Such is the price of living in paradise. It is to be hoped Mother Nature, having exercised her wrath twice in consecutive months, will now give use a well-earned break. Generous DeGeneres Former Oscars emcee and TV talker Ellen DeGeneres put the generous in her name when she hosted local firefighters to a bash at her Montecito home, Villa di Lemma, to thank them for their help during the Thomas Fire. Ten members of Strike Team 2040A from various departments in Contra Costa County and three fire chiefs attended the bash at the former home of international interior designer John Saladino. The emergency personnel started fighting the Creek Fire in Los Angeles and were immediately reassigned to the conflagration of the Thomas Fire, which burned more than 300,000 acres. They spent several shifts – 34 to 36 hours each stint – in Montecito, assigned to protect homes when fire blew up and were among several personnel, including local realtor Diana MacFarlane’s son, Dan McNamara, who protected Ellen’s expansive property. One of the firefighters, Theresa Vouchilas – the only woman – expressed an interest in meeting the TV host after learning she’d pro-
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Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi at their home with the firefighters
the Wayfarer Hotel, Terry Ryken, Compass Realty, and the Canary Hotel, later had lunch at Los Arroyos on Coast Village Road, hosted by owner Tony Arroyo.
Ellen with Diana MacFarlane’s son, Dan McNamara
tected the estate, which was quickly arranged by uber-realtor Suzanne Perkins. “Ellen was kind, sensitive, and appreciative during the two-hour reception,” Diana tells me. “She asked meaningful questions and personally invited them to be guests on her 12 Days of Christmas show next December and come with their families at any other time.” The intrepid firemen, who were provided accommodation while here by Paul and Jane Orfalea, Impact Hub,
President Oprah? What better way of crowning her glittering career than for Oprah Winfrey to be resident at the White House? While I was in New York returning from London, I caught her rousing speech at the Golden Globes at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills and couldn’t fail to be impressed by her oratory, which earned her a standing ovation after she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award. The former TV talk-show host has, in the past, said she has no interest in political office, but longtime companion Stedman Graham, now says she’d be “game for a presidential run – if she has the public support.” “It’s up the people,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “She would absolutely do it.” Mega producer Steven Spielberg is pushing for her to run and a new poll says she’d beat the current incumbent of the White House if an election were held today.
MISCELLANY Page 324
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Lunch at Los Arroyos after Ellen’s. Owner Tony Arrroyo treated the firefighters.
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
66th Secretary of State
An Evening with
Our thoughts and support to the people of Montecito; Our gratitude and awe to all responders; Our hope to the future of our beloved communities. — Hayes Commercial Group
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18 – 25 January 2018
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
19
VILLAGE BEAT (Continued from page 12) Sisters Sawyer Corey and Morgan Corey are among the victims
Marilyn Ramos and her 3-year-old Kailly Benitez perished in last week’s mudslides
Jonathan Benitez was one of four children killed
learned very early in January that we were expecting a storm,” Taylor said. A press conference was held on January 5, followed by letters and phone calls to those in burn areas, and the release of a map that had been developed showing potential flood zones. On January 7, the plan was put in to effect, Taylor said; water courses were cleared from debris basins to the ocean, MFPD up-staffed with rescue task forces, and crews and equipment from the National Guard and Coast Guard. “This up-staffing was unprecedented in our County,” Taylor said. Evacuation orders were issued Sunday night, and the Sheriff’s office began the evacuation process. Resources were prepositioned across the front country by 8 pm Monday, and around 3 am, the burn area received greater than half an inch of rain in five minutes. The storm was considered to
Joseph Francis Bleckel lost his life
Mudslide victim Martin Cabrera-Munoz
be a 200-year event, coupled with the denuded hillsides from the Thomas Fire. Moving forward, Taylor and his District, along with other officials, will re-evaluate evacuation zones, based on weather models and debris flow. “Future weather this winter and in subsequent years could cause more problems,” Taylor said. At the height of the incident, 2,100 responders were on the ground and in the air, rescuing and recovering people in the first week following the incident. Victims from burning homes were rescued, along with those
49-year-old David Cantin; Cantin’s wife and daughter were rescued from storm waters
stranded from the mudslides. Ten helicopters performed 18 hoists in the first two hours and 102 air rescues in the first 14 hours, an unprecedented amount of rescues in the rainy weather. Santa Barbara County Fire chief Matt Ferris, who got caught in the water overtaking Highway 101 on his way to help that morning, added, “We had a plan in place and we implemented that plan, putting people in place to be the most effective that they
VILLAGE BEAT Page 244
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• The Voice of the Village •
and
18 – 25 January 2018
Your Westmont by Scott Craig (photography by Brad Elliott) Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College
Students Return, Classes Resume
has an opportunity to show neighbors that we care and want to help serve them. “We can be great citizens at this time,” he said. “Let’s be at our best as we interact with each other and the community around us.” The evacuation has required college officials to adapt the academic schedThough students were evacuated, Westmont staff continued to work and pray for Montecito and all the people who have lost loved ones and homes
W
estmont reopened its campus for students January 16 and resumed classes January 17 after the voluntary evacuation on January 9 following the Montecito mudslides. The Westmont campus sustained no damage from the storm, but students were voluntarily evacuated after college officials learned of water restrictions that would affect food preparation and sanitation. Crews delivered portable showers and bathrooms housed in 37-foot trailers to campus for student use, and a temporary kitchen was installed with a separate potable water source to provide food services to students. Westmont secured four buses from
Santa Barbara Airbus to drive students from Valencia around the Highway 101 closure to campus. Westmont shuttles also picked up students from the Santa Barbara Airport, train station, and Santa Barbara Harbor. Water service for toilets, showers, and sinks was restored to campus January 14, but Montecito Water officials were not expected to certify it as drinkable until later in the week. Sanitation crews gave a preliminary but positive report on the integrity of the system that serves Westmont. Natural gas is being tested and is slowly coming online. In a conference call to parents and students, president Gayle D. Beebe explained that the college community
ule for the spring term. These adjustments are not expected to affect the normal spring break, Easter holidays, and Commencement on May 5. The Presidents Day weekend break has been shortened to three days.
Westmont’s athletic director bravely rescued a friend who was trapped in her vehicle during the deadly mudslides. Dave Odell received a frantic cell phone call from the husband of Kathi King, who had escaped her swamped car and climbed a tree to temporary safety. “He was my guardian angel,” Kathi said of Odell. The story was featured on Fox News 11 and is on Westmont’s website. Tom Walters, Westmont assistant professor of kinesiology, his wife, Kirsten, and their girls, Reese, 6, and Taylor, 4, evacuated to the Montecito Inn from their East Mountain Drive home, but it wasn’t far enough to be out of harm’s way. After narrowly avoiding being swept in the mudslide to the hotel parking garage, his family was eventually rescued by the National Guard. The opening reception for “5X5: Celebrating Westmont College’s 80th Anniversary” was delayed until Thursday, January 18, from 4 to 6 pm at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. The event, which includes coffee and cake, is free and open to the public. Meanwhile, the online auction that began January 11 at westmontmuseum.org will continue through Friday, January 26, at 5 pm. The monthly public viewing at the Westmont Observatory slated for Friday, January 19, has been canceled. •MJ
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18 – 25 January 2018
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BRUNCH BRUNCH WEEKENDS OUR WEEKENDS
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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Montecito Architectural Guidelines and Development Standards Limited Update, Phase II (Detached Accessory Buildings) Tuesday, January 30, 2018 Board of Supervisors Hearing Room 105 E. Anapamu St. 4th Floor Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Hearing begins at 9:00 A.M. On Tuesday, January 30, 2018, the Board of Supervisors will conduct a public hearing to consider the adoption of the Montecito Architectural Guidelines and Development Standards (Guidelines). Phase II will limit the size and/or number of detached accessory buildings on residential lots in Montecito by amending the Guidelines, the Montecito Land Use and Development Code (MLUDC), and the Coastal Zoning Ordinance (CZO). Adoption of the proposed amendments will require the following: A resolution amending the Guidelines; An ordinance (Case No. 17ORD-00000-00011) amending Division 35.2, Montecito Zones and Allowable Land Uses, Division 35.4, Montecito Standards for Specific Land Uses, and Division 35.10, Glossary, of Section 35-2, the MLUDC, of Chapter 35, Zoning, of the Santa Barbara County Code; An ordinance (Case No. 17ORD-00000-00012) amending Division 2, Definitions, and Division 15, Montecito Community Plan Overlay District, of the CZO, of Chapter 35, Zoning, of the Santa Barbara County Code; and, A determination that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15061(b)(3) and 15265. The proposed amendments, including a staff analysis, may be reviewed at the Clerk of the Board’s Office, 105 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, or at the Planning and Development Department, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, one week prior to the date of the public hearing. The Board of Supervisors hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. Please see the posted agenda, available at the Clerk of the Board of Supervisor’s website (http://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/cob.sbc) on the Thursday prior to the hearing for a more specific time for this item. The order of items listed on the agenda is subject to change by the Board of Supervisors. Anyone interested in this matter is invited to appear and speak in support of or in opposition to the project. Written comments are also welcome. All letters should be addressed to the County Board of Supervisors, c/o Clerk of the Board, 105 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. For additional information, please visit the project website: http://longrange.sbcountyplanning.org/programs/montecito/design_guidelines_update.php Or contact Jessi Steele, Planner: Email: jsteele@countyofsb.org | Phone: 805-884-8082 Attendance and participation by the public is invited and encouraged. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Hearing Support Staff (805) 568-2000. Notification at least 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the Hearing Support Staff to make reasonable arrangements. If you challenge the project in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the County Board of Supervisors prior to the public hearing.
22 MONTECITO JOURNAL
by Ashleigh Brilliant
SATURDAYS & & SUNDAYS SUNDAYS SATURDAYS
DINNER NIGHTLY from 5:00 p.m. NIGHTLY
SEAFOOD STEAKS SEAFOOD COCKTAILS
Brilliant Thoughts Born London, 1933. Mother Canadian. Father a British civil servant. World War II childhood spent mostly in Toronto and Washington, D.C. Berkeley PhD. in American History, 1964. Living in Santa Barbara with wife Dorothy since 1973. No children. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots”, now a series of 10,000. Email ashleigh@west.net or visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com
Merry Charismas
S
ome people are instantly likeable, some just the opposite. We hear much about “born leaders,” but most of us are probably born followers. And why not, so long as we’re being led in the right direction? That is the trouble. This quality called “charisma” (an expression relatively new to our modern vocabulary, though its roots can be traced to antiquity), undoubtedly exists but is unfortunately not distributed according to merit. Bad people can have it, with sometimes devastating results. And it has little to do with physical appearance. Ugly people may not usually get starring roles – but you’ll often find them directing the action. Modern filming has indeed provided plentiful evidence of the histrionic devices that enabled demagogues such as Hitler and Mussolini to whip their audiences into a frenzy. And to a certain extent, these techniques can be taught. In fact, the art of oratory is known to have been highly respected in ancient Greece and Rome. A famous example of this art, made much more famous by Shakespeare’s depiction of it, was the speech given by Mark Anthony in the Roman Forum, after the assassination of Julius Caesar, in 44 B.C. Using the few known historical facts, Shakespeare was able to create a truly memorable scene. It was Shakespeare, not Anthony, who asked his audience to “lend me your ears,” who talked about having “come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” – and who then cleverly turned his speech from one honoring the assassins to a cry for vengeance against them. I first learned about all this at school in England where, as no doubt still happens in classrooms around the world, we re-enacted some of the best scenes from the first three acts. (Why is the first half of great works so often so much better than the second? I feel the same way about the movie Gone With The Wind. After the intermission, you might as well leave.) Later, when for a mercifully short time, I taught English at an American high school, Julius Caesar actually happened to be featured in our curriculum, and I was able to inflict the same masterpiece upon a new generation. Unfortunately, I myself didn’t have the charisma to be a very effective teacher. In fact, one of my justifications for giving up that unpromising career was that I thought others could
• The Voice of the Village •
be doing a much better job at it. And, with the wide availability of audio and video recording, there was no reason why their teaching talents could not now be available to large numbers of students, including mine. Unfortunately, most of the teachers and lecturers to whom as a student I had been personally exposed were also lacking in charisma. When I finally started getting my own books published, I had an opportunity to express a little of my regret concerning this. In my third book of epigrams (Appreciate Me Now, and Avoid The Rush), in the place where a dedication usually goes, I wrote: This book would have been dedicated to all the teachers who have inspired and encouraged me – if any of them ever had. But personal magnetism is not a broadly dispensed gift, not even among those most obligated and committed to dealing with the public. My favorite story about its opposite, which we may call “negative charisma,” concerns four men and spans seventeen centuries. The first two characters lived in the 1st century A.D. They were the Roman poet Martial and someone he called “SabidiusMartial, the first writer of epigrams to be known by name. One of his pieces, numbered 32 in his collected works, may be translated thus (although it may have had more punch in the original Latin): “I don’t like you, Sabidius. I’m not sure why, but I’m sure I don’t.” We now leap to Oxford University in 17th-century England, to Christ Church College, where John Fell was the dean and Thomas Brown, later well-known as a poet, was a student. According to legend, Brown was about to be expelled, but the dean for some whimsical reason, offered to cancel the expulsion, if Brown would then and there produce a translation of that 32nd epigram of Martial. Thereupon Brown saved himself by offering the following slightly personalized version, which has since then become a classic: “I do not love thee, Dr. Fell – The reason why, I cannot tell, But this I know, and know full well – I do not love thee, Dr. Fell •MJ 18 – 25 January 2018
DOs and DO NOTs For Filing Homeowners and Business Insurance Claims DO!
