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Constitution

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1470 EAST VALLEY ROAD MONTECITO, CA • ( 805) 695-0220

1470 EAST VALLEY ROAD MONTECITO, CA • ( 805) 695-0220

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

5 Young Fashion Designers – These up-and-coming local fashion designers find inspiration through the scenery and culture of SB to create their designs

6 Beings & Doings – The 10% Rule of Energy Transfer tells us where to find unfiltered, spark-throwing Life. What if that could be bottled? Kate Farms. Full stop.

8 Montecito Miscellany – Fiesta Finale, MAW’s Summer Festival comes to a close, William Dalziel’s new book, and more miscellany

Letters to the Editor – Readers’ thoughts on the Miramar and Jeffrey Harding Tide Guide

Our Town – Cottage Health’s Ron Werft announces his retirement and Lakey Peterson chats U.S. Open and 805 Beer

Constitutionally Speaking – Constitutional debate, women’s rights, and more are all on the table (and stage) in ETC’s upcoming play

16 The Giving List – Lotusland’s Exceptional Plants Auction is coming this fall

The Optimist Daily – Be grateful for gratitude –it can help you live longer according to this study

18 Elizabeth’s Appraisals – Learn about Montecito’s own Olympic connections to art, literature, and other old Olympic creative categories

20 An Independent Mind – After his last article looked at Kamala’s past and policies, Jeffrey analyzes Trump’s platform and record

21 On Entertainment – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Ozomatli at the Lobero’s block party, Libbey Bowl bands, and more on music

24 Far Flung Travel – The treacherous trek through Boy Scout Canyon is worthy of a merit badge but the views along the way are worth it

25

Montecito Health Coach – Are you tired of not sleeping? Insomnia and other sleep issues affect a large number of the world’s populace.

26 Ernie’s World – The Olympics are happening and Ernie is getting his gear out and ready for the competition

The Way It Was – From midnight thievery to a chicken that ate the golden nugget, the common chicken wasn’t always so common and has an even more uncommon history

27 Brilliant Thoughts – There’s no way to get over it except to get through Ashleigh’s ideas on the way we get through things

29 Worth a Shot – The San Ysidro’s Ranch’s very first proprietary tequila is here and Gabe Saglie is willing to give it a shot – and you should too

30 News Bytes – Bring your posh pups out for Coast Village Week’s dog photo competition, 2nd Annual Black Youth Leadership Summit plus the State of the Black Community Survey, and a bevy of other happenings

40 Calendar of Events – More music and movies al fresco, Surf ‘n’ Suds on the beach, Jon Batiste at the Bowl, and more

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

43 Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

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

Young Fashion Designers

These Up-and-Coming Voices Also Grew Up Here

by Ella Catalfimo

Santa Barbara has bred a plethora of creatives, from photographers to artists and fashion designers, who have found inspiration through the community and scenery they have grown up around. This group of young, local fashion designers are currently launching their own brands and discussing their experiences and how Santa Barbara’s thriving community and culture have inspired them.

Baja Montecito

When Montecito local Wayne Siemens desired a product that authentically represented his hometown, he went to his 21-year-old grandson, Blake, for help. Blake, along with his longtime friends Andreas Schuetz, 20, and Luke Stimson, 23, created Baja Montecito, a luxury boutique brand that merges “the old and the new. We want to create the brand that is representative of Montecito,” according to Stimson. Baja Montecito currently sells their cotton ‘Montecito Cap’ in navy blue and has a wool version of the cap coming soon, as well as apparel and other accessories in the making. The caps include an embroidered outline of the Montecito mountains with the word ‘Montecito’ underneath.

When brainstorming their design, Siemens, Schuetz, and Stimson compiled mood boards, pulling inspiration from the landscape of the town. In their research process, the designers noticed that a common feature of the Montecito inspiration they drew was the Santa Ynez Mountains that, in effect, stand in the town’s foreground. “The mountains of Montecito have been there forever, and it’s one of the most prominent features of the town,” says Stimson. Terry Pillow , owner of the Coast Village boutique Homer Maker and someone the designers consider their ‘mentor,’ advised them to focus on creating a constant brand identity. The designers explained that they wanted to make a product that is “wearable for everybody... we have a new young crowd in Montecito; people are moving in as years go by and fashion’s changing.”

Siemens and Schuetz, who have grown up in Montecito, have noticed a shift in the type of fashion that Montecito residents gravitate towards, such as the

current ‘quiet luxury’ aesthetic, which Forbes defines as the “shift toward a more exclusive, intimate and personalized experience with less visible branding.”

For Baja Montecito, their take on quiet luxury is to brand their pieces with just the word ‘Montecito’ as a way to represent the community rather than the brand: “We think there’s sort of a void in the fashion scene here for a brand that represents Montecito as a whole.”

While the designers are very familiar with their hometown, they welcome advice from their friends and family.

“We have a whole network...in the local community that are suggesting things. It’s been great for feedback.” As for advice to their peers who are also starting out, the Baja Montecito designers say, “don’t settle for the first solution you find.”

They explained that it took months to create their product, accompanied by many trials and errors. In order to fully represent the Montecito community, Baja Montecito is donating a portion of its profits to the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade. “We know a lot of people who were personally deeply touched by [the brigade’s] efforts. They are an organization that is near and dear to our hearts.”

Baja Montecito is available for purchase at Homer Maker and on their online store at Bajamontecito.co. Follow their Instagram @BajaMontecito for updates and more information.

Champagne brunch

Toast to the weekend with our exquisite Champagne Brunch

Delight in a lavish peach cobbler paired perfectly with the finest bubbly.

Indi Fields

From Santa Barbara to New York City, Steven Fields has unified his love of fashion and design with his hometown

Page 354

The Original Montecito Cap by Baja Montecito

Beings & Doings Kate Farms Plants the Flag

by Jeff Wing

Brett Matthews is showing me around Kate Farms’ Innovation and Quality Center, a lab and office complex the size of an airplane hangar. Bewilderingly complex machines festooned with tubes are being tended to by folks in clean room suits. We stop outside a sealed central workspace and stare through a glass wall. The largish, inelegant contraption in the middle of the floor could’ve been cobbled together by Dr. Seuss.

“We don’t manufacture here,” Mathews yells over the mild roar of the place. “We make a little beaker full of product – a sample which has the right proteins and fats and vitamins and other ingredients –and we take that into this machine.”

Matthews is a former MUS Board President, serial entrepreneur, vanguard nutritional advocate and, since 2015, CEO of Kate Farms; a little operation that is parlaying the plant kingdom into high-octane metabolic rescue.

“That machine basically produces eight gallons worth of product,” Matthews says. “We have six manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and one in Canada – literally a million square feet. These systems are huge. So this is a miniaturized version.” He nods at Seuss. “It mixes and pasteurizes the formula and allows us to make sure that the tastes are right. So we can adjust and perfect based on eight gallons versus 8,000 gallons.” None of this is a dry entrepreneurial exercise for my host.

Hands-on and Jacuzzi-free

Brett Matthews is not one of those all-purpose CEOs to which we and Forbes have grown accustomed – an over-caffeinated corporate puppeteer with a C-Suitetooth and singular focus on shareholder value. As CEO (and parent), Matthews does not issue remote commands from a penthouse office with a full bar and jacuzzi. He is acutely immersed in Kate Farms’ humane mission and in the people who help him execute – a cohort who refer to themselves as Kate Farmers. Here he is now, standing next to me and staring through glass with the unconscious smile of an eight-year-old showing off his baseball cards.

“We want to make sure, of course, that what was produced is what it’s supposed to be.” He nods at the Seuss contraption. “And then we do hang tests with different pumps. So we test for

product flow through the pump and the purity of the ingredients. And of course that it tastes good.”

What sort of plant-derived foodstuff needs to both taste good and flow efficiently through a pump? Hellooooo Kate Farms. “We’ve got full-time technicians in here,” Mathews says. “We work with food scientists, molecular biologists, food safety experts...”

This plant-based evangelism all sounds very tie-dyed but has in fact long been the subject of endless peer-reviewed papers by such rumor mills as the National Institutes of Health; and the metabolic gifts of the plant kingdom began field testing about 2,000 years before paper itself was invented. “We know bad food can make you sick,” Matthews says. “Our whole thesis is that good food and plantbased nutrition can heal.”

Plant Life is Life

The sun blasts the earth with solar energy, our adorable home planet turning on its axis like a rotisserie chicken to receive an even coating of the cosmic largesse. 430 quintillion joules of energy bathe the planet every hour; a little more energy than all of humankind uses in a year. Earth’s verdant shag carpet – the Plant Kingdom – is energy’s first stop; the first trophic level in the food chain. From there, the story is one of pure loss, thanks to a sorrowful and annoying rule of biophysics called the “10% Rule of Energy Transfer.” 90% of the energy available at one trophic level is lost in the transfer to the next. Eat the bunny that ate the grass and you’re getting 10% of the energy the bunny got. Which is all to say, the plant kingdom is where all the undiluted energy lives. What if that could be bottled?

“I went to Proctor & Gamble in health-

Beings & Doings Page 284

Kate Farms employees at the new (largish) Innovation and Quality Center in Goleta, California – a unique lab-and-office complex (courtesy photo)

Montecito Miscellany

Fiesta’s Centennial Finale

by Richard Mineards

The 100th anniversary of Fiesta came to a glorious close with the 25th anniversary of the Fiesta Finale when 170 guests descended on the historic El Paseo restaurant raising around $100,000 for the John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts which helps musicians, dancers, artists, actors and authors chart their career paths.

More than $250,000 has been awarded to youngsters of all ages since the foundation was started by Lyn Profant in her husband Jack’s memory after his death in 1994.

The fun fête’s entertainment program featured the Martinez Brothers, vocalist Dennis Diaz, a parade of Brosik masks, Marisol Cabrera dancing escuela bolera, pianist Gil Rosas’ tribute to 100 years, a scintillating samba show with Grace Shuck and Adam Sanderson, a piano performance from recent scholarship recipient Cainan Birchim, 17 (who is attending Idyllwild Arts Academy this fall), a live auction conducted by the ubiquitous author and speaker Erin Graffy – with lots including diamond jewelry, a dinner for two at bouchon, brunch and a round of golf for two at Birnam Wood, and lunch for four at the Little Town Club with Franciscan friar Larry Gosselin who worked with Mother Theresa of Calcutta – the Don Quixote pas de deux by Rachel Hutsell and Eduard Sargsyan, popular opera selections by Camila Lima and Felipe Prado, and a tableau vivant of Spanish Dancers by Walter Harton with Lakshmi Basile, Aldo Ruiz, and Tina Love.

Among the flood of dashingly garbed fiesta fans were Anne Towbes, Mayor Randy Rowse, Rick Oshay and Teresa Kuskey, Riley and Dacia Harwood, Peter Hilf, Maria McCall, George and Laurie Leis, Brenda Blalock, Fred Brander, Frank Tabar, Mary Collier, James Garcia, David Bolton, Rebecca Brand, Ralph and Diane Waterhouse, Keith Moore, Hiroko Benko, and Stephanie Petlow.

All White and Blanc

Santa Barbara winemaker Doug Margerum celebrated the launch of his new sauvignon blanc with a boffo bash fieldside at the Santa Barbara Polo Club where the new label is being sold.

The evening was full of merriment, dance, and support for the arts (photo by Musette Profant)

The Profant sisters playing host to the audience and evening (photo by Priscilla)

Sisters Marta H. Babson and Henrietta H. Fore receiving their patron “Michelangelo” awards presented by Mayor Randy Rowse (photo by Priscilla)

LETTERS & VIEWS

Letters to the Editor

Miramar Recognition

Ifeel compelled to recognize the Miramar for hosting a terrific community barbecue this past weekend. I know many of us in the neighborhood appreciated the warm hospitality, the live music on the beach and delicious food and drinks. It made for one of the best afternoons this summer.

Beyond this event, I’m glad to have the Miramar close by as my family loves to come have cocktails on the deck or drink hot chocolate at Christmas time with the snow and everything else the hotel puts on during the wintertime. The Miramar has a beautiful enduring history here in Montecito and with my family. I feel that the new owners have not only done a very tasteful job at renovating it but also made us feel like we’re actually staying at the Miramar as year-round guests. Hence, I am a supporter of their plans to add some more neighborhood friendly shops, and I am so glad to see the Miramar stepping up for its workers and our community to provide some affordable housing. I encourage any concerned neighbors to learn more about this plan as I believe it will enhance our very special neighborhood.

Rob Hale

What Progressive Means

Excellent that Lanny Sherwin proudly proclaims status as Left and Progressive, partially for believing in such basic liberties as abolition of slav -

ery, women’s suffrage, protection of civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and women’s rights... all the same things in this modern liberal society that I as an Arch Conservative am for. Praise the protection of every citizen’s individual rights under our Constitution. As an addition, I might suggest that the advancements in human progress around the world come about mostly by the free-market capitalist system protected by strong business ethics. Even Communist China in the 1980s created a dozen capitalistic zones and lo and behold suddenly there were several million middle class Chinese. It’s really free market individuals and businesses that are increasingly “progressive” by offering workers pension benefits, insurance benefits, medical insurance benefits, paid vacations, etc. Our majestic Montecito is what it is today through the settling of successful entrepreneurs of all types. So, we all want inclusion and diversity, but some of us want it based on Merit, not as a gift. That’s the American Dream. Let’s preserve it.

Roger Colley, Montecito

Support for Housing and Shops at the Miramar

I admit I never gave much thought to creating housing at the Miramar – but now that the proposal is on the table it makes all the sense in the world. It

helps Montecito get closer to meeting our housing requirements, while also giving local workers a home for themselves and their families closer to work in this extraordinarily costly community. And a few local shops and market-rate apartments will help make the whole thing financially sustainable for the long-term, without costing taxpayers a dime. We’ve personally had a great experience since The Miramar opened in 2019, and I’m heartened to see the Caruso team working hand-inhand with our community to deliver a project we know will be first class.

Diana Starr Langley

History or Spin?

In reading Lanny Sherwin’s criticism of Jeffery Harding’s recent article, I was struck by the factual errors in his letter. Without delving into all of the errors, the most glaring is when he wrote, “… I, too, believe in social liberties that Progressives have fought for. Things like the abolition of slavery, …, the protection of civil rights, …”

If Mr. Sherwin were to study American history, he would learn that the Progressives, the Democrat Party, actually fought for slavery and against the protection of civil rights. The South was solidly Democrat, initiated the Civil War in an attempt to preserve slavery and, for almost a century after the Civil War, continued to undermine civil rights. Following the Civil War, the Democrat Party was even the origin of the Ku Klux Klan, which certainly did not protect civil rights. The Republican Party was founded as a coalition of anti-slavery parties and Lincoln was the first Republican President elected.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat by the way, once said, “Everyone is enti-

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE

tled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Perhaps Mr. Sherwin could learn from that Progressive.

Sincerely,

Art Thomas

Santa Barbara

Editor’s Note: Words change meaning over time.

Thanks to Jeffrey

Thank you Jeffrey [Harding] for sharing your independent thoughts in “It’s Kamala”.

Aug 13

Aug 15

Aug 16

Executive Editor/CEO | Gwyn Lurie gwyn@montecitojournal.net

President/COO | Timothy Lennon Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net

Managing Editor | Zach Rosen zach@montecitojournal.net

MoJo Contributing Editor | Christopher Matteo Connor

Art/Production Director | Trent Watanabe

Graphic Design/Layout | Stevie Acuña

Administration | Jessikah Fechner

Administrative Assistant | Kassidy Craner VP, Sales & Marketing | Leanne Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net

Account Managers | Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Elizabeth Scott, Natasha Kucherenko

Contributing Editor | Kelly Mahan Herrick

Copy Editor | Lily Buckley Harbin

Proofreading | Helen Buckley

Arts and Entertainment | Steven Libowitz

Contributors | Scott Craig, Ashleigh Brilliant, Kim Crail, Tom Farr, Chuck Graham, Stella Haffner, Mark Ashton Hunt, Dalina Michaels, Robert Bernstein, Christina Atchison, Leslie Zemeckis, Sigrid Toye, Elizabeth Stewart, Amélie Dieux, Houghton Hyatt, Jeff Wing Gossip | Richard Mineards

History | Hattie Beresford

Humor | Ernie Witham

Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri

Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook

Food & Wine | Melissa Petitto, Gabe Saglie, Jamie Knee

Published by:

Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC

Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108.

How to reach us: (805) 565-1860; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108; EMAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net

I applaud you for speaking up and pointing out actual facts about Kamala’s persona. I agree completely the criticism of Harris’ policies will be more effective than hurling insults. It is good to hear a strong conservative opinion in the Montecito Journal. I hope to read more from you.

Cheryl Ellis

Support for the Miramar

I want to share my thoughts on the proposed Miramar expansion.

