Granada Legends

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

5 Granada Legends – The curtain is up and tables are being set for this year’s Granada Legends Gala event

6 Community Voices – Michael Cox, author of Montecito, delivers the news that the SEC has charged the husband-wife duo that inspired his book

8 Montecito Miscellany – The Pacific Coast Open polo playoff, David Gersh at Tecolote, Cabana Home welcomes Thibaut, and more miscellany

10

Letters to the Editor – Readers write in about their thoughts on the roundabout and a resident says leave Montecito’s famous alone

Tide Guide

12

Our Town – The Housing Authority opens its Vera Cruz Village apartment complex to help the underserved and homeless

14 Society Invites – Charles Fazzino swings through SB to sign art at his State Street Gallery and raise funds for the Breast Cancer Resource Center

16 Brilliant Thoughts – In a world of love, sometimes simply liking someone is underappreciated

18 Dear Montecito – Lauryn Rousseau and her Kawaii Klaws are bringing a dash of color and flair to the manicure

20 The Optimist Daily – Do you feel that? It’s Lego taking a step toward inclusivity with its new braille-coded bricks. The Giving List – A toast to Lotusland’s 30th anniversary, and no better place to do it than LotusFest

22 Your Westmont – A young alumna is honored for serving diverse communities, and a lecture probes Christian nationalism in the U.S.

24

28 On Review – Local author John Holman discusses his memoir, A Horse in My Suitcase , and what it was like growing up in a bygone era

30 PURELY (non) POLITICAL – After a Broadway cruise, Jim Buckley reflects on illustrious lyrics that move us and the events that inspire them

36 Calendar of Events – Nothing happens at 1st Thursday, Viva Arts & Lectures, the Santa Barbara Sea Glass and Ocean Arts Festival, a Paddle Out Party, one for the books at Chaucer’s, and more

38

Petite Wine Traveler – Take a tour through the wines of Croatia, the current hot spot in the wine world

26 The Empathy Center – In a culture of divisiveness, this new center is empowering individuals with the tools needed to empathize with others

Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads, in which sellers offer everything from summer rentals to estate sales

39 Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

Local Business Directory – Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need what those businesses offer

Granada Legends

Annual Gala Takes the Stage

by Steven Libowitz

There’s no doubt that The Granada Theatre has played a vital role in developing and extending Santa Barbara’s thriving music and performing arts landscape for many decades – especially since 2008, when the theater reopened after a massive multi-million dollar renovation. The result not only restored The Granada to its 1930s glory but established the theater as the gleaming crown jewel of Santa Barbara downtown’s Historic Theatre District.

Truly a world-class venue, The Granada boasts state-of-the-art electrical, lighting, and sound systems – the latter of which has already been dramatically upgraded in recent years – as well as amenities for both performers and the audience. Entertainment organizations from near and far have found a happy home at The Granada to present their programs, keeping the city’s arts scene humming along at a clip far outstripping its size.

The annual Granada Theatre Legends Gala helps support those ongoing efforts to ensure that the venue continues to actively serve its resident companies – CAMA, the Music Academy, Opera Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Choral Society, Santa Barbara Symphony, State Street Ballet, American Theatre Guild, and UCSB Arts & Lectures – and engage the local community through diverse live performances and other programming. Funds raised from the gala assist the organization in providing best-practices business and marketing support services for The Granada Theatre’s eight resident companies and its Historic Theatre District partners.

But the event is much more than just another fundraising soirée, as the theater’s mission is embedded in the event itself. Indeed, the Legends Gala broadens the scope beyond The Granada to celebrate the entire region’s rich cultural heritage of artists, organizations, and philanthropy. Recognizing the vital importance of all three pillars in the thriving arts scene in town, each year the gala acknowledges a representative from each sector who have illuminated and advanced the arts in a significant way.

What’s more, the entire evening takes place on The Granada’s stage, which affords patrons and attendees a rare opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous venue from the performer’s vantage point alongside the honorees and artists. In keeping with the interwoven theme, mini performances from some members of the theater’s resident companies take place all evening, between and during courses and in the spaces between the tables.

No wonder the annual Granada Theatre Legends Gala has quickly become one of Santa Barbara’s most highly anticipated benefit evenings.

For the seventh annual gala on Saturday, September 16, The Granada Theatre

Granada Legends Page 314

Attendees take to the stage at the Granada Legends Gala (courtesy photo)

Community Voices Former Montecito Resident Charged with Securities Fraud

by Michael Cox

It has been seven months since I had the pleasure of sharing my writing with the readers of this newspaper My debut novel — Montecito — was serialized in these very pages from July of 2022 to February of 2023. As Gwyn Lurie and I expressed in our respective introductions to Chapter One, Montecito , while fictional, had its roots in a long history of con artists setting up shop in our slice of heaven.

What I left unsaid in that introduction was that I had a very personal dalliance with Montecito’s least savory side. For six months in 2020, I worked for Andrew Wyles Waters who I slowly came to realize was operating a company for his own personal enrichment. When the light finally clicked on, I resigned and began two tasks that would dominate my life for more than three years.

First, I began researching and writing my novel, Montecito. While actual events inspired this novel, the unfortunately real Andrew Waters is not the fabulously fictional Cyrus Wimby. Cyrus and Genevieve Wimby are stylized mashups of the many fraudsters and con artists who have blown through towns like Montecito since Man invented money to steal. Waters was simply the singular fraudster who sparked my fire to imagine more.

Second, I began beating the drum to bring my former friend and employer to justice.

On August 18, as also reported in the Aspen Daily News and the Australian Financial Review, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission – the SEC – charged former Montecito resident, Andrew Wyles Waters, with Securities Fraud. The SEC’s

complaint alleges that Waters fraudulently induced investors, “including investors in and around Montecito, California,” to purchase shares of a company he owned and controlled called Ecom Products Group.

Like many who knew Andrew and Helen Waters during their time in Montecito, what I remember most about them is their extravagant dinner parties. But as the SEC alleges, those dinner parties were not innocent celebrations of friends, family, and community. Instead, “Waters’ wife, Helen Waters, befriended community members whom she believed were wealthy or well-connected – often times the parents of their children’s friends. Helen invited these prospective investors to dinner parties at the Waters’ home. Waters typically solicited investments after the meals.”

The $3 million tally of stolen funds is expected to climb as more accusers emerge now that the previously nonpublic investigation and charges have been revealed.

For those who ultimately succumbed to Waters’ sales pitch, the realization that it was all a wash, rinse, repeat façade is painful. For those who escaped – some of whom might be discovering that they escaped at this very moment – it is a sad reminder that evil is not bound by geography or socioeconomic status and may well invite you over for dinner.

The SEC alleges that Waters enticed his victims with false promises of the value of his company’s assets and business prospects and a special offer to buy shares at deeply discounted prices, guaranteeing, “a near-instant 300% to 400% profit.”

But those profits never materialized. Instead, “Waters and [his wife] Helen … used cash proceeds from Waters’ fraud for personal expenses – including expenses

Community Voices Page 324

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THE POWER WITHIN FEATURING VICTORIA ARLEN

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

5:30 P.M. VIP RECEPTION

7 P.M. EVENT LOBERO THEATRE

Victoria Arlen — ESPN host, Dancing with the Stars semi-finalist, and Gold and Silver Medalist Swimmer — will share her inspiring story of rehabilitation and recovery after being diagnosed with two rare neurological disorders at age 11.

Victoria was in a persistent vegetative state for four years and wheelchair-dependent for 10 years, but overcame all odds to walk and dance again.

RESERVE YOUR SEAT AT: cottagehealth.org/crhevent2023

Montecito Miscellany A Chukk’ing Good Time

by Richard Mineards

Social gridlock reigned at the Santa Barbara Polo Club when it hosted the 114-year-old NetJets Pacific Coast Open with more than 3,000 spectators watching the hotly contested match, with both teams attempting to gain a hat trick.

Farmers & Merchants Bank, which won the trophy in 2017 and 2019 under captain Dan Walker, was up against Texan tycoon Scott Wood, whose ERG – Energy Resources Group – team was victorious for two consecutive years in 2013 and 2014.

The Houston-based magnate was back again with his renamed team Brookshire, named after a small community outside the city, battling FMB captained by Will Busch, son of beer scion Andy Busch.

Play was pretty even for the first three chukkers, with Brookshire leading 6-3. After halftime, the Texan team pulled in front 10-6, with the final chukker ending 14-8.

“The third time’s the charm,” says Wood. “It was a great day for everybody, and we’ll be back next year going for four. Who knows?”

Scott and his team of Peke Gonzalez , Paco de Narvaez Jr. , and Tomas Panelo then received one of the largest

Miscellany Page 344

Ambassador (Kenya) April Sutton, Dana Hansen, Michelle Nichols, Ambassador (Israel) Hila Netaneli, and Natalie Bibas (photo by Priscilla)

Tiffany & Co., and Schlumberger Gold, Blue-Green Tourmaline, Colored Stone & Diamond Cuff Bracelet. Estimate: $100,000-200,000. Tiffany & Co., and Schlumberger Paraiba Tourmaline and Diamond Seahorse Brooch. Estimate: $30,000-50,000.

Polo Power Players vying for the title of NetJets Pacific Coast Open at the SB Polo Club (photo by Priscilla)

Ambassador Glen Holden Sr. with granddaughter Lisa Solomon and her uncle Glen Holden (photo by Priscilla)

Brookshire Winning Team: Paco de Narvaez Jr., Peke Gonzalez, Scott Wood, and Tomas Panelo responding to congratulatory cheers (photo by Priscilla)

Letters to the Editor A Little Local History on Roundabouts

Traffic circles sound so British, don’t they. I feel like folk in Downton Abbey period garb should be milling around, with an occasional ‘ahooga’ horn barreling into the Olive Mill. Thanks for your softly-wrapped skepticism/wariness about the new “fixes.” I was an outspoken critic when the idea first surfaced and maintained a wary and concerned eye for the many years I served on Coast Village Road. I LIKED the old warren of country lanes converging on that gateway intersection, and proffered that we already had a Montecito roundabout, if only we cut down all the stop signs and let it happen organically. Interesting what necessity and courtesy might have fostered there. But, alas and anon... it’s gone.

The ovoid shape is not new to Santa Barbara. The first roundabout in the community, the Milpas Street Oval, was installed about 25 years ago… it too, was shoehorned into a long-ago developed chunk of real estate, burdened by legs that serve as on-and off-ramps to the HWY101. Engineers did not have sufficient right-ofway to be able to design a proper circle... and so we got the new geometry (like the new math) that calls an oblong shape a circle. I know. I had to contribute some right-of-way to the project from a parcel I owned that was near the goofy design,

and I was an outspoken critic of that “fix” too. Not an opponent... just a very interested commentator offering critique and alternatives. Didn’t work. It got built, and probably made things worse.

The story of the Olive Mill roundabout design is a page burner. That is, the one page that explains how it came to be what it is, has been burned... as in swept away by a shoulder shrugging “whatever” uttered by the chorus of agencies that share parental rights of that traffic device. Caltrans, the City of SB, and the County of SB each have jurisdiction over pieces and parts of the octopus (I think there are 12 lanes of traffic feeding into or out of it... I lost count). One of those ménage à trois members –you can guess which – approved a large, expensive, complicated mixed-use building to be constructed in the area where rightof-way should have been acquired when it was available and affordable. The “Price Building” could have been conditioned with an obligation to sell or convey sufficient right-of-way to this design effort way back when it was mere pencil on paper... not after Price spent >$12M(?) building a three-story building complete with shored underground parking. I think that, among all the other explanations you might be offered, is the reason you got what you

got. (For an interesting comparable situation, refer to what happened with the City of SB parking structure across from the Courthouse... a tiny little “oops” was eventually uttered by then-Mayor Marty Blum when it was designed and built without a turn in/turn out lane!)

Finally, as I think you know – because I keep mentioning it – I now live in Bend, Oregon, home to more than 50 traffic circles of various size and lane count. They were designed with the growth of the community, not installed a century after. They work really well, and, here in Bend there is a wonderful “Art in Public Places” team that commissions incredible pieces of man-made beauty wedded with natural landscape into the design of more than 20 of these. Having seen that happen here in Bend since 2005, like Marco Polo bringing new ideas and spices back to his peeps, I did propose such a treatment in the two Olive Mill roundabouts... but got nowhere. So I moved somewhere.

Regards,

Bob Ludwick

Let’s Leave Montecito’s Noteworthy Unnoted

Amidst the ad nauseam paparazzi stalkings of our local famous folk, I wish to report to your readers (a group that includes, according to columnist Richard Mineards, England’s King Charles II) that this week I encountered at the grocery store, indeed chatted briefly with, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the King’s daughter-in-law.