DO NOT!
Obtain your own BIDS for dwelling replacement and repairs.
Accept “ESTIMATES” from insurance company experts or software programs.
Insist on “like kind and quality” materials and workmanship.
Replace plaster with sheetrock, marble with formica or antique furnishings with faux finishes.
Make a complete room by room list of all items of personal property lost.
Accept depreciated value for any items. Insist on full replacement value.
Determine whether your policy limits are sufficient.
Assume that inadequate limits are your fault. Insurers often underinsure policyholders in order to limit exposure and provide low premium bids.
Insist on full coverage for flood and earth movement damage.
Accept the argument that you have to have flood insurance to cover a flood or debris loss caused to ANY DEGREE by a prior fire.
Look up InsuranceConsumers.com or get a free consultation from an insurance law specialist before proceeding: (415) 407-2162.
Sign anything or pay anyone anything before doing so.
Note that in California it is unlawful for an insurance company to: • misrepresent insurance coverage; • engage in unreasonable delay; or • settle claims for less than the amounts that are reasonably owed.
An insurance company that engages in such conduct can be held liable for all additional damages caused, including the policyholder’s attorneys fees.
Ray Bourhis is a lawyer who for over forty years has specialized in representing policyholders in all matters relating to insurance. He has been profiled on 60 Minutes, in the Wall Street Journal and in numerous media outlets nationwide. The author of several books and hundreds of articles on insurance law, he was appointed to oversee reforms in the California Department of Insurance. He lives in Montecito and was evacuated twice over the recent fires and flooding. 18 – 25 January 2018
MONTECITO JOURNAL
23
VILLAGE BEAT (Continued from page 20)
Peter Fleurat was killed in last week’s slides
James Mitchell and Alice Mitchell were killed when their home on Hot Springs Road was destroyed
69-year-old Josephine Gower
Roy Rohter is among the dead
61-year-old John McManigal lost his life
Local realtor Rebecca Riskin lost her life in the mudslides
Mark Montgomery (54) and his daughter Caroline Montgomery (22) were among the victims
could be.” Major damage occurred to both our water system and sanitary system, which is in the process of being restored. Highlines that feed the water reservoirs were broken at every water crossing, the water main was damaged, Jameson lake piping was severed in two locations, hydrants were sheared off, and distribution systems to homes were damaged. Montecito Sanitary District general manager Diane Gabriel reports that as of Tuesday afternoon, her team had visually inspected 1,300 of the 2,000 manholes. Eleven hundred of those were in good condition; others were impacted by mud and debris. Four lift stations have been rehabilitated and are fully functioning. “It is our intent that we will have sanitary/sewer service when the community has potable
24 MONTECITO JOURNAL
water service,” Gabriel said. Sheriff Bill Brown said the current mandatory evacuation is absolutely necessary due to recovery operations and debris removal. Moving forward, infrastructure is the next priority, according to Sheriff Brown. That includes utilities and roads, taking into account the timing of future rainstorms. It is estimated that Highway 101 will be reopened early next week, which will likely be followed by Coast Village Road, which has been closed to the public since January 10. Crews are working 24 hours a day to clear the tons of debris and mud on the freeway, utilizing 90 trucks to move the mud. “Coast Village Road is the only way in and out since the freeway is closed,” Sheriff Brown said. He added that his team is developing repopulation plans, which will likely
be done incrementally once utilities are up and running. “I can’t give you an exact time, but I can tell you we are working very diligently,” Sheriff Brown said. The Sheriff’s department has escorted hundreds of homeowners back to their home to retrieve important items; if you have belongings needed that are absolute necessities, you may call emergency operations at (833) 688-5551. To retrieve a car in the evacuation zone, call CHP at (805) 4774174. A local recovery and assistance center will open Wednesday, January 17, at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara, 1 N Calle Cesar Chavez in Santa Barbara. The center, which will serve as a centralized, single-point location for essential resources and services to help community members recover and rebuild, will be open from 11 am to 6:30 pm Monday through Friday, and 10 am to 2 pm on Saturday. It will be closed on Sundays. It will be open initially through February 3, 2018. Representatives from various local, state, and federal agencies will provide counseling support, resource and housing assistance, information to aid in rebuilding, permitting, hazardous materials cleanup, loss of business or employment, basic health and human services, and other topics. An updated interactive map of the disaster zone is available online at www.countyofsb.
• The Voice of the Village •
org; there you can assess the preliminary damage to your property.
School Updates
Several Montecito schools – Montecito Union, Cold Spring, Crane, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Laguna Blanca, All Saints-by-the-Sea – have resumed classes at various locations. “Getting the students back in school and on a regular schedule is a top priority, and MUS administration and staff have been working around the clock to bring this about,” said MUS board president Gwyn Lurie earlier this week. Cold Spring School superintendent/principal Dr. Amy Alzina shared similar sentiments in her ongoing communication to parents; Cold Spring School was back in session on Tuesday of this week, as a majority of the school’s children do not live in the mandatory evacuation zone. The school was not physically damaged in the mudslide, but two of its students, kindergartener Peerawat “Pasta” Sutthithepa and sixth-grader Sawyer Corey were killed during the catastrophic event. Grief counselors were on hand at a temporary Compassion Center on campus last week while the school remained closed for classes; a psychologist has also been brought
VILLAGE BEAT Page 404 18 – 25 January 2018
Co-presented with the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life and the UCSB Department of Religious Studies
Reza Aslan
God: A Human History Thu, Jan 18 / 7:30 PM UCSB Campbell Hall Tickets start at $20 $10 UCSB students “Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless of whether we’re believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves.” Reza Aslan Books will be available for purchase and signing
JUST ADDED!
Jeffrey Toobin
JUST ADDED!
Politics, Media and the Law in the Post-Obama Age Mon, Jan 29 / 7:30 PM / Campbell Hall Tickets start at $20 / $10 UCSB students “Toobin uses his knowledge of the justice system and his examination of the evidence to pierce the veil of spectacle.” The New York Times Book Review Books will be available for purchase and signing With support from the Harold & Hester Schoen Arts & Lectures Endowment For information about a related TLI event visit www.Thematic-Learning.org
Pilobolus Maximus Beyond the Limits of Dance Sun, Jan 28 / 7 PM / Granada Theatre Tickets start at $55 / $19 UCSB students A Granada facility fee will be added to each ticket price
“A peek or two into the crannies of the heart and lots of humor, both awful and sublime.” The New York Times From the irreverence of a wild circus to the physical filigree of their most classical work, Maximus is not only the best of Pilobolus but the most revealing of how diverse and surprising Pilobolus’ work can be.
Dance Series Sponsors: Annette & Dr. Richard Caleel, Margo Cohen-Feinberg & Robert Feinberg and the Cohen Family Fund, Irma & Morrie Jurkowitz and Barbara Stupay Back by Popular Demand
José González with special guest
Bedouine
Wed, Jan 31 / 8 PM UCSB Campbell Hall Tickets start at $25 $18 UCSB students A soulful songwriter with a deep, quiet power, José González’s probing lyrics, intricate guitar melodies and “beautiful yet haunting voice” (Spin.com) converge in his unforgettable mix of indie pop and intimate acoustics.
Compagnie Accrorap/Kader Attou Kader Attou, Artistic Director The Roots
Direct from France
Tue, Feb 6 / 8 PM Granada Theatre Tickets start at $35 $19 UCSB students A Granada facility fee will be added to each ticket price
“An impressive fusion of hip-hop’s pyrotechnics with contemporary dance elements.” The New York Times Dance Series Sponsors: Annette & Dr. Richard Caleel, Margo Cohen-Feinberg & Robert Feinberg and the Cohen Family Fund, Irma & Morrie Jurkowitz and Barbara Stupay Sponsored in part by the Albert & Elaine Borchard Foundation
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18 – 25 January 2018
Granada event tickets can also be purchased at: (805) 899-2222 / www.GranadaSB.org MONTECITO JOURNAL
25
LETTERS (Continued from page 8)
at first pay that much attention, until I encountered a great many families with many children at the Alice Keck Park who were under mandatory evacuation from Ojai. All 7,000 residents had to flee their homes at once. That was so unexpected, I realized this must be serious and had been underplayed on the local news. Previously, the Tea Fire was my only experience a decade ago, when I was new. I remember being at a lecture presented by Westmont at the University Club. It was halted by a woman who announced that 192 had been closed because of a fire situation. I noticed once outside how the ash appeared white in color, like snow. Being from New England, although I had lived in San Francisco, too, all I had to deal with was frigid, horribly long winters and frozen/burst water pipes when it dropped below the freezing point. Fires were rather foreign to me. There were 7,000 Mandatory Evacuation calls and 23,000 Voluntary Evacuation notices as well in the Thomas Fire. My three calls (voluntary notices) came at the ungodly hour of 6 am, when it’s still pitch dark. I chose to stay put. I live across from the beach and have always had an affinity for the ocean. In contrast, I never felt safe in forest-like settings with limited access. It’s just not my thing. I grieve for the loss of San Diego firefighter Cory Iverson, a true hero, as were the 8,000+ experts he served with. I admire the archetype of these brave men and women whose “mission in life is to make the path safe for other people.” My heart also goes out to those who have been harmed in any way by this major tragedy called the Thomas Fire. The 3:45 am gas-bomb explosion, which came from Oprah’s neighbors from behind, was a traumatic jolt to everybody I spoke with. The closing of
Highway 101 due to 30 miles of mud in each direction is beyond belief. All those countless huge boulders have caused death and destruction; it is overwhelming to take it all in. The previous day, on Sunday, January 7, we were celebrating at Our Lady of Carmel Church a rescheduled Christmas celebration. We felt the worst was behind us. The air smelled clean and all looked pretty much back to normal. Less than one day later, mud with a consistency of wet concrete had covered just about everything: Coast Village Road, Coral Casino, Butterfly Beach, Montecito Inn, entire neighborhoods, with roads and highways filled with debris, gushing water everywhere. We experienced an inch of water per second for five minutes! That’s what it took to reverse so much progress made by so many in harm’s way. My heartfelt deepest wish is for all of us to become better stewards of this magnificent planet Earth, which we have long over-built, poisoned, and trashed, allowing our beautiful exotic animals to go extinct. What is desperately missing is balance and harmony. Leslie Nelson Montecito
mudslides. I was sad to hear that the home I shared with MJ publisher Tim Buckley when we worked together at the Journal has been completely demolished by the mudflow. Our landlord, who lived next door in one of those small cottages, Richard Taylor, died in the calamity. The tragedy has ravaged people I know and many others I do not. To all those affected, I send my heartfelt condolences. And to all those who have heroically supported people in distress, I extend my deepest admiration and respect. Hang in there, Montecito. Guillaume Doane Cape Town, South Africa
gift from the man who is the inspiration for what will become my third and final Butterfly Beach book. With his shovel, “The Artist of Butterfly Beach” had drawn a very large broken heart and next to it had spelled out Montecito. It’s what we are all feeling at this moment, and I just wanted to share it with you and the readers of the Montecito Journal. Polly Bookwalter Montecito (Editor’s note: Ms Bookwalter is author of Butterfly Beach and The Keeper of Butterfly Beach. – J.B.)
