Coral Casino Opens

JOURNAL

Killebrew’s Gratitudes – Inspiring words and

thoughts from SBCC’s Executive Director of Public Affairs and Communications, P.12

‘Everybody’s Favorite Mothers’ – New play

celebrates first mother to march with her son in the Gay Pride parade, P.20

SERVING MONTECITO AND SOUTHERN SANTA BARBARA 22 – 29 FEB 2024 | VOL 30 ISS 8 | www.montecitojournal.net

Legacy Awards 2024

SB Museum of Natural History honors its volunteers, page 14

CORAL CASINO OPENS

A NEWLY CONSTRUCTED CORAL CAFÉ WITH A ROSA VERONA BAR… THE LARGEST GLASS SPA IN CALIFORNIA… AND CHEF THOMAS KELLER ON THE WAY… THE CORAL CASINO BEACH AND CABANA CLUB REOPENS TO ITS FORMER GLORY AND MORE (STORY STARTS ON PAGE 6)

Hope Dies Last

Lilac Montecito

MJ’s Gwyn Lurie speaks with Etti Koren, Yifat Zezak Dromi, and Sigal Caspi, three survivors and residents of Kibbutz Kfar Azza, page 5

Coast Village Road has a new dinner offering from the familiar eatery that offers gluten-free indulgence, page 28

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE ditorial – Three residents of Kibbutz Kfar Azza An Independent Mind – Thoughts on the effects The Optimist Daily – A new gadget is giving 5 Ediscuss their horrendous experience and memories 16 of the $50/hr minimum wage being proposed in 28 amputees the sensation of temperature, of the October 7th attack

Congress

delivering a more complete sensory experience in prosthetics Food Files – Lilac Montecito is open and serving up a whole new concept with the same gluten-free spin as their State Street spot

Casino Opens – The long wait is over and rilliant Thoughts – While Jules Verne took us 6 Ctheoralillustrious 18 Baround private club is open – here’s what the world and beyond, these are the ways awaits its members

we’ve gone lower than we ever went before

ontecito Miscellany – Elings Park’s renovated Beings & Doings – The conclusion of Richard 8 Mtennis courts, Storyteller’s Lunch with Love, ETC 19 Slater’s disorienting journey across the American 31 Montecito Health Coach – It can be scary enters LORT, and more miscellany

etters and Local News – More residents 10 Lweigh in on the upcoming March 5th

election and Miramar Beach closes after a sewage spill Tide Guide

ur Town – A talk with SBCC’s Jordan 12 OKillebrew and a book about Hannah Bond,

America’s First Black Woman Novelist, for the MJ’s ongoing coverage of Black History Month

On Entertainment – James Still on Everybody’s 20 Favorite Mothers, keep the SBIFF feels and reels rolling, plus the Music Academy’s new (old) name and award

4

Montecito JOURNAL

alendar of Events – A range of musical 36 Cmoments and staged spectaculars happening in town this week

– Leo (Lee) Artman, who will truly 25 Iben Passing missed but never forgotten, is remembered 38 Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified Appraisals – A reader’s hat brings 26 Ea lizabeth’s sense of style, inspiring reflections on the esteemed milliners of the ‘50s

ociety Invites – It’s dinner time and the Santa Westmont – Theater stages a modern Romeo 14 SBarbara 27 YandourJuliet, Museum of Natural History has these Orchestra Concerto features top student legacy volunteers to toast

for a parent as they transition their kids into independence and prepare them for leaving the nest

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ads, in which sellers offer everything from summer rentals to estate sales

ini Meta Crossword Puzzles 39 MLocal Business Directory – Smart business

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“We can complain rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” – Abraham Lincoln

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22 – 29 February 2024

Editorial

Hope Dies Last

by Gwyn Lurie

T

his month a delegation of eight women who survived Hamas’ October 7 th massacre, were brought to Santa Barbara as a delegation of “sisters” to share their accounts of what happened, and to feel the love, support and care of this community. I had the painful privilege of spending a few hours with Etti Koren, Sigal Caspi, and Yifat Zezak Dromi, three residents of Kibbutz Kfar Azza, one of the communities decimated by Hamas’s terrorist attack – a shockingly brutal killing spree that was, for Jews, second only to the Holocaust, and the bloodiest in Israel’s history. It’s taken me some time to figure out how to convey to you the essence of this conversation, and to separate it out from my own personal feelings. Which is, of course, impossible.

Etti Koren, Yifat Zezak Dromi, and Sigal Caspi It was not an easy conversation. Even a simple question like “how are you doing?” seemed loaded and dumb for people who’ve lost so much, so suddenly, and so horrifically – friends, family, their homes, their community, and a once undying faith in the possibility of peace – no small thing for those who chose to raise their children in a place surrounded by neighbors whose leaders are their sworn enemies; a place where deadly incoming missiles are a common occurrence.

Before I continue, I’d like to clarify a couple things. First, I have no intention of swaying anyone’s opinion on Israel’s response to October 7th, nor on the region’s unendingly complicated and convoluted politics which long predate the attack that has unleashed millions of TikToks, protests, and otherwise expressed passionately held opinions – including calls for peace that seem anything but peaceful.

And far fewer helpful ideas on how to resolve this mess. Second, and for whatever it’s worth, I’m terrified (that was the point, wasn’t it?) by all that this has wrought, and every night before I go to sleep and every morning before I check the news, I pray for peace.

That said, I want to share with you some of what I heard that day from Etti, Sigal and Yifat, because I think it’s important to remember that at the center of what happened on October 7th in Israel and what continues in Gaza, are human beings who have little or no say in the political decisions, maneuvers, perversions, corruptions, and chess moves made by their leaders. That’s true for Jews, Palestinians, Russians, Ukrainians, Americans and so on. One of the ironies being that those leaders are protected by impenetrable bunkers and security details prepared to take a bullet for them. Like in chess, everything is sacrificed to protect the “king.” But it’s the average civilian, the pawns like you and me, who must absorb the devasting impact of these geo-political decisions.

Here are some snippets from our conversation, including a few that left me speechless.

Sigal Caspi: On 7th October, we woke up and we saw the red color alarm that there are rockets coming. And we go – the family, me, my husband, and two boys – to the safe room. And we think... “Two minutes and it’s finished, but the light stuck. It did not stop. The red color is a

Editorial Page 114 114 22 – 29 February 2024

Gwyn Lurie is CEO and Executive Editor of the Montecito Journal Media Group

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Coral Casino Opens

Esteemed Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club is Renovated and Ready

General Manager of the Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club, Nash Tennant, at its Coral Café with 32’ wraparound screen (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

by Joanne A Calitri

T

he Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club, Montecito has officially opened following extensive upgrades to its amenities and interior architecture, meticulously designed by owner Ty Warner. Well-known for his astute sense of creating the best in the hospitality industry, Warner ensured every step of the process personally.

To oversee the club is its new General Manager, Nash Tennant, appointed

by Warner in November 2023. I interviewed Tennant about his new position.

“Personally,” he shared, “this is a dream role for me to be at the helm of such a distinguished property – one that has always been unparalleled in its pursuit of timeless style and excellence in service.”

The latest renovations commenced in 2020. The club reopened with a private weekend soirée for its members on January 27-29 this year. For upgrading the club, Tennant provided, “The building is historic, built in 1937. We wanted to preserve the historic architecture of the building, while also creating a coveted private beach club like no other while providing a club experience superior to any other club in the nation.”

The architect overseeing the recent project is Barry Winick of Winick Architects Inc. He follows the footprints of the building’s original architect Gardner A. Dailey in 1937, and the renovations done in 2005-08 by New York-based architect and designer Peter Marino. Winick was on Marino’s team during the 2005-08 renovations.

For this update, Winick in our email interview said, “The invitation to add new touches of excitement and refinement to the already iconic Coral Casino of course was a delightful challenge. Mr. Warner is the rare client who has lofty goals with an intuitive and clear vision for the project, and yet provides much flexibility for creativity in the process. We found ourselves layering onto and enhancing a great work of Streamline Moderne architecture and focused on elevating the lifestyle and experiences at the club. A significant green aspect of the project is that it is a historic restoration project, thus the preservation of the facility is inherently green through the reuse of the already embodied carbon footprint.”

I was invited for a walk-through with Tennant. One enters the club through

6

Montecito JOURNAL

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Adams

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Montecito Miscellany

Elings Park Executive Director Dean Noble with Sharon Bradford, Marcia Constance, and Bruce Giffin (photo by Priscilla)

An Ace on the Courts

Marcia Constance had the honor of cutting the red ribbon (photo by Priscilla) Some eager racketeers ready to hit the court (photo by Priscilla)

by Richard Mineards

R

acketeers were out in force when the 50-year-old Las Positas Tennis Center at Elings Park reopened after 16 months of major improvements and renovations costing $3.2 million.

The tennis center project is part of a larger $10 million Elings Park infra-

structure campaign of improvements for the 230-acre park, the largest privately funded public recreation area in the U.S., says Executive Director Dean Noble.

“It is like a private club, but open to the public.”

Fundraising for the tennis club, which has 270 members, started in 2019. Elings Park took over management in 2011 from the City of Santa Barbara.

Local architect Joe Andrulaitis, a player himself, oversaw the renovations which included the bathrooms, new access to the six courts, stadium seating, parking lot improvements, landscaping, and security.

More landscaping is planned, costing around $700,000, in due course.

Among the tennis fans turning out, 109 of them who donated $2.8 million to the

Miscellany Page 314 314

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Montecito JOURNAL

9

Make Your Voice Heard on March 5

M

oney in politics has been something we have seen for too long, and the results have been devastating. The 1st District Supervisor race pits incumbent Das Williams against challenger Roy Lee. Williams, with substantial campaign funds, has continued to accept financial contributions from the cannabis industry, despite the ethical concerns highlighted by the 2020 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury report.

In 2019, Supervisor Williams pledged to stop accepting campaign funds from cannabis operators amid criticism over his conflict of interest in creating the county’s cannabis regulations. Sadly, but not surprisingly, he has since broken this promise. Recent campaign disclosures have shown a predictable reversal, with Williams receiving several contributions from cannabis-related entities, including a $5,000 donation from a Carpinteria cannabis grower.

This reversal is not just a question of campaign finance; it strikes at the heart of integrity, honesty, and the trust we place in our elected officials. Williams’ backtrack from his promise represents a profound breach of trust, highlighting a critical need for leaders who are steadfast in their commitments and place the community’s well-being at the forefront.

The core issue of this campaign tran-

scends monetary contributions; it centers on integrity and character. The choice is stark: between a career politician who has backtracked on his promises and misled his constituents, as evidenced by lingering frustrations in Montecito over the removal of critical safety ring nets post-mudslide, and an alternative promising a new direction.

Roy Lee vows, “I pledge to maintain a campaign finance record free from the influence of controversial contributions and to advocate for policies that truly align with our community’s best interests.”

As voters, we must demand our resources are utilized judiciously, not squandered on repaying contributions or serving special interests. With ballots now distributed, we face a decision by March 5th: to opt for leadership and representation that genuinely reflect our values and aspirations. Make your voice heard by mailing your ballot or delivering it to the Santa Barbara elections offices by March 5th.

Rosanne Crawford

Public Servant or Career Politician?

This is our simple choice in the upcoming election of 1st District Supervisor of Santa Barbara County.

YOUR LETTERS MATTER! The Montecito Journal thrives with community input…

Have thoughts on a local issue?

Comments on one of our articles?

Contact us at letters@montecitojournal.net

Roy Lee is a rare individual. A true public servant who has no further political aspirations other than serving the community where he lives and works.

He has proven this by his dedicated work on the Carpinteria City Council and as a hard-working business owner.

Das Williams is a career politician who already has his sights set on a state senate seat and depends on his party’s good graces and other special interests to advance those future job advancements. He has proven this with the cannabis permitting fiasco, the opposition to the La Cumbre master planning development, and the abrupt removal of the Montecito ring nets.

We will always have an overabundance of career politicians to wade through, but how often do we get the opportunity to elect a true servant of the people?

I, for one, am ready for a public servant.

Lynn Turner, Carpinteria resident

The closure comes as health officials advise Santa Barbara County residents to avoid beaches and creeks countywide for at least three days following rains due to bacteria and pollutants from storm water runoff that can increase risk of illness from contact.

Health officials say avoiding swimming, surfing or playing in the ocean and creeks after storm events can minimize potential health hazards like rashes, fever, ear infections, vomiting and diarrhea.

JOURNAL

Letters and Local News

Executive Editor/CEO | G wyn 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, Bryce Eller

Local News: Miramar Beach Closed Near Montecito Due to Sewage Spill Health officials have closed Miramar Beach just west of Montecito on Tuesday due to a spill of approximately 2,500 gallons of sewage into a nearby creek.

The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department issued the closure for Miramar Beach from a quarter mile east to an eighth-mile west of the outfall of Oak Creek, located near Sinaloa Drive.

The sewage spilled from a sewer manhole into Oak Creek during recent rains.

The affected section of beach has been fenced off and posted with warning signs to avoid contact with the sewage-tainted water over health risk concerns.

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, Jamie Knee, 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

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE Day

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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.

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2.0

22 – 29 February 2024

Editorial (Continued from 5) code that we hear when rockets are coming from Gaza to Israel and in our direction.

It did not stop.

Exactly at that moment, my youngest son, Raphael, got a video message with footage of a parachute, like a drone coming down with someone with a weapon into the kibbutz. So, you recognize the area, and you know it’s in our place. We start hearing the shooting, not rockets. … Most of the houses in Israel have a shelter, especially new houses. But our shelters don’t lock from the inside. They’re supposed to protect us from rockets, not from active shooting or terrorists in your home. They’re designed that way so that you can’t lock them in case something happened to you, it’s going to be easy to rescue us later.

We all enter our shelter. We turn off TV, the air conditioning, every noise ... the lights, and we sit, and we sit for 22 hours. … We start hearing someone breaking the windows in our home; people were inside.

My older son, Omer, is a medic, and at some point that morning he and my husband Amir opened a field clinic in our kitchen to help some badly wounded people.

Meanwhile, terrorists were on the roof next-door, and they continued shooting on our house. We were with the shooting until 3 am the next day. By that time, I already knew that some of my friends were dead.

When I finally left home, I thought, “Two days, I will be back. But when I saw the house when I left, I understood there’s nothing to go back to. I saw bodies on the grass in the backyard, burned to ashes.

Etti Koren: Endorsed by

Since October 7th, I don’t have house. This is my house. It’s destroyed.

Etti shows me a photo of a burned pad where a house once stood.

10 terrorists were in my home, burned my home down, broke everything. Me, my husband, Shamur, and my dog were in the safe room for 36 hours.

At 6:30 am we start hearing the alarms and the rockets, the noise. This is a different noise than we’re used to. So, we understand something is different. My husband had just made coffee and a small glass of lemon water and he said, “Go to the shelter room.” … This is all we had to eat or drink all these hours, and no restroom. We used whatever we had to go to the bathroom, we used a bag or no, I won’t say it. We succeeded in getting out one message from our phone right before learning there’s terrorists in the kibbutz.

