Conservation with a View

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(cover photo by Kristen Hehnke)

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CONSERVATION WITH A VIEW

THE SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN HAS BEEN FEATURING PICTURESQUE GARDENS, NATIVE LANDSCAPES, AND DEDICATED CONSERVATION EFFORTS FOR OVER NINETY YEARS AND IT’S ONLY GETTING BIGGER AND BETTER (STORY BEGINS ON P. 5)

THE CAPITALIST P.6 • BEER GUY P.8 • FORTNIGHT P.10 • SYV SNAPSHOT P.30

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Content

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S hared Spaces – Santa Barbara Botanic Garden opens Pritzlaff Conservation Center, which includes over 1,000-sq-ft of new research space split between two labs and underground facilities

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The Capitalist – Will there ever be a solution to Santa Barbara’s low-cost housing situation?

P.8

eer Guy – Central Coast Craft Beer Week is almost here, which celebrates B 29 beer trail breweries in the region with tap takeovers and special events; Wild Brew Fest at SOhO, Armada Wine & Beer Merchant anniversary party, and Telegraph hosts Homebrew Workshops to round out the upcoming weeks

S tate Street Scribe – Jeff explains in his flamboyantly overwritten essay how Big Oil and Big Hearts joined forces to create a beloved Santa Barbara Green Space

P.10

Fortnight – LoaTree unveils The Better World Series; BASSH 2017 returns to New Vic Theater; SB Revels’ 10th anniversary celebrations; Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival runs March 23-27; Tab Hunter and Allan Glaser participate in Q&A after Plaza Theater production of Tab Hunter: Confidential

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Business Beat – Albert and Shannon DiPadova of Riviera Towel Company open a beachy boutique in De La Guerra Plaza Man About Town – Chris Judge and Randy Tico perform in window space of Alcazar; open studio exhibition at Santa Barbara Centre for Aerial Dance and Dorrance Dance at Granada; three festivals coming up soon at Live Oak campground; Instant Karma Improv and Ventura Improv Company present Spontaneous Broadway at Center Stage

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Flower Power – Santa Barbara International Orchid Show returns to Earl Warren Showgrounds March 17-19

For Your Good Health – Forget the crazy fad diets of yore; celebrate Healthy Nutrition Month by following the Sansum Clinic Registered Dietitian Nutritionists’ tips for a healthy lifestyle

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On Sports – Spikeball is an up-and-coming outdoor sport that is catching on quickly with beachgoers and serious athletes alike, and Santa Barbara just so happens to be the home of the top two Spikeball teams in the nation

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Creative Characters – Award-winning local photographer Fran Collin’s subjects have ranged from the Rolling Stones to the food of Daniel Boulud What’s Hanging – March is here, and with it brings a variety of exhibitions to see around town, including Marianna Victoria Mashek’s work at SB Tennis Club, Scotty Wagner at SBCAST, Ridley-Tree Gallery’s new show, Squire Foundation fundraiser, Jonathan Smith and Kym’s latest work, SBMA’s “Carved Paper: The Art of the Japanese Stencil,” and Peter Horjus’s pieces at Guilded Table

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Plan B – Forego long lift lines and crowded mountains by staying at Northstar Ski Resort in Tahoe, where you can suit up and catch a gondola right outside your door

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I Heart SB – Elizabeth Rose learns to face her fears and inner anxieties in order to let go of the negative thoughts and be fully present in her relationship SYV Snapshot – Bring your four-legged friends to dine on the patio at Succulent Café; race through the vineyards and trails of Gainey Vineyard with Wicked Wine Run; National Rosé Day celebrations; Buellton Wine and Chili Festival; Solvang hosts Mother-Son Hawaiian-style luau; Tinkergarten leads outdoor classes for kids

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SHARED SPACES

by Zach Rosen

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he Santa Barbra Botanic Garden has been featuring picturesque gardens, native landscapes, and dedicated conservation efforts for over ninety years.

Established in 1926, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden (SBBG) is a rare gem in the Santa Barbara landscape.

This botanic garden is unique in that it focuses primarily on preserving the native plants of California. Executive

Director Steve Windhager mentioned that it was considered very avant-garde at the time to have a botanic garden that looked like nature. The SBBG’s dedication to featuring only California native plants is rare among botanic gardens and it is one of very few gardens that are considered a “living museum.”

Native plants are vital for preserving the natural habitats and resources of an area. With the Central Coast’s

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The deck in the Pritzlaff Conservation Center is a perfect spot to eat lunch while looking over the Pacific (photo by Randy Wright)

BOTANIC GARDEN BRINGS THE CONSERVATION

The Pritzlaff Conservation Center (photo by Randy Wright)

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Mediterranean climate, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is perfectly suited for housing the wide range of native plants found throughout the diverse landscapes of California. There are not many botanic gardens where you can stroll through a meadow of native Californian wildflowers before entering a cool grove of California Redwoods.

From the hardened desert flora to the spindly manzanitas, the SBBG allows guests to traverse the native scenery of California in a setting that is uniquely Santa Barbara. The historic Mission Dam & Aqueduct located in Mission Canyon and other structures have been established as historical landmarks,

helping tell the story of California and the area’s origins.

The grounds continue to expand as well with new gardens and planting being added with each season. They have recently planted a Wooded Dell section, located next to the Campbell Bridge, and installed a Child’s Maze along Mission Creek. With each visit, guests will experience new plants in season and a different look and feel to the garden.

But the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is more than just a pretty place to visit.

Many people are not aware of the extent of research and education that occurs ...continued p.24

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The Capitalist

by Jeff Harding

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

How to Make Santa Barbara’s Housing Situation Worse for Poor People

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f I were a tenant in Santa Barbara, I would want rent control, stronger tenant rights so that my landlord couldn’t evict me without cause, a mandatory longer-term lease, mandatory mediation of tenant disputes, and a $5,000 relocation stipend if I were evicted.

This is the platform of CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy) and they are lobbying the Santa Barbara City Council to enact a tenants’ protection ordinance containing some or all of their platform.

CAUSE complains that because of Santa Barbara’s low apartment vacancy rate (estimated at 0.5% currently), poorer tenants are unfairly treated and often have no place to go if they are evicted. No one can argue that housing for these workers is not a problem.

Santa Barbara has always had low vacancy rates and high apartment rents, which is a problem for low-income workers, often Latino immigrants who come here and do the “dirty” work for the rest of us. These workers clean our homes and businesses, care for our children, cook and wash in our restaurants, build and repair our homes and buildings, and keep up our landscaping.

Santa Barbara isn’t unique in coastal California. Almost all coastal cities have these same problems. We can argue about immigration, but that isn’t going to change what is happening on the ground. Despite what President Trump thinks he can do, our immigrant workers are here to stay.

Our economy would collapse without them. I’ve written about the benefits of immigration before but that is not what this housing argument is about.

Everyone would like to see a solution to Santa Barbara’s tight housing situation, but it’s never going to happen. An expansion of low-cost housing in Santa Barbara sufficient to reduce rental rates would be a political dead-end. We like Santa Barbara just the way it is and no politician would stand up for mass development.

The City has an experimental program to foster workforce housing (Average Unit-size Density – AUD).

AUD allows higher density and smaller

units in apartment development. It is aimed at families with incomes at 120% to 200% of area median income.

Median income for a family of four is about $77,100, so AUD housing would accommodate families of four earning up to $154,000 per year. There is the possibility of 966 new units under AUD, but progress is slow in Santa Barbara’s notoriously difficult development/entitlement process. This is hardly a solution for poor folks.

I once joked that the solution to Santa Barbara’s housing would be to build a 100-story skyscraper with 2.5 million rentable square feet. That would give you 2,000 new rental units. If that isn’t enough, build two!

4,000 new units would flood the rental market and drive down rents. Alas, no one seemed to see the wisdom in that.

Since there seems to be no real solution to Santa Barbara’s housing problem, tenants will continue to double- and triple-up. Homeowners will continue to rent rooms, garages and backyard sheds. Illegal units will be created out of old commercial and industrial space. This is an “underground” market solution to the problem. The City doesn’t exactly turn a blind eye to these units, but they know it happens.

Apartment values have gone through the roof here. But this is the case all over California. If you buy a typical garden apartment here, your return (assuming you pay all cash) is going to be about 3.5%. If you get a loan to finance your purchase, your return will be close to 0%.

These kinds of returns are typical in a boom-bust economy. When the Fed pumped about $3.5 trillion into the financial system after the ’08 Crash, the money went into financial assets like stocks (booming) bonds (booming), homes (booming), and investment real estate like apartment buildings (booming). As assets were bid up by the flood of money, returns were driven down, and investors began to invest in riskier assets to get decent returns (“chasing yield”). Investment real estate has been driven to new heights, especially in the apartment sector.

Investors love Santa Barbara with its tight market and history of rising

values and rents. This stability is why an investor will pay all cash for an apartment building here and get little return, looking instead for longer-term gains and income. But, they don’t want a building that can’t pay for itself. No one likes to lose money every month.

most successful experiment in social organization in human history (the U. S. of A.).

I wish people who advocate heavyhanded government solutions had some background in economics.

The study of economics is one of the

Everyone would like to see a solution to Santa Barbara’s tight housing situation, but it’s never going to happen.

So, we have the Fed and the City conspiring to keep housing expensive in Santa Barbara. How can you solve a problem that has no solution? Answer: you can’t. This is the reality of Santa Barbara.

Can you fix it by making it more difficult for landlords to make money on a marginal investment?

Progressive organizations like CAUSE think that’s the way we ought to go. Their solution is to take away landlords’ rights and give them to tenants. They require landlords to be a kind of welfare agency and bear society’s burden for the social consequences of immigration, poverty, and tight housing.

Without dwelling on the philosophy of “rights,” depriving some people of their rights and giving them to other people is a violation of the concept of “rights” that were embodied in the founding documents of the

consequences of human action in social situations. Actions have consequences.

The history of government intervention into market behavior has been mostly unsuccessful where “solutions” usually do the opposite of what was intended. Economists refer to these as “unintended consequences.”

The unintended consequences of these “socially just tenant rights” will be less housing for poor people. In a very tight market, a landlord with less flexibility to evict a tenant will likely require even stricter standards for new tenants. My guess is that the anonymous domestic worker cited in CAUSE’s literature, a domestic worker and mother with three kids who was evicted and had a hard time finding a new place to live, will have even fewer choices under CAUSE’s Tenants Rights Ordinance.

CAUSE will make the situation worse than it already is.