The Real Heroes
Broken-Hearted Butterfly Beach
Two days after a mandatory evacuation was ordered for the entire former Public Safety Exclusion Zone, Roger and I walked the beach toward Montecito from our temporary “home” near Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara. What we saw on Butterfly Beach brought tears to my eyes. There on the sand for all to see was the latest
We came through the mudslide fine, as did the birds in our yard (although they looked wet and bewildered), but my heart goes out to all the people who lost friends, loved ones, and property. And I’m filled with awe and gratitude toward the men who are rescue workers and who have been working all night in our neighborhood. The actresses and actors at the
Admiration and Respect
It’s been more than a decade since I left Montecito for the final time. But of course, the village still occupies a vast and special part of my heart. I live far away now, but recalling fond memories, first as a student at Montecito Union School and later as a proud member of the Montecito Journal staff, has always dependably narrowed the distance. Montecito is in my heart more than ever as I learn of the devastation caused by the fires, rain, and
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26 MONTECITO JOURNAL
• The Voice of the Village •
WGragg@DistinctiveRealEstateOnline.com License # 01327524
www.DistinctiveRealEstateOnline.com
18 – 25 January 2018
Golden Globes called themselves “heroes” simply for wearing expensive black outfits and making claims about “male sexual harassment.” They’re not heroes. And they should stop focusing on a handful of jerky guys in the world and thank their lucky stars that there are thousands of real heroes: the men who risk their lives to fight fires and rescue disaster victims. Polly Frost Montecito (Editor’s note: Polly realizes there are plenty of women doing the same kind of rescue work as their male counterparts, but Ms Frost was interested in praising male heroes as a counterpoint to the claims of the black-clad cadre at this year’s Golden Globes. – J.B.)
Time for Prayer
All affected by the rain and resultant mudslides are in our thoughts and prayers. Santa Barbara County, please pray the little prayer at www.de-vrouwe.info every day, and for those who know how, the Holy Rosary as well. Matthew R. Dunnigan Roma, Italia
Montecito Needs New OS
Were interactive maps circulated with televised warnings to buy flood insurance? In October 2017, I shared my attendance at the City’s Flood Management Meeting, where flood map revisions were presented. I was thrilled to see I’ve minimal risk off Barker Pass Road. After five weeks of mega-stress fire, evacuation uncertainty, alone, I suffered brain fade. Forgive me: I even have posted on my wall fire and flood maps. Too bad Montecito with its multiple special districts lacks a leadership or any unified governmental structure to effectively distribute info. On January 3, the Montecito Planning Commission (MPC) responded to my public testimony that it’s not its job. Our District 1 Board of Supervisors office responded that MPC is autonomous, and accountable to no one. ‘“Das [Williams] only appoints commissioners,” I was told. News to me
after 37 years. In southwest Montecito, we need posting and maps of water source boundaries from Kelly Dyer at the Santa Barbara Water District and from Montecito Water District (MWD). Some City residents think they get their water from MWD, others in the unincorporated area — like me – get city water. Renters do not necessary get bills. Realtors rarely get it right. My newer neighbors don’t know whether to boil or not. Montecito proper for decades views us as stepchildren, making us independently resourceful. We all remember jammed-packed MWD meetings at MUS during the drought. We do care. We do want info. We do appreciate leadership as we wonder who’s in charge. (I attend meetings as a Montecito resident City Water Customer who votes and is taxed MWD and sanitation on my property tax bill. Go figure.) After this mega-disaster ends, with all highly deserved praises and gratitude extended to our rescuers, and the depth of our sadness changes each of us, Montecito may want to rethink itself. Is it finally time to form a more effective, accountable operating system to take serious implementation of recommendations presented in existing studies, from maps, and known from historical experience? In hindsight, I wish I had called friends, spoken up at the Casa Dorinda expansion hearings, but it’s never too late. Stronger together; smarter together. We are our neighbors’ keepers. Denice Spangler Adams MFA-8, SoWest Montecito Cold Spring School District SB City Water & Sewer
Where’s the Journal?
Despite the monstrous situation, when and where might we see another Journal? Anne French Montecito (Editor’s note: We’ve been covering both the fire and the mud-and-debris-slide. Since there hasn’t been any place at which to display Montecito Journal in either the upper village or the Coast Village area, we’ve been bringing copies to hotels and motels where Montecito’s evacuees
have been staying. Otherwise, the paper remains available all over Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Carpinteria. – J.B.)
Hanging Around
I don’t know how you pulled it off, but there was the Montecito Journal in the machines, same as usual. Good job. Aren’t you glad you stuck around? Karen Friedman Santa Barbara (Editor’s note: Well, gee Karen, I guess we are pleased that we’re still here. – J.B.)
Handling the Overflow
And we thought we witnessed the defining event for Montecito in this century. Be not deceived by our ignorance. There was more to come. We have been part of the scourge of California’s Four Horsemen: Drought, Fire, Flood... when will Earthquake show its ugly head? Our hearts are in Montecito, especially at this time of year since we live most of the year in Seattle. Tonight our hearts and and prayers are full-on for our friends and neighbors in Montecito. I hope our first responders from all over the West will be named Time Magazine’s Men and Women of the Year, along with all those from the rest of the country who do their job unselfishly and honorably. We don’t know how our Montecito home fared, but we are optimistic that it escaped major damage. The story: The Thomas Fire, which stands as the largest fire in California history at nearly 281,000 acres made a spectacular conclusion to 2017. The recent rains will bring it under full control. Fortunately, there were few injuries and only one fatality. The fire came very close to our home, but there was no damage other than some smoky residue. The firefighters and equipment came from all over the west. We join all our neighbors in appreciation and admiration of the well-trained, brave, and energetic first responders.
Last Monday night, rain came to Santa Barbara and Southern California; the rain had been predicted. Mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders were (re)issued to protect lives in danger from possible flash flooding and mudslides, which can be expected below California’s foothills after fire incidents. Not all residents heeded the warnings. Some estimates suggest that only 15 percent of those in evacuation areas sought higher ground. The mandatory warning areas were primarily above Hwy 192 from Mission Canyon to Hwy 150. Areas below Hwy 192 were under voluntary evacuation orders. Unfortunately, the mandatory areas are higher on the denuded hills overlooking Montecito. It would be through this area that floods would pass, but the lower areas would be where the water, mud, rocks, and debris would end up. Understandable “evacuation fatigue” had an effect. It should be also noted that Montecito has many part-time residents and residences. The prediction was for modest rain over a period of time. Early Tuesday morning, somewhere between 0230 and 0400, the rain came – heavy and fast – at one point dumping 1 inch in 15 minutes. The total rainfall varies depending on specific location, but the intensity was enough to get things rolling. There are several significant small canyons and streambeds coming down the Montecito hills beginning in the Los Padres National Forest to our north. Montecito Creek is a combination of East Cold Spring and Hot Springs Creek, the lower reaches of which are forced into an armored channel that eventually crosses under Olive Mill Road, under Hwy 101 and onward to the Pacific Ocean. Other creeks from the hills of Montecito include Oak Creek, San Ysidro Creek (which boarders the world-famous San Ysidro Ranch), Romero Canyon, and Picay Creek. There are other
LETTERS Page 294
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EDITORIAL (Continued from page 5)
Scenes such as this have become commonplace on Montecito roads as scores of rescue and now recovery teams traverse the debris in search of... The debris basin just south of Casa Dorinda did manage to capture some of the boulders and branches coming down the mountain – unfortunately, not nearly enough of them to really matter
This house, along with many others of its age (70-plus years?) and modest size, were destroyed, displacing numbers of multi-generational families in the small “Spanish Town” enclave at the intersection of Parra Grande and East Valley Road
Montecito beginning around 3:30 on the morning of Tuesday, January 9. Residents of the upper village, already faced with a loss of power that killed lights, computers, and phone service, tumbled out of deep sleep, awakened by a deafening roar that was rumbling down the mountain. The nighttime sky burst into a vivid orange-red panorama that suddenly illuminated the darkness, lighting the community as if it were mid-day instead of the middle of a rainy night. Rudely awakened residents scrambled out of bed, imagining the worst from pelting rain, pouring down at the rate of a half an inch in just five minutes. A giant mudslide formed on denuded mountain slopes just below the Los Padres National Forest. Fire-baked foothills stripped of vegetation and recently ravaged by the Thomas Fire – the largest in California’s recorded history – cov-
The 100-year-old bridge to Casa Dorinda survived, but the newer structure being built just north of it was completely demolished
EDITORIAL Page 304
A series of small homes at the “S” curve on East Valley Road between Parra Grande and Sycamore Canyon were completely demolished; the first “house” (on right) is where Bill Dalziel lived for a number of years and where his “fish pond” was; the likelihood of anything new being built at this site is slim
28 MONTECITO JOURNAL
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
LETTERS (Continued from page 27)
un-named drainages that also carry water from the hills during heavy rain “events.” The photos and video coverage that have been seen thus far on TV, social media, and in newspapers are mostly in the area of the 300 block of Olive Mill Road where the Montecito Creek was intended to move on to the ocean, but there was too much mud, boulders, and debris for that to happen. The creek found its own way below and over the roads, through the neighborhood below, down Olive Mill to Coast Village Road and onto US 101, completely blocking the 101 for days to come. As of this morning, 20 people including four children have died. Four are still missing as this is written. The injured include two in critical condition. This loss of life has, of course, added a grave emotional layer not felt so much during the fire. Our hearts go out to all who have lost. Park Lane, where we have a home, remains closed as does CA 192 (East Valley Road). We do not know the status of the road or our house. We are optimistic since Park Lane is not at the bottom of a drainage or alongside a creek. Just a few hundred yards away, San Ysidro Creek surged with explosive force severally damaging San Ysidro Ranch. Despite the damage nearby and wanting some information, our primary concern is for those who have lost family members and friends, the missing and, of course, the heroic first responders. Our hearts go out to those whose homes have been destroyed or damaged and to the small businesses needing to rebuild. Many dreams were shattered this week in our community. We are in Seattle planning to return to Santa Barbara at the end of the month, unless we would be in the way of cleanup and recovery efforts. Doug and Nancy Norberg Seattle, Washington (Editor’s note: Thank you for reminding us and our readers that indeed these kinds of things have occurred in Montecito in the past, and will indeed do so again in the future. Even so, Montecito is an absolutely wonderful place to live and work. – J.B.)