“Until now, I can still hear the Arabic, “Allahu Akbar,” and the rockets and the machine gun shooting.

I can still hear it until now. I hear it all the time.”

– Etti Koren

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… My husband got a belt to hold the door closed. He used the handle and tied it to the bed so that nobody could open the saferoom door from the outside. …Until now, I can still hear the Arabic, “Allahu Akbar,” and the rockets and the machine gun shooting. I can still hear it until now. I hear it all the time. … We just sat there. No electricity, no lights, like I’m in the grave. At 9:45 am we heard someone massively knocking at the door and screaming, “Allahu Akbar.”

Shamur is holding the door.

And I sit in the bed and start to pray … And then quiet. We didn’t know what happened, but we understand something very big is happening.

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Etti asks me to please close my eyes for a moment.

Can you close your eyes for a second? Now think you’re in a small room and all you hear is shooting, screaming, Arabic speaking, and you’re closed in this room, and you can’t leave, and the shooting is not stopping.

At a certain point they banged at our door, and I began having thoughts of the

Editorial Page 244 244

22 – 29 February 2024

Montecito JOURNAL

11

Our Town

Black History Month 2024: Jordan Killebrew Jordan Killebrew at his SBCC office (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

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elebrating week three of Black History Month I met with Jordan Killebrew at his Santa Barbara City College office. He is the Executive Director (VP), Public Affairs & Communications for SBCC and has his own Graphics company, JK Graphic Solutions. His current volunteer work includes Founder of Project IV Love and Co-Founder & Executive Director of Juneteenth Santa Barbara since April 2018. He has served on several nonprofit boards from The Fund for Santa Barbara, Endowment for Youth Community, and Pacific Pride Festival Committee.

He holds a B.A. with honors in Art from UCSB and graduated in 2017 from the Leading from Within, Emerging Leaders Program.

Q. What are the top Black art, music and cultural contributions you are celebrating?

A. African Americans have a strong history of cultural achievements and happenings that majorly contribute to the local economy and region. I think of how the contributions of Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, among other past elders, Horace McMillan, Anita Mackey, Valencia Nelson, Babatunde Folayemi, William Downey, Grover C. Barnes, and Shirley Kennedy – who all are artists in their fields – have forged pathways that allow our current generations to be successful. I celebrate them every day as they celebrate and champion the ideas of me and my contemporaries.

Personally, I am still processing the loss of Sojourner. She was a huge mentor, friend, and like a mother figure to me. I am working with local organizations on ways to celebrate her. I know Healing Justice Santa Barbara will honor her at the sold-out Black is Beautiful Gala and Fundraiser naming the Sojourner Kincaid Rolle Youth Artivism Scholarship! I am inquiring with Santa Barbara County Arts Commission to identify a location to have a mural created and dedicated to Sojourner. It is so important to me, as she has paved the way for so many people and gave so much of herself to our region. I am interested in continued ways to preserve her legacy and inspire people to have the kind, honest, and loving heart she had.

Where can people find Black arts, music and culture in the Santa Barbara area?

The culture is being in community. I am grateful for organizations like Healing Justice Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Black Culture House, NAACP – Santa Maria and Lompoc, Gateway Educational Services, among others, for organizing significant events this month and year-round.

I am a co-founder of Juneteenth Santa Barbara. Along with my fellow co-founders, Chiany Dri and Simone Ruskamp, we meet monthly with community members to understand needs and challenges. One outcome was a public community calendar as a resource that lists all events – anyone can add an event. It is updated weekly, as Black History is more than just a month.

Beyond events and music, being in community, to me, means intentional relationships. It means loving, understanding, and building relationships with community members, especially Black community members living here right now, here in the present, in this community.

“If you treat people right they will treat you right… 90 percent of the time.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Our Town Page 224 224

22 – 29 February 2024

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22 – 29 February 2024

Montecito JOURNAL

13

Society Invites Public Presentation

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Legacy Awards 2024

Please Join Us

Thursday, March 7, 2024 5:30 - 6:30 pm Wolf Education & Training Center 529 West Junipero Street, Santa Barbara Please RSVP to Danielle Cassidy by March 1 (805) 681-7528 or dcassidy@sansumclinic.org.

Reservations required.

Terry and Toni McQueen, Ken Tatro, Museum President & CEO Luke J. Swetland, Don Morris, and Kathy and Bob Harbaugh (photo by Clint Weisman)

by Joanne A Calitri

S Nathalie McDowell Johnson MD, FACS Senior Medical Director Legacy Cancer Institute, Portland, Oregon

Speaking on:

Breasts and the Surgeon: From Antiquity to Infinity

The history and evolution of breast cancer treatment and the surgeon is fascinating.

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14 Montecito JOURNAL

Title Sponsor

anta Barbara Museum of Natural History announced its 15th Annual Legacy Awards honorees Kathy and Bob Harbaugh, Toni and Terry McQueen, Don Morris, and Ken Tatro, at a private dinner event on January 18 in the Fleischmann Auditorium.

The Museum’s Legacy Awards acknowledge extraordinary contributions to the Museum and the natural world by community supporters, donors, and volunteers.

The honorees were chosen for their generosity and dedication to the Museum. All six of this year’s honorees are volunteers.

In addition to the honorees, the annual event recognized the generosity of its Leadership Circles Members and key donors who helped sustain the Museum and Sea Center’s work during the past year. Leadership Circles Members play a critical role in supporting all facets of the museum and Sea Center’s work, including education, research, exhibits, collections, and accessibility initiatives.

Kathy Harbaugh became a museum docent in 1983, eventually joining the museum’s staff to manage the entire docent and school field trip program. After retiring in 2015, she became a docent again, continuing to educate children at the museum today. Bob Harbaugh has volunteered across museum departments, from organizing multi-day field trips for the museum community to helping identify and collect data on mineral research specimens.

Toni and Terry McQueen are critical volunteers for the Santa Barbara

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.” – Ulysses S. Grant

Wine + Food Festival, one of the museum’s most important fundraisers of the year. Throughout the year, they generously give many hours tending the Sukinanik’oy Garden of Chumash Plants, a living exhibit with important educational and cultural applications.

As the first park archaeologist for Channel Islands National Park, Don Morris has a long and deep association with the museum. Now retired, Morris continues to share his rare technical skills and peerless knowledge of local prehistory with the museum and the wider scientific community.

Ken Tatro has given thousands of hours of his time and care interpreting marine exhibits for Sea Center guests. Tatro started volunteering at the Sea Center in 2006 and has served a weekly shift ever since, interrupted only by a pandemic and the occasional vacation.

The dinner was catered by Events

by Rincon and wine provided by Pali

Wine Co. 411: www.sbnature.org

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

22 – 29 February 2024

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22 – 29 February 2024

Montecito JOURNAL

15

An Independent Mind The $50 Minimum Wage

by Jeffrey Harding

I

always find it curious that proponents of higher minimum wages don’t aim high enough. The Federal minimum wage is $7.25. As of January 1, California’s minimum wage went to $16 per hour; fast-food workers get $20 per hour.

If they believe this is the way to lift low-wage workers out of poverty, why is the minimum wage so low? Where are the standard bearers of economic justice for the poor?

For a 40-hour work week, $20 an hour will yield a $41,600 yearly income, before taxes and deductions. Who can live on that? According to California’s Department of Housing, a poor L.A. family of four needs $100,900 a year ($50/hr) just to achieve low-income status. Santa Barbara? Forget it: a family of four needs $118,500 to achieve low-income status ($59/hr).

I can report that one brave candidate for U.S. Senate has planted the flag for

a $50 per hour minimum wage. It wasn’t Adam Schiff or Katie Porter or Steve Garvey. Perhaps they are captives of powerful economic interests who wish to keep poor workers poor.

That brave politician is Democratic Representative Barbara Lee of California’s 12th Congressional District (BerkeleyOakland-Alameda-San Leandro). Lee is a standout Progressive politician. This 77-year-old grandmother has aligned herself with just about every Progressive legislative proposal since arriving in Congress in 1998. Her rise to power in the Democratic Party from very humble beginnings is impressive, attesting to her unshakeable Progressive beliefs.

Unfortunately for Rep. Lee, her proposal for a $50 minimum wage will cause mass unemployment.

It would seem obvious that a $50 minimum wage would fail to cure poverty. If a business isn’t permitted to pay anyone less than $50 per hour and their business structure is based on lower wages to remain profitable, then the outcome would be failure. Thus unemployment.

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I’m always asked: well, if everyone has to pay $50, wouldn’t prices go up in unison, thus all businesses would be in the same boat. Well, yes, but that’s not how things work. Every business has a different operating and profit structure. Take fast-food restaurants for example. Maybe McDonald’s would survive because it could afford to replace workers with automated ordering kiosks and burger flippers.

Unfortunately, Tammy Jo’s Burger Barn wouldn’t be able to afford that and would have to shut her doors. For both, the result is unemployment.

The impact of high minimum wages in states like California, New York, Oregon, and Washington has already caused restaurants to change menus to less expensive items, increase prices, cut back employee hours, and reduce staff. Pizza Hut recently announced they would lay off 1,200 delivery drivers in Southern California. Another survey revealed that patrons were becoming increasingly resistant to higher prices and have cut back on dining out. It’s just the start of layoffs.

Which workers do minimum wages hurt the most?

A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER Working Paper 28388), after reviewing the extensive literature on minimum wage rates and employment, concluded that low-skilled workers were harmed the most because of lost job opportunities. In other words, those that minimum wages were supposed to help were the ones most denied job opportunities.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed a bill that would double the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025, and concluded “Employment would be reduced by 1.4 million workers, or 0.9 percent…” Those would be low-skilled workers.

Here’s the thing: in our competitive free market system, prices and wages are set by the market. The “market” is shorthand for a complex decentralized voluntary process based on the economic interaction of millions of people buying and selling things. Since the purpose of the economy is to satisfy consumers, ultimately it is we consumers who set the price of labor based on what we are willing to pay for a product. By setting prices and wages arbitrarily, politicians believe they have knowledge superior to the millions of us who participate in the marketplace. Experience tells us that they don’t.

Progressives like Lee believe that they can just pass laws and that will improve the lot of poor people. Yet politicians have spent trillions to fight poverty ever since Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and the poverty rate has not changed over the past 60 years (avg. 12%).

If history tells us anything, it is that you can’t cure poverty by forcing businesses to fork over more money to workers. It is, however, an excellent way to create more poverty. The way to help poor people is to let businesses create jobs that allow low-skill workers to learn and demonstrate work proficiency and move

ahead in life.

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.

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Montecito JOURNAL

17

Brilliant Thoughts The Wonder of Under

by Ashleigh Brilliant

Y

ou may have heard about the crazy theory some people have – that the entire Universe rests on the back of a gigantic turtle. A skeptical interviewer supposedly asked one such believer, “Then what is the turtle standing on – another turtle?” Back came the reply, “You can’t catch me there – It’s turtles all the way down.”

This somehow inspired one of my own epigrams: “Just because you have my support Doesn’t mean I want you on my back.”

Being at the bottom doesn’t usually convey a very positive meaning – although it might also imply that, from there, the only way to go is up. And I suppose it makes a good starting point – although, as every climber knows, after you get to the top there’s nowhere to go but down.

I have actually climbed to the top of the highest mountain in Australia – Mount

Kosciuszko (named for a Polish leader). It is 7,300 feet high – only about a quarter the height of Everest, and there is virtually a roadway to the summit –but Australians have to make the most of it, and visitors have to take what they can get.

Considering the popularity of the Guinness Book of World Records, I have always thought that the idea of collecting and publishing local records might be similarly successful. It could be limited to a particular county or urban area – and it would give a peculiar kind of recognition to the person who, for example, might be the tallest, or the fastest runner, in that locality.

But, if we resume our descent to the bottom, the least-known areas on earth are those at the bottom of the sea, the deepest being in the western Pacific Ocean. Only recently have scientists been able to study what forms of life exist at such extreme depths, by sending down devices capable of sending back images and measuring what they find.

The idea of humans travelling beneath the surface of the world’s waters for extended distances now goes back more

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than two centuries. Its most famous early exponent was the French writer Jules Verne, who, for much of my early life, was my own favorite author. It was he who wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (published in 1870). But for some reason, that book didn’t interest me as much as some others he wrote. In particular, I liked Around the World in Eighty Days, especially because I thought it had a superb ending. In that era, when the whole notion of “Time Zones” had just begun to be thought of, Verne’s hero (an Englishman) bets that he can indeed do that journey in 80 days. Alas! it takes him 81 days, and he arrives back in London sure that he has lost the bet. But it turns out that, since he travelled from West to East, he actually gained a day – so he is still in time!

Another Jules Verne epic which captivated me predicted the first journey From the Earth to the Moon (which was its title) a century before it actually happened.

Not only that, but Verne said it would be made by Americans – and correctly predicted that the vehicle would be launched from a site in Florida! But the book ended somewhat sadly, because the craft never reaches the Moon’s surface, but is held by gravity in an apparently endless orbit around the Moon.

That, to me, seemed such a satisfying ending that I was disappointed to learn that there was a sequel, called A Trip Around the Moon – in which Verne brings what

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18 Montecito JOURNAL

“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” – John F. Kennedy

was actually a projectile, fired from an enormous gun, back to Earth by having its orbit deflected by an asteroid. The actual touchdown is again prophetic, in that it is an oceanic “splashdown,” and the crew are eventually rescued by a U.S. Navy vessel.

In terms of “going under,” Jules Verne also wrote another more fanciful, and less scientific, account of a “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” which came out some years before his Lunar voyage. In that story, a group of explorers go downward through the crater of a still-active volcano in Iceland. There they encounter a whole world of prehistoric creatures.

But in actual fact, the core of the Earth is thought to be so hot that approaching it for just a short distance would probably be fatal.

I can only hope that in the face of all this information, you will not, by now, be

feeling underwhelmed.

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016.

Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000. email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

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22 – 29 February 2024

Beings & Doings

Richie Slater Crosses the Interior

By Jeff Wing

R

ichard Slater – Englishman, explorer, cultural spelunker, and during a particularly trying economic downturn in his native Liverpool, a bin-man – gathered his strength. New York City had been kind to him but was draining him of precious lucre. He’d spent his time well – hung out with a couple of Dutch tourists (scions of New Amsterdam’s plucky founders), wandered wide-eyed through jazz-and-folk crucible Greenwich Village, and in great fear and trembling had discovered hash browns.

But it was time to go. “I left New York because I was having too much fun, spending too much money. I needed my money for California.”

Slater’s plan for crossing America was as thought out as a fall down the stairs.

“It was day-to-day,” he confirms in happy singsong. Seeking escape velocity from the superdense isle of Manhattan, he saw in Philadelphia a smaller metropolis whose attainable outskirts would be of

22 – 29 February 2024

benefit to the improvising hitchhiker. “I took a Greyhound from New York and stayed an evening in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, a colonial-era traveler’s house called Chamounix Mansion.”

Someone mentioned Philly’s famous Liberty Bell and the Englishman waved the idea away. “I wasn’t really that interested. I thought ‘aw, it’s just a bell’.

Maybe I was still feeling upset about the War of Independence.”