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE

Alas for the purveyors and consumers of “gotcha” faux-journalism, I will sell neither the location of my early morning encounter, nor the personal photo my hubby took. Neither will I reveal with whom Mrs. Mountbatten-Windsor was shopping, what she wore, the handbag she carried, her hairdo, nor what she purchased. One less piece of local clickbait for the Daily Mail and its lowbrow brethren. Yes, I confess to sharing my surprise encounter privately with the R.B.F.H., or Rich Biotches from Hell, my three longtime girlfriends from back East who had just left Montecito disappointed that, despite dropping mucho dolares in local restaurants and shops, they enjoyed no glimpses of any famous folk. Yes, you can spend $50 for a lobster roll and people-watch... others also dining on $50 lobster rolls.

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Contributors | Scott Craig Ashleigh Brilliant Kim Crail, Tom Farr, Chuck Graham, Stella Haffner, Mark Ashton Hunt, Dalina Michaels, Sharon Byrne, Robert Bernstein, Christina Atchison, Leslie Zemeckis, Sigrid Toye

Gossip | Richard Mineards

History | Hattie Beresford

Humor | Ernie Witham

Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri

Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook

Food & Wine | Claudia Schou Melissa Petitto, Gabe Saglie

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Should I run into Prince Harry emerging from the gym, Christine Baumgartner coming out of the bank, or Ellen and Portia at Tre Lune, I’ll continue to do what so many of us do – keep my lips zipped and let the famous prey enjoy a bit of privacy. But should I encounter any of those peskily obnoxious interlopers, the paparazzi, I promise to take their photos and post them immediately.

Eileen White Read

A Neighbor’s View of the Roundabout

I just read your editorial in the Montecito Journal regarding the roundabouts. I live quite near the roundabout on San Ysidro and Jameson and have felt all along that this project would be so out of scale with the neighborhood as to make it seem as though we are living in some large metropolis and not a small, once bucolic town.

I fear that I was correct.

The removal of so many trees, the addition of huge amounts of concrete, the scale, and in my opinion, useless addition to a problem that never existed to warrant such a massive project.

As you mentioned, there was never an accident at that intersection or at

the Olive Mill intersection, we all knew how to use them properly and in fact, I predict more accidents to come due to the roundabouts.

Our neighborhood worked hard to try and figure out another solution to the so-called problem in the hope that the roundabout would not come to fruition. We attended meeting after meeting but knew in the end we would not be heard.

Now it is almost completed, no amount of vegetation (and let’s hope it all does not die back once planted) can mask the size and scope of the project in the Hedgerows that has changed the complexion of the neighborhood forever.

Thank you kindly,

Shelley Badat

On Circles and Lanes

I enjoyed your article about the circles. A question that comes to mind is why the Olive Mill circle is only one lane? There’s at least a lane’s width of hardscape above the curb so maybe it’s not a lack of space. There’s not even an extra lane for CVR traffic turning onto Channel Drive.

I’m concerned it may be more of a bottleneck than something that improves traffic flow.

Mark Dewey

Our Town

Vera Cruz Village Housing Grand Opening

by Joanne A Calitri

On Thursday, August 31, the latest development in resolving Santa Barbara’s housing crisis for the underserved and homeless was celebrated with the grand opening of the Vera Cruz Village apartment complex on East Cota Street. The ceremonies took place in the building’s garage with many attendees being project partners with project lead, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB).

Keynote speaker was Rob Fredericks, executive director and CEO of HACSB. He talked about how the project started in 2020 with the property purchase as a vacant parcel. The complex provides 15

of its 28 units for people coming out of homelessness. Units are based on income ranges from approximately $33,000 to $62,000 per year with rent prorated at $777 per month to $1,554 per month, along with Section 8 voucher supplementals. Unlike the Spanish architecture of the Santa Barbara downtown area, the building is a contemporary design and features 100% energy efficiency with solar panels. It has 28 units at 435 square feet each with a full kitchen, bath, bedroom, patio area, laundry, and parking. It is managed by HACSB with a live-in manager. The project costs are tallied at $20.4 million, with loans of $9.2M from Enterprise Investor Equity, $5.2M from Pacific Western Bank, $3.65M from the City of SB, and $1.75M from HACSB.

Fredericks thanked Alice Villarreal Redit, HACSB resident programs supervisor, who led a team that placed the furnishings in each apartment when the three-story building elevator was not working, so that the units would be ready to be occupied on September 1.

He thanked the project partners: 2nd Story Associates; City of Santa Barbara; DesignARC, Inc.; Enterprise Community Partners; Garden Court, Inc.; Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara; McGillivray Construction, Inc.; New Beginnings Counseling Center; Pacific Western Bank; Price, Postel & Parma; and Santa Barbara Affordable Housing Group.

Fredericks concluded with statistics he said were the latest on homelessness: in the U.S., 500,000 with 40% unsheltered; in California, 170,000 with 15,000 unsheltered; and in Santa Barbara County, 1,800 with 64% unsheltered.

Next, administrative staff representing the offices of Congressman Salud Carbajal, Assemblymember Gregg Hart, and Senator Monique Limón presented certificates to Fredericks. They were followed by speakers Pat Wheatley, Board Chair HACSB Commission; Helene Schneider, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; First District SBC Supervisor Das Williams; and Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse. The speakers talked about the issues of homelessness and support needed for projects like Vera Cruz Village. Then Rowse and Williams talked about leveraging taxes to support

more projects. Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, guests toured the facility. Attendees included: Reagan Maechling, VP Acquisitions Enterprise Housing Credit Investments LLC; the President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Vincent’s Santa Barbara Rosa M. Paredes, CPA, NPCC, CPO, SHCM, with Sr. Arthur Gordon, D.C.; Kristine Schwarz MFT and Lisa Falcone from New Beginnings; Kirsten Ellis; Santa Barbara City Community Development Director Elias Isaacson; Senior Assistant to Santa Barbara City Administrator Barbara Andersen; Santa Barbara City Councilpersons Oscar Gutierrez, Eric Friedman, and Kristen Sneddon; attorney Mark S. Manion; and Lynn Karlson from Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara.

411: https://hacsb.org

https://housingsantabarbara.org

First District Supervisor Das Williams addresses the guests at the opening of Vera Cruz Village housing (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Lynn Karlson, Randy Rowse, Das Williams, Oscar Gutierrez, Rob Fredericks, Pat Wheatley, Eric Friedman, Mark Kirkhart, Gary Hopkins, and Reagan Maechling (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Rob Fredericks and Pat Wheatley celebrate the opening of Vera Cruz Village housing (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

HACSB Board Chair Pat Wheatley inside one of the Vera Cruz Village apartments specifically designed for wheelchair access (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Joanne A Calitri is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@ yahoo.com

Society Invites

NYC Artist Charles Fazzino at his SB Gallery

funds for a different local nonprofit in town by way of donating 10% of the art sold. This year they selected the Breast Cancer Resource Center, and Executive Director Silvana Kelly and Director of Donor Engagement Armando Martinez were on hand to talk with prospective art collectors.

Gallery Director Carol Ritz explained that this gallery is the only one owned by the artist himself in addition to his New York-area studio. The Santa Barbara gallery also sells his daughter Heather Fazzino’s art. Various artworks contribute to causes Fazzino selects. A recent work titled Love Will Keep Us Together is for the Pride Movement, with a percentage of the proceeds going toward the Trevor Project.

For this Society News reporter, it was great to connect with a fellow New Yorker and meet the artist whose works greeted me (and all passengers) upon landing at the JFK Airport American Airlines’ domestic terminal in June to cover art and culture in NYC for this column.

Fazzino talked about his art path and how the work is done.

“I come from and grew up with art around me all the time. My father was a shoe designer in NYC doing private lines for Saks 5th Avenue in the ‘60s, and my mother was an artist from Finland.

by Joanne A Calitri

Over the Labor Day weekend, the 3D Studio Gallery at 529 State St. was packed with fans and newbies to the art of Charles Fazzino, as he had arrived from New York City to make his annual Santa Barbara visit.

Art was flying off the wall into the hands of new lucky owners and collectors who had the unique opportunity to meet with the artist himself and get the works they purchased signed by him. In addition to signing his works, Fazzino was adding a drawing on the back of the artwork purchased, a one-of-a-kind, in-the-moment drawing specifically for each person in his signature color palette done with markers. His visit coincided with the Santa Barbara gallery’s annual one-day event that raises

“I was fascinated by the pop-out books my mother would buy for my sister and me. They resonated with me. When I graduated art school in the late ’70s, there were no art jobs in NYC, so I thought, I’m going to make a pop-out book. I couldn’t sell it but showed them at my first art show in 1981 in NYC, and they were a hit from day one. My art studio is in New Rochelle. It is the original warehouse storage facility for the Terrytoons Studio [Hanna-Barbera animation of the 1950s]. I bought the building. I sell my work in 33 countries around the world. Most of my art is cityscapes, and I do the artwork for major league baseball and the NFL. I have an uncanny knack of remembering details of cityscapes after seeing them a few times and can draw them. To check for accuracy, I use Google images. Each artwork is first drawn by me and sent to my Los Angeles silk-screen printer who sends proofs to me in New York. From there, they make multiple prints on museum boards of varying thickness for the base layer and tiered layers. My art interns use an X-Acto blade to cut the layers by hand, and the layers are separated with foam. Finishing work includes adding Swarovski crystals and hand-painting areas. [Fazzino laughs] The pieces look so good today because I’m not cutting them! I currently have 60 art interns working for me, and there may be five interns doing the cutting and layering on one piece at a time. I spend my time focusing on creating the original art, researching, and hand-painting. I start off with drawings using a lot of color pencils and acrylic paints. Even though they are limited edition works, each one is unique; it can’t be cut out and stamped for reproduction because with a silk-screen process each one differs a little bit. I’m only here in SB once a year, and Carol Ritz is my gallery director here all the time. Al Faro, my cousin, called me 27 years ago and told me to open a gallery in SB, so we went into a partnership, and it’s been a success ever since.”

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Fazzino’s work is extremely detailed, with colors that surpass a full-on, 120-count Crayola Crayons box. The stories told in the art are timeless. I’m betting that the N.Y. Public Library is holding a few in their antiquities collection. His website is equally detailed, with a blog to get inspiration and tips. Here are his tips for creativity: “Make It Your Own; Learn from the Past; Break the Mold; Find Inspiration Wherever You Can; Embrace the Ah-Ha Moments; Accept Constructive Feedback; and Practice Every Day! Nothing can replace the time you put into your art. Just like any skill, you have to practice it. Basketball players spend hours, days, weeks, and years on the basketball court. If you want to make art your life, you have to do it a LOT! Draw, paint, sketch, sculpt… whatever your craft. Just keep doing it over and over and over, until you get where you want to go.”

411: www.fazzino.com

Carol

©2023MorganStanleySmithBarneyLLC.MemberSIPC. BC012 CRC570927006/23CS69952706/23

Ritz SB Gallery director: 805-730-9109

NYC artist Charles Fazzino with Silvana Kelly and Armando Martinez of the Breast Cancer Resource Center (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

New York City artist Charles Fazzino visiting his Santa Barbara gallery over the Labor Day weekend. Here signing his artwork with his fans nearby (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Brilliant Thoughts

Falling In Like

by Ashleigh Brilliant

Yes, let’s leave Love out of it. The word is too loaded. Saying “Like” is, in most cases, much easier and safer, and probably more accurate. There are too many songs about Love, and too few about Like.

But aren’t we really talking about Friendship? True, there aren’t many songs about that either. But it gets us a little farther from the mawkish. I know what I like, even if I don’t always like what I know.

Some friendships are slow to develop, and may arise from a chance encounter. But what’s really exciting – because it doesn’t happen very often – occurs when you meet somebody, and know immediately that you’re going to be good friends. That is what “falling in like” is all about.

What makes two people like each other? Of course, there need not be anything sexual about it. But they must have something in common.

One thing that draws people together is laughing at the same things. Nearly everybody has a sense of humor, and people tend to be resentful if you question theirs. But different people think different things are funny. And when somebody else’s idea of what’s laughable coincides with yours, you already have something to build a friendship on.

You might think that proximity generally leads to liking – but that isn’t necessarily true at all. See my book entitled Be a Good Neighbor, And Leave

Me Alone , in which I point out how seldom it is that good neighbors are also good friends. In fact, it’s often easier to like people at a distance. That may be why some of the people we like best tend to be movie stars or other distant celebrities with whom we never have any personal contact.

We may also think we like somebody because we like their work, especially if it’s creative. But once again, that may not follow. And I’m sorry to have to admit that I’m one of those to whom this applies. Over the years, my productions, especially my illustrated epigrams, have brought me a great deal of admiration, as expressed particularly in “fan mail.” And of course, people don’t publicly proclaim their disappointment after having met me in person. But, sad as it may seem, I’ve always felt that the best part of me is in my work, beyond which I personally have little to offer. Not that I have, or have had, no friendships or deeper relationships – but they tend to be in spite of, rather than because of, my creative talent.