Student Tuition Offered
My heart grieves for our entire community, particularly for each family who has suffered a loss in this week’s tragic natural disaster. Some of us lost a family member or a friend. Homes have washed away. The mountains literally fell into the sea…You may be safe but isolated in a community without freeway access or without power. Livelihoods have been destroyed. All our lives have 18 – 25 January 2018
been disrupted to some extent, and we are far from living in our normal routines. We are grateful that we have been able to keep school open this week. Upper School students who could get to school wrote their exams. Special accommodations have been made on a student-by-student basis for those who have not been able to attend school. Rod Meadth, our dean of students, has been stranded south of the mudflows, and has personally visited other families there and proctored exams. We’ve had to cancel concerts that we all were looking forward to. It is likely other events will be canceled or postponed. It is hard to find “normal” these days, when “normal” simply does not exist. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. Though the earth should change and the mountains slip into the sea. (Psalm 46:1-2). I want to assure you of the deep love and concern of your Providence family. The beauty of this community is that we pull together to support one another. If you have a need – for a meal, for housing, for a group of strong teens (or a stronger head of school) with shovels – please share it. This is when the Christian community shines in pulling together to love and support each other. Pastors and counselors are on our campuses to support students and faculty. Our school community is gathering for prayer throughout the day. This disaster has reached deep into our midst. God is indeed our refuge and our strength. We are committed to supporting every student and family and the entire community with love and practical help in this time of trouble. If you are in need, please let us know how we can assist you. If you know families whose students are displaced from schools located in Montecito and Carpinteria, please share with them that Providence’s doors are open. Space-dependent, we will take in any displaced student, preschool (age 3) through eighth grade, with no charge for tuition for the first month. We want to support our brothers and sisters at All-Saints-bythe Sea Preschool, El Montecito Early School, Cold Springs School, Crane Country Day School, Montecito Union School, and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School. We will get through this together. Dr. Scott Lisea Providence A Santa Barbara Christian School (Editor’s note: This is an extremely generous offer, and no doubt there will be Montecito residents who’ll take you up on your proposal. – J.B.) •MJ
The District is working round-the-clock in support of our community during this time of hardship, and shares the heartache. A Reliable Supply Since 1921
The District’s #1 Priority is Public Health and Safety Emergency Potable Water is being distributed to customers. Please Note: The locations of the distribution sites may change and will be kept up-to-date on our website.
The District’s Main Objective is to rapidly make repairs to Montecito Water District’s water supply and delivery system. “The District continues to be awed by the support we are receiving from the City of Santa Barbara, County, State, other mutual aid agencies, and our elected officials. The responsiveness of neighboring and distant agencies has allowed us to make rapid progress and we have the skilled construction crews, engineers, materials and equipment to get the job done. We can’t thank them enough.” – Nick Turner, General Manager
STAY CONNECTED/FIND RESOURCES: Visit our website: montecitowater.com Enews opt-in: montecitowater.com Follow on Twitter: @montecitowater Facebook: MontecitoWater Ongoing updates: www.CountyofSB.org Call: 2-1-1 from 805 area code Outside of 805: 800-400-1572 Text: your zip code to 898-211
BOIL WATER NOTICE REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR SOME MONTECITO WATER DISTRICT CUSTOMERS Further information on water treatment can be found on the District’s website. Para más información visite nuestro sitio web.
montecitowater.com • 805/969-2271
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
29
EDITORIAL (Continued from page 28)
ered a firestorm area nearly twice the size of the state of Rhode Island. Now, with concentrated rainfall, the mountain began to move. The rolling sea of mud and ooze, interspersed with giant boulders and uprooted trees that turned into river ramrods, snapped off power poles, destroyed homes or ripped them in half before residents had a chance to escape. Debris and devastation covered an area in Montecito far larger area than lower Manhattan, site of the World Trade Center calamity in New York City on 9/11/2001. The sweeping mudslide severed an underground gas line, exploding into towering flames and incinerating homes near East Mountain Drive just west of the San Ysidro Ranch in the Casa de Maria area, where San Ysidro Creek descends from the San Ysidro Canyon and West Park Hill Lane. Within minutes, the 9-1-1 hot line lit up with residents begging for first responders to save them from death and devastation they sensed was about to engulf them.
Evacuation Warnings
A mandatory evacuation notice had been issued on Monday for all residents north of 192 (East Valley Road) from Sheffield Road-Ladera Lane on the east side to Hot Springs-Olive Mill on the west side. Reputedly, less than 20 percent of residents heeded the mandatory evacuation order, which warned of possible mudslides from La Conchita and Ventura to Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito, and Santa Barbara. Perversely, most of the death and devastation occurred south of 192 in the voluntary evacuation zone.
Montecito Water District crews were busy early, repairing water mains ripped out of the ground by the rushing torrent, seen here near the top of Hot Springs Road above East Mountain Drive
Birnam Wood
Some 40 cold and shivering victims, rescued by Montecito fire, in wet nightclothes and bare feet were deposited by first responders at the Birnam Wood Clubhouse, which had no staff and no power at 3:30 am. Responders, overwhelmed with calls of distress, had to get back to their search-and-rescue mission. Burn victims had been transported to Cottage Hospital. Nearby, awakened Birnam residents marshaled towels, warm socks, jackets, emergency lanterns, and limited food for huddled, frightened evacuees, who were finally permanently airlifted the next evening by a flotilla of National Guard helicopters, landing on the first and 10th fairways of Birnam Wood Golf Course, transporting victims to the UCSB emergency recovery center.
Hardest Hit
Predictably, the disaster was at its worst along the four drought-dry creek beds of Montecito that wind down through the canyons of the San Ysidro Mountains to the sea. The mix of water, mud, tainted ash, boulders, and debris that descended upon Montecito was destructive beyond comparison. In order of severity of damage and loss of life, it is helpful to examine each of these flood plains that ripped the heart out of Montecito: 1) San Ysidro Creek and flood basin The San Ysidro Creek starts in the San Ysidro Canyon, above the San Ysidro Ranch at 900 San Ysidro Lane. That iconic resort had been selected as
EDITORIAL Page 334
Cottages higher up had little to no damage, as illustrated by this photo from the front of the “Orange” cottage, whose green lawn flows into what is now a debris field at San Ysidro Ranch
30 MONTECITO JOURNAL
Recently renovated and luxurious “cottages” at world-famous San Ysidro Ranch Hotel are half-filled with mud and debris and uninhabitable; the Ranch is now closed and will remain so for the foreseeable future
The “Orange” cottage as seen from below the cottage and just above the destruction
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
Thomas Fire December 2017
Montecito Mudslide January 9, 2018
MONTECITO MUDSLIDE RECOVERY SEMINAR THESE IMPORTANT TOPICS WILL BE DISCUSSED: - How Did the Thomas Fire Start? - Is The Fire Related To The Mudslide? - Are SCE & MWD Responsible For The Mudslide? - How Do I Protect My Family?
Free Seminar
Monday Jan. 22, 2018 at 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm
Kimpton Canary Hotel 31 W Carrillo St., Santa Barbara
EXPERIENCE AND RESULTS MATTER OUR TEAM OF VETERAN TRIAL LAWYERS HAS RECOVERED $1.5 BILLION
Alex Robertson
Peter Bezek
Robert Curtis
MontecitoMudslideLawsuit.com 18 – 25 January 2018
Joseph Liebman
Geoff Spreter
805-409-3244 MONTECITO JOURNAL
31
MISCELLANY (Continued from page 18)
Rasmussen Reports found Oprah appealed to 76 percent of Democrats, 44 percent of Independent voters, and even 22 percent of Republicans – 48 to 38 percent – with 14 percent undecided. Watch this space.
Beat it Montecito actress Julia LouisDreyfus’s sons have sent her a special video to mark the end of her grueling chemotherapy. The touching video shows 25-yearold Henry and 20-year-old Charlie dancing and lip-synching to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”. “Ain’t they sweet?” the 56-yearold Veep actress, who revealed in December she has been diagnosed with breast cancer, tweeted. Once she regains her strength, she will film the final season of HBO’s hit show.
launched the careers of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Smokey Robinson, to name just a few. The show featured a torrent of toe-tapping classic songs such as “My Girl”, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Reach Out”, and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”. Kenneth Mosley as Gordy was superb, with excellent offerings by Trenyce as Diana Ross, Justin Reynolds as Smokey Robinson and Matt Manuel as Marvin Gaye, joining a wonderful ensemble cast decked out in costumes that would put Las Vegas to shame.
and Olive, 5, and ended in divorce two years ago. Stay tuned.
MAW Draw
Berry Good
Scott Reed, president, Music Academy of the West (photo by Mathew Imaging)
Motown the Musical brings back memories
Motown the Musical, the latest Theater League offering, rocked the sold-out Granada. The highly energized, two-hourand-45-minute production, which told the story of founder Berry Gordy’s journey from a featherweight boxer to a heavyweight music mogul who
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32 MONTECITO JOURNAL
Pianist Gilles Vonsattel excels
The Music Academy of the West has established an annual Alumni Enterprise Awards scheme to help budding musical entrepreneurs who’ve attended the Miraflores campus. The awards, ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, will fund original ideas in areas including artistic expression, audience development, and technology, based on scope and scale. Academy president Scott Reed says: “We are excited to assist our alumni in launching new programs that could be crucial to their growth as entrepreneurial artists.” Clearly a scheme of high note. It’s Drew Love Former Montecito actress Drew Barrymore, 42, who married Will Kopelman, 39, in our rarefied enclave six years ago, would seem to have a new man in her life. The Santa Clarita Diet star has been seen around town with David Hutchinson, the senior vice president of Maesa, which make Drew’s Flower Beauty products. Her marriage to Kopelman, which took place a tiara’s toss from Law & Order producer Dick Wolf’s estate, produced two daughters, Frankie, 3,
Second Time Around It will comes as no surprise to readers of this illustrious organ, but Montecito Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow is now officially engaged to TV producer Brad Falchuk. “We feel incredibly lucky to have come together at this juncture in our lives when our collective success and failures can serve as building blocks to a healthy and happy relationship,” says Gwynnie, who features on the cover of the latest issue of Goop magazine with her husband to be. The 48-year-old star met the Glee creator, 45, on the set of the musical drama in 2014 and have dated quietly for the past three years. Previously Gwyneth dated Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, and rocker husband Coldplay’s Chris Martin until “consciously uncoupling” in March 2014, with the divorce finalized in July, 2016. Here’s MAW in Your Eye Camerata Pacifica’s first concert of the New Year was switched from its normal venue at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall to the Lobero because of the havoc wreaked by the mudslides and flash flooding in our rarefied enclave. The varied program featured music by Beethoven with Gilles Vonsattel performing Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major, Gyorgy Ligeti’s trio for violin, horn, and piano, Olivier Messiaen’s Appel Interstellaire, Benjamin Britten’s Suite for Violin and Piano, wrapping with Bela Bartok’s Out of Doors Suite. Swiss-born Vonsattel featured in four of the five pieces and it was clear to see why. The performance benefitted Santa Barbara relief efforts. Royal Treatment Prince William, 35, has been following in his mother Princess Diana’s footsteps joining medical profes-
• The Voice of the Village •
Longtime Montecitan Sue Grafton passed away at the age of 77
sionals at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, donning swabs and a surgical mask. HRH viewed two pioneering robotic cancer surgeries with patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma. Diana was a regular visitor and William took over the presidency of the hospital on her death in 1997. Goodbye, Girls On a personal note, I mark the passing of two great dames. Santa Barbara mystery writer Sue Grafton, whose alphabet series of novels were bestsellers, left us for more heavenly pastures aged 77 after a courageous two-year battle with cancer, ending her alphabet at Y. And in New York, Anne Slater, known for her signature cobalt blue glasses, departed the Big Apple’s social scene aged 89. A fixture, along with the late greats Pat Buckley and Nan Kempner, on the city’s oh-so busy calendar for decades, she had a sharp wit and wonderful sense of humor. She was known for the quote: “A woman needs four animals in her life: a mink in the closet, a Jaguar in the garage, a tiger in the bed, and an ass to pay for it all!” Quite a gal. Sightings: Movie producer Ron Shelton and Oscar winner Kevin Costner noshing at lunch at the Coral Casino...Lost actor Josh Holloway masticating at Olio e Limone... Transformers actress Megan Fox perusing the shelves at Costco Pip! Pip! Readers with tips, sightings and amusing items for Richard’s column should email him at richardmineards@verizon.net or send invitations or other correspondence to the Journal. To reach Priscilla, email her at priscilla@santabarbaraseen.com or call 969-3301. •MJ 18 – 25 January 2018
EDITORIAL (Continued from page 30)
“#1 America’s Best Hotel” by Forbes Traveler, and #1 America’s Best Resort by Travel & Leisure. A good portion of it is now gone, and it will be years before the damage is repaired and the hotel restored. The Stonehouse Restaurant and Plow & Angel, selected cottages, the citrus grove, the chef’s garden, and the estate lawn were all severely damaged or destroyed by the sea of mud and boulders. The San Ysidro Creek crosses under East Mountain Drive and descends through formerly lovely residential neighborhoods off Randall Road on the north side of East Valley Road and Glen Oaks Drive to the south. East Valley Road, at this location, was obliterated by a 60-yard-wide swath of raging water, boulders and masses of trees that crashed into homes, downed power poles, and washed away sewer and water lines. Noted oral surgeon Bob Kiken’s home at East Valley and Glen Oaks was in its path, as was the home Montecito realtor Rebecca Riskin was staying in, just south of Dr. Kiken’s, and where Ms Riskin was killed. The swollen creek and its wide wave of destruction swept all the way down past Ennisbrook Drive to San Leandro Lane near Crane School, which was mostly untouched, and then down toward Tiburon Bay Lane where it destroyed a number of homes and wiped out North Jameson before turning the 101 into a river of mud; it then crossed the freeway and exited to the sea near Fernald Point.
