A Life Well Managed

The Place to Be 15 - 22 October 2020 Vol 26 Issue 42

SERVING MONTECITO AND SUMMERLAND

The last time Montecito had a real estate boom like this was several decades ago, p. 16

A Life Well Managed (story begins on p. 14)

(photo by Edward Clynes)

After 16 Years as Sotto Il Monte’s Estate Manager, Montecito’s Tobias Pohlmeyer Prepares for His Next Adventure

Going Under

Undergrounding power lines is expensive, but the alternative is dangerous. Can Montecito get it done? p. 6

Our Unhoused Neighbors

A new project takes on a growing problem in Montecito: homelessness, p. 24

Race to Justice

UCSB Arts & Lectures brings together heavy hitters in ambitious new series, p. 20

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

15 – 22 October 2020

C O A S T A L

L I V I N G

Carpinteria

I N

4 B E D R O O M S / 2 B AT H R O O M S / 1 , 5 4 6 S Q F T / 2 - C A R G A R A G E / $ 1 , 0 5 0 , 0 0 0

DANA ZERTUCHE & LORI BOWLES 805.565.8198 / INFO@MONTECITO.ASSOCIATES WWW.MONTECITO.ASSOCIATES CALRE#01465425 CALRE#01961570 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification.

Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2020 Coldwell Banker. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. The Coldwell Banker® System is comprised of company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Brokerage Group LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. The Coldwell Banker System fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

3

Inside This Issue 5

Editor’s Letter

6

Montecito on the Move

Three of five County Supervisors vote to give themselves a profoundly tone-deaf pay hike

$15 PAY-PER-VIEW CONCERT EVENT

Undergrounding power transmission lines is tough and expensive, but the alternative has proven dangerous. Can Montecito do it?

11 Letters to the Editor

Community voices ring out over Cold Spring School bond; Nancy Freeman punches back; the case for Elrawd MacLearn

CHARLES LLOYD OCEAN TRIO FRI. OCT. 23 / 8 PM

featuring Gerald Clayton and Anthony Wilson

Produced and Directed by Byl Carruthers

NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd brings together four-time Grammy®-nominated pianist/composer Gerald Clayton with guitarist/composer Anthony Wilson for an unforgettable virtual performance.

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14 On the Record

Sotto Il Monte’s Estate Manager Tobias Pohlmeyer gets candid with us while giving a rare tour of the villa

16 Real Estate View

Judging by the home sales activity of the last three months, we can easily conclude that Montecito is the place to be

20 Center Stage

UCSB Arts & Lectures brings together heavy hitters in ambitious new series, Race to Justice

24 Our Unhoused Neighbors

Community leaders rally together to confront one of Montecito’s issues: homelessness

28 Perspectives by Rinaldo S Brutoco

Fireproofing California: adapting to the new fire reality to avoid the worst

The Optimist Daily

How a year without whale watching affects humpback whale calls, and how a new innovation wards off sharks while keeping other animals safe

32 Your Westmont

Learning community thrives as students have kept campus nearly COVID-19 free

34 In Passing

San Ysidro Pharmacy is OPEN!!

Monday-Friday 9-6pm Saturday 9-3pm 805-969-2284 1498 East Valley Road Compounding Pharmacy Vitamins and Supplements Cosmetics and fine Gifts

Our resident historian Hattie Beresford tributes another of Montecito’s keepers of stories, Judy Pearce

36 Dear Montecito

After leaving for Los Angeles, Mia Wilkinson now recognizes that Montecito is a bubble, but the beaches and hiking trails are way nicer

37 Brilliant Thoughts

Is there some kind of consensus on objective beauty, or is it just left to the eye of the beholder?

38 On Entertainment

Santa Barbara Symphony kicks off new season; Camerata conquers with CoronaConcerts; UCSB’s Shakespeare shakeup; Luke livestreams Resonance; and more

39 Ernie’s World

Ernie agrees with President Trump’s idea to stop wildfires in California by raking forests, except for the raking part

42 Our Town

Santa Barbara fashion designer and artist Catherine Gee on the future of fashion and the impact of lockdowns on the industry

46 For Goodness’ Sake

When we get beyond the threat of COVID-19, there will be many aspects of virtual convening that will be kept, writes Ken Saxon

47 Muller Monthly Music Meta Crossword Puzzle 52 Nosh Town

Alisal Guest Ranch and Ojai Valley Inn, two venues that are fine-tuning the outdoor dining and experiential culinary experience

54 Classified Advertising

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

55 Local Business Directory

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

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

“There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at.” – Richard Pryor

15 – 22 October 2020

Editor’s Letter

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

As Supervisors’ Pay Rises, Should Constituents’ Confidence Lower?

O

n October 7, in a 3-2 vote, our County Board of Supervisors voted to give themselves an optional 3% pay raise. Supervisor Joan Hartmann justified her vote by explaining that “this job is a very demanding one with a lot of responsibilities that are very diverse.” Das Williams and Steve Lavagnino expressed similar justifications for their “yay” vote.

Supervisors Gregg Hart and Peter Adam said “nay.”

There is no question that our County Supervisors work hard and have important and diverse responsibilities. It is also true that Santa Barbara’s cost of living is high, making it hard for many local workers, public and otherwise, to make ends meet. What I take issue with is the timing and the optics of this raise, and what it says about a brand of leadership that justifies such a thing at a time when so many constituents are suffering.

Supervisor Gregg Hart, along with Peter Adam, said “nay” to pay raises

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Das Williams, Steve Lavagnino, and Joan Hartmann voted to give themselves an optional 3% pay raise

Supervisor Gregg Hart, the only Supervisor who is up for re-election next year, has pledged to personally decline the pay hike likely becaue he understands the horrible optics of giving himself a raise in the midst of a pandemic that has ravaged small businesses, drained the coffers of local governments, caused historic unemployment, left 1.5 million unemployment claims in California backlogged, and with no federal deal for a new COVID-19 relief package in sight.

I personally find the timing of this pay hike profoundly tone deaf.

Great leaders understand the value, indeed the necessity, of suffering along with their people. In fact, our country’s most desperate hours have been marked by examples of such leadership.

As the leader of a nation trying to heal from civil war, President Abraham Lincoln appealed to the “better angels of our nature.”

During the Great Depression’s darkest moments, FDR showed this country how to believe in a brighter future through the strength of his will, bolstered by his brave message: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

In this challenging moment, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in his handling of his state’s pandemic response, consistently referred to his own ordinariness and emphasized that he and his family are part of the community he leads. “I will never ask you to do anything that I won’t do myself and I’ll never ask you to go anywhere that I won’t go myself,” Cuomo said repeatedly.

“We’re all in this together.”

So, I ask the three County Supervisors who have just voted to give themselves a pay raise at this universally painful moment when so many are struggling just to stay afloat: are we all in this together?

In great leaders we see ourselves. And they see themselves in us – in our struggles, in our pain, and in our dreams. If they cannot feel what we feel, they cannot heal what must be healed.

•MJ 15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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Montecito on the Move

by Sharon Byrne, Executive Director, Montecito Association

Taking Our Utility Lines Underground

The Value of Perspective Does your advisor understand you?

With so much at stake in your life, it never hurts to get a second opinion about your financial future.

My approach starts by understanding your life and your financial goals.

We then work together to create a framework designed to give you the confidence to do what matters most--no matter what the markets are doing.

I want to help ensure you have all your current and future financial needs are met. Call me for a free financial plan and portfolio review.

Despite efforts by Edison, high winds are downing electricity poles and starting electrical fires, as seen here in April on East Valley Road at Picacho Lane (Photo credit: John Palminteri)

A

t the Montecito Association Land Use Committee, we decided to tackle undergrounding as a team. The Office of Assembly Member Monique Limón, representatives from the office of First District Supervisor Das Williams, Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett, and Hidden Hills Councilmember Laura McCorkindale joined us. We have several brave neighbors attempting to underground their utilities at Hodges and Periwinkle, and we’re supportive of it.

Ted Stern, who masterfully navigated this issue in 2003 for Montecito, was also with us. Much of his research is still relevant. Boulders in the ground and major transmission lines present big obstacles. Undergrounding power cables is expensive: quoted in 2003 at $1 million per mile, the cost is now $3 million per mile. Who will pay to do it? Apparently, we the residents will, and there are various funding mechanisms we need to explore.

Also new since 2003: A pandemic-induced real estate boom. Telecom and internet equipment is now crowded onto electric poles and we also face the risk of massive fires, public safety power shutoffs in high winds, debris flow and insurance issues. Ted Stern was a visionary – we should have undergrounded in 2003. The Montecito Journal has covered the real estate boom thoroughly. We have a lot of new neighbors moving in.

These neighbors quickly run into a problem that has plagued us since January

Christopher Gallo UBS Financial Services Inc. 222 East Carrillo Street Suite 106 Santa Barbara, CA 93101-7146 805-963-3771 800-262-4774

Christopher T. Gallo, CFP®, CIMA® CPWA® Vice President - Wealth Management Portfolio Manager 805-730-3425 christopher.t.gallo@ubs.com

Montecito on the Move Page 264

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Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ in the U.S. CIMA® is a registered certification mark of the Investments and Wealth Institute, formerly IMCA, in the United States of America and worldwide. ©UBS 2020. All rights reserved.

UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. D-UBS-87F27415

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

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REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS

15 – 22 October 2020

1235 COAST VILLAGE ROAD I 805.969.0442 FOUR SEASONS RESORT THE BILTMORE SANTA BARBARA 805.969.3167 I MONTECITO, CA 93108 W W W . S I LV E R H O R N . C O M

UCLA Health Doctors in Montecito.

Taking care of your health is important. If you need to schedule a primary care appointment or preventive care screening, we are ready and prepared to welcome you and handle all of your health care needs. Schedule your in-person appointment or video visit today.

• Primary Care/Internal Medicine • General Cardiology/Interventional Cardiology

1187 Coast Village Rd., Suite 10A, Montecito, CA 93108 Physicians: Dennis Hughes, MD, Amanda Scott, MD and Stephen Vampola, MD, MS uclahealth.org/montecito Schedule an appointment now by calling 1-805-918-1093. Evening and weekend hours also available.

15 – 22 October 2020

Ready to care for you.

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

7

(805) 565-4000 Homesinsantabarbara.com 1255 Coast Village Rd, Suite 102B DRE 01499736/01129919

It goes without saying that the last several months have been a tumultuous time for everyone, and the global pandemic and associated social distancing and quarantines have had far reaching consequences for nearly every type of trade or commerce.

The local real estate market in Santa Barbara and Montecito is no exception, and we as agents are keeping tabs on the rapidly changing situation. While several listings have been withdrawn from the market, there are still buyers seeking to find their new home, thanks in part to record low interest rates. Working within the new mandates from the California Association of Realtors, we are still actively working for our clients, helping them reach their real estate goals.

We consistently sell more real estate than anyone in the SBMLS, call us, we’re here to help.

Perched on The Coveted Pepper Hill - $6,420,000

Rarely Available Ocean View Home on the Mesa - $5,295,000

Farmhouse Compound in Montecito with 4 Structures - $3,850,000

Charming Downtown Condo - $825,000

©2020 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC. BHH Affiliates LLC and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that information.

8

MONTECITO JOURNAL

151––228 October 2020

Warm & Inviting

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Comprehensive Cancer Care. Close to Home.

Ridley-Tree Cancer Center delivers multidisciplinary cancer care using the most advanced treatments and technology. Experienced physicians trained at top institutions and a compassionate staff are why we’re the leading provider of cancer care on the central coast.

Your Community Cancer Center 15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

ridleytreecc.org 540 W. Pueblo Street

MONTECITO JOURNAL

9

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| (805) 564-0298

15 – 22 October 2020

Letters to the Editor

If you have something you think Montecito should know about, or wish to respond to something you read in the Journal, we want to hear from you. Please send all such correspondence to: Montecito Journal, Letters to the Editor, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA. 93108. You can also FAX such mail to: (805) 969-6654, or E-mail to letters@montecitojournal.net

Full STEAM Ahead

T

here has been much discussion about how the upcoming Cold Spring School bond measure will impact the members of the school community, but it is worth pausing to consider how this measure will impact the current and future students.

Cold Spring School has a strong culture of providing students with an enriching environment where creativity and curiosity flourish. Music, drama, and art have been foundational programs of the Cold Spring student experience – allowing students to find and follow passions through exposure to a variety of models of learning.

The newest discipline to join the CSS enrichment program is STEAM, an integrated class that weaves the learning of core curriculum into hands-on engineering and design projects. Students work in collaborative teams to tackle real-world problems that have no prescriptive solution.

Through these challenges, students

apply content knowledge that is concurrent with classroom instruction, but the outcomes are far more substantial than simply deepening math and science skills. By working through open-ended projects, students become resourceful and strategic. Resilience grows as the fear of failure ebbs, and students become comfortable with an iterative design process. As a STEAM program, we are bold – and our message to students is Yes. Can I make a robot city? Yes. Can I build a solar powered boat? Yes. Can I restore this ecosystem? Yes. We intentionally work at the threshold of our capacity, knowing that it is in this space that we experience the most growth.