This disparity may be found in many cases historically. One example which immediately comes to mind is that of James Joyce, the world-famous author of Ulysses, and other even more enigmatic works. His relationship with his wife, Nora Barnacle, scarcely involved his books, which he could hardly even get her to try to read, and which she thought obscure and lacking in sense.

Fortunately, that was not my

Dear Montecito

Kawaii Klaws

by Stella Haffner

In the Dear Montecito column, we have hosted writers, musicians, and filmmakers. This week, we are branching into a new medium with Lauryn Rousseau, a 2021 graduate of UCSB and the owner of Kawaii Klaws, a boutique nail art studio.

Q. How did you get interested in nail art?

A. My cousin was really into Japanese fashion when we were little, so she used to give me her old Japanese magazines. They just had the most ornate fashion, including nails, like nothing we had ever really seen before in American culture. I was hooked. So throughout 9th and 10th grade my best friend and I would stay up for hours, decking out our nails, attaching random household things like paper clips just so we would be able to copy these crazy examples in the magazines and

What was it you liked so much about this style?

I think it was just because it was so extra and crazy. I feel like I’ve never really fit into a box or been normal. My friends and my family are always asking me: “Why do you always have to do the most?” And I’m like: “I don’t know, maybe it’s the Leo in me!”

Tell me about your business – it started during COVID?

Yes, I started Kawaii Klaws in the fall of 2020. Because so many salons were closed, I took the opportunity to start making press-on nails that people could order online. Personally, I have never really gone to salons for gel manicures, they were just too expensive for me growing up, so I thought – hey, if there is a YouTube tutorial, I can do it! So that’s how I got started doing nails in person. I made an Instagram page for the business and it kind of took off.

As a nail artist, how would you describe the nail art culture?

I think it is very experimental. It’s really new and it is probably in the past year or two that a lot of celebrities are getting into it and people are venturing out more. I would say the culture is very fun and experimental but only if you allow it. A lot of people say they could never do it. But it’s temporary and you only live once!

What sort of styles seem to be popular right now?

What’s really popular is an early ‘90s and 2000s look that’s making a comeback. They are using stencils and airbrush to create something called an aura where you spray the nail and it kind of looks like it is blooming outwards. That’s really popular right now. Of course, French nails are timeless, but people are really elevating them now through different colors and designs, you know, mix and match. I would also say that charms, 3D charms, are really popular. Anything to bling it out and make it a little bit more ornate.

Is there anything else people should know about nail art?

I just really try to push for people to try it because as I said, it’s temporary, you only live once, and I feel like that a great way to express yourself is through nails.

If you’re interested in learning more about Lauryn and her art, you can visit her Instagram page @ kawaii.klaws

Lauryn Rousseau started her nail art studio Kawaii Klaws during COVID

Lauryn’s ornate nail designs are inspired by Japanese pop culture From the shores of Scotland, Stella Haffner keeps her connection to her home in Montecito by bringing grads of local schools to the pages of the Montecito Journal

Inclusive Learning Through Play: Lego Introduces Braille Bricks for Vision-Impaired Children

Lego is taking another great step toward inclusivity by launching a mission to provide blind and partially sighted youngsters with the gift of learning through touch. The company is planning to release braille-coded blocks that cleverly mix the worlds of play and education. These bricks are not only intended to teach the touch-based alphabet but also to promote family unity and learning.

The journey of Lego into braille education started with a goal of empowerment. The toymaker collaborated with blind organizations all around the world to develop unique bricks that smoothly integrate the braille version of numerals and letters. Since 2020, these one-of-a-kind bricks have been supplied free of charge to certain schools and programs for children who are blind or visually impaired. These braille-coded kits will be available for purchase beginning next month, enabling children and families to embark on a journey of discovery together.

Lego’s innovation has potential to turn homes into hubs of learning, creativity, and shared experiences. The braille-coded packs include both braille studs and printed symbols or letters underneath. This clever mix allows parents and siblings to participate in the braille learning journey, encouraging a sense of unity and shared growth.

Lisa Taylor , a mother whose daughter lost her sight due to a brain tumor, expressed her family’s gratitude for the bricks. Olivia ’s interest in braille was sparked via play, and the entire family got involved. Taylor , Olivia’s grandma, her husband, and even her sighted daughter, Imogen , are all studying braille. The secret is in the fact that these bricks enable seamless and pleasurable inclusive learning.

The importance of Lego’s braille effort extends far beyond the particular lessons it provides. The European Blind Union (EBU) emphasizes that braille mastery improves spelling, reading, and writing skills. This, in turn, opens the door to further education and better work opportunities for the visually handicapped.

As the world changes, the path to a more inclusive society must be paved with creativity, empathy, and determination. Lego’s braille bricks are a wonderful example of how innovation can break down barriers and open doors. As these bricks make their way into homes all across the world, they carry the promise of brighter futures, shared experiences, and a world where everyone can play, learn, and flourish together.

The Giving List

Lotusland: LotusFest’s Return Launches 30th Anniversary Lotusland Forever Campaign

by Steven Libowitz

Cue the fanfare! LotusFest is coming back to Lotusland, the spectacular public gardens nestled in the Cold Spring neighborhood of Montecito.

The Saturday, September 16, afternoon affair represents the post-pandemic return of the event, which provides an opportunity to enjoy a treasured wine-and-beer affair ensconced in the lush green lawns surrounded by a wonderland of more than 35 acres boasting 20 distinct and uniquely beautiful, interconnected garden spaces, each exhibiting a spellbinding variety of exotic plants that are as historic as they are stunning to view. The festival’s return is part of Lotusland’s 30th anniversary celebration, marking the three-decade milestone since the former estate of Polish opera singer and socialite Madame Ganna Walska was first allowed to open to the public.

It’s a rare chance for visitors to sip and savor some of the best wine, beer, and food the Central Coast has to offer, with participation of 30 different providers including such unusual or boutique wine purveyors as Kimsey Vineyard, Casa Dumetz Wines, Dusty Nabor Wines, Donnachadh Vineyard, and Drink Ysidro, plus food offerings from Tamar, Loquita, Finch & Fork restaurant, and others. Visitors can mingle with friends and enjoy appropriately organic live music from The Kicks Reggae band on the Great Lawn and/or stroll through the grounds and take a last weekend of summer gander at the cacti, dracena, orchids, shade palms, succulents, and other gardens.

Do make sure to head to the nearby water garden, as the flowers that lent their name to Lotusland’s title will be sticking around for the celebration. It’s almost as if the plants themselves altered their usual timing to coincide with Lotusfest, which used to be held earlier in the summer.

“The flowers will be blooming,” said Lotusland Executive Director Rebecca Anderson. “They started later this year, because we renovated the water garden this past winter. So, they are at their peak right now.”

LotusFest guests will receive a commemorative tasting glass to take home, and proceeds from tickets that range from $100 to $300 benefit the Garden’s essential education and conservation programs, as well as its rare and exotic plants that make Lotusland a botanical nirvana like no other.

But even more importantly, this year’s LotusFest also marks the official kickoff of

the nonprofit garden’s Lotusland Forever campaign, a multi-year fundraising effort to upgrade its facilities, restore its historic buildings, establish new state-of-theart, earth-friendly systems and sustainable practices, increase its capacity for horticultural education and plant conservation, plus indefinitely secure Lotusland’s future.

The “30 for 30” campaign aims to raise $30 million in total, with half of the funds earmarked to capital improvements for restoration, preservation, upgrades to infrastructure, and innovative initiatives.

“It’s our first plan since 2003, guiding all of the garden’s needs for the next decade and beyond, and there are some truly innovative projects in the works,” says Anderson, adding that the plan includes a new nursery and multi-use education building, solar energy systems, a water security program with both storage and capturing of stormwater runoff, and restrooms located in the gardens. “The impact extends far beyond our walls, as Lotusland is also serving as a model for other similar gardens across the country and around the world, as well as a resource and an example for private homeowners.”

A big focus is also restoring the buildings and structures designed by famed architect George Washington Smith including the perimeter wall, pavilion, main house, and several other buildings, timeless works of art in and of themselves, which have been in dire need of upkeep and renovation having taken a backseat to the care and restoration of the gardens.

“The focus for the past 30 years has been on the garden and the plant collections, as we’ve been restoring and maintaining them in good working order,” Anderson

Wander and play along the gardens while enjoying an afternoon of drink and food at LotusFest, Saturday, Sept. 16

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Your Westmont

Young Alumna to be Honored at Homecoming

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

Westmont will give Gabriella ( Pinheiro Chavez ) Avila (2014) the Young Alumni Award at a special Homecoming brunch Saturday, Oct. 14, for her faithful life of leadership and service.

Avila serves as a counselor in California’s largest school district: Los Angeles Unified. She meets regularly with many of the 1,200 students at her middle school, helping them find solutions to chronic absenteeism, homelessness, food insecurity, and transportation needs.

“Mental health is a huge factor for a lot of students and their families, especially since COVID,” she says. She works with a campus psychologist and outside agencies to decide the best approach to schooling, which may include alternative learning such as an online virtual academy or independent study. “These are temporary options that help get them back on track until they’re ready to return to our school system,” she says.

Los Angeles Unified serves more than 550,000 K-12 students, including about 92,000 English learners. “The emerging English learners have specific teachers, separate schedules, curricula, and testing to move through different stages before becoming integrated with the other students,” she says. “When you’re working with a student, it’s encouraging to see the progress they’re making. They’re excited to tell you about their reading exam, or when they’re able to get to that next level

of fluency or understanding.”

The daughter of a Brazilian mother and an El Salvadorian father, Gabriella seeks to serve diverse communities, drawing on her multicultural and bilingual skills. The 30-year-old earned degrees in communication studies and Spanish at Westmont College, where she honed her confidence and communication skills.

“I have a heart for people,” she says. “Growing up, my family was very generous, always willing to help a neighbor and to volunteer. Many times I’ve felt led to a certain group or area — I prayed about it — and felt that’s what I needed to do.”

After graduating from Westmont, Gabriella worked for Olive Crest, a nonprofit that helps at-risk youth in Southern California, seeking to prevent child abuse and providing adoption and foster family services. For three years, she advised

families transitioning from fostering to adopting and offered post-adoption support as well.

She still uses the skills she learned at Olive Crest to assist her middle-school students, many of whom have spent time in foster care. “It all ties together,” she says. “I didn’t realize what I would be doing when I was taking communication studies and Spanish classes at Westmont, but I’m still using the skills I learned.”

Gabriella has earned a master’s degree in Social Work from Long Beach State and is working toward certification as a licensed clinical social worker. As part of the master’s program, she advocated for clients through the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, supporting them with visits to court and helping them apply for public benefits and community resources for food, housing, mental health, victim’s rights, domestic violence, and legal assistance.

Until she joined other Westmont students on a four-day trip to Ensenada, Mexico, Gabriella planned to major in economics and business. Her intercultural experience inspired her, and she eventually co-directed a Bible school for the college’s long-running outreach to Ensenada during spring break.

Also through Westmont, she spent a summer volunteering at a Guatemalan orphanage. Until the pandemic, she continued to travel and visit Casa Bernabe, a ministry dedicated to restoring the lives of children and vulnerable families. “That’s my special place,” she says.

“Westmont helped me be bold in different cultural settings and in choosing a career and pursuing higher education,” she says. “I had a lot of good mentors, people who were willing to invest time in me and have tough conversations. That’s something really special a lot of people don’t experience.”

As a result, Gabriella says, “I’m able to be useful wherever I am.”

Talk Examines Christian Nationalism, the Gospel

Andrew Whitehead, one of the foremost scholars of Christian nationalism in the United States, speaks about his new book, American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church, on Thursday, Sept. 14, from 3:30 to 5 pm in the Global Leadership Center at Westmont. The lecture is free and open to the public.

He’ll share his experiences and discuss how Christian nationalism threatens the spiritual lives of American Christians and the church. In the book, he illustrates how Christians harm their neighbors when they embrace the idols of power, fear, and violence.

He uses two key examples — rac-

ism and xenophobia — to demonstrate that these idols violate core Christian beliefs. Through stories, he illuminates expressions of Christianity that confront Christian nationalism and offer a faithful path forward.

Whitehead, an associate professor of sociology, directs the Association of Religion Data Archives at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

His research has been featured in several national outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, CNN Today , The Economist, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian. He has been interviewed on NBC News, NPR, and the BBC. He has written for The Washington Post, Time, NBC News and the Religion News Service among other outlets.

Sponsors of the talk include Westmont’s sociology and anthropology and political science departments, the offices of the provost, intercultural programs and campus pastor, as well as the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts.