Publisher/Editor • Tim Buckley Design/Production • Trent Watanabe Columnists Man About Town • Mark Léisuré Plan B • Briana Westmacott | Food File • Christina Enoch Commercial Corner • Austin Herlihy | The Weekly Capitalist • Jeff Harding The Beer Guy • Zach Rosen | E's Note • Elliana Westmacott Business Beat • Chantal Peterson | What’s Hanging • Ted Mills I Heart SB • Elizabeth Rose | Fortnight • Steven Libowitz State Street Scribe • Jeff Wing | Holistic Deliberation • Allison Antoinette Art Beat • Jacquelyn De Longe | Behind The Vine • Hana-Lee Sedgwick SYV Snapshot • Eva Van Prooyen Advertising / Sales Tanis Nelson • 805.689.0304 • tanis@santabarbarasentinel.com Sue Brooks • 805.455.9116 • sue@santabarbarasentinel.com Judson Bardwell • 619.379.1506 • judson@santabarbarasentinel.com Published by SB Sentinel, LLC PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Santa Barbara Sentinel is compiled every other Friday 133 EAST DE LA GUERRA STREET, #182, Santa Barbara 93101 How to reach us: 805.845.1673 • E-MAIL: tim@santabarbarasentinel.com

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STATE STREET SCRIBE

by Jeff Wing

Jeff is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. A long-time 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.

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Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden – The Eden That Oil Built

P R I VAT E J E T C H A R T E R

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FOR BUSINESS OR PLEASURE

n the very heart of our domed Xanadu-by-the-Sea, there exists a public green idyll beloved by us all; a sun-dappled shire of exotic flora, laced by a happy network of twisty gravel paths carpeted with the finest crushed granite. There are sensory gardens and mad-looking trees ablaze with blossoms, little streams surmounted by little bridges, kids sprinting through the maze work as joyous as you please, and the occasional lovebirds trying to capture a little magic under the sheltering arms of the much-carved oak that anchors the middle of the place. A large, painterly pond fronts the 4.6-acre wood, jammed (at one time) with huge, ponderous Koi gliding in and out of the water’s shadows, turtles with insolent expressions sunning themselves on the rocks, and perfectly duck-colored ducks – the best kind!

This is the Alice Keck Memorial Garden, a lovingly curated nature-lover’s wet dream which, thanks to the careful planning and founding stewardship of many dedicated locals, will be tended and cared for in actual perpetuity – like Bruce Dern’s space-borne forests in the sci-fi eco-epic Silent Running, but without the waddling little gardener robots, at least for now. When standing in the middle of all this madly photosynthesizing largesse, it can be difficult to comprehend that all this was bought and paid for with that most odious emblem of all that is wrong with the world today; Oil Money. No complaints here. Though if they could just divert a little more of that Texas Tea into making the Sensory Garden recordings decipherable, that’d be cool. Push the big, well-meaning silver buttons for recorded guidance these days and the narration emitted by the little speaker could be Rudy Vallee murmuring through a badly bent megaphone.

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by Zach Rosen

Taste everything from cider to spirits at Wild Brew Fest. (photo by Pharos Creative)

Central Coast Craft Beer Week is Here Island Brewing Co. will be hosting their Third Annual Slow Bike Race with Open Streets on April 1

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et ready for Central Coast Craft Beer Week! The Central Coast Beer Trail (CCBT) will be hosting a week of unique beer events along the Central Coast from March 24 to April 2. While Santa Barbara and the Central Coast have had beer weeks in the past, this represents the first time there has been a concerted effort by the Central Coast breweries to organize the event. Beer weeks are a way for a brewing community to come together and celebrate the individuality of the region’s breweries and beers with a weeklong affair of events and special releases.

Having worked on several planning committees for different beer weeks, I can personally speak to how important it is to have all of the breweries working together for these.

The CCBT was recently formed and represents twenty-nine breweries along the Central Coast and this has long been a vital missing piece in the local beer industry. These organizations are critical for opening up communication between the brewers and making for a stronger beer community and their function goes beyond just event planning.

Organizations like the Central Coast Beer Trail allow the breweries of the area to collaborate, cross-promote, and even discuss business and how new laws are being enacted in a shared region.

For the Central Coast Craft Beer Week there will be two main events taking place. Tap takeovers are being held at two local breweries, however, they will be hosted and operated by the Central Coast Beer Trail. The first one will take place at Libertine Brewery’s San Luis Obispo location on Friday, March 31 at 6pm. The second event is on Sunday, April 2, and will be

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

located outside of Telegraph Brewing Co. At each event, specialty beers from all twenty-nine breweries along the CCBT will be featured. Having the same event in two locations allows beer drinkers of both the upper and lower sections of the Central Coast equal access to the specialty brews from the entire region.

Each day of the beer week has its own events taking place. It all kicks off on Friday, March 24, at Tap It Brewing Co. in San Luis Obispo from 4-10 pm where they will be celebrating with specialty beers and live music. The following day, Saturday, March 25, from 12-4 pm will be Central Coast Brewery’s 19th Anniversary Party.

The event is free to attend, however a $50 wristband will get you unlimited tastings, food, and even a bottle to take home of their 11.2% ABV Triple IPA anniversary ale brewed with the fruitforward Citra hops and tropical earthlike Mosaic hops.

On, Sunday, March 26, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. will have a food pairing event at their Buellton brewery. Chef Brian Champlin of

their newly opened restaurant, The Kitchen, will be preparing special meals paired with Figueroa Mountain’s beers.

The event will be all day, but there’s a special pairing with one of the brewers at 1pm. Figueroa Mountain will also be having a grand opening ceremony for The Kitchen this Saturday, March 11, featuring their regular menu of gastropub items in addition to a special barbecue plate. M.Special will be hosting a Beer 101: IPA and Hops class on Tuesday, March 28, from 6-8pm.

Attendees must register in advance ($10 per person) at the tasting room.

In the class, guests will learn about the various hop characteristics and taste the differences between three of M.Special’s hoppy beer styles. M.Special will also be releasing two casks on Thursday, March 30, from 5-9pm to celebrate the week.

On Saturday, April 1, Island Brewing Co. will be hosting their 3rd Annual Slow Bike Race in conjunction with Open Streets. A 50-foot track is set up and competitors attempt to traverse the course as slowly as possible without placing their feet on the ground or falling over. The event promises to be a day full of beer and fun. The beer week wraps up on Sunday, April 2nd, with the second tap takeover event.

While many of the events will be taking place at the Central Coast breweries, several of them will be occurring at local bars. Lama Dog will be serving only central coast brews during the entire beer week and will even kickoff the beer week on Friday, March 24, with a special cask from Figueroa Mountain. A Pinball and Pints event with Central Coast Brewery is planned for Wednesday, March 29, at Lincoln Market and Deli in San Luis Obispo.

The Boardroom in Pismo Beach will be hosting a selection of rare Libertine offerings on Thursday, March 30.

Visit centralcoastbeertrail.com for more information on Central Coast Beer Week. There are events being added daily so keep an eye on their website for updates.

Other Events

If you get thirsty before Central Coast Craft Beer Week, there are several other special events taking place between now and then. The Wild Brew Fest will be taking place this Saturday, March 11, at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club from 2-5pm. Operated by Cultivate Events, producer of the popular Santa Barbara Fermentation Festival, this event explores the entire range of fermented beverages. Attendees can taste their way through meads, wild beers, ciders, and more while interacting with the brewers and sampling the series of small bites provided by such local food spots as Sama Sama and Corazon Cocina. Presentations will be hosted on the main stage, which allows guests to learn about fermentation as they sample the wide range of libations.

Visit sbfermentationfestival.com/ wild-brew-fest for more information.

Also on March 11, Armada Wine & Beer Merchant will be having their 3rd anniversary party from 6-9pm.

Come enjoy special food offerings from Sama Sama alongside a glass of beer or wine at this charming bar.

Friday and Saturday, March 17-18, Telegraph will be hosting an event that showcases the range of pilot beers they have produced during their Homebrew Workshops, a collaboration between them and such local brewers as Topa Topa, brewLAB, and Valley Brewers.

Their Homebrew Workshops have served as a way for them to brew pilot batches with industry friends while teaching the local beer community about homebrewing, covering everything from entry-level processes to kettle souring techniques. Swing by the brewery during this time to taste the series of experimental pilot batches they have produced in these classes.

Whichever event you attend, they all represent the bustling, local beer scene and the talented breweries located along the Central Coast Beer Trail.

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10 – 24 MARCH

by Steven Libowitz

Tell us all about your art opening, performance, dance party, book signing, sale of something we can’t live without, or event of any other kind by emailing fortnight@santabarbarasentinel.com. If our readers can go to it, look at it, eat it, or buy it, we want to know about it and will consider it for inclusion here.

Special consideration will be given to interesting, exploratory, unfamiliar, and unusual items. We give calendar preference to those who take the time to submit a picture along with their listing.

Building a Better World

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oaTree, which only last year moved into its new headquarters on the site of the former Muddy Waters Coffeehouse, unveils The Better World Series, which is an ongoing project that represents an intentional opportunity to build a better world within the community. The series, which brings together change-makers to inspire and activate them, is comprised of five different “Waves”, or themes, which address a timely and relevant topic.

It kicks off March 16, surfing the wave of “Environmental Psychology” with a focus on tearing down feelings of incapability to replace them with inspiring messages of action. Dr. Renee Lertzman, an internationally recognized thought leader and adviser, will speak on how understanding the psychology of sustainability can amplify, accelerate and leverage efforts to engage far greater numbers of people for a sustainable future. Her talk will consider whether current approaches undermine those efforts, noting her belief in the need to practice radical empathy with all and through all media of communication.

With LoaTree subscribing to the aphorism that “Change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it,” each wave will have three components, including Gathering (bringing individuals together to learn from a thought-leader or an expert); Activation (providing an opportunity through intimate events to go deeper with each topic through discussion or a hands-on workshop); and Mobilization (Creating digital campaigns designed to push learning and calls-to-action far and wide, inspiring deep rooted, sustainable change). Future “Waves” include “Women & Climate Justice,” “Peace Out, Plastics!”, “Regenerative Agriculture,” and “Art as Activism.”

Thursday’s event takes place 6-9pm at LoaTree’s office, 508 E. Haley Street.

Tickets cost $25. Visit www.nightout. com/events/psychological-insights-fora-changing-world-a-better-world-seriesevent/tickets.

Big BASSH

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ASSH moved to the New Vic Theater in 2015, and the gorgeously remodeled theater also seemed to

revive the then 15-year-old show as well. The annual performance revue for local dance professionals to showcase both their choreography and their own (and their students’) dancing prowess covers a wide variety of social dance genres. The last couple of years has seen an expansion beyond the original acronym-producing Ballroom, Argentine Tango, Swing, Salsa, and Hip-Hop to include many more Latin dances, jazz, dance fitness, aerial, and more. Founder Derrick Curtis returns once again for the shows – slated for 7:30pm Friday, March 17, and 2 & 7:30pm on Saturday, March 18 – as both host and performer, this time joined by belly-dance maven Beth Amine, who will also DJ the onstage after party on Saturday night.