“Hey, English!”

When Slater got to St. Louis, the hostel his late-edition guidebook had promised was nowhere to be found. “So I’m walking around with my backpack, it’s getting late and I’m thinking I may have to just splurge and get a proper hotel. That would cost me a few days’ worth of food.”

He was about to give it up and check in someplace when he bumped into another backpacker. “He knew of a place, and I followed him.”

Another brick edifice and Slater’s new acquaintance knocked on the door with

what seemed familiar purpose. “The door opened,” Slater says. “We went in and were invited to put our backpacks in this little hallway. Then we were led upstairs.” At the top of the stairs a makeshift chapel opened up. Without breaking stride Slater negotiated a quick 180° pivot but the crowd lumbering up the steps blocked his exit.

“I realized too late what this was.” Eighty or so people occupied folding chairs in various attitudes of sprawled piety. A few of them shot sleepy glances at Slater, then turned back to the preacher’s emphatic exhortations on sin, a lake of fire, and a promised period of damnation – distressing news that nevertheless seemed to have a tranquilizing effect on the congregants.

Slater took a seat, crossed his arms. A bed’s a bed, he reasoned, crossing his arms. But I am not repenting!

Following the sermon the parishioners were told to strip. “Basically,” Slater says with a look of mild sorrow, “take all your clothes off and put them in the basket in front of you.” Ten other guys, all of them reportedly huge and hulking, nonchalantly peeled their clothes off and wadded them into the basket. They seemed to know the drill. Our Richie Slater – in what we may call American Vacation Freefall – saw few options. He gingerly removed and neatly folded his clothes, placing them carefully in the

Argonaut regards Golden Fleece: Richie at newfound Pacific shore (photo by Pete Dosset)

provided basket to the fascinated stares of the other boarders. “I’m standing there in my boxer shorts, me and 10 very large, extremely naked gentlemen.”

Slater politely folded his hands over his tropic zone, rocking on his heels and

Beings & Doings Page 304 304

Montecito JOURNAL

19

On Entertainment Still at It

by Steven Libowitz

P

laywright James Still has authored several dozen plays over his long career, many of which focus on a combination of political, cultural, and personal topics, including The Velocity of Gary, Appoggiatura, and the much-translated, globally produced And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank.

But his current passion project is one that easily covers all three.

Everybody’s Favorite Mothers tells the story of Jeanne Manford, who way back in 1972 marched in what would become the Gay Pride parade alongside her gay son. It’s hard to imagine in today’s culture of de facto tolerance just how brave an act that was more than half a century ago. Manford and her husband later co-founded a support group for parents, the organization that would eventually become known around the world as PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).

But for playwright Still, Manford carrying a homemade sign boldly declaring her support was about her expressing an unconditional love – one that turned into unlikely activism.

“I am drawn to stories of reluctant heroes, and particularly this one mother who did this thing simply because she loved her son and she wanted to walk with him and show that support,” Still said. “I wanted to go back and show the courage and the fierceness of this one mother in a moment when no one had done that, no one had stepped forward as the parent of a gay kid and said, ‘I love my kid and he’s gay,’ and in this very public way.”

The work is also the first full-length play Still has written since the one-two punch that befell him – the death of his husband, and undergoing his own life-saving surgery – within the timeframe of a single month in 2022.

“After going through that, I didn’t know what would be important enough to me to want to spend the time on, something I could look forward to working on day after day, month after month,” he said. “This story matters to me that much. And I think it’s also

because it speaks to this moment now where all of us are wondering, what can we do to make a difference in the world? Maybe it’s just as simple as carrying a sign in a parade.”

So Still is thrilled that he’s getting the opportunity to spend extra time with the work as the centerpiece of Launch Pad’s James Still working on Everybody’s Favorite Mothers (photo Plays-in-Process program, where by Fritz Olenberger) Everybody’s Favorite Mothers will receive more than a week’s worth of full production preview performances, with the opportunity to make adjustments along the way.

“I don’t write plays as literature. I write them as experiences for audiences and actors to be in collaboration in a moment,” he said. “It’s a dream team, and that’s important when you care about a project and the story so much. It’s a rare chance of having the visceral experience of seeing your play realized with these great collaborators.”

Launch Pad’s production of Everybody’s Favorite Mothers, directed by Risa Brainin runs February 22-March 2 at UCSB Hatlen Theater. Visit www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu.

Focus on Film: Segueing from SBIFF What was a singly superb 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival ended with a bit of a downer as Annette Bening, announced as the winner of the inaugural Arlington Award – the fest’s newest and the last to be awarded this month – had to cancel the tribute event due to illness. (On the plus side, that made the daily pre-party for passholders at the Arlington courtyard a much smaller, more intimate affair.)

Bening would have been the final float in a seemingly never-ending parade of Oscar nominees who showed up either to receive or present awards and participate in panels, giving us more than glimpses into their processes and the behind-the-scenes of what goes into making movies. Plus, of course, there were many wonderful films available for viewing from foreign countries and America’s hinterlands that will likely never sniff Academy Award attention but nevertheless raised our collective filmgoing consciousness.

Academy members are likely aware that final voting for the Oscars begins today. The earlier awards shows continue to solidify the favorites’ positions, although there were some surprises. Oppenheimer was the big winner at BAFTA last weekend, securing seven trophies, including six for folks who the week before appeared at SBIFF. The fest had also featured the other two acting winners (The Holdovers’ Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Poor Things’ Emma Stone), but Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, and Barbie went home empty. Check this space again in two weeks for my annual SBIFF @ The Oscars preview.

Even with SBIFF saying sayonara, special screenings continue in town, with a new venue for More than Just a Party Band, Robert Redfield’s career-spanning doc about Spencer Barnitz, showing February 24 at Alhecama Theatre, just across the street from Barnitz’ longtime digs… Another much-beloved festival takes over the Arlington for two days February 27-28 as the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour arrives for its annual screening of short films covering all things mountains and woodsy…

And UCSB’s Pollock Theater maintains its movie star quotient, following up last month’s chat with Meg Ryan on When Harry Met Sally with a Feb. 29 appearance by husband-and-wife Joel Coen and Frances McDormand following a screening of 2021’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by former and starring the latter.

Back in SBIFF-land, you can also fight festival withdrawal by heading over to the Riviera to immerse in screenings of all the Oscar-nominated shorts in three installments covering animation, live action and documentary, most of which didn’t show at the festival itself, through February 29. Or secure a pass to the annual French Wave Film Festival returning to the Riviera in July, now on sale at a discount.

Shinners Will Shine with New Award for Music Academy While we were busy with winter rains and staring at stars strolling down the red carpet for SBIFF at the Arlington, the Music Academy – Montecito’s great claim to fame in the classic music world – has been brewing up some bright new things.

Make that the Music Academy of the West. Thankfully, the strange and misguided decision to lop off the qualifier two years ago is being reversed under the new administration of Shauna Quill, President & Chief Executive Officer, and a revamped Board of Directors.

In addition to clearing up a self-imposed nebulousness, the name reversion lets us journos

20 Montecito JOURNAL

On Entertainment Page 324 324

22 – 29 February 2024

Feb 27 & 28

Hael Somma, Chamonix, photo by Antoine Mesnage

Two Nights!

Two Amazing Programs!

Tue, Feb 27 & Wed, Feb 28 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre Major Local Sponsor: Justin Brooks Fisher Foundation The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is presented by Banff & Lake Louise Tourism and Rab and is sponsored by Buff, Oboz, YETI, Kicking Horse Coffee, World Expeditions, The Lake Louise Ski Resort & Summer Gondola, Lowe Alpine, and Happy Yak

Apr 18 Pop Culture Icon

RuPaul

The House of Hidden Meanings Thu, Apr 18 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre Includes a copy of RuPaul’s new book, The House of Hidden Meanings (pick up at event, while supplies last)

During this special event, international drag superstar RuPaul offers a manual for living – a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly.

May 19

Sun, May 19 / 7 PM / Arlington Theatre Back by popular demand, six time Grammy-winning artist Jacob Collier bookends Arts & Lectures’ 2023-2024 season with an entirely new show featuring a full band and music from his forthcoming album, Djesse Vol. 4.

(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu Granada event tickets can also be purchased at: (805) 899-2222 | www.GranadaSB.org Arlington event tickets can also be purchased at: (805) 963-4408 |

22 – 29 February 2024

Montecito JOURNAL

21

Our Town (Continued from 12 12))

Gregg Hecimovich and Sheraton Kalouria at Casa del Herrero (photo Joanne A Calitri)

What are SBCC’s programs for Black History Month?

SBCC has different events to support our students, with huge thanks to Lelia Richardson who is the Program Advisor that oversees our UMOJA Space. We call it Black Futures Month on campus, where we look to the future, educating the community on Black contributions and support. Last month the SBCC Board of Trustees also passed a resolution honoring Black History Month.

What do you think is SBCC’s biggest challenge?

My job is Executive Director of Public Affairs and Communications, I’m six months in and I have received such a warm welcome and I want to take SBCC to the next level. SBCC has had years of inconsistent leadership, among other events that heavily impacted the school, including closing during COVID-19 – so we are rebuilding SBCC and I cannot thank the faculty and staff enough who have lived through these years and for their continued work. I’m very excited working with this team.

We are fortunate enough to have Erika Endrijonas return to campus, as she is now serving as Superintendent/President. She is not going anywhere and is already bringing much-needed stability to campus. Our goal is to engage more deeply with community, and we ask the community to check out MySBCC.org if you are looking to take a course and follow your dreams. Or if you are an alumnus of SBCC, please sign up for our Alumni newsletter and events at SBCC Alumni Connect!

What are your focus points for 2024?

I am so grateful be at SBCC. To me community colleges are where dreams become tangible realities. I am also grateful to be in this role to focus on internal and external communications. And for the community, I want to remind them that we are a resource for everyone – whatever you are interested in, check our website. That includes being a venue for community events!

What is the coolest aspect of your SBCC and volunteer work?

Relationships. I love building intentional relationships. At SBCC it is with the students and my colleagues. In my volunteer work, I am fortunate to work with many diverse community members who inspire me to show up as my best self. The touchpoints, stories, and communication, especially between different generations, create shared learning that benefits all of us. I also love being around creatives, hearing their dreams and their viewpoints of the world.

What/who is your foundation for your ongoing success?

I am unsure why, but I have been fortunate to have people give me a lot of feedback – solicited and unsolicited, constructive and unconstructive – and I, at a young age, was mentored to take any feedback to evaluate and apply, if valuable. I was also educated in a way that, at a young age, networking is now constantly build relationships.

One can call it healthy or unhealthy, but I have a knack for wanting to improve constantly and that includes myself. All to say, a lot has been poured into me throughout my life and I want to return the favor for my community.

Advice for students and entrepreneurs?

Jane Fonda said it best in the first podcast episode of Wiser than Me by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “It’s really, really hard to be young,” says Fonda. “I personally think that it’s important to let young people know that it’s not you, honey. It’s just really hard!” Fonda, in the podcast, talks about her life in three acts – the first is her trying different things, succeeding, failing; the second act is similar, but includes applying what you’ve learned along the way; and the final act is making sense of the first two.

Hearing these wise words is helpful to put into perspective it takes time to find what YOU want to do with your life and try it – and give it your all.

411: Juneteenth SB: http://juneteenthsb.org Healing Justice SB: http://hjsb.org SBCC Alumni Connect: www.sbccfoundation.org/alumni MySBCC: http://mysbcc.org

Hannah Bond, America’s First Black Woman Novelist In celebrating Black History Month, this week we honor America’s First Black Woman novelist, Hannah Bond, whose self-styled pen name was Hannah Crafts.

Her novel, written in the 1850s, is titled The Bondwoman’s Narrative. It remained an unpublished manuscript until 2001, when it was purchased at an auction by Henry

22 Montecito JOURNAL

Louis Gates, Jr. from the collection of Black historian and librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley in 2001. Gates is a University Professor and director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University. Using forensics on the paper and ink, and the novel’s story content, he authenticated the work as written by a Black person prior to 1860. Gates donated the original manuscript to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Enter Gregg Hecimovich, a professor of English at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. In 2003 he said yes to a research request from Hollis Robbins, a co-editor with Gates of essays about Bond’s novel. In 2013, his fact-finding journey resulted in the undisputed evidence that the novel was authored by an enslaved Black woman in the 1850s named Hannah Bond. He then researched her life for 10 additional years. His book, The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts, The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative, chronicles his research.

Medora’s Book Club held at Casa del Herrero on February 6 was dedicated to Black History Month. The book club is directed by television executive Sheraton Kalouria, a literary aficionado bringing A-list authors and their history-making books to our town.

He brought in Hecimovich to present his work and book on Hannah Crafts.

Hecimovich read selections from his book, followed by a Q&A with Kalouria.

He shared, “Bond was born as Hannah Bond on the plantation of Lewis Bond in Indian Woods, North Carolina. She was a child of rape by the white man Lewis Bond and her mixed-race mother Hannah Sr. Orphaned at age 10, she was brought up as a servant. During her childhood she began to steal literacy. She continued to do so when she served female college students at a Baptist Women’s College. In 1856, she started to write her novel on paper she stole from her capturer, the diplomat and politician John Hill Wheeler. She smuggled this work out of captivity in 1857, and completed it in 1858 in the Black community of Timbuctoo, New Jersey. She married a teacher and church leader in Burlington, NJ. Literary elements found in Bond’s novel, correlate to the homework assignments of the women college students she served. She never uses periods. She uses dashes at the beginning of a line, and her use of quotations are at the bottom of the line, not on the top.”

In discussing his part in the history of Bond, he credited the many people who helped with the information and research, mentioning that he is only a part of the long list of people who contributed to it. He said, “Bond married a light-skinned man who had a light-skinned son. Her manuscript went to that stepson, who preserved it and gave it to his white landlady at his death. She sold it to a white book dealer who gave it to Emily Driscoll, a white antiques dealer in NYC. Driscoll sold it to Dorothy Porter Wesley, the greatest African American Librarian of the 20th century. Gates purchased it at an auction. I did some research. And now this work is in the hands of Misan Sagay, a Nigerian screenwriter. Bond’s work crosses history and consciousness, and we are not reduced to the sectionalism of scholars.”

In concluding the talk, Hecimovich stated that he believes Bond did write other novels which exist in Black periodicals. His passion for the research on Bond was driven by the genius of her story.

In honor of Black History Month, we laud that Hannah Bond is not only a NY Times best-selling author; her novel and biography hold their rightful and respected place in Black History and Literature – thus putting to rest the question she posited in the preface of her novel. “I ask myself for a hundredth time, How will such a literary

venture, coming from a sphere so humble, be received?”

411: www.casadelherrero.com/

“I walk slowly, but I never walk backwards.” – Abraham Lincoln

22 – 29 February 2024

Coral Casino (Continued from 6) the classic double glass doors with doorman. Immediately on the right wall that frames the reception desk is a large-scale black and white photograph of the club’s swimmers circa 1963 taken by its long-time photographer Hal Boucher. Tennant explained, “Ty wished to have this photograph showing both the men and women swimmers of the club. He selected the placement of the photograph next to the reception desk so our members can be greeted by the families and friends they are a part of, and know. We are installing similar photographs throughout the club.” He further added, “The sense of community shared amongst members has been incredible to see firsthand. The grand opening festivities on the weekend of January 27th felt as much a rebirth of the property as it was akin to a high school reunion, with many members seeing each other for the first time in four years.