Young Alumni Award winner Gabriella Avila

Andrew Whitehead, author of American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church, will speak at Westmont on Thursday, Sept. 14, at 3:30 pm

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

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Americana Royalty Nickel Creek with special guest Hawktail

Sun, Oct 8 / 7 PM / Granada Theatre

Tickets start at $35 / $19 UCSB students

A Granada facility fee will be added to each ticket price

“Nickel Creek made Americana

the new Indie Rock.” NPR

“One of the most adventurous and eclectic groups in progressive acoustic music.” allmusic.com

Featuring Chris Thile and siblings Sean and Sara Watkins, revolutionary roots trio Nickel Creek returns to Santa Barbara with an ambitious album’s worth of dazzling new music. Their 2023 release Celebrants represents a triumphant return to form after a nineyear break from recording and touring together.

Superstar Trio’s U.S. Debut

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

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Lisa Batiashvili, violin

Gautier Capuçon, cello

Tue, Oct 10 / 7 PM / Granada Theatre

Tickets start at $40 / $19 UCSB students

Purchase by September 15 for your invitation to an opening night toast to the Great Performances series at Sullivan Goss

A Granada facility fee will be added to each ticket price

“Sophistication and suavity, both clarity and freedom.”

The New York Times on Jean-Yves Thibaudet

“Batiashvili’s fearless playing is so tonally rich and technically immaculate.” The Guardian (U.K.)

“Fierce concentration and taut virtuosity.”

Bachtrack on Gautier Capuçon

Three friends and award-winning classical stars come together for an evening of chamber music masterpieces by Haydn, Ravel and Mendelssohn that showcases their individual and collaborative gifts.

Program

Haydn: Piano Trio No. 44

Ravel: Piano Trio

Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2

Petite Wine Traveler

An Enchanting Viticultural Voyage through Croatia’s Istrian Peninsula

by Jamie Knee

My husband and I were thrilled when I was chosen to be a judge at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, hosted this year by Vinistra, the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia. Returning to Croatia, one of our cherished travel destinations from a decade ago, was a dream come true. Our recent trip back was nothing short of spectacular, providing an immersive experience into the world of Croatian wines.

The Istrian Peninsula, Croatia’s somewhat unknown wine paradise, is tucked away in the northernmost part of the Mediterranean. Strikingly, Istria shares an uncanny resemblance with Santa Barbara Wine Country in California. Both regions boast Mediterranean climates and are located near the coast, which imparts a coastal influence on the wines, adding freshness and brightness to the flavors. The warm, sunny days and cool nights create an ideal environment for grape cultivation, and the diverse terroir of Istria, with its hills and valleys, offers a range of soil types – including red, white, black, and gray – enriched with limestone deposits. These geological elements add complexity to the wines, infusing them with unique flavors and aromas. Additionally, both regions are characterized by boutique wineries, where passionate winemakers focus on crafting small-batch, high-quality wines, highlighting the uniqueness of their terroir.

During our visit, we had the pleasure of exploring exceptional wineries like Menghetti Wine Hotel & Winery, which impressed us with its warm hospitality and commitment to producing high-quality wines. The dedication to indig-

enous grape varieties, such as malvasia and teran, showcased the region’s winemaking heritage in each glass. Another standout was Matošević Wines, led by renowned winemaker Ivica Matošević, whose wines have gained international acclaim. The award-winning Malvasia, in particular, impressed with its elegance and complexity, making it a perfect representation of Istrian terroir.

Malvasia and teran are two remarkable grape varieties that showcase the diversity and richness of Croatian winemaking. Malvasia, also known as Malvazija Istarska, shines as the star of the Istrian Peninsula. This indigenous white grape exhibits a full-bodied character with luscious fruity notes, often accompanied by hints of honey, lemon peel, and pear. Its aromatic profile, featuring tropical nuances of lychee and guava, makes it a delight to savor. On the other hand, teran, a native red grape grown primarily along the Dalmatian coast, reveals a captivating intensity with its wild herbal aromas and smoothness. Despite its demanding cultivation, skillful winemaking transforms teran into a red wine with medium to strong body, enriched with abundant red fruit aromas like sour cherries and blackberries, all elegantly enveloped by pleasant tannins. Both malvasia and teran are prized gems of Croatia’s wine scene, reflecting the country’s passion for preserving its winemaking heritage while also crafting world-class wines that captivate wine enthusiasts worldwide.

Beyond the world of wine, Croatia offers an abundance of other activities and attractions that make it a perfect destination for travelers. Safari Park in Brijuni National Park in Rovinj allows visitors to experience the beauty of wildlife and nature while taking in stunning views of the Adriatic Sea. Island hopping in Hvar and Split offers a chance to explore the rich history and culture of the Dalmatian islands, with picturesque landscapes and charming coastal towns.

No visit to Croatia is complete without a tour of Dubrovnik’s majestic castles, which offer a glimpse into the country’s fascinating history and architecture. As you wander through the ancient walls, you’ll be transported back in time, and the beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage site will leave you in awe.

Matošević Wines of Istria with Ivica Matošević

Life on Hvar Island

Wine Traveler Page 294

ank you from Fiesta’s 2023 El Presidente

o everyone in this community, thank you and gracias from the entire Old Spanish Days Fiesta family. 2023 truly became a memorable Fiesta. So many from throughout our community continued, and enjoyed, the Fiesta spirit. It’s something special and unique that we have here, and it has continued successfully for 100 years. This year it was definitely time to Let’s Fiesta!, and ‘inclusion’ became a uniting Fiesta theme. Once again, Fiesta brought us all together— family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. We learned about our history, we celebrated dance and culture, and we truly had a Fiesta. There are many special moments during each calendar year, and Fiesta is among the highlights. Fiesta matters. Keeping it alive is important. We have built a great community tradition. Few cities have something as special as our Fiesta. We hope that in years to come you enjoy Fiesta, as

I appreciate the opportunity to represent our community as this year’s Fiesta

Honorary Presidentes and Directors, and family, gather for a special commemorative photograph on the steps of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden. Pictured: John Paul and Lina Beltran, Brett and Natalie Hodges, Robert and Holly Murphy, George and Laurie Leis, Vince Caballero, Mimi Michaelis, Lynda Millner, Rodolfo and Ani Rios, Jeff Martin, JC Gordon, Marge Romero, John Chufar, Robert Johns, Alfredo and Josie Limon, Jules Tritschler, Teresinha Landry, Mari De La Rosa, Pati De La Rosa, Tita De La Rosa, Dori Belmonte, Blanca Fernandez, Dacia Harwood, Donna Long, Geoff and Trinh Bolton, El Primer Caballero Gonzalo Sarmiento and El Presidente David Bolton. (Not pictured David and Sharon Bradford). Photo by Priscilla.

The Empathy Center

Cultivating a Culture of Empathy: The Visionary Work of Edwin Rutsch

by Ann Brode

Living in these divisive times can undermine our equilibrium and sense of community. We experience the impact whenever a casual conversation veers to issues of the day and the mood sours. In situations where people happen to disagree, it’s even more dramatic as muscles tense up, adrenaline starts pumping, and we go on the defensive. Instead of connecting and communicating, the tone gets edgy and receptivity shuts down. In such a state, it’s easy to distrust people who don’t agree with us and hard to address common problems. For your health, my health, and the health of us all, we need to be able to listen to each other without getting worked up. Edwin Rutsch, a bright, lively man in his sixties, believes we can do this by cultivating a culture of empathy – one person at a time.

As I sat with Edwin in the chapel of the old St. Mary’s Seminary on Las Canoas Road, he shared his plans to establish a retreat center on this extraordinary property. Called The Empathy Center of Santa Barbara, this facility will offer workshops and events focused on promoting empathy as a core value. The possibilities cover a wide range of offerings, including empathy facilitator trainings, conflict resolution, personal growth, visual arts, dance, music, and yoga. He also shared how he was introduced to the transformative power of empathy many years ago on a decade-long trek around the world, living and working with people of vastly different backgrounds. Being a curious guy who wanted to get along, Edwin discovered early in his travels that listening, openly and without judgement, made it possible to find common ground. From there, it wasn’t a big stretch to imagine that, under different circumstances, he could’ve easily been a Buddhist, a Hindu, or a Muslim. Finding common ground seemed to be the key for mutual respect and harmony. When Edwin returned home again, this experience encouraged him to find a way to heal the social and political discord that seemed rampant everywhere he looked.

“The biggest deficit that we have in our society and in the world right now is an empathy deficit. We are in great need of people being able to stand in somebody else’s shoes and see the world through their eyes.” – Barack Obama

Inspired by the work of Carl Rogers and peer listening pioneers, Edwin designed a simple speak- listen-reflect technique. He put this technique to the test at protest marches over the past several years – beginning with Berkeley’s Occupy Cal march in 2011. Pitching a conspicuous white Empathy Tent in the middle of the fray, Edwin or a volunteer would respectfully approach people on opposing sides and ask them if they might be willing to come in and share what was on their mind. Once inside, the participants were introduced to an empathy communication process. Simple and straightforward, this entails one person taking time to speak clearly and honestly about something that’s on their mind while the other person listens, without interruption or judgment. Then, the listener recounts what was heard and asks if this is accurate. If not, the speaker clarifies further, and the listener reflects – back and forth until the speaker feels heard.

These Empathy Tent encounters were revelatory. Just being in the Tent and using the back-and-forth protocol seemed to create a safe container where people could step away from their differences, share common space and communicate – human to human. Perhaps, being together in this context was a way to, not only change the dynamic, but support healing and transformation. As Rutsch and team brought the Tent to protest

gatherings over the ensuing years, they noticed a particular moment in the process where the intensity in the Tent calmed down and the energy seemed to shift from contention to empathy. It became apparent that when people speak clearly and honestly rather than delivering bullet points from a podcast or rote set of beliefs, it’s easier to listen to what’s being said and hear the common humanity. Imagine what would happen if a climate activist, evangelical Christian, QAnon believer, and radical Islamist entered the white tent and communicated openly as individuals without the drama and dogma of the collective.

“An empathic way of being can be learned from empathic persons. Perhaps the most important statement of all is that the ability to be accurately empathic is something which can be developed by training.” – Carl Rogers

Of course, an important part of any new learning is applying it to everyday life. Bringing along your empathy is a good way to increase your effectiveness in professional, public, or online interactions. It’s also a great asset for personal relationships, for instance: Edwin put his empathy skills to good use when hurt feelings and old complaints threatened to undermine a family gathering. Taking a deep breath, he asked the feuding sides if they might be willing to do a little empathy listening. Before long, the whole family was drawn in, watching and listening. Just like the Tent experience, there was a certain moment when the room softened, drama dispelled, and the energy shifted. This very real, personal experience convinced everyone that there was value in the unconventional work Edwin was so passionate about. It wasn’t long before his brother Charles found a way to buy the Las Canoas property and offer it to Edwin as a space where he might manifest his dream.

“Empathy, for me, is feeling, sensing, and imagining our way into our own experiences and the lives and experiences of others. The fullness of empathy is when people mutually listen and empathize with each other. It is a way of being in the world.” – Edwin Rutsch, empathy ambassador and visionary.

The ability to be empathetic needs to be cultivated through example, experience, and practice. For Edwin, it is essentially part of who we are, like our muscles. And, just like our muscles, empathy needs to be regularly exercised and strengthened in order to be healthy and function well. Young children exercise their “empathy muscles” when they imagine how a playmate feels when they get hurt or scared or sad. But, judgmental, traumatic, and dysfunctional relationships can sidetrack the development of empathy. And, political, social, and economic divisions dull it. The empathy process is a way to sharpen it back up again. The goal of The Empathy Center in Santa Barbara is to promote empathy as a core practice and primary social value. It’s not a big leap to imagine that if this were accomplished, it would change the way we watch the news and communicate with family, friends, and our community. On a global scale, it would be a sea change. What if we were able to come together with empathy intact to Empathy Center Page 324

Edwin Rutsch at the Empathy Tent

OUR LOCAL STUDENTS & TEACHERS NEED OUR HELP!

Please join us in our annual School Supplies Drive as we raise funds to help our communities' teachers purchase the materials our local students need to thrive!

September 1 - October 19, 2023

to donate, please visit

TFSUPPLIESDRIVE.COM

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 TEACHER'S FUND SUPPLIES DRIVE SPONSORS:

Billy Goldstein, The Weiser Agency, Susan Bonanno - Synergy One Lending, Bob Curtis, Ruth Jackson, Louis and Susan Manzo Sara Beth Cutter, Jena Harris, Lenz Pest Control, Kristy Cuevas, Elena Abel, Ruth Ann Bowe, Mike Dickman, Sharon Wilson, Rick Wilson - Draper and Kraper

KIELLE CAMPBELL LINDSEY AND FAMILY

PATRICIA GRIFFIN

SHEELA & MARK HUNT

TERRIE ZWICK TIM TAYLOR

VINCE & COLLEEN CABALLERO

On Review John Holman and ‘A Horse in My Suitcase’

by Jeff Wing

John Holman – U.K. expat, adventurer, programmer, grandson, and nephew of a storied horse-trader and Royal jockey, respectively – has written an affecting and often hilarious memoir of his youth in a tiny, post-war West Sussex village. His bittersweet memoir of village life in rural England is called A Horse in My Suitcase, and will appeal to anyone whose thoughts, in quiet moments, harken back to a personal time and place they can scarcely believe they once inhabited.