That’s also when they’ll present the 2017 Local Dance Hero award to Christopher Pilafian, artistic director of Santa Barbara Dance Theater and dance professor at UCSB, who will also get on stage with the BASSH cast.

Tickets are $20-$25, which translates to about $1 per troupe. The New Vic is at 33 West Victoria Street. Call 9655400 or visit www.newvictheater.com.

wines. Open your throat – for both imbibing and singing – from 6-8pm on Monday, March 20. No need to buy tickets in advance and they’re available at Dargan’s door for $15 for adults, $10 for children, which include a song book and a beverage.

And while you’re at it, mark your calendars for Monday, May 1, for Revels’ 10th annual May Day celebration, complete with garlands, nosegays, and ribbons to twine ‘round the May pole. Coming in September, the third Fall Equinox concert, which was a sell-out at the Presidio Chapel last year. The repertoire includes material from Revels’ changing seasons, as last year’s Scottish traditions butt up against highlights from the upcoming production at the Lobero Theatre in December, when Revels presents a new, original show written especially for our big anniversary season: The Christmas Revels: An Early California Celebration of the Winter Solstice.

As Revels people always like to say, “Join us and be joyous!” Visit www. santabarbararevels.org or call 5659357.

Revels Enjoys Luck of the Irish

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anta Barbara Revels turns 10 in 2017 and there’s a whole host of special events planned for the milestone, beginning with its annual Spring Pub Sing, held – where else? – at Dargan’s Irish Pub & Restaurant, 18 East Ortega Street. Sure, it sounds a bit dorky, but admit it – you love to sing and a chance to do it among others who may not be polished performers, while downing a few, is not so easy to resist. And that’s what makes this fun as all singers, from professional vocalists to those who only do a little random warbling in the shower, are invited to celebrate the Vernal Equinox by joining in the merry mayhem from the folks who put on the annual holiday revue every Christmas season. Mark the change of season by lifting glasses and raising voices on Irish tunes, sea shanties, familiar folk songs, traditional favorites, and novelty ditties.

Ken Ryals, Revels former music director, provides the enthusiastic direction with Larry Williams accompanying on the guitar. Also on tap: Dargan’s huge selection of ales and lagers along with

SBJFF covers the bases

ust hours before I wrote this, Israel completed a three-game sweep in the first round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, moving from the 2001 bottom seed in the 16-team draw of the quadrennial Olympics-style competition to the top seed for Round 2 in Japan, and sporting odds of just 201. What this has to do with the Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival that starts at the tail end of this fortnight I’m sure I don’t know but quite a few of the movies do actually come from the country that’s now suddenly something of a baseball powerhouse. Who knew? (About the baseball, not the Israeli movies, which have always been good.)

The Israeli entries this year include a bunch of feature films, highlighted perhaps by AKA Nadia, about an Israeli woman who while a seemingly happily married mother of two, can no longer deny her secret past. There are a couple of documentary shorts: (A Heartbeat Away, about an Israeli pediatric cardiologist in Tanzania who performs lifesaving operations on children), and Women in Sink, in which Haifa-based

Muslim, Jewish, and Christian women at a beauty parlor share their stories), and some full-length docs, including Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? about a gay ex-Israeli army paratrooper living in London and a member of its Gay Men’s Chorus who discovers that he is HIV positive, and On The Map, the tale of how the Israeli national basketball team won the European Cup in 1977. (Ah, there’s the WBC connection!)

The March 23-27 fest also features films from The Netherlands, the U.S., and Germany – plus a reception and a couple of Coffee and Bagels gatherings for passholders – fulfilling its mission to “bring the community together to experience the power of exceptional films from around the world on themes of Jewish culture and identity.”

Organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara, the festival also carries the hope that the films and their stories will resonate beyond their unique settings to speak to universal experiences and issues that confront our common humanity. You know, sort of like the World Baseball Classic, only different.

All the events take place at the New Vic, 33 West Victoria Street.

An all-access pass goes for $95, while individual screenings cost $12 (such a deal!). Info and passes are available at www.sbjewishfilmfestival.org, or call 957-1115.

Hunter as a Lonely Heart?

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ongtime Montecito resident Tab Hunter enjoyed a full and frothy film career for a couple of decades in the 1950s-60s when he was considered one of Hollywood’s main matinee idols. Now he’s enjoying a long run with his autobiography, Tab Hunter: Confidential, which came out back in 2006 and represented his own sort of coming out, as Hunter delved for the first time into what it was like to be a movie star at the end of the big studio era, to be treated like a commodity, to be told what to do, how to behave, whom to be seen with, what to wear – and what it was like to be gay, at first confused by his own fears and misgivings, then as an actor trapped by an image of boy-nextdoor innocence.

Hunter will be on hand when the 2015 movie version of the book screens at the Plaza Playhouse Theater, 4916 Carpinteria Avenue in Carpinteria, at 2 pm on Sunday, March 12.

Afterward, the actor, somehow still dapper and dashing at 85, is joined by his longtime partner, Allan Glaser, who also produced the documentary, on stage for a Q&A with moderator Peter Bie. Tickets are $20 general admission. Call 684-6380 or visit www.plazatheatercarpinteria.com.

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BUSINESSBEAT

by Chantal Peterson Chantal Peterson is a writer, travel enthusiast and a fine artist. She runs a content marketing business for wellness brands, and is an occasional contributor to various local and national publications. Contact Chantal at mypenlives@gmail.com or @moivelle on Instagram.

THE RIVIERA TOWEL COMPANY

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estled in the central compound of De La Guerra Plaza in downtown Santa Barbara, a new boutique has opened that will make you feel like you just stepped into the cabin of a cozy yacht cruising the Mediterranean. This quaint space with white-washed walls and low beam ceiling is home to The Riviera Towel Company, owned by longtime entrepreneurial couple and local Santa Barbarans, Albert and Shannon DiPadova. Not coincidentally, just as the colors and the feeling of this little shop inspire thoughts of seafaring journeys, this local business also donates 10% of net profits to ten different marine ecology agencies. Inspired by the ocean and committed to its health, this is one company that Santa Barbarans can get on board with pretty easily.

All of the towels are made in Turkey and are 100% cotton, with a few styles that are a bamboo/cotton blend. They are flatweave cotton, which has been popular in Europe for a long time, and is now catching on in the U.S. because of its ability to quick-dry and pack small. The fabrics also work really well as scarves and sarongs, wrapping easily around the body with volume. They are the kind of accessory that you could take

five retail stores throughout the country, and eventually sold to a large company based in Chicago. So as retail veterans, Shannon and Albert knew they didn’t want a traditional brick and mortar store, but still wanted to be centrally located downtown. They describe the space in De La Guerra Plaza as more of a

that any surfer knows as one of the most well-known surf report and webcasting sites in the world. Albert says he wants to be able to surf in clean water and knows that in today’s world it takes concerted collective effort to do so.

The boutique, located where Western Produce had formerly set up shop for 18 years, has been open for over three weeks. The DiPadovas got the space in December 2016 and opened up shop in February. Excited for local partnerships to grow, Riviera Towel Company is primed to be one of those beloved local companies that becomes a staple and a community partner to many.

In addition to their give-back model, they also donate towels to their partner agencies, which they use as giveaways in various online campaigns and at events.

At this point, the couple themselves run the show; Shannon picks the colorways and designs and does all the buying, and Albert does all the marketing and behind-

showroom, but it holds regular business hours, from 9am-5pm every weekday and by appointment on the weekends (although they will be open on the weekends during the summer).

Another fun fact about this creative and industrious couple is that Albert was the man who originally started a website called Surf Check (the beginnings of the surf reporting industry itself ), which he eventually sold to Surfline, a website

the-scenes stuff. You can swing by the boutique or shop online for their product – but it’s highly recommended to take the time to drop by and experience this wellcurated slice of beach towel heaven.

to Miramar or Copacabana – and if you did take it abroad, you could actually fit it in your suitcase! Yes, gone are the days of schlepping the cumbersome, slightly damp, terry cloth beach towels in an oversized beach bag that squish everything else and then monopolize the washing machine.

But perhaps most importantly, these pieces are also fashionable: their designs can serve as scarves, beach towels, or even tablecloths pretty effortlessly because of their casual-chic colors, quality weave, and universal patterns.

THE MANY ENTREPRENEURIAL SEASONS OF THE DIPADOVAS Both Shannon and Albert grew up in coastal cities, and Shannon grew up here in Santa Barbara. Having always lived by the ocean and Albert being a longtime surfer, the two have a passion for the ocean’s health. They decided to put their commitment into action, helping bring awareness and funds to marine ecology agencies through their business.

No stranger to retail, the couple also owned Due Maternity, a maternity clothing store, for seven years, which was located on State Street next to Arigato Sushi. At one point they had

www.rivieratowel.com (415) 952-5363 727 De La Guerra Plaza Santa Barbara, CA 93103

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with Mark Léisuré

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

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

Double Dose of Dance

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hat a difference between the two dance troupes I caught the very next night, when I took in an early evening open studio exhibition at the Santa Barbara Centre for Aerial Dance followed barely minutes later by the touring ensemble Dorrance Dance at the Granada Theatre. The former was an intimate celebration of International Women’s Day via a rare informal presentation of new works and works in progress featuring 10 of the aerialists paired with the passages from female writers.

It was my first time in the studio and what a thrill to see these artistic athletes (athletic artists?) performing on a variety of apparatus (rings, ropes, ribbons, and more) up close. It was absolutely astounding as they offered beautifully choreographed pieces, by artistic director Ninette Paloma and/or the dancers themselves. I didn’t really

get it before witnessing these flowing feats mere yards away from my face, close enough that there were gasps whenever there were sudden drops.

Dorrance is also all about feats – make that feet – as the tap dancing troupe, led by Michelle Dorrance, is one of the more innovative of the genre. And if Paloma’s performers are all about flow, Dorrance’s show stuns with scintillating sessions of staccato sounds produced by the torrid pace of tapping, reaching remarkable rhythms in an art form that’s all about getting down to the ground.

The program began with excerpts from SOUNDspace, a 2013 work that explores one of Dorrance’s obsessions: movement as music, far more intriguing than one might imagine with the shoe as the only instrument. The second half is from a still-developing piece called ETM: Double Down, with the E referring to electronics, which are

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liberally employed in the quite melodic work that blends almost seamlessly with the acoustic sound produced by the shoes. Thing of it as a bit like Stomp, only with samples and loops instead of garbage cans and other found objects – and of course incredibly sophisticated footwork and other modern movements.

Taptronica, if you will.