The Rosewood Miramar has been a wonderful addition to Montecito. The staff are warm and welcoming, the hotel and beach are stunning, and there always seems to be an event or celebration to enjoy. I’ve been truly impressed by the robust, and incredibly thoughtful, outreach effort within the community about their plans to add affordable employee housing and resort retail. They have been listening to the community

every step of the way and I could not support them more.

The Miramar is a wonderful addition to our community, and we are extremely lucky to have them.

Yours sincerely,

Alice Hampton Founder & CEO, ACP Management Group LLC

Consider the Options

Thank you for publishing letters from Lanny Sherwin and Barry Cordon commenting on the misleading smear job by Jeffrey Harding in his “It’s Kamala!” column in the MJ

I’m surprised Harding’s mean-spirited Trumpster remarks and characterizations passed MJ muster.

I’d merely ask Mr. Harding to consider the lying, narcissistic convicted felon alternative.

Frank DiMarco

YOUR LETTERS MATTER!

Our Town

SB Cottage Health’s President & CEO

Ron Werft Retires

by Joanne A Calitri

President & CEO of SB Cottage Health Ron Werft first made his announcement to retire via internal hospital communication last week, resulting in a press release the same day. The announcement initially caught both internal staff and the town a tad off guard, in view of his full-on 37-year career at SBCH, one marked by many firsts and milestones for the hospital. He will remain on board through the transition of his replacement, targeting the retirement date in 2025.

During Werft’s tenure at SBCH, he and his team secured record donations to Cottage Health, including $65 million by Mary and Richard Compton, earmarked for the Compton Center for Medical Excellence and Innovation, as well as naming its new ER Trauma Center after Naomi and Ben Bollag for their generous funding.

The hospital’s expansions included its 20-year construction yielding a complete make-over to meet seismic safety regulations; regional expansion with the construction of the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital and the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital; liaisons with universities via the Cottage Center for Population Health and the Cottage Health Research Institute; and new specialty areas of medicine in trauma care, neuroscience, cardiology, orthopedics, pediatrics, and psychology.

Werft served as a trustee of the American Hospital Association, chair of both AHA’s Region 9 Policy Board of California Hospital Association, and the Hospital Association of Southern California; and as a board member of Santa Barbara Partners in Education, CenCal, Santa Barbara Fighting Back Coalition, Vizient West Coast, United Way, and World Telehealth Initiative. He was awarded the 2013 CHA Award of Merit for outstanding contribution

to the California healthcare community, and the 2015 Walker-Sullivan Fellowship presented by California Health Foundation & Trust.

I was granted an email interview with Werft through hospital PR Management to discuss his decision and upcoming plans. Here is our transcript:

Q. Among what may be many factors in your consideration to retire, what was the defining one sealing your decision?

A. It was a combination of factors that made this feel like the right time for me to retire. Cottage Health is in a good place to serve the community now and in the future. Cottage has a talented

Board of Directors who bring diversity of backgrounds and experience to their leadership, and an exceptional executive and medical staff leadership team that is well-prepared to continue our mission with a new leader.

Five-star quality and top decile patient satisfaction at Cottage is driven by our culture of shared governance that focuses on patients first throughout the organization. Patient feedback is better than ever. Everyone has a role in carrying forward our 132-year legacy of caring, of serving as a not-for-profit organization built by this community we cherish. It’s important to all of us.

Our Town Page 334

FEATURING:

Treatment

Dr. James Bailey, an orthopedic surgeon affiliated with Cottage Health, will be on hand to answer your questions. Learn about the importance of a good shoulder exam and common treatment for various shoulder problems.

• What to expect during a shoulder exam

• Common causes of shoulder pain

• Discuss various treatment options

Ron Werft, President and CEO SB Cottage Hospital (courtesy photo)

ESTATE GROUP

Constitutionally Speaking

ETC’s

Newest Play Brings Understanding and Entertainment to the Constitution

by Zach Rosen

As a high school student with governmental aspirations, I attended a two-week program in Washington, D.C. to study constitutional law – one of the highlights on the syllabus was the promise to meet and hear one of the Supreme Court Justices speak.

While Antonin Scalia may not have been my personal choice of who to meet (to put it diplomatically), his words have stuck with me for the past 20 years. “Read this document. Know it,” Scalia stated, wagging a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution over the crowd of bright-eyed students.

In Ensemble Theatre Company’s upcoming play, What the Constitution Means to Me, the audience has a chance to get to know this document better – and all without traveling to D.C. or meeting a less personally preferred Justice.

The play, written and originally performed by Heidi Schreck, explores the

film on streaming services with Schreck performing the role on screen.

The award-winning What the Constitution Means to Me is set to make its Santa Barbara debut at ETC’s New Vic Theatre from Aug. 15-18. The production, which has been touring the Midwest, arrives in California thanks to a connection between the producers and local theater enthusiasts.

This rendition of the play is produced by actress Stacy Stoltz and her husband Matt Hawkins – a professor, Director of Musical Theatre, and Acting Director of Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. Stoltz, who plays the lead role, was inspired to bring the play to Notre Dame after watching a production during the pandemic.

“I was so ignited and moved. I was thrilled to be hearing some of the ideas in the play. It seems to be starting a conversation that was really, really important to me at the time,” Stoltz explained.

ences will be inspired to learn more about the government and Constitution: “We talk politics all the time, but I’m not sure we really know what we’re talking about.”

U.S. Constitution through the lens of four generations of women in Schreck’s family. It delves into topics such as women’s rights, reproductive rights, and who is protected by the Constitution.

The play would go on to get nominated for Best Play in the 73rd Tony Awards and a finalist spot for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It has since become not just a popular play, but also an esteemed

The play is on a mini tour through the country with performances in various Midwest locations, including county libraries. Santa Barbara marks their fifth stop, with two more locations planned for September.

The show features three roles: Stoltz as the lead, a “Legionnaire” character played by Chicago actor Paul Fagen, and a student debater cast locally in each tour stop. In Santa Barbara, the student role will be shared by a high school student and a college student.

Both Hawkins and Stoltz bring decades of Chicago theater experience to this production. Stoltz noted, “Our production is going to be authentic and different from anything that may have toured before.” So even if one has seen the play before, Santa Barbara’s run offers something new.

Working together as a married couple gives the meaning of the play an additional layer. In production, their familiarity has allowed them to move confidently and interact effectively – having that marital shorthand communication – but the meaning of the play has also brought unique insights. Hawkins reflected on how the play has affected his personal understanding of women’s plight. “It’s been a really hard but enlightening journey... once you start to look at it from a legal perspective and of what a woman has to go through, not just socially, but legally, textually and constitutionally, that’s where I see the facts.”

Despite tackling serious topics, Hawkins emphasizes the play’s entertainment value: “It’s so much fun. There’s so much energy and excitement. Stoltz basically plays a 16-year-old girl at the beginning... So you get to meet the Constitution through a 16-year-old, which is hilarious.”

The production aims to spark curiosity about civic engagement and the country’s founding documents. Hawkins hopes audi-

Stoltz and Hawkins have had to essentially “take a civics class” during the development of this play with both of them discovering unknown details in our country’s history and the Constitution along the way. Sometimes asking, “Is this really in there?”

“Did the Supreme Court really do that?”

As Stoltz’s character grows, so does her understanding of the Constitution – with the audience getting to deepen their own understanding of this living document as the play progresses.

A unique feature of the show is a live debate that occurs near the end. “There’s a 20-minute live debate with a young student debater,” Stoltz explained. “The fact that we’re doing that at all, that we’re having this conversation, it is hopeful.”

After each performance, the producers host Q&A sessions with community leaders. Hawkins shared, “We’ve got constitutional law professors there to talk to us.” A former state senator, a current state representative, district attorneys and former district attorneys have all been or will be featured. (One may even see the MJ’s Gwyn Lurie during one of these Santa Barbara segments.)

The producers are also thrilled about the student debaters participating in Santa Barbara. “The college and the high school students that we have, Grace Wilson and Nicola Bailey, they’re so excited to share this. We really want to get young people excited,” Stoltz said.

The producers are particularly keen on engaging younger audiences. “We’re hoping to inspire young people to come see the play. The play is free for all students. Students of any age can come see this play for free,” Stoltz emphasized.

“What we want people to take away is to be curious about the things you don’t know about and approach those things with generosity,” Hawkins added. So whether a weathered history buff, inquisitive student, or just an American – everyone has something to learn about What the Constitution Means to Me.

Stacy Stoltz as Heidi in the Notre Dame production of What the Constitution Means to Me (courtesy photo)

Paul Fagen plays The Legionnaire in What the Constitution Means to Me during the Aug. 15-18 run (courtesy photo)

The Giving List

Exceptional Plants Auction: Lotusland’s Horticultural Hoedown

by Steven Libowitz

Crossing Encephalartos horridus with Encephalartos woodii might sound like the formula for developing the world’s next deadly disease. But horticulturalists will realize that it’s actually a unique cycad hybrid – one that results in super spiny and glossy green leaves. The Lotusland-created specimen will be among the hundreds of rare and specimen

Lotusland’s Exceptional Plants

Auction is coming this October (photo by Nell Campbell)

Be Grateful, Live Longer: How Gratitude Boosts Longevity And Well-Being

Arecent study of over 50,000 older women discovered that those who felt more grateful had a considerably lower probability of dying within the next three years. This research shows that gratitude may be more than just a feelgood emotion; it could be the secret to living a longer, healthier life.

Gratitude has long been recognized for its power to improve our mood and overall well-being. On top of those benefits, it now seems to play a significant role in extending our lifespan.

Ying Chen of Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program led the current study, which used data from the Nurses’ Health Study, a long-term effort that has been studying the health of thousands of American women since 1976. In 2016, participants were asked to score their sense of gratitude. Their responses were then later examined to determine whether there was a correlation with longevity.

plants available at the Montecito botanical garden’s 13th annual Exceptional Plants

Auction coming this October.

Billed as the ultimate plant party, the annual auction – the only one at a botanical garden on the west coast – attracts more than 300 of the region’s top plant experts, collectors and aficionados vying for the chance to take home exceptional botanical treasures. About 40 percent of the auction

The Giving List Page 374

The results were stunning. Women with the greatest gratitude scores were 29% less likely to die in the next three years than those with the lowest values. This correlation remained even after controlling for age, marital status, social and religious activity, and overall health. Even after accounting for particular health concerns such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes, the most thankful women had a 27% decreased risk of dying. Even controlling for added lifestyle variables such as smoking, drinking, exercise, body mass index, and diet quality, the most grateful women had a 21% decreased chance of dying.

While these findings are compelling, it’s worth noting that the study demonstrates correlation rather than causality. However, it opens up fascinating new avenues for future research and practical applications in health and well-being.

The latest findings add to an expanding body of evidence indicating that thankfulness has several health advantages. People who practice thankfulness regularly have better cardiovascular health, lower levels of inflammation, and decreased cholesterol levels. They are also more likely to practice healthy habits such as frequent exercise, a balanced diet, and adequate sleep.

Furthermore, gratitude is linked to decreased rates of sadness, increased social support, and a stronger feeling of purpose – all of which are associated with longer life. Incorporating gratitude into your daily routine will not only improve your emotional and physical health, but it may also help you live longer.

PLACES TO LIVE. PLACES TO LOVE.

Miss Daisy’s

Elizabeth’s Appraisals

Olympian Art of the Ages

by Elizabeth Stewart

The ancient Olympic Games took place every four years between 776 BCE and 393 CE and ceased in the 3rd century because of “pagan” claims by a Christian Roman Emperor. The Games were reinvented and reinstated in 1896 by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin; his vision was to create “modern” Games that celebrated excellence in body and mind. He proposed an Art and Architecture Olympic competition in 1906 to accompany the Games, premiering at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.

A Montecito connection to the early 20th century Olympics was an athlete who represented the U.S. in the 1912 Olympics in the Pentathlon, (in his later years, Montecito’s own) Avery Brundage. After completing an engineering degree from the University of Illinois, he capitalized upon the Chicago construction boom in the 1920s. He married wealthy Chicago socialite Elizabeth Dunlop in 1927, and by 1929, he became President of the U.S. Olympic Association. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) admired Brundage’s work; Brundage headed the U.S. Olympic Association for 24 years. In 1946, Brundage purchased the Escondrijo estate on Ashley Road in Montecito, and built a magnificent estate

there, “La Pineta,” for which he collected rare Asian art. When the 1964 Coyote Fire destroyed a number of Montecito homes, La Pineta’s 20 room estate, decorated with priceless art, was burned. Brundage then bought the Brünninghausen Estate on Hot Springs Road. During his tenure in Montecito, Brundage owned the Montecito Country Club, El Paseo, the El Presidio block (De la Guerra house), and the Montecito Inn. In lavish Montecito parties, he entertained the blue-blooded members of the IOC over many years.

Beginning in 1912, Olympic Games included gold, silver, and bronze medals in Olympic Art competitions. The five categories of the arts were called the Pentathlon of Creativity in the tradition of the Greek Muses: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. The Olympic committee formed an international art jury which formed the rules: a work had to be original, sport inspired, and an artist could submit many entries in many categories as well as compete in sports. The founder of the modern Olympics, de Coubertin, was also a poet and won Gold in the category of literature for his “Ode to Sport.”

The arts figured in the Olympics for over 40 plus years, and in the 38th year the category of Literature expanded to include Epic/Dramatic/Lyric forms, and the category of Art expanded to paintings/prints/

watercolors; an Architecture category was added in 1928. Having had a slow start with artwork submissions, by the mid 1920s at the Los Angeles Games in the late 1920s, the Museum of History, Science, and Art during the Olympics saw 384,000 visitors. However, the rules established by the International Olympic Committee in 1948 ran counter to the rules for sports competition; all competitors had to be amateur, and many of the artists who had previously submitted work were career artists, and sold their works submitted during the Olympics. At the last years of the art competitions, Germany had won the most gold medals for art, closely followed by a tie between Germany and France.

Two Sports medalists also won Gold in the Arts category: sculptor, painter, and illustrator Walter Winans won Gold for his sculpture Harness Racer: an American Trotter. He also won gold for Marksmanship. A Hungarian swimmer and architect, Alfréd Hajós, won Silver in town planning and a Gold in swimming. The connection between the Games and art endures, as we saw in Paris’ 2024 Games opening events. In the Olympic charter the host country is required to have artistic cultural events when the Olympic village is open. Artist Marjane Satrapi in 2024 created five fabulous 9-meter-long wool tapestries that hung in the spaces between the girders of the Eiffel Tower: images of two runners, one male, one female. For other public art spaces she created images of a javelin thrower, and images of two new Olympic entries – a breakdancer and a skateboarder. The tapestries were woven under the artist’s supervision by the famed Gobelins Manufactory established in the 17th century by Louis XIV. Furthermore, the IOC, in conjunction with the City of Paris, chose Los Angeles artist Alison Saar to design works in honor of the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024. Honoring great women, these sculptural works “pass the torch” – linking the City of Lights to the City of Angels (Olympic Games 2028).

If you want to see more art, please check out the world’s largest collection of Olympic culture and heritage at the Olympic Museum of Lausanne, Switzerland, with an emphasis on the values of respect, friendship, and excellence.

Elizabeth Stewart, PhD is a veteran appraiser

any objects to be appraised to Elizabethappraisals@ gmail.com

Avery Brundage at the London Olympics in 1948 (public domain)

American-born British marksman, sculptor, and painter, and Olympic medalist in shooting, Walter Winans (public domain)

An Independent Mind

by Jeffrey Harding

My last article (“It’s Kamala!”) was about Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. This one is about Donald Trump as nominee for the Republicans.

I’ve written a lot about Trump over the years, most of it critical of him and his policies. Like my article on Kamala, I try to rely on facts, data, and common sense on which to base my analysis.

My main gripe with Trump is that I know what he says but not what he will do. He seems to be making it up as he goes along. One critic wrote that his policy is the last thing that was whispered in his ear. I think that is an exaggeration but it has a ring of truth.

I have studied the platform published on his website and I have listened to some of his speeches. He also has a track record from his Administration. He says a lot of things and wanders all over the board, but he has been consistent on several issues, and I presume he will act on them: tariffs, immigration, tax cuts, and regulatory cutbacks.

Tariffs

The problem, Trump says, is that unfair trade practices by China have hollowed out manufacturing in America and we need tariffs to bring back jobs to America. He proposes a 10% tariff on all imported goods. His premise is false. Manufacturing is booming in America. Free trade and China are not the problem.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, U. S. manufacturing output has increased 85% and GDP has tripled. The U.S. is still the second largest manufacturer worldwide (16% of world manufacturing) after China (32%).

The main reason manufacturing employment has slightly declined was the massive impact of technology, innovation, and capital investment within and without the U. S. This is a worldwide phenomenon. But, with all the disruption – plus China entering world trade – American manufacturing jobs only declined 15% (from 15.3 million to 13 million today). Not exactly a “hollowing out.” Total U.S. employment is now higher than ever. The current unemployment rate (4.3%) is the

same as when China entered the WTO. Tariffs punish all American consumers because we pay for them, not China. Tariffs are a tax we pay on goods we buy. Tariffs cause us to spend more for goods we used to buy from China or for higher cost American made goods. Increased costs mean we will have less to spend on other things, making us poorer. A 10% tariff is estimated to reduce GDP growth by 1% to 2% or more. That would be a significant hit if growth was 3% to 4%.