Since launching the STEAM program, Cold Spring students have installed bat boxes and birdhouses; they’ve built custom ukuleles, programmed homemade robots, planted a native garden, and designed a chicken coop for our

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Letters Page 304

RECENTLY SOLD

COLDWELL BANKER

COLDWELL BANKER

COLDWELL BANKER

COLDWELL BANKER

Is pleased to announce the sale of

Is pleased to announce the sale of

Is pleased to announce the sale of

Is pleased to announce the sale of

4265 Cresta Avenue

4678 Via Roblada

345 Kellogg Way #32

418 Los Verdes Drive

The Sellers were represented by

The Sellers were represented by

The Sellers were represented by

The Sellers were represented by

KEITH C. BERRY

KEITH C. BERRY

KEITH C. BERRY

KEITH C. BERRY

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

COLDWELL BANKER

COLDWELL BANKER

COLDWELL BANKER

COLDWELL BANKER

Is pleased to announce the sale of

Is pleased to announce the sale of

Is pleased to announce the sale of

Is pleased to announce the sale of

519 Wentworth Ave.

521 Wentworth Ave.

850 Via Granada

2512 Murrell Road

The Sellers were represented by

The Sellers were represented by

The Buyers were represented by

The Buyers were represented by

KEITH C. BERRY

KEITH C. BERRY

KEITH C. BERRY

KEITH C. BERRY

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cellular (805) 689-4240 P.O. Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

©2020 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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framed by NATURE BEFORE STEPPING FOOT ONTO THE GROUNDS OF VILLA RAVELLO, ONE CAN SENSE THE MAGIC OF THIS INCREDIBLE SETTING. Impeccable classical design by Marc Appleton and meticulous building craftsmanship from Leonard Unander Associates herald the highest standards in quality from imagination to execution.

Villa Rav e l l o

9 7 5 L IL A C DR IVE, MONTECITO O F F E R E D AT $16,900,000

team@ RiskinPartners.com

12 MONTECITO JOURNAL

805.565.8600

15 – 22 October 2020

TUSCANY OAKS FARM SUMMERLAND | $19,800,000

1583 S JAMESON LANE MONTECITO | $17,900,000

N

P A R T

K

N

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P

R S

R I S

E

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956 MARIPOSA LANE MONTECITO | $9,950,000

735 FUERA LANE MONTECITO | $9,950,000

1398 OAK CREEK CANYON RD MONTECITO | $9,500,000

1130 E MOUNTAIN DRIVE MONTECITO | $7,950,000

Village Properties Realtors 15 – 22 October 2020

AT E

U

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T

G R

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license #01954177 • The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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Upcoming Virtual Events!

On the Record

Intimate, interactive online events you won’t find anywhere else

Celebrated Novelist, Essayist and Poet

by Nicholas Schou

Nicholas Schou is an award-winning investigative journalist and author of several books, including Orange Sunshine and Kill the Messenger. If you have tips or stories about Montecito, please email him at newseditor@montecitojournal.net

A Life Well Managed

Tobias Pohlmeyer welcomes us to Montecito’s storied estate, Sotto Il Monte, on the auspicious occasion of its Sotheby’s sale

Barbara Kingsolver

in Conversation with Pico Iyer Mon, Oct 26 / 5 PM Pacific (Note new date) This event has been rescheduled.

“A gifted magician of words.” Time Enjoy a fascinating conversation and Q&A with the award-winning author of nearly a dozen bestsellers including Unsheltered and the just-released How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons).

I

An Intimate Conversation with the 19th United States Surgeon General

Pohlmeyer in Sotto Il Monte’s rear garden (photo by Edward Clynes)

Vivek H. Murthy, MD Fri, Oct 23 / 5 PM Pacific Co-presented with

“Together stands with Atul Gawande's classic, Being Mortal.”

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14 MONTECITO JOURNAL

f it wasn’t for the fact that his boss told him to steer a tea tray to President Ronald Reagan three decades ago, Tobias Pohlmeyer might never have come to America.

It was a momentous occasion, as meeting Reagan inspired Pohlmeyer to cross the Atlantic and rise through the ranks of the global hospitality industry to become the estate manager for Sotto Il Monte, the storied, nearly 12-acre villa on Sycamore Canyon Road originally known as La Toscana and designed by famed architect George Washington Smith with gardens designed by A.E. Hanson.

Sotto Il Monte’s most recent owner: Pohlmeyer’s ex-boss and close personal friend, San Francisco venture capitalist Frank Caufield, who died peacefully in his sleep at age 80 at the mansion last November. This week, per an article in the Wall Street Journal, Sotheby’s listed the sprawling 1929 estate – 18,000 square feet, with nine bedrooms, a pool, gym, travertine staircase, tennis court, expansive gardens with rare trees and statuary, not to mention a panoramic, unspoiled view of the mountains– all at the modest price of just $39,750,000.

Sotto Il Monte translates as “Under the Mountain” in Italian and references the birthplace of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, better known as Pope John XXIII, had been previously owned by the late Italian race car mogul Andy Granatelli, which explains why it comes complete with an airplane hangar-sized garage spacious enough to park an entire fleet of Lamborghinis.

“I don’t want to go through life as a Wonder Wheel murderer!” – Richard Pryor

Just before it officially hit the market, Pohlmeyer invited the Montecito Journal to tour the rarely unveiled property, which he and his staff were busily preparing for potential buyers.

He took a brief break from his hectic schedule to recount how he came to work at the Montecito estate, which has been his home for the past 16 years, as well as to recount some of his fondest memories of his experience there.

Coming to America

Back in London in the late 1980s, Pohlmeyer was a young management trainee at Claridge’s, a five star hotel in London’s Mayfair district when Reagan, who had just left office, was on a farewell tour of Europe, dropping by with First Lady Nancy Reagan to bid goodbye to Margaret Thatcher.

“If you are invited by the Queen as a guest, she puts you up in Claridge’s,” notes Pohlmeyer. “For my education and training, it was the best. You can just imagine, as a young, twenty-yearold German guy pushing a tray of tea to the President of the United States, that it gives you a certain oomph feel,” he adds. “You see all the entourage, the security, and you know what a privilege it is to be there. It really opens your eyes.”

Having grown up on Germany’s picturesque Lake Constance, near the borders of Austria and Switzerland, Pohlmeyer had only been working at

On The Record Page 264 264 15 – 22 October 2020

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15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

15

Real Estate View

by Mark Ashton Hunt

Mark and his wife, Sheela Hunt, are real estate agents. His family goes back nearly 100 years in the Santa Barbara area. Mark’s grandparents – Bill and Elsie Hunt – were Santa Barbara real estate brokers for 25 years.

Montecito is the Place to Be

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udging by the home buying activity in the last few months, we can easily conclude that Montecito is “The place to be.” Since the terrible home sales in April and May brought on by strict lockdown measures, Montecito has experienced the highest number of sales per month that most real estate agents can ever remember.

The graph reflecting sales and comparing this summer to the same months over the past five years looks like a rocket shooting up, well outperforming any of the past five years by doubling or tripling sales over any previous July, August, or September in those years.

After months of brisk sales and few new listings, there are only a handful of homes available in each price range at this point in Montecito. For instance, at this moment, there are only a few freestanding, single-family residences listed for sale in the Montecito Union School District, priced under $4 million. Usually there would be a dozen or more available in that under $4 million range but not right now.

The least expensive single-family residence in the school district right now is priced at $2.7 million. From there it’s the mid to high $3 millions. And if you are looking for one of those fixers at $2.2 million or $2.4 million that you saw in March, forget it, they are gone – and if they came back now they would be 15 percent higher in price.

Also, Montecito is terribly low on inventory in all price ranges. Even the $10 million-plus housing inventory is being depleted due to a significant number of on and off market sales in recent months. It is indeed these off-market sales that are most difficult to track, in terms of who the buyers were, prices paid, etc, with many home purchases being under the name of an LLC or a financial representative or other.

Final Paseo Nuevo MontecitoJournal 10-20 PR.pdf 1 10/7/20 10:49 AM

An off-market sale of $44 million-plus was recorded recently on Picacho Lane and another near the San Ysidro Ranch is rumored to have sold for just around $27 million. We hear that other big and significant sales are happening as I type this, but only time and further reporting will tell the full story of how many homes are selling and for what prices and to what household names.

As I love statistics, here are a few. In the past 30 days dating back to September 10, there were approximately 48 sales recorded in the Multiple Listing Service in the 93108 zip code. This included 10 sales between $5 million and $10 million, as well as three sales at more than $10 million, which is unheard of in the same month in the area. There were only five recorded sales of more than $10 million all of last year.

I estimate than an extra 100 to 120 homes (let’s call it 110) more than in recent years have changed hands in just this summer. Now, as a good number of these sales have been more than $5 million, and as high as $18 million, with numerous sales over $7 million, it is possible these additional 110 homes sold could account for as much as $700 million plus or minus in additional home sales over the summer compared to recent years. That’s a big wow.

Looking at the various price ranges in Montecito and the available inventory of each this past week, I found the $7 million range to be offering great value for price, but also this is a price range that is very low on available inventory, with only seven homes actively on the market between $7 million and $8 million and four of them are featured here.

In this price range one often finds a mini version of a $10 million estate, or a rarity such as a historic architectural estate of merit on multiple acres or a dialed in beachfront home on the sand, a castle in the sky with a pool, etc… but something special for sure.

495 Valley Club Road – $7,500,000

O

ffered for the first time in 50 years, a private residential masterpiece, The Erdman House (1958). Four knoll top acres. A midcentury Montecito treasure designed by architect Lutah Maria Riggs. An 8,000-plus square foot compound featuring a stunning example of midcentury vernacular, Lutah Maria Riggs’ use of shakkei or borrowed scenery or landscape, is evident in almost every room.

The courtyard, once centered around the reflecting pool, looks to the rectan-

Real Estate Page 18 184

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16 MONTECITO JOURNAL

15 – 22 October 2020

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2709 Vista Oceano Ln | Summerland | 7BD/10BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $19,800,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

495 Valley Club Rd | Montecito | 4BD/7BA DRE 00852118 | Offered at $7,500,000 Jeff Oien 805.895.2944

2709 Vista Oceano Ln | Summerland | 7BD/10BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $19,800,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

1583 S Jameson Ln | Montecito | 9BD/9BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $17,900,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

975 Lilac Dr | Santa Barbara | 5BD/8BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $16,900,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

630 Hot Springs Rd | Montecito | 5BD/6BA DRE 01815307/00914713 | Offered at $14,500,000 Walsh/Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.698.0199

1147 Hill Rd | Santa Barbara | 5BD/5BA DRE 01236143/01410304 | Offered at $11,500,000 Grubb Campbell Group 805.895.6226

956 Mariposa Ln | Montecito | 5BD/7BA DRE 01815307/00837659 | Offered at $9,950,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group/Griffin 805.565.8600

735 Fuera Ln | Montecito | 5BD/7BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $9,950,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.698.0199

1398 Oak Creek Canyon Rd | Montecito | 6BD/7BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $9,500,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.698.0199

1200 N San Marcos Rd | Santa Barbara | 5BD/5BA DRE 01988499|02020380 | Offered at $8,499,000 Haden Homes Luxury Property Group 805.880.6530

1130 E Mountain | Montecito | 4BD/5BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $7,950,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.698.0199

209 Greenwell Ave | Summerland | 4BD/4BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $6,195,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.698.0199

109 Olive Mill Rd | Santa Barbara | 3BD/5BA DRE 00914713/00978392 | Offered at $5,495,000 Tim Walsh 805.259.8808

940 Coyote Rd | Santa Barbara | 7BD/9BA DRE 01236143/01410304 | Offered at $4,295,000 Grubb Campbell Group 805.895.6226

499 Crocker Sperry Dr | Santa Barbara | 3BD/5BA DRE 00852118 | Offered at $4,250,000 Jeff Oien 805.895.2944

4002 Cuervo Ave | Santa Barbara | 5BD/4BA DRE 00852118 | Offered at $3,975,000 Jeff Oien 805.895.2944

1201 Cima Linda Ln | Montecito | 3BD/4BA DRE 01988499|02020380 | Offered at $3,295,000 Haden Homes Luxury Property Group 805.880.6530

LOCALLY OWNED. GLOBALLY CONNECTED. WE REACH A GLOBAL AUDIENCE THROUGH OUR EXCLUSIVE AFFILIATES. All information provided is deemed reliable, but has not been verified and we do not guarantee it. We recommend that buyers make their own inquiries.

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

17

Real Estate (Continued from page 16 16)

long, curving cobblestone driveway and outdoor living spaces reflecting the unique qualities of this very serene site.

Designed to appear as a natural extension of the home, the infinity pool completes the feeling of a residence ‘’built to inspire’’ with its connection to the land above Montecito’s valley and coastline. Enjoy the four bedrooms and five bathrooms in approximately 5,700 square feet of living space, multiple fireplaces, skylights, central air conditioning, a private well, and all within the Montecito Union School District.