p
The “lake” at the bottom of Olive Mill and Coast Village roads should be sopped up soon and this area could be open to traffic as early as Monday, January 22, though you shouldn’t count on it, as the death and destruction just north in the Montecito Oaks enclave has yet to be fully chronicled (as of this writing)
2) Montecito Creek and Flood Basin Montecito Creek originates out of Hot Springs Canyon, crosses Mountain Drive, descends past Riven Rock and crosses East Valley Road at Parra Grande Lane, just west of Hot Springs Road and east of Sycamore Canyon. Torrents of mud, boulders the size of an SUV, took out East Valley Road and most of the
EDITORIAL Page 364
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18 – 25 January 2018
MONTECITO JOURNAL
33
Our Town
Olive Mill Road Highway 101 cleanup by HAZMAT
by Joanne A. Calitri
Joanne is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: BeatArtist8@aol.com
Montecito Mudslide A 1944 Flood Zone map by Ryan AusankaCrues posted on Twitter on January 10 compared to photo 2 Montecito at the Starbucks CVR parking lot with the Calvary Chapel’s team set up to help the crews and evacuees (from left): Rob Laskin project coordinator, Dana Klakeg, police chaplain Doug Thomas and his brother, Craig Thomas
O
n January 12 at 5 pm, I received media clearance at the corner of Coast Village Road and Coast Village Circle from the SBPD to view the large-scale Thomas Fire Flood rescue and clean-up operations along CVR through Olive Mill Road to Virginia Road. The SBPD asked that the MJ emphasize to all readers the importance of adhering to the mandatory evacuations and to not enter areas of Montecito designated as no entry; if you are in a voluntary zone and can stay out, that is also appreciated. This is to protect citizens, all manner of personnel working the hazardous areas and the town we love, and to help expedite the needed road clearance for the crews. This update shows the closed roads and highway sections are being used by the Army corps of engineers, the
national guard, SBC Sheriff Dept, SBPD, MFD, various clean-up tanker trucks, dog rescue teams, along with fire and police crews from all over California including Santa Barbara, Montecito, Kern County, San Bernardino County, San Juan Bautista, Mountain Home Village, utility companies and private HAZMAT cleaning crews for working on the Montecito Inn and Lucky’s Restaurant. The Chevron station on CVR was open to serve all these crews. The second checkpoint for security is at Middle and CVR. The air is filled with visible and foul odor, brown dust from the dried mudslide that is mixed with the ash from the fire. I had an N95 mask but was not requested to use it. I was wearing boots and other appropriate dress to be in the mud clean-up areas. As expected, the
Current flooding map by Ryan Ausanka-Crues on Twitter on January 10
34 MONTECITO JOURNAL
January 12, Army Corp of Engineers entering the 101 freeway at Milpas Street to join the clean up teams in Montecito
roads were bumper-to-bumper with massive trucks and crews; mud and debris were still present and being hauled away. On the 101 freeway, sludge under the Olive Mill Bridge was still deep with a car, surfboard, wood patio signage, and other debris. HAZMATsuited men with large tankers on both sides were sucking up the sludge. At dusk, the area was lit with large tungsten flood lights for the next shift crews to continue working. After I covered the CVR area through Virginia Road, I met and talked with the fire crews at the Starbucks CVR parking lot, where they set up a hazardous waste area for the workers to get cleaned-up after working their shift, along with the dogs from the rescue teams. After the dogs are washed, they are fed, walked, and tucked for the night in individual doggie travel units. They mentioned that they had done sample testing for contaminants and did not have the results at the time of this report. The Calvary Chapel’s Rob Laskin special project coordinator, Dana Klakeg, police chaplain Doug Thomas and his brother, Craig Thomas set up a white tent with
• The Voice of the Village •
chairs, warm lights, and were giving out fresh fruits, snacks, coffee, tea, and counseling services from the morning through 8 pm. A bus load of mostly elderly residents from the Bonnymede condos by the Biltmore had just been evacuated and brought here to the holding center by the Calvary Chapel tent to wait for rides to various shelter locations or to loved ones. I texted the manager of the UPS Store on CVR for a mail and package update, and also spoke to the UPS center in Goleta. More than 4,000 UPS packages for Montecito are being security stored at the Goleta location and will begin to be sent to the UPS Store at 27 West Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara for pick up, along with any new mail. On January 10, Ryan AusankaCrues posted two maps of Montecito on Twitter with the following statement: “This map from 1944 and this FEMA map of flood hazards implies the Olive Mill corridor was an accepted flood plain until postWWII. Also, note the change in path of #MontecitoCreek as it crosses East Valley/192. Path change directly corresponds to devastation.” •MJ 18 – 25 January 2018
N E W S PA P E R & M A G A Z I N E
18 – 25 January 2018
MONTECITO JOURNAL
35
EDITORIAL (Continued from page 33)
This is Highway 101 looking north from a similar vantage point; it is now open to truck traffic from this point north This, believe it or not, is Highway 101 looking south from Coast Village Circle; it should give you a good idea of why 101 remained closed for so long
homes adjoining the creek, causing multiple deaths and sending unmoored homes crashing down the creek toward Hot Springs Road above Casa Dorinda. Multi-million-dollar homes on the west side of Hot Springs Road, West Pepper Lane, and Dinsmore Lane were seriously damaged or wiped out. The intersection of Hot Springs and Olive Mill roads was completely destroyed, including the entrance to Casa Dorinda. The deluge of mud, boulders, and broken homes continued to roar down Montecito Creek, wiping out homes along both sides of Olive Mill Road, powering its way through the modest homes in an area known as “Montecito Oaks,” before smashing into the Montecito Inn with boulders and mud destroying its garage and the cars parked therein, the intersection of Olive Mill, Coast Village Road, the entrance to the 101, and the 101 itself, closing Montecito’s vital lifeline to the outside world. Tons of mud, water, and debris from a broken water main continued down Olive Mill, across the 101, wiping out the bridge railings, taking out the railroad tracks, parts of Bonnymede, Hill Road, the Biltmore and the Coral Casino on Channel Drive, before finally arriving at the ocean on Butterfly Beach. 3) Buena Vista Creek and Flood Basin Less severe in terms of demolished homes and fatalities was Buena Vista Creek, which starts at the Buena Vista reservoir above Park Lane and winds its way down to East Valley Road near Tabor Lane and Romero Canyon Road. Homes were filled with mud and debris, cars were buried, East Valley was closed, as mud and ooze crossed East Valley and descended into the gated community of Birnam Wood on Boundary Drive and Las Fuentes Lane. Sheffield Road was closed as an evacuation route, made impassable by mud, buried cars, and debris. It is now open, as is East Valley road (for recovery vehi-
The Honor Bar’s mud-encased parking lot
cles only), with chokepoints at San Ysidro Creek (Randall Road and Glen Oaks Drive) and at Montecito Creek (Parra Grande Lane). The upper village shops of Montecito remain relatively unscathed, dripping with mud, but structurally in good shape. 4) Romero and Toro Canyon Creeks and Flood Basins Romero Creek, Elyse Creek, and Toro Canyon Creek carried mud and debris, closing East Valley Road at their crossing points. At one point, 300 residents were trapped in Toro Canyon but were safely evacuated in National Guard heavy duty trucks, Humvees, helicopters, or car caravans led out by first responders.
Recovery Information
To determine the condition of individual homes, Montecito residents are encouraged to Google an interactive map available at www.countyofsb.org/ January-storm-info.sbc. Thirty-five percent of Montecito’s homes have been evaluated and assessed for danger. The map will be updated daily. By inputting address, color-coded displays indicate destroyed homes, seriously damaged homes, and those with minimal or no damage. There are reports that nearly a million truckloads of mud and slime may have to be removed from Montecito. Where to dump toxic muck is an environmental challenge.
What Happens Next? The Birnam Wood Golf Course fairway served as a rescue center and helicopter takeoff-and-landing zone for those harmed and/or trapped by the mudflow
36 MONTECITO JOURNAL
The most frequently asked question is: “When can I get back into my home?” The answer is: “No one knows.”
EDITORIAL Page 444
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
Dear Montecito Neighbors and Business Owners: Montecito is resilient! Montecito is strong! Montecito will prevail! The Montecito Association continues to be fully dedicated to our entire community and the full recovery and rebuilding of our residences and businesses. It is our sincere hope that you and your families are safe. The staff of the Montecito Association has suffered loss and damage of their homes, as a result, we are all working remotely, from various locations to ensure that the valuable work of our hardworking association including our board of directors, committees and staff, continues throughout this time of recovery. We are very thankful for all of the many first responders and neighbors that are working endless hours and are so dedicated in assisting our entire community during this time of need. We strongly urge you to continue to stay well informed through the many alerts from our local officials and governmental agencies, as well, as view the daily press conferences at 4 pm on KEYT. Despite all that we have ahead of us, Montecito shall overcome all. With great gratitude, Charlene Nagel President info@montecitoassociation.org http://www.montecitoassociation.org P.O. Box 5278 Santa Barbara, CA 93150 805-969-2026 18 – 25 January 2018
MONTECITO JOURNAL
37
Spirituality Matters by Steven Libowitz “Spirituality Matters” highlights two or three Santa Barbara area spiritual gatherings. Unusual themes and events with that something extra, especially newer ones looking for a boost in attendance, receive special attention. For consideration for inclusion in this column, email slibowitz@yahoo.com.
Coming Together
L
ike all of us in the Montecito/ greater Santa Barbara area, I have had a lot of personal reactions to the Montecito mudslide disaster coming on the heels of the Thomas Fire, from numbness to grief to fear to hopefulness and even gratitude. The latter came mostly last weekend in the wake of the community coming together in so many places and ways to offer each other comfort, support, and presence. Just last Sunday alone, there were four or five simultaneous such sessions at yoga centers and churches, plus a bigger gathering at the Impact Hub downtown where dozens of massage therapists, chiropractors,and counselors offered hands-on healing while food, music, and mingling created more connection. That evening, the vigil at the Courthouse was a beautiful interfaith/community leader gathering that was informative, uplifting, and, most of all, community-building. I wanted to say much more about what’s already taken place, but I’d rather use this space to inform about events and opportunities still available, as we are just beginning the healing process that will go on, more than likely, a lot longer than the still daunting physical recovery. Note; Santa Barbara Therapeutic Disaster Relief is a new Facebook group created to serve as a matching site bringing together a unified group of local practitioners and therapists offering free services to first responders of Santa Barbara County. Visit www.facebook.com/ groups/2080756245502529/about/.