Q. You’ve come such a long, long way and experienced so much since your childhood daydreaming at Bowshots Farm in Sussex. What effect did writing A Horse in My Suitcase have on you?

A. A few years ago I found some old diaries in my mother’s attic that I wrote as a teenager. Apart from being really badly written and acutely embarrassing, they brought back many memories of characters long dead and forgotten but also reaffirmed how much I had written in the book was factual.

What memory of your time in West Sussex can truly be said to pierce your heart in the remembrance, if any...?

Probably the death of my grandfather, ‘Grampy’ as my brothers and I called him, who bestrode our world like a colossus. Love him or hate him, you couldn’t ignore him. I still divide my life into two uneven halves – the half with Grampy and the half without.

What is it like to visit your mom in West Grinstead and step into your childhood home? It must feel a bit like time travel.

Going home is somewhat bittersweet. My mother, who is 103 years young, still lives in the family home – “Forestation” – named for a racehorse her youngest brother John rode before the Second World War; a war he never returned from. Stepping through her front door is indeed like time travel – it remains exactly the same as when I left home in 1969, which is somewhat comforting. But it’s also sad because I know it won’t stay that way much longer. And Bowshots Farm is no more. Its demise began when it was divided in half by a North Sea gas line. Bits were sold off to various people who bought houses on the perimeter. The farm looks the same from a distance, but it isn’t.

Is West Grinstead largely unchanged?

While the village looks much the same, the demographics have changed. When I was growing up it was largely an agricultural community. There were two pubs, two village stores, a busy railway station, and two churches. Today, only the churches remain, but struggle to find bodies on pews. Today, West Grinstead is more of a place for commuters who live in gentrified farm cottages and converted barns, and much like Santa Barbara they sell for a small fortune. Now there is a car every second as compared to one every 20 minutes or so when I was a kid...

I did read somewhere that a longtime local pub closed there, which seems terribly ‘end of an era.’

The Tabby Cat pub – where Grampy used to clinch deals in a smoky back room –ceased to exist as a pub about 30 years ago. My father ran it until his death in 1979. My brother Nick took over the lease when he retired from his career as a steeplechase

jockey and ran it in the early 1980s. A restaurant chain took it over and turned the old pub into an English version of Denny’s, then it became a restaurant, but COVID finished that enterprise. Now it’s a pre-school!

What lessons in personal character did you take from West Grinstead that may have helped you in later life?

My grandparents and parents have always been resilient, stoic, and self-reliant –having survived two world wars and a depression. Most of my family today still make their living in occupations the family has been involved in for centuries – horses, pubs, or building – all requiring a certain resilience to survive in. As for personal character, I think my greatest influence was and still is my mother, who was the quiet force who held our family together. She is such a strong woman, and the few good points I have in my character came from her. When I was a young lad struggling to survive in outback Australia, in the back of my mind I would always think: “Would Mum approve of what I’m doing? What would she do in this situation?” Of course, I didn’t always follow this rule, but it sure helped me through some difficult times.

Where do you feel most at home?

Although I’ve lived 40 years in Santa Barbara and 11 in Australia, I still feel completely at home in West Grinstead, even with all the changes. But I doubt I could move back; the cold, damp climate wouldn’t suit me. I’ve become spoiled living in Santa Barbara. My grandfather would say, “You’ve gone soft!”

John Holman’s memoir A Horse in My Suitcase (published by Amazon at $20) is available at Tecolote Book Shop in Montecito’s Upper Village, and Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara, as well.

Jeff Wing is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. A longtime resident of SB, he takes great delight in chronicling the lesser known facets of this gaudy jewel by the sea. Jeff can be reached at jeffwingg@gmail.com.

John Holman’s memoir, A Horse in My Suitcase, tells of his early life in West Grinstead with comical detail

A notable connection between Croatia and California’s wine scene lies in the renowned winemaker Mike Grgich . Born in a small village in Croatia, Grgich’s wine-making skills played a crucial role in the historic “Judgment of Paris” in 1976, where his Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena in Napa Valley triumphed over French wines in a blind tasting competition. It’s a delightful coincidence that the wines of this legendary Croatian winemaker can be found at our very own Liquor & Wine Grotto in Montecito, bridging the connection between Croatia and California and allowing wine enthusiasts to experience the legacy of a true winemaking pioneer.

Croatia’s abundance of attractions and activities, from wildlife experiences to island-hopping adventures and castle tours, make it a well-rounded destination for travelers. Whether you’re a wine enthusiast seeking exceptional wines or an explorer in search of captivating experiences, Croatia has something special to offer, leaving you with lasting memories and a desire to return for more.

Jamie Knee is a global wine communicator and travel writer, authoring numerous articles for wine and travel lifestyle publications. She’s hosted 100+ winemaker interviews, judged at 10+ international wine competitions, and holds multiple wine, sommelier, and educator certifications. Based in Montecito, she shares her passion for wine with her husband, Joel, and chihuahua Dolce.

The Giving List (Continued from 20)

explained. “We haven’t had the luxury of looking at the buildings and more. But now that the garden is thriving, it’s time.”

The other $15 million in the Lotusland Forever fundraising effort focuses on the second word in the campaign’s title. The issue is that income from admission is severely limited by the 15,000-per-year cap on the total number of visitors allowed through the conditional use permit. The nonprofit has had to dig into its current endowment just to make ends meet.

“We’ve been in a situation for every one of our 30 years where there’s a structural deficit in our budget,” Anderson explained. We have to disproportionately draw on the endowment to sustain operations, which really isn’t financially feasible in the long run. Growing our endowment will end that structural deficit for the foreseeable future.”

See the campaign’s website at www. lotusland.org/forever for more details on the specifics of what the Lotusland Forever fundraiser will accomplish, as well as information about naming rights for many of the structures and assets that will also be available for the first time.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for LotusFest and the remaining events on the glorious garden’s calendar before Lotusland closes to nonmembers for the

For its 30th anniversary, Lotusland is launching its “30 for 30” campaign that aims to raise $30 million in total

winter months, including a Thursday, Sept. 21, Lessons from Lotusland Zoom lecture on Victoria Water Lilies featuring Assistant Curator Anna Bower, the much-anticipated Exceptional Plants Auction & Sale in October, and the Nov. 17-18 Community Access Days with half-price admission to the garden includes 90-minute guided tours.

Ganna Walska Lotusland

Rebecca Anderson, executive director Patricia Sadeghian, director of development (805) 969-3767, ext. 104 www.lotusland.org

A&L Opens its Lecture Season Tackling the Biggest Topics of the Day

Just added!

Visionary Artificial Intelligence Insider

Mustafa Suleyman

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma

Thu, Oct 5 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

Tickets start at $25

“An excellent guide for navigating unprecedented

times.” – Bill Gates

The co-founder of Inflection AI and DeepMind and former Head of Applied AI at Google, Suleyman warns of the unprecedented risks that fast-proliferating technologies pose to global order, and shows how we might contain them while we have the chance.

Ticket includes book

Corporate Sponsor: Sage Publishing

Supporting Sponsor: Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli

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Biking along to Matošević Wines of Istria

experience with my own wife of 50 years, Dorothy (née Tucker), who always encouraged me in my work. In fact, our relationship began when she bought two of my paintings.

Incidentally, trying to sell those paintings led to my becoming a writer of epigrams – because I always put some words, as a kind of title, at the bottom of the art. I found that people were often intrigued more by the title than by the graphic, and might even buy a piece because of the words on it. This caused me to start making lists of possible future titles, which, at first, I called “Unpoemed Titles.”

Another factor in our liking certain others can be our common taste in

music. This can also be a major dividing factor. If one of us adheres to the classics, and the other goes for rock ‘n’ roll, the chances are that we won’t like each other that much either. As one of my early epigrams put it, “I like the right kind of music – what kind do you like?” And this can go beyond mere individuals. The chances are that, unless you like each other, your friends may not like their friends. And – who knows? – even your dog may sense a rift, and shun their dog.

The hackneyed expression “there’s no accounting for taste” may indeed apply. But we ourselves may have reservations even when it comes to liking another person wholeheartedly. If I may again quote myself:

PURELY (non) POLITICAL Learning Through Lyrics

by Jim Buckley

Irecently enjoyed a Sunday evening Broadway Cruise onboard Hiroko Benko’s Condor Express whale-watching vessel here in Santa Barbara. The event featured two young singers – soprano Anikka Abbott and baritone Nicholas Ehlen – who sang classic numbers (accompanied by pianist Renée Hamaty) from a variety of Broadway musicals. The songs featured were such hits as “Tonight” from West Side Story, “Bring Him Home” (Les Misérables), “On the Street Where You Live” (My Fair Lady), and “If Ever I Would Leave You” from Camelot. The duo’s repertoire also included “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” and “I’ll Know” from Guys & Dolls (in which they both performed for a recent Santa Barbara City College production), “Summertime” from Porgy & Bess, “Till There Was You” from The Music Man, and perhaps another half-dozen memorable tunes gleaned by Ms. Hamaty and her singers from the best of America’s musical songbook.

In Guys and Dolls, big-time gambler Sky Masterson falls head over heels in love with mild-mannered mission worker Sarah Brown. He confesses that he’d never been in love before, that he thought he knew the score, but all at once, “It’s you forever more.”

Sarah, while not admitting she’s smitten with this braggard, sings “I’ll know when my love comes along; I’ll know then and there.”

Of course, she already knew and maybe he did too.

In Camelot, King Arthur’s queen Guinevere falls in love with Sir Lancelot, who determines to leave Camelot rather than befoul the kingdom with their love affair. However, he has second thoughts after thinking it through and realizes that he couldn’t leave in any season:

Oh, no! Not in springtime! Summer, winter or fall! No, never could I leave you at all!

So much for that.

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000. email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

As I listened, it occurred to me that songs such as these, and many less exalted ones, are the stuff of our lives. Popular songwriters such as Jeff Barry (who wrote “Tell Laura I Love Her” and who lived in Montecito for many years), Harry Warren of “That’s Amoré” (who also lived in Montecito), Cole Porter (“I Love Paris”), Irving Berlin (“God Bless America”), Jerome Kern (“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”), and so many others of an even earlier era, wrote lyrics that not only mirrored the lives we were living, but gave those lives a good chunk of their meaning.

For example, Alan Jay Lerner’s lyrics for “On the Street Where You Live” reflect the thoughts of lovestruck Freddy, whose infatuation with Professor Henry Higgins’s ingénue Eliza Doolittle becomes an obsession. Just being on Wimpole Street and knowing that lovely Eliza was behind one of the doors of one of the houses was enough to transpose Freddy’s body to another plane. He wonders if lilac trees grow on other streets, or if larks sing anywhere else in London. His joy, frustration, elation, hopes, and desires, overpower him knowing that “any second” she “may suddenly appear.”

As a young man, had it been me on the street where my first enchantment with the opposite sex lived, I would have felt exactly the same as Freddy and wouldn’t have known what to say if the object of my affection had appeared.

And, apparently, Freddy didn’t either.

Music Man and con-man Harold Hill arrives in River City to scam the residents with his plan to buy musical instruments and outfits for the band members and to teach them to play. His plot was to collect the funds and disappear.

Until, that is, he was taken with librarian and part-time music teacher Marian Paroo. He falls in love, and sings:

There was love all around But I never heard it singing No, I never heard it at all ’til there was you

The Beatles sang a pretty good version of this Broadway tune on their second album, Meet the Beatles!

Military Inspiration

When we remember the troops who climbed the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, hunkered down on the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, pressed on in the killing fields of Incheon, Korea, and so many other places where our presence was needed, we are reminded of the lines from Man of La Mancha, that we’d need men who were willing to stand and be counted and to press forward regardless of the situation:

To fight for the right Without question or pause

“A large percentage of me likes a large percentage of you.”

Legends will honor philanthropists

Brooks and Kate Firestone , Montecitobased writer and actress Fannie Flagg , and the Ensemble Theatre Company at the New Vic, the first non-resident organization to receive the Cultural Institution recognition.

The Fruitful Flagg

“Being a Granada Theatre Legend means everything to me,” said Flagg, the veteran star of TV and film turned Academy Award-nominated novelist and screenwriter. “This honor comes from my hometown. It comes from The Granada, which is one of the most beautiful theaters in America. (And) it comes from my friends.”

Flagg’s initial foray into writing dates back to when she wrote, directed, and starred in her first play, The Whoopee Girls, as a fifth-grader in Birmingham, Alabama, but the highly successful actress was already a Santa Barbara resident when she first tried her hand at literary writing as an adult. Flagg promptly took first place in fiction for a short story created at the 1978 Santa Barbara Writers Conference, after which she expanded the piece into the best-selling novel Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man . Less than a decade later, Flagg penned the 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which took up residency on The New York Times bestseller list for nine months, and received praise by other Southern writers Harper Lee ( To Kill a Mockingbird ) and Eudora Welty ( The Optimist’s Daughter ).