1556 Miramar Beach – $7,950,000

gular swimming pool up to the mountains through stands of pine and eucalyptus trees. Gated and private, one is transported back to a simpler time where the enjoyment of the outdoors translated to refuge and peaceful living.

The home offers three bedrooms and four full and two half baths, a one-bedroom one-bathroom pool house, four carports, four garages, and a workshop.

A true compound to be maintained for the next generation and located in the Montecito Union School District.

2600 Bella Vista Drive – $7,950,000

T

his gated Montecito Mediterranean estate rests on 32 acres of above street privacy and offers mature landscaping and huge ocean views. The home was designed to complement and enhance the panoramic views from many rooms.

Beyond the impressive entry gates there is a

Where’s Your Happy Place?

L

ocated on a private, gated lane on Montecito’s revered Miramar Beach, and a stone’s throw from the new Rosewood Miramar Hotel, rests this lovely, renovated beach house. The beachfront homes on Miramar Beach are treasured in the community and rarely experience turnover of ownership.

This home distinguishes itself as one of the few that have been so generously updated, with an extensive list of modern amenities. The home consists of three levels, each boasting high-end materials and features such as a skylight on the top level, sets of bi-fold doors opening to balconies overlooking the beach, and direct access to the sand.

The lower level deck has stairs to the sand, and a discreet hatch offering access to a large lower storage space. An exterior staircase provides convenient access from the beach level to the top level. Two designated parking spaces are reserved for this home, and guest parking is available. Homes on Miramar Beach are in the Montecito Union School District.

1130 East Mountain Drive – $7,950,000

E

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18 MONTECITO JOURNAL

ndless ocean and island views span the horizon from this chic contemporary home with detached guest suite. Dramatic spaces open seamlessly to extensive view terraces and create a tranquil indoor/outdoor flow that defines Santa Barbara and Montecito living.

The expansive main-level primary suite offers a peaceful way to begin and end your days, with an ocean view office, dual closets, and a fitness area. The suite rivals your favorite resort. The first second-level bedroom suite looks to the sea and the other enjoys mountain views.

At 6,300-plus square feet of living space, the home also features a laundry room, butler’s pantry, air conditioning, and a coveted, ground floor primary suite. With nearly seven acres and a shared well, the grounds are ripe for an orchard, all within minutes of the Upper Village and in the Cold Spring School District.

•MJ

“I’m not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells.” – Richard Pryor

15 – 22 October 2020

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805.565.4014 | Home@MKGroupMontecito.com Lic. # 01426886 © 2020 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC. BHHS and the BHHS symbol are registered service marks of Columbia Insurance Company, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. BHH Affiliates LLC and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that information.

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

19

Center Stage

by Steven Libowitz

First Steps in Race to Justice

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wo MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellows, a Pulitzer Prize winner, an innovative winner of a Grammy for traditional folk music, and a world-famous nun who was the inspiration for an Academy Awardwinning movie are all coming to town as part of an ambitious new series from UCSB Arts & Lectures called Race to Justice that launches this week. The season-long in-depth look at systemic racism from a variety of perspectives represents an effort to provide a forum for activists, creative artists, and social thinkers to inform the community’s understanding of racism and how race impacts society, and to inspire an expansive approach to advancing racial equality.

The series of events, which was created with participation from multiple UCSB departments and community partners, consists of digital streaming broadcasts through January with live events slated for February to May, and will be augmented by extensive outreach activities on campus and free adult learning activities for the

In Race to Justice, Sharon Tettegah, director of the Center for Black Studies Research at UCSB, helped put together one of the largest coalitions of organizations in campus history

community to further explore race in society and promote change as part of Arts & Lectures’ Thematic Learning Initiative.

The series gets underway at 5 pm on Monday, October 19, when Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist and the National Book Award-winning Stamped From the Beginning: A Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, will talk and engage in a discussion moderated by UCSB professor Dr. Jeffrey

C. Stewart, the 2019 Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The New Negro.

Also already announced are events with attorney and activist Brittany K. Barnett, author of the memoir A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom; a Sunday Brunch Concert with Grammy Award-winning musician-historian-writer-podcaster Rhiannon Giddens; a screening of the film John Lewis: Good Trouble that chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker Dawn Porter; Sister Helen Prejean, who ignited a national debate on capital punishment with her bestselling book Dead Man Walking that spawned the iconic movie, play, and opera; MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prizewinner Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of “The New York Times Magazine’s The 1619 Project” about the history and lasting legacy of American slavery; Ta-Nehisi Coates, another MacArthur Fellow whose breadth spans authorship of the National Book Award-winning Between the World and Me and the Marvel comics The Black Panther and Captain America; and Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, whose new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows

how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

The series represents one of the largest coalitions of organizations coming together in campus history, as Race to Justice was created and curated in association with the Department of Black Studies; Center for Black Studies Research; Division of Social Sciences; Division of Humanities and Fine Arts; Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences; Division of Student Affairs; Gevirtz Graduate School of Education; Graduate Division; College of Creative Studies; College of Engineering; MultiCultural Center; The Carsey-Wolf Center; UCSB Reads; Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor.

We spoke with Sharon Tettegah, the director of the Center for Black Studies Research, for perspective on the series from the academic, campus, and larger community perspective.

Excerpts of the conversation follow.

Q. This series was created in the wake of the George Floyd killing and the anti-racial protests. You are on the committee that put it together. How do you feel about the timing?

A. Sometimes that’s what it takes,

Center Stage Page 224 224

VOTE NO BOND L2020 Cold Spring School District

No Community Input No Master Plan or Needs Assessment No Project Plans or Guarantee www.OurStudentsDeserveBetter.com Paid for by Taxpayers for Responsible School Spending PO Box 40428, Santa Barbara, Ca 93140

20 MONTECITO JOURNAL

15 – 22 October 2020

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Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. CalDRE 00968247. *Rankings courtesy of realtrends.com.

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

21

Center Stage (Continued from page 20 20)) as with any type of social movement, it literally takes a village. As Dr. King said, we know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given, it really must be demanded.

And the reality is that we always have been told to wait, wait, wait. But let’s be realistic about it: you just can’t wait (because) there’s never a right time.

Universities are known to not necessarily embrace diversity in the way it should be embraced. And I can honestly say that we have – yes, I’ll use the word – a white supremacist perspective. Everybody is expected to assimilate. Blackness is not a priority at any higher education institution and never has been. So while we have things like the Multicultural Center, and programs that invite people of color to participate, there hasn’t been anything like this that was attributed to a specific theme focusing on Blackness.

(After George Floyd), when we didn’t know if anything would be done, myself and two other colleagues, Dr. Victor Rios and Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, wrote a letter to the university chancellor talking about Black Lives Matters even at the institution. We had an anti-racist town hall meeting back in June sponsored by the Center for Black Studies to talk about these issues. (The series) is bringing more events, and we really appreciate that when we asked (UCSB A&L director) Celesta Billeci that question, “Why now?” she didn’t hesitate and just said, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

Arts & Lectures brings programs to the community at large and has a broader reach than anything on campus. The series is very timely and important and it’s going to provide recognition and much needed conversations. And by having Ingrid and I involved (on the committee), it helps to deliver the message that we’re here and we’ve always been here.

It seems obvious with speakers and authors, but how does having singers and entertainers perform address those issues of racial justice?

Because it’s really about connection.

That’s what human nature is about, that’s the social aspect of it – bringing us together, bringing other people together, bringing the community together to create connection. Santa Barbara doesn’t have a large Black population, but that’s the point. That’s why you need to bring that diversity to the community so people can hear their voices, and see the diversity of representation, even across Black communities. Black is not homogenous; it’s a lot of different people from a lot of different places with different mindsets and different social classes.

The series offers multiple perspectives. The university’s role (from an

22 MONTECITO JOURNAL

educational point of view) is huge because it sets the precedent for every mindset that goes out into the community as well as the workforce.

Can you expand on those concepts of connection, particularly in light of your own recent research that examines affective, behavioral, and cognitive facets of empathy and empathic dispositions toward improving equity in leadership, teaching, and learning?

I really like Simon Baron-Cohen’s perspective that if we can learn empathy, put ourselves in someone else’s place and understand oppression from that perspective, if we can suspend our judgments in ways that are hard because human beings have schemas that are locked in solid, if we could be more empathic and be able to listen and hear what people are saying, then you can have compassion. To bring it back to the Race to Justice series, it’s a type of expression of empathy in some ways, a response to George Floyd and all those things that have happened.

So is there then a sense of achievement or gratification that UCSB is sponsoring this series?

I see it as a step. You’ve got to start somewhere. Some generations ago you wouldn’t have had anything like this at all because Black people had to come through the back door. The Race to Justice series is a way of coming in through the front door, a way of acknowledging that everyone has a right to be here and everyone’s voice needs to be heard. It’s a way of giving the university a type of a facelift.

Ideally more will come. But you never know. Because people could be reactive and stop the momentum. But it has to keep coming. So we’ll see what people are going to do to make a difference. As Dr. King said, you can’t legislate people’s minds. So let’s see what we do as a university community, in the city and county and state and a nation.

This is a step.

(Single tickets for Race to Justice virtual events are $10 and are available at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or by calling 805-893-3535.)

Connecting the Community

In an effort to connect the community and keep the conversation going, James Joyce III, founder of Coffee with a Black Guy, has scheduled one of his signature events over Zoom for 7 pm to 8 pm Thursday evening, October 22, three days after Dr. Kendi’s event.

“It’s great that Arts & Lectures has stepped up with this series,” explained Joyce, whose initial in-person events in 2019 drew upward of 100 participants well before the George Floyd killing and subsequent protests. “I

James Joyce III, founder of Coffee with a Black Guy, keeps the conversation going on October 22

wanted to provide an opportunity for more engagement for people who might have some questions or want to talk through things they heard that are new or were reiterated. They’ll have a few days to chew on the conversation between Dr. Kendi and Dr. Stewart and then talk about it.”

Joyce said he welcomes all to participate, no matter their perspective or response to the event.

“It doesn’t matter whether they agree or disagree as long as they have some reason and validation,” Joyce said. “That’s the conversation I want to have, to give folks the opportunity to engage and learn.”

For more info visit cwabg.com.

Westmont Event…

Westmont College English professor Kya Mangrum moderates an interdisciplinary panel in discussing the topic “What is Race and Racism?” at the Montecito-based Christian college featuring faculty members Yi-Fan Lu (biology), Tom Knecht (political science), and Meredith Whitnah (sociology) at 7 pm on Thursday, October 15. The Ethnic Studies department lecture, the first in a series of events supported by the English and modern languages departments, will explore the keywords “race” and “racism”

“There’s nothing worse than being an aging young person.” – Richard Pryor

from a Christian perspective and in light of the developments of the past several months.

The panelists’ nexus to the topic is varied, as Whitnah studies the role of religion in both perpetuating and mitigating different forms of social injustice, Mangrum is completing a manuscript that examines how photography transformed U.S. slave narratives, Knecht researches the politics of sports and Lu uses multi-electrode arrays to model human neurological disorders in the laboratory.

“As a community that places Christ first, we hope to facilitate a conversation that helps us to see each other the way that God sees each of us,” Dinora Cardoso, Westmont professor of Spanish and ethnic studies faculty member, said in a press release. “We aim to establish a foundational understanding of race and racism in the U.S. that will allow each participant to feel empowered to ask honest questions.

Even as we hear different disciplinary perspectives and recognize different points of view, we hope participants leave the panel with a shared set of concepts that can further our understanding and engagement in the work of racial healing and justice.”

Register at https://bit.ly/33IGuQE to receive an email with the link to the Zoom event.

•MJ 15 – 22 October 2020

Now open in the La Cumbre Plaza.

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

23

Our Unhoused Neighbors

by Eileen White Read A Master Gardener and avid environmentalist, Eileen White Read has lived at the beach in Montecito for a decade following careers as a Wall Street Journal reporter and nonprofit organization CEO

Joining Hands Across Montecito

Project Aims to Nudge Montecito’s Homeless Into Housing, Services

I

n the middle of another heat wave, it’s 95 degrees near the beach in Montecito and everybody has moved indoors. Everybody except our small group trailing behind Luis Alvarado, a determined homeless outreach specialist with the Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness Department who has come to Montecito to make contact with as many homeless people as he can find today. Climbing down into a deep gully between the 101 Freeway and the railroad tracks, we meet a couple that look hot, stressed, and malnourished. They are reluctant to come out of their makeshift bivouac. The freeway noise overhead is deafening, but Alvarado gently convinces them to fill out forms applying for housing. He hands out water, snacks, and garbage bags. Then, in the gracious manner one might adopt when leaving a dinner party, he thanks them and promis-

es to return.

The numbers might be a shocker, but according to the Montecito Association, our lovely chocolate-box village has 50 people living in deplorable circumstances along creek banks, adjacent to railroad tracks, and in ravines near freeways. This most affluent and luxurious slice of The American Riviera hides a homeless population that the Association says has grown larger since the 2017 Thomas Fire and subsequent mudslide.