Sounding and Grounding
Dr. Gwendolyn McClure, Ph.D., L.M.T., an early practitioner of vocal sound healing who has been offering classes in Santa Barbara for more than two decades, returns to town this week to offer both group and private sessions. Her Vocal Clearing & Healing workshops takes place 1 to 5 pm on Saturday, January 20, at Unity of Santa Barbara, 227 W. Arrellaga St., while private sessions can be scheduled through Tuesday, January 23. In light of the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide, Dr. McClure is offering all of the sessions on a donation/sliding scale fee basis. Visit www.vocalsoundhealer.com or www. facebook.com/vocalsoundhealer for
38 MONTECITO JOURNAL
more details. Izumi Asura Serra’s ongoing Meditation with Sound at Center of the Heart gathers for the first time in 2018 this Thursday, January 18, at 487 North Turnpike Road. “We have been experiencing such difficult and sad time in our community,” Serra notes on the Meetup page. “I offer the time and space for you to feel relaxation, calmness, or peace with vibrations and sounds of the Crystal and Tibetan Singing bowls. You may have your own intention to achieve, whatever it may be, I hope you can feel it while you are here.” Bring blankets, yoga mats, pillows, or beach chairs to make yourself comfortable. Admission is $17 per person ($15 for first-timers). Details at www.meetup.com/Musicof-the-Spheres-Meditation-withSound.
Community-centric Yoga
Toward the end of last year, DiviniTree announced its intention to transition into a nonprofit community center. Bringing back Free Yoga Week is a step toward that goal. All yoga classes at the downtown studios located directly across the street from Santa Barbara City Hall are completely free to everyone from January 22-28, and DiviniTree hopes you’ll also bring family and friends who otherwise might not have the opportunity to do yoga. But book in your classes online (www.sb.divinitree.com) as they may “sell out” in advance. Meanwhile, DiviniTree is also offering a special Shiva And The Diva Healing Hour at 5 pm this Thursday, January 18, that just might be the thing to speed stress reduction. The class combines Chinese Energetic Medicine “Qi Gong” flow, Yoga, partner and/ or solo bodywork techniques, and live music ecstatic dance in a 90-minute session.
Emotions in Motion: Update
Stace and Brie Ehret Barron, the founders and developers of Avraprana EmotoSpiritual Healing, have solid dates for the free introduction to the hands-on energy healing work this month. The intro to Avraprana – an integrative approach to the relationship between “unconscious emotive congestion, pranic turbulence, chakral dissonance, physical disease, and intu-
itive-based access of all kinds to the subtle realms of being” – takes place 1 to 2:30 pm on Saturday, January 20, at Airobic Fitness, 136 S. Hope St. in La Cumbre Plaza. The class then runs weekly on Saturdays, from 1 to 3:30 pm, January 27-March 3. The fee is $35 per class or $195 pre-paid for the full six-week course. Email stace@ avraprana.com or call Brie (541) 3268093. The Barrons are also eager to help out those deeply affected by the mudslide, repeating an offer of healing gatherings they made at the tail end of the Thomas Fire. “I watched the news this morning and saw all these people rescued from their houses, trying to figure out what’s next and where to go, some of them with tears in their eyes, in shock,” Brie wrote in an email. “The emotional and physical stress these horrible events create in people is obvious, and we would love to offer support, again, like we tried during the Thomas Fire.” Contact Brie for more information.
Consensual Cuddling for Connection
Amber York’s Santa Barbara Cuddle Connection greets the New Year with its first gathering in a couple of months, providing a safe space for singles or couples, coming alone or together, to experience a warm, nurturing, and fun group of people exploring our edges of safe, consensual connection and touch. Ice breakers are followed by Platonic Touch Therapist York setting a safe container and offering instruction before a period of fully optional free-form, clothes-on cuddling. (6:30 to 9 pm; Saturday, January 20; Santa Barbara Body Therapy Institute, 516 N. Quarantina Street; $20; www.meetup.com/Cuddle-and-ConnectionSanta-Barbara).
More Meditation
The Tiny Playful Group of Meditators Meetup, which began around the same time as the Thomas Fire, took a few weeks to get going, but has been filling its weekly gathering and is ready to add a second weekly date to the ongoing Friday evening sessions. The Meetup includes a combination of mindfulness exercises, paired self-inquiry exercises, and time for less-structured connection and conversation. The gathering takes place in a downtown office at 228 E Anapamu St., #204, so there is a limit of 8 to 10 people. “Anyone who doesn’t feel some degree of bliss when they look at the feeling of ‘My self’ is ripe for this group,” Zubin says. The gatherings last between 45 and 90 minutes. Details and registration online at www.meetup.com/TinyPlayful-Group-of-Meditators/about
• The Voice of the Village •
or call 836-1185. Meditation on Twin Hearts is practiced worldwide by people of different nationalities and religious backgrounds. The advanced guided meditation technique, introduced by Grand Master Choa Kok Sui, the modern founder of Pranic Healing® and Arhatic Yoga®, works on the heart chakra (the physical heart) and the crown chakra (the spiritual heart), thereby enabling practitioners to increase inner illumination. The base of the meditation is the Prayer of Saint Francis, “Make me an Instrument of thy peace.” Meditation on Twin Hearts can be done by a group as a form of world service, thereby also magnifying the effectiveness of the blessings, as indicated by scientific research. Ursula Lentine’s new ongoing Meditation on Twin Hearts Meetup takes place every Tuesday at 7 pm at Temple, at 25 E. De La Guerra St., around the corner from DiviniTree Yoga. Bring a cushion or yoga mat, or you can sit on the benches or the floor. Suggested donation: $5 to $20. Visit www.meetup.com/TwinHearts-Meditation-and-SubconsciousHealing.
Free (Again) at Last
SBCC’s continuing education programs – for decades affectionately known as Adult Ed – once offered hundreds of classes nearly all for no tuition cost. Recession, changes in laws, and other issues eventually shifted just about all of them to fee basis. Now, with the new winter/ spring session that was scheduled to get underway this week but has been postponed until Monday, January 22, because of the continued closure of Highway 101, many of the most beloved offerings are once again free. This includes two Nature and SelfHealing courses (beginning and intermediate) taught by Rodger Sorrow, who also leads Compassionate Communication, a class in NonViolent Communcation as developed by Marshall Rosenberg, who taught many weekend workshops at Adult Ed before his death. Dana Drobny’s How Meditation Helps – Mindfulness in Everyday Life and Teri Cooper’s Honing the Intuitive Edge are also on the slate, as is the ever-popular Turning Points in Thought From Film, taught by CASA/Voice magazine co-publishers Kerry Methner and Mark Whitehurst, and Adult Ed stalwart Spencer Sherman’s Consciousness, Science, and the Nature of Being. Even better, Mark Dunlap is returning to the Adult Ed fold after a four-year absence, offering a new course called Love Isn’t Enough. Get details about all of the tuition-free classes, including courses in Art, English, Music, and Theater Arts, SBCC Center for Extended Learning, at 18 – 25 January 2018
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Golden State Taekwondo, 422 W. Ocean Ave., Lompoc, CA 93436. Loyal Gesture, INC, 422 W. Ocean Ave., Lompoc, CA 93436. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 11, 2018. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL) by Connie Tran. FBN No. 2018-0000132. Published January 17, 24, 31, February 7, 2018. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANKUSHKHEMANI, 4751 Amarosa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. Ankush Khemani, 4751 Amarosa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 29, 2017. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL) by Melissa Mercer. FBN No. 2017-0003482. Published January 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JUHIKHEMANI, 4751 Amarosa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. Juhi Khemani, 4751 Amarosa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 29, 2017. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL) by Melissa Mercer. FBN No. 2017-0003481. Published January 10, 17, 24, 31, 2018.
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Santa Barbara Mobile Mechanic, 3901 Sheldon Drive, Apt. 31, Ventura, CA 93003. Marc Edward Sandor, 3901 Sheldon Drive, Apt. 31, Ventura, CA 93003. This statement was filed with tahe County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 29, 2017. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL) by Tania Paredes-Sadler. FBN No. 2017-0003484. Published January 3, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Loan Closet, 360 Olive Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of SB, 509 E. Montecito Street, Suite 200, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 7, 2017. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL) by Connie Tran. FBN No. 2017-0003318. Published January 3, 10, 17, 24, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT: The following person(s) has (have) abandoned the use of the Fictitious Business Name(s): Campovans; Campo Vanworks, 687 Circle Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Byron R. Beck, 687 Circle Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Robyn G. Beck, 687 Circle Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was originally filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 16, 2015. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL)
SBCC Center for Extended Learning’s (yes, another new name) website, www.sbcc.edu/extendedlearning/ olderadults.php.
Consciousness Hacking
It’s nothing new to suggest that the experience of everyday consciousness is defined by mental chatter. Our internal dialogue enables us to spot and solve complex problems, but sometimes it paralyzes us as we overthink, get stuck in loops, or get distracted from awareness of what’s actually taking place in the present moment. But what if, Josiah Hultgren asks, your body’s muscular reflexes could help you discover truths invisible to your conscious mind? Hultgren, the founder of MindFullyAlive, a senior faculty member at California Lutheran University, a NeuroCoach, and a featured neu18 – 25 January 2018
by Connie Tran, filed November 22, 2017. Original FBN No. 20150002724. Published December 20, 2017; January 3, 10, 17, 2018 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Union Marine, 125 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. Santa Barbara Fuel Dock, INC, 22 N. Calle Cesar Chavez, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 12, 2017. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL) by Connie Tran. FBN No. 20170003363. Published December 20, 2017; January 3, 10, 17, 2018 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 17CV05797. To all interested parties: Petitioner Isabel Ibarra filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name of child from Aiden Alexander Alvarez to Aiden Alexander Ibarra. The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed December 27, 2017 by Sarah Sisto, Deputy Clerk. Hearing date: February 7, 2018 at 9:30 am in Dept. 6, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published January 3, 10, 17, 24, 2018
roscience writer on Medium, is leading an experimental salon to take a hands-on approach to exploring the “ideomotor” phenomenon (derived from the terms “ideo” [idea, or mental representation] and “motor” [muscular action]), and how you recruit the phenomenon into your life in practical ways that help you problem-solve and uncover unexpected truths. Consciousness Hacking: Recruiting Reflexive Insight – How to Access Your Subconscious Through Your Body takes place 7 to 9 pm on Monday, January 29 (rescheduled from January 15) at Fishbon Pescadrome, 101 S. Quarantina St., and includes times for mingling and snacking before and after the presentation and participatory activity conducted by Hultgren, who works with neuroscience experts to create and curate research-backed methods for enhanced brain functioning. Free admission. Visit http://bit. ly/2AysDKV for reservations. •MJ
Photo by Alex Parker
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How can you ever be late for anything in London? They have a huge clock right in the middle of town. – Jimmy Kimmel
MONTECITO JOURNAL
39
NOW AVAILABLE
VILLAGE BEAT (Continued from page 24)
A Compassion Center was open last week at Cold Spring School. The school was back in session Tuesday.
THE MEDICAL CHALLENGES OF LIFE WITH THE THREAT OF
APPROACHING MORTALITY STORIES OF REAL PATIENTS Dr. Dunham’s personal involvement with the subjects of his books, ranging from his Jail Ward duties as an intern fresh out of UCLA Medical School to his service as a nuclear reactor operator aboard a submarine and his challenges of 40 years of practicing Internal Medicine, allows an authoritative credibility that holds the reader spellbound. As Dr. Dunham will tell you, these books are not about invented threats to survival, they are not contrived—they tell stories about the very real daily threats faced by human beings in the tumultuous world of medicine and in the battlefields beneath the seas.