Immigration

Just so you know, I am not in favor of open borders. This is a huge problem because we have laws on the books that let anyone gain temporary entry by claiming they are fleeing persecution and violence. Maybe the law meant well but it opened the door wide to anyone making that claim. I can’t blame anyone wanting to escape poverty, corruption, and violence. But at present it seems to be an open door. Reliable estimates say there are about 10 to 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Trump talks about deporting 15 to 20 million illegal immigrants en masse but that may be off-the-cuff campaign rhetoric for which he is famous. During his administration he had deported illegal immigrants with criminal records, and so does Biden. Mass deportation would be infeasible. Ignoring the logistics and cost of such, Pew Research estimates that illegal immigrants make up about 5% or more of the workforce. Deporting them would lead to a recession.

Trump will build a wall, but what that means is not known. During his administration he built 52 miles of new wall, 33 miles of secondary walls, and repaired or replaced 373 miles of existing barriers. In his nomination acceptance speech Trump said Hispanics “spread misery, crime, poverty, disease and destruction to communities all across our land.” He has been factchecked ad nauseum on this issue as being a major untruth. He doesn’t support DACA or the Dream Act, these laws would grant residency status to immigrants who were illegally brought into the country as children.

Tax Policy

During his administration Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. Trump has vowed to continue the 21% tax rate or even reduce it further. Democrats have advocated a 28% rate. Federal tax revenues have roughly doubled since that rate was enacted in 2017 and GDP has grown another 33%. While not the sole cause of such growth, I believe that the tax cuts combined with the perception by businesses that businessman Trump would support them

contributed to more growth and jobs. Trump proposes eliminating taxes on low-income seniors’ Social Security income and on restaurant tip income. He has said he will reduce taxes on the middle class but has provided no details. He opposes a wealth tax.

Inflation

Inflation is caused by Fed policies that increase the supply of money and credit in the economy. Inflation is not caused by supply-demand issues that were experienced during the pandemic. All of Trump’s policies to reduce inflation have to do with supply-demand issues that have been mostly solved post-pandemic. These policies do not impact true inflation which voters have been complaining about.

Trump Platform

There is a long wish-list of things Trump claims he will do to “save” America and restore good old-fashioned values that appeal to his MAGA base. Most of these are MAGA social issues which a president or Congress hasn’t the power to solve.

Conclusion

The problem with Trump is Trump. Based on his speeches and comments, he seems to be unable to control his impulses leading him to say outrageous things and exaggerate or lie about, well, almost everything. It makes it difficult to analyze his policies.

As a believer in freedom and free markets as the best way to bring prosperity to all citizens, there are some positive things in his policies but they are countered by the negative results of other policies that he proposes. Politicians are famous for ignoring the unintended consequences of politically popular policies to get elected and Trump is no different. He will pursue immigration, tariffs, and cut taxes, but the details are unknown, only to be revealed when and if he wins the election.

Now that I’ve covered Harris and Trump, my next article will be a comparison of the plusses and minuses of each candidate. Stay tuned.

Jeffrey Harding is a real estate investor and long-time resident of Montecito. He previously published a popular financial blog, The Daily Capitalist. He is a retired SBCC adjunct professor.

CAROLINE ROSE SANTANDREA 1944 – 2024

On Entertainment

Big Bad Swinging in the Sunshine

by Steven Libowitz

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the swing music and jump blues band whose members hail from Ventura and Santa Barbara, got its start in the early 1990s with club gigs that include twice playing the Santa Barbara Independent’s Christmas party at El Paseo Restaurant. As the swing revival hit SoCal, BBVD scored a pivotal on-screen appearance in the 1996 indie movie Swingers – which propelled Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn to stardom –then grew in popularity to the point where they performed at the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999.

Long outlasting other swing revival bands, BBVD has ridden the strength of such hits as “Go Daddy-O” and “You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)” along with propulsive covers of songs by influences Louis Prima (“I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book) and Cab Calloway (“Minnie the Moocher”) to an enviable longevity including appearances at sold-out venues from the Hollywood Bowl to Lincoln Center. The (still) Ventura-based band has logged well north of 3,000 shows in all, but somehow none of them at the Lobero Theatre.

That all changes on Saturday afternoon, August 10, when BBVD headlines the second (annual?) street concert that will shut down Canon Perdido for a free community block party as part of the Lobero’s centennial celebration. Technically, the band won’t be playing inside the hallowed theater, but rather on the esplanade in front, sharing the bill with Ozomatli, L.A.’s salsa/hip-hop/ reggae/rock/funk ensemble.

“I’ve always wanted to play the Lobero, so it’s a start,” said Scotty Morris, BBVD’s big-voiced lead singer and chief songwriter – who named the group after what blues guitar legend Albert Collins called him in an autograph. “I’m hoping after this they might book our 17-piece Big Bad Big Band to play inside next year.”

In the meantime, Morris is thrilled to be performing in Santa Barbara for the first time in years, bringing the band’s horn-infused high-energy show to fans and newcomers alike.

“I’ve been in love with this music since I first heard swing, when Betty Boop cartoons would come on between the Popeye episodes in the mornings,” he said. “There’s just something about that music that resonates with me, and I’ve been chasing that sound ever since.”

Morris partly credits the BBVD’s suc-

Last Look: Mini Moments of Music Academy Magic

given its due with a pause at piece’s end.

Your faithful correspondent was not able to attend as many MAW performances as he would have liked this summer, but the few that were attended revealed that the Academy is making great progress in its ambitious endeavor to be the most important summer institute in the land, a good omen for the just-launched Shauna Quill era. Here’s what lingers from the events I attended:

The way the staging, the set and the performances for Ravel’s one-act chamber opera L’enfant et les sortilèges came together – particularly with the adorable Sing! chorus members who more or less stole the show.

Timo Andres ripping through Philip Glass’ “Piano Étude No. 10” – tan suit, bright red socks and fantastic flair included.

cess to the fact that all the band members share his level of passion and are dedicated to playing their best at every performance, infusing the mix of swing music – mostly Morris originals with a passel of classic covers – with a more modern-day edge.

“The footprints we have to follow are enormous, and it takes years to just get to OK,” he said. “We still hit milestones of merit, of musical abilities as a whole, and every few years we jump up a little bit higher as the 10,000-hour thing starts to set in. It’s pretty incredible.”

It’s also the fact that the band has been together for decades, Morris said.

“We’re all still friends,” he said. “It’s the underlying thread of what we are and do. The combination of musicians, it takes on its own personality. It’s a chemistry thing, and we don’t try to challenge it.”

Over in Ojai: Live Music at Libbey

Libbey Bowl lies in an idyllic park setting in the charming mountain village of Ojai, and the amphitheater is finally getting its due as a special summer venue. Acts at Libbey this week include Los Lonely Boys, the veteran trio of Texas born and bred brothers Henry, Jojo and Ringo Garza who play a mix of country, rock and Tejana music they call “Texican Rock n’ Roll” (August 8). Also, Don McLean – the timeless troubadour known for his eightminute-plus cultural opus “American Pie” that became a massive hit in 1971 (yes, it’s been 53 years!), and whose other hits include “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)” and “Castles in the Air” – plays on August 10. The following night, keyboardist Scott Bradlee leads Postmodern Jukebox, the rotating musical collective known for reimagining modern-day earworms and iconic pop hits through classic genres like 1920s jazz, swing, doo-wop, and Motown. All shows start at 6 pm. Visit https:// wheremusicmeetsthesoul.com/events.

The absolutely palpable camaraderie and familiarity between faculty pianist Jeremy Denk, a former Mosher Guest Artist, and violinist Joshua Bell, one of this year’s distinguished guests. The two shared visual connections on the Granada stage that were full of both knowing and wonder, raising the level of artistry to astonishing heights and making the venue feel as intimate as Hahn Hall.

How Leila Josefowicz’ bow never stopped moving across the violin for the first movement of the John Adams’ concerto, a piece the soloist has made her own even though it was composed for MAW faculty member Jorja Fleezanis. The collaborative connection between Josefowicz and conductor David Robertson, an Adams aficionado who has tamed the violinist on the work many times over the years, was

The somber pathos of “Our Eyes Once Watered, ” a 2018 piano four hands piece by Sarah Gibson, who passed away at 38 on July 14, performed at the final x2 concert by collaborative piano teaching artists Margaret McDonald and Natasha Kislenko, who were part of the MAW faculty when Gibson was a fellow in 2009.

The energy and exuberance of the final Fellows Fridays concert, with the pieces running a gamut of emotions but closing with the utterly joyful rendition of Julius Eastman’s “Stay On It.” Stay on it, MAW. You’ve got something going on here.

Classical corner: Concerts Are A-comin’

Fret not that the Music Academy summer festival 2024 came to a close last weekend with the triumphant fellows-powered orchestra concert of Mahler’s “Symphony

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is swinging through town as part of the Lobero’s centennial celebration (photo by Andy Rowley)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Apr 15 & 16

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin, Oct 12

Yotam Ottolenghi, Oct 14

Wynton Marsalis, May 17

LOUIS: A Silent Film with Live Musical Performance

Fran Lebowitz, Jan 25

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Dec 6

Mavis Staples, Oct 8

Itzhak Perlman, Nov 7 Twyla Tharp Dance, Feb 11 Pink Martini, Holiday Show, Dec 17

Anne Lamott, Nov 13 Snarky Puppy, Oct 1 Salman Khan,

Brave New Words

Far Flung Travel

It Began with a Loon

by Chuck Graham

The Channel Islands National Park has always been a haven for migratory birds needing a rest, especially during and following big windstorms. From my kayak, I’m always keeping an eye out for any seafaring feathers that might be out of the ordinary.

Seabirds like Pacific loons are on my radar come spring, big northwest winds and the islands aiding in the possibilities. Feathered in pelagic elegance, there may not be a more handsome or beautiful seabird in the ocean realm. So, on the very rare occasion I see one, I want to spend as

In search of breakfast and Pacific loons

much time with it as I can.

However, we’re talking about the islands here. There’s lots of distractions in terms of flora and fauna, as I’ll try to be in more than just one place at the same time. This most recent Pacific loon sighting was a case in point.

After Hours

A month ago, the Island Packers ferry had left Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island for the day, and once again silence reigned supreme in the anchorage. The ocean gently lapped against the wave-battered cobble, and California brown pelicans skillfully skimmed above

the surface of the shimmering cove. I pushed my kayak into the crystal-clear waters and paddled steadily toward Scorpion Rock and Little Scorpion Anchorage to the east. The Pacific loon had been in the area for several days, but wildlife is on its own schedule, and there were no guarantees. Fortunately, it remained as it dove repeatedly for fish across a consistent sandbar.

West of me, another kayaker approached. It was Zack Yates. A fellow kayak guide, we’ve done some backpacking and paddling trips together, and he was reading my mind. There was more going on then just the lone Pacific loon. Yates had two drybags with him. He had grabbed my trail shoes. We were paddling over to a side-canyon the guides call Boy Scout Canyon.

There is no beach to land on. We had to go from the kayaks to scrambling up a steep cliff to where a freshwater creek spilled into the ocean. We also had to secure our kayaks at the same time. Leaning on handholds, the rock is crumbly and breaks away easily. We had to be sure, and with a camera slung over my shoulder, every handhold and foot placement could’ve been the one that failed me leading to a kerplunk into the ocean.

Canyon Nirvana

Rock-hopping up Boy Scout Canyon was an utter joy. Water still flowed steadily after several late winter storms, and the canyon was filled with blooming island flora and incessant birdsong.

Golden yarrow, Menzie’s goldenbush, blue dicks, sticky monkey-flower, hairy fetch, and Santa Cruz Island liveforever brightened the craggy canyon, magically germinating right out of the volcanic rock. Spotted towhees, ravens, song sparrows, and Bewick’s wren sounded off, but it was two other species that captivated us, one so delicate, and the other famously majestic.

Yates was leading the way and walked right into an Allen’s hummingbird nest. He ducked at the last minute, missing the nest, but the female took off. Two tiny white eggs rested inside the tightly wound nest attached to a spindly Island hazardia plant. We concealed ourselves across from the nest, making sure she returned. Several minutes passed, but then we heard her hums directly overhead as she landed in her nest.

We kept moving up the steep canyon, and then quickly scrambled up a steep and narrow side canyon toward the southeast. Yates had been here before, thinking he may have found a nest belonging to bald eagle A-03 – also known as Theos – and Theos’ mystery gal claiming Scorpion Anchorage for their own.

Island Eagles

Since 2021 there’s been consistent bald eagle sightings in and around Scorpion Anchorage. Theos has been seen consistently over the last three years, but he and his mate have not been successful having a clutch of eggs. They’ve been together for a few years, but after unsuccessful attempts, they may have split up. However, their nest is large and sturdy. It’s lodged in the thick fork of a towering island cherry tree about 60 feet off a narrow ravine. Yates and I couldn’t help ourselves and managed to climb to the nest. It had been used. It was padded down, but there were no egg shells, or any signs of fish or seabird bones. The view of the ocean was stellar.

Theos is still around. He’s roughly seven years old. He’s strong and bold. Soon he’ll find the right mate. Scorpion Anchorage is his territory, and it’s always a joy watching him fly over Scorpion Rock to antagonize the legion of western gulls.

Yates and I scrambled back down the canyon, and nimbly returned to our kayaks wedged in the volcanic crags. Right when we hit the water, Theos soared overhead sending all seabirds into a frenzy. It’s a sight to behold, and one I’ve become accustomed to.

Chuck Graham is a freelance writer and photographer based in Carpinteria, where he also leads kayak tours and backpacking trips in Channel Islands National Park

That’s just a bald eagle’s nest

Montecito Health Coach

Insomnia: Is It Keeping You up at Night?

by Deann Zampelli

The first rays of dawn can be the most depressing sight in the world for an insomniac, as it means any hope of a good night’s sleep is officially gone.

As someone who has often struggled with insomnia for the better part of a decade, I know only too well the frustration; the tossing and turning, the gaslighting attempts: “You are tired, you really are tired.” The bargaining: “Just lay here with your eyes gently closed for 30 more minutes and if you still haven’t fallen asleep you can go read in the other room,” and the many versions in-between.

But why, I wondered at 3 am this morning, why do so many of us suffer from these torturous nights? I wanted to know. I needed to know. And, as it was 3 am, I had some free time on my hands to find out.

Let’s start at the beginning. What is insomnia? According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Insomnia is when you aren’t sleeping as you should.” Yeah, I think most of us got that part. But they go on to say, “That can mean you aren’t sleeping enough, you aren’t sleeping well or you’re having trouble falling or staying asleep.” So, insomnia isn’t just the wide awake in the middle of the night deal. I have visited various health practitioners in the past, and they all ask the same thing. “Do you have trouble falling asleep or do you have trouble staying asleep?” Half the time I am not even sure how to answer because I am too tired.

According to the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic, just waking up too early or waking up tired also counts as forms of insomnia. My biggest question, however, is why does it happen to so many of us during the second half of life? You don’t often

hear 15, 25, or 34-year-old people talking about how they just don’t get as much sleep as they used to. But with those over 60, reports of insomnia are as high as 50% and not just in the United States. 1 in 3 adults worldwide experience sleep issues.

The American Journal of Medicine tells us that this isn’t necessarily something that has to happen as we get older. “Sleep problems are often mistakenly considered to be a normal part of aging…” Many adults never suffer from insomnia. And the reasons are many. Norwegians reportedly have the best sleep cycles worldwide, in terms of length and quality. They also are big believers in having their babies nap in strollers outside, being firm believers in sunshine and fresh air. Which now makes a lot of sense.

Light plays a huge factor in our sleep cycle and effects melatonin production. But most older adults don’t get enough time outside so the body’s signals are thrown off. Normally, if you are getting natural light exposure all day, when the sun goes down, it starts to send signals to your body that it is time to wind down. But if you never get that daylight in the first place, internal mayhem ensues.

Without diving too deep into the science (remember, I only have about 900 words in this column), the other causes begin to appear as a bleary-eyed dog chasing its tail. As we get older our internal clocks start to change, and this clock controls our circadian rhythm (this is our daily cycle that controls when we get hungry, tired, feel sleepy or alert). This is one of the many reasons why sleep is so intrinsically connected to our health. Many of our body’s systems rely on sleep for its restorative powers. But here is the tricky bit. As we get older and start to become sleep deprived, our bodies are more prone to illness. As we get sicker, we sleep less. See where I am going here?

Another culprit behind insomnia in American older adults is side effects from medications. According to Georgetown’s Health Policy Institute, 75% of adults over 50 have an average of 12 prescription drugs filled each year (this could also include antibiotics, or medications used to treat acute illnesses).