Over the past few weeks, several villagers, including me, have accompanied professionals to visit our unhoused neighbors. To find them, we have crept into seldom seen spots, tiptoed around hundreds of pieces of drug paraphernalia, and photographed dozens of strewn parts of bicycles and other “found objects.”

We are supporting Montecito’s newest

Matthew Pifer, MD

Meeting to plan community visits to people experiencing homelessness are (sitting) Fire Chief Kevin Taylor, Lt. Butch Arnoldi, Dana Newquist; (standing) Montecito Association Executive Director Sharon Byrne, Megan Orloff, Andrea Eltinge, Eileen White Read, and Kathy Washburn

eleemosynary effort: Hands Across Montecito, a.k.a. the HAM project, a homeless outreach initiative created

by Montecito Association Executive Director Sharon Byrne and championed by Board President Megan Orloff. The ambitious one-year pilot project aims to persuade Montecito’s population of folks living outdoors to move into shelters, motels, or supportive housing programs in Santa Barbara, and to accept mental health, drug, and other services as needed.

Under Byrne’s supervision, the

HAM Project has hired Long Beachbased City Net to handle outreach, coordinating with County employees and officials. This not-for-profit agency, founded in 2005, has several years’ experience working in Santa Barbara County and also has projects going in Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside County, says its president, Brad Fieldhouse. According to Fieldhouse, City Net has assisted more than 4,000 homeless individuals

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

25

Montecito on the Move (Continued from page 6)

On The Record (Continued from page 14 14))

of 2019: they can’t get homeowners’ insurance. Many of our long-term neighbors are not getting renewed, can’t find coverage, or have to pay five to ten times what they used to pay, even with no claims. This is a statewide problem, triggered by the giant wildfires California has experienced. We worked with our Assembly Rep and California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. He tried to raise the California Fair Plan (the plan of last resort for many homeowners) limit to $5 million. He was swiftly met with a giant lawsuit from insurers unwilling to issue those policies. He and Limón proposed legislation that was killed by the insurance industry lobby in committee.

In Montecito, we’ve swiftly moved to climate defensiveness. What can we do to make ourselves more resilient and less prone to disaster? Montecito is the place where the impossible can happen. The Partnership for Resilient Communities installed ringnets in our canyons. County Flood Control dredged the creeks to allow more flow and it is expanding our small debris basins at Cold Spring, San Ysidro, and Buena Vista. It is also building a giant debris basin at Randall Road, with the support of the Partnership for Community Renewal SB. The Montecito Fire Department brought in sheep to eat brush off Mountain Drive, it regularly clears brush and chips it, and the department helps you figure out defensible space around your home. The Montecito Water District secured a drought-proof water supply for the future, and is managing groundwater sustainability. Maybe Montecito Sanitary will finally recycle our wastewater.

A whole lot of people are working really hard to defend this community from the ravages of climate. But if we can’t get insurance, that’s a big problem.

We’re also frustrated with the California Public Utilities Commissions mandates on Edison: they’re ‘hardening’ and fireproofing poles all over Montecito, and replacing poles that are on the verge of failing. That was not enough to stand up under high winds this April, as a tree fell on East Valley Road at Picacho Lane started an electrical fire.

In high winds, Edison enacts Public Safety Power Shutoffs to prevent fire, rendering power supply unreliable. What if we took the hazards of overhead lines out of the equation? What if our legislature forced utilities to help pay for undergrounding, instead of putting it on the backs of neighbors? What if the Public Utilities Commission directed Edison, when about to spend $50,000 to replace a pole, if the neighborhood wants to underground, then direct that money to undergrounding?

Would undergrounding make a difference with insurance companies? In this era of giga-fires, Thomas has been knocked to the seventh largest wildfire in California history by five fires that just happened. Are insurance companies headquartered in New York and Connecticut going to continue doing business in California? Insurance Commissioner Lara is having a virtual statewide insurance forum on October 19 – we’ll be there. See insurance.ca.gov for more info.

These are the mega-million-dollar questions, and we’re going to bravely attempt to find out. We’re forming a committee to study undergrounding, and the mechanisms that could be used to pay for it. Stay tuned to these pages for more info, and get involved! Join the Montecito Association, and be part of solutions like these for our community. We would be honored to have your membership.

•MJ

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The patio, partially shaded by a National Champion-size Dragon Tree (photo by Neue Focus)

Claridge’s for a short time when he served Reagan his tea, but the experience made him determined to head west. First, however, he returned to Germany for a few years before being recruited to work at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, which won him a work visa.

“In terms of warming up to the idea of coming to America, I would say it was Ronald Reagan who inspired me,” Pohlmeyer says. “The German mentality is you do you what do and you do it all your life. But I couldn’t stay there. My dream was always to do something bigger with myself. I had to break out of my shell.”

say I’m an estate manager but also a life manager, because you basically make their life better and take care of everything.”

Unlike certain celebrity clients in, say, Beverly Hills, who on impulse might expect staff to perform last minute miracles of entertainment, adventure, or other diversion, Caufield, a 1962 West Point graduate and prominent businessman, preferred a more predictable pace. “It was all very structured,” Pohlmeyer says. “He would give you a project, say, plan a trip to Italy or a safari in Africa, and it would all be planned out in advance.”

Finding “Mister” Caufield

Fireworks in Positano

From 1993 to 1998, Pohlmeyer lived in Beverly Hills where he served as director of the Peninsula Hotel’s famed Belvedere restaurant. He spent the next six years in Los Angeles managing an estate for a real estate developer. Then, in 2004, he received a telephone call from an agency in town asking if he was interested in interviewing for a job managing an estate in Montecito. After meeting Frank Caufield, Pohlmeyer didn’t hesitate to accept the offer.

“Mister had a few people working for him before me, but it’s such an intimate job that it doesn’t always work out,” Pohlmeyer says. (Pohlmeyer always refers to Caufield as either “Mr. Caufield,” or simply as “Mister,” and likewise to Caufield’s various relatives, friends, and houseguests, whom he never mentions by name, always only as “Mister’s” family, friends, or guests.)

Despite the formality, Pohlmeyer describes his relationship with Caufield as quite intimate by design.

“You have to work so closely with somebody in their own home, so you have to like that person and know what to do to make that person’s life better,” he says. “That’s why I often

“I had to stop drinking, ‘cause I got tired of waking up in my car driving ninety.” – Richard Pryor

In fact, one of Pohlmeyer’s fondest memories comes from a trip to a villa in Positano, Italy, where as a post-dusk surprise timed with the ringing of church bells below, Pohlmeyer arranged for an after-dinner fireworks display for Caufield and his guests. “Planning those fireworks that night with him and all his friends present was the most magical thing ever,” he recalls. “Looking back at it, I arranged everything from the airplane flights, to being picked up at the airport to dealing with these bizarre Italians. It was just an incredible period of time and he loved every minute of it.”

Caufield would typically fly to Santa Barbara from his home in San Francisco on weekends. Dinners with friends or cocktail parties, typically based around which of his friends or important guests from Caufield’s world of politics or business happened to be in town, were usually prepared a week ahead of time. “Mr. Caufield was very humble although some people would call it extravagant,” Pohlmeyer explains. “His guests just happened to be extremely wealthy or interesting people, but always fun to be around.”

On The Record Page 444 444 15 – 22 October 2020

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Montecito - Coast Village Road Brokerage 1165 Coast Village Road, Suite A | Montecito, CA | sothebysrealty.com © Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. All rights reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark. This material is based upon information which we consider reliable but because it has been supplied by third parties, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete and it should not be relied upon as such. This offering is subject to errors, omissions, changes including price or withdrawal without notice. If your property is listed with a real estate broker, please disregard. It is not our intention to solicit the offerings of other real estate brokers. We are happy to work with them and cooperate fully. Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. Real estate agents affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. are independent contractor sales associates and are not employees of Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. Equal Housing Opportunity. Maureen McDermut DRE: 1175027

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

27

Perspectives

by Rinaldo S. Brutoco

Rinaldo S. Brutoco is the Founding President and CEO of the Santa Barbara-based World Business Academy and a co-founder of JUST Capital.

He’s a serial entrepreneur, executive, author, radio host, and futurist who’s published on the role of business in relation to pressing moral, environmental, and social concerns for over 35 years

Fireproofing California

A

Ocean Innovations

Humpback whales in Alaska are enjoying the cruise ship-free waters

s of today, 2 times more acres burned in California this year than last.

That isn’t an evolutionary deterioration of our public lands – it is a catastrophic, geometric increase in forest destruction that will continue to get worse on an accelerating curve indefinitely into the future. We have three choices on how to react to this unavoidably destructive new, and permanent, reality.

Our choices are: 1) do nothing different, continue to build and rebuild in forest adjacent areas with the attendant annual loss of property in the billions and a growing list of human casualties, which on its face is a disastrous “solution” that is 100 percent unsustainable; 2) abandon all areas adjacent to fire prone areas, which in California is totally impractical given the ever-increasing pressure for more affordable housing that has consistently pushed development of “suburbs” and vacation homes into the beautiful but incredibly dangerous habitats – we’re not going to abandon our greenbelts; and 3) pass new building codes that would require any home built in a fire prone or adjacent area to be able to withstand a forest fire passing through for at least 24 hours to remain totally intact and protect inhabitants from the fire raging around them. Do you think option three is tough to do? Think again.

We actually know how to build such houses and we better start requiring that they be built that way. And yes, we should require commercial buildings to be similarly fire safe – not just fire resistant!

Let’s start by looking at the folly of the building codes we require for fire prone areas. They are insane! Really, we intend to (and currently are planning to) rebuild Paradise, California with wooden framed timber and plaster when we know climate change will re-ignite the forest there within 20 years or less.

Isn’t that insane? Isn’t that like “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”?

We know how homes and businesses catch fire. Either an ember lodges on a wooden siding or under an eave, or the heat of the fire literally blows out the windows causing the interior to catch fire. We’ve long known in California that sealing all eaves is critical for fire safety. We also have learned that a simple, heavy, wooden shutter swung over windows and latched in place leaves the windows safe from fire even if it burns overhead. So, how about all the wood that house is built with? The only way to make a fire safe house is to ban all combustible materials in the construction of the structure. Sound difficult?

It is as simple as embracing non-wood building technologies, some of which are more than 1,000 years old when they were used to build the Great Wall of China, and subsequently to build the Alhambra (Spain’s most beautiful Moorish palace dating from the 13th century). The word “Alhambra” means “red dirt” which is what the Alhambra’s original structure was built from.

Literally, rammed earth construction is building major edifices from dirt!

It is practical and totally economic to build rammed earth structures that will last as long as the Great Wall of China, be as beautiful as the Alhambra, and be able to be sealed so that a direct forest fire raging overhead will not kill the inhabitants or destroy their possessions. This is particularly important when we realize how many people are “trapped” either in their homes, swimming pools, or cars attempting to escape forest fires on roads that become engulfed in flames faster than residents can react. You see, living in a rammed earth house is like living in a designer cave with great lighting, beautiful windows, and all the modern amenities. When the fire comes along one merely throws the shutters tight, goes inside, and opens a good bottle of wine while awaiting the fire to pass overhead! Of course, all such buildings would have sealed eaves and most likely ceramic tiles sitting on a cement base (the standard roofing material here in Santa Barbara) which is also 100 percent fireproof! Yes, it really is that simple. In fact, rammed earth construction is only one method that can create structures that are 100 percent fireproof, not just fire resistant.

There are other promising modern construction techniques which could also yield fireproof structures such as 3D printing housing out of a cement slurry. The World Business Academy has been researching this and several other alternative, fire safe building techniques for more than a decade and knows of a third method that shows great promise for the future. But why wait for the future, why not require structures be built with at least the

28 MONTECITO JOURNAL

A

laska is usually overwhelmed with cruise ships and tourists in the summertime, but not this year. Tourism has come to a grinding halt due to the pandemic, and the state’s humpback whales seem to be enjoying the calm waters.

Dr. Michelle Fournet, director of the Sound Science Research Collective, has been listening in on whale conversations for ten years.

This year, however, has been completely different without human interference.

“The last time researchers were able to listen to humpbacks in a quiet ocean in Alaska was in 1976,” when commercial whale watching began, said Fournet, and their population was much lower as humpback whaling was banned only a decade earlier. The sound quality was also much worse as recording technology has improved dramatically. That means for scientists, there has never been a better time to record the song of whales.

Usually, whales in Juneau’s Auke Bay are surrounded by whale watching boats, causing the whales to call out louder but also less frequently.

“When an animal calls less, the likelihood of it finding a comrade goes down significantly,” said Fournet. “So, we alter their social structure.”

But this year, “we’re going to see how these humpback whales are interacting with their environment instead of how they’re interacting with us.”

Shark barrier protects swimmers from attacks in an animal-friendly way

Shark nets are often used to protect swimmers and surfers from shark attacks, but often they not only fail to do their job but also pose a deadly threat to marine life. In a bid to come up with a safer and more effective alternative, a team of scientists in South Africa has developed an eco-friendly shark barrier system based on magnets.