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JAN 18
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NING 40 MONTECITO JOURNAL
First responders have been sleeping in the classrooms at Crane Country Day School, while classes were relocated to other sites
in to help both students and parents cope with the tragic mudslides. “Together we will continue to heal and rebuild,” Dr. Alzina said. Dr. Alzina and Montecito Union
School superintendent Anthony Ranii are credited with bringing greater awareness and concern to the impending storm, when both decided to close their respective campuses the Monday
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before the storm hit on Tuesday morning. “Last Sunday when the new mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders were released, MUS was on the voluntary list. When we looked at the rain prediction, it did not look like the inches of rain would be substantial until later that day,” said Lurie. “But the order said, ‘If you are in the voluntary area, be prepared to leave immediately.’ Mr. Ranii made the decision to close the school because, with more than 400 kids, we wouldn’t have been able to leave immediately. Because of his thoughtful leadership, we believe more families took seriously the warning to leave, or at least were prepared to do so,” Lurie said. Ranii has confirmed that all of Montecito Union’s students, parents, and staff members were safe and accounted for following last week’s mudslides, and the campus sustained minimal damage to some exterior landscaping. Montecito Union held multiple gatherings last week at various locations in Santa Barbara, and earlier this week held special classes at MOXI and the Santa Barbara Zoo. As of Thursday, January 18, the MUS campus will be temporarily relocated to the Santa Barbara City College campus. Dr. Anthony Beebe, superintendent/president of Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), has announced to his faculty and staff that they will host Montecito Union School (MUS). Dozens of community members made this possible, including Luz Reyes and Susan Epstein of the Goleta School Board, who helped coordinate the temporary relocation. “The SBCC team has been incredibly generous, and we have been given the exclusive use of some classrooms and other learning spaces,” Lurie reported. “We are also working with local school districts, libraries, and other organizations on furniture, various necessary school materials, and other equipment. At the same time, teachers have been planning curriculum for the new set-up.” Both schools have been working together on logistics, safety, instructional space, traffic, parking, and a host of other issues. “We will be providing separate bathroom facilities for our students and will ensure that all MUS students, regardless of grade level, will be accompanied on campus by an MUS staff member at all times,” Lurie said. With 415 students, MUS teachers began reaching out to every MUS family to determine that everyone was safe and accounted for the day after the storm. Teachers Kim Berman and Jennifer Wilson organized clothing and other essentials for families affected by the disaster, and others organized activities for kids in order to connect with their students and free up time for the parents to deal with some of the other important issues. These activities took place across Santa 18 – 25 January 2018
Montecito Union School is undamaged; school resumes at a satellite location at Santa Barbara City College
Barbara at parks, movie theaters, and pizza parlors. “We have a long road in front of us. We have lost friends. We have lost homes. But we have not lost hope, nor our love and devotion to Montecito. We will continue to be there for our fellow community members as we begin the process of rebuilding and healing and establishing new emergency protocols so that we can look forward to a bright future,” Lurie said. The Crane campus also sustained no damage during the flood, despite nearby damage along San Leandro Lane. All of the new drainage that was installed with the new Oak Tree Quad facility that opened last year held up, and headmaster Joel Weiss, who lives on the campus with his family, were safe. “Many of our neighbors were less fortunate and Crane opened classrooms for a few who did not have the opportunity to get out or could get to campus where they had a safe, dry, warm place with electricity, gas, and water,” said Crane director of development Debbie Williams. Weiss provided blankets, water, and food, until residents could be safely evacuated. The campus is currently being used as a staging area for first responders, who are using the classrooms to sleep. “Many of our families lost homes either completely or had major issues with mud, but all were accounted for and are evacuated and safe,” Williams said. Crane students spent last week and the beginning of this week meeting up with one another in various locations in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and Ventura. Beginning Thursday, January 18, the school will reopen at several satellite locations including Congregation B’nai B’rith, Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s McCormick House, and at the former Kaplan Learning Center on Cota Street. Laguna Blanca’s Lower School has been indefinitely displaced from its Montecito campus on San Ysidro Road, though the campus did not sustain any major damage. The students are temporarily occupying space 18 – 25 January 2018
at the school’s Hope Ranch campus, until Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara will welcome the school to its campus on Hollister Avenue later this month. The facility provides ample bright, open space to accommodate all of Laguna’s youngest learners. It features a classroom space for each grade level in EK through four, as well as a full auditorium with stage, a full-sized gymnasium, commercial kitchen, ballet studio, art studio, science lab, computer lab, library, and generous outdoor play space. Even the beloved Lower School chickens will take up residence at the Girls Inc. Goleta Valley facility. “We are incredibly grateful for the graciousness of Girls Inc. and their willingness to accommodate our students and faculty during this unfortunate displacement,” says Laguna Blanca head of school Rob Hereford. Since the Girls Inc. facility is used primarily in the afternoons for afterschool programs, it is open and available for Laguna’s use during the school day. Laguna is working around the clock to prepare the space at Girls Inc. for Laguna’s students – many of whom are evacuees. “Our goal is to continue to provide a comprehensive, well-rounded education in a comfortable, age-appropriate setting,” says
This black bear was apparently already dead when it was caught up in the recent mudslide (photo by Nini Seaman)
Laguna’s head of Lower School Andy Surber. “Right now, returning to the routine of school and learning with friends and teachers is important for our student community.” All Saints-by-the-Sea students are meeting temporarily at a play center in La Cumbre Plaza, and Our Lady Mount Carmel students are attending classes at Notre Dame.
Black Bear on the Beach
First reports were that a rather large black bear (though its coloration is brown, it is, according to a Santa Barbara game warden, a black bear) was a cadaver that had been preserved by a taxidermist. But no, judging from the unfortunate creature’s paws and its scorched nails, it probably had been overcome by smoke via the Thomas Fire. The rains of January 9 that caused such destruction in Montecito then likely sent the bear’s body tumbling toward the sea, where it landed near Sandyland. Bears had been regular visitors to
Montecito, often coming close to inhabited settlements close in. But over the past few decades, they’ve stayed away and the size of the creature surprised many who’d come across it. Upon examination of the bear’s extraordinarily sharp nails and the fact that it can reach speeds upward of 30 mph is one good reason to pay attention when hiking in our backcountry. •MJ
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
41
C ALENDAR OF Note to readers: This entertainment calendar is a subjective sampling of arts and other events taking place in the Santa Barbara area for the next week. It is by no means comprehensive. Be sure to read feature stories in each issue that complement the calendar. In order to be considered for inclusion in this calendar, information must be submitted no later than noon on the Wednesday eight days prior to publication date. Please send all news releases and digital artwork to slibowitz@yahoo.com)
ENDING THIS WEEK Dishing it out – Spoon, old indie rock band from Austin, Texas, won some of the best reviews of its career for its latest and ninth album, Hot Thoughts, which was released last March and showed up on a lot of critics’ best-of-the-year lists. The record represents another incremental re-invention for the 25-year-old band, full of intriguing sonic and lyrical ideas, including an instrumental and a self-harmonizing saxophone piece. Unfortunately, all those other iterations of its intent went unheard, at least in person, as Spoon is belatedly making its Santa Barbara debut only tonight. Apparently, good things come to those who wait – even a return to their hometown, as front man Britt Daniels is once again based in Texas, and the record marks a return to Matador, which released their debut back in 1996. White Reaper, the garage punk band based in Louisville, Kentucky, whose second album carries the enigmatic title The World’s Best American Band, open the show.
WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Arlington Theatre,1317 State St. COST: $24.50 to $32 INFO: 963-4408 or www. thearlingtontheatre.com Write it out – Love Letters to Sanity comes from the same group that produced the nautical nights-themed Love Letters to the Sea last July at the Maritime Museum. The concept is just as it sounds: an attempt to revive “The lost art of love letters.” Tonight’s event, which takes place at SBCAST, carries a theme of connectivity, and offers a chance, “amongst the hustle of life, natural disasters, politics and the news, to take a moment for a cathartic art night.” All are welcomed to slow down and take time to reflect on your state of mind and put those thoughts on paper. Art and writing supplies as well as inspiration will be provided to create your unique cathartic expression, and postage stamps will be available to send letters to those who are currently going through tough times and want to receive a handmade letter of love and support. Light snack and libations provided. WHEN: 5:30 to 8 pm WHERE: 513
ENDING THIS WEEK SBDT’s Femme Fervor – Santa Barbara Dance Theater (SBDT) artistic director Christopher Pilafian commissioned four female choreographers to create work for the January slate of shows by the professional dance company in residence at UCSB. SBDT, now more than 40 years old, features four premieres and a special guest performance in its program that concludes this weekend. Former Nederlands Dance Theater company member Andrea Giselle Schermoly follows her residency from two years back with Moonscape, which features music by the seemingly dissimilar Beethoven and The Doors sound-scaping a piece that poses “What world am I in now?” Miche Wong’s Apsara – which marks the first time a company member has been invited to choreograph and perform her own work in a SBDT program – was created in collaboration with Santa Barbara artist Mary Heebner, and enacts an ancient origin narrative inside the 12thcentury Cambodian temple Angkor Wat. Nancy Colahan’s Déjà Vu for Strings and Percussion, which features an evocative original score by L.A. Philharmonic cellist (and former Santa Barbara resident) Gianna Abondolo, is a re-working from an earlier incarnation presented at the New Vic. Pilafian’s own new and as-yet untitled offering is a percussion-centric piece whose score will be performed by members of the Department of Music and features performers from the SBDT apprentice program alongside company dancers. “The internal rhythms of a body inform the timing of action, starting with heartbeat and breath, then physics: force, trajectory, and weight, and what might be thought of as the innate ‘neuromuscular personality,’” is his description. Finally, the visiting Buglisi Dance Theater of New York City – the first guest professional dance company to perform with SBDT – offer Requiem, a much-lauded work of dance art form created by the former principal with the Martha Graham Dance Company that previously served in the Pearl Lang Dance Company at the same time as Pilafian. Bringing things full circle, the newest Buglisi dancer is a UCSB Dance alumna, Savannah Green. WHEN: 8 pm Wednesday-Saturday, January 17-20, plus 2 pm Sunday WHERE: Hatlen Theater, UCSB campus COST: $12 to $18 INFO: 893-2064 or www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu
42 MONTECITO JOURNAL
EVENTS by Steven Libowitz
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 Guitar Gathering – More than a decade ago, Goran Ivanović and Fareed Haque recorded two CDs together, Macedonian Blues and 7 Boats, to great critical acclaim, even getting the nod of Top Best Acoustic Guitar Albums 2004 from Acoustic Guitar magazine. But both string wizards have both been so busy that they have not been able to play again together for years. The pair are headed to California for a quick three-date tour that makes a stop at SOhO tonight, where their music – inspired by the rhythms and melodies of flamenco, jazz, classical, rock, and the Balkan region – will ring from the club’s stage. As indicated by their videos on YouTube and elsewhere, their guitar exhibition that offers a mix of American jazz, acoustic blues, flamenco rhythm, and Macedonian melody is carefully balanced between blazing virtuosity and sheer beauty, eliciting both astonishment and appreciation. WHEN: 6 pm WHERE: 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $15 in advance, $20 at the door INFO: 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com