Live Oak Living Three festivals are coming up soon at Live Oak campground, the spacious (and now lush, post-rain) expanse halfway up the San Marcos Pass adjacent to the golf course. A new music mashup makes its debut, Lucidity nears the conclusion of its first six-year cycle, and the granddaddy of them all, the Live Oak Music Festival, returns for its 29th iteration.

This first weekend of our fortnight, March 18-19, brings Starry Nites, the brand new collaborative effort from partners Tommy Dietrick, the founder of Desert Stars Festival in Joshua Tree, and Starry Records founder Kerry Brown. Talk about eclectic! The two-day event boasts four stages and a roster of artists that veer from The Kills to Cat Power, and The Alan Parsons Project to She Wants Revenge. I don’t think I’ve heard that kind of variety since the freeform FM radio days of decades past. Also on the lineup is the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the once Santa Barbara-based psychedelic one-hit wonders (“Incense and Peppermints”) who reportedly have not performed in town since 1967, just half a century ago (back when FM barely existed).

There’s also an after-hours acoustic area, Visuals by Obscura Digital featuring a lighting effect that makes trees look like they’re dancing, and on-site camping. Get tickets, the full schedule and more info online at www. starrynitesfestival.com.

The Live Oak Music Festival, which has been hunkering down at the site for just over a quarter century, has announced several of the artists for its June 16-18 event, which benefits KCBX radio (talk about free form!).

Performing are Ozomatli, Jackie Green, The Paul Thorn Band, Sam Outlaw and one of those periodic appearances by permanent MC Joe Craven, featuring his latest band, the aptly-named Sometimers. Many more to come. But take note: Early Bird ticket pricing ends Friday, March 17. Call 781-3030 or visit www.liveoakfest.org.

Lucidity, Santa Barbara’s much more organic and community-based take on Burning Man, winds up its initial sixyear cycle with its April 7-9 weekend of music, art installations, workshops, healing arts, dancing and much more,

with the theme of Eudamonia. We’ll have much more on the mind-altering festival in the next issue. But it’s not too early to secure tickets and do some planning via the expansive website, www. lucidityfestival.com, which covers the whole six-year arc, the ever-expanding Lucidity University, and much more.

Just one more note: whichever festival you attend, even though the Santa Ynez River is running once again – stay out of the water!

My Way or the Broadway Yeah, I know. I promote comedy improv way too often. You know why?

Because I love it! I love watching it and I love doing it. Or at least trying to do improv well, nearly every Wednesday at weekly workshop at the Unitarian Society, which has been going on for more than a quarter of a century. I’m still a complete newbie, although I’ve performed a few times in the monthly show and didn’t get booed off the stage (although I can’t believe the time I completely forgot some basic stuff the last time I was in the show, opposite the guys who’s been teaching it for about 25 years).

Anyway, I love it because it’s fun and it’s also life-affirming. As in, improv is a lot like life: you don’t know what’s going to happen, but if you accept what it’s front of you, don’t deny it and try to add something while forging relationships and focusing on creating connection and building with the people around you, it’ll usually turn out OK. One of my favorite parts, though, is the musical games. At the workshop we do either an Irish drinking song or something called Beasty Rap on alternating weeks. But nothing like “Spontaneous Broadway,” which is the title of the piece Instant Karma Improv and Ventura Improv Company are bringing to the Center Stage on March 18. The show is a fully improvised Broadway musical created on the spot using only suggestions from the audience and the performers’ wits – with considerable help from keyboardist Richard Allen, who not only responds to hints from the actors but also prods them with his choice of styles.

I’ve seen a shorter version of this as part of the VIC’s annual festival, but this is the first time the company has come up our way in a long time, part of the result of their having abandoned their long-running residency at the Livery in Ventura for a more nomadic life. Even if you hate musicals, you’ll likely laugh your way through the show, or at least marvel at their ability to create this stuff out of what looks like thin air. I know I will.

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FLOWER POWER

by Chantal Peterson

DON’T MISS SB’S ORCHID SHOW

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rchid lovers – similar to, say, Star Wars fans – seem to be uncommonly obsessed devotees. For example: talk to a die-hard Star Wars fan for a while and they’ll likely end up explaining to you that the films are more than just movies; rather, they confirm the eternal value of storytelling itself. Similarly, the orchid, for many flower lovers represents the epitome of beauty and uniqueness in the blossom world.

As it happens, Santa Barbara is home to one of the country’s largest orchid displays: the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show. This year’s spectacle takes place March 17-19 at Earl Warren Showgrounds. A weekendlong event, the show offers a variety of activities, including an extraordinary exhibit of orchids (of course), plant sales, art and photography, and various demonstrations.

Attendees from previous years rave about the incredible diversity and top-notch showmanship that is said to be second to none at this show.

After a little research, it’s easy to understand what the big deal is. Boasting more than 25,000 different species (the most species of any flower), the orchid

offers plenty to try to wrap one’s head around. These flowers are known to be extremely mysterious and intelligent flowers (not to mention famously hard to care for!) and they can live on the ground, attached to woody plants, or even under the ground. Also – and perhaps most importantly – you can thank a certain orchid species, Vanilla planifolia, for the flavor of vanilla!

The prestigious annual show occupies 22,000 square feet of floor displays along with a 13,000-squarefoot international flower market. This provides opportunities to meet premier orchid growers from around the world, who have each been invited to exhibit and participate in what is the longestrunning show in the nation. This year’s theme is “Orchid Mystique” – paying homage to a plant for which “beauty is ubiquitous and uniqueness is commonplace.”

9 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND THIS YEAR’S SHOW: 1. EXCEPTIONAL EXHIBITS – You will see some of the most vibrant, rare, and exotic orchids collected from

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around the world at the Grand Orchid Exhibit. Award-winning growers from around the nation and the world bring their most prized plants to show off.

2. INTERNATIONAL ORCHID SHOW MARKET – Event attendees have the opportunity to find orchid blooms that otherwise might not be available. Many of the finest growers in the U.S. as well as from countries such as Japan, Ecuador, Brazil, Thailand, and Colombia make their rare, unusual plants available for purchase in the sales area near the Exhibit Hall. Whether you are a beginning windowsill grower or a serious hobbyist seeking rare species and hybrids, the variety available at the Show Market is sure to delight and satisfy.

3. INTERACTIVE EXHIBITS BY THE SANTA BARBARA ZOO – New to this year’s show will be a number of STEAM activities (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) that will be hosted by the Santa Barbara Zoo. These include both indoor and outdoor booths that provide hands-on fun and activities for children and adults of all ages.

4. ART SHOW – Talented artists will play on the theme of orchids at an exhibit that will be paired with the three-day event. Members of the Santa Barbara Art Association will let the allure and mystique of orchids serve as muse for their pieces, adding an additional dimension to the celebration of nature’s beauty and mysteries. Both paintings and photographs will be on display and available for purchase.

5. DEMONSTRATIONS AND EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS – The orchid show is not just for the eyes and nose, but is also for the brain! Potting demonstrations are scheduled throughout all three days, many of which are hosted by master gardeners. These give attendees the opportunity to see how the experts do it and to ask any questions they might have. Past exhibits have included the story of famed explorer Sir Joseph Hooker’s pursuit in the Himalayan foothills for the blue Vanda; another displayed image taken using a Scanning Electron Microscope. Educational exhibits can be found throughout the exhibit hall.

6. FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS AND CORSAGES – Using orchids as their medium, local artisans will create themed floral arrangements and corsages from orchid blooms. Artisans attempt to wow judges and vie for awards based on the principles of the Western School of Flower Arrangers.

7. VISIT THE ORCHID DOCTOR – Have an orchid that has fallen out of optimal health? (The less-experienced orchid growers among us probably do, given their famously hard-to-please nature). Orchid doctor Bruce Kidd is available in the exhibit hall throughout the weekend to answer orchid questions.

Kidd is the former president of the San Diego County Cymbidium Society and can diagnose orchid issues and prescribe a plan of action to turn around the health of these somewhat temperamental plants.

8. VISIT THE LOCAL NURSERIES – Commercial orchid cultivation is an important part of the local horticultural scene. In conjunction with the SB International Orchid Show, many local nurseries offer tours and open houses, at which festival attendees can purchase thriving orchids directly out of the greenhouses where they’re grown and from the growers who take pride in their products. Visit The California Orchid Trail website for more information.

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9. ATTEND THE CYMBIDIUM CONFERENCE – And for the true orchid enthusiast: Attend the 42nd Annual Cymbidium Society of America Congress on Saturday, March 18. Attendees can hear lectures by cymbidium and slipper experts, and enjoy the continental breakfast and luncheon, all right next to the showgrounds. The Saturday evening gala includes reception banquet, auction, dinner, speakers, and an awards ceremony.

SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL ORCHID SHOW is open Friday, March 17, through Sunday, March 19, from 9 am to 5 pm daily at Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara. General admission is $14; seniors, students with ID and advance group sales (minimum 25 people) are $12; children 12 and under are free with adult accompaniment. Tickets are available for purchase in advance at www.SBOrchidShow.com.

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...continued from p.7

So, how did big bad oil (or ‘ole’ as paunchy wildcatters in the movies pronounce it) manage to gift Santa Barbara such a priceless jewel as the Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden? The tune goes something like this (and many thanks to AnneMarie Castleberg’s terrific and loving volume, Alice’s Garden).

Baby SB Given Form By Men in Mustaches

Within a couple years of California being declared a state (1850 – but you knew that) Santa Barbara’s foundlings pushed their western-style hats back and got busy figuring out what would go where in the newish city. In their wisdom, they set aside several contiguous parcels on what is now the Upper East Side, to be used as public parkland. On a map they designated the area “Garden de Alameda”; roughly “The Garden Walk.” Having so designated the area, they moved on to other things, and the parcels changed hands several times in the ensuing years.

In 1903 or so, a wealthy widow named Mary Miles Herter hired a highfalutin design firm to build her a splashy Mediterranean style mansion on a piece of land she’d purchased in Santa Barbara. The grand main house and carefully landscaped environs would take up the whole city block between Micheltorena and Arrellaga streets on the south and north, respectively, and Garden and Santa Barbara streets to the east and west. Yeah, the future Alice Keck green zone.

Comeuppance in the City of Lights and a Mansion in the Garden District

Some two decades before, Mrs. Herter’s husband, New York Interior Design millionaire and gifted artist [not to mention self-regarding gadfly] Christian Herter had departed the U.S. for Paris to better his art through study, leaving Mrs. Herter and the kids back in the States. Despite the fact that the idea of Karma had not yet fully taken hold in the Western world at that time, Mr. Herter was nevertheless felled by tuberculosis within a year of his leave-taking. Just sayin’.