Flagg adapted Fried Green Tomatoes for the film version and received a nomination for an Academy Award for her screenplay in 1991. But that nod comes in second compared to one she was bestowed with 20 years later: the Harper Lee Award as Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year.

“There is no question about which meant more to me,” Flagg said. “Receiving the Harper Lee Award from my dear friend Harper is without a doubt one of the high points in my writing career. She was so supportive of me throughout the years, which made that award particularly meaningful.”

Flagg noted she’d enjoyed several memorable experiences at the theater, Granada Legends Page 334

COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA

SOUTH BOARD OF ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

CASE NUMBER: 23BAR-00130

DATE OF HEARING: September 22, 2023

MEETING BEINGS: 10:00 A.M.

SUBJECT: Renner Family Trust - Additions

Request of Jeffrey Miller, Agent for Renner Family Trust, to consider Case No. 23BAR-00130 for Conceptual Review of a 189 square foot addition to living room and primary bedroom, with 365 square foot not permanently enclosed pergola, new retractable awning at front of house, two new awning at front bay window and west bedroom window. The following structures exist on the parcel: partially enclosed pergola of 365 square feet. The proposed project will not require any cut or fill. The property is a 7,405-square foot parcel zoned 7-R-1, and shown as Assessor’s Parcel Number 005-160-049 located at 2520 Emerson Street, in the Summerland Community Plan area, First Supervisorial District.

Anyone interested in this matter is invited to join and speak in support or in opposition to the projects. Written comments are also welcome. All letters should be addressed to the Santa Barbara County Board of Architectural Review, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, California 93101 (Attn: Hearing Support).

For further information, please contact the project planner Henry Wakamiya at (805) 568-3017 or via email at wakamiyah@countyofsb.org or the SBAR secretary, Jonathan Martin at (805) 568-3374 or martinj@countyofsb.org or via FAX at (805) 568-2030.

If you challenge the project 23BAR-00130 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 Board of Architectural Review Board prior to the public hearing. The order of the agenda is subject to change, please contact Hearing Support prior to the meeting for any additional changes.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The South Board of Architectural Review provides in-person participation as well as virtual participation until further notice.

The following methods of participation are available to the public.

1. You may observe the live stream of the South Board of Architectural Review online at: YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_hPfWWxJ_kd_oF6fPAygBA

2. If you wish to make a general public comment or to comment on a specific agenda item, the following methods are available:

 Distribution to the South Board of Architectural Review Members - Submit your comment via email prior to the commencement of the South Board of Architectural Review meeting. Please submit your comment to the Recording Secretary at martinj@countyofsb.org. Your comment will be placed into the record and distributed appropriately.

 Attend the Meeting In-Person: Individuals are allowed to attend and provide comments at the SBAR meeting in-person.

 Video and Teleconference Public Participation – A public member who wishes to participate via Zoom must follow the link listed above. Any physical evidence (e.g. photographs, documents, etc.) the public wishes to share with the Board must be emailed to the recording secretary at martinj@countyofsb.org. Please indicate your desire to speak when the chair opens the public comments portion for the item you wish to speak on. The chat feature will be unavailable during the hearing. For technical assistance during the hearing, please contact (805) 568-2000 to be directed to our technical team.

Video and Teleconference Public Participation

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.

When: September 22, 2023 9:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Topic: South Board of Architectural Review 09/22/2023

Register in advance for this webinar: https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__oLv2cFJQMO7sTTCh_mBoA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

OR PARTICIPATE VIA TELEPHONE:

Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

ETC is the first non-resident organization to receive a Legends honor (courtesy photo)

Fannie Flagg is being recognized this year at the gala for her decades of contributions to the arts and the Granada (courtesy photo)

associated with horseback riding … and long-term luxury home rentals. Such expenditures enabled Waters and his wife to maintain their lavish lifestyle and thereby make contact with the next round of victims in and around Montecito, California … Meanwhile, investors were left holding stock that was v irtually worthless.”

These latest and most serious charges mark a long year of civil setbacks for Waters. In the fall of 2022, Waters and Ecom were ordered by a United States District Court to pay more than $220,000 to Michael Cox – yours truly – in Waters’ failed attempt to silence Cox with a retaliatory “Breach of Confidentiality” lawsuit. In December of 2022, Waters and Ecom were ordered by a Florida State Court to pay nearly $160,000 to a landlord for unpaid rent. And in January of 2023, Waters was ordered by a California State Court to pay more than $2 million in damages and interest in a lawsuit charging him with theft, fraud, and concealment.

According to the victorious parties in all three court cases, neither Waters nor his company have paid a penny of the court ordered judgments.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that, from 2019 to 2022, Waters stole approximately $3 million from investors. The $3 million tally of stolen funds is expected to climb as more accusers emerge now that the previously nonpublic investigation and charges have been revealed. Anyone with additional information or claims against Waters is encouraged to contact Jake Schmidt of the SEC Enforcement Division at schmidtj@sec.gov and Agent Gene Kennedy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at glkennedy@fbi.gov.

Michael Cox, Stanford Graduate School of Business (‘05) and a Wall Street refugee. His novel Montecito –serialized in the MJ – is represented by Sophie Cudd, Literary Agent at The Book Group. Montecito will be on submission to publishing houses this fall and hopefully on a bookshelf near you one day soon.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Ecolawn SB, 103 North Nopal Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. Manifest Building, 103 North Nopal Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 28, 2023. 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). FBN No. 2023-0002101.

Published September 6, 13, 20, 27, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Beauty + Order, 1953 Elise Way, Apt E, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. Julie A Engelsman, 1953 Elise Way, Apt E, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 25, 2023. 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). FBN No. 2023-0002088.

Published September 6, 13, 20, 27, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Harbor Seal, 3463 State Street #310, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. Michelle Arconti, 3463 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 22, 2023. 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). FBN No. 2023-0002057. Published August 30, September 6, 13, 20, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Hercules Junk

Hauling, 2541 Modoc Rd Apt 29, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. Isais Sanchez Jaimes, 2541 Modoc Rd Apt 29, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 9, 2023. 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). FBN No. 2023-0001958. Published August 23, 30, September 6, 13, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT:

The following person(s) has (have) abandoned the use of the Fictitious Business

Name(s): Taste of Santa Rita Hills; Moretti Wine Co., 2923 Grand Avenue, Los Olivos, CA, 93441. Moretti-Bloom Enterprises, 2923 Grand Avenue, Los Olivos, CA, 93441. This statement was originally filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on June 10, 2022. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL), filed August 4, 2023. Original FBN No. 2022-0001532. FBN 2023-0001914. Published August 23, 30, September 6, 13, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Seas Below, 2155 Ortega Hill Rd #28, Summerland, CA 93067. Barbara K Popp, 2155 Ortega Hill Rd #28, Summerland, CA 93067. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 15, 2023. 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). FBN No. 2023-0002018. Published August 23, 30, September 6, 13, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s)

is/are doing business as: Chi Foods, 5266

Hollister Ave Ste 311, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. Imlakesh Organics INC, 5266 Hollister Ave Ste 311, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 20, 2023. 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). FBN No. 2023-0001810. Published August 16, 23, 30, September 6, 2023

ORDER FOR PUBLICATION OF SUMMONS

(Civil Harassment Restraining Order):

CASE No. 23CV01411. Notice to David Crone: Minesh Kantaria is asking for a Civil Harassment Restraining Order against you You have a court date of November 15, 2023 at 1:15 pm in Dept 3 of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara. If you do not go to your court date, the judge can grant a restraining order that limits your contact with Minesh Kantaria. Having a restraining order against you may impact your life in other ways, including preventing you from having guns and ammunition. If you do not go to your court date, the judge could grant everything that the person asked the judge to order. To find out what the person is asking the judge to order, go to the courthouse and ask the court clerk to let you see your case file. You will need to give the court clerk your case number. The request for restraining order will be on form CH-100. Free legal information is available at your local court’s self-help center. You are not required to have a lawyer but you may want legal advice before your court hearing. For help finding a lawyer, you can visit www.layhelpca.org or contact your local bar association. A temporary restraining order is in full force and effect until your court date. Name and address of the court: Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93121-1107. Filed August 21, 2023, by Jessica Vega, Deputy Clerk. Published August 30, September 3, 13, 20, 2023

heal the rift and work for common good?

I’m impressed with the way Edwin and Charles have engaged our community over the past year in the visioning and planning process for The Empathy Center. Through a series of Zoom meetings, people I know and admire sat together to talk about the future of this Center, using the format of sharing what was on their mind and listening to each other. Walking the talk turned out to be highly effective in getting people on board and garnering support.

“The inclusive manner in which Edwin and Charles Rutsch invited neighbors and the community into their Zoom meetings – creating space for everyone to share their thoughts and ideas for envisioning this new Center – highlights their personal commitment to transparency and truly walking the empathy path.” – Shawne Mitchell, author and former marketing director for Casa de Maria.

“I can assure you that the Center’s neighbors are very pleased with the direction of the project, particularly compared with the absurd ideas about the property thrown around a few years ago.” – Peter Kornbluth, neighbor and plumbing contractor.

“Edwin is on to something so very much needed at this time. He is a true believer who has spent countless hours with interviews and discussions and involvement with empathy circles and empathy training and empathy centers. I am convinced that Santa Barbara will be proud to have him and the center up at that grand old monastery.” – Kent Ferguson, visionary educator and past headmaster of Santa Barbara Middle School.

As the momentum for The Empathy Center has grown, therapists, teachers, and community leaders have joined in – broadening and enriching the vision. In addition, over the past few months, the Center’s facility team has been working hard to take care of deferred maintenance and get everything ready to go. Truly a work in progress, the next iteration is opening the doors in September. The first in-person offerings include:

– An Empathy Circle Facilitator Training, with the Center staff on Saturday, September 16, and Sunday, September 17. To register, see https://bit.ly/ECFTSep16

– A one-day workshop on Saturday, September 23, titled “Facing and Transforming Fear with Radical Empathy, Effortless Mindfulness, and Awake Awareness” with Radhule Weininger, PhD MD, and Edwin Rutsch. To learn more and register, visit https://bit.ly/3D9GYQU

Note: Though participation in these offerings are free of charge, donations are welcome. Find out more about The Empathy Center of Santa Barbara at www.canoascenter.com. Also, consider joining an ongoing Zoom Empathy Circle to share input and interest in involvement: every Saturday at 1pm PT. Sign in at https://zoom.us/j/9896109339

The Empathy Center has the tools to address this cultural empathy deficit. They continue to address the deficit head on with deep listening for all, constructive dialogue, free speech, free empathy, conflict mediation, training, education, community building initiatives, and more. You are invited to join and support their work and get involved.

Learn more: http://cultureofempathy.com.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I always knew the woman I wanted to be.”

Diane von Furstenberg

The Empathy Tent allows individuals with differing perspectives to actually listen to one another

Ann Brode writes about living consciously in the body. She is the author of the book A Guide to Body Wisdom. Visit bodywisdomforlife.com for more information.

including one involving fellow Montecito resident Carol Burnett , whose eponymous TV show overlapped the last half of Flagg’s early success as a semi-regular panelist on the 1973-1982 versions of the game show Match Game.

“I am so happy to support The Granada in any way that I can. I have so many fond memories of attending fundraising events at The Granada with my close friends like Betty Stephens and Joan Rutkowski. Having the pleasure of introducing Carol Burnett when she was named a Legend in 2019 was a highlight for me. (Now I’m) coming back as one of the honorees.”

As to what legendary storyteller Flagg might unfurl in her acceptance speech at the gala?

“I can’t possibly answer that question (in advance),” she said. “At moments like this, sometimes I even surprise myself.”

ETC in Good Company

Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) at the New Vic is the first non-resident organization to receive The Granada Legends honor, and the recognition comes just a couple of months after the departure of its longtime artistic director Jonathan Fox . Scott DeVine , who became managing director less than 18 months ago, is also new to town. But the community connection engendered by events like the Legends and exemplified by several ETC recent collaborations with the Santa Barbara Symphony and State Street Ballet at the Granada is not lost on DeVine.

“It is clear that the cultural community here is a family,” he said. “Each performance organization brings something unique to their audiences, and we support each other as we all strive to provide our very best to the community. Collaboration with other artistic organizations is key to inspiring and instilling an appreciation for various art forms.”

DeVine noted that ETC being selected as the first non-resident company to be recognized during The Granada Legends Gala is both humbling and a true honor.