So what can we do? There is much advice out there about how to improve the quality of sleep. Here are some of the most frequently suggested.

1. Create a sleep ritual and stick to it. For example, get in bed by 10 and turn off the light by 11 even if you don’t feel ready to sleep. This will train your body to respond to sleep cues.

2. Get fresh air and exercise each day.

3. Turn off all screens at least an hour before you get in bed. The blue lights from screens trick your body into believing it is daytime, which lowers or stops the production of melatonin.

4. Only use your bed for sleep and sex. No tv, no work, no scrolling, no eating. This is another cue your body will begin to respond to.

5. This seems like an obvious one but eliminate all triggering substances a few hours before bedtime (or sooner depending on your sensitivity – I can’t have any caffeine after noon or I will be regretting

it around 2 am). Caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, and sugary or spicy foods are all potential triggers.

6. Be sure to keep your blood sugar steady all day. Sometimes sugar imbalances can cause you to wake up during the night.

7. Check with your health practitioner to see if there might be an underlying issue causing your insomnia.

I hope this helps. For me, I know that if I want to regain my former sleep streak, I need to finish the last season of Suits so I can go back to my no TV watching evenings. See item #3 above.

Now put down those screens, cuddle up with a good book (you know, the paper kind with writing on them) and sweet dreams.

Trained at Duke Integrative Medicine, Deann Zampelli owns Montecito Coaching & Nutrition and has a broad range of clients working on everything from nutrition to improving their marathon pace. She also has a Masters in Clinical Psychology and has been a resident of Montecito since 2006.

World

Waiting for My Medal Round

by Ernie Witham

Watching the Paris Olympics has really inspired me, especially the swimming and diving events.

“O-M-G! Are you wearing a Speedo?” my wife asked, a small hunk of baguette falling from the corner of her mouth.

“Cool huh? Got it from the ‘Old Dudes Rule’ website. It’s a limited edition.”

“Very limited. And, I hate to ask, but did you shave your legs?”

“Well duh. I need less friction when I do my one-and-a-half twisting gainer into the pool.”

“If by gainer you mean your usual kamikaze cannonball, I’d be careful –really, really careful.”

I finished my glass of Trader Joe’s Moulin Rouge, snapped on my plastic nose guard and headed to the pool. In my head I could hear the cheers of the multitudes. Or maybe those were crows. Whatever. It brought back memories of my athletic youth.

As a kid, I learned to swim in Lake Opechee in Laconia, New Hampshire, where the average summer water temperature was somewhere between ice and berg. Matter of fact, the only time the water temperature rose was when it was struck by lightning from all the seasonal thunderstorms. The trick was to get out of the water the instant the lifeguard blew his whistle.

“That the Witham kid out there dogpaddling like crazy?”

“Yup.”

“Why’s he keep going around in circles?”

“I dunno? Chasing his tail?”

“He could be the first zappee this year.”

“I got fifty-cents says he makes it.”

“You’re on...”

“Back already?” Pat asked, as I trudged in from the pool. “You’re not even wet.”

“Yeah, I know. All the floaties were taken. Thought I’d go to the gym instead. Do my rigorous training regimen.”

Watching an interview with one of the American gymnasts on Peacock –which a million people have signed up for this month and a million people will cancel next month – I learned that these premier athletes spend an average of six hours a day in the gym, running, leaping, flipping and swinging blindly from one uneven parallel bar to the next, chalk filling the arena air with puffy clouds of magnesium carbonate.

I have a more refined gym technique of sitting on the reclined bicycle for twenty minutes peddling fast enough to raise

my heart rate without pedaling too fast to miss the action of the daytime soap operas on the overhead televisions. Then I lift weights – deadlifting as much as 25 pounds while grunting loudly – until the alarm on my iPhone tells me my 75 minutes of free parking is about to expire.

Though baseball was my favorite summer game, and I was sure I would eventually end up a switch-hitting center fielder for the Boston Red Sox when my little league coach kept moving me from one side of the plate to the other – “Try leftie again and this time open your eyes... never mind, just try to get a walk” – turns out I had a natural ability for track and field.

“Hey, there’s Ernie! Whose turn is it to beat him up today?”

“Mine. Wow he sure can run.”

“And hurdle. He cleared that baby carriage by six inches at least.”

Other Olympic sports I’m really looking forward to this year are the racket sports. I used to play tennis for what seemed like hours. “Think we’ve broken any world records yet?”

“Almost. If you hit the net on one more serve. I will have won win six games to zip without ever having to return a ball.”

Another racket sport I loved was badminton. Almost every backyard barbecue I ever went to included burnt hot dogs, mosquitos and setting up a badminton net. “A little tighter. Still tighter.” Ripppp. “Too tight, too tight.”

Then we would pick teams and I would always be chosen to play close to the net. “I’m playing back here. I’m tired of Ernie always hitting me in the back of the head with the shuttlecock.”

That’s where I would use my infamous sky-high hit that was impossible to return. “Oh, man, it’s in the tree again.”

Ooops, almost prime Peacock time again. Can’t wait for cycling. I might even get my bike out of the garage and do a few laps around the neighborhood.

“Thanks for the warning,” Pat said. “I’ll get the first aid kit ready.”

The Way It Was Something to Crow About

by Hattie Beresford

During the California Gold Rush, eggs cost a whopping $3 dollars each, which translates as $120 per egg today. The high price of eggs, however, did not lead to a thriving poultry business. Chickens couldn’t be herded across the plains and were difficult and expensive to transport in great numbers around the Horn. Besides, wild fowl existed in abundance and were there for the taking. Also, cuts of beef and other meats were much more affordable and easier to produce.

Though the gold petered out, the population of California increased during the next 30 years, and chickens were raised mainly in backyards where they could subsist on kitchen scraps and garden pests in return for tilling the soil with their scratching and supplying the household with eggs.

Older hens became stew meat and cockerels provided the occasional fricassee. Backyard chicken – in fact, all chickens – need grit to help them digest their food since they don’t have teeth. They pick grit up as they forage. In 1883, a Santa Ynez woman killed a fat chicken for dinner. In cleaning it, she found a small lump of pure gold in its gizzard. Reportedly, the people of Santa Ynez began enjoying chicken dinners nightly in the hope of discovering the new El Dorado. Back then, the cost of chicken feed necessary for large production wasn’t “chicken feed.” It was very expensive. In the late 1870s, however, two inventions spurred a change – the temperature-controlled incubator and the California slipshod method. The latter was an open range system which required mobile coops moved several times a month onto fields planted with barley or corn.

prestigious Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

Ernie Witham has been writing humor for more than 25 years. He is the author of three humor books and is the humor workshop leader at the

In 1928, the Campbell Ranch in Goleta raised free range chickens (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

The California Market butcher shop carried wild fowl, geese and chickens in addition to beef, mutton and pork (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

H. J. Show’s poultry farm promised fresh eggs and gave the nationally famous Diehl Grocery Company exclusive rights to sell his product (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

Brilliant Thoughts Get

Over It

by Ashleigh Brilliant

There are many ways of dealing with an obstacle in your path. You can try to get around it, under it, or even through it. If worse comes to worst, you may have to negotiate with it.

But the option our culture seems to prefer is to get over it. The trouble, in this welter of images, is that you can’t (and don’t even need to) get over it, until you’ve been through it. This, of course, applies very much to stressful situations. Depending on the circumstances, if someone tells you outright to “Get over it!” they are usually not being very sympathetic. You are being advised to calm down, and to stop being as overwrought as you appear to be. What we are really talking about here is something for which maybe a better word is “RECOVERY.” You need to recover whatever mental balance you had, but have now apparently, at least temporarily, lost. If this were an actual illness, especially a physical one, no one would be telling you to get over it.

Yes, but what about hypnosis? Doesn’t that work sometimes in helping people “get over” things? And what about all the other kinds and techniques of “healing,” from witch doctors through “Amazing Grace” to religious “faith healers”? Christian Scientists have built a whole belief-system on rejecting modern medicine. Tom Lehrer had his own comment on this in one of his comedy routines: “It has been a nervous year, and people have begun to feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis.” (If you ask them about this, C.S. adherents will tell you of cases in which so-called appendicitis, after being diagnosed as such by regular doctors, have quickly cleared up when properly prayed over. – And who am I to quarrel with the power of Prayer?)

But those of us with less faith, or (like me) with no faith at all, have to put whatever trust we can muster in pills and scalpels, as advised by more conventional practitioners. And of course, that still doesn’t guarantee getting over it.

Perhaps we’re on more solid ground thinking about other obstacles, which the Earth provides in plenty. Most dramatic are mountain ranges. We have, for example, the

Enjoy Santa Barbara

Rockies, which must indeed have been disheartening to early settlers heading West. After crossing the vast expanses of prairie and desert, they see ahead a huge mass across the horizon. Many of them never went any further – and that is how Denver got started. Even more formidable were oceans, which actually cover most of the Earth’s surface. The great rivers which feed the oceans were in many cases obstacles in themselves – and the borders which define countries and other territories were often those same rivers. But the creation of bridges has for millennia been an art and a science, particularly useful to military commanders, the maneuverability of whose armies depended on the skill of their engineers. This goes back at least as far as the ancient Persians, who – by bridging the Bosporus, which separates Europe from Asia – were able to invade Greece (where their defeat at Marathon has given an enduring name – and distance – to modern foot-races).

As for going under – or through – such obstacles, I can remember a time before the Channel Tunnel (now fondly called the Chunnel) when the only way to get from England to France, other than by air, was by ferryboat. Depending on the weather and your susceptibility to sea-sickness, that could be a very unpleasant trip. But at the other end you would find you’d changed not only countries, but cultures.

When I was at school in England, French was a required subject – but I was never very good at it, and admired people who were. I remember that on my first visit to France, shortly after arriving I saw a man who was taking his dog for a walk, and saying something to it. And I thought how remarkable it was that, over there, even the dogs understood French!

The engineering of tunnels through mountains has been one of the proudest accomplishments of modern times. I still find it hard to believe that Hannibal and his army took elephants over the Alps two thousand years ago. Today there’s no question that, long before there was a St. Bernard Tunnel, those same-named dogs were used to rescue lost travelers. However, the question of just what liquid they carried in those little barrels fastened around their necks is still a matter of conjecture.

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

care marketing out of college,” Matthews says when we sit down to talk. “Then my wife and I started a business together when we were about 25, which created public-private partnerships with federal and state governments. We sold that business in 2005 (to Pitney Bowes).” All that slice of life happened in Massachusetts. “So we moved out here from Boston, had our children and took a break – dove into nonprofit work, education, did some investing. That’s where I got involved in the Montecito Union School Board –” where Matthews was MUS Board President.

“And then along the way, in eighth grade my oldest son Skyler started getting sick.” Matthews pauses. “I learned about nutrition by being a dad.” He learned it the hard way. “Skyler got progressively sicker and sicker and sicker. His junior year in high school he was playing varsity water polo at Santa Barbara High School, pushing his body really hard. He was pretty wiped out. It was almost like he had a chronic pneumonia.” The doctors couldn’t figure it out. A friend mentioned a clinic in Switzerland.

“The place was a natural biological medicine clinic, homeopathic, research-backed. I took Skyler over there and in eight days they figured out his primary issue and got him on a path to healing. A lot of it was around functional ingredients, intravenous and oral, to build up his microbiome. When I came back to the States I said, ‘wow, what a great opportunity to bring this idea of nutrition into healthcare.’ Because not one of these doctors we talked to ever really mentioned nutrition as a frontline.”

Pharmasynthesis: Hold the Sun Inside

Richard and Michelle, meanwhile, had brought their Katie into the world. Their beautiful and spirited daughter was soon found to have cerebral palsy. The condition made it difficult for Katie to feed, and the off-the-shelf liquid replacement diet offered by the hospital was not nourishing her. Her frustrated and desperate parents couldn’t help but notice that the formula they’d been given for Katie listed water, sugar, corn syrup, maltodextrin and casein as the first five ingredients. By the age of five she weighed 16 pounds.

matic – improved energy, clear eyes, a blush on her cheeks. Voila. Katie recently turned 18 and is flourishing.

“Richard and Michelle actually started the product in small retail shops,” Matthews says. “But the idea was really to take this into the healthcare marketplace. And then I became chairman, and then CEO soon thereafter.” Under Matthews’ proactive direction, Kate Farms has optimized nature’s most combustible ingredients in specific formulations across several categories, medicalized and otherwise: Everyday Nutrition, Medical Nutrition, Kids Nutrition, and Specialized Nutrition. These have been taken up by some 1,450 hospitals and several of the largest health systems in the USA.

Kate Farms’ ethos is based on something once murmured by a balding guy in a toga. “Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food.” Hippocrates – the Classical era’s so-named father of modern medicine – had nourishment dialed in 24 centuries ago. We have been disastrously slow on the uptake. Kate Farms is resoundingly filling the gap with a formulation that can flow through a feeding tube or be gulped from a frosted highball glass.

“We’re talking about food as medicine,” Matthews says. “And when an opportunity of entrepreneurship presents itself and it has to do with helping other people, that’s as exciting as it gets.”

Walking through the Santa Barbara farmers market one day, surrounded by the massively displayed rainbow of unfiltered plant energy, Richard and Michelle idly daydreamed jamming the energized, nutrient-rich plants into Katie’s feeding tube and thence into her hungry furnace. Working from this idle epiphany, Richard approached a friend, a vegan chef. Following 70 iterations and tests and restarts and tweaks, they arrived at formula #71. Katie’s response was dra-

Jeff Wing is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. He has been writing about Montecito and environs since before some people were born. He can be reached at jeff@ montecitojournal.net

Brett Matthews is former MUS Board President, Kate Farms CEO, and a plant-based evangelist/ entrepreneur (courtesy photo)

Worth a Shot

San Ysidro Ranch Launches Branded Tequila

by Gabe Saglie

There’s something brand new on the spirits menu at the Plow & Angel Speakeasy: the San Ysidro’s Ranch’s very first proprietary tequila.

The news broke during a sexy invite-only garden fête last month that doubled as the Ranch’s first-ever “owned” event – hosted by the property, on the property. Set on the resort’s famous manicured gardens, and timed in tandem with dusk, it treated the eclectic mix of well-heeled guests to personalized portraits by fashion sketch artist Kelly Maryanski, provocative dancing curated by celeb choreographer Hannah Douglass, and a bevy of tray-borne gourmet bites from the Stonehouse kitchen.

But the real star was the special-edition Ty Warner Reserve, a blanco tequila produced by the ultra-premium tequila brand, Código 1530. Guests were offered generous pours for singular sipping, as well as a variety of blanco-based handcrafted cocktails. Tequila-infused cotton candy was flowing all night, too.

“We started talking about this back in December,” says SYR Food-and-Beverage Director Andrew Caine. “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had our own branded spirit?’”

The hunt for a super high-end producer with whom to partner soon led the Ranch team to Código 1530, a top-tier brand based in the town of Amatitán, in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The “1530” pays tribute to the year that Spanish conquistadores founded the town, set 20 miles northwest of Guadalajara; the “Código” refers to the longstanding customs, or codes, that guide the crafting of this upscale spirit. Código 1530 is known among tequila collectors for the ultra-purified water, the

occasional tequila drinker, like me, ask to sip another shot.

cacao and fennel seed; and the traditional “Paloma” is enhanced with Aperol, a bit of ginger and a dash of grapefruit bitters.

Licensing parameters prevent the Ranch from selling the Ty Warner Reserve by the bottle, although patrons can buy a bottle and have it stored at the Speakeasy for subsequent visits. Says Mr. Caine, “That holds true for any spirits we feature on property.” This customized tequila joins two wines that also carry the private label San Ysidro Ranch branding; a pinot noir and a rosé made by Montecito resident Doug Margerum.

A rumor overheard at the garden launch party: Código 1530 may soon be announcing a reposado or añejo tequila branded for the Coral Casino, also a Ty Warner property. We’re on it.

higher-than-average volume of agave, and the top-secret family recipe that have been used to make it for generations.

“We were really impressed by their attention to detail, which is synonymous with what we always strive to do here,” says Mr. Caine, who flew with a small team from the San Ysidro Ranch down to Amatitán in May. “We sorted through the agave fields, we saw how plants are processed, we toured the distillery – it’s a tiny building, just two fermentation tanks. And the bottling facility, super clean.

“And then there’s the team,” he continues. “A lot of individuals who work for one tequila brand, like Patron or Don Julio or Herradura – they also work for competitor brands. But everyone working for Código, from the fields to the distillery to even the sales offices in the U.S. – they only work for Código. We found this type of thing exciting, like there was clear brand synergy there. It just felt like a natural pairing.”

Código 1530 uses myriad previously used oak barrels to rest or age their tequilas, barrels that once contained Sherry, Madeira, and Napa Valley cabernet. The Ty Warner Reserve rested in French oak barrels where sauvignon blanc once fermented – a three-month slumber that, according to Mr. Caine, “imparted unique flavor, and even a slight golden hue, which added that extra layer and made it so approachable.”