By 1909, their son Albert Herter, a self-made textile and design giant himself, and a painter of some repute by that time, had moved with his wife, Adele, into his mother’s sprawling estate as they helped her furnish and complete the interior.

When his mother passed away in 1913, she left Mirasol to Albert, and he and

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...continued p.20

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...continued from p.19

Adele wasted no time realizing what must have been on their minds all along: the transformation of the property into a lushly planted bungalow village, the main house becoming a luxury hotel which they named El Mirasol, [Spanish for “The Mirasol”]. In its day the hotel would garner a rep as THE destination for the uberwealthy in search of privacy, quietude, and the company of other outlandishly welloff people.

From Vanderbilts to Ruin

In 1920 Albert and Adele Herter sold El Mirasol to a guy named Frederick Clift, who owned Santa Barbara’s Biltmore; and from here it gets a little nutty. Clift maintained the gold-plated reputation of El Mirasol for two decades and sold it in 1940, and from there the hotel and property bounced from owner to owner. In 1962 the property was purchased by Morgan Flagg, an art collector and developer.

By this time, though, the property had been a growing concern for half a century and the once grand El Mirasol was beginning to look a little the worse for wear.

The bungalows, too, were becoming more than a little rough around the edges. The costs of maintaining the estate began to eat away at Mr. Flagg, and in ’65 he sold to a Jacob Seldowitz.

When a year or so later fire gutted part of the main house, the property took on the character of an investment millstone hung gaudily around Mr. Seldowitz’s neck, and he came up with the idea of razing the entire estate and building a nine-story hotel on the parcel, complete with a 400-car underground parking lot and a 2500 seat arts complex. The surrounding neighborhoods, by then robustly populated, did not take a shine to the idea, and the first whispers of maintaining a certain “character” to the town began to dominate the conversation. The Planning Commission acquiesced to the wishes of the people and Seldowitz’s request was denied. To which he responded by quickly selling the hotels contents, gathering the necessary permits and preparing to plow the whole thing under anyway. The storied El Mirasol, and the ostentatious mid-town lifestyle it had represented, was soon to be replaced by an overgrown, untended, vine-choked city block nearby residents would steer well clear of.

The property next fell to a consortium of development hopefuls who optimistically christened themselves the El Mirasol Investment Company. The square city block

in the middle of Santa Barbara’s original “Garden de Alameda” was beginning to draw development schemes like a cupcake draws flies, the value of the lot becoming ever more apparent as SB herself began to attract a regular tourist stream. The consortium’s for-profit plan? To put up an eleven-story condo tower. The Planning Commission turned them down. The consortium appealed, and the City Council, possibly ruminating dizzily over “tax base” (a familiar thought bubble around City Hall, one supposes) returned with an approval.

The Aptly Named Pearl Chase

A very vocal opposition to the condo plan, led by a fierce little steamroller in a floral hat named Pearl Chase, was all over this one. Chase, who had arrived in Santa Barbara as a young lady, would later play a singularly huge role in the very look and feel and character of her beloved adoptive town. It was Chase who spearheaded the Spanish style red tile roofs and arched paseos that would typify the post-1925-earthquake redesign/rebuild of SB. Well, she would have none of this high-rise condo jibber-jabber. She and her colleagues hammered City Hall until the Council was moved to actually rescind their earlier permission. The consortium was stymied. The bulldozers went ahead and leveled the lot, and the property entered the aforementioned Munsters period; overgrown with weeds and vines and strictly to be avoided. The El Mirasol era had ended with a whimper.

Blue Bloods Out. Holistic Vegetarians In

The disappointed El Mirasol Investment Company offered the land to the Museum of Art, who managed to raise enough to buy the land, but then hadn’t the money left to relocate the museum to the new site, which had been their plan. The President of the Museum Board, Carol Valentine, came up with a wild idea. She convinced her fellow board members to allow the Community Environmental Council (CEC) to make free use of the art museum’s newly bought parcel for several years as an experimental urban farm. The CEC, determined to show that sustainable agriculture could take place in the middle of an urban area, even a rough-and-tumble concrete jungle like Santa Barbara, assembled, and for ...continued p.28

APRIL 28-29th, 2017 RALLY4KIDS is a 2-day event that will combine driving on some of the best roads in the state, challenging checkpoints, legendary parties and media exposure all supporting the United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County. The route, checkpoints and destination are kept secret with a goal to take you to new places and experience new things.

The rally concludes with The White Party on the Green Gala at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Santa Barbara, CA. Entry fees begin at $1,750 and based on hotel room selection. Register today at www.rally4kids.org!

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805-681-1315

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FOR YOUR GOOD HEALTH MARCH IS HEALTHY NUTRITION MONTH

by Margaret Weiss, MPH

D

on’t we love to talk about food? What is your favorite restaurant? Do you go to farmers market? Have you heard about the latest diet? The history of diets is filled with interesting and humorous ideas, starting with the vinegar and water diet popularized by Lord Byron in 1820. Remember the Hollywood Grapefruit Diet, the Beverly Hills all fruit for 10 days diet, and the Cabbage Soup Diet? Unusual approaches included the Cheaters Diet (cheating required on weekends), Baby Food Diet, and Raw Foods Diet. Some diets we now view as distinctly unhealthful such as the Cigarette Diet of 1925, Drinking Man’s Diet of 1964, and Sleeping Beauty Diet of 1976 in which the dieter was sedated for days!

With all of this focus on diet, one would think our world would be thin and fit. But in reality, short-term and fad diets don’t do the trick. In celebration of Nutrition Month, March 2017, the Sansum Clinic Registered Dietitian Nutritionists offer tips to help you put your best fork forward: • Be active every day. It is more important to exercise regularly than vigorously.

• Start your day with a healthy breakfast including a little protein and vegetables too.

• Add vegetables to your lunch, tucking them into a sandwich or wrap and having them in soup or chili.

• Use the “plate method” at dinner. Fill 1/2 your plate with vegetables, ¼ plate with a lean protein and 1/4 plate with whole grains, legumes or potatoes.

• Eat vegetables of all colors – fresh, frozen, cooked or in a salad.

• Enjoy fruit for dessert.

• Drink plenty of water – flavor it with a slice of citrus or cucumber if you like.

• Eat slowly and enjoy the taste!

MARGARET WEISS is the Director of Health Education at Sansum Clinic. She obtained her Master of Public Health degree in Health Education from California State University at Northridge, her Bachelor of Science degree in Physiological Psychology from University of California at Santa Barbara and she is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist. Margaret has over 25 years experience in the Health Education field including patient education, worksite wellness and community based efforts to improve health. She strives to make health information easy to understand and to make changes to the world around us so that the healthy choice is the easy choice. In her free time, Margaret enjoys hiking, reading, and family.

Healthy food choices can lower your risk for disease, help you feel better, look better, and have increased energy. The dietitians at Sansum Clinic are trained in the science of nutrition and the art of understanding. They will work with you to make goals and create a plan of action to meet your individual needs. They also offer many small group programs to help you. Join us for Eat Healthy Eat Well, a 6-week guide to food knowledge and lifestyle changes for the real world. Or try Nutrition Navigator, a monthly discussion for people interested in food, health, and longevity.

For recipes, program information, and more details, please visit www.

SansumClinic.org/health-and-wellness or call our Health Resource Center, (805) 681-7672.

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ON SPORTS

by Chantal Peterson

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anta Barbara is chock-full of active, athletic people, and it seems like around every corner there’s a new studio or athletic program to join. But what about good old-fashioned outdoor sports – the kinds you play for fun, but that still offer athletic challenge?

In a place like SB where the weather is generally idyllic, beach volleyball, Frisbee and catch football need another cohort.

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Enter the burgeoning sport of Spikeball. What began as a casual backyard or beach game in the late ‘80s is now emerging as a popular sport recognized on a national level. The game is considered a cross between volleyball and foursquare, as teams of two pass a softball-sized ball between partners before “spiking” it onto a round net that measures three feet across.

You may have seen the set ups at beaches and parks around town; the short, round net and bright yellow balls are easy to spot. Common on college campuses and brought along for beach days, the popularity of the sport has grown exponentially over the past few years, evidenced by the first three annual national championships to date, which have attracted players from all over the U.S. The 2017 season is ramping up now, and as it happens, Santa Barbara is home to some of the best Spikeball players in the nation – the top two teams, in fact.

Two of these players include local athletes and former Westmont baseball players, Jarratt Rouse and Devin Matson, who placed 2nd in the nation at the USA Spikeball National Championship in 2015, and 3rd in 2016. Rouse, a former catcher for the Westmont baseball team and now a trainer at the Jenny Schatzle Program, discovered the sport a few years go on his college campus and has been actively involved ever since. Looking to build the local Spikeball community, he also hosted the 2nd Annual West Coast Spikeball Classic, which took place at East Beach in Santa Barbara in 2015.

They may consider hosting another Santa Barbara-based tournament this season or next.

Up until recently, players themselves have volunteered their time to host the tournaments around the U.S. This year,

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Team “Strange Embrace”

The two top teams in the nation – 2 Guys (Troy Mauk and Preston Bies) and Strange Embrace (Jarratt Rouse and Devin Matson)

Jarratt Rouse on the cover of the new Spikeball Pro box

however, due to the growing popularity of organized tournaments, Spikeball has been able to hire tournament directors to host the larger tournaments, signifying a big vote of confidence for the sport and its ability to appeal to a national demographic. Spikeball does and always has provided all of the equipment for the tournaments, and players pay an entry fee, which keeps the tournaments afloat.

The sport itself is actually called

“roundnet” – but the leading brand who makes the equipment for the sport, and which has proliferated the sport through organized, sponsored tournaments is called “Spikeball.” The success of the sport and the brand grow in unison, which is a novel business model in itself, but which has also become a huge catalyst for a new national community connected by an athletic game.

Spikeball (the brand) also sponsors the top eight teams providing things like jerseys and travel vouchers. Rouse and Matson also have local sponsors including Santa Barbara Bar and the Jenny Schatzle Program. All four locals, who make up the top two teams, are huge advocates for the growth of the sport, and say that the national community really feels more like family than anything, which is a huge draw for many players.

Although Spikeball seems to have a lot of traction on the West Coast, with top players sprinkled throughout the coast, Santa Barbara in particular, it makes sense that the sport would be popular all over the country given the portability of the set up (a relatively lightweight net set up) and that it can be played on a variety of surfaces, from turf, sand, and even pavement (although watch one game and you’ll see that there is a lot of jumping, rolling, and diving involved so a softer ground surface is ideal).

As Rouse explains, it’s unique to be part of the elite level of a rapidly growing sport from the very beginning. He says that the community is still tight-knit and feels like family. There are also creative perks for players, such as designing their own logos and jerseys, and the common practice of giving quirky names to their teams. For example, the top teams in

the nation, our local guys, are named “Strange Embrace” (Rouse and Matson) and “2 Guys” (Troy Mauk and Preston Bies).