“It’s particularly rewarding to share the stage with the incredibly talented artists from our sister companies in Santa Barbara,” he said. “We believe that collaboration, in its truest sense, can generate the richest and deepest experiences for our audiences. By melding theater with other art forms that also make their home right here in downtown, we are opening the doors for those who may be less familiar with one form over another.”

ETC also has a sparkling venue of its own just steps away from The Granada, as the company moved from the 140-seat Alhecama Theatre after spearheading a $12.6-million renovation of the Victoria Hall Theater into the New Vic in 2013. With ETC as its managing company, the 300-seat venue also hosts dance, music, film, and lectures.

Over the years, Ensemble, which became an Equity theater in 1989, has produced several American and West Coast premieres, garnering both awards and lots of attention for its five-play seasons. Its upcoming 45th season boasts another world premiere, Alice, Formerly of Wonderland ; in addition to the current Broadway comedy, The Thanksgiving Play ; the Central Coast premiere of 2022 Tony Award-winning Best Play, The Lehman Trilogy ; and two music-themed plays new to town.

“As Santa Barbara’s only professional theater company, ETC is committed to producing and collaborating on some of the most inspiring and thought-provoking art on the Central Coast,” said DeVine.

At the Legends Gala gathering, ETC will offer something of a sneak preview, with attendees getting a glimpse of the new season via a piece created especially for the Granada Legends Gala, DeVine said.

“This performance will be memorable for those in attendance and set the stage for an exciting season ahead.”

To be willing to march into Hell For a Heavenly cause.

I think of the scene in Rick’s Café in the film Casablanca, when the Nazi commandant leads his men in singing a lusty “Deutschland Über Alles.” When Czech freedom fighter Laszlo hears them, he is incensed and orders the band to “Play ‘La Marseillaise’. Play it!”

Rick gives the okay and in French, the café denizens join in a spirited version:

Allons enfants de la patrie (Come on, children of the fatherland)

Le jour de gloire est arrivé (The day of glory has arrived).

I’ve viewed the movie a dozen times and still can’t watch this scene – knowing what my father and his generation were going through at the time – without tearing up.

Ms. Abbott and Mr. Ehlen were a joy

The Firestone Fervor

to listen to, and as the Condor Express sailed back through the placid waters and bobbing craft of Santa Barbara Harbor, my thoughts went to my dad, a now-deceased World War II vet who participated in the Anzio (Italy) beach landings, precursor to the Normandy invasion, and never talked much about it.

I do believe the final words of Man of La Mancha rang true for him, as it would have for all the brave men and women who served:

And I know if I’ll only be true To this glorious quest

That my heart will lie peaceful and calm When I’m laid to my rest. And the world will be better for this That one man, scorned and covered with scars

Still strove with his last ounce of courage, To reach the unreachable star.

Good night, Dad.

Humbled also applies to Brooks and Kate Firestone, the power couple who have been deeply involved in the arts and philanthropy fields since moving to the Santa Ynez Valley to establish the Firestone Vineyard after Brooks spent a dozen years working at the Firestone Tire company founded by his grandfather. Firestone Vineyard served as the catalyst for launching the still burgeoning Santa Ynez Valley wine industry, but their influence extended far beyond the grapes. During their time in town, Brooks has served as a Santa Barbara County supervisor and member of the California State Assembly, while Kate turned her focus to supporting Direct Relief in Santa Barbara during its infancy.

Among other nonprofits the pair have supported are Santa Ynez Valley Vintners’ Association, Meals on Wheels, Solvang Festival Theatre, Hospice Care, Santa Barbara Food Bank, Family School, Dunn School, and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Brooks is a member of The Granada’s board. Their active community involvement and longtime philanthropic support led the Santa Ynez Valley Foundation and the Santa Ynez Valley News to honor the couple with a 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Granada honor comes five years later.

“We are somewhat embarrassed to be included in the list of far more able and generous Legend philanthropists but proud of this recognition as an example for others in the future,” the Firestones wrote in an email. “The inspiration for The Granada support was first brought to us by Michael Towbes, and is continuing as an expression of our community’s support for the performing arts. We are proud to be a part of this history.”

Brooks and Kate Firestone first met in 1956 at the stage door of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where Kate was a dancer with the English Royal Ballet. Both have remained as participants in the performing arts over the years, most recently singing in several local choirs. But don’t expect them to break out in song at the Gala.

“We both still sing with the Santa Barbara Choral Society, Quire of Voyces, and other choral organizations as a vital activity and a rewarding expression for audience and performers,” they wrote. “(But) we will spare the Legends attendees any solo renditions.”

For ticket or additional information about the 7th Annual Granada Theatre Legends Gala on Saturday, September 16, call Jill Seltzer, vice president for Advancement, at (805) 899-3000 ext. 130, email jseltzer@granadasb.org, or visit www.granadasb.org

Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage

Brooks and Kate Firestone are being honored this year for their philanthropic support (courtesy photo)

trophies in sport, the magnificent fivefeet-tall gold and silver PCO trophy, which is kept at the club during the rest of the year.

“All’s Fair” in Love and Tecolote

A bevy of bibliophiles descended on Tecolote, the upper village literary gem, when retired corporate attorney David Gersh hosted a launch bash for his latest art mystery, All’s Fair, featuring Jonathan Benjamin Franklin.

It is one of eight books that Montecito resident David, a Harvard Law School graduate, has written.

His last tome, published in 2021, was The Whisper of a Distant God, an historical fiction on the Civil War, which took him six years to research and write.

He is already busy at work on his ninth novel, a political satire.

Among fans turning out were Bob Turbin, new president of the Ensemble Theatre, NancyBell Coe, Anne Gersh,

This Book Speaks Volumes

Kia McInerny, Gary Kuist, and Scott and Edie DeVine

Art in the Cabana

Funk Zone dynamic interior design duo Steve and Caroline Thompson held a double celebration at Cabana Home when they celebrated the opening of the new West Coast boutique of the historic wallpaper and furniture maker Thibaut and a new exhibition of art

works by Chris Trueman, presented by Los Angeles dealer Edward Cella.

Thibaut, which was founded in 1866, is based in Union, New Jersey, with warehouses in London and Charlotte, N.C.

Trueman, who specializes in op art and abstract impressionism, also teaches at both Fullerton and Santa Ana colleges.

Among the more than 50 aesthetes checking out the wares on the floor and on the walls were Daryl Stegall, NancyBell Coe, Karen Lehrer, Kathryn

Oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau, 85, and his partner Nancy Marr met in Maui in 1985, living there for 11 years before moving to our Eden by the Beach in 1992.

“I lived with my family on the island for 22 years and have many friends who have been devastated by the Lahaina Fire,” says Nan.

To help out, Jean-Michel, who co-founded the Ocean Futures Society with Nancy, is selling a unique tome, The Silent World, autographed by his legendary father, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, from his private collection for $15,000.

The treasured first edition was published in 1953 by Harper & Row and is written in English with 48 pages of black-and-white photos by various photographers and 16 pages of color photos, made available by National Geographic Magazine

The hand-held work in Ektachrome is the first made in significant depths, using artificial light and scientific color correction.

It was the basis for the Oscar-winning documentary feature film The Silent World in 1956.

The rare volume is in the original rouge spine and blue cloth cover, embossed with a stippled gold octopus.

Proceeds are being donated to Hawaii’s Community Foundation, the Maui Strong Fund, and Maui’s Humane Society.

For acquisition details, call 805-8459654.

More Help to Maui

In other Maui news, former TV talkshow titan Oprah Winfrey , 69, has

Martin, Teri Lebow, Kristen d’Offay, Dawn Moore, Charlotte Bryant, Alejandro Messina, Cathy Haslem, and Sheri Mize.

Kia McInerny, Gary Kuist, author David Gersh, and D.C. McGuire (photo by Priscilla)

Rick Shaikewitz, Anne Gersh with her husband/author David Gersh, and Tecolote’s Mary Sheldon (photo by Priscilla)

Bob Turbin, Carol Vernon, Maggie Moss-Tucker, and Paul Tucker (photo by Priscilla)

Scott Moore, Kristen d’Offay, Steve Thompson, Edward Cella, and Lauren Katz (photo by Priscilla)

Thibaut’s Pej Endersen Tadic and Andrea Eckberg with Cabana’s Caroline Thompson (photo by Priscilla)

Cabana’s Caroline Thompson and SB Symphony’s Kathryn Martin with “Angel,” and standing behind are Thibaut CEO Rick Kilmer and VP of Sales Andrea Eckberg (photo by Priscilla)

Jean-Michel Cousteau and partner Nancy Marr sell rare book by his legendary father to help Maui (photo by Priscilla)

teamed up with actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson , 51, in committing $10 million to make direct payments to the Hawaiian island of Maui devastated by wildfires.

The People’s Fund of Maui will give $1,200 to adults not being able to return to their primary residences because of the conflagration.

It includes people who owned and rented their homes, according to the fund’s website.

“You want to take care of the direct needs of the people, and that’s giving them money,” says Oprah, who owns more than 2,000 acres on the island with three different properties. She is worth $3.5 billion, according to Forbes

The Entertainment Industry Fund, a L.A.-based organization that helps celebrities with their charity work, is sponsoring the fund.

Setting the Record Straight

Reclusive Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner, 78, has done a rare interview with Josh Kosman of the New York Post after the release of a recent portrayal of him in the film The Beanie Bubble Warner, owner of the Biltmore and the San Ysidro Ranch, describes himself as “creative, collaborative, competitive, critical, analytical, disciplined, focused, a perfectionist, driven, caring, kind and sincere,” as well as being both extroverted and private, “which I admit is a bit of a paradox.”

As for his Beanie Baby idea, he says it was nothing like the movie’s portrayal. “Not remotely,” he emphasized.

“I envisioned a product that kids could afford with their allowance money. My thought process centered around an affordable impulse item.”

The hotelier also feels that actor Zach Galifianakis who played him “is a talented and funny guy” playing a fictional character “who happens to be named Ty Warner.”

“If they did a biopic, I would think either Daniel Day-Lewis or Warren Beatty would be appropriate.”

“The Beanie Baby craze lasted longer than any other craze in the history of toys in the world to date,” says Warner.

“Success does not happen overnight, so patience and being able to visualize your overall goal is vital. You must be prepared but also adaptable and agile enough to change direction as the market dictates.

“Your biggest competitor should be yourself, and you should aim high.”

In the 16 years I have lived in our rarefied enclave, covering innumerable events at the Biltmore and San Ysidro Ranch, I have never met the elusive toymaker, just getting a glimpse of the back of his Jag on occasion when

visiting friends who were staying at the 500-acre property.

Lawyers’ Fees Continue

Kevin Costner and estranged wife Christine Baumgartner were back in a Santa Barbara court last week in the ongoing battle over custody of their children and lofty support payments.

The hearing concerned the future of their youngsters Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13, and whether Baumgartner, 49, can improve on the $129,755 per month in child support she was awarded in June.

Baumgartner initially asked for $248,000 a month which Costner, 68, said he was opposed to.

After being awarded substantially less ($63,209 a month), she is now asking for a hefty hike to provide her children with “a comparable” standard of luxury when they are with her.

A Grand Return to the Gram

Meghan Markle is preparing to re-launch herself on Instagram and experts predict she could make $1 million per post.

The Riven Rock resident, whose last account with husband Prince Harry had 9.4 million followers, was deactivated in 2020 when the couple quit being senior royals, is said to be behind a new account named @meghan.

Decorated with a picture of pink peonies, reportedly Meghan’s favorite flowers, a source close to her team confirmed: “Yes, that’s her. Expect an announcement very soon. She’s coming back,” according to Caroline Graham, the U.K. Mail’s West Coast correspondent.

Prior to her marriage to King Charles III’s youngest son, Markle’s personal Instagram account following stood at 3 million, while tens of thousands of fans signed up for her now-defunct lifestyle blog The Tig.

Stay tuned...

Ellen Alive

Former TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres has once again been the victim of a short-lived death hoax that began trending on Twitter last week.

Social media was in a frenzy when a string of tweets were posted claiming the 65-year-old Montecito resident had died.

Luckily for her fans, the comedienne is very much alive and well and was spotted picking up bottled water at Pierre Lafond.

This has been one of several Ellen death hoaxes on social media.

Cowboy Values

Jerry Jones, a frequent visitor to our rarefied enclave when his NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys, are undergoing summer training in Oxnard, has every reason to smile.

The Texan team is not only the most prized possession in U.S. pro football, but in all sports, and astonishingly the world.

Jones’s franchise is worth $9 billion, according to Forbes magazine, and generated a whopping $1.14 billion in revenue through the 2020 season.

For context, the average NFL team is worth $5.1 billion. The Cowboys haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1995.

The NFL’s second-most valuable team is the New England Patriots, which is unsurprising given their two-decade dynasty beginning in the early 2000s, with the Los Angeles Rams third at $6.9 billion.

Long Did She Reign

We commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who moved to more heavenly pastures at her beloved Balmoral Castle at the age of 96.