Called SharkSafe Barrier, the novel invention consists of magnets – known for their ability to repel shark species – installed in pipes made of recyclable plastic. The system’s design mimics natural kelp forests, which many animals like seals use to hide from their predators.

“These magnets don’t need a power source – they are like fridge magnets, but on steroids,” explains marine biologist Dr. Sara Andreotti. “We have one per meter to create a magnetic field. It is shark-specific. It has no effect on other animals – in fact, it creates an artificial reef that increases the local biomass.”

After successfully trialing the system, the team now hopes to get support from the South African government to scale the SharkSafe Barrier solution to many more beach areas around the world that are prone to shark attacks. •MJ fireproofing provided by a thousand plus year old technology like rammed earth? All it needs is a building code that requires, as mentioned at the outset, that any structure be able to withstand 24 hours of a direct firestorm and home builders will quickly realize that such a strict requirement can be met today with ancient building technologies.

What else do we have to do if we want our citizens to be able to enjoy the woods we so dearly love without putting themselves, all of their possessions, and their loved ones at risk? Well, let’s start with the insanity of above ground electrical lines. Not only are they dangerous, they are stupid. We know our forests will burn. Let’s require undergrounding of all utilities in such areas. It shouldn’t be optional. We also have to ban all high power transmission lines in any remote area as we know they cause forest fires.

The statistics are overwhelming. We have all the evidence we need that Edison and PG&E cause at least 60 percent of our forest fires with their above ground high transmission lines. They have to go. Period. We have to stop paying the monopoly utility companies to build and re-build those archaic transmission lines, and then have insurance claims to private property owners on top of it that we rate payers reimburse year after year after year. Enough!

•MJ

“All humor is rooted in pain.” – Richard Pryor

15 – 22 October 2020

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MONTECITO & SANTA BARBARA BROKERAGES | SOTHEBYSREALTY.COM © Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. All rights reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark. This material is based upon information which we consider reliable but because it has been supplied by third parties, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete and it should not be relied upon as such.

This offering is subject to errors, omissions, changes including price or withdrawal without notice. If your property is listed with a real estate broker, please disregard. It is not our intention to solicit the offerings of other real estate brokers. We are happy to work with them and cooperate fully. Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. Real estate agents affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. are independent contractor sales associates and are not employees of Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. Equal Housing Opportunity. DRE License Numbers for All Featured Agents: Dusty Baker: 1908615 | Maureen McDermut: 1175027 | Delicia Lumpkins: 02030037 | Gregory Tice: 462018 | Elias Benson: 2019815 | Joe McCorkell: 2051326 | Jason Siemens: 1886104 | Wes St. Clair: 1173714 | Tyler Mearce: 1969409 | Renee Marvin: 2056190 | Marie Larkin: 523795

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

29

Letters (Continued from page 11) hopeful campus food forest. The list of student projects is dynamic, and it fluctuates in response to the interests and passions of each cohort. While that means there is little resting on the work of old projects, it also means student voice and autonomy is a driving force behind the work we do. All paths point back to the kids.

I recognize that in so many ways, we are at the beginning of this journey. There are few elementary STEAM models that are as student-centered, and this is made possible by the support of the community around us.

Our Westmont Science Mentor program brings university students into the classroom, providing individualized assistance to students, as well as aiding in project fabrication for our 178 (and growing) students. High school alumni volunteer weekly to maintain robots, work in the garden, and prototype projects. As a school we have been resourceful in making our STEAM program successful. A converted classroom is our lab space.

Community grants through Village Properties and QAD are largely responsible for our technology tools.

We have successfully made it through our proof-of-concept phase, and are on the cusp of joining the ranks of countless other public and private schools in developing a shared Art and STEAM lab that will continue to help our students grow and thrive.

Preparing students for the future is ingrained in the culture of Cold Spring. We have taken pride in how well we position our graduates to take on the world beyond elementary school. As our community considers this bond, I would offer that investing in our kids is the greatest gift we can give them – and it is an investment that will come back to us. One of the questions we ask in STEAM is, “How does my solution make the world a better place for others?” When considering the impact of this bond on the community, let us not forget that our students are also members of the community. On their behalf, we have an opportunity to cast a wider net, open more doors to learning, spark more joy, fuel more passion, and ultimately make this world a better place. Should we vote in favor of L2020? Yes. Respectfully, Dr. Jean Gradias Cold Spring School STEAM teacher

Vote Yes on L2020

We are writing to share with the community why we have decided to VOTE YES on L2020, a proposed $7.8 million school bond measure.

The Cold Spring School community is resilient, our children are resilient, however, the school edifice is dilapidated. We have been residents and homeowners of the Cold Spring School District for about six years. Our young children attend Cold Spring School. We are active in the school as we are energized by its culture.

The oldest standing buildings on the Cold Spring School campus were built in 1927, over 90 years ago. Expansions to the school occurred in 1954, 1958, and most recently in the late 1990s.

That is to say, 7 out of 11 current classrooms were built more than 50 years ago and have outdated infrastructure.

In the last 30 years, there have been no major renovations or improvements.

The two remaining portable buildings have exceeded their useful life, have deteriorated, and need replacement. Measure L2020 would allow the Cold Spring School District to replace the remaining portable buildings with new permanent classrooms to house the specialist programs and incorporate flexible, collaborative learning spaces for Cold Spring students.

Today, the Cold Spring School has no capacity to add classes or reduce class size.

We have complete confidence in the competency and transparency in this project. As per Proposition 39 guidelines, a Bond Oversight Committee will be formed. The Committee shall not be made up of any employee or official of the school district nor any vendor, contractor or consultant of the school district. The purpose of the Committee is to inform the public concerning the expenditure of the bond proceeds. Finally, no funds may be expended for any teacher or administrative salaries or other school operating expenditures. We found this website to be informative: https:// measurel2020.com/ The teachers and staff of Cold Spring School have time and time again shown a commitment to excellence.

Perhaps we can show our commitment to our public school by voting Yes on Measure L2020. Undoubtedly, updating and upgrading our public

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30 MONTECITO JOURNAL

school will have a lasting impact for current and future students.

Holly and Justin Kane, M.D. Montecito

One Can Lead a Horse (or Wolf ) to Water...

Responding to W.S. Wolf’s letter which referenced mine: I am prompted to ask him, Which rock have you been living under? You want to deny there are facts (whether or not I cited them) demonstrating Donny J. Trump’s misogyny and racism?

What would you accept as facts: are his hundreds of words and actions against people of color not proof of his racism?

How about the way he treats women, using their bodies, paying them to remain silent, calling so many of them insulting names (just two days ago: calling Kamala Harris, a Black, highly educated, informed member of Congress a “monster“?)

If I cared what you thought, Mr. Wolf, I’d ask you to demonstrate how my assertions are not true. But you are not engaging in a logical debate.

You seem to think that by repeatedly calling me “angry,” that it nullifies Trump’s behavior. Trump is exactly what I said he is, and whether I am sweet or rude or angry or not, Trump is still, disgustingly for the President of this country, a failed human being.

And what this country needs and wants before anything else: we want a compassionate, intelligent, caring leader.

Trump acts more like a used car dealer – and not a good one at that!

If you didn’t like my extensive list of references from Trump’s intimate friends, lawyers, and journalists confirming my assessment of trump, you have only to read this issue of MJ (October 8-15): 1. The Editor’s Letter: “Beyond Trump’s chaotic response to this pandemic, our beloved and beleaguered nation is dealing with pronounced and painful racial and ethnic divisions.” She goes on to say, she hopes this president would have strong moral principles such as honesty and decency. Read what you like into that.

Given this Editor’s place of abode and her position within MJ, I applaud her diplomacy and careful wording.

But, maybe she’s angry too, because she thinks this chaos is the President’s responsibility. Just her opinion, right?

2. According to a Washington Post poll (January 2020), 83 percent of African Americans think Trump is a racist. Oh well, we can ignore them; they are definitely angry – all 83 percent of them.

3. Denying Muslims’ entry into U.S., calling Mexicans “rapists,” appointing 50 judges to U.S. courts, and NOT ONE is Black...! He did all that. But

“I don’t see myself getting married again, but if I do, it will be forever.” – Richard Pryor

maybe that’s because all the other judges were angry, and needed replacing with white sweet judges.

4. Apart from the poor wheeler-dealer in the W.H., and according to Allison Towbes’s letter to MJ, “systemic racism and inequalities “are alive and well in our backyard.”

Well, we all knew that, but it is refreshing to see it said out loud, so to speak. Kudos to Ms. Towbes.

Unless you are blind, deaf, or dumb and/do not live in this world, there is too much evidence I could cite here to confirm again the facts I’ve named. It doesn’t matter to me if you want to say calling Trump a racist and misogynist is an “opinion”: mine, and millions of other Americans, good enough for me, particularly given. The history, knowledge and authenticity of the opinion-speakers.

After all, not everyone thinks the world is not flat so, maybe it is flat.

Just because you don’t want to attach those characteristics to Trump, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have and flaunt them.

Besides, you have agreed, you “do not approve of sexual misbehavior towards women.”

Well, Sir, persistent “sexual misbehavior” (cute phrase) equals misogyny! Or do you think a rapist is making love to his victim?

I really don’t want to waste anymore of my time on this issue. As I said, you have shown you are not qualified to debate. Your letter is confusing, makes no sense; additionally, you do prevaricate by only quoting part of one of my sentences. I don’t consider that fair game.

So, feel free to have the last say, to continue killing the messenger.

I doubt I will refer to your words again. (Incidentally, I am white, not angry, not afraid of burning in hell.)

And I’ve done what words can do: I’ve led you to water.

Nancy Freeman

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Letters Page 404 15 – 22 October 2020

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

31

Your Westmont

by Scott Craig (photography by Brad Elliott) Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

College Bucks National Virus Trends

Coby Harmon teaches financial accounting on Hubbard Lawn

Andrea Gurney teaches psychology to socially distant and masked up students

V

ery few Westmont students have tested positive for the coronavirus since returning to campus in mid-September, and faculty and staff are finding innovative ways for students to thrive while staying safe.

More than 90 percent of students chose to return to campus rather than learning remotely in their homes. All students were tested for the virus within an hour of arriving on campus.

“The response to in-person learning and living in community demonstrates how much students crave being together,” said Irene Neller, vice president for enrollment. “Even with our strict safety guidelines, they’ve chosen to live in residence halls and study under tents.”

In about a week’s time, Westmont

tested more than 1,400 students, faculty and staff with only five positive results. “This is great,” says Jason Tavarez, Westmont director of institutional resilience. “Our positivity rate is less than half a percent, which is well below any of the thresholds we set. We’re one of the few schools in California able to offer outdoor classes in person because students followed the rules and protocols. I’m impressed that everyone approached this endeavor with such seriousness.”

The college’s isolation, quarantine, and contact-tracing efforts have been incredibly successful with only one infected student still isolated and none in quarantine as of October 9.

The daily updates are posted at west mont.edu/covid-19.

Michael Shasberger dons a microphone and face shield while conducting

Students in isolation move to private rooms with their own toilet, shower, and refrigerator and get their meals delivered. They stay in the room until they clear the appropriate protocols under the direction of Dr. David Hernandez in the Westmont Student Health Center. During the rest of the fall semester, about a third of the students will be randomly retested.

“During our contact-tracing efforts, we’ve had incredible responses from students,” Tavarez says. “Contact tracing is the key way to stop the spread of virus on campus, and students have responded promptly to our calls and emails, letting us know who other potential contacts might be.”

As Santa Barbara County’s COVID19 tier assignment improves, Westmont

anticipates moving to indoor instruction in person by mid-October, using only 25 percent of the capacity of each classroom. “This is great news because it means we can provide indoor classroom experiences and include more people in art studios and science labs, which allows greater access to experiments,” Tavarez says.

The college installed large outdoor tents to provide space for socially distant classes and shady eating areas.

The outdoor tents will be utilized through the fall semester as many have enjoyed learning amidst nature’s beauty and fresh fall breezes. “We’re so fortunate to be able to take advantage of being in Montecito,” Neller says. “Many of my colleagues from around the country are shifting back to remote learning to complete the fall semester as the weather becomes too cold or unpredictable.”

Students who had been quarantined helped student life staff create hospitality teams to provide art supplies, assistance with outdoor movie parties, materials from counseling and psychological services on emotional well-being, and coffee from Ritchie’s Place on lower campus.

“I’ve seen my professors exhibit creativity in the ways they’re using

The Westmont orchestra practices safe social distancing as they rehearse for their virtual concert season. Listen to Westmont musicians at westmont.edu/music

With students safely back on campus, Westmont offers a range of virtual events, including concerts, lectures and theater.

WESTMONT.EDU/FALL-2020-CALENDAR-EVENTS

About half of the orchestra can safely practice together under the giant tent

32 MONTECITO JOURNAL

“I just don’t want to die alone, that’s all. That’s not too much to ask for, is it?” – Richard Pryor

15 – 22 October 2020

FEELING PRESSURED TO JOIN A RETIREMENT COMMUNITY? LIVE WHERE YOU LOVE! A successful social media campaign helped communicate the importance of keeping Westmont safe with #protectthemont

breakout rooms in Zoom and allowing classes to meet in person outdoors while having a Zoom option for students quarantining or still living at home,” says Chloe Howard, junior anthropology major. “This is a super strange and hard time we’re living in as a nation right now, but I couldn’t be more proud to be a Warrior. I know we’re lucky we were able to return to campus and live with our Westmont community again.”