The first West Coast tournament of this season was in San Diego on February 18 where Strange Embrace came home with the first-place win, and 2 Guys took second place. Considering that 2 Guys took the national championship last year, and Strange Embrace took 3rd, this season should prove to be an exciting one for the players. The next west coast tour stop is on March 18 in San Francisco.

So why would Spikeball appeal to

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the competitive athlete type? A casual observer might walk by a group playing on the beach and not think much of it – and certainly the game is still very much a casual afternoon sport for most.

But check out any one of the regional tournaments that take place around the country and you’ll see that the teams competing at the higher levels play the game in a very different way, requiring a higher level of athleticism and understanding of the subtle dynamics of the game.

Because the elite players are constantly working to evolve the game with nuance and complexity, Spikeball is genuinely becoming a highly competitive and therefore entertaining sport to watch or participate in. Jarratt says that the game has allowed him to continue to compete at a high level, something that was a huge part of his life throughout his life and into his college years as a Westmont baseball player.

Jarratt Rouse and Devin Matson actually ended up on the box of the Spikeball Pro set box – a surprise to them both – solidifying their place as the proverbial “poster children” of the Spikeball.

USAspikeball.com

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...continued from p.5

on the garden’s grounds. Their newly opened Pritzlaff Conservation Center gives a more public face to the work that has been taking place in the gardens since its founding.

A NEW SPACE TO CONSERVE The SBBG has been a powerful force in researching the genetics and intricacies of California’s native flora. Before the opening of the Pritzlaff Conservation Center (PCC) in 2016, the research taking place onsite would have to occur in the garden’s limited buildings. This often meant that a table that was being used in the morning for seed cleaning might become a microscope workstation later in the day. With over 1,000-sqft of new research space split between two labs, including a 440-sq-ft genetics and molecular research lab, the Prtizlaff Conservation Center now allows the gardens to continue their research with the proper space that has long been needed. In the past, the garden’s limited facilities have only allowed them to have about three volunteer researchers at a time; however, with the new building they have been able to expand their volunteer workforce to fifteen people.

The garden’s research used to happen behind closed doors, but their new laboratories have windows looking

The Redwood Section (photo by Tricia Wardlaw)

Education is key at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden (photo by Sally Isaacson)

into the workspace that allows visitor to watch the scientists as they work.

They are even working on microscope television displays that would allow the public to view what researchers are seeing under their microscopes.

The PCC houses their herbarium and seed bank in an underground facility that will help protect these precious resources from threats of wildfire. The herbarium stores over 150,000 preserved plant pressings of original botanical samples, with some pressings dating back to the 1800s. Their seed bank houses some 175,000 seeds and stores seeds for many of California’s native plants including critical samples of the Channel Islands

species. If by some chance a plant species is wiped out, the gardens could bring that plant back to an environment by tapping into their seed bank. Although the staff emphasizes that seed restoration techniques are often a last resort and it is usually healthier for the environment and genetic diversity of the species to bring back a culture from other living samples if possible.

The facility is a shining example of green architecture with the facility being LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certified. Earth tubes run throughout the building and collect air from the outside and run it through pipes that bring the air to ground temperature. This heats the air in the winter and cools it in the summer, greatly reducing their energy needs of the building. Solar panels on the roof charge a battery pack that stores backup power. This is especially important for the seed bank in the building that must constantly be kept at cold temperatures.

In the event of a power outage, the solar panels can power the seed bank refrigerators for several days on a single charge and will continue to be charged as long as there is still a sun. The conservation center is more than just staff facilities and is open to the public with outside decks and picnic tables that overlook the city below and the Channel Islands beyond.

A GARDEN THAT EDUCATES Many Santa Barbarians know the garden from their childhood. They either visited it with their parents as a child or went on a tour during grade school.

Frederique Lavoipierre, Director of Education, describes their educational program as “pre-K to gray” and works to produce live exhibits that go beyond plastic models and excite audiences of all ages. While the gardens provide fun and education to all ages, their school programs have influenced countless children and their Back Country Adventure program that is being developed will allow kids to explore our natural environment in a

more free and unstructured learning experience.

Frederique emphasizes that these experiences are an exploration of the senses, offering a different perspective on life. A bird walk will have a person focusing on the sounds of the garden while a soil display may have people looking into the depths of the earth. In addition to Channel Island trips, the SBBG offers the California Naturalist Program. This course takes place in the fall and is a ten-week program that is designed to train amateur naturalists, curious biologists, or even future docents in local natural resource conservation, education and restoration. The program is taught by local experts and consists of a three-hour course once a week for ten weeks with five Saturday field trips.

Not all of their events are purely focused on education. They will be hosting their sold-out 4th Annual Santa Barbara Beer Garden on Saturday, March 25. Their Summer Sips program provides a more casual atmosphere with wine and food accompanying a presentation on such topics as “Intergalactic Plant Interaction” and a “Celebration of Condors.” But the gardens are not just for people. Their popular Trails and Tails event takes place in the fall and gives one free admission for each dog brought to the garden.

While this event takes place on National Dog Day, the SBBG like to encourage guests to bring their four-footed companions at any time of the year.

These many educational programs and events help fuel the SB Botanic Garden’s mission of supporting conservation of California’s native plants and hope to inspire audiences to care and contribute for native ecosystems.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden offers a location that not just entertains guests but also educates our community and supports our local and unique ecosystems. The gardens are precious to the area and provides locals and visitors with a picturesque landscape that captures the beauty and diversity of California’s native plants.

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CREATIVE CHARACTERS FRAN COLLIN

I

f a picture is worth a thousand words, then Fran Collin is worth countless more. As a career photographer, Fran has snapped photographs around the world, capturing everything from people to food. The son of a photojournalist, Fran received his first camera at the age of 7, which he still owns. He set up his first dark room in their Vermont home around the age of 10.

Fran found himself most interested in portraiture, often taking profiles of his family and friends. Upon graduating high school, Fran joined the Air Force in 1975 as a photographer. As he was mostly self-taught the Air Force gave Fran an opportunity to practice the full range of photography styles from aerial photos to event coverage or even profiling visiting dignitaries. After leaving the service, Fran attended the Brooks Institute on the GI Bill in 1980. He stayed in the area for a while but eventually decided to head back to action-packed New York City.

Fran met his wife, Denise, in high school and the two of them began working in the industry around New York. Denise worked as an accountant for photographers, agents, and artists. Fran began assisting in various photography studios.

He worked for photographers such as Wayne Maser, traveling with Wayne through Italy while covering a Rolling Stones tour. As he began establishing his own career, Fran started doing portrait work for the suite of New York publications including the Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine, The New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly.

It was his work for Food & Wine Magazine where he began to profile different chefs. Oftentimes, he would

While in Rwanda, Fran Collin set up a natural-light studio to profile the different people and communities

by Zach Rosen

Fran Collin worked with World Dance for Humanity to profile the recovering communities of Rwanda

have to shoot a recipe for the chef profile, so Fran found himself doing more and more food photography. He had always loved food and been interested in chefs as the stars behind the meal. This new culinary journey drew his interest to the subject of food and the restaurant industry.

After doing a profile on him, the esteemed chef Daniel Boulud took Fran under his wing and began to connect him to other figures in the food industry.

Fran finds chef portraiture and food photography the perfect synergy, getting to not just exhibit what is brought to the table but also who is bringing it.

Most photographers are only known for one photography style and Fran was hesitant to integrate more food shots into his general body of work. It wasn’t until he returned to the Central Coast of California that he started displaying more of his work with food. While attending Brooks, Fran and Denise had fallen in love with Carpinteria and still kept in touch with their friends in the area. During a visit to Carpinteria, his daughter, Sofia, began to make friends in the area and wanted to go to high school here. The family decided to move to Carpinteria and while Fran was prepared to focus his work primarily on the West Coast, his services were still being requested by his New York accounts.

He spent the first five years commuting between Carpinteria and New York City but eventually began to work more with the local publications. Many of his photographs have graced the articles and covers of Edible SB, including his vibrant shot of pickled and fermented ingredients from chef Chris Rayman of Mesa Verde in the current Winter 2017

25

issue. His food photography will often juxtapose the organic, rich colors of various ingredients with a simple dark or light background that seems to cause the ingredients to glow.

Fran also tends to show food in movement. Whether it is steam rising from an oven or grain being poured onto a surface, these action shots capture the spirit of the ingredients, displaying the warmth and liveliness inherent to food and not representing it as a cold, static item on a plate.

During his time in Carpinteria, Fran has worked with every strata of the food industry. He feels his work has become more photojournalistic, exploring the food-to-table process with photos that capture the local farms and greenhouses, as well as restaurants and individual dishes.

Although Fran has a passion for food, he still continues his other photography work. He recently took a trip to Rwanda in collaboration with World Dance For Humanity, a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit that provides aid to underserved communities by raising money through dance and donors. Their work in Rwanda has helped bring everything from livestock to sewing machines to the Rwandan communities still recovering from the atrocities that occurred in the country.

8.00%

Fran traveled with World Dance for Humanity staff for 17 days, crisscrossing Rwanda and taking more than 20,000 photographs of the people and recovering communities there. Fran believed it was important to focus on the people there and set up a naturallight studio, offering to take portraits of anyone who was interested. He enjoyed this process, feeling that it was reminiscent of old times when getting a photograph taken was a special occasion.

For the future, Fran really just hopes to keep doing the same. He recently taught a photography class to a group of juniors attending the Multimedia Arts & Design (MAD) Academy at Santa Barbara High School. His photography career has left him with a lifetime of experiences and memories, some of them captured in print and many of them with his wife, Denise, having just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

From world traveling to culinary exploration, photography has provided an ongoing adventure to Fran, and he is open to wherever it takes him next.

Visit francollin.com to see a collection of his Rwanda photographs and greater body of work or worlddanceforhumanity.org for more information on their collection of projects.

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WHAT’SHANGING? I with Ted Mills

TALK SHOW

Ted Mills is a local writer, filmmaker, artist, and podcaster on the arts. You can listen to him at www.funkzonepodcast.com. He currently has a seismically dubious stack of books by his bed. Have an upcoming show you’d like us to know about? Please email: tedmills@gmail.com

MARCH ART MADNESS

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eah March, we see you! You’re a big, proud month, a sunny sun-of-a-gun who brings us daylight savings and more chances to walk the Funk Zone and elsewhere taking in galleries and boozeries. Here’s to hoping purse-strings are loosened, folks, because you know in the back of your mind that yes, you should be supporting the arts and finding things to brighten up your house. Or at least take down that “beer bottles from around the world” poster you’ve had since college.