This writer found the tequila to exhibit soft herbal aromas, nice acidity, a clean mouth feel and a smooth finish. Complex enough to intrigue tequila buffs, like my wife; silky and subtle enough to make the

The Ty Warner Reserve was a one-barrel collaboration, the equivalent of 111 bottles. As of last week, guests of the San Ysidro Ranch are able to access it across the property, including in-room dining and the Stonehouse Restaurant. But its permanent home, while it lasts, is the Plow & Angel Speakeasy, where it’s being poured by the ounce and playing a starring role in several new craft cocktails. The “De La Tierra,” this writer’s favorite for the spicy kick it delivers, blends the Ty Warner Reserve with Green Chartreuse and habanero chilis; the “Latina Daisy” includes Galiano liqueur, crème de

Gabe Saglie has been covering the Santa Barbara wine scene for more than 15 years through columns, TV, and radio. He’s a senior editor with Travelzoo and is a leading expert on travel deals, tips, and trends.

MJ writer Gabe Saglie accompanied his wife Renee, the real tequila connoisseur, to the garden party at the Ranch that officially launched the Ty Warner Reserve

The new Ty Warner Reserve blanco tequila is a partnership with the premium spirits brand, Código 1530 – one barrel, or 111 bottles, were made

The Plow & Angel Speakeasy is now featuring three new craft cocktails featuring the Ty Warner Reserve tequila

News Bytes Paws Up! Join the Dog Days of Summer Photo Contest!

by MJ Staff

Hey Posh Pups (and your humans), get ready to celebrate National Dog Day in style! The Montecito Journal , Rosewood Miramar Beach, Village Properties, and Coast Village Road have teamed up for an un-fur-gettable event – a dog photo contest that promises to be a tail-wagging good time. Submit your best photo of your beloved furry friend for a chance to win amazing prizes, including a luxurious dinner for two at Caruso’s, complete with wine pairings. Save the Date!

August 10th is the big day! Coast Village Road will transform into a doggy paradise, featuring a mobile dog treat truck, unique photo opportunities, and a vibrant atmosphere that’s sure to get tails wagging. Whether you’re a pet owner or just a dog lover, bring your furry friends and capture those adorable moments. Mix and mingle with fellow dog enthusiasts, enjoy tasty treats for both you and your pets, and make some paw-some memories.

Prizes:

#1 Top Dog’s Pick (Editor’s Choice): Luxurious dinner for two at Caruso’s with wine pairings

#2 Crowd’s Best in Show (Fan Favorite): $500.00

#3 Fetch-tastic Finalist (Runner Up): Custom portrait of your pup

Don’t miss out on this furry fun opportunity to celebrate the summer with your canine companions!

For more information, visit Coast Village Road Events at www.coastvillageroad.com/events Mark your calendars, grab your cameras, and let’s make this National Dog Day one to remember!

Also, make sure to join Coast Village Road for the Art Walk Extravaganza on Thursday night, August 8, on CVR from 4 pm – 7 pm. Join the Art Walk raffle for a chance to win a Two-Night Stay at Montecito Inn with Dinner for two at Sushi by Scratch Restaurant – Montecito (valued at $3,000.00)!

2nd Annual Black Youth Leadership Summit

Gateway Education Services organization is inviting all Santa Barbara area Black African American-identifying

youth in grades 5 through 12 – along with their parents and teachers – to the Black Youth Leadership Summit 2024. The event is on Tuesday, August 17, at Santa Barbara City College West Cliff Campus, from 8:30 am – 5 pm. The event is free, and registration is required, see 411.

The full day activities for Black youth offers leadership development workshops, community workshops, and cultural activities. Three key initiatives planned for the day are 1) gaining insights into contemporary Black leaders, 2) offering support to parents of Black youth through facilitated discussions, and 3) collaborative problem-solving and exploring the artistic expressions of our youth. Students receive a backpack at the end of the summit.

Speakers will present on topics from financial literacy, home ownership, special education, Black leaders nationally and locally, as well as Black artists and culture.

On the speaker list are Dr. Keith Mayes professor of Black Studies UCSB; LaVell Baylor , artist and Deputy Director of Freedom 4 Youth; Ademola Oyewole-Davis, poet, singer, activist; Tayllor Oyewole-Davis, poet and founder of Sisterhood (verb), Inc; Bethany Sutherland Sakoda, multi-disciplinary artist, choreographer; Kristen Wells, puppeteer; and Dauri Kennedy, faculty SBCC Adult Education and choral singing leader.

411: www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/ MTgxNjgw

State of Black California for SB County

The first Santa Barbara County State of the Black Community Survey for all Black residents of Santa Barbara County is now up and awaiting public response. The form may be filled out online through October 1, 2024. Completion time is approximately 30 minutes. [background ref: www.montecitojournal. net/2024/07/16/upcoming-state-of-blackcalifornia-event]

Juneteenth SB is leading the survey for Santa Barbara County. UCSB’s Center for Evaluation and Assessment is providing the technical and analytics support for the survey data. The goal of the survey is to ensure the continued

No. 6.” Classical music abounds in the upcoming 2024-25 season, everything from touring major orchestras to intimate recitals at venues all over town. Camerata Pacifica launches its series back at Hahn Hall on September 20 with Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia joined by principal violinist Paul Huang and pianist Gilles Vonsattel. UCSB Arts & Lectures augments its series of up-and-coming soloists at Hahn Hall with a first foray into touring orchestras, bringing the London Philharmonic to the Granada on October 12. That’s the same day the newish Santa Barbara Chamber Players starts its three-concert season with a performance at First United Methodist Church. The Santa Barbara Symphony gets going at the Granada with Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4” on October 19 & 20, followed the next night by CAMA’s season opener at the same venue with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. CAMA Masterseries at the Lobero debuts November 22 with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers in a program that includes “New Chaconne,” a work by Philip Glass she premiered earlier this year.

Requiem for Oberacker

The 2024-25 classical music season actually gets underway this weekend via an early start for the Santa Barbara Music Club, who are congregating to present a concert in memory of Betty Oberacker. The longtime Santa Barbara-based, internationally-known concert pianist, educator and coach passed away June 28 at the age of 91.

“Betty was a tremendous musician, full of great stories about the famous people she had worked with, and she was always coming up with ideas and innovations for SBMC,” said Eric Valinsky, the pianist who has maintained dual careers in computer systems architecture and music for decades and is the immediate past president of the Music Club. “She was also always a teacher, and when we first played together I just wanted to rehearse, not have a piano lesson. But everything she said was so useful, and it got to the point where every time I play the piano now, I hear her voice and it has me playing better than I ever have.”

Valinsky will be one of the SBMC musicians who will perform at the free tribute concert at 3 pm on Sunday, August 11, at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (4575 Auhay Dr.), with a program of music that Oberacker played and/or loved. Valinsky will perform the “Italian Concerto” by Bach (“Her

“If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.” – Carl Lewis

favorite composer,” he said), join flutist Jane Hahn for Fauré’s “Morceau de Concours” and Nicole McKenzie for Mozart’s “Violin Sonata in C major, K. 298.” The Mozart sonata has special significance as Oberacker performed the piece in her final concert concluding 20 years with the Music Club on March 2.

Rounding out the memorial program, Steven Hodson , Westmont’s Director of Piano Studies, will play Liszt’s “Consolations” while former Westmont collaborative piano faculty member Pascal Saloman will take on two Impromptus by Schubert, another Oberacker favorite. A reception with the artists follows the concert.

In a strange twist of fate, Oberacker’s colleague, the composer-organist-educator Emma Lou Diemer also died in June at the age of 96. The former UCSB Music Department faculty members who started at the university in the early 1970s knew each other well for half a century – Diemer composed her “Piano Concerto in One Movement” for Oberacker in 1992. Their twin passing in the same month this summer is an inestimable loss for the local piano community.

“It was awful. I was devastated,” Valinsky said. “They were both such inspirations. I just had to take some days off.”

SBMC will also pay tribute to Diemer in its February 8 concert at First United Methodist Church. Visit https:// sbmusicclub.org for more information.

Save on SBIFF

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is not only adding a 12th day for its 40th incarnation, slated for February 4-15, but is also finally employing the Riviera Theatre, SBIFF’s recently refurbished state-of-the-art year-round home, as a venue for the festival. The Riv will have its own dedicated film pass. All of the 2025 SBIFF passes are available at the annual 25 percent discount through August 15. Visit www.sbiff.org.

The Santa Barbara Music Club will play its Betty Oberacker memorial concert at 3 pm on Sunday, August 11 (courtesy photo)

In 1877, the Santa Barbara Weekly Press published an article claiming that chicken raising was good business.” The author asserted that one could make a comfortable living from it with 5-10 acres. Several enterprising ranchers took up the call and sought to stock their land with chickens, not always legitimately.

During the spring months of 1878, over 1,000 chickens were stolen out of Santa Barbara backyards. A well-organized gang of chicken thieves was cherry picking the best stock and selling or taking them to area chicken ranches. The police ended up with egg on their faces as the rash of thefts continued, leaving area residents with ruffled feathers.

By 1905, Santa Barbara had a few successful local chicken ranches. One was Captain Mitchell’s model chicken ranch in Sycamore Canyon called Arequipa Ranch. Another local ranch was that of H. J. Show, brother to W. C. Show of the then-famous Show and Hunt grocery store. His ranch was in Montecito south of San Leandro Lane.

Chicken Lore

Chickens have had a role in the world’s religious and cultural traditions for millennia. In Egyptian temples, eggs were hung to insure a bountiful river flood. In West Africa they had a role in origin tales and ritual sacrifice. Romans used them for fortune telling before battles, and in Zoroastrianism, the crowing rooster

vided for the witnesses for the defense. They, apparently, could lie with aplomb.

Back to the courthouse the group retreated. The following day, they met again at the cemetery and each witness was given a chicken by the opposing side, along with a piece of money. Each witness then cut off a chicken’s head and, reputedly, told the truth. According to the news reporter, who had struggled mightily to understand it all, the belief in this custom was so strong Way It Was Page 324

signified the struggle between the metaphorical Light and Dark. In Christianity, the rooster was associated with Saint Peter who denied Christ three times before the cock crowed.

In 1886 in Santa Barbara, chickens had a role in a court case for the prosecution of three Chinese men accused of robbery. The counsel for the defense had asked that the witnesses be sworn in according to the custom of their home country.

In the interest of ascertaining the truth, Judge Canfield granted the motion.

To do so, the entire court had to adjourn to a holy place, which ended up being the cemetery. There, the defendants were to sign an oath and cut off a chicken’s head. The counsel for the defense agreed to furnish the chickens. When they arrived at the cemetery, however, an argument arose because although the witnesses for the prosecution had chickens on the altar, none had been pro-

According to some sources, in the 9th century Pope Nicolas made the rooster official by decreeing that all churches must display a rooster on their steeples as a symbol of Peter’s betrayal of Christ (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

A lantern slide of Alexander Harmer’s Chicken Pull shows the avid action and attention paid to the event as the riders race along the sands of the harbor at Santa Barbara (photo courtesy of William C. Reynolds)

The automobile age is just starting in this photo of State Street and Diehl Grocery circa 1904. Diehl’s was offered the exclusive right to sell Show’s excelsior packed eggs. (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

The turnover in chicken ranch ownership was high (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

During WWI, citizens were encouraged to return chickens to their backyards to help the war effort (Wikimedia Commons)

A trademark advertisement from 1883 features a rooster calling attention to the product (photo courtesy of Library of Congress)

The Chinese section of the Santa Barbara Cemetery shows a concrete altar and table in the foreground. Meats and small animals were offered for burning in the furnace shown to the right of the table. (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

that the statements made by the witnesses were often accepted for judgment by the opposing side.

The Spanish also brought a chicken custom to Santa Barbara, that of the Rooster Pull. The Corrida del Gallo came to the New World from Spain and is believed to have originated there in the Middle Ages. For it, a rooster was buried up to its neck in the ground. Caballeros on horseback raced to grab it from the dirt, swinging it around and striking others before presenting the bloody dead bird to the women of their families. The custom became part of Native American culture in New Mexico in the late 1600s partially because the blood of the rooster became identified with bringing water and fertility to a parched landscape. Santa Barbara artist Alexander Harmer, who resurrected the Spanish past through his talented brush, painted such a contest in Santa Barbara.

Chicken Dinners

It wasn’t until the mid-1880s that chicken dinners became the star of restaurant, home, and church events. In 1888, the Western Hotel advertised Sunday chicken dinners for 25 cents, and the Home Restaurant offered a chicken

dinner with mince pie. The local churches began holding chicken dinner fundraisers after the Congregational Church advertised one for 25 cents in 1890 with great results. The Salvation Army got into the act in 1898 when they turned their yard into a chicken slaughterhouse to prepare for the “great chicken dinner” to take place at GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Hall. Three men were employed in the killing while several of the sisters dressed and eviscerated them for roasting, frying, and fricasseeing.

In 1902, the ladies of the Presbyterian church gave a chicken dinner to raise funds for a pipe organ. They were proud to present soup, chicken pie with giblet sauce, mashed potatoes, baked beans, cabbage salad, spiced oranges, and cake for 35 cents.

Not to be outdone, in 1906, the ladies of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (today’s St. Paul’s AME) gave an old-fashioned Southern chicken dinner which included chicken gumbo, baked chicken pie, ham and cabbage, sweet

By 1901, even the Romero family’s Miramonte Hall in Montecito had gotten into the chicken dinner act for their annual celebration of the 1856 birth Our Lady of Mount Carmel church. Miramonte Hall stood on Romero Hill off today’s Miramonte Drive and was a popular dance and entertainment venue. To their traditional menu of a Spanish dinner, they added a chicken dinner with all the “fixin’s”

potato and squash pies, barbecued pork, baked sweet potatoes, and salad – all for 25 cents. The money raised would help them finish building and furnishing the new AME church on Haley Street. They hoped to entice the entire Santa Barbara community with their fine cooking.

The luxury and importance of a chicken dinner cannot be underestimated. In 1889, Frank Willard, former proprietor of the Retreat Saloon (which had burned to the ground under suspicious circumstances) was arrested for being the head of a burglary ring which had been operating in Santa Barbara for months. He was known, apparently, as a maque (pimp), gambler, loafer, and opium fiend, and was caught red handed with two crates and several boxes of other people’s belongings plus a complete set of burglar’s skeleton keys. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced

so many restaurants offering

to 25 years in Folsom prison. Upon the eve of his departure from Santa Barbara, he and his wife May, also an opium addict who was rumored to have worked in a house of “ill fame,” were allowed to be together for a last chicken supper.

Chicken Theft

As Sunday chicken dinners grew in popularity, chickens became a hot commodity. In 1909, Lucien Abadie, chef first Grand Prix Culinary Art, Paris Exposition 1900, arrived in Santa Barbara and opened a restaurant at 621 State Street, which he named Delmonico’s. Lucien had high aspirations for his restaurant, and advertised a menu that would make a gourmand’s mouth water. Unfortunately, gourmands were few and far between in Santa Barbara. To make matters worse, he was the victim of a crime soon after he opened. In November, Gin Buck, who had

The Republican Party ran on a platform of promised prosperity with a “Chicken for Every Pot” in 1928 (Wikimedia commons)

The San Marcos Hotel dining room offered Sunday chicken dinners in 1903 (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

(photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

In 1904, the Alhambra offered a Sunday chicken dinner that included soup, fish or meat, salad, vegetable, and pie or pudding for 25 cents (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

With

Sunday chicken dinners, the Chriss Grill tried to drum up patronage by offering a musical program to go with the fricassee (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

May and Frank Willard’s mug shots. They were both tried for burglary, but only he was convicted, much to the disgust of the editor of the Morning Press. They were offered a private chicken dinner at the jail before he was shipped off to Folsom prison. (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

Even today, chicken dinner fundraisers are popular. At Mission Soledad in the Salinas Valley, the annual grape stomp, pumpkin sale and chicken dinner is widely supported and does a brisk business. Hundreds of succulent barbecued chickens filled the grills. (author photo, 2019)

been working at the restaurant for several weeks, offered to sell Abadie a dozen chickens. They looked plump and well cared for and with Sunday’s fricassee of chicken coming up, Abadie paid Gin the very reasonable asking price. When he later looked at the chickens more closely, however, he was stuck by how similar they looked to the chickens he had at his residence on West Haley Street.

With grave suspicion in his mind, Abadie rushed home to count his chickens and, sure enough, a dozen were missing. Not only had Lucien purchased stolen chickens, but they had been stolen from him! Gin, meanwhile, had flown the coop on the 6:35 train to San Luis Obispo. It was months before he was caught at a fan tan game at Guadalupe.