Armed with the latest studies and experiments on aerosol dispersion for musicians and singers, Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship, has crafted innovative plans to allow the choir and orchestra to safely perform during the pandemic. No more than 12 singers perform at a time, and they stand in a straight line, 14 feet apart. They wear masks and sing outside under the tent for no more than 40 minutes at a time.

Shasberger has split up the orchestra, so no more than 26 musicians, wearing customized masks, practice at one time. Wind and brass instru-

ments have been fitted for bell coverings to catch most of the dispersion.

Fortunately, the masks only marginally affect the sound quality.

“We’ll focus on music just for winds, brass, choir arrangements and pieces written for strings,” Shasberger says.

“All will learn the same repertoire, and ensembles of various sizes can perform.”

Rather than present Zoom-style virtual concerts, the Westmont Music Department’s Friday Night Concert Series shifts to recordings of live performances of musicians working together beginning October 16.

Watch the free concert, “Masterpieces: Chamber Music from Sections of the Westmont Orchestra,” at 7 pm at vimeo.com/showcase/westmontmu sic.

“I’m so proud of our students and their willingness to keep their campus and community safe. These extremely low COVID-19 cases demonstrate the high desire to learn and live together and that’s the Westmont way,” says President Gayle Beebe.

•MJ

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

33

In Passing

by Hattie Beresford

A Tribute to Judy Pearce

Judy in the dress she made for Fiesta in the 1950s when she rode with the Santa Barbara Bowl Riders

Judy, Winni Bennett, and Winni’s daughter Maria in front of the adobe house the Bennetts built by hand and over many years in Montecito

J

udy Guitteau Pearce died last month after a long bout with cancer. Her kind heart, enthusiastic and friendly character, and her deep passion and first hand knowledge of the history of Santa Barbara and Montecito will always be appreciated and severely missed. Judy kept the stories of early Montecito alive, those passed down to her by her grandmother and mother and those she experienced herself. She knew intimately the way it was, and I was a lucky recipient of both her memories and her friendship.

For a time Judy had her own column in the Montecito Journal called “Montecito Scrapbook” in which she regaled the community with her stories. Her grandmother had worked as a cook for the Ernest Thayer family and so she wrote “The Man Who Wrote ‘Casey at the Bat.’” An avid equestrian, she wrote numerous reminiscences about riding and horses in

Montecito, such as “Days of Horses and Wide Open Spaces.”

Her grandfather King, whose father worked as a gardener at one of the estates, used to race his burro named Jenny on the racetrack around today’s Bird Refuge. He got her speed up by blowing air into her ear through a hose, and he rode her to Montecito School each day. Her friend Armand Schmitter said he used the hose trick to get his donkey to Cold Spring School on time.

Story after story, Judy had them.

She knew where houses had been moved. She knew who lived in each one. And people talked to her. George Hammond, her best friend’s father, told her that because the Chicago meat packing moguls, Swift, Armour, and Cudahy, all lived near each other above East Valley Road, that area was called “the butcher block.”

Judy’s grandpa used to chauffeur for Pearl Chase, and he said she was the

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Judy (left) and friends in the Fiesta parade during the 1950s

most beautiful girl in the town. Judy’s mother told her that during the war, lawns reaching the coast highway in Montecito were plowed up and potatoes planted. “That was during the first World War,” she’d added.

I first met Judy when I began writing for the Montecito Journal and working with Maria Herold of the Montecito Association History Committee, another keeper of Montecito’s stories. I immediately liked her. How could you not like this bright, friendly woman wearing a cheerful daisy in her hair? We met for coffee occasionally to talk history, and she drove me up and down the lanes of Montecito pointing out places and telling stories.

In 2014, she invited me to join her and five old friends for lunch. They, too, had stories to tell and they wanted me to hear them. (I cannot begin to express how privileged and blessed I felt.)

And so in April 2014, we met up at the home of Florence and Jerry Dunn in Mission Canyon for lunch and conversation with Winni Bennett, who together with her husband built

“No one can ever be married too many times, and maybe if I keep trying I’ll get it right one day.” – Richard Pryor

their own adobe home, and the three Borgatello sisters, whose brothers had formed Marborg. At the time Ida was 96, Laura was 98, and Augusta was 100 years old. It was there that Judy told one of my favorite stories.

“One story my mother told me was about a woman who was a cook in Montecito,” said Judy, “and the family for whom she worked made her stay and cook on Christmas day. Now, Mother always said that when she took a job she told them, ‘I don’t work Christmas. Expect me to work Christmas, don’t even give me the job.’ But this employer demanded that the cook stay and work. And what they’d given her for a Christmas present was a new uniform. So she stuffed the turkey with it! She set the turkey on the table and walked out the back door.”

They’re all gone now, Florence, Winni, Ida, Laura, and Augusta, and with the passing of Judy, the stories are still, the daisy wilted. I am lucky to have had her bright spirit my life.

Requiescant in pace, Judy, I’ll always remember the laughter of daisies. •MJ 15 – 22 October 2020

15 – 22 October 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

35

Dear Montecito

by Stella Pierce

Montecito Alumni Write Letters from Life’s Front

I

’m going to tell you something, and I’ll bet you haven’t heard it before. Back in school, my most stressful subject was art class. Every single year. Even when I liked it, art class was always a source of anxiety for me. I cannot isolate shapes or reproduce still images, and as someone who felt the approval of my teachers like a hit of morning coffee, this was a big disappointment. It is no surprise then that I admire (that is, I’ve felt jealous of) those who were inclined to visual arts. As they say, the grass is always greener – but was it emerald, moss, or chartreuse?

Enter the author of today’s letter, Mia Wilkinson. This was someone who in retrospect exhibited from an elementary school level the characteristics of a thriving artist. I remember

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After leaving for Los Angeles, Mia Wilkinson now recognizes that Montecito is a bubble, but the beaches and hiking trails are way nicer

waiting at the Ojai water park with my friend Jasmin what would have been 11 years ago now. We were waiting for the Wilkinson family – Chris, Lisa, Mia, and younger brother Kai – to come join us in the Lazy River.

So up walks Mia with her gorgeous ginger hair that has been dyed. Dip dyed. In Kool-Aid? Third grade Stella thought that was immensely cool.

Well, we’ve both grown up. I’ve expanded my vocabulary, possessing all new synonyms for the word “cool,” and Mia Wilkinson has evolved into the hip, groovy, chic artist she is today.

Dear Montecito,

I grew up drawing on any surface I could get my hands on, and, luckily for me, it developed into a skill I use in many areas of my life. No surprise, art class was always my favorite part

of elementary school, and once I got to high school, I knew I wanted to make some sort of career out of it. I basically realized I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. So I enrolled in the MAD Academy (Multimedia Arts and Design) at Santa Barbara High School, where my artwork met the computer.

Here, I found a new love for Photoshop and Illustrator. I guess it was a long time coming that my passion for art would “go digital” – I’ve always loved photography, even when I was little and only got to take pictures when my aunt let me borrow her camera.

And that’s how all my interests came together! Photography, illustration, and computer design converged on the same path: graphic design was the right career for me.

Whether I consciously realized it or not, I always knew I was heading for a career in art. Truth be told, since junior high I was ready to move somewhere else, just to see something different.

But it was my senior year of high school that saw me enrolling in extra classes at Middle College. I was finally allowed to take more subjects and have more freedom in what I wanted to study. I spent two years completing my general ed at SBCC before moving on to the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

I have learned so much since moving away for college. One of the most important lessons? Having grown up in one of the most beautiful places has turned me into a beach snob.

Honestly, nothing can top the beaches and hiking here in Santa Barbara.

Don’t get me wrong, Los Angeles beaches are nice, but they don’t really compare at the end of the day. On the other hand moving away has given me perspective. I can now see what a bubble Montecito is.

But there are other, more big-picture things I’ve learned too. I’ve learned

how important it is to take your time, and I think that is the advice I’d want to give anyone leaving for college. You don’t need to know what you want to do right away, and SBCC is very helpful with finding your niche. Taking classes there will help avoid rushing into a major you may end up hating.

So as I said, take your time, talk to counselors, and use all the resources you can to discover what actually fits best for you.

I try to take my own advice and focus on where I want to be and how I want to get there. Within the next five years, I’m hoping to land an internship with a design studio and eventually be able to freelance on the side. Taking my time has let me consider what I want to pursue the most and why I was drawn to arts fields in the first place. I have always wanted to work on album coverings, clothing, and magazines, so I see all those things on the horizon. Looking forward, I also plan to spend some time honing a newer passion: film and video. My brother Kai shares this interest with me, so I hope to eventually partner up with him, utilizing the skills I already have in arts.

To sort of wrap this up, I guess I want to say how important it is to find your passion. It can take some reflecting to decide where you want to end up, even if it’s been staring you in the face your whole life. But taking the time to become well acquainted with what you want will help set your sights for the future. At least it has for me.

Yours, Mia P.S. Parents of Montecito children, if you have recommendations on people to feature in “Dear Montecito” please contact me, stellajanapierce@gmail. com •MJ

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The best little paper in America (Covering the best little community anywhere!)

Executive Editor/CEO Gwyn Lurie • Publisher/COO Timothy Lennon Buckley Editor At Large Kelly Mahan Herrick • News and Feature Editor Nicholas Schou Associate Editor Bob Hazard • Copy Editor Lily Buckley Harbin Arts and Entertainment Editor Steven Libowitz

Contributors Scott Craig, Julia Rodgers, Ashleigh Brilliant, Sigrid Toye, Zach Rosen, Kim Crail Gossip Richard Mineards • History Hattie Beresford • Humor Ernie Witham Our Town Joanne A. Calitri Society Lynda Millner • Travel Jerry Dunn • Sportsman Dr. John Burk • Trail Talk Lynn P. Kirst Account Managers Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Casey Champion Bookkeeping Diane Davidson, Christine Merrick • Proofreading Helen Buckley Design/Production Trent Watanabe Published by Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA 93108.

How to reach us: Editorial: (805) 565-1860; Sue Brooks: ext. 4; Christine Merrick: ext. 3; Classified: ext. 3; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Letters to Editor: Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA 93108; E-MAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net

“If you want a friend, you don’t buy a friend. You earn a friend through love and trust and respect.” — Richard Pryor

15 – 22 October 2020

Brilliant Thoughts

by Ashleigh Brilliant Born London, 1933. Mother Canadian. Father a British civil servant. World War II childhood spent mostly in Toronto and Washington, D.C. Berkeley PhD. in American History, 1964. Living in Santa Barbara since 1973. No children.

Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots”, now a series of 10,000.

Email ashleigh@west.net or visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com

The Beauty of It

I

t took the Greeks to turn beauty into a science. They called it aesthetics – a word and concept we’ve been stuck with ever since.

It’s not enough just to enjoy a starry night, or a fine piece of architecture, or a good-looking girl. We have to ask why. We feel the compulsion to analyze, to dissect, to classify, to explain.

But isn’t that what our minds are for?

After all, we can’t let our emotions run the entire show.

So bear with me as I grope for some sort of consensus on this topic. What can we agree on? I, for one, cannot swallow the contention of Keats that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all …” There is simply too much truth in this world that is not beautiful. And Keats was writing in an era before many of our worst modern horrors had even been thought of.

Keats was inspired by the ornamentation on an urn from ancient Greece he saw in the British Museum. But

it’s natural phenomena which seem most universally to evoke our sense of beauty. In particular, the rising and setting of the sun, with their infinite varieties of color and shape, would probably come close to making everybody’s list of life’s most beautiful phenomena. Besides the sheer visual impact, there is something about the symbolic significance, in which we see and feel so much more than just the beginning or the ending of another day.

As for living things, we all tend to have our favorites, but popularity seems to cluster around flowers, which are, in an evolutionary sense, literally designed to be attractive. But of course, there are such other kinds of beauty as the sound and movement we call music and dance.

And this brings us to the much more touchy subject of human beauty, which modern society has commercialized through “beauty parlors” and

“beauty products” – as if the whole concept were something you could buy. For better or worse, women are more susceptible to this illusion – and who can blame them, any more than we would blame the flowers for seeking to attract the bees?

But an interesting fact about what people find visually appealing in each other is that a key ingredient seems to be the simple regularity of one’s features. In other words, the closer you come to being average in looks, the more likely you are to be considered good-looking. (And this applies not only to the face, but to the whole body.) My wife Dorothy’s most beautiful feature was her smile (a feature which, like the voice, does not diminish with age). But it was spoiled by a dental irregularity called a “snaggle tooth,” which I think had been caused by some childhood mishap. Some years after we were married, this was fixed, and I was so pleased that I wrote to her dentist, thanking him for “giving Dorothy back her smile.”