Community has and will always be the drive that keeps the members active, and a crucial task of my team and I is to flame through world class activations, programming, and engagement.”

For certain it is the members’ sense of community – their generational memberships and friend groups they meet regularly at the club – that is the foundation of its strength of character.

Warner and Tennant invited us to contact the members for their views, which we did through the club’s membership team. The members shared: David and Pamela Peterson who swim daily at the club. David, “I’ve been very fortunate to have been a member of The Coral casino since I was 10 years old. I’ve raised my kids there and celebrated life’s joys at this beautiful one-of-a-kind club.

Every time I walk in those doors (and it’s a lot), I am struck with gratitude for this magnificent gem. As an avid swimmer it’s truly the greatest pool on earth and right in our backyard… we love all facets of this very special place.”

Pamela, “The Coral Casino is better than we could have ever expected. First of all, the location right on Butterfly Beach is the best view in Montecito and we have enjoyed sunrises and sunsets in the spectacular new whirlpool. We are delighted in the array of choices for breakfast at Fins and the cuisine for lunch and dinner at The Coral Café has been nothing short of a gastronomic delight every single time! In addition, the service and staff are professional, kind, and ready to help us with anything, anytime. We are relishing all of the inclusive classes, and we take Pilates with Or, yoga, and master swimming with Dawn a couple times a week. Thank you, Ty Warner, for creating such a spectacular space for all of the members of The Coral Casino and it was absolutely worth the wait!”

David and Shelley Neubauer, “One word, breathtaking. It is as if Ty Warner directed his staff, from design architects to mixologists – ‘Make sure that from anywhere our members are, no matter what they choose to do or where they choose to look, that the Coral Casino showcases modern design amenities, respects the beauty of the ocean and enhances the experience of simply being a member of the club.’ Ty Warner certainly with great love polished a gem. In grand fashion inspired by the grace and elegance of its storied history, the Coral Casino welcomed our family with a dazzling ceremony opening day. We look forward to everlasting memories with family and friends at Coral Casino in the coming years.”

As we walked through the club, Tennant and I talked about key points of interest among the 14 core updates. He detailed: The newly constructed Coral Café features a Rosa Verona bar that seats eight with 96 dining seats in the café complemented by heaters and fans overlooking the ocean, mountains, and Sand Box beach. Highlighting this venue is a convex, ultra-wide 32’ LED sky screen with unsurpassed resolution and brightness of colors. This one-ofa-kind entertainment features programmable split screens and scrolling ticker feeds from around the world.

The Spa by the pool overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands is the largest glass spa in California, built with Japanese one-way glass on top. It features custom therapeutic jets that pulsate from the bottom and sides while seating 40 members in 102° water, color changing RGB lights, and underwater music. Bringing the ocean into the spa, it feels like you’re sitting in the surf.

Keeping up with the latest in healthy activities, recently added is the Cold Plunge Pool. It is 3.5 feet deep with water temperature set at 45°.

Fins is a newly constructed dining venue seating nine, with an open kitchen serving coffees from around the world, fresh juices, smoothies, bowls, deli and snacks. It has a beautiful new Victoria Arduino cappuccino machine custom built in Italy with the exact specifications for club.

Speaking of menus, Chef Tim Hollingsworth is the interim culinary lead until Chef Thomas Keller joins. Hollingsworth started his career with Keller at The French Laundry, where he worked for 13 years, with four years as the Chef de Cuisine. Hollingsworth has won multiple awards throughout his career, includ22 – 29 February 2024

ing the Rising Star Chef Award from The San Francisco Chronicle and the Rising Star Chef of the Year Award presented by the James Beard Foundation. In 2018, he competed on Netflix’s, The Final Table, a global culinary competition series.

He shared via email, “The menu will be American Cuisine, drawing inspiration from my heritage as well as the richness of cultures that make up our country.

It will feature bright, seasonal dishes using the beautiful California produce that surrounds us.”

Keller shared via email, “I’m excited to be part of the Coral Casino story. It’s an honor to be invited to join this legendary California destination with its rich history.

We look forward to introducing our cuisine to the community and make great memories for them.”

On our way around to the areas that are still in process, I asked: Is the La Pacifica Ballroom and Tyde’s open to the public, and what is their projected opening date?

Tennant: La Pacifica Ballroom, along with Tyde’s restaurant, is currently in the design phase and will be bookable not only to our members, but also the public as well. Chef Thomas Keller and his team look forward to hosting many events of the same caliber that occurred at the property previously, such as world class weddings, Montecito’s nonprofit galas, and corporate events.

Chef Keller will elevate dining at the iconic Coral Casino with a newly envisioned and seasonally inspired Continental menu, adding to the Casino’s reputation as a world-class private club and historical coastal destination.

Will The Four Seasons Resort ~ The Biltmore Santa Barbara guests be using the club?

Unlike the prior operation, the club will no longer allow Biltmore Hotel guests to utilize the facilities, making this a truly private oasis for our members and their guests.

The original lighthouse with its dynamic colored lighting is a part of Montecito’s romantic history. What upgrades will it see?

The historic lighthouse still stands and is now beautifully uplit with its namesake coral color at night. The finial at the top of the lighthouse will soon be painted in gold leaf.

As we rounded back to his office, to sum up the club experience, Tennant stated: “I created the following mission statement for the property to embody our commitment to our members, ‘At the Coral Casino, we create an environment for our members where refined indulgence, perfected relaxation and timeless memories all

converge through our dedication to impeccable hospitality.’”

Indeed. For more information visit the website or call.

411: www.coralcasinoclub.com (805) 565-8285

Nash Tennant and the café server team giving a demo of the made-to-spec Victoria Arduino cappuccino machine from Italy (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Montecito JOURNAL

23

Yifat Zezak Dromi:

Editorial (Continued from 11 11)) end of my life. I thought to write a letter to say goodbye to my boys. But then I decided no. I want to live.

We have a dog, Georgie. He’s always barking, but this time he was silent.

Sigal: All the dogs were silent, my dog also. They understood the situation, and they lie down. Even if they were big or small, they all find their spot in the shelter, and with no food or water and no bathroom, too.

Etti: We didn’t sleep in the night, and all the time – I’m praying, I’m praying.

One hour has passed, and another, and another, and the noise, it’s terrible. All the night, it didn’t stop. The house was shaking. I didn’t know if a rocket hit my home.

On Sunday at 11 am it’s been 30 hours almost, my husband decided to open the door just a little to bring water. He opened the door a crack and we saw that we don’t have a house. It was burned to the ground. Immediately, he closed the door.

We decided we have to do something, but we cannot use our phone. We have no reception. So we opened the window a crack to try to get service. And we called my son in Tel Aviv … we said “Otem, we are alive, but our house is destroyed. They burned it down.”

Otem, was in special Forces. He has friends still in the Army and he called them.

They were in the area. He gave them direction to our house. But you have to understand there are a lot of terrorists around the house. The soldier knocked on the window. We opened the door. A lot of shooting, and I go first after the dog, and, as soon as we enter a shielded vehicle, I melt down, I fell apart. When I was in the shelter, I was in survival mode. But when I went out, I saw all the cars were broken, bodies were on the road … … I am living in the kibbutz for 45 years. It was a beautiful place; my children grew up there; a lot of the people in the kibbutz want this. They don’t want to kill Arabs.

The people in our kibbutz want peace. A lot of people from my kibbutz go every week to Gaza to take people to the hospital in Jerusalem. We are people that want peace, but what happened 7th October is catastrophic. And not only terrorists came in, also just people from Gaza. They just came in to see what was going on. Just civilians from Gaza crossed over and took tractors and kidnapped people. Seventeen-year-olds.

Palestinian boys.

Etti showed me footage from her Nest Cam … of what looked like teenagers taking their bicycles, riding around, having fun. Playing in the street. Dozens of them. One breaks a window.

For 20 years we live with rockets. I’m a kindergarten teacher for 37 years. I go with the children when rockets come. I tell myself, “How can it happen? How will it happen?” I’m angry at myself for believing that something is changing. That there could be peace.

A while ago my husband said, “Let’s renew our house in the kibbutz,” and you know something? My intuition was that I didn’t want to because for 20 years we had been living with rockets … every morning I would start the day by saying: “God please give me to arrive to the night safely.” I don’t let myself dream. I don’t let myself have expectation. I just want the day to go by and to be safe.

Saturday morning is my husband, Guy’s time to take my dog for a walk. He usually leaves around 6:30 am and takes him for a long walk in the fields near our kibbutz.

This Saturday we were lucky that he took another sip of his coffee and didn’t leave exactly at 6:30. I was still sleeping, but I woke up from the red code alarm, we go into the shelter room where my girl is sleeping. The shelter is her room. I have one daughter, Noa and one boy, Omer.

We all quickly go into the shelter. Guy comes with the dog and the shooting starts.

I find myself saying, “this isn’t regular shooting.” And then I think how crazy it is that there is something called “regular shooting.” That for 20 years we lived under regular shooting. How did I do that? How did I raise my children under regular shooting? How can shooting be regular?

“I want to still believe in peace. But I have anger. I lost any trust.

But I understand that war is not going to help. We need to talk with our biggest enemies (not the terrorists), and we need to make peace.”

– Yifat Zezak Dromi

Gwyn Lurie [GL]: How do you answer that?

Yifat: We were fools. We trusted. We believed in peace. We trust there’s people there. We trust this is just a few, and we wonder more than once, what’s going to happen if everybody in Gaza starts walking through the border, are we going to shoot them all? Probably not. Right? And this is kind of what’s happened. … We have an app that beeps when there’s something happening. But it didn’t stop beeping. You saw it was all over Israel. And we heard a different kind of shooting.

For 20 years I worked in a summer camp in America – in New York. We always had active shooting drills. And on that morning, I acted by the protocol of active shooting that I practiced in summer camp. I barricaded the door in my house. I shut down everything. I was like, “Guy, go. Do that. Do that.” I barricaded the door. I barricaded the shelter door. I found myself a weapon, I just took an Ikea leg that they screwed on, like a pipe. I put my kids away from the door and told everyone to get down low and to stay silent. And I texted one message to the camp director in America: “Thank you for everything you taught me in camp.” And then we were silent for more than 22 hours until they came to rescue us at 3:30 am the next day. We didn’t talk. Our dog didn’t bark. All we did was send text messages that started with words and ended with dots; I just send dots. … In the world, you say neighbor is someone you know. In the kibbutz, your neighbor is your family you have and the family you choose. My mother-in-law lived there; and my sister-in-law with her husband and two little kids. And Guy, my husband’s sisters and her two kids that live in the over 18 area. And we have another cousin that is nine months pregnant. And we are all writing to each other to make sure we are alive.

Yifat strolls through her texts with continued incredulity.

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We start by just … this is a happy life before! And then … Just tell me that you’re okay. … Guy’s sister from Tel Aviv said, “Go to Mom so that that she’ll not be alone,” and I said, “We can’t go. We can’t go.” And Guy wanted to go, and I say, “Guy, if you go out, you don’t come back.” And I write to my mother-in-law, “Stay in the corner furthest as you can from the door, and be quiet, and put your phone on silent. Don’t go out in any circumstance. Even if they tell you that everything is fine and you can go out, do not go out until you hear my voice. I will come to take you.” … In a different kibbutz they took a child and they put a gun to his head and go house by house to tell them, “Go out. Go out. Tell them to go out.” And they shot them. And then the child.

My niece was calling me, “Go to Shaha. Please call Shaha.” He’s the person responsible for security in the kibbutz … And I said, “You can’t speak with Shaha. We already know that Shaha got hurt and he’s not alive.” They start saying, “They’re everywhere.

They’re everywhere,” and then we begin to just text a sign, and slowly it became just texting dots to make sure people were still alive.

“Believe you can and you’re half way there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

22 – 29 February 2024

Because everybody started calling me from around the world, I decided to text one person in America, and you see I’m just texting, and he sent me a heart. This is our conversation for many hours, which then became our conversation after. For weeks I did not have words, and for weeks he sent me a heart and I sent back a heart. I couldn’t speak for two weeks. October 16th, I got back from a funeral. This is the only words I had, and then look. I sent him “have a happy birthday” with a sad face. This went on until the 25 th when I finally found my words.

GL: How do you feel about the future?

Yifat: Every moment I have a different answer. The future is not clear for us. The only thing that is clear is that we don’t have a house to come back to.

There are days I say I want to go home. And some days, it can be a minute later, I say, “Do I want to live in a cemetery? Can I live in a place that everywhere I will walk I know that my friend is not there anymore? Can I sleep at night? Can I send my children to the school? Can my children continue living there with friends in Gaza, and friends who were murdered?” Even my dog, his friend was murdered.

They murdered dogs.

We buried some of our friends in Shafayin, the kibbutz that now hosts us.

Every morning, I go to the fields to walk, as I used to, only now I go near Shafayin, in the cemetery there where we buried our friends. And I say boker tov (“good morning” in Hebrew) to each of their tombstones, like I used to say when I would walk my dog and see them. I say: boker tov to Shaha. Boker tov to David.

Yifat pauses and looks up at me.

I’m fucked up. I know.

In the weeks after the attack we were dead people walking. It took time to bury our friends because the bodies were unrecognizable. They had to take DNA. And with some there was nothing to find and nothing to bury. They killed parents next to their kids. Raped people. Burned them alive.

Everybody knows someone who died. In the lobby where we are staying, there was a memo board that listed the funerals, with names of who they found and who we can bury. Every day we had more than three funerals. We had to choose where to go.

It took time for the outside world to understand what happened, but we felt the hug, stuff started coming. People started coming and everybody offered help. People took care of us.

But we also hear the other voices around the world. It’s very bad. Nobody cares about us. A lot of the governments are hypocrites. I don’t think there’s a country or a state that would let one rocket enter their territory … What happened in Russia and Ukraine? Where is the world there?

Now we understand that when we are protecting ourselves or defending ourselves, the world says, “Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.” There’s probably no other country that with any rocket they fire, their army first warns people in the streets with leaflets … But the truth is it’s been complicated for many, many years. We try to be patient. And they keep bombing us and bombing us and we don’t attack back. We tolerate that. We tolerate that. We tolerate that. No other country will let “regular shooting happen.”

GL: What would you like the world to know?

Yifat: Me, I want to still believe in peace. But I have anger. I lost any trust. But I understand that war is not going to help. We need to talk with our biggest enemies (not the terrorists), and we need to make peace. We want to continue to believe, but can we? I don’t know. We have a problem. I think the whole government needs to change. We need something else. … We are evacuated to a hotel and every few days a lady comes to clean the room, to give us fresh towels, shampoo. She’s an Israeli Palestinian. And I say, “Thank you,” and I ask her, “How are you?” She says, “Fine,” and I ask her, “Do you have a family in Gaza?” She says, “yes,” and I say, “Make sure they’re safe. That they take care of themselves.”