To mark the sad occasion her family, including King Charles III, William, Prince of Wales, Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, and Princess Anne have gathered at the 50,000-acre estate. Elizabeth was the first sovereign to die in the country since James V in 1542.

As I have covered Britain’s Royal Family for nearly half a century, my phone at Maison Mineards Montecito was ringing off the hook with TV and magazine interview requests from around the globe, including Paris Match, Stern, Bild, Hello, and Le Figaro

Elizabeth was an extraordinarily unique individual, and it was a great honor to have met her a number of times during my colorful career, particularly during Silver Jubilee year in 1977, when I covered the Windsors for the London Daily Mail before moving to New York in 1978 to become gossip columnist on Rupert Murdoch’s Star magazine.

Still very much missed...

Where Were You When You Heard?

It is hard to imagine it is 26 years since Princess Diana died so tragically in a Paris car crash at the age of 36.

I was sailing in Penobscot Bay in Dark Harbor, Maine, when NBC anchor Tom Brokaw was among 80 calls left on my host’s answering machine informing me of her demise

and asking for an interview.

In the following six weeks, I did more than 80 interviews, on camera or by phone, in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York.

I had last spoken to Diana two months earlier at a socially gridlocked reception at Christie’s, the New York auction house, which was selling her evening gowns for charity, an event I covered for CNN and ABC Network News.

An extraordinary moment in my life, given I later joined an old friend and colleague, the late Barbara Walters, in covering her globally broadcast funeral at London’s Westminster Abbey for ABC.

Sightings

Maroon 5 rocker Adam Levine with wife Behati Prinsloo and daughters Dusty Rose and Gio Grace, breakfasting at Pierre Lafond... Meghan Markle stocking up on truffles and candy bars at Twenty-Four Blackbirds on Haley... Actress Meg Ryan noshing at Revere at the Rosewood Miramar.

Pip! Pip!

From musings on the Royals to celebrity real estate deals, Richard Mineards is our man on the society scene and has been for more than 15 years

Princess Diana remembered 26 years on (photo by Nick Parfjonovderivative, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

Viva “Viva!” – ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara!, UCSB Arts & Lectures’ initiative that brings musical groups to town to share the rich cultural heritage of Latin America, opens its new season with a local luminary. Ventura-based, Grammy-nominated singer Perla Batalla collates a lifetime of experience traversing musical borders in her passionate programs of traditional and contemporary Latin American music. Expressing her love for her mestiza identity and the hybrid musical culture in which she was raised, Batalla boasts a boisterous concert full of Spanish-language favorites rendered with contagious rhythm and pure joy.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7

1st Thursday – There’s nothing happening downtown at 1st Thursday tonight. Nothing, as in, The Museum of Nothing, an exhibit that serves as an extension of professor William Davies King’s lifelong habit of collecting things of so little value that they are virtually worthless. A wall of Campbell’s soup, gobs of candy tins, Wheaties – i.e. the Seinfeld of art, an exhibit of the most ephemeral of the ephemera. After a Beta test earlier this summer in the Red Barn Gallery on the UCSB campus, The Museum of Nothing takes up impermanent residency at the NewGrit pop-up art space (811 State St.) in another showing of what King calls, “A collage of what we hardly ever notice, a collection of items not typically considered collectible… It might leave you profoundly unchanged and gloriously ready for less.” At least it’s better than, uh, nothing… At the more serious end of the art spectrum, Sullivan Goss (11 E. Anapamu St.) hosts the opening reception for SPACE, an exhibit of the work of renowned architect Robin Donaldson that focuses on ways in which artists visualize, utilize, manipulate, and reimagine the third dimension. Still on view this month: Holli Harmon’s To Feast on Clouds featuring the White Buffalo Land Trust-inspired Farmer Almanac Series, and pieces by Nicole Strasburg… Somewhere in the middle, you’ll find Create and Curate: Teen Art Show at the downtown Public Library (40 E. Anapamu), a Squee-Gee Art exhibit where local teens experimented with vibrant hues to craft their own mesmerizing abstract paintings. Turning to venues where the food and drink feature along with the art, The Art+Science Gallery (1021 Anacapa, 3rd floor) exhibits the final works of UCSB’s National Center of Ecological Analysis and Synthesis’ 2023 Artists in Residence, muralist Leila Youssefi and textile artist Bonnie Peterson, who contemplate the intersection of art and science. Engel & Voelkers (1323 State) pours wine and puts out tasty hors d’oeuvres to sample while viewing paintings by renowned colorist James Paul Brown that are infused with his unique blend of romance and imagination… Classical guitarist Michael Gullo and glasses served by Stolpman’s winery underpin Randall VanderMey’s Does the Heart Remember Love?, an exhibition of digital abstract photography accompanied by original poems, at CPC Gallery (Christ Presbyterian Church, 34 E. Victoria)… Domecíl (1221 State St., Suite 7, in Victoria Court) celebrates its twoyear anniversary with sips, snacks, and live flamenco rock by Gonzalo Gimeno Torres for shopping modern sterling silver and high-karat gold jewelry by local designer Erin Atamian Zuck

WHEN: 5-8 pm

WHERE: Lower State Street and side streets

COST: free

INFO: (805) 962-2098 or www.downtownsb.org/events/1st-thursday

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

Get Your Glass On – The Santa Barbara Sea Glass and Ocean Arts Festival goes beyond delighting those who relish the hunt for treasures on the local seashore as the one-of-a-kind festival coalesces around collectors and artists inspired by oceans and beaches all over the world. The festival features include stunning collections, hand-crafted jewelry and visual art, and informative talks on sea glass hunting, identification, and craftsmanship.

Optional workshops are hands-on opportunities in making sea-glass charm bracelets or wire-wrap pendants from a found piece of sea glass, beach stone, or shell, and box lunches and wine and cocktails at the bar keep visitors fed and lubricated. The fest is geared toward artists or a shopper, collector, or admirer of sea glass, local beachcombers and weekend visitors. Founded blocks from the beach in Carpinteria, the festival now is at the Santa Barbara Elks Lodge in Goleta.

WHEN: 10 am to 5 pm

Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm Sunday

WHERE: 150 N. Kellogg Ave.

COST: $7 per day, or $12 for weekend pass

INFO: www.santabarbaraseaglassandoceanartsfestival.com

WHEN: 7 pm today & Sunday

WHERE: Friday: Isla Vista School, 6875 E. Collegio Road; Sunday: Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High, 721 East Cota St. COST: free INFO: (805) 884-4087 ext. 7 or www.facebook.com/VivaelArteSB

Local Vibes – Three diverse Santa Barbara-based bands bring their amps and axes – along with other stringed and percussion instruments – to Elings Park for the latest pop-up-style concert in the privately funded park’s mesa soccer fields. The seemingly ubiquitous Doublewide Kings (Fiesta and the Roar & Pour series in August) will play a mix of originals and classic Americana rock including CSNY, Rolling Stones, and the Allman Brothers, as the titular headliners. The Salty Strings honed their chops and delighted fans and dog walkers (and earned their ocean-air flavored name) via several sunset-spanning, bluegrass-by-the-beach sets on the bluff overlooking Hendry’s on the Douglas Preserve. The erstwhile ensemble only plays infrequently due to members’ relocation issues, making their punchy performances of fast-picking originals and old-timey favorites at an even higher elevation a few hundreds yards from the preserve something of a must-see. Christian & Co. is the newest configuration of Christian Love’s band, which plays a bevy of the Beach Boys scion’s latest songs he writes when not on the sand smashing volleyballs. We got a sneak preview, along with a smattering of Beach Boys classics when Christian & Co. were joined by pops Mike Love and Bruce Johnston on a late August Saturday night in the Funk Zone. Blankets, chairs, and limited picnicking allowed, with food truck fare, and beer and wine also available for purchase.

WHEN: 5-10 pm

WHERE: Elings Park, 1298 Las Positas Road

COST: $29 adults ($39 at the door), kids 12 & under free

INFO: (805) 569-5611 or https://elingspark.org/events-tickets

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

Paddle Out Party – Santa Barbara Maritime Museum’s ocean-bound fundraiser is focusing on fun for the whole family. Great food, cool music from the local band Do No Harm, and lots of activities for kids keep things cool on land before the main event: a paddle out featuring every kind of person-propelled craft. To participate in POP via either paddle craft or swimming, register as an individual or create or join a team in one of five categories – swimmer, surfboard, stand-up paddle board, kayak/canoe, and dory/rowboat. Teams up to five can take part in the friendly, rewarding competition

“The mere fact of being able to call your job your passion is success in my eyes.” – Alicia Vikander

Chaucer’s Choices – Jane Hulse is the former city editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press who quit the paper in 2006 as part of the first wave of employees to leave because of that newspaper owner’s interference and policies. Maybe that influenced her choice to have as the hero of her new historical novel Prisoner of Wallabout Bay a “lowly apprentice at a newspaper where her foul-mouthed, ill-tempered boss keeps assigning her stories on ladies’ hair trends instead of the Revolutionary War intrigue she so wants to cover.” This evening, Chaucer’s hosts Ventura-resident Hulse’s signing for the book set in 1775 New York that investigates a little-known atrocity committed by the British during the American Revolution… Also coming to Chaucer’s is fellow journalist and author Katya Cengel, whose latest book Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward chronicles her experiences 35 years ago as a 10-year-old patient in the Psychosomatic Unit at Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Cengel, whose From Chernobyl with Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union won multiple awards, shares the story in the voice of the troubled girl she once was alongside updates about such treatment gleaned from tracking down the doctors, psychologists, and counselors who once cared for her, as well as other experts in the field. Cengel dishes on the details in conversation with author

Mandy Jackson-Beverly

WHEN: 6 pm today (Hulse) & Thursday, September 14 (Cengel)

WHERE: 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center

COST: free

INFO: (805) 682-6787 or www.chaucersbooks.com

with prizes geared to the level of funds raised by the group, from free memberships to SBMM to gift cards, local cruise packages and eve an evening pizza party at the museum plus 10 copies of the book The Code by Montecito’s own former world surfing champion Shaun Tomson – SBMM board member and event co-chair who is also putting together his own team for the event. The party is a celebration of the museum’s commitment to the connections we all share with our oceans and the underwater world, and an opportunity to bring the community together in the work to preserve and steward Santa Barbara’s natural environment and rich maritime history.

WHEN: 9 am to 1 pm

WHERE: Leadbetter Beach

COST: $50

INFO: (805) 962-8404

or https://sbmm.org/santa-barbara-event/paddle-out-for-sbmm-2023

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

Late Summer with the Lumineers – Was it really just shy of 13 years ago that we first saw the new darlings of the folk-revivalists at a sold-out show at the Lobero, hot on the heels of their foot-stomping hit single “Ho, Hey”? Already impressive for the depth of their songs and skill on their stringed instruments and vocal harmonies, the Lumineers went on to enjoy continued success, rising to top touring status on the strength of successive hits “Stubborn Love,” “Ophelia,” “Angela,” and “Cleopatra”. The 2018 departure of then-cellist/vocalist Neyla Pekarek to concentrate on a solo career hasn’t really altered their trajectory, as co-founding lead singer/guitarist Wesley Schultz and multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah Fraites held ground. There’s two chances to hear the classics and latest stuff at the Bowl, with English singer-songwriter James Bay opening.

WHEN: 7 pm today & tomorrow

WHERE: 1122 N. Milpas St.

COST: $55.50 to $115.50

INFO: (805) 962-7411 or www.sbbowl.com

“

very funny...this clever satire is something for which to be truly thankful.”

ESTATE/SENIOR SERVICES

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TRESOR

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PHYSICAL TRAINING & THERAPY

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RENTAL WANTED

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ITEMS FOR SALE

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TILE SETTING

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TREE SERVICE

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4

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900 TORO CANYON RD, MONTECITO 3BD/3BA; ±5 acres • $5,295,000 Josiah Hamilton, 805.284.8835 LIC# 01415235

800 ROCKBRIDGE RD, MONTECITO ±1.52 acres • $3,995,000 Marsha Kotlyar Estate Group, 805.565.4014 LIC# 01426886

1903 COYOTE CIR, MONTECITO 3BD/3BA • $3,750,000 Sina Omidi, 805.689.7700 LIC# 01944430

ALISAL/SYCAMORE CANYON RD, MONTECITO • ±14.65 acres • $495,000 Nancy Kogevinas, 805.450.6233 LIC# 01209514

1341 PLAZA DE SONADORES, MONTECITO • w2BD/2½BA • $2,988,000 Nancy Kogevinas, 805.450.6233 LIC# 01209514

1502 E MOUNTAIN DR, MONTECITO 5BD/7BA • $23,500,000 Cristal Clarke, 805.886.9378 LIC# 00968247

1492 E MOUNTAIN DR, MONTECITO 4BD/5BA; ±6 acres • $18,000,000 Rachael Douglas, 805.318.0900 LIC# 02024147