Garden Street COST: by donation INFO: www.lostartofloveletters.com or www.sbcast.org Trail Talk Takes Stock – in the first monthly presentation since the Thomas Fire reached Santa Barbara County, local trail expert and authorphotographer Ray Ford discusses current trail conditions and closures in the mountains above Montecito and Carpinteria following the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide, taking a look at how the 280,000-acre scorcher has significantly altered the local mountains. Beyond the loss of life and livelihood as well as structures, the combined effect of fire damage and subsequent flooding has posed some of the biggest threats our front country trails have ever faced. Ford will share his first-hand knowledge of Cold Spring, Hot Springs, San Ysidro, Romero, and Franklin trails and will provide an overview of the damage these trails sustained, as well as the challenges that lay ahead before these popular trails can be reopened to the public. Hosted by James Wapotich, the hiking columnist of the Santa Barbara News-Press. WHEN: 6:30 pm WHERE: Faulkner Gallery in the downtown Public Library, 40 E. Anapamu St. COST: free INFO: 5645641 or www,SBPLibrary.org Goss Gets Deep – SYSTEM DISRUPTION, the new exhibition at Sullivan Goss, An American Gallery, that seeks answers in visual art to finding an ideal balance between a system (or pattern) and its disruption almost seems like a cruel coincidence
• The Voice of the Village •
in the wake of the Montecito Mudslide that has thrown the village and beyond into tragedy and upheaval. Still, even with such a serious inquiry, it might offer a welcome diversion, as the works take a look at how systems everywhere are being disrupted: from politics to technology and beyond. The exhibition doesn’t try to stake claims on any of these issues specifically, though some of the pieces may lean in one direction or another. Instead, it’s organized around the idea that our eye sometimes “knows” things about the world before we have any rational or mathematical explanation. It therefore attempts to mine some of the best visual thinkers – artists – to see how we might better balance the need for orderliness and predictability with the need for invention and change. Lockwood de Forest, Nicole Strasburg, Bob Nugent, R. Nelson Parrish, and Nancy Gifford are among the varied artists whose works are represented. WHEN: Today-February 25 (reception 5 to 8 pm on 1st Thursday, February 1) WHERE: 11 East Anapamu Street COST: Free INFO: 730-1460 or www. sullivangoss.com FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 Noah-fence Intended? – Comedian Trevor Noah had a tidy career going with TV appearances and two seasons of his own latenight talk show, even before he was catapulted into the international spotlight when he was selected to fill Jon Stewart’s shoes as host of The Daily Show, barely a year after first appearing as a contributor in 2014. 18 – 25 January 2018
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 Folkloric for Free – Founded in 2003, Grandeza Mexicana is committed to perpetuating and showcasing the splendor of Mexican folk dance, including the cultivation and promotion of awareness of the art form’s rich diverse cultural heritage. Its choreographic works depict celebrations, ceremonies, and daily rituals, with each offering a colorful slice of the flavor of Mexico. Grandeza’s choreography pays tribute to the traditions and customs of Mexico’s historic past while keeping an eye toward the future, as the group’s signature meticulous footwork and beautifully designed costumes reflect the careful research underlying all of its performance. As with all Viva el Arte events, a post-concert reception with the artists follows each performance. WHEN: 7 tonight-Sunday WHERE: Isla Vista School, 6875 El Colegio Road (Friday); Guadalupe City Hall, 918 Obispo Street, Guadalupe (Saturday); and Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High, 721 East Cota St. (Sunday) COST: free INFO: 884-4087, ext. 7, or www.facebook.com/ VivaelArteSB
The promotion instantly turned him into one of today’s most popular comics. The author of The New York Times bestselling memoir Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, the comic entered life in apartheid South Africa as the son of a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Showing up in a world where you were never supposed to exist, at least legally, is among the things that gives Noah a unique perspective to his stories and hit comedy specials, a comic cultural chameleon whose incisive humor slips from jokes to earnest insights for a moving, thoughtprovoking and hilarious experience. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St. COST: $95 to $150 INFO: 893-3535/www. ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or 9634408/www.thearlingtontheatre.com Down South on the Porch – 3 Doors Down is the Mississippi-
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GRANADASB.ORG U P C O M I N G
P E R F O R M A N C E S SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY
THE RED VIOLIN SAT JAN 20 8PM SUN JAN 21 3PM MOVIES THAT MATTER WITH HAL CONKLIN
QUEEN OF KATWE
bred band that scored a No. 3 hit single with “Kryptonite” even before signing to a major label back in 2000, then saw their second album, Away from the Sun, debut in the Top 10, sell millions of copies and spawn two more hits in “When I’m Gone” and “Here Without You”. The group is revisiting those songs and other oldies on the road this year, staging the “Back Porch Jam” tour, an acoustic interpretation of the band’s hits, fan favorites, and deep album cuts. Meanwhile, despite the flack 3 Doors Down took for performing at the presidential inauguration concert exactly one year ago today, their Greatest Hits album re-entered the Billboard 200 at a new peak in the week following the performance, almost five years after its debut. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Chumash Casino Resort, 3400 East Highway 246, Santa Ynez COST: $55 to $75 INFO: (800) CHUMASH (248-6274) or www.chumashcasino.com •MJ
FRI JAN 26 7PM CAMA
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC SAT JAN 27 8PM UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
PILOBOLUS DANCE THEATER SUN JAN 28 7PM KENNY LOGGINS & JIM MESSINA
LOGGINS & MESSINA A BENEFIT CONCERT FOR A FRIEND SAT FEB 3 7PM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 21
UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Anderson’s Ebullient Elixir – Muriel Anderson, long considered one of the world’s foremost harp-guitarists, cemented that reputation when she became the first woman to have won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. She has performed and/or recorded with such guitar heroes as Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Victor Wooten, Tommy Emmanuel, and Stanley Jordan, to name just a few, while her recordings have appeared in a Woody Allen film (“El Noi de la Mare” in Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and on a space shuttle (“Heartstrings” accompanied the astronauts on a Discovery mission). Exhibiting a facility across folk, classical, jazz, bluegrass, and international music, Anderson also plays with an engaging joy as she alternately transforms the guitar into a lyrical choir, a marching band, a Japanese koto, a bluegrass band. Host of the renowned Muriel Anderson’s All-Star Guitar Night and founder of the Music for Life charity, Anderson returns to SOhO with just the kind of uplifting and soothing show we could all use. WHEN: 7 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $15 in advance, $18 at the door INFO: 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com (photo by Bryan Allen)
18 – 25 January 2018
COMPAGNIE ACCRORAP/ KADER ATTOU TUE FEB 6 8PM UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
CIRQUE ÉLOIZE: SALOON WED FEB 7 7PM
Granada Theatre Concert Series & Film Series sponsored by 1214 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Donor parking provided by
We need a 12-step group for compulsive talkers. Call it On Anon Anon. – Paula Poundstone
MONTECITO JOURNAL
43
EDITORIAL (Continued from page 36)
The fork at Olive Mill Road and Hot Springs Road will never quite look the same; the pocket park created just months ago is completely gone
The Biltmore wall and Butterfly Beach, while debris-filled, suffered little damage, though the underground facilities at the Biltmore Hotel were inundated with flood water, causing the hotel’s closure a day after re-opening in the wake of the Thomas Fire (man on the wall is unidentified)
Estimates are hedged by the possibility of more rain next weekend, the condition of the sewer system buried under tons of mud, the quantity and quality of potable water that does not require boiling before being consumed, the danger from broken gas lines, the dredging and cleaning of creek beds, the clearance of storm drains, the structural safety of bridges and roads, the restoration of power and cable, and, most importantly, the toxicity of tons of mud and slime. When will the 101 re-open? When will Coast Village Road shops and restaurants re-open? When will 192 East Valley Road re-open? When will the Upper Village shops and restaurants re-open? Same answer. No one knows. The 101 remains closed southbound at Milpas Street and northbound at Highway 150. Caltrans crews pumping and scraping the 101 made slow progress last week because broken water mains poured in new mud and slime, replacing the extracted muck. New estimates indicate opening will be delayed for another week. Meanwhile, commuters are encouraged to use Amtrak or the Condor Express to go both south and north. If pressed, my best guess is a full re-opening of most of Montecito by the end of February, barring another catastrophic rain event of moderate or severe intensity. As disaster relief efforts transition from “Search and Rescue” to a full “Recovery” mode, the biggest obstacle is the threat that future rains may dislodge more mud and boulders from the scarred mountain burn area.
44 MONTECITO JOURNAL
Boulders the size of small homes litter the canyons that lead into Montecito; this one, just east of what once was the private lane called Randall Road, is being jackhammered into smaller, more easily moved rocks
Montecito’s upper village (seen here in front of Union Bank and Via Vai) also became a staging area for rescue and recovery crews
• The Voice of the Village •
18 – 25 January 2018
Sewer Systems
While the Montecito Sanitary facility, south of the 101 between the Music Academy and the railroad tracks, appears to be in reasonable condition, the same cannot be said for miles of sewer pipe that were once connected to destroyed homes, torn from their foundations, now under three to five feet of mud. Sewer service needs to be assessed. The environmental danger from toxic mud and mold also needs to be re-assessed. Likewise, storm drains damaged by mud, debris, and trees need to be cleared, cleaned, and repaired.
The Good News
Row of prisoners donned uniforms and, supplied with excavation tools, helped Montecito dig out from its unprecedented calamity; here they round East Valley Road west of Parra Grande
Recovery crews access a home in the Montecito Oaks area, probably hardest hit of all; the mud and debris cascaded over the turn in the creek just below Casa Dorinda and forged a path of utter destruction through this neighborhood just off Olive Mill Road
On January 15, Martin Luther King Day, it was reported that FEMA (Federal Office of Emergency Management) has designated the Montecito flood as wildfire related, meaning that residents with either fire insurance or flood insurance, or both, can file claims for flood damage and related expenses. Once again, the response of thousands of first responders and heroic rescue teams, the cooperation of law enforcement and public safety responders, the disaster relief teams, the outpouring of local, state, and federal assistance, has to be experienced to be believed. Evacuated residents have no clue as to the enormity of the clean-up effort in our once-intact village. Montecito residents can be exceptionally proud of Montecito Fire Protection District (MFPD) operations chief Kent Taylor, who was unexpectedly commandeered on the morning of January 9 to serve as incident commander to 1) find, identify, and extract fatalities; 2) mobilize the County Sheriffs’ Department, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the California National Guard to evacuate all residents of Montecito; 3) create a damage assessment plan to identify home damage, road conditions, bridge assessments, creek clearance and water, sewer, power, gas, electrical assessment. We can never thank fire chief Chip Hickman enough and his crew for risking their lives to save ours in the first 24 hours. At the same time, they had to deploy and integrate resources from Cal Fire, County Fire, City Fire, mutual aid fire districts in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland, Ojai, and Ventura, with other agency rescue and recovery teams from all over the state. These agencies included the County Office of Emergency Management headed by Rob Lewin; County Flood control headed by Tom Fayram; Montecito Water District chief Nick Turner; Caltrans Jim Shivers; Montecito Sanitary; SoCal Edison; Southern California Gas; the American Red Cross; the Army Corp of Engineers and their contractors for creek dredging, pumping, and waste removal. Other local heroes include County sheriff Bill Brown, a non-stop demon worker who guided us through both the Thomas Wildfire and the flood disaster, saving lives, evacuating the community, and protecting homes from looters. Newly appointed executive director of the Montecito Association, Allison Marcillac, lost her home and all her belongings in the flooding, but continued to perform, according to Montecito Association president Charlene Nagel. Bob Ludwig, president of the Coast Village Road Association, a doer, not a talker, quickly organized an emergency Coast Village Road community forum at the City of Santa Barbara offices, 630 Garden Street. Santa Barbara mayor Cathy Murillo; City manager Paul Casey; Public Works director Rebecca Bjork; and Montecito Water GM Nick Turner reported on recovery and clean-up efforts for Coast Village Road. The Montecito Inn has already started on its own private cleanup of its buried garage. Others are beginning the process to hire local contractors to do the recovery work.
Where are We?
Being a part of a community recovery that is greater than ourselves is truly uplifting. Even though our homes, our cars, and our wallets may be temporarily broken, our spirits are strong. We are wounded, but we will heal. •MJ
THE first HUMAN TUNE-UP
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