But do I trust her not to kill my family a minute after? I don’t know, but this is still us. Believing there are people in there. But it’s hard.

We miss our life, our friends, and our hostages that are still in Gaza. We don’t know what the future will bring. And the pain is so strong. But we stay alive. We had a friend that died. They murdered him and his daughter, and they kidnapped his wife, and his two boys and his girl. And I think about something he always used

to say: “Hope dies last.”

22 – 29 February 2024

In Passing

Leo (Lee) Artman : January 1, 1947 – February 9, 2024

W

ith a life lived fully, we bid farewell to Leo (Lee) Artman, a remarkable soul whose presence graced our lives in countless ways. Lee ascended peacefully on February 9, 2024, surrounded by his wife, Heidi, and family and friends, leaving a legacy of love, kindness, and joy that will continue to resonate with all those who knew him. Born on January 1, 1947, in Ruth, Michigan, Lee served his country as an Army Sargent, stationed at Cameron Bay, Vietnam. He attended Macomb College in Michigan. In 1973, he made his home in Santa Barbara, where he began his 40-plus-year career as a real estate broker. Lee’s presence illuminated the lives of family and friends, filling each moment with warmth, laughter, and boundless love.

He was preceded in death by his siblings, Dorothy Johnson, Kenneth Artman, and James Artman. He leaves behind his wife, Heidi, who traveled through life and the world with him, his brothers, Don/Judy Artman and Larry Artman, sisters, Jeanne Artman and Joanne/Tom Hall, and numerous relatives and friends. Lee was bigger than

life, and everyone felt his spark when being in his presence. His boundless curiosity and thirst for knowledge were inspiring, motivating others to embrace every opportunity for growth and self-discovery. He will truly be missed but never forgotten. A private service

will be held in Michigan.

Lee was bigger than life, and everyone felt his spark when being in his presence

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Montecito JOURNAL

25

Elizabeth’s Appraisals Hodge’s Hats

PP

has a weakness for vintage hats; for the past 10 years she has paid $300 a month to store her collection of 1950s hats. She sent me a picture of hat which is a cross between lime green and avocado, a cloche hat with a gold silk band. The interior is marked for Mousse HB, France, and the hat is designed by a famous milliner of the 1930-1960s, G. Howard Hodge (1893-1966). Mousse HB manufactured designs for many famous milliners, including Schiaparelli. I believe PP’s

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hat is likely from the late 1950s; similar hats by Mousse HB are listed for sale online from the late 1950s-1960s. This hat was purchased in its original hatbox in pink with the name of the designer on the lid and the name “Marshall Field’s, Chicago.” PP says she bought this green hat 20 years ago at a yard sale in Evanston.

I love Hodge’s hats (he was famous in the 1950s), along with hats by fellow designers Mr. John, Svend, John Frederic, and all great 1950s designers. Hodge, though, was the most prolific, designing for the Millinery Creators Group. They were a band of hat-making brothers, designers known for ‘ready to wear’ hats based on good quality materials. The materials could be raffia, furry felt (like PP’s hat), straw, artificial flowers, artificial fruit, taffeta, or lace – and the hats could be trimmed with anything from ribbons to rhinestones.

PP’s hat is made of a unique, lightweight fabric, a felt which was made from rabbit hair. The inside of the hat is pure felt and the outside has been brushed to give the look of fur. And the green fur color is marvelous. What happened to hats? From the 14th century on, a woman wore a hat – and women wore hats till the 1960s. I regret the loss, for the sake of a bad hair day, and also for the chance to complete a total outfit. PP writes that she has a reputation for always wearing a vintage hat from her collection at weddings and funerals.

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The rabbit hair felt cloche hat with a gold silk band by G. Howard Hodge

PP wonders where this hat was purchased and writes that Hodge’s hats were advertised at Chicago stores such as Goldblatt’s, Lords in downtown Evanston, Edgar A. Stevens in Highland Park, and Hats by Sue in Irving Park. Lytton’s Chapeaux Boutique on State Street in downtown Chicago carried Hodge’s hats. Gone are the days of local hat shops. And big department stores once featured a whole floor of hats, such as those at Marshall Field’s and Sears.

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Why did these 1950s hat designers have such success? Target marketing: the secret was full page seasonal advertisements in a newspaper’s home and recipe section directed at women. A woman would find Easter hat advertisements beginning in March, and Christmas hats in September, and summer hats – wide brims – in May. PP found old copies of her hometown newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, and studied the hats they advertised over a season (1956). She lusts after a late 1950s red hat with dingle cherries made of felt in red on the crest, perching on a knob at the top of the hat. The Chicago Tribune’s article, the “Mode of the Day” says that for Spring, cherries on hats will be the RAGE. Marshall Field’s has a cherry hat advertised on March 8, 1956, for $29.99, and a full-page ad of cherries on various hats selling for $19.95 to $69.50 ($69.50 was an expensive hat: a house could cost $20K in 1956!) Flip the page and The Chicago Tribune shows a cherry hat from Sears, the cheaper department store, selling for $3.99.

Flip again and Marshall Field’s special advertising column – called “The Fair”– shows drawings and photos of models wearing the season’s great hat designers: John Frederic, Vincent deKoven, Leslie James, Schiaparelli, Suzy Lee, Agnes, G. Howard Hodge, Adrienne, and John Andrews, and Russ Russell. Hats were big business.

As Spring was the season to sell hats, The Chicago Tribune in March published an advertisement of a fashion show of hats designed by the Parisiantrained Svend (his teacher was Jacques Fath), who designed in his native Denmark and Sweden. Svend came to Chicago to show his hats at Marshall Field’s on March 13, 1956. A ticket to see Svend and his hats at the ‘Walnut Room’ at the State Street Marshall Field’s was $1.50. Also advertised, we see that Svend appeared with his hats at the Sheraton Blackstone with his models, in a command runway show for 250 Chicago women.

The hat by G. Howard Hodge is worth

$75 but I would pay more!

Elizabeth Stewart, PhD is a veteran appraiser of fine art, furniture, glass, and other collectibles, and a cert. member of the AAA and an accr. member of the ASA. Please send any objects to be appraised to Elizabethappraisals@ gmail.com

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“It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.” – George Washington

22 – 29 February 2024

Your Westmont

Audience Thrust into ‘The Capulets’

by Scott Craig

W

estmont’s John Blondell, a longtime professor of theater arts, puts his own contemporary, site-specific spin on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as part of a mini-festival about the famous tragedy Thursday, Feb. 29, at 7 pm; Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, at 7 pm and 9 pm; and Sunday, March 3, at 7 pm in and around the Community Arts Workshop (CAW), 631 Garden Street, in downtown Santa Barbara. Purchase tickets to “The Capulet Black-and-White Ball.” Blackand-white attire is required; comfortable shoes are recommended.

The mini-festival includes a new play, The Romeo and Juliet Senior Citizens Project – A Comedy, written by Jami Brandli and directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky. L.A.’s Road Theatre produces this play for one performance only, Saturday, March 2, at 4 pm in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. “The Capulet Black-and-White Ball” and The Romeo and Juliet Senior Citizens

The modernized Romeo and Juliet is staged at Community Arts Workshop (photo by Ciena Fitzgerald)

22 – 29 February 2024

elict cathedral in Gdansk; a Macedonian novel in a small village; and a pop chamber musical created for an abandoned discotheque in Poland.

“In each case, the site fused with the material in unforgettable ways,” Blondell says. “The action becomes wedded and welded into the environment, into the actual history of the place. The audience becomes immersed – and a participant in the action.”

Student Musicians Shine in Orchestra Concerto

Blondell stages “The Capulet Black-and-White Ball” on Feb. 29-March 3 (photo by Ciena Fitzgerald)

Project each cost $20 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors, and tickets are available for purchase at westmont.edu/boxoffice.

As the performance begins, audience members are invited to the masked ball where Romeo and Juliet first meet. “For our production, the audience moves in and about the space – between the Capulet house, Friar Laurence’s cell, and the street – to involve them directly in the action and to bring them close to the unfolding love story between the two young people and how it affects those around them,” Blondell says.

He has cut and refashioned Shakespeare’s play, refracting it through a contemporary lens using modern staging techniques. He brings audiences directly into the beating heart of the play so they experience a street brawl and enter a tomb. Blondell has previously staged site-specific plays: King Richard II at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara in 2005-2006, and later in a der-

The Westmont Music Department offers its orchestra concerto concert, featuring the winners of its concerto/ aria competition, Nathan Carlin, Karla Munoz, Tasha Loh, and Leah Nieman, on Friday, Feb. 23, at 7 pm at the college’s Page Hall and on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 3 pm in Hahn Hall at the Music Academy. Both performances are free and open to the public.

The concerts will feature “España”

by Emmanuel Chabrier; “See the Raging Flames Arise!” from Handel’s Joshua, featuring baritone Carlin; the third movement, “Rondo,” from “Bassoon Concerto in F major, op.

75,” by Carl Maria Von Weber, featuring Loh on bassoon; “Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra” by Ferruccio Busoni, featuring Munoz on clarinet;

Anthony McIntyre (photo by Brad Elliott)

and the allegro moderato movement of “Violin Concerto no. 2, op. 22” by Henryk Wieniawski, featuring Nieman on violin.

McIntyre’s Scoring Title Chase Continues Men’s basketball wing Anthony McIntyre continued his chase for the PacWest scoring title, as the senior dropped 25 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the Warriors 91-70 win over the Chaminade Silverswords on Feb. 17.

Westmont’s leading scorer now averages 18.8 points-per-game, and with four games remaining in PacWest Conference play, he now stands alone atop the leaderboard. The Ventura City College transfer will have to hold off Academy of Art’s Jamal Fuller, who averages 18.1 a game and Biola’s Nathan Medina, who

averages 17.5.

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

Tasha Loh (photo by Brad Elliott)

Montecito JOURNAL

27

Food Files Pioneering Prosthetic MiniTouch Enables Amputees to Sense Differences in Temperature

Fine Food First, Gluten-Free Second: ‘Lilac Montecito’ Calling All Diners

I

n a major step toward making prosthetic limbs more genuine, researchers have created MiniTouch, an innovation that allows amputees to feel temperature through their prosthetic limbs. This invention is an important step toward providing prosthetic users with a more natural and integrated sensory experience.

MiniTouch, developed by a team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, is a pioneering technology that has the potential to transform the area of prosthetics. Professor Solaiman Shokur, a senior author of the study, underlines the relevance of temperature in providing a natural sensation for prosthesis users. “To give a natural sensation, you cannot do it without temperature,” he goes on to say.

The concept builds on previous research showing that an amputated hand can be perceived as warm or cool. The MiniTouch has a temperature sensor on the prosthetic hand that is deliberately situated to correspond with the phantom thermal sensations. When the sensor detects a temperature change, it sends a signal to a controller, which reproduces the temperature on the amputee’s skin.

To evaluate MiniTouch’s effectiveness, the researchers tested it on Fabrizio, a 57-year-old amputee. Fabrizio demonstrated outstanding precision in identifying temperatures and materials with MiniTouch. When blindfolded, he correctly selected bottles of cold, hot, or room-temperature water. He also effectively distinguished between slabs of copper, glass, and plastic, demonstrating the device’s adaptability.

While MiniTouch focuses on temperature, the researchers envision a future in which prosthesis users can feel a wide range of sensations. Professor Silvestro Micera, another senior author of the research, discusses their aspiration to develop a single wearable device that provides a variety of sensations such as pressure, texture, location, temperature, and moisture. This represents a significant step toward providing prosthetic users with a more complete sensory experience.

One of the most notable qualities of MiniTouch is its usability. The device does not require surgery and uses readily available electronics, making it easily adaptable to existing prosthetics. This not only improves accessibility but also provides a reasonably priced solution for amputees.

As the researchers intend to improve MiniTouch’s capabilities, they underline the

necessity for additional testing with a larger sample of patients.

WANT MORE POSITIVE NEWS?

Lilac Montecito has opened along Coast Village Road (courtesy photo)

by Gabe Saglie

“G

luten-free is really just a by-line for us – it’s important to what we do, and we do it well,” Gillian Muralles, owner of Montecito’s newest eatery, Lilac Montecito, recently told the Journal. “But if someone doesn’t care about that, I’d love to get them through the door just as much!”

Mrs. Muralles and her husband, Alam, already have a track record as purveyors of quality food, regardless of the gluten-free label. The pair, L.A. transplants

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Creating Beautiful Smiles Dr. Michelle Stivers, DDS 1805 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 805-569-1481

28 Montecito JOURNAL

Alam and Gillian Muralles (courtesy photo) “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson

with several years in the bakery business, opened Lilac Pâtisserie in Santa Barbara almost a decade ago. And while their offerings have steadily drawn a culinary clientele needful items that don’t contain the gluten protein – including more than a dozen signature cakes, like the Chocolate Decadence and the Princess Torte – the focus has always really been on quality ingredients and proprietary recipes that deliver a universally enjoyable food experience.

“Some people need to be gluten-free, and a lot of people don’t, and that’s fine,” continues Muralles, who was diagnosed with celiac disease 20 years ago. “We serve really good food that people can feel good about sharing with their family and friends.” Even if it’s gluten-free, “food shouldn’t be something people are hesitant about, it should just be good.”

That was the impetus for Lilac Montecito, which opened its doors late last month in the space along Coast Village Rd. that most recently housed Mesa Burger, and the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf before that. For now, the focus is on dinner, and though the couple didn’t see the foot traffic along their State Street location to justify staying open past breakfast and lunch, “we felt like Montecito was a natural fit for our clientele,” says Muralles. “Many of them live in Montecito, and expanding on our pâtisserie concept to offer fine dining suited the area.”

The menu at Lilac Montecito certainly reads like fine dining, and any concerns around gluten’s absence may

22 – 29 February 2024

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22 – 29 February 2024

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The restaurant will be open for dinner and offers a new dining concept but with the same gluten-free menu (courtesy photo)

(805

Among the desserts: chocolate lava cake, tiramisu, and cheesecake, along with rotating selections of house-made tarts and ice creams and sorbets.

The Lilac Montecito wine list features around 70 bottles, including several Napa cabernets, Sonoma chardonnays, French champagnes and global selections from New Zealand and Italy. Most labels, though, are standouts from Santa Barbara County and California’s Central Coast, including Foxen, Brewer-Clifton, Au Bon Climat, The Hilt, and Margerum. The liquid line-up is curated by Antonio Gerli, a level-3 sommelier who doubles as general manager for both Lilac locations.

Lilac Montecito is currently open for dinner only, nightly from 5 pm. Breakfast and lunch are on the horizon, with a menu that’s different from the downtown Santa Barbara pâtisserie but with the same caveat, which Muralles is quick to reiterate. “We’ll offer food that’s delicious,” she says, “which just happens to

be gluten-free.”

GREAT FOOD STIFF DRINKS GOOD TIMES

FOO

Of course, desserts will be a highlight of the dining experience (courtesy photo)

AD RO

well be eclipsed by dishes that aim to wow. Starters include a Yellowtail Crudo, served with avocado mousse, candied celery and lime coconut milk; a Buffalo Cauliflower, with a spinach-cashew crema and pickled carrots; and the Arancino, a saffron risotto served with a Bolognese sauce and caciocavallo cheese.