FROM THE WAVES

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arianna Victoria Mashek creates wistful watercolors of nymphs, mermaids, and sea goddesses that look like they came from a turn-of-the-(last)-century picture book. Her mother, Galina Sakharoff-Mashek, was an artist and art teacher at the Montecito School for Girls, and Marianna has a bit of the old world in her work too. Susan Tibbles has curated a solo show of Mashek’s work, Fairie Tales, which runs through April 7 at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club, 2375 Foothill Road.

DAY CARE NIGHTMARE

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cotty Wagner is a performance artist and currently a MFA at UCSB by way of Michigan and once you’ve seen his current work “Trial Child,” by way of another planet. But what better way to observe the human species foibles and weirdness? In his solo piece, he plays all the roles in this tale of a family that decides to test out parenting with the “trial child” of the title, making sure they don’t turn junior into a series of future counselor visits. Do you think they’ll succeed? Two shows, one on March 11 and one on March 25, will answer the question, 8-9 pm.

(Video screenings of Wagner’s work take place March 18 at 8 pm.) Tickets for the performance are $5, with 30% of proceeds going to Planned Parenthood and ACLU. At SBCAST (513 Garden Street).

mentioned the current show at Westmont’s Ridley-Tree Gallery, “BOWERS / ERRE – SO CLOSE AND SO FAR” two columns ago. The show closes March 25, but the artists – Andrea Bowers and Marcos Ramirez ERRE – will sit down with Santa Barbara Museum of Art curator Julie Joyce for an in-depth discussion of art, social justice, immigration, and borders on Tuesday, March 21, 5:30pm at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St. And with that you can use the last four days to go see the show that you nearly missed. Do it!

BRADLEY ON THE AIR

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he Squire Foundation is hosting a fundraiser for its artist-in-residence program and also to celebrate their current Artist-In-Residence Peter Bradley, the abstract painter with a history of being influenced by jazz. To keep with the mixed media vibe, the evening will be a “night of blended art forms as paint, music, and poetry collide.” Joining Bradley will be our city’s Poet Laureate Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, pianist Peter Clark, dancer Kelli Forman, singer Mary Grace Langhorne, and artist Pali X-Mano, along with other Squire community artists. $125/$150 at the door. That door is located at 4515 Via Maria. March 16, 5:30-8:30pm. thesquirefoundation.org IN ADDITION

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completely free way to meet, greet, and check out Peter Bradley’s art also happens Thursday, March 23, 6:45-8 pm at the Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido Street.

THINGS WE MISSED

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onathan Smith and Kym Cochran unveiled their latest art work “1925” at Jardin de las Granadas this last First Thursday, and apologies for not telling you all sooner. The Jardin de las Granadas, by the way, is that patch of ground between Paradise Found on Anapamu and the former Coffee Cat on the corner of Anacapa.

(Congrats to the City, the County office of Arts and Culture, and Santa Barbara Beautiful for finally bringing public art back to the space.) The quartet of rock sculptures is a tribute to the earthquake of 1925 that transformed our city into the Spanish-themed burg you know and love.

THE NEW OLD STYLE

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lso overlooked but still with time to check out: the Museum of Art’s “Carved Paper: The Art of the Japanese Stencil” runs through May 7. Featuring a selection of katagami – the stencils used to dye patterns into clothing during the late Edo and Meiji periods –from the Museum’s collection, there is some very fine work that will make you wax nostalgic. “Why can’t we have fine things like this anymore?” you might say, for example. “Surely, we are a world of brutes!” (I have no answer to this conversation, but I like your accent.)

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nd finally, we missed the opening of Peter Horjus’s 47-painting solo show at The Guilded Table (120 Santa Barbara Street) but 20 are still hanging... apparently indefinitely.

Unless of course, you go and buy them (they’re affordable!). Horjus, who also designs logos (like the Nook, and the aforementioned Guilded Table), paints beautiful women of the 20th century in a Vogue illustration style, among other subjects.

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PLANB by Briana Westmacott When Briana isn’t lecturing for her writing courses at UCSB and SBCC, she contributes to The Santa Barbara Skinny, Wake & Wander and Flutter Magazine. Along with her passion for writing and all things Santa Barbara, much of her time is spent multitasking through her days as a mother, wife, sister, want-to-be chef and travel junky.

Writing is an outlet that ensures mental stability... usually.

SKI-IN. SKI-OUT. JUST GO SKI. Here we are in front of the Mountainside homes all ready to ski-out

Snowgazing from the bedroom window

design while maintaining a cozy, familyfriendly atmosphere. Our home had a media room for movie viewing and a hot tub on the downstairs porch. My kids were overly impressed, as were we.

Just above the home sits the Tree

BRIANA’S BEST BET

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anuburied’ was the term mountain people started to use for the massive amount of snow that dumped in January. Both Mammoth and Tahoe broke records with upwards of twenty feet of snow in that month alone. There’s no doubt, our peaks are piled with powder, even as we head into spring. If you haven’t gone yet, you need to go ski.

We had a few firsts this past winter that, lucky for us, coincided with the snowiest year on record in decades. We went to Park City for the first time to try out some of Utah’s slopes, and we got up to Tahoe to stay in a ski-in, skiout home on the mountain at Northstar Ski Resort. This, I have to say, was truly something.

Imagine not having to wrestle the skis, the poles, the boots, and the children into the car each morning. No need to pack backpacks with water, Band-Aids, snacks, and extra clothes. You don’t have to gear up for an eight-hour day that would tire even the most tireless.

No waking at 6am (you’re on vacation, damn it) to get everyone up, dressed in thousands of layers, and fed a complete breakfast that will hopefully last half the

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day. Nope, none of that was needed, because our house was located under the gondola, and if we needed something, we skied home to grab it.

During the winter of ’96-97, I lived in Tahoe and I have snowboarded and skied all over the western United States… but I have never slept on the mountain. The closest I came to this experience was when I was 21 and worked on the mountain. I lived in a condo at the base of Squaw Valley, and I waitressed at High Camp, a restaurant at the top of the Cable Car. I had a season pass. I let my car get buried in months of snow, and I sort of lived on the mountain. I snowboarded in and out to work. I almost died one time when we were evacuated from the top due to a storm, but that’s another story.

I never had the experience of waking up on the mountain.

Fortunately, this winter Mountainside at Northstar opened its doors to us and allowed us the ski-in, ski-out experience. Mountainside is a group of homes perched mid-mountain beside the gondola lift with sweeping views that extend out from floor-to-ceiling windows. The homes have a modern

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t may be a trek to get from Santa Barbara to Tahoe, but Mountainside will make all those hours logged on the road quickly slip away. You can find out more information about Mountainside at www.mountainsidenorthstar.com.

We stayed in the ‘Stellar’ home and there are options for VRBO rentals in the Mountainside community. ‘Stellar’ is currently for sale if you are looking for a permanent vacation. If I lived there, I would never leave!

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House, a hub with a pool, spa, fitness facility, lounge, and game room. When we needed more options for fun, we strolled up to the Tree House and utilized all of the amenities. Beyond the Tree House is the Ritz-Carlton, providing restaurants and bars that kept us full and happy. A concierge is assigned to you when you stay at Mountainside and they will conveniently come pick you up and drive you to the Ritz or the Tree House. (Although from our home, the Tree House was in our backyard.)

No need to tell you that we were feeling quite spoiled.

To top it all off, the concierge would deliver our ski passes each morning so that all we had to do was get ourselves out of bed and walk out the door onto the slopes. And midday, rather than packing into one of the lodges with thousands of other hungry snow enthusiasts, we quietly skied into our own kitchen and had homemade food.

It was so much better than getting a hot dog for $15. I think you get the picture.

Mountainside is a good life.

We stayed for a long weekend on that hillside. It snowed three feet of fresh powder over three days. We left with sore legs and sadness in our hearts that can only be felt when something really good comes to an end.

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...continued from p.20

several years successfully managed, the El Mirasol Educational Farm. Thousands of delighted and curious locals partook of the project. It’s not known if any Rockefellers stopped by.

Wealthy Lady with Last Name “Park” Fated to Fund One

the light. The city relented, Faletti and Price closed escrow on the long-embattled city block on the upper east side, and the deal was done. The arrangement included language that stated their purchase was with “…sole purpose of dedicating the property to the City of Santa Barbara for use as a free public park. “

By 1972, the museum’s cup runneth over with all things Mirasol and they moved to quickly unload the property to anyone who could afford it. The CEC did everything it could to buy the land on which their now fully functioning Educational Farm was flourishing, but couldn’t gather the funds. As the process rolled forward, the CEC peeps loudly suggested to the Powers That Be that whoever purchased the property should capitalize on the Chlorophyll Kingdom they’d laboriously created and turn the property into some sort of horticultural park.

On the quiet periphery of all the fuss, a couple guys took keen notice of the idea.

Accountant Reginald Faletti and attorney Francis Price (of powerhouse firm Price Postel and Parma) thought the idea had legs, and confidentially said as much to their client; a financially liquid local lady named Alice. Her father had founded the Superior Oil Company in 1922 and made a killing on the flammable sludge.

His name was William Myron Keck. NPR listeners will recognize the name of his philanthropic wellspring, as it is invoked in the preamble to most NPR programs; The W.M. Keck Foundation.

Keck, Park, and Mr. Leonarduzzi

Alice Quietly Gifts Crown Jewel

On December 5, six months after Alice’s passing, a telegram reportedly arrived in Santa Barbara, addressed to Alice Leonarduzzi. In Italian it read, “Happy Saint Barbara’s Day. Thinking of you always.” Obliged by law to locate any potential claimants on the estate, Mr. Leonarduzzi was tracked down by an attorney, and after a brief tussle with Alice’s estate accepted a $5M settlement. On Alice’s death the horticultural park that could not bear her name in life was given the honorific it bears today; the Alice Keck Memorial Garden.

As it happens more often than is commonly celebrated, this wealthy benefactress leveraged her oil fortune to improve her beloved adoptive town, which she’d first laid eyes on as a child. The mighty philanthropic W.M. Keck Foundation likewise blazed a trail of beneficence – from USC’s Keck School of Medicine to the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Key, Hawaii. Check it out. There is oil money all over the place driving scientific discovery and public curiosity about the larger world.

Think of it as another kind of spill.

On September 28, 1975, papers were quietly and quickly drawn up transferring funds in the amount of $800K to Faletti and Price for the purchase of the land, on the condition that Alice Keck Park’s identity as sugar mama not be revealed while she lived, and that the city accept the free gift in the form of a horticultural park, and nothing else. When the City of SB learned of the proposed purchase by the then-secret donor, they were not pleased. Planners had envisioned something with tennis courts, plastic benches, water coolers, people gamboling about in li’l white shorts, and so on.