But the sad truth is that everything changes, and nothing lasts. Most of us in later life must have had the jarring experience of suddenly confronting someone we remember as young and beautiful, and being forced to see what merciless time has done – to say nothing of the daily delight of looking

Seeing Our Way Through, Together

at our own aging self in the mirror.

Nevertheless, every science, craft, and technology has its own aesthetics. Bertrand Russell’s Principia Mathematica arose from his fascination with the beauty of numbers. Insects are as beautiful to entomologists as words are to etymologists.

The infinite world of the macrocosm can have as great a sensory appeal for some as the nano-world of the microcosm has for others. To me, one of the most beautiful facts of life today is that I’ve lived long enough to see people everywhere carrying around with them little boxes which contain all the knowledge of the world.

“Beauty Contests” are no longer as popular in our culture as they once were, no doubt because of the rise of feminism and the slow decline of gender discrimination. But what about other cultures, and all the ethnic factors which, for example, may make fleshiness appealing in one society, while a slender physique may be more attractive in another? And what about scarring and tattooing and all the other deliberate blemishes that supposedly make some people more beautiful in their own anthropological circles?

Putting such questions aside, we can only come back to Keats, and his insistence that “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

•MJ

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On Entertainment

by Steven Libowitz

Steven Libowitz has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years; he has contributed to the Montecito Journal for more than 10 years.

An Online Series with In-Person Performances

T

he Santa Barbara Symphony’s reimagined 2020-2021 performance season launches this weekend first as an online-only series – although the musicians are performing live in person. And while plans have already been put in place to allow audiences up to about 30 percent capacity at its home venue of the Granada Theatre starting in January, the season will remain virtual straight through the spring if the pandemic continues unabated. But either way, the symphony is one of the few performing arts organizations in the country committed to creating an innovative path forward that includes a full season of live concerts even if Santa Barbara Symphony’s reimagined 2020-2021 performance everybody has to watch at season kicks off October 17 with a concert conducted and curated by Nir Kabaretti home.

The ambitious adventure begins at 7 pm on Saturday, October 17, with Broadway star Lisa Vroman singing selections from the Great American Songbook in an intimate style cabaret concert conducted and curated by Nir Kabaretti, music and artistic director. Hosted by actress-singer-filmmaker Leslie Zemeckis, who lives in Montecito, this opening night concert merely serves as the appetizer to a season that includes works by Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Mozart, and Copland amid pieces the orchestra has never presented before, such as African American composer George Walker and Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, as well as genres you wouldn’t have seen pre-pandemic.

Plans for the season include a new livestream format that not only captures the live performances but also features interviews and 360-degree access to the musicians, both onstage and backstage at the Granada Theatre. Full season details, including program, notes, safety protocols, tickets and more, are available at the symphony’s website, https://thesymphony.org/concerts-events/ subscriptions-tickets.

Kabaretti talked about the new approach, the themes and thrust, over the phone last weekend.

summertime (when I’m overseas). The positive thing about that was being able to be in the community to see what’s going on, to know and learn and be more connected with our followers and with friends. But I basically did not touch the baton for the last seven months.

I wanted to ask how you kept your shoulder in shape, but more seriously, what’s been the biggest impact of that?

Since we program more than a year out, I’ve always had a goal, a specific program to get to know and prepare, and all of a sudden we don’t even know what will be the next month. It’s been hard to even figure out how to pace my learning studies. I’ve been so goal oriented, so focused on the upcoming seasons, it was strange not to have anything to work on. For most musicians, once we have a goal, it motivates us to study, to practice, and focus more. But at the same time, there was a lot to learn about how to do it in different ways and to deliver our mission, to stay connected with our audience and enrich people’s lives through music even though we can’t be in person. And I had time to look at pieces that I had never heard before and research new music and explore some new scores. But it’s definitely a relief that we finally are going to get together at the Granada and play music together again as an orchestra, even if it’s a smaller ensemble.

Before we get to the actual programs, can you talk about why it was important for the Symphony to get ahead of the curve here when most major orchestras are staying dark for at least the beginning of the season?

For one thing, it gives the right signal for the community that we are committed to deliver live music but also that you have to invest in us so that we make sure that we can stay here after the pandemic is over. We don’t have a big endowment that can carry you during difficult times, so we have to be very creative in finding ways to deliver music and keep our operation going. Not to be pessimistic, but I think organizations that cannot deliver something like what we’re doing now might find themselves in trouble a year from now. That’s why we developed this streaming idea, which we’ve never done anything like before.

Music is part of our human culture. Bringing music is bringing joy which is something that everybody needs. There is a lot of content online, and we all have access to YouTube and other social media. But there’s something to making music with your community, where you know the people who are playing, and they are on the same stage together, even if it’s just being seen online.

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Let’s talk about the season. What drove the programming choices and the selection of soloists?

Knowing that traveling is an issue as is having a big orchestra because of distancing, I had to think in terms of how we can highlight our really fantastic local artists. So we have a program with (former concertmaster) Gilles Apap, who lives around the corner. Then I found out that a baritone (Valdis Jansons) whom I worked with in Italy had moved to Goleta, which I found out when I ran into him in the grocery store. (With the music), I found the piece that was written for the Canadian Brass when they were in residence at the Music Academy called The Santa Barbara Sonata. It’s really a celebration of our community coming together.

Also, there are some Mahler arrangements, one done by Schoenberg, that can be reduced to a really small ensemble. And we originally wanted to do a big Beethoven gala, but that wasn’t going to work, so we turned it into a chamber music concert but with some arrangements we haven’t played before, such as the piano sonata played on marimba.

I decided we should be a little bit more generous with exploring together pieces that are unknown, especially in times like this while also bringing American composers as we go through (the pandemic). It’s always a challenge to balance the season mixing music that audiences already like while also encouraging them to listen to stuff that they may not know. That’s part of our mission too, and this season does that with a few of the programs.

We have that one concert with African-American composers because having ethnic diversity is important, but so is style diversity. So we’re kicking off the season with the Broadway cabaret but also bringing bluegrass and lots of other genres because diversity is key for the future of our industry.

Lunch: Monday through Saturday 11:30am - 2:30pm Dinner: Monday through Sunday: 5pm - 10pm

Camerata’s CoronaConcerts Set to Conquer COVID Confinement

Q. How has the pandemic closures affected you, personally and professionally?

A. I’ve been in town since March, which is the first time in my professional life that I’ve spent more than three weeks in one place. I’d never even seen fruit on the trees that we have at our house here because that only happens in the

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Camerata Pacifica was at the forefront of local arts organizations in pivoting to online streaming events at the onset of enforced closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, launching weekly curated videos with live commentary way back in March. While the chamber music ensemble’s Concerts at Home series continues on Sundays on YouTube and Facebook, its musicians have been itch-

“Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings… and lawyers.” – Richard Pryor

On Entertainment Page 504 504

15 – 22 October 2020

as the seasons change? And that just below much of the dying grass is something the state is quite famous for – granite.

by Ernie Witham “You dead?” an authoritative voice Read more exciting adventures in Ernie’s World the Book and A Year in the Life asked. of a “Working” Writer. Both available at amazon.com or erniesworld.com.

“Not... quite...,” I grunted.

“Good. Now rake them back up.”

Another fun aspect of the raking season was wind. Seems like you no any people laughed when things have happened so far. sooner leaned against your rake to President Trump suggested Oh sure, there are those postcard admire your handiwork than an evil that the way to stop wildfires images of kids jumping into a huge breeze wafted in, removing the rest of in California was to rake the forests. pile of leaves, laughing gleefully, as the leaves from the trees in your yard I had a different reaction. My hands they melded into a cushion of autum- and you got to watch them land on instantly got blisters, my lower back nal bliss. Except, leaves are not soft. every available empty space – except felt strained, and my butt hurt like They have sharp edges. And there in the big pile, which was now spinhell. are sticks and rocks in the pile. Also, ning about like the Tasmanian Devil I grew up in the heart of the fall they do not support you in a mat- in a Looney Tunes cartoon. This may foliage spectacle. Every year the tress-like manner. I found this out have been when I first started carryhardwoods of New Hampshire went early on, when I decided to jump ing a photo of seaside California in from bright yellow to burnt orange to from a low-hanging branch into the my wallet, right next to the photo of flaming red to crispy brown. Then all colorful mound.

Ginger from Gilligan’s Island. those formerly beautiful leaves, after “Ger-on-i-mo!” Not sure why we Ironically, another aspect of the posing for a million tourist photos, always yelled the name of an Apache battle of the leaves was disposal. fell off – a good many of them land- leader, but all the kids did it. It might Something “The Prez” probably ing in my yard. have been all the syllables. Wouldn’t hadn’t thought of when he suggested My old man did not believe in child have been the same to yell “Bob!” removal of 33 million acres worth of labor laws. If you were old enough to Seconds after my much ballyhooed dead foliage and other detritus as the walk you were old enough to shovel daredevil feat, I hit the ground back- climate change cure-all. snow in the winter, mow the lawn sides first, to the cheers of the neighThere were several choices for disin the summer and, of course, rake borhood kids, who quickly scattered posal. You could try and cram an leaves in the fall. when I did not bounce back up. entire yard’s worth of leaves into a “Puts hair on your chest. You’ll Did I mention that lawns in New non-bio-degradable plastic bag, trythank me one day.” Neither of those Hampshire get harder and harder ing to avoid all the sticks from poking

Ernie’s World

Feeling Rakish This Fall?

M

out the side and completely shredding the bag. If you were successful, just as you tied a knot in the top you realized your wristwatch was missing.

Another method, for those who owned such a device, was to grind everything up with a chipper attached to your power mower into a mulch that could then be spread back onto the lawn it was just removed from. A defeatist method if there ever was one.

Perhaps the most popular method of disposal was burning. After the pile had set for several days, you would toss a series of matches into it until you got a smolder going then stand back and watch clouds of acrid smoke drift over your fence into the neighbor’s yard, who in turn was sharing his pyre with the next neighbor up the road.

Occasionally, you would see a kid running up the street, screaming bloody murder and fanning his behind.

“Didn’t know his old man had started them on fire when he jumped in.”

“Bummer.”

Anyway, taking all this into consideration, I’m not sure raking California is such a great plan. For one thing you’d need like a million kids, a million dads, and a whole bunch of first aid kits.

•MJ

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39

Letters (Continued from page 30) kets, medical offices, vineyards, office buildings, warehouses, gift shops, storage units, gas stations, hotels, and restaurants, etc. All these businesses will have to raise their prices and you the consumer will end up paying.

You can be assured the supporters of Proposition 15 will create a smoke screen by trying to portray it as a measure to “save our schools & communities” or “doing it for the kids.” The public teacher’s union and government employees (like the three Santa Barbara County Supervisors, Das Williams, Gregg Hart, and Joan Hartmann, who support the proposition) are undoubtedly supporting this new tax-raising technique as the money will primarily go to pay for their underfunded pensions.

This is a deceptive and sneaky way to pick our pockets and spend our money in ways they, the self-serving authors of this initiative, think best. We have voted for bonds that directly help schools and we pay plenty of property taxes already that go to schools and government services. Every home or business sold today at inflated prices gets a big step-up in basis which automatically fills government coffers. A typical new homeowner today pays

$18,000 each year in property taxes.

Remember, this deceptive ballot initiative will not appear until November 3, so expect many ads telling you to pass this measure. Spread the word and don’t be fooled. Vote no on Proposition 15, the one that wants to take the first step in changing Proposition 13 and eventually eliminate it.

J.W. Burk

Let’s Keep Winning

Cold Spring School is the number one scoring school district in the State of California, it was the most recent winner of the California Exemplary Arts Education Award, several Cold Spring teachers have won Crystal Apple Awards, and its superintendent won the ACSA Administrator of the Year Award. This is all a testament to the talent and dedication of Cold Spring’s faculty, staff, and administration.

However, despite the accolades Cold Spring has received, after being neglected for decades, the school site itself is crumbling away. One portable building had to be torn down because the floor rotted to the point of collapsing. Another deteriorating portable

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had a pipe burst that destroyed a year’s worth of art supplies. The electrical system is so inadequate that the school cannot install a fire system up to today’s code. Decades old cast iron pipes have complete deteriorated, so drinking water is dirty and potentially unsafe. The bathrooms constantly reek of backed up sewer water and are in desperate need of updating. All of this not to mention the old carpet, rotting beams, and other interior issues.

Worst of all, when Homeland Security performed a site check in 2017, they noted that students will always be at risk so long as the administrative offices remain tucked away inside the school and not in front of school where visitors can be monitored as they enter the campus.

Moreover, with the success of the school and the new, remote workplace world we live in, families are flocking to the district. Enrollment is up over 15 percent year over year and has grown even since school started this academic year. While this has been phenomenal for home values, it presents a real problem for delivering the care and attention each student needs for success. Parents in the district demand small class sizes and a robust enrichment programs, but, as is, the school is currently using every classroom and, due to the state of the facilities, there no longer is a dedicated art room. If we want to keep class size small, we need more classrooms.

If we want to continue to have award winning enrichment programs, we need proper art and STEAM rooms.