Mains feature fish, including salmon and swordfish, a Chicken Marsala, Swedish meatballs, and a bone-in ribeye.

Muralles is partial to the duck breast, prepared sous-vide and served with a butternut squash puree. “It’s prepared so nicely – a tender, juicy duck breast but a crispy skin, which is tough to pull off!” she says.

The biggest challenge around crafting a gluten-free dinner menu? “Finding a chef that would be open to working under those parameters,” adds Muralles.

“Chefs want a fair amount of freedom in the kitchen, and restrictions can be difficult, because they limit the things they want to take on.” She says they found their man, though, in Executive Chef Piersimone D’Anna, whose résumé includes previous stints in Los Angeles and Monaco.

“Chef developed a recipe for handmade gluten-free pasta,” she adds. “It’s challenging when you’re making something that should be made with gluten, it’s mainly about the flour. It’s tricky.

But he was the man for the job and figured it out.” Gluten-free pasta offerings include a fettucine alfredo and a kabocha squash ravioli. The Santa Barbara Spaghetti is doled out with local sea urchin, saffron, crispy quinoa and toasted almond.

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.

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Montecito JOURNAL

29

Beings & Doings (Continued from 19 19))

ON THE SIDE Wine Country Kerfuffle

T

he average oenophile associates the word NAPA more with charcuterie and silver spittoons than with leg irons and orange jumpsuits – but change is in the air. As reported by the Napa Valley Register and wine-searcher.com, the Feds have politely served up three subpoenas to Napa County, two of them to do with the vexed garbage dump atop Napa Valley’s watershed, and an upgrade to Napa County Airport. On the same day in January, Napa Public Works Director Steven Lederer went before a grand jury on matters to do with the county dump, and Ryan Klobas – CEO of the Napa County Farm Bureau – stopped his car on a country road, exited, and shot himself.

The third subpoena “demands all correspondence since 2016 between the county and 40 different entities.” The entities in question are wineries in Napa. The subpoenas don’t seem connected, but there is a sense that the tip of an unwieldy iceberg is floating out there, awaiting a collision.

Tom Cruise, Won’t You Please Come Home

A

n item in the old Montecito Life publication summons fond memories of early Tom Cruise vehicle Risky Business, whose most famous meme is surely Tom in white briefs sliding into view and lip-syncing … um … Manilow’s “Could it be Magic,” I think? Anyway, a ‘90sera Montecito kid’s parents were away, he threw a secret bash, and his frisky Algebra II homies made off with $2K worth of merch. We’re guessing the kid was grounded, unlike Tom, who went on to become a skyscraper-scaling Ethan Hunt. There is no justice in the movies.

30 Montecito JOURNAL

Dave Smith, Mark Summary, Richie Slater, and Alan Owens (courtesy photo)

smiling amiably. ‘EVERYTHINGGGG!’ a loudspeaker boomed in basso profondo, Slater flinching so hard his arms flapped.

No need to shout, mate! He delicately removed his boxers and laid them in the basket. “Then I shepherded myself into the communal shower with these 10 other guys….”

Lights out in the common room. Fed, stripped, showered, and disoriented, Slater lay in his bunk in rescue mission pajamas – “Very clean,” he notes with an approving nod. Presently, voices called out in the dark. ENGLISH! HEY, ENGLISH! Slater looks at me. “They called me English,” he explains. HEY, ENGLISH! “Yeah?” WHATCHA DOIN’ HERE? “…I’m on holiday.” A pin drop silence and the darkened bunkhouse erupted in helpless, gasping laughter.

YOU COME ALL THE WAY FROM ENGLAND TO STAY HERE?! The hilarity got louder and deeper until the place was a howling riot. Richie Slater pulled the sheet up to his chin. “It’s a long story,” he offered under the racket.

mums waving,” Slater says. Through the heat haze he could just make out a nearby country hamlet. “The place was only three blocks long. There was nobody to watch the parade. The whole town was in it.”

The night was falling fast in the outskirts of Dumas, Texas when Slater hopped out of the car. To his amazement, Slater saw in the growing darkness what looked like a covered wagon in a field. “I hiked over there and jumped in.” Slater felt a new species of American awe, that of the open country and the lonesome pioneer spirit that forded the frontier. “This is what it must have been like when the settlers were coming out. I could hear crickets and things. It was something.” He awoke the next morning, stretched luxuriously, hopped out of the covered wagon and had a look around.

“There was a strip mall about 200 yards away.” He turned and looked at the wagon.

“It said Junior’s Gift Shop in huge letters. It was a prop for the mall.”

By the by, Richie Slater made it to Los Angeles and hopped a bus for Santa

Barbara. When he saw the Pacific he knew he’d made it. By arrangement in Santa Barbara, he called on friends of his mother, couch-camped for a few weeks until he got his footing, and began the long, strange odyssey that, on certain evenings, finds him ministering to you tableside at the legendary Stonehouse Restaurant.

He’d come a long way, not realizing that the plane he stepped off at JFK was the first leg of arrival at another home in the world. He would fall in with a new group of friends to add to his Liverpool tribe.

He would meet his dear Catherine, and a future he could never have apprehended.

Five years later his pal Robbie would come to America for a visit and see for himself his buddy’s new life. Who knew it would be five years? Who knew any of this was going to happen? And what had Robbie said on giving Richie that paperback? ‘‘You’ll want this where you’re going,” or some such. On the flight to the States Slater had pulled the paperback out and riffled through it. “I thought, ‘the hell is this? I read a few pages of it. ‘I’ll read it when I get to California.’” That so long at Heathrow – had Robbie grasped the moment in a way the nervous and distracted Richie couldn’t? In Santa Barbara Slater again dug out Robbie Shack’s parting gift. A little worse for wear, it now seemed a map to a new landscape. Slater

grins. “He’d given me On the Road.”

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

Git Along, Little Doggie He kept moving. America opened her arms to Slater, frightening him badly.

The indefinable “New World” was a tilta-whirl experiment abruptly sprung from a screamfest with a crazy old king, and it showed. In the wide-open Oklahoma panhandle – an expanse such as Slater had never seen in his life – two forlorn country roads intersected in the middle of nowhere. The driver stopped and let the car idle. Slater stirred uneasily. “Why are we stopping?” The driver pointed. A ragtag procession of kids and adults in parade finery marched in front of the car as Slater, slack-jawed, watched through the bug-smeared windshield. “There was a little cart with bales of hay and a couple of

Richie, Cathi Hargaden, and Robbie Shacklady (courtesy photo)

“The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.” – Thomas Jefferson

22 – 29 February 2024

Montecito Health Coach

Miscellany (Continued from 8)

Board Co-Chair Erinn Lynch greeting guests (photo

by Valeria Sanchez Photography)

Transitions: The Language of Letting Go

by Deann Zampelli

A Mischa Cooper, Christy Peterson, Maggie Catbagan, Stephanie Sanders, Emily Johnson, Candy Hedrick, Meg Purdy, Leslie Lundgren (photo

by Valeria Sanchez Photography)

ed the charity’s early years in a parking lot at Transition House.

It now has three locations in our Eden by the Beach, offering “a safe and nurturing environment” for children whose loving families fall under the poverty level, of which 82% are single-parent families and 13% are experiencing homelessness.

Among the supporters turning out were Mayor Randy Rowse, Brenda Blalock, Dana Hansen, Janet Garufis, Maria Long, Anna Kokotovic, Nancy Sheldon, Courtney Bianchi, Avery Firestone, and Danna McGrew.

Dr. Gabriella Garcia, Executive Director and Ashleigh Erving, Clinical Director at CALM and the event’s guest speaker (photo by Valeria Sanchez Photography)

project were Marcia Constance, Sharon Bradford, and Bruce Giffin.

Lovin’ Lunch Storyteller Children’s Center, founded 36 years ago, hosted its 10th annual Lunch with Love at the Rockwood Woman’s Club with 177 guests raising around $100,00 for the organization – a therapeutic preschool providing tuition-free early childhood education for youngsters with adverse challenges.

The boffo bash, co-chaired by Erinn Lynch and Dr. Peggy Dodds, featured Ashleigh Erving, director of clinical operations at CALM, and Dr. Gabriella Garcia, executive director, who recount22 – 29 February 2024

A Romantic Serenade It was the musical version of pouring a gallon into a pint pot when Santa Barbara Symphony under maestro Nir Kabaretti performed “Serenade for Romance” at the 604-seat Lobero, having moved the show from the 1,553-seat Granada after a sprinkler mishap soaked the capacious stage.

The decidedly cozy concert featured violinist Sirena Huang, artist-in-residence for the February performances and 2022 winner of the world-renowned Indianapolis Violin Competition, with a program including Elgar’s “Serenade for Strings,” Dvořák’s “Violin Concerto,” and Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7.”

Huang, who made her debut with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra at the age of 9, has performed in more the 20 countries playing a 1739 Guarneri del Gesù violin.

To avoid total congestion given the

Miscellany Page 344 344

s Winter gives way to Spring, I find myself pondering life’s various transitions. Never more so than this week, while in Mammoth with my teenagers for our annual pilgrimage to the snow.

For the first time, my 13-year-old daughter left our rented condo on her own to meet a friend on the mountain.

Happy, confident, excited to see her BFF. The truth is that she was ready long before this to make the 10-minute journey solo, but I had still been going along pretending to be needed. Leaving the building, getting on the gondola, getting her skis from the locker. Ok, so maybe it has been quite a while since she needed me, but in my head, it sounded a lot scarier.

As she left, she grabbed a piece of fruit with one hand and hugged me with the other. It was somehow symbolic. She was getting on with it. She loves me, but she’s got this. And this started me thinking.

Each time we face a threshold where we are moving from one phase of our life to another, we must either learn to let go of what we are leaving behind and accept what lies ahead or possibly face some form of maladjustment that can manifest in so many ways. Anger, resentment, frustration, depression, and feelings of betrayal are all common manifestations of ruminating over the past. We create a thought and behavior loop without even knowing it. This can be due to many different causes, but it is often because we are caught off guard. We know our kids will move out someday (at least that is the plan), but when the reality hits, the blow can be a whopper.

This can have a significant effect on one’s health. All transitions can cause us to re-examine our identity. And for many of us, as our children grow up,

we are facing the dreaded and much discussed Empty Nest Syndrome (ENS).

So many residents of our town have high school aged children; all of us navigating the path ahead like a runway which ends in our young adults taking flight.

Letting go seems to be a big player in the successful navigation of ENS. For me, it means letting go of control, fear, and anxiety. My son is about to get his driver’s license and therefore will no longer need me as a complimentary (and much more punctual, might I add) Uber driver. Soon, he will be off to college, and not only will I not have any say in what he does day-to-day, but I won’t have the minute-to-minute knowledge of where he is (assuming I relinquish the various tracking apps our family uses). Worry is always the undercurrent. Will they be okay? Are they safe? Who are they with? We have to hope that we laid a solid enough foundation for them to make the right choices. We hope that they will turn to us when in need. We hope they will make sound decisions. And the frightening truth is, we just don’t know.

Each transition will have its own language. Nobody can blink and suddenly be at peace with where they are. But giving yourself the grace to experience the loss of that part of your life while looking toward the future seems to be a solid place to start.

As a first step, I am not meeting my almost 14-year-old daughter on the mountain today. And I promise to only track her once on her way back. What?

It’s a start.

Trained at Duke Integrative Medicine, Deann has a broad range of clients working on everything from weight loss to improving their ultra-marathon pace.

She also has a Masters in Clinical Psychology and has been a resident of Montecito since 2006.

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702-210-7725 Montecito JOURNAL

31

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

On Entertainment (Continued from 20 20))

Bids open at 2:00 PM on Thursday, March 7, 2024 for: SOUTH COUNTY PAVEMENT REHABILITATION IN THE 1ST, 2ND, AND 3RD SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICTS COUNTY PROJECT No. 820790S General project work description: Road Rehabilitation The Plans, Specifications, and Bid Book are available at https://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=43874.

The Contractor must have either a Class A license or any combination of the following Class C licenses which constitutes a majority of the work: A, C-12, C-31, AND C-32 Submit sealed bids to the web address below. Bids will be opened available at the web address below immediately following the submittal deadline.

PlanetBids https://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=43874 Complete the project work within 42 Workings Days.

The estimated cost of the project is $ 1,760,000 This project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR).

A contractor or subcontractor shall not be qualified to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal, subject to the requirements of PCC Section 4104, or engage in the performance of any contract for public work, as defined in this chapter, unless currently registered and qualified to perform public work pursuant to Labor Code (LAB) Section 1725.5. It is not a violation of this section for an unregistered contractor to submit a bid that is authorized by Business and Professions Code (BPC) Section 7029.1 or by PCC Section 10164 or 20103.5 provided the contractor is registered to perform public work pursuant to LAB Section 1725.5 at the time the contract is awarded.

Prevailing wages are required on this Contract. The Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations determines the general prevailing wage rates. Obtain the wage rates at the DIR website https://www.dir.ca.gov/.

Inquiries or questions based on alleged patent ambiguity of the plans, specifications, or estimate must be submitted as a bidder inquiry by 2:00PM on 03/01/2024. Submittals after this date will not be addressed. Questions pertaining to this Project prior to Award of the Contract must be submitted via PlanetBids Q&A tab.

Bidders (Plan Holders of Record) will be notified by electronic mail if addendums are issued. The addendums, if issued, will only be available on the County PlanetBids website, https://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=43874 By order of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara this project was authorized to be advertised on 06/06/2023.

Scott D. McGolpin Director of Public Works Published February 21, 2024 Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Stay Montecito, 412 East Haley Street, Studio 3, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

2070 East Valley Road, LLC, 412 East Haley Street, Studio 3, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 14, 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. 2024-0000398.

Published February 21, 28, March 6, 13, 2024 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Stillpoint Santa Barbara Corp, 212 Cottage Grove Ave, STE B, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Stillpoint Santa Barbara, 212 Cottage Grove Ave, STE B, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 30, 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. 2024-0000244.

Published February 14, 21, 28, March 6, 2024 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: River Road Properties,

32 Montecito JOURNAL

3993 Foothill Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93110.

Mark A Corliss, 3993 Foothill Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 30, 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. 20240000240. Published February 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: SB Heat Pumps, 3905 State Street, Suite 7-128, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. Musette D Profant, 3905 State Street, Suite 7-128, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 27, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0002914.

Published January 31, February 7, 14, 21, 2024 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 24CV00410. To all interested parties: Petitioner Rafael Altair Romero by Ivy Wang filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Lance Joseph Wang. 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 February 2, 2024 by Terri Chavez.

Hearing date: April 3, 2024 at 10 am in Dept. 3, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

Published February 14, 21, 28, March 6, 2024 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 24CV00077. To all interested parties: Petitioner Elizabeth Rose Good filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Rose Good Tubic. 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 January 26, 2024 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: March 13, 2024 at 10 am in Dept. 3, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published February 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024

once again use the abbreviation MAW to refer to the Academy – MA just didn’t cut it.