But museum board president Carol Valentine had approached Elizabeth de Forest of the Botanic Garden board, and the future stewards of what would become the Alice Keck Memorial Garden signed on as guardians of the place. When these vegetation boosters enlisted (yeah) fire breathing, Santa Barbara-adoring Pearl Chase to gather her forces and get the city planners to see the light… well, they saw

Alice Keck Park died in 1977 at the tender age of 56, and the closing years of her life were characterized by a tantalizing bit of romantic intrigue. It seems Alice’s husband, David Park, passed away a mere three years after their marriage, in Paris.

David was the son of Montecito’s Charles Caldwell and Hellen Park, after whose domicile that village’s Park Lane is named. At any rate, with David gone, Alice began to travel widely and by 1962 had made the close acquaintance of a physical education teacher in Northern Italy, named Bruno Valentino Silvio Leonarduzzi.

They married in Colorado, whose “common-law” arrangement meant there would be no publicity surrounding their union, which was a must for the intensely private Alice. For reasons unknown the lovebirds parted abruptly in 1973, however, and never saw each other again. When she passed, it was discovered that the will she’d written in 1967, while in the throes of her time with Mr. Leonarduzzi, did not mention him, even in passing.

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IHeart SB

By Elizabeth Rose

I Heart SB is a social experiment in dating and relationships through stories shared with and experienced by a thirty-something living in the Greater Santa Barbara area. All stories herein are based on actual events. Some names, places, and timelines have been altered to preserve anonymity and, most of all, for your reading enjoyment. Submit stories (maximum 700 words) to letters@santabarbarasentinel.com.

FEAR

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rifle through I Heart memories like an old card catalog. Two years of stories read as the CliffsNotes of who I’ve become. The confessions, some candid more than others, begin with the summer romance that broke my heart open to love again.

I think back to the gentlemen that followed. The cocky surfer boy with an urge to “Netflix and chill.” The fifty-something dude who transformed our date into a therapy session. The cute firefighter I accosted on how to treat a lady.

The bartender, depressed over an ex, who excused himself mid-date to go home and watch movies – alone. The chemical engineer with a well-planned first date sealed with a garlic and fish flavored kiss. The single father who was just not the right fit. The Argentinian lover. The guy from EOS. The pen pal I laid naked with in the hot springs of Big Sur. The twenty-six year old I forgot to call back.

The man who’s become the love of my life.

I’ve hit rock bottom with my inner anxiety and have found a way to move on.

And yet, past issues regarding love and partnership still show up. Only this time with slightly adjusted façades, taking on different forms to test and see if I’m absolved of them. The same voice that once told me in my single life that I may not find true love now whispers from the pit of my stomach that the man I am building a life with may look at me one day and tell me he’s done. I swat the thoughts away like bloodsucking mosquitos. But they always come back.

That inner voice physically takes a hold on me. My teeth clench, the left side of my body goes faintly numb, and my head gets so clouded with fear I become distracted. As if my mind, body, and soul is holding its breath. I am sick of being a slave to the negative. D-O-N-E. I’ve hit rock bottom with my inner anxiety and have found a way to move on.

It happened over dinner. As I carried a plate of roasted yams and salmon to the table, I locked eyes with my sweetheart as he looked up from his phone. The feeling of pure love for this man rushed through my insides but then, moments later, the negative appeared. Don’t get too cozy. He could leave you at anytime! But instead of fighting this terrible thought with a positive one, I accepted the worst case scenario just to feel what would happen. And you know what? I knew I’d be ok. I accepted this possible fate, understood the risk, and was able to moved past it. I compare it to bungee jumping. There’s the possibility that when you step off the ledge, the cord will snap and you could die. But you sign a waiver anyway because the experience itself can add excitement and joy to your life.

I finally signed my waiver and now I can live in this partnership without the nagging fear of being left tearing away at my heart.

After I graduated college, my mom shared this piece of advice. She said, “The best gift you can give yourself is learning to be by yourself.” I love this quote.

It creates a wonderful practice that we all have the tools to do. Because no matter what happens to our family, friends, and loved ones, we will always have ourselves. The fact is, the scariest and most lovable person of all is the one we can’t escape. But learning to face our personal fears and anxieties can turn out to be the greatest escape of all.

I believe the darkness has a purpose. It resurfaces until we are pissed off enough to throw it away for good. The fear, anxiety, and hurt all stem from love, after all. They are just the echo of our past broken hearts.

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SYVSNAPSHOT

by Eva Van Prooyen Keeping a finger on the pulse of the Santa Ynez Valley: what to eat, where to go, who to meet, and what to drink. Pretty much everything and anything situated between the Santa Ynez and San Rafael Mountains that could tickle one’s interest.

LA VIE EN ROSÉ, A WILD VINEYARD RUN, AND A CHILI COOK-OFF PUPS ON THE PATIO he dog-friendly restaurant Succulent Café is home to one of the valley’s only south-facing outdoor patios offering up a premier sun soaking spot for dining with your dog. Owners David and Sylvia Brents say, “We know when you travel you want to visit places that accommodate your furry family member. All dogs are welcomed on our patio,” and the four-legged are welcomed with bowls of water and a house-made peanut butter treat. They even have a doggy menu with items ranging $1 to $8 that includes natural Angus beef patty, grilled chicken breast, and basmaticooked rice. The people menu is delicious too and promoted as “comfort cuisine with a gourmet twist,” featuring dishes like bourbon vanilla French toast, spicy fried chicken salad, pumpkin seed crusted rack of lamb, and charcuterie and cheese boards with all the jams, fruits, relishes, olives, nuts, pickled veggies, mustard, olives, crostini, and crackers one could ever hope for on a single wooden board. They offer wine, beer, and signature cocktails made with wine spirits and fresh juices, and it’s worth noting they serve breakfast until 3pm every day except Tuesday.

When: Open Monday through Friday 10am to 9pm, Saturday and Sunday 8:30 am to 9 pm Where: Succulent Café, 1555 Mission Drive in Solvang Info: Call (805) 691-9444 or visit www.suculentcafé.com

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WICKED WINE RUN ine-themed national fun run company Wicked Wine Run presents an “unforgettable race night out filled with wine, friends, and fun” that will have you giggling for many years to come. Avid runners, wine lovers, foodies, and couch potatoes are invited to race through the vineyards and trails of Gainey Vineyard to take part in the 5K, the 1K, or both. As for what to wear, racers are encouraged to “raid Grandma’s closet and your nearest party store because we want you to create the most insane costumes.” In addition to prizes for best costume, this untimed wine fueled fun run will award the top three male and top three female finishers to cross the finish line with wine swag. The event includes an awards after-party complete with live band, food trucks, and more wine.

When: Saturday, March 18 – 5 K Trail Run at 5pm and 1K Fun Walk at 6:30pm Where: Gainey Vineyards, 3950 East Highway 246 in Santa Ynez Cost: $30 - $75 per runner Info: For more information visit www.gaineyvineyard.com or www.wickedwinerun.com

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HIP HIP ROSÉ ational Rosé Day is officially celebrated on the second Saturday in June, but this month many Santa Barbara County wineries are rolling out new release rosés. Here are two wineries with specific invitations to celebrate the pretty in pink arrivals: Rosé All Day - Andrew Murray Vineyards is celebrating their 2016 Espérance Rosé. They add this wine to their collection each spring and are eager to, “celebrate right away” with a complimentary tasting. They will also be offering Rosé cocktails by the glass and serving tacos.

When: Saturday, March 18 from 11am to 2pm Where: Andrew Murray Vineyards, 5249 Foxen Canyon Road in Los Olivos Info: www.andrewmurrayvineyards.com - No reservations required Annual Rosé Release Party – Beckmen Vineyards unveils their 2016 PMV (Purisima Mountain Vineyard) Grenache Rosé alongside other white and red wines pulled from their library collection for a flight of wines reflecting a true celebration.

Hollywood’s famous Pinks Hot Dogs will serve an array of their delicious dogs, and rosé ramblers can enjoy live music, and special wine offers while soaking in the views of Santa Ynez wine country.

When: Saturday, March 18 from 12 to 4pm Where: Beckmen Vineyards, 2670 Ontiveros Road in Los Olivos Cost: $35 per person; all wine and food are included in the ticket price. $15 for Designated Driver (Food Only) Info: www.beckmenvineyards.com

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CHEERS AND CHILI uellton Wine and Chili Festival welcomes wine and chili loving buffs to sample wines from over 30 wineries and chili from over 20 different chili and salsa cooks at this spicy event. This year’s event will be an International Chili Society and Community Challenge Cook-off, with cash prizes ranging from $100 to $425 awarded in the categories of Red Chili, Verde, and Salsa. Tickets include a souvenir wine glass; unlimited wine and chili tasting; live music by Dusty Jugz and the Caverns, bocce ball, horseshoes, table tennis, mega-sized beer pong, cornhole, and yes, there will be beer too.

Tickets available for guests under 21 who want to sample some chili (minors must be accompanied by an adult). Children under 12 are free. SB Sentinel readers coming from Santa Barbara can jump on Figueroa Mountain’s Brew Bus for round trip bus fare of $25. Pickup will be at Figueroa Mountain Brewery in Santa Barbara (137 Anacapa Street) at 10:15am.

When: Sunday, March 19 from 12 to 4:30pm Where: Flying Flags RV Resort, 180 Avenue of the Flags in Buellton Cost: $45 per person, $10 under 21 years ‘chili only’ ticket.

Info: (805) 688-7829 www.buelltonwineandchilifestival.com

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A TROPICAL FAMILY AFFAIR rom Danish clogs to flip flops and Velkommen to Aloha, the City of Solvang hosts a Mother-Son Hawaiian-style luau for moms and sons to spend a funfilled evening together. There will be music, games, pizza, and memories. Tickets sell out so buy early.

When: Friday, March 24 from 5:30 to 8pm (dinner is at 6:30pm) Where: Veterans Memorial Building, 1760 Mission Drive in Solvang Cost: $13 and $9 additional sibling Info: www.solvangusa.com

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TINKERGARTEN ay more than just mud-pies, this play-based engaging outdoor group offers play-based classes is for kids 18 months to eight years old (and their adult). Collect nature treasures, make stone soup, concoct nature potions, build human-sized bird nests, and more. “Independent exploration, well-designed play scenarios and just the right guidance are the keys to kids developing a host of important capabilities, including self-reliance, creativity, teamwork, and problem solving,” says SYV Tinkergarten Leader Katherine Naphy.

When: Monday, March 27 from 9:30 to 10:45am Where: Hans Christian Andersen Park, 633 Chalk Hill Road in Solvang Cost: Free Info: for more information, call Katherine (310) 883-4684 or by email at katherine.naphy@tinkergarten.com

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