Chicken thievery continued to be a popular profession, and in 1915 a Hope Ranch poultry farmer awoke to find the heads of nearly 100 chickens near his

hen house. Apparently, there had been many reports of similar transgressions, and Sheriff Stewart was on the hunt. His investigation found that a peddler named Jim McGraw, who’d been in the area for about five weeks, was, according to the press, “responsible for the greater part of the chicken theft epidemic that was raging in the region since the advent of this wideawake dealer in feathered meat.”

The popularity of eggs has waxed and waned over the years, especially when a 1977 government report declared the “sky was falling,” and labeled them high in cholesterol and to be avoided at all costs. Eggs were officially reprieved in 2013 when the government acknowledged that dietary cholesterol was not a factor in cholesterol health. The popularity of chicken meat, however, has continued to grow and the latest reports say that people eat over 100 pounds of chicken meat per year. Now that’s something to crow about.

Main Sources: Contemporary news reports; Forbes, “How the Chicken Got to America,” by Kristina Killgrove, 1917; Smithsonian, “How the Chicken Conquered the World,” by Jerry Adler and Andrew Louler, 2012; “The Horse, Santiago, and a Ritual Game,” by Jill D. Sweet and Karen E. Larson, undated on Jstor; “The California Slipshod Method: Poultry Farming in 19th Century California, by H.D. Miller at eccenticulinary.com

We’ve completed three hospital construction projects, with Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital recently completing a 20-year, eight-phase complete rebuild. We’ve launched new services including Urgent Care, Virtual Care, Primary Care and specialty clinics – increasing access to care in the community. And plans are underway for the Compton Center for Medical Excellence and Innovation, which will be transformative for healthcare advances in our region and beyond.

All of this we’ve accomplished with community support. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of colleagues or a better community. Cottage Health is in good hands, and now it’s time for me to spend more time with Mary and our family and to focus on a new role: Grandpa to Lucas, our first grandchild, who’s nearly two months old.”

When you leave SBCH in 2025, are you heading into a second career (i.e. are you taking on another position)?

nity is home. So we’re not leaving. We’ll spend time with our grandson, and enjoy frequent visits to our other favorite state, Minnesota.

Any additional comments for the readership of the Montecito Journal?

The opportunity to lead this incredible health system – Cottage Health – has been the joy and honor of my professional life. Cottage is a very special place. I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with so many incredible people – dedicated, skilled and compassionate employees, physicians, executives, board members, volunteers, and donors – who never stop caring and striving to protect the health of our community.

SB Cottage Hospital Additional News

Barbara’s historic past

I’ll continue to serve on the World Telehealth Initiative Board, and the American Hospital Association Quest for Quality Committee. Mary and I will take some time before making other plans, and we are open to what life brings our way.

What are you looking forward to when you retire from SBCH – leaving the area, traveling, writing your memoir…?

I’m looking forward to time with family, to travel, to learning about retirement and having days with some unscheduled blocks of time to explore. Mary and I love Santa Barbara and all our friends here. This commu-

Neuroscience Clinic opened on July 26 as part of the SBCH system. Services include comprehensive consultation, diagnosis, treatment options and ongoing management. The focus is to improve symptoms and quality of life for patients. Physicians are Richard Chung, MD, PhD; Nicole Moayeri, FAANS, and Brian Walcott, MD. As announced by Cardiology on August 1, SBCH is the first hospital on the Central Coast to use the latest treatment for leaky heart valve (also known as tricuspid regurgitation). The device is called a TriClip™ and is applied to the defective valve using the Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair system (TEER), a minimally invasive procedure.

Lucien Abadie tried valiantly to interest Santa Barbara in fine French dishes, but Broiled Chicken was at the top of the list for his patrons (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

The story of Chicken Little became a childhood favorite and a cautionary tale about drawing false conclusions and alarmism (Wikimedia Commons)

Everything’s bigger in Texas as this giant metal chicken attests. Now there’s something to crow about! (author photo)

Hattie Beresford has been writing a local history column for the Montecito Journal for more than a decade and is the author of several books on Santa

Ben and Naomi Bollag with Mary and Ron Werft, at the 2023 SBCH Tiara Ball (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

The TriClip™ device is delivered to the heart through a vein in the leg. It clips together a portion of the tricuspid valve’s leaflets, reducing blood backflow and allowing the heart to pump blood more efficiently.

411: cottagehealth.org

ProSurfer Lakey

Peterson, 805 Beer, and the U.S. Open Surfing 2024

Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s 805 Beer is the official craft beer partner of the World Surf League North America. At the U.S. Open Surfing Competition in Huntington Beach, look for the Cold Beer Surf Club podcast by legendary pro surfer and 805 Beer Authentico Conner Coffin. Coffin takes the deep dive with his interviews of surfers and the stories that drive them.

Adding to the roster of 805 Beer’s ambassadors is Montecito’s pro surfer Lakey Peterson. Being an ambassador is not all beer and talk, rather it’s about being part of the 805 Beer’s Athlete Booster Program for emerging surfers to excel in their careers, along with giving a huge shout out to the 805 area’s pro-surfers.

In her press release Peterson said, “Being from the 805 and the Central Coast, I’m proud to represent our community and everyone who supports my journey. Sharing so many of the same values and passions for life, surfing, and creativity, my partnership with 805 Beer feels so natural. I’m excited about the work we’re doing to promote surfing and the California way of life.”

The 805 Beer team reached out to me to interview Peterson; a full circle moment because in June 2007, Montecito Union School reached out to have a news interview with Peterson at her parents’ home in Montecito. While

the MJ online does not date back that far, in MJ Issue #13_24, June 14, 2007 I talked with Peterson who, as an MUS 6th grade student, had recently won both the West Coast Surf Championships Explorer Girl Champion, and the Regional Surf Conference Champion in girls 14 and under, where she was the youngest competitor in her class. In 2007, she’d told me, “I like surfing and I want to go Pro. My favorite saying is, ‘Open your life to sports.’” Indeed, she did.

In our interview on August 2, we talked about her competing in the U.S. Open, boards in her quiver, and more.

Q. You are surfing in the U.S. Open ‘24 – what are you most excited for first?

A. It’ll be great for family and friends to be there, and to surf at home. It is obviously an event that I’ve done for a really long time now, kind of our only big event here in California. My friends and family can actually come down and cheer me on live which is always special, instead of doing it through a screen at 2 am when I’m surfing around the world. I’ve had more time off than usual, so I get to compete and work on the things that I want to work on. It’s an event I’d love to win. It’s pressure-free and I feel like I can do really well, enjoy the moment, enjoy the surfing, enjoy the waves.

What’s the surf look like for the U.S. Open ’24?

Right now, everything looks decent. It’s notoriously known for being terrible for this event, but actually there’s a lot of swells coming in for the final weekend – Thursday through Sunday look pretty good. We’ll see how that materializes in the next few days.

What’s your U.S. Open ’24 schedule?

I’m surfing on Friday, Saturday, Sunday [August 9 – 11]. I’m sure I’ll be doing 805 Beer signings and we’re doing a

G-Skate model give away, and do some Channel Islands things, catching up with friends and people I don’t usually see.

Are you using a new surfboard to compete in the U.S. Open ’24?

No, not any new boards. I’ve worked with Channel Islands Surf Boards and have a quiver of boards I use at this time of year in California, what I ride when I’m home. It will be like a normal, standard high performance short board, nothing too crazy, but it’s worked for me lately.

What boards are in your quiver?

My quiver is huge because I surf all types of waves, I kind of have a wide range of boards from bigger boards for bigger waves like in Hawaii and smaller boards made of epoxy – a lighter material – for small waves. I have everything I need for every situation. I have the Channel Islands Surf Boards models CI Pro line for my competitions customized for me. I’ve used their G-Skate surfboard, super fun, not high performance, and other fun models in my downtime this year. It’s been a blast.

Are you able to dial in what specs you want on your boards with Channel Islands Surf Boards?

Yeah. My board shaper there is Britt Merrick whom I’ve know my entire life and his family in general. We have a great relationship. He tweaks things, works on things, it is sort of a never-ending thing. He’s incredible to work with, super transparent, and the best in the game. Tweaks are based on my height, weight, and what my strengths are.

I can trust him, he knows me so well,

how I surf, what I like, so it’s really been awesome.

What do you think about the surfing Olympics ‘24 choosing Teahupo’o?

It’s def arguably one of the best waves of the world. It’s incredible, a really, really dangerous wave; it’s so shallow.

I think when they selected it, it made sense because on a right day you get the best wave of your life – the formula to show how incredible surfing is and how surfers are. It’s a very high wave and a very strong wave to surf. Hopefully people are watching and enjoying the surfing.

Have you ever surfed there?

Yes, we have a contest there every year called the World Championship Tour, which is cool.

Any thoughts you’d love to share with fellow surfers and your local 805 fans?

I’m so proud to be from SB, our surfing community is so, so rad and obviously there’s been such incredible surfers that come out of our little town like Tom Curren, brothers Connor and Parker Coffin, and Bobby Martinez. There’s just so much talent in our area. I’m so thankful to the entire SB community for the support my entire career.

I love where I’m from, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so rad to work with the 805 Beer brand. It’s all really very organic.

How did being the 805 Beer ambassador happen?

I went to them, I talked with my managers and thought it would be just a great fit, obviously linked to SB. They have really cool films they released in the past, and storytelling. I love their entire vibe. Being from SB and working with a brand on the Central Coast, it’s an organic fit and they felt the same way. Honestly, they’re a great group of people and it’s been really cool.

411: www.805beer.com/a-californiaoriginal-lakey-peterson/

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

Lakey Peterson as the 805 Beer Ambassador 2024 (courtesy photo)

Surfer Lakey Peterson in June 2007 for the Montecito Journal (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

roots to create his brand, Indi Fields. The 20-year-old designer started making his own clothes in freshman year of high school and has recently started working on his own line, Indi Fields, in New York. He explains the brand as “ready-to-wear mixed in with couture fashion” and has taken inspiration from “Santa Barbara as a whole. A mix of surf, skate, and Chicano culture... It’s an ode to my lifestyle growing up here. I want it to be a unique representation of myself,” Fields says.

Indi Fields is an homage to Fields’s hometown as he believes that “as a designer, the best thing you can do for yourself is to go back to your roots because that history is only yours and nobody else’s. If you are able to execute that perfectly, you’ll get something really unique that people haven’t seen yet... people will be attracted to it.” Fields sees his brand as a mix of both accessible ready-to-wear clothing with an emphasis on denim, as well as high-end couture pieces where Fields can “really [make his] art.” His goal for the future is to move back home and open his own flagship store in Santa Barbara.

However, Fields has faced many challenges throughout the process of starting his own fashion line. Fields explains that problems ensued when he tried to start his brand too early and that he felt he needed more experience before diving all the way in. Field gives advice to other young designers hoping to create their own business. “I think people get caught up in how easy it looks. If you want lon-

gevity, the most valuable thing you can do for yourself is to be able to find something that’s unique to you and really work the business side of it once you get to the point where you have your audience.”

Santa Barbara’s own Catherine Gee has mentored Fields, bringing him along to tradeshows and showrooms and introducing him to the business side of starting a fashion brand: “I am grateful to have her in my circle... She’s always down to help; it feels good to have somebody doing the same thing behind you. She’s the boss,” Fields shares. Fields emphasizes how building a “good community at home” in order to stay grounded and have support is necessary for working in the fashion world. He explains that he is just one of a ‘whole crew’ of Santa Barbarians studying in New York and that they ‘cherish’ their shared connection to Santa Barbara. Fields is working on his first summer collection, which he is set to have coming out in two months.

Follow their Instagram @Indi.Fields for updates and more information.

Cold Call

A fusion of skateboarding, punk music, and street art, 25-year-old Wyatt Lynch’s brand Cold Call is what he likes to call ‘unorthodox.’ Inspired by his time skateboarding with Shorty’s Skateboards and the now-closed skateboard shop Church of Skatan, Lynch created his own

skateboarding attire company, Cold Call. Lynch sells casual skateboarding apparel with screen-printed graphics. He works with artists from Thailand and New York, many of whom “work in street art and listen to hardcore punk music.” Lynch’s screen printer, Jon Donaghy at the creative production studio Mind Garden Research, and Santa Barbara local artist DJ Javier have both inspired Lynch’s image for Cold Call.

Lynch explains that his goals for his brand are to see Cold Call featured in magazines and to broaden the number of skate shops that carry his clothes. He also hopes to build a team of skateboarders for Cold Call to sponsor. Lynch shares that Shorty’s Skateboards originally solidified the skate apparel market in Santa Barbara: “When thinking about skate clothing brands in Santa Barbara, Shorty’s [Skateboards] stands out to me and the movement/culture it provided. I want to be able to continue the passion of Santa Barbara skateboarding and clothes for the world to enjoy.” Cold Call has collaborated with the jewelry brand Luna Delphine as well as the plant-based eatery Rascal’s Vegan.

Cold Call is available for purchase at Lighthouse Skate Shop, Solvang Skate Shop, and at their online store at coldcallbrand.com. Follow their Instagram @ColdCallBrand for updates and more information.

Moseley X Designs

From doodling designs in class and airbrushing on hoodies to screen printing her original designs on lounge and swimwear, 20-year-old Marissa Moseley has transformed her brand, Moseley X Designs, from a hobby into her own business. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Moseley was exposed to creativity from a young age: “I started dancing when I was three years old at my grandma’s studio, Montecito School of Ballet. Seeing her make a whole business because she found beauty in dance and... art within music and movement, I was always really inspired by her. I realized there are so many different ways to express yourself.” Moseley began her company by airbrushing her drawings onto her clothes instead of the canvases she was using prior. “I had so many canvases piling up in my room. It was fun for me to use a different outlet other than canvas.” Once she began selling her pieces, Moseley switched to screen printing in order to keep up with her demand.

Moseley shares that her proximity to the ocean, from growing up in Santa Barbara to now attending UCSB, inspired her to create her own swimwear. Moseley prides herself on her brand being entirely slow fashion and made from recycled fabric. “I realized, if I

want to do this, I want it to be authentic... and done ethically.” When asked about sustaining a business in a small town, Moseley says, “I’ve heard people say it’s hard to make it big in a small town, but I think in a way it’s the opposite. You have all these people around supporting you, and Santa Barbara itself is so beautiful. I think it brings peace being able to create things in a simple environment.” Moseley views any challenge she faces as a learning experience to improve in her company.

As for advice for her peers who are also starting out, Moseley says to “never stop. Even if you think that it’s not going anywhere and you lose some action, that’s when something big is coming. I think it’s important to stay consistent with yourself no matter what people say or think.” She goes on to explain that her best-selling pieces are usually those made when she’s “just goofing off... people see it’s authentic and that I’m not trying really hard to be something I’m not.” Moseley is working on her next bikini line, which will be dropping within the next two months.

Moseley X Designs is available for purchase at moseleyxdesigns.com. Follow their Instagram @MoseleyXDesigns for updates and more information.

The latest denim designs by Indi Fields

Montecito local Jackson Ebbin styled in Cold Call

MXD Bikini Top by Moseley X Designs

Ella Catalfimo is a Montecito local entering her third year at the University of Edinburgh. She is studying English Literature and with an interest in Fashion Journalism.

MONTECITO PLANNING COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING*

DATE OF HEARING: AUGUST 21, 2024

PLACE: PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING ROOM

123 E. ANAPAMU STREET, RM. 17 SANTA BARBARA, CA 93101

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The following methods of participation are available to the public.

1. You may observe the live stream of the Montecito Planning Commission meetings on (1) Local Cable Channel 20, (2) online at: https://www.countyofsb.org/1333/CSBTV-Livestream; or (3) YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/CSBTV20

2. If you wish to provide public comment, the following methods are available:

• Distribution to the Montecito Planning Commission - Submit your comment via email prior to 12:00 p.m. on the Friday prior to the Commission hearing. Please submit your comment to the Recording Secretary at dvillalo@countyofsb.org. Your comment will be placed into the record and distributed appropriately.

• Attend the Meeting In-Person: Individuals are allowed to attend and provide comments at the Montecito Planning Commission meeting inperson.

• Attend the Meeting by Zoom Webinar - Individuals wishing to provide public comment during the Montecito Planning Commission meeting can do so via Zoom webinar by clicking the below link to register in advance. Register in advance for this meeting: After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing important information about joining the webinar.

When: August 21, 2024 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Topic: Montecito Planning Commission 08/21/2024

Register in advance for this webinar: https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__G-y7VP_Qtep2RW-TWk_fA OR PARTICIPATE VIA TELEPHONE:

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

877 853 5257 (Toll Free) or 888 475 4499 (Toll

Webinar ID: 893 9729 0286

The Commission’s rules on hearings and public comment, unless otherwise directed by the Chair, remain applicable to each of t he participation methods listed above.