On the musical front, MAW has established a brand-new annual Alumni Performance Award (APA), sponsored by the Luria/Budgor Family Foundation, to provide a unique performance opportunity that embraces the artist’s pursuits while aligning with the Music Academy’s goals and vision for alumni engagement. Open to all alumni, the annual award will support an emerging Music Academy alum in their present professional pursuits as a performing artist.

The inaugural recipient of the APA is the solo pianist Evan Shinners, who set the Miraflores campus on metaphorical fire during his summer in 2009 and has gone on to become one of the more dedicated and passionate keyboardists around, one who Evan Shinners is the inaugural recipihas purposefully trained his focus almost entirely on ent of the Alumni Performance Award Bach. Juilliard grad Shinners’ innovative Bach Store (courtesy photo) pop-up project, which turned an empty Manhattan storefront into a publicly accessible workspace for Shinners five-hours-a-day practice sessions and a concert stage each evening, was supported by a $20,000 MAW grant as one of its inaugural Alumni Enterprise Awards, several years ago.

“The Music Academy was my coming-of-age novel,” Shinners shared over the phone from London last weekend. “I discovered a wonderful community of musicians and patrons I am still friends with, and lots of literature. It was a very eventful summer for me.”

The new award provides a grant of $10,000 and up to $3,000 for expenses related to the associated performance.

“It’s absolutely very special and unique, because it wasn’t something I applied for,” Shinners said. “It just came out of the blue.”

Shinners’ awarded performance opportunity takes place on February 24, where he will perform in solo recital as well as in a trio with two other Music Academy artists in the galleries of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The event is also a fundraiser for the museum as part of its Artful Affairs: Seasons of Change. Midwinter Night’s Dream will have guests experiencing how four pieces of art selected from the SBMA collection inspire design, exquisite menu tastings, music and more, billed as an experiential journey through elevated hors d’oeuvres and imaginative cocktails. Shinners will perform solo as well as with cello alum Katrina Agate and flutist Erin McKibben, the director of Sing!

“The four pieces of art are from completely different cultures, and I’ll be playing both harpsichord and piano,” Shinners said of the pieces he will perform solo. “The idea is that I go in front of the paintings and become inspired by them and then play something.

I’m excited, but it’s complicated for me. I’m looking forward to it because I’ve just started doing the improvising thing in public, and it’s been a while since I’ve made a meaningful connection between music and painting. So I’ll be spending some time there beforehand.”

The original idea had been to arrange a Bach Store in Santa Barbara, but given Shinners’ loaded schedule and the short timing of the initial award, that concept had to be shelved, at least for now. (Think 2025 for that to happen.) But Bach Stores – which will debut in Germany and Switzerland later this year – and the multiple expressions of the composer himself, continue to fascinate Shinners to no end.

“Right now, I’m playing the pipe organ all the time and playing figured bass, and so I feel like I’m actually in kindergarten again,” he said.

Elsewhere in the MAW world, the 2024 gala has been scheduled for June 1, with the singular cellist, composer and curator Joshua Roman in the house. We don’t yet have any details on what Roman – who attended the summer festival back in 2002 and has curated some programs here in the interim, as well as brought Steven Libowitz has covered music to bars and other unusual spaces a plethora of topics for the – may have in mind for the big fundJournal since 1997, and now raising event, but we’re sure it’ll be the leads our extensive arts and kind of fascinating and innovative proentertainment coverage gram Roman is known for. Tables go on

sale March 1.

Visit www.sbma.net/artfulaffairs or www.musicacademy.org.

“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” – Calvin Coolidge

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for stolen kisses,” says Katherine Colin, director of development and communications.

“What could be more appropriate on the most romantic day of the year?”

Even the photos had Bexx appeal...

Miscellany (Continued from 31 31))

The Universal Language

Violinist Sirena Huang, conductor Nir Kabaretti, and SB Symphony performing to Elgar’s “Serenade for Strings” (photo by Priscilla)

Janet Garufis, Chuck and Merryl Snow Zegar, Kathryn Martin, and Gaja HubbardKabaretti (photo by Priscilla)

Jim and Debbie Nicholson, married 51 years, enjoying each other’s company and the garden (photo by Bexx Photography)

Santa Barbara guitarist Tony Ybarra.

“Lotusland has a unique romantic ambiance and myriad romantic nooks

It wasn’t exactly Dr. Dolittle, but Montecito oceanographer resident Dove Joans, who writes under the pseudonym Dolphingirl, claims to be able to communicate with animals, particularly whales and dolphins.

In 2019, she wrote We Are the Ocean: 50 Waves to Wonder! and has just published the second edition of Dolphin Talk, which she wrote in 2015 adding 30 more pages to the book.

And later this year, Dove will publish her third book Why the Whales Sing including scientific data that animals can communicate with humans.

Montecito botanical paradise, hosted a Valentine’s Day event for 25 couples, one of whom was enjoying their 51st big day together.

The tony twosomes quaffed flutes of champagne and enjoyed the self-guided tour of the exquisite gardens accompanied by flamenco-Latino music from

“Jupiter” the dog with Gary Tomchuk, Lucinda Aragon, and author Dove Joans (center) aka Dolphingirl (photo by Priscilla)

Back stage with Nir Kabaretti, Sirena Huang, and Kathryn Martin (photo by Priscilla)

considerably limited space, tickets were only available to symphony subscribers and current ticket holders.

A memorable evening for many reasons...

Lotusland Love Romance was definitely in the air when Lotusland, the 37-acre

34 Montecito JOURNAL

John and Connie Sargent, married 39 years, celebrating Valentine’s Day at Lotusland (photo by Bexx Photography)

Hiroko Benko and Dorene White with author “Dolphingirl” signing her book for them (photo by Priscilla)

“We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.” – Jimmy Carter

22 – 29 February 2024

“It started in 1977 when I heard humpback whales communicating,” says Dove, who used to live in the historic Lahaina district of Maui, Hawaii, which was ravaged by fires last year destroying her home.

“It has enabled me to also communicate with dolphins, horses and dogs,” she told inquisitive guests at a book launch bash at the upper village bibliophile bastion Tecolote.

“I describe myself as a reluctant animal talker, but they seem to talk to me.

“It is an ability we can all access, like playing a musical instrument.”

Clearly an author of note...

an extreme team challenge where teams of 10 play tug of war with an Alaska Airlines E175 airplane weighing nearly 100,000 pounds at Santa Barbara Airport.

Teams pull the plane 20 feet, with the fastest time in each division crowned division champions.

Each team of ten needs to raise $1,000 to compete – $500 for the schools’ division.

Jeff Henson, Alpha’s director of development, says: “I have run “plane pull” fundraisers for other nonprofits around the country and I knew it would be a great way to raise funds.

Our goal is $65,000 with 25 to 30 teams competing.”

Launched in 1953, the charity supports children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Harpsichord in the Hall Camerata Pacifica debuted its latest import-flutist Sébastian Jacot in a most impressive concert at the Music Academy’s Hahn Hall, with a program including music by Bach, Haydn, and Jolivet.

Geneva-born Jacot, who began studying music at the age of six, also holds the position as principal flute at the prestigious Berliner Philharmoniker. He plays a rare wooden Haynes instrument from 1999 and a 14k Parmenon.

Accompanying him was Estonian Irina Zahharenkova on harpsichord and grand piano.

A heady terribly talented twosome...

When Life Gives you Lemons… Make Lemonada Meghan Markle has made a new podcast deal with female-funded network Lemonada Media which aims to “make life suck less” with shows about sex, grief, and the LGBTQ community.

The move, after the $25 million Spotify contract ended early last year, will also see Lemonada distribute Markle’s previous series, Archetypes.

She made the announcement on Sussex. com just 24 hours after the website was launched, alongside a new portrait taken by her friend Misan Harriman.

New Judgeship Available Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry, 39, is quitting her longtime job as a judge on the ABC show American Idol.

She revealed her decision on Jimmy Kimmel’s TV talk show which comes after seven seasons on the music competition series.

Kimmel asked the former Dos Pueblos High student how long she wanted to continue her run with fellow judges Lionel Richie, 74, and Luke Bryant, 47.

“You know, actually this fall in September I’m going to be doing a huge 22 – 29 February 2024

But When Is the Reboot?

Camerata Pacifica’s new Swiss flutist Sébastian Jacot (courtesy photo)

music festival in Brazil called Rock in Rio... I think this is possibly my last show, my last season for Idol.

“It has connected with me like the heart of America, but I feel like I need to go out and feel the pulse. I want to see the world and make some new music.”

There is now talk about Jennifer Lopez replacing her...

Guest Speaks on ‘Good Morning America’ – from Canada Prince Harry is considering U.S. citizenship.

The Riven Rock resident tells ABC correspondent Will Reeve on Good Morning America that it is not a top priority, but says he is enjoying his new life in America.

“It’s amazing,” the Duke of Sussex declared while being interviewed in Whistler, Canada, during his attendance of an event to promote next year’s Invictus Games for veterans and disabled servicemen.

But, according to U.S. Immigration rules “any applicant who has any titles of heredity or positions of nobility in any foreign state must renounce the title or position.”

So I very much doubt it will happen...

Pulling for a Cause Santa Barbara’s Alpha Resource Center is flying high!

On Saturday, March 2, the charity is hosting its third annual “plane pull,”

Filming has secretly started on a new series of Downton Abbey, the glorious period drama which ran on PBS eight years ago.

Bosses are hoping to bring back many of the big names including Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, and Joanne Froggatt who appeared in the previous six series and two movie spinoffs.

The relaunch of the much-loved show is filmed at Highclere Castle – the imposing English home of the Earl of Carnarvon. Downton Abbey covered many of the social changes and world events between 1921 and 1928, and the relaunch is expected to be on TV screens worldwide by year’s end.

I can’t wait...

Lawyers’ Fees May Come to a Close Actor Kevin Costner and his ex-wife Christine Baumgartner have settled their acrimonious divorce and finalized the judgment nine months after filing documents.

The battling exes have signed and filed a Marital Settlement Agreement, according to legal documents obtained

by TMZ. As Baumgartner filed divorce documents in May 2023, the case is now considered closed.

California has a waiting period of six months for divorce finalization and Baumgartner’s filing was done nine months ago.

NFL Green Yet to Comment

biggest event on the NFL calendar also attracted a near-record number of private planes to Las Vegas.

According to the business flight tracker, WingX, there were 882 private jets that flew in and out of the gambling Mecca for the big game.

Only Super Bowl LVII last year in Glendale, Arizona, saw more private air traffic with 931 flights.

The match at Allegiant Stadium was the second best in Sin City’s history, trailing the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix last November, which saw nearly 1,000 private jets wing to southern Nevada.

ETC in LORT The 45-year-old Ensemble Theatre Company has been accepted as the 81st member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), the largest professional theater association in the U.S. ETC joins the seven other southern California LORT companies including the Geffen, Pasadena, Laguna and La Jolla playhouses, and the Old Globe.

“Being recognized as a member of the League of Resident Theatres marks a major milestone in ETC’s evolution and signals that we are building a reputation as a premier regional theater company,” says Scott DeVine, ETC’s executive director. “This recognition also reinforces the quality contributions ETC is making to Santa Barbara’s cultural hub, which offers experiences for both artists and audiences that rival any community in the country.”

I couldn’t agree more...

Sightings Former tennis ace Jimmy Connors noshing at Lucky’s... Supermodelturned-business tycoon Kathy Ireland picking up her Java jolt at Pierre Lafond... Katy Perry and daughter Daisy Dove, 3, joining fiancé Orlando Bloom on the London set of his new movie Deep Cover.

Pip! Pip!

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

Not only was Super Bowl LVIII the most watched in TV history, but the Montecito JOURNAL

35

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Calendar of Events

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22

by Steven Libowitz THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 The Great Grimaud – The exquisite French pianist Hélène Grimaud, whose passion for the music is matched only by such accolades as admission into the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (France’s highest decoration), returns to the Lobero for another appearance for CAMA’s Masterseries. Grimaud’s playing represents her strong belief that music dignifies the human experience by giving voice to thoughts and feelings, requiring that each concert be an emotional event presented with an intense commitment, sustaining a mood from piece to piece, so that audiences feel pulled into a narrative. Tonight’s inventory for her musical intuition and inventiveness on the piano is a commanding program of major works with Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No.30 in E Major, Op.109,” Brahms’ “3 Intermezzi, Op.117 & 7 Fantasien, Op.116,” and Bach’s ‘Chaconne’ from “Partita No.2 in D Minor, BWV 1004,” arranged by Busconi.

WHEN: 7:30 pm WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St. COST: $58 & $68 INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 Red, White & Blues – The Santa Barbara Choral Society digs deep into America’s rich, multicultural heritage of musical traditions for its mid-winter concert, featuring selected works by revered American composers and explorations of spirituals and more. The musical journey across time and genres traverses classical to pop, folk, jazz, bluegrass, blues, gospel, and spirituals. Among the highlights, the sixty-plus Choral Society singers, accompanied by collaborative pianist Mi-Young Kim, will perform “Shenandoah” and “Didn’t It Rain?” – a traditional African American spiritual THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 Peter’s Paean to Pere – Famed film composer Elmer Bernstein, who died in Ojai in 2004 following many years in Hope Ranch, was not only a prolific scorer of movies, he also traversed genres in a way that is virtually unheard of today. Over his career that spanned more than half a century, Bernstein composed a series of landmark scores that covered everything from epics to comedies to Westerns and more. Among his credits are consensus timeless classics that include The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Man with the Golden Arm, The Great Escape and Ghostbusters, among many others. As a testament to his longevity, Bernstein is the only person to be nominated for an Academy Award in every decade from the 1950s to the 2000s. Now his son Peter, a fine film composer and musician in his own right – who reimagined Elmer’s score for Toccata for Toy Trains for the Santa Barbara Symphony last year – has penned an extensive book about his dad. Elmer Bernstein, Film Composer: An Authorized Biography is a behind-the-scenes look at his father’s life and music interweaves exclusive interviews, oral histories not otherwise available, estate archival materials, and personal experiences. The book covers such areas as Elmer’s experiences as an immigrant, being blacklisted, and ultimately finding great success in Hollywood. The book dives deep into the landmark scores and collaborations with producers and directors. Peter pops into Chaucer’s Books tonight to talk about and sign copies of the book.

WHEN: 6 pm WHERE: 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center COST: free INFO: (805) 682-6787 or www.chaucersbooks.com

36 Montecito JOURNAL

Mahal and Kora Master – The much-celebrated blues singer and multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal is certainly no stranger to Santa Barbara, having performed at the Lobero and elsewhere dozens of times in a variety of formats. The now 81-year-old legend has collaborated with a virtual Who’s Who of roots and blues music over the decades, starting 60 years ago with Ry Cooder in the first version of the Rising Sons, and extending to Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Muddy Waters as well as the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt, among many others. Mahal’s relevance hasn’t wavered, either, as his 2017 partnership with Keb’ Mo’ resulted in the joint album TajMo, which claimed the Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy a year later. Get on Board, his 2022 re-teaming with Cooder for a tribute to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, won the traditional blues Grammy last year. Back in 1999, Mahal played with the kora master of Mali’s griot tradition Toumani Diabaté; now the roots master is revisiting that territory as Gambia’s griot kora sensation Sona Jobarteh – an international superstar – joins the Taj Mahal Quartet on tour to once again explore the alchemy of African griot traditions and American blues.

WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Campbell Hall COST: $35-$70 INFO: (805) 893-3535 or https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu

that invites audience participation – while Will Breman, Choral Society tenor and the popular musician who competed on The Voice, will perform a song on guitar. The program spans American composers, from Leonard Bernstein to Randall Thompson, Shawn Kirchner to Eric Whitacre. The weekend’s special guest soloist is Michal Dawson Connor, the composer, singer, and author of the best-selling book The Slave Letters, which represents the culmination of a lifetime of work researching and curating letters written by slaves and former slaves from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Connor, who turned the book into an immersive theatrical experience that includes his own arrangements of Negro spirituals, will sing “Go ‘Way from My Window” by John Jacob Niles from the show, plus two other spirituals, and will sign copies of the book at the post-concert reception.

WHEN: 7 pm tonight, 3 pm tomorrow WHERE: Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St. COST: $30 general, $20 seniors, $10 students & children INFO: www.sbchoral.org SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25 Champion of the New – Acclaimed violinist Leila Josefowicz, a contemporary music specialist and champion of living composers, heads to Campbell Hall to perform a varied program of composers both past and present alongside pianist John Novacek.

Josefowicz, who has premiered dozens of new works for violin including concertos written expressly for her by John Adams, Esa Pekka-Salonen, and many others, will illuminate a path to contemporary music that travels through expressionism via works by Debussy and Szymanowski on the way to Stravinsky’s “Divertimento” from Le Baiser de la fée and Erkki-Sven Tüür’s “Conversio for Violin and Piano.”

WHEN: 4 pm WHERE: Campbell Hall COST: $25-$65 INFO: (805) 893-3535 or https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 The Ying and Yang of It – The Ying Quartet, the veteran ensemble that occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world by combining brilliantly commu-

“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand still like the rock.” – Thomas Jefferson

22 – 29 February 2024

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23 ‘Anything Goes’ at the Luke – No, it’s not midwinter mayhem at the Marjorie Luke, the pride of Santa Barbara Junior High, except perhaps on the stage itself where Lights Up! Theatre Company mounts Cole Porter’s Tony Award-winning musical. The tap-happy musical comedy is powered by a brassy nightclub singer, a starry-eyed stowaway and Public Enemy No.13 on board transatlantic luxury liner S.S. American, making the journey one that’s bound for romance and riotous fun. Etiquette and convention are the casualties as a crew of singing sailors, mistaken identities, comical disguises, and some good old-fashioned blackmail all conspire to deliver a pair of lovers their heart’s desire. The hilarious musical romp features some of Porter’s most memorable songs, including “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top” and the title song; classics of the Great American Songbook.

Company founder and director Amy Love’s staging features a four-minute tap dance break as well as a focus on the book by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, digging beneath the surface of the fast-paced comedy to pay attention to character development and the complexity in the dialogue.

WHEN: February 23-25 & March 1-3 WHERE: Marjorie Luke Theatre, 721 E. Cota St. COST: $25-$65 INFO: (805) 884-4087/https://luketheatre.org/events or www.lightsupsb.com/23-24-season

DISCOVER. INDULGE. CELEBRATE.

WORLD OF PINOT NOIR FEBRUARY 29 - MARCH 2, 2024

The World of Pinot Noir will feature more than 200 wineries, tastings, seminars and delicious pairing lunches and dinners at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara.

Use code: SBLOCAL for discounts on Grand Tasting tickets.

worldofpinotnoir.com

nicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music, return to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art for a third concert. The quartet that performs regularly at Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House – as well as in such diverse settings as the workplace, schools, and juvenile prisons – will bookend today’s performance with pieces by Dvořák (selections from Cypresses and “Quartet in E-flat Major Op. 51”), with modern compositions by Carter Pann’s “Love Letters” and “Anniversary Dances”

by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravec, serving as the substantial meaty middle.

WHEN: 7:30 pm WHERE: Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St. COST: $25 general

INFO: (805) 963-4364 or https://tickets.sbma.net SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 He’s Like Ike – Veteran Broadway actor John Rubinstein, who originated the Bob Fosse-directed title role in the musical Pippin and won the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his performance in Children of a Lesser God, stars in the riveting one-person play, Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, opening at Rubicon Theatre in Ventura. Fresh from his acclaimed Off-Broadway run, Rubinstein delves deeply into the role of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in what critics have called a fascinating tour-de-force. Written by Richard Hellesen and directed by Peter Ellenstein, This Piece of Ground is adapted from General Eisenhower’s memoirs, speeches, and letters to provide a candid and thought-provoking perspective on a significant chapter in American history. Set at the President’s farm in Gettysburg a year after the end of Ike’s second term, Eisenhower reflects on his life and legacy, recalling pivotal moments from his Kansas upbringing, his distinguished military career including triumphs in World War II, and his political career – an exploration that revolves around the qualities and challenges that define greatness in an American President. Entertainment Today praised Rubinstein’s portrayal and the play: “Not since Give ‘em Hell Harry has a show offered such insight into an American President. Moral courage radiates through Rubinstein’s powerful presence.”

WHEN: February 24-March 10 WHERE: Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura COST: $30-$79.50 (discounts for students, seniors, veterans & active military) INFO: (805) 667-2900 or www.rubicontheatre.org

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22 – 29 February 2024

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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

In home health care, 30yrs exp. excellent refs. Licensed & finger printed.

Liz 805-807-9555

The Clearing House, LLC Recognized as the area’s Premier Estate Liquidators - Experts in the Santa Barbara Market! We are Skilled Professionals with Years of Experience in Downsizing and Estate Sales. Personalized service. Insured.

Call for a complimentary consultation.

Elaine (805)708-6113 Christa (805)450-8382 Email: theclearinghouseSB@cox.net Website: www.theclearinghouseSB.com TRESOR We Buy, Sell and Broker Important Estate Jewelry. Located in the upper village of Montecito. Graduate Gemologists with 30 years of experience. We do free evaluations and private consultation.

1470 East Valley Rd Suite V. 805-969-0888 MENTAL HEALTH & WELL-BEING Michael Bolton, MD Harvard-Trained Board Certified Psychiatrist Specializing in Adult ADHD BecomeYourAuthenticSelf.

Com CHARMING BRIGHT RIVIERA 1 BD + 1 BA Hardwood Floors. Updated kitchen and bath. Carrara marble. Ocean & garden views. Quiet Street. Rare opportunity. No Smoking. No Pets. $3,300. 310-795-3867 PAINTING SERVICE Transform your home into a masterpiece with Casa Real Painting!

Call Cesar Real at (805) 570-1055 or email casarealpainting@gmail.com for a free estimate today. Let us show you how we can transform your space with color and creativity!

Your Space, Your Color, Your Creation!

38 Montecito JOURNAL

AVAILABLE CAREGIVER

FOR SALE LARGE COLLECTION OF SAN FRANCISCO ORIGINAL ROCK ART CONCERT POSTERS CIRCA 1960S. AVALON/ FILLMORE 917 930 4426 SANTA BARBARA

Trusted, Experienced Caregiver, CA State registered and background checked.

Vaccinated. Loving and caring provides transportation, medications, etc.

Lina 805-940-6888

PERSONAL SERVICES Tell Your Story How did you get to be where you are today? What were your challenges? What is your Love Story? I can help you tell your story in an unforgettable way – with a book that will live on for many generations. The books I write are as thorough and entertaining as acclaimed biographies you’ve read. I also assist with books you write – planning, editing and publishing.

David Wilk Great references.

(805) 455-5980 www.BiographyDavidWilk.com

FOR SALE. COMPLETE SET OF ORIGINAL ANDY WARHOL 4 LITHOGRAPHIC POSTERS FOR CHANEL PARIS FRANCE. 1997.

BEAUTIFULLY FRAMED 917 930 4426 SANTA BARBARA

ELECTRICIAN

Serving Montecito for 23 years!

Pilates & Clinical Somatic Exercise C.V. Physical Therapy 805-570-5121 michelegracemorrow.com KNIFE SHARPENING SERVICE EDC Mobile Sharpening is a locally owned and operated in Santa Barbara. We specialize in (No-Entry) House Calls, Businesses and Special Events.

Call 805-696-0525 to schedule an appointment AUTOMOBILES WANTED We buy Classic Cars Running or not.

Foreign/Domestic Chevy/Ford/Porsche/Mercedes/Etc. We come to you.

Call Steven - 805-699-0684 Website - Avantiauto.group

Montecito Electric Repairs and Inspections Licensed C10485353 805-969-1575 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.

FOR SALE

FOR SALE LARGE, WORLD STAMP COLLECTION. THOUSANDS OF FINE STAMPS. 917 930 4426 SANTA BARBARA

$10 MINIMUM TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD 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) “Tell the truth, work hard, and come to dinner on time.” – Gerald R. Ford

DONATIONS NEEDED Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary Menagerie 2430 Lillie Avenue Summerland CA 93067 (805) 969-1944 Donate to the Parrot Pantry!

At SB Bird Sanctuary, backyard farmer’s bounty is our birds best bowl of food! The flock goes bananas for your apples, oranges & other homegrown fruits & veggies.

Volunteers Do you have a special talent or skill? Do you need community service hours? The flock at SB Bird Sanctuary could always use some extra love and socialization. Call us and let’s talk about how you can help.

(805) 969-1944

22 – 29 February 2024

Mini Meta

Last Week’s Solution:

By Pete Muller & Frank Longo For each of the first five mini crosswords, one of the entries also serves as part of a five-word meta clue. The answer to the meta is a word or phrase (six letters or longer) hidden within the sixth mini crossword. The hidden meta answer starts in one of the squares and snakes through the grid vertically and horizontally from there (no diagonals!) without revisiting any squares.

PUZZLE #1 1

2

3

4

1 5

S P A S WE L L T I T L E O N E A D V E R Y

A R K L O N G E B L O O D S EWO N N D A

M A P T O N O F B U N K O S T E E R H E R

C P U R I N S E U P P E R S P I N E H A N D

B A A D R A T G I A N T P A N D A A L D E R

T A B L E I D R I S F L A T T F A I R E S I N E S

WELL

KNOWN

MOUTH

RINSE

BRAND

LISTERINE

PUZZLE #2

PUZZLE #3

2

1

3

4

5

6

6

7

8

8

Down 1 Former French first lady Carla 2 "That's Not All ___!" (Mel Blanc autobiography) 3 Morgan Wallen's 16-week chart-topping "One Thing at a Time," e.g.

5 Hockey legend Phil, to fans 6 Word before Mac and cheese

7

2

3

6

8

Down 1 People frequently knock on it 2 As a joke 3 Fourfront?

4 Construction bar shaped like a certain letter 7 Dir. from Montecito to Boise

Across 1 What doesn't normally make headlines?

4 Partake of 6 Caught unagi, e.g.

7 Surrounded by 8 Irritable

PUZZLE #5 4

1

2

1

4

6

6

7

7

7

8

8

8

Down 1 Knightly feature 2 She and Steve won a 1960 Grammy for "We Got Us" 3 "Small Things Like ___" (2021 Claire Keegan novel) 4 With 5-Down, something that's alluring but dangerous 5 See 4-Down

Down 1 Feature of some parties and crosswords 2 Parts of angel costumes 3 Crossword tournament, e.g.

5 Irritable 6 Partake of

META PUZZLE

3

5

Across 1 Workers who might fix a lot of toys 5 Not merely wave, maybe 6 Like Ashley Olsen vis-à-vis Mary-Kate, by two minutes 7 Something that may be described to an auto mechanic 8 Eco-friendly

5

7

Across 1 "Sitting in Bars ___ Cake" (2023 film) 5 Apartment next to the super's, perhaps 6 How regulars return 8 When doubled, band on the 2023 title track "Danse Macabre" 9 It might be dropped during a conversation

PUZZLE #4 1

3

4

9

Across 1 Basic deg. for a designer 4 Leonard Bernstein, for Bradley Cooper, in 2023's "Maestro" 6 Parts of eyedroppers and thermometers 7 Give tats to 8 Doohickey

2

5

2

3

4

5

6

9

Across 1 "31 Days of Oscar" network 4 AT&T Pebble Beach ___ (event won by Justin Rose in 2023) 6 Mycologists study them 7 Supplied continuously, as material to a machine 8 See 3-Down

Down 1 Like facts, vis-à-vis "alternative facts" 2 State secretary for Dubya 3 With 8-Across, it might involve a sudden disappearance 4 Sound accompanying a sudden disappearance 5 Weasel's cousin

Across 1 More Mexican?

4 Words before an expiration date 7 Spasm of pain 8 "Grand" peak of the Rockies 9 Costco competitor, casually

Down 1 Mix in a pound?

2 They might blacken Santa's beard 3 Maker of the iComfortECO 5 "TikTok, ___" (2022 documentary) 6 Strong desires

LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY

SB-LAX $ 39

dimarcogallery.com Prints Notes Totes

...and more Order greeting cards and add your own greetings

OEACH WAY

SUV $450 -----

PRIVILEGE

SB

(805) 280 5159 TCP 32411-A

TRANSPORTATION

Andrea Dominic, R.Ph. Emily McPherson, Pharm.D. Paul Yered, R.Ph. 1498 East Valley Road Montecito, CA 93108

Phone: 805-969-2284 Fax: 805-565-3174

Compounding Pharmacy & Boutique

STEVEN BROOKS JEWELERS Estate & Insurance Appraisals Graduate Gemologist G.I.A Estate Jewelry & Custom Designs Jewelry Buyer stevenbrooksjewelers.com 805-455-1070

22 – 29 February 2024

She’s Already In You Professional Coaching for Women Relationships Leadership Purpose GABRIELLATAYLOR.COM

Montecito JOURNAL

39

BALANCE IS EVERYTHING Your investment plan should be created just for you; however, developing and maintaining a comprehensive financial plan can be a bit of a balancing act.

I can deliver the guidance needed to develop a wellbalanced investment plan.

Call to schedule a consultation today.

Jorge Morales, cfp®

Wealth Advisor CA Insurance Lic #0D70984

Located at Montecito Bank & Trust

(805) 564-7305 Office jmorales@mbtadvisors.com

1000 State St. Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Jorge Morales is a registered representative with, and securities and advisory services are offered through LPL Financial (LPL), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer (member FINRA/SIPC). Insurance products are offered through LPL or its licensed affiliates. Montecito Bank & Trust and MB&T Advisors are not registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor. Registered representatives of LPL offer products and services using MB&T Advisors, and may also be employees of Montecito Bank & Trust. These products and services are being offered through LPL or its affiliates, which are separate entities from, and not affiliates of, Montecito Bank & Trust or MB&T Advisors. Securities and insurance offered through LPL or its affiliates are: Not Insured by FDIC or Any Other Federal Government Agency

Not Bank Guaranteed

Not Bank Deposit or Obligations

May Lose Value