The Montecito Planning Commission hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. The order of items listed on the agenda is subject to change by the Montecito Planning Commission. Anyone interested in this matter is invited to speak in support or in opposition to the projects. Written comments are also welcome. All letters should be addressed to the Montecito Planning Commission, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, California, 93101. Letters, with nine copies, and computer materials, e.g. PowerPoint presentations, should be filed with the secretary of the Planning Commission no later than 12:00 P.M. on the Friday before the Montecito Planning Commission hearing. The decision to accept late materials will be at the discretion of the Montecito Planning Commission. Maps and/or staff analysis of the proposals may be reviewed at https://www.countyofsb.org/plndev/hearings/mpc.sbc or by appointment by calling (805) 5682000.

If you challenge the project(s) 24APL-00005, 24ORD-00002, or 24ORD-00003 in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Montecito Planning Commission prior to the public hearing. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this hearing, please contact the Hearing Support Staff (805) 568-2000. Notification at least 48 hours prior to the hearing will enable the Hearing Support Staff to make reasonable arrangements.

* This is a partial listing of the items to be heard at the Planning Commission Hearing of August 21, 2024.

24APL-00005 Barrett Appeal of SoCal Gas Utility Pole at N. Jameson Lane Exempt, CEQA Guidelines Section 15303(e)

Errin Briggs, Deputy Director (805) 568-2047 Katie Nall, Planner (805) 884-8050

Hearing on the request of Ellwood Barrett (Appellant) to consider the following appeal in compliance with Chapter 35-182 (Appeals) of the Article II Coastal Zoning Ordinance:

• Case No. 24APL-00005, an appeal of the Director’s approval of Land Use Permit Case No. 23LUP-00417, which permitted installation of a new Tier 2(a) Small Wireless Facility including a 21.5” x 13.6” x 8.25” Data Collector Unit (DCU) cabinet for the Advanced Meter Network and a 26.5” x 31.3”, 65 watt solar panel on a new 34-foot wood pole, pursuant to the Coastal Zoning Ordinance (Article II) Section 35-144F(B)2a, Tier 2(a) Small Wireless telecommunications facilities; and

• Determine the project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15303(e) as outlined in the Notice of Exemption. The application is located within the County Right-of-Way (ROW), zoned Transportation Corridor Zone (TC), located near Assessor Parcel No. (APN) 007350-010 and 129 Sheffield Drive, in the Montecito area, First Supervisorial District.

MONTECITO COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION RECORDING SECRETARY (568-2000)

Published August 7, 2024

Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT:

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Ocean Love Found, 892 Linden Ave, Carpinteria, CA 93013. Andreas K Gutow, 3600 Harbor BLVD 348, Oxnard, CA 93035. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on

August 5, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001822. Published August 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT:

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PTSD, 2315 White Ave, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. Keld Hove, 2315 White Ave, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on June 26, 2024. This

statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001524. Published August 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024

the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 23, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240001750. Published July 31, August 7, 14, 21, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Gold Coast Creative, 1475 Sterling Ave, Carpinteria, CA 93013. Erika M Pruett, 1475 Sterling Ave, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on July 10, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240001630. Published July 17, 24, 31, August 7, 2024

includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed July 15, 2024 by Preston Frye. Hearing date: August 30, 2024 at 10 am in Dept. 4, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published July 24, 31, August 7, 14, 2024

ORDER

TO SHOW CAUSE

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT:

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Elizabeth Appraisals; Elizabeth Stewart, 400 East Pedregosa St, Unit 1, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. Elizabeth Appraisals LLC, 400 East Pedregosa St, Unit 1, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. This statement was filed with

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 24CV03463. To all interested parties: Petitioner Paul Douglas Seaman filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Paul Bouchard. The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that

FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 24CV03344. To all interested parties: Petitioner Gisselle Berenice Sanchez filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Gisselle Berenice Monterroza Gonzalez. The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed July 10, 2024 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: August 23, 2024 at 10 am in Dept. 4, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published July 24, 31, August 7, 14, 2024

development of a healthy, vibrant and safe community for Santa Barbara County’s Black Community.

Questions on the survey include Black Community members’ experiences and perceptions of life in Santa Barbara County. Juneteenth SB stresses that all answers are confidential and will never be connected to the survey participant. Any question the participant feels uncomfortable answering can, of course, be skipped.

411: Survey Link – https://ucsb.co1.qualtrics. com/jfe/form/SV_0wvPeidji0L8nqe?Q_CHL=qr

California Nature Art Museum Free Family Day

The California Nature Art Museum Executive Director, Stacey OtteDemangate is inviting the community to the museum’s annual End-of-Summer Family Day on Saturday, August 10, from 10 am – 3 pm. Admission is free and no reservations are required.

The family friendly event has various hands-on and observational activities and craft projects focused on both art and nature. All day, the museum’s exhibits will be on view as well.

10 am – 3pm: Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society will bring pets for adoption and the Santa Barbara Hives will have a honeybee observation hive

10 am – 12 pm: Create a bee-themed hanging art wall artwork

11 am – 12 pm: Hang out with lizards, snakes and tortoises from Manhi’s Reptiles 1 pm – 3 pm: Face and hand painting

411: www.calnatureartmuseum.org

Montecito Fire Protection District

Seeking Admin Assistant

The Montecito Fire Protection District is actively recruiting for an Administrative Assistant, deadline to submit applications is August 14, online applications only.

The ideal candidate will be a highly organized, detail-oriented, team player with strong written and oral communication skills, proficient with technology, and willing to learn new skills and applications. The ability to quickly adapt and devise creative strategies for addressing complex and sensitive issues, work independently, and the capability to build and maintain positive relationships with officials, co-workers, and the general public, are highly essential traits. Possessing a good understanding of municipal government programs is very desirable. The Administrative

Assistant position works on-site at our headquarters station located at 595 San Ysidro Rd.

411: www.governmentjobs.com

City of Carpinteria Blood Drive

The City of Carpinteria’s Vitalant Blood Drive is on Wednesday, August 14, from 10 am to 2 pm at Carpinteria City Hall, 5775 Carpinteria Avenue. Donors will receive a $10 grocery gift card and a chance to win a $10,000 gift card. Walk-ins are accepted, but appointments are preferred.

411: (877) 258-4825

Free Computer Classes and a Free Laptop

On August 12, Partners in Education will kick off its free six-week Computer Basics class in English and Spanish at Carpinteria Community Library, 5141 Carpinteria Ave. The six-week course takes place Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 to 6 pm in English and from 6 to 8 pm in Spanish. Participants will receive a strong foundation in computer basics, and each will receive a new Chromebook. Registration required.

411: Alondra Rodriguez at (805) 964-4710 ext. 4401 or email partners@sbceo.org.

New Meet-Up Group for Local Veterans

The City of Carpinteria’s AgeWell program is hosting a new weekly Veterans Meet Up every Thursday from 8:30 to 10 am in the Veterans Hall meeting room, 941 Walnut Ave.

This is a great opportunity to connect with fellow veterans, share experiences and enjoy a morning together. Coffee and pastries will be provided. Whether you’re hoping to build new connections, discuss important topics, or simply enjoy a friendly conversation, all veterans are welcome.

California Quickie Economic Forecast

The City of Carpinteria offered up their quick overview of the economic forecast for California on their website. Trends they specifically note are: stabilizing gas prices and possible lower prices coming up; the increase in “value meals” offered by restaurants; increase in the housing market with median home prices trending upwards; and continued job growth with increasing job opportunities statewide.

items are propagated at Lotusland’s nursery, cultivated from seeds or plant cuttings at the former estate where Madame Ganna Walska sold her jewel collection to obtain rare flora to curate the varied gardens that contain some 3,500 different species of plants, and 10 times as many specimens, including one of the most significant cycad collections in the country. Lotusland’s 20 gardens range from succulents to olive trees and exotic orchards, spanning from formal ornamental flowers to theater and topiary gardens.

The other 60 percent of the plants are donated by other botanic gardens, private collectors, specialty nurseries, plant breeders, university gardens and landscape architects, who generously share their plants with Lotusland for the event. Palms, begonias, bromeliads, succulents, Australian native plants, orchids, potted succulent arrangements and even trees are among the approximately 250 items that will be available for bidding in the silent and live auctions.

“It’s our signature mission-focused event for people within the horticultural community to gather and geek out on the most incredible, rare, exotic and interesting plants,” said Rebecca Anderson, Lotusland’s Executive Director. “It’s kind of a who’s who within the plant world. Collectors come and get excited and bid for the chance to take home these really unusual and special plants, while hobnobbing with more than 300 of their colleagues who are passionate about plants. It’s a mini-reunion every year for the specialists who come from here but also Northern and Southern California. People walk around and talk to the plant experts and see what they’re bidding on, and then they go and bid on the ones that are hottest. There’s only one of each plant –- you either get it or you don’t get it. That makes it exciting.”

The collections come together through the careful curation of the auction’s star-studded Exceptional Plants Auction committee that includes Paul Mills, Lotusland’s Curator for Living Collections; Jeff Chemnick of Aloes in Wonderland; Seacrest Nursery’s Cristi Walden; Robert Bett, CEO of PlantHaven International; San Marcos Growers President Randy Baldwin; and Terra Sol nursery Co-owner Mike Tully

“They help us strategize how to run the event and what to include,” explained Anna Bower , Lotusland’s Assistant Curator for Living Collections, who personally cross-bred the Encephalartos hybrid. “They go through our nursery and pick plants from our collection to put in and we visit their nurseries to select plants for the auction. And during the event, they’re walking around giving

plant advice to people and trying to talk up the plants to get more bids.”

That’s part of what makes the Exceptional Plants Auction event, slated this year for 1-4 pm on October 5, a much more casual affair than the typical upscale galas at the gardens, like the one last month that celebrated Lotusland’s 30th anniversary. Guests also have the opportunity to enjoy signature cocktails and light bites as they peruse the plants and chat up the aficionados.

The low-key nature of the auction even extends to the sartorial choices, Bower said.

“All the plant lovers in the community are there, and everyone is usually wearing plant-themed clothing, like funny Hawaiian printed shirts with botanical patterns,” she said.

While the afternoon is meant to be fun, it’s also an important fundraiser that helps support Lotusland’s role as one of the premier botanical gardens in the world, an extraordinary haven for rare and endangered plants. Proceeds from the general admission ticket sales ($150) sponsorships ($1,000-$10,000), and plant sales go toward closing the budgetary structural deficit; the perennial fiduciary tension between Lotusland’s regular admissions and the founding (and ironlad) Conditional Use Permit that limits Lotusland’s visitor capacity and quantity of events.

But that doesn’t mean the plants themselves are priced beyond reach.

“We have price points for everyone,” said Bower. “Some things go for thousands of dollars, but other people can get really cool small, rare specimens and really obscure items that you’d never see anywhere else for a lot less, including a few for under $50.”

The salient point is that the sale acutely aligns with Lotusland’s mission and commitment to preserving biodiversity in the world and remaining a champion of sustainable horticulture, Bower said.

“Ganna Walska was the ultimate plant collector and we’re honoring the legacy with the auction,” she said. “This is the way you can take a special piece of Lotusland home.”

Celebrate Lotusland’s legacy and getting the winning bid at the Exceptional Plants Auction (photo by Nell Campbell)

Heather Rosenfeld, Jenny Belushi, host Doug Margerum, and Jan and Rock Rockenbach (photo by Priscilla)

tallic,” “like the fall of an axe.”

Bloomer, Alexa Colón, Jolynn Hardiman, Diane Yancey, and Sheryl Thompson with Rodney Baker and Robert Ooley in front (photo by

His “all white” party for 150 guests at the weekend, featured all of his labels, including his popular Rhône varietal M5 and a host of Mexican canapès.

Doug formerly owned the Wine Cask, a tiara’s toss from the Lobero, from 1981 to 2007 and has been a significant feature on our Eden by the Beach’s food and wine scene for more than 30 years with his popular tasting room across from the Hotel Californian.

Among the avid oenophiles turning out were David Alvarez, William Tomicki, Lisa Faitell, Robert Daugherty, John Barnick , Jenny Belushi , Heather Rosenfeld, Hugh Margerum, Peter and Kathryn Martin, and Lisa Delany.

A Finnish Finit

It’s a wrap!

The Music Academy of the West marked the finale of its 77th Summer Festival with the Academy Festival Orchestra at the Granada under Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu playing Mahler’s

The Margerum team: Lisa Delanty, Jimmy McCarthy, Julia Watts, Alex Lamberth, Robert Daugherty, and Remy Margerum (photo by Priscilla)

A fitting end to a glorious eight weeks of magnificent music...

Think Ink

“Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, ‘Tragic.’”

Lintu, 56, graduated the Sibelius Academy in 1996 and took up the baton as chief conductor of the Orquestra Gulbenkian while continuing his tenure as chief conductor of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.

The impressive hour and a half work, composed in 1903 includes the famous “Mahler hammer” in the last movement, which he insisted should sound “nonme-

In search of the ‘shibui’ in life, Montecito author William Dalziel touches upon inspirational musings and insights while doodling and sketching his way through observations, life lessons, and experiences in his latest book, Ink & Inklings

Bill portrays life with its many twists and turns, through colorful portraits, daily renderings and fantastical graphic designs as he dares to share his thoughts and drawings of frivolity and eroticism.

Meanwhile, he talks to a higher power, while pondering questions and answers that sometimes bewilder him,

and through these ponderings, may even share a little wisdom along the way.

Bill studied at the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena and worked as an artist-illustrator, architect and building contractor.

Can You DIGS it?

The party animals were out in force for one of Fiesta’s most popular parties, Celebración de los Dignatarios: DIGS!, when a record 1,600 guests converged on Santa Barbara Zoo to raise more than $130,000 split equally between Old Spanish Days and the charming 30-acre menagerie.

KEYT-TV weatherman Evan Vega joined in the fun with a series of live broadcasts from the boffo bash, which included the spirits of fiesta, Georgey Taupin, 16, daughter of Sir Elton John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin, and Junior Spirit Aleenah Soriano, 10, showing off their flamenco skills. It was all too beastly for words with supporters including fun loving Franciscan

Spencer

Priscilla)

Hannu Lintu and the Academy Festival Orchestra (photo by Oscar Gomez)

The 77th Summer Festival wrapped with Mahler’s “Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, ‘Tragic’” (photo by Oscar Gomez)

Author William Dalziel publishes “magical diary”

2024 Spirit of Fiesta Georgey Taupin (photo by Alejandro Navarro)

friar Larry Gosselin, David Edelman, Brenda Blalock, Ginni Dreier, George and Laurie Leis, Adam McKaig, Fritz and Gretchen Olenberger, Stephanie Petlow, Rich Block, and David Bolton and Gonzalo Sarmiento.

The Condor for Dolphins

No wonder Condor Express owner Hiroko Benko is smiling.

Inside Hook, a lifestyle magazine, has just named her to the Top 7 as one of the best places globally to see dolphins.

Writer Hudson Lindenberger says Hiroko’s 75 ft. vessel, which plies the waters around Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands – around 1,430 miles of ocean – has “the dolphins stampeding towards the vessel to ride alongside it. It is an unforgettable sight!”

Other sites ranked include Wild

Developing BRATS

Montecito actor Rob Lowe has been developing a sequel to his 1985 film St. Elmo’s Fire with Columbia Pictures filming with his co-star Andrew McCarthy after his BRATS documentary.

“The studio and I have been talking about it for four months,” the 60-year-old Emmy nominee told Entertainment Tonight.

“BRATS has created excitement about it. But it’s still in the very, very, very, very, very early stages.”

Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, and Ally Sheedy starred in the original $10 million Joel Schumacherdirected film which went on to earn $37.8 million at the global box office.

A Winning Duo

Dolphin Point in the Bahamas, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Sea Quest in Hawaii, Terra Azul in the Azores, and the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust in Scotland.

Market Research

Meghan Markle took a private jet with entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima to attend a one-day business summit in the oh-so tony Hamptons.

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, was in attendance at the G9 Ventures Summer Summit hosted by Amy Griffin, wife of billionaire hedge fund founder John Griffin, at their $13 million home.

The Riven Rock resident was reportedly there to pick up tips on her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard.

Others at the event included fellow Montecito resident Gwyneth Paltrow, Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, newswoman Diane Sawyer, cosmetics tycoon Bobbi Brown, and fashion designer Misha Nonoo

The Music Academy of the West has awarded its 2024 Duo Competition winners to cellist Shengyu Meng and pianist Yoshino Toi , with each receiving $5,000 cash and digital assets for career promotion.

Meng, from Shanghai, is earning her bachelor’s degree at the Colburn

Conservatory of Music. She was former principal cellist at the California Young Artists Symphony.

Toi from Tokyo recently completed her performance diploma in collaborative piano as a graduate assistant at the Jacobs School of Music.

She begins her doctoral studies at the New England Conservatory in the fall.

Remembering Robert Fellowes

On a personal note, I remember Robert Fellowes – the late Queen Elizabeth’s former private secretary and former brother-in-law of the late Princess Diana, having been married to her sister, Jane, for 46 years – who has died at the age of 82.

Fellowes, who was later elevated to the peerage, was considered one of the monarch’s most trusted advisers between 1990 and 1999.

After leaving Palace duties in 1999, he returned to his work in the City in private banking with Barclays.

I remember a friend, a fellow palace employee, telling me he only saw Fellowes lose his temper once soon after Diana died.

The Royal Family had been pushing for a private family funeral with the Spencer family after her divorce from Prince Charles because she no longer had royal status.

“Do you really want her brought back to London in a Harrods van!” he erupted, a reference to Diana’s relationship with Dodi Fayed, whose father Mohamed al Fayed, owned the legendary department store Harrods.

An absolute gentleman and loyal royal courtier...

Sightings

Kanye West and skimpily dressed wife Bianca Censori noshing at the Stonehouse... Ellen DeGeneres checking out Pierre Lafond... Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner at the Magna Graecia Film Festival at Catanzaro, Italy.

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

Shengyu Meng playing cello during the winning performance (photo by Zach Mendez)

Hiroko Benko’s Condor Express tops the rankings (courtesy photo)

Yoshino Toi in collaborative piano won the 2024 Duo Competition (courtesy photo)

Brad Vernon, Jessica Diaz, Liz Hahn, Derek Shute, Sarah Gower, CEO Rich Block, and Bob Looney (photo by Alejandro Navarro)

U.S. Bank’s Chris O’Connor and John Sinnema (photo by Alejandro Navarro)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

ONGOING

Free al Fresco Music – Concerts in the Park returns after a dark week for Fiesta, and they’re doing a bait and switch – as in Echoswitch, the Santa Barbara 1980s hard rock cover band throwing down at the Great Meadow in Chase Palm Park. The bait part is that it turns out the August 8 show is merely the penultimate performance at the park as the series has added an August 15 date with indie-rock band The Framers, for whom Chase Palm will be a walk in the park as the group made its bones playing the I.V. Del Playa scene.

WHEN: 5 pm opening act, headliner 6-7:30 pm

WHERE: 300 W. Cabrillo Blvd.

COST: free

INFO: (805) 564-5418 or www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/parksrec/recreation/events/parkrec/concerts.asp

The Stowe House’s Music at the Ranch Tuesday night concert series boasts the seemingly ubiquitous Doublewide Kings. Picnics (which may include respectful and responsible alcohol), blankets, and low-backed chairs are encouraged at the tree-lined lakeside space at the Stow House-Rancho La Patera for the August 13 concert. (In an unrelated gig, Doublewide Kings have announced a big tribute to legendary Dylan enablers The Band with the Santa Barbara Symphony at the Granada in November).

WHEN: 5:30-7:30 pm

WHERE: 304 N. Los Carneros Road, Goleta

COST: free

INFO: (805) 681-7216 or www.goletahistory.org/music-at-the-ranch….

Summer Screenings After Sunset – “Sun, Surf and Cinema,” the uber-popular UCSB A&L free summer film series, which takes place every Friday evening under the stars at the County Courthouse Sunken Garden, also returns post-Fiesta on August 9 with one of the more out-there earlier movies in the Wes Anderson canon. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou stars Bill Murray as an oceanographer who rallies a crew that includes his estranged wife, a journalist, and a man who may or may not be his son to exact revenge on a legendary shark that killed his partner. Think Jaws meets Airplane at The Grand Budapest Hotel with an all-star cast (Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum).

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9-SATURDAY, AUGUST 10

Family Soul – The Faragher Brothers band formed more than 50 years ago when four of the eight siblings (Danny, Jimmy, Davey and Tommy) first performed as The Faragher Brothers band. Later joined by sister Pammy and a fifth brother Marty, they recorded four albums and appeared on music tv shows such as Soul Train (where they were the first all-white band to do so) and Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. They also toured and performed with Rufus, Tower of Power and others, earning four Grammy nominations along the way before breaking up in 1980 to pursue individual interests. Having reunited in recent years, the band now also features more Faragher family members including drummer Charlie and saxist/singer Daisy, but minus Marty. After selling out two concerts at the Alcazar last year, the ensemble returns to the venue for two more shows, this time performing their debut self-titled “yellow” album in its entirety, plus other songs from their catalog and new music created in the spirit of the soulful Seventies era.

WHEN: 7 pm each night

WHERE: Alcazar Theatre, 4916 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria

COST: $65-$80

INFO: (805) 684-6380 or www.thealcazar.org/calendar

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10

Surf ‘n’ Suds – The largest craft beer festival on the Central Coast celebrates its 10th anniversary with another ocean-cooled taste-and-play beer fest. Boasting samples from more than 75 craft breweries, plus tastings of ciders, seltzers, wines and kombucha, Surf ‘n’ Suds takes place at Carpinteria State Park, just steps away from the famous Carpinteria State Beach in downtown Carp. The fest also features a great selection of food and merchant vendors, mega-sized beer pong (what else?) and other lawn games, plus plenty of restrooms and spaces in the shade. The headlining set of live music as you lap up the sudsy stuff is by reggae band Cornerstone – who have actually composed and recorded the “Surf ‘n’ Suds Song” for the fest (sample lyrics: “We’re gonna raise our glass and have a good time here in the 805”). The Vibe Setters and DJ Marco also provide the soundtrack for consuming the full-size pours of the craft beverages all afternoon.

WHEN: 12:30-4:30 pm (11:30 am VIP entrance)

WHERE: 205 Palm Ave, Carpinteria

COST: $60, VIPs $70

INFO: https://surfbeerfest.com

WHEN: 8:30 pm

WHERE: Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Gardens, 1100 Anacapa St. COST: free INFO: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10

Play It Forward – Ensemble Theatre Company’s Legends of Broadway benefit is a one-night-only concert celebrating the music of 10 of Broadway’s most influential composers performed by veterans of the New York stage, screen and TV. The program features music by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jerry Herman, Alan Menken, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, while the all-star cast includes Teri Bibb (Phantom of the Opera), David Burnham (Wicked, The Light in the Piazza), Anthony Fedorov (Rent), Jennifer Paz (Miss Saigon, Flower Drum Song), Kate Reinders (Wicked, High School Musical) and Andrew Samonsky (South Pacific, Limpeka). The evening also boasts a special dance performance from members of the State Street Ballet. Proceeds from the event, which is directed by Education Director Brian McDonald with musical direction by Thomas Buckely, are earmarked for ETC’s Education and Outreach programs. WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: New Vic Theatre, 33 West Victoria St.

COST: $30 & $50 concert only, $250 VIP includes premium seating and a post-show meet-and-greet reception with the artists at Scarlett Begonia)

INFO: (805) 965-5400 or https://etcsb.org

Batiste at the Bowl – Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and composer Jon Batiste comes from a musical family that is something of a New Orleans musical dynasty. Batiste was high school classmates with Trombone Shorty before earning a BA and MA from Juilliard School in jazz studies. Three years later, he launched into a seven-year sojourn as bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During his Colbert tenure he took home the 2021 Album of the Year Grammy for We Are, and co-composed 2022’s Oscar-winning score for the Pixar animated film Soul. Last year, the award-winning documentary film American Symphony chronicled Batiste composing his first symphony. Batiste focuses on his native jazz-soul-R&B oeuvre for his current tour, which arrives at the Santa Barbara Bowl tonight.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: 1122 N. Milpas St.

COST: $45-$155

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

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10

Zemeckis Family Films – After launching with Santa Barbara auteur Andy Davis and his overlooked Steal Big, Steal Little, “Santa Barbara Home Movies” – slated for every Saturday in August as part of The Granada Theatre’s Centennial Celebration – continues with four groundbreaking films by the legendary filmmaker and local resident Robert Zemeckis. Romancing the Stone launches the series tonight. The thrilling adventure through the jungles of Colombia stars then-Santa Barbara resident Michael Douglas, alongside Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The screening will be followed by an on-stage conversation with Zemeckis. Back to the Future (August 17), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (August 24), and Forrest Gump (August 31) round out the Zemeckis screenings. (Note: SBIFF has also scheduled a 40th anniversary screening of the 4K Restoration of Romancing the Stone and a conversation with Zemeckis for August 24).

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: Granada Theatre, 1214 State Street

COST: $20.24 for two tickets

INFO: (805) 899-2222 or www.granadasb.org

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13

‘Facing the Fracture’ – Santa Barbara author Tania Israel’s new book is a nonfiction work that addresses one of the more timely of today’s topics. Facing The Fracture: How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation addresses the provocative news, clashing politicians, and social fragmentation that have created strife and struggle among ordinary Americans. Grounded in psychological research, the book offers readers strategies to reduce toxic input from media, manage polarizing thoughts and feelings, and engage effectively with others. Israel, professor of counseling psychology at UCSB, will chat about the chaos at Chaucer’s Books tonight.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center

COST: free

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

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10-SUNDAY, AUGUST 11

Auto Expo weekend – Santa Barbara’s largest car show is produced by The Community Hot Rod Project (CHRP) and is open to all years, makes, and models cars, trucks and motorcycles. This is a two-day affair that begins with an exciting Road Rally where up to 65 vehicles, each crewed by a driver and navigator, fire up their engines to explore the backroads of the American Riviera. The 8 am – 2 pm rally aims to test the teams both in “driving ability and intellectual skill” while raising awareness for CHRP’s goal of opening a vocational training center. Saturday night’s CHRP gala is a glamorous formal evening celebrating the design and concept of the automobile; particularly those that have long inspired – and continue to inspire – pushing the automotive limits. Sunday’s main event of the Santa Barbara County Auto Expo annually attracts more than 400 vehicles and 7,000 spectators enjoying vehicles made from the early 1900s through today. New this year is a showcase of industry-leading vendors, top builders/customizers, and highline vehicles from private car collections. The proceeds from this event go towards the nonprofit’s goal of creating a vocational training workshop and automotive museum through repurposing the two 1930s Western General Hangars at the Santa Barbara Airport.

WHEN: Expo 9 am – 3 pm

WHERE: UCSB’s Storke Field, 6540 El Colegio Rd.

COST: $10 general, $5 kids

INFO: 805-280-8745 or www.thecommunityhotrodproject.com

County of Santa Barbara Montecito Planning Commission

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Outdoor Lighting, Signs, and other Minor Ordinance Amendments

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Planning Commission Hearing Room 123 E. Anapamu Street, Room 17, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Hearing begins at 9:00 A.M

On August 21, 2024, the Montecito Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing to consider the Outdoor Lighting, Signs, and other Minor Ordinance Amendments. The Montecito Planning Commission will consider making recommendations to the Board of Supervisors regarding the following proposed ordinance amendments:

Case No. 24ORD‐00002, an ordinance amending the Montecito Land Use and Development Code (MLUDC) of Chapter 35, Zoning, of the Santa Barbara County Code, in compliance with Chapter 35.494, and Case No. 24ORD‐00003, an ordinance amending the Article II Coastal Zoning Ordinance (CZO), of Chapter 35, Zoning, of the Santa Barbara County Code, in compliance with Section 35‐180, to implement new regulations and update requirements for outdoor lighting, signs, and sign structures, and to make other miscellaneous updates to the code to update and clarify existing development standards related to accessory structures and setbacks, pool cabañas, and short‐term rental enforcement.

In addition to the ordinance amendments, the Montecito Planning Commission will consider and make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors regarding minor changes to the Montecito Architectural Guidelines and Development Standards for consistency with the Outdoor Lighting, Signs, and other Minor Ordinance Amendments.

The Montecito Planning Commission hearing begins at 9:00 A.M. The order of items listed on the agenda is subject to change by the Montecito Planning Commission. To review the staff report, ordinances, and other related documents, please visit the Planning and Development Department website: https://www.countyofsb.org/1647/Montecito‐Planning‐Commission. For further information about the project, please contact the planner, Ben Singer, at bsinger@countyofsb.org or (805) 934‐6587.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The following methods of participation are available to the public.

 You may observe the live stream of the Montecito Planning Commission meetings on (1) Local Cable Channel 20, (2) Online at: https://www.countyofsb.org/1333/CSBTV‐Livestream; or (3) YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/CSBTV20

If you wish to provide public comment, the following methods are available:

 Distribution to the Montecito Planning Commission ‐  Submit your comment via email prior to 12:00 p.m. on the Friday prior to the Commission hearing. Please submit your comment to the Recording Secretary at dvillalo@countyofsb.org. Your comment will be placed into the record and distributed appropriately.

 Attend the Meeting In‐Person ‐ Individuals are allowed to attend and provide comments at the Montecito Planning Commission meeting in‐person.

 Attend the Meeting by Zoom Webinar ‐  Individuals wishing to provide public comment during the Montecito Planning Commission meeting can do so via Zoom webinar by clicking the below link to register in advance. Register in advance for this meeting: After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing important information about joining the webinar.

When: August 21, 2024, 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Topic: Montecito Planning Commission 8/21/2024

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

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

OR PARTICIPATE VIA TELEPHONE

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

Webinar ID: 893 9729 0286

The Montecito Planning Commission’s rules on hearings and public comment, unless otherwise directed by the Chair, remain applicable to each of the participation methods listed above.

Attendance and participation by the public is invited and encouraged. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Hearing Support Staff (805) 568‐2000. Notification at least 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the Hearing Support Staff to make reasonable arrangements.

If you challenge the project in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Planning Commission prior to the public hearing.

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PHYSICAL TRAINING & THERAPY

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GOT OSTEOPOROSIS? WE CAN HELP

At OsteoStrong our proven non-drug protocol takes just ten minutes once a week to improve your bone density and aid in more energy, strength, balance and agility. Please call for a complimentary session! Call Now (805) 453-6086

TILE SETTING

Local tile setter of 35 years is now doing small jobs only. Services include grout cleaning and repair, caulking, sealing, replacing damaged tiles and basic plumbing needs. Call Doug Watts at 805-729-3211 for a free estimate.

LANDSCAPE

Casa L. M.

Landscape hedges installed. Ficus to flowering. Disease resistant. Great privacy. Licensed & insured. Call (805) 963-6909

PET/ HOUSE SITTING

Do you need to get away for a weekend, week or more? I will housesit and take care of your pets, plants & mail. I have refs if needed. Call me or text me. Christine (805) 452-2385

AVAILABLE FOR RENT

Montecito Home. $30,000 per month. 4 BD 4 BTH – attached Nanny’s Quarters + Guest House. Minimum of 2 years lease. (310) 498-0315.

Car Storage – Secure, Private. OR

Private Art Studio –Includes bathroom access. Near S.B. Mission, $650.00 per month. Call Chris (310) 570-7700 or cb@yesworldwide.com

SB Shoe Repair & Grand Central Hat Makers Leather Goods & Hats

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Ocean view plot off of Bluff Ave. Island Edition-C #83 $45,000 For info (805) 455-0731

It’s simple. Charge is $3 per line, each line with 31 characters. Minimum is $10 per issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue. Email Classified Ad to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860. All ads must be finalized by Friday at 2pm the week prior to printing. We accept Visa/MasterCard/Amex (3% surcharge)

SB SHOE & HAT REPAIR

CARPET CLEANING

SANTA BARBARA CEMETERY PLOT

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Foreachofthefirstfiveminicrosswords,oneoftheentriesalsoservesaspartofa five-wordmetaclue.Theanswertothemetaisawordorphrase(sixlettersor longer)hiddenwithinthesixthminicrossword.Thehiddenmetaanswerstartsin oneofthesquaresandsnakesthroughthegridverticallyandhorizontallyfrom there(nodiagonals!)withoutrevisitinganysquares.

Foreachofthefirstfiveminicrosswords,oneoftheentriesalsoservesaspartofa five-wordmetaclue.Theanswertothemetaisawordorphrase(sixlettersor longer)hiddenwithinthesixthminicrossword.Thehiddenmetaanswerstartsin oneofthesquaresandsnakesthroughthegridverticallyandhorizontallyfrom there(nodiagonals!)withoutrevisitinganysquares.

Foreachofthefirstfiveminicrosswords,oneoftheentriesalsoservesaspartofa five-wordmetaclue.Theanswertothemetaisawordorphrase(fivelettersor longer)hiddenwithinthesixthminicrossword.Thehiddenmetaanswerstartsin oneofthesquaresandsnakesthroughthegridverticallyandhorizontallyfrom there(nodiagonals!)withoutrevisitinganysquares.

ByPeteMuller&FrankLongo Foreachofthefirstfiveminicrosswords,oneoftheentriesalsoservesaspartofa five-wordmetaclue.Theanswertothemetaisawordorphrase(sixlettersor longer)hiddenwithinthesixthminicrossword.Thehiddenmetaanswerstartsin oneofthesquaresandsnakesthroughthegridverticallyandhorizontallyfrom there(nodiagonals!)withoutrevisitinganysquares.

"ThisisSOfrustrating!"

Likekilocalories

Placetoparkatabar?

Takeunlawfully

Modelmaterial,maybe

Evenasmidgen

7/4or12/31,e.g.

Solutionforpreparing kimchi 5 Losesseaworthinessina bigway