It is easy to dismiss that a school as well funded on a per student basis as Cold Spring is should not need any more money, but that argument fails when you look at the extensive amount of work that needs to be done.

Despite the fact that the current superintendent came in under budget each year of her administration – and that is through the Thomas Fire, the debris flow that tragically took the lives of two students, and the pandemic – and despite the fact that the reserves have grown over a million dollars in that time, the work needed to modernize the school and keep our children safe simply costs too much to accomplish without the help of a bond.

I appreciate that asking for a bond during a pandemic is far from ideal and I appreciate that many stakeholders’ children have long since grown up and left Cold Spring. That said, I hope that others can appreciate that without a bond, Cold Spring will not be able to continue to deliver its award-winning education. There will come a time when the Board has to choose between the educational needs of our students and fixing the deteriorating infrastructure that has been neglected for so long.

Measure L is an investment in our children and in our community. One

“Everyone carries around his own monsters.” – Richard Pryor

that will pay dividends well beyond increase property value. These children have been through a lot and they deserve a safe and secure environment in which to learn. I hope that everyone will vote yes on Measure L. Thank you, Michael Marino, Esq.

Why I Am Voting for Elrawd MacLearn

Courage, clarity, conviction.

Brilliance of public speaking. These are the reasons many moderate Democrats and Republicans like myself are voting for Elrawd MacLearn for Santa Barbara Unified School District. He is perhaps the finest candidate for school board that I have seen for 10 years or more.

Twenty years ago, I co-founded Coalition for Neighborhood Schools based on the values of parental involvement. I have found a candidate who aligns with these values.

Here are a few of the principles on which he is campaigning: • Parents are the most important people in a child’s education • A high school graduation requirement of a course in logic • Literacy as a basic civil right • Focus on improving reading, writing, and math skills, which are unacceptably low • He even dares to suggest that the district reduce administration and direct some of those funds back into the classroom!

Since he announced his candidacy, Elrawd has regularly spoken out at board meetings and made blunt criticism of improper leadership and educational outcomes. Yet never an ad hominem or trace of personal vitriol. Elrawd possesses a brilliance and a clarity in public speaking – so much so that one wonders, how is it that his major at UCLA was Biology, and not political philosophy and rhetoric?

Central to his persona is his extraordinary life experience. Elrawd’s family experienced the failure of public schools in his Orange County school district. Here is a young black man who, as the third of 11 siblings in a low income family, assumed the role of a father figure when his parents divorced, and worked graveyard shift in order to homeschool his younger siblings. He parented his younger siblings. As I said, not your typical candidate.

Our school board is presently 5-0 of one political viewpoint, and it’s not a moderate or centrist viewpoint.

Elrawd will create a counterpoint on the board. Although he has fire in his belly, he possesses a thoughtful and gentle temperament. I believe he will be a very effective board member and will be deeply respected by all other members of the board.

15 – 22 October 2020

Ask around – for all of these reasons, a wide coalition of traditional Democrats who support Laura Capps, Republicans, and no-party preference voters are all backing Elrawd MacLearn. He’s just a great guy and we need him! Find him at learnwithmaclearn.com.

Alice P. Post

Knowledge is Good

In the 1950s, Harold Hill sold the kids of River City a band program. In the 2020 revival, he’s selling a bond program.

Last week, while checking the Nextdoor website/app to learn which neighborhood cat was missing this week, I stumbled across some residents passionately debating Bond L2020 – Cold Spring School District Bond Measure. My kids graduated from Cold Spring School, so I scrolled.

As I read the thread, I noticed how both groups – those who wanted the bond to pass, and those who didn’t – were in agreement with the same core ideas: safe school, great teachers, smart and happy kids. Easy, right?

In a recent presentation, broadcast to neighbors who logged on via Zoom, the Superintendent/Principal, Dr. Amy Alzina, welcomed parents and community members. Her enthusiasm was infectious. She did her best to squelch rumors she believed were false, and she encouraged the community to form a collective mindset of love and support as we move forward.

But wedged between the welcome and the love, the Superintendent chose to characterize a handful of community members – those who have publicly voiced opposition to Bond L2020 – as being “angry.” That’s fair. I know some folks who got mad because they felt their questions were being ignored.

But then, the Superintendent explained that anger is often the result of people who are hurting – and people who are hurting are often suffering from depression.

Wait, what? I logged on to Zoom to learn why the district needs $7.8 million. But before my seat cushion got warm, I got a lesson on the six degrees of psychological separation, starting with a few upset neighbors and ending with a cluster of mood disorders?

That’s a pretty big leap. What’s next week’s topic? “Disagree and Get VD”?

It’s difficult to feel “love” for someone who uses her platform to disparage and further stigmatize those who might be suffering from depression – or any mood/mental disorder – especially to promote her agenda.

Since I couldn’t figure out why the keepers of Bond L2020 were being defensive with a handful of neighbors – neighbors who will be charged nearly $16 million by the time this bond is paid off – I went on a fact-finding 15 – 22 October 2020

mission.

I’m not sure whether everyone is aware, but the description on voters’ ballots titled, “Measure L2020 Cold Spring Elementary School District Bond Measure,” is not the entire Bond Measure. That’s the “abbreviated” description.

The complete “Resolution No. 201920/16” can be found at countyofsb. org. It’s eleven pages and reads like a Latin homily that was accidentally printed onto an old tax return. It’s loaded with fine print, legal references, and detailed language. After I read it a couple of times, it made more sense, but not in a good way.

That’s why I cannot support Bond L2020. Which is weird, because I’m a pretty happy person.

I oppose Bond L2020 because I don’t like how it offers built-in safeguards to protect those overseeing the project, yet provides little transparency – and no assurances – that promised projects will be completed.

There are lots of promises to build new facilities but, “In the absence of state matching funds… the District may not be able to complete all of the projects.”

There are lots of promises to fix buildings but, “based on the final costs of each project certain of the projects described above may be delayed or may not be completed.”

There are lots of promises to build specific projects but neither the bond, nor the District Staff, has produced a prioritized schedule, predicted timeline, or overall master plan, just lots of menu items.

There are lots of promises to repair infrastructure but, “Demolition of existing facilities and reconstruction of facilities scheduled for repair and upgrade may occur” as long as the board says it’s “cost-effective.”

Ask yourself what recourse an oversight committee has if it meets a week after your daughter’s classroom was demolished? Probably not very much, considering the members of that oversight committee will have been chosen by the Board, the same people to whom you’re giving a universal hall pass to make the decisions.

Section 11: “the Board shall: (d) Establish and appoint members to an independent citizens’ bond oversight committee.”

Funny. If you read the mainly caps lock paragraph at the end of the bond, this pesky little detail is omitted from info about the committee.

Proponents of the bond have made it clear that funds will not pay teacher or administrative salaries: “no administrator salaries” and “not for any other purpose, including pensions, teacher, and school administrator salaries and other operating expenses.”

The thing is, this passage makes no reference to district staff – salaried or unsalaried – not being paid. Yet they

were ever so specific about everyone else.

That’s because on page 8, before those “Look over here!” capital letters assure us those teachers won’t see a penny, the bond states: “Proceeds of the bonds may be used to pay or reimburse the District for the costs of District staff when performing work on or necessary and incidental to bond projects.”

• Does this mean District staff members are eligible to earn money from Bond L2020, as long as they’re working on the very same project that “may” be paying them?

• If yes, “may” I apply for a job in the District?

• Does this include salaried and/or non-salaried District staff?

• Who determines who gets paid, how much, and when?

• If Bond L2020 passes, will any reimbursements be retroactive to include “necessary and incidental work” completed prior to the date Bond is certified?

• What types of work might be defined as “incidental” bond projects? Meetings? Lunches? Travel?

Bond-bonding workshops? Bond-athons? 007 T-Shirts? Bail bond purchases?

My appreciation for Cold Spring School has not waned since my daugh-

ter graduated in 2008. If anything, it has increased because I’ve gained so much perspective since then. Some of my very best friends still teach there.

And most of my current friends are parents I met at Cold Spring.

Cold Spring is unique because of its community. It was the little Bohemian “yin” to Montecito Union’s bigger, slicker “yang.” It was where Scott dressed up as Captain Hook and made chicken tacos on his Hibachi.

Jeff ran the rickshaw. The “Spin Art” booth was a dad named Art, spinning in a swivel chair while kids gleefully squirted paint on him, and where Rose and Gaby dressed up as fortune tellers and delighted kids with what their futures would be.

We were inclusive, creative, and respectful of those who came before us, while we paved the way for those who would follow.

Please read Bond L2020: www.countyofsb.org.

Please read Board meeting agendas – not minutes, which are shortened; I recommend Agenda 05-13-19: coldspringschool.net.

Please visit the school on weekends and on weekdays after 3:30 pm.

Katie Cusimano Proud mom of Olivia, Cold Spring class of 2005, and Mary, class of 2008 •MJ

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41

Our Town

Live from the runway Joanne Calitri Zoom interviews fashion designer Catherine Gee in her Santa Barbara studio

by Joanne A. Calitri

Joanne is a professional international photographer and journalist.

Contact her at: artraks@yahoo.com

Arts in Lockdown Series Part 11

Fashion Forward with Couturier Catherine Gee

“S

Designer Catherine Gee during lockdown in her shop studio (Photo credit: Catherine Gee)

tyle is a way to say who you are without having to speak,” the fashion designer Rachel Zoe once said. Yes, indeed, fashion is walking art, and at times, a political statement. From 1940 through 1970, women’s hemlines were an economic indicator. In Los Angeles, the Fashion Mart for Spring/Summer 2021 is on now both in person and via virtual runways, with NYC-Paris-London already done in September. So, are we ready for the birth of spring in our lives and our clothes? What are the designers promoting we wear going forward? How did Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, choose French blue,

warm marigold, serene cerulean blue, and “illuminating” yellow as the colors of 2021?

To explore this and more, I interviewed our town’s award-winning fashion designer and artist Catherine Gee, whose silk frocks are worn by Charlize Theron, CBS news anchor Betty Yu, and a diverse international demographic. Awards include “Top Travel” brand by Sportswear International 2018, the WWD (Women’s Wear Daily) MAGIC and Galeries Lafayette Paris Emerging Designer Crème de la Crème 2016 competition winner, and the brand was invited to show the collections at the first annual (2017) Japan Fashion Week

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International Fashion Fair (JFW-IFF) / WWDMAGIC Tokyo tradeshow.

Gee’s collection is advanced contemporary with elegant, modern lines.

Fabric choices are primarily silks, and recently added high-quality jacquards, denim, cotton twill, and pima cotton.

She designs 80 percent of the prints on the fabrics used, inspired from her paintings and photographs of the world around her. Catherine has been designing her collection since 2014, and was mentored by Jodi De Marcos of the De Marcos Fashion Academy.

Her other interests are painting with watercolors, drawing, and she played violin growing up.

Here is our Zoom interview.

Q. At Fashion Week NYC 2020 panels are presenting on how fashion plays a role in cultural change, the barriers to entry, industry accountability and changes for equity. What has been your experience?

A. As an Asian-American business owner in my industry, I can honestly attest that I’ve never experienced direct racism. I have encountered sexist men in the industry, and I think that comes with the territory at a certain level in all industries. Through my travels selling the collections in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Dallas, and other cities around the world, I’ve seen inclusivity of all genders and ethnicities. Talent is talent. That’s how it is seen.

What is the fashion designer scene like for you during lockdown?

I used to travel to tradeshows at least ten to twelve times a year, so my whole business model is turned upside down. I realized COVID-19

“I know that if I wasn’t scared, something’s wrong, because the thrill is what’s scary.” – Richard Pryor

was about to change the world when I was in Paris during Fashion Week in February. I was in a multi-brand wholesale showroom with eight other brands in the Marais district of Paris.

We had scheduled ten days with 400 buyers – all of the “majors” (Neiman, Nordstrom, Net-a-Porter etc.). Over half the buyers did not show up, the Louvre Museum shut down, and one of my colleagues kept calling me that I may need to leave Paris early or be locked down there. It was a palpable moment. So real, yet so surreal. I remember thinking, Catherine, what do you do? What do you have control of? I saw the buyers that attended and planned to start making positive and colorful prints, a strong category in our business. Each evening when I left the market, Parisians were living their “normal” lives, drinking wine and dining at the cafés, being with friends, shopping, going to work, but the news kept getting worse every day. I thought life isn’t going to be what it was. I left Paris on March 7 and went straight to downtown Los Angeles to set up another show from March 8 through 11, and I arrived home to Santa Barbara just days before our lockdown. Back in my studio here, I did what all of the industry was forced to do, look at how we resource everything from our fabrics and current stock to employees.

Any changes in promoting and selling your pieces now?

The biggest challenge in selling to our buyers and new accounts is touch.

Sure, I can send an email with the campaigns imagery and styles on a model, but nothing replaces the way a 15 – 22 October 2020

Gee’s collection is advanced contemporary with elegant, modern lines where primary silk is common among fabric choices (Photo credit: Catherine Gee)

fabric feels and how it drapes on your body. I think the biggest joy of what I do is not only the design but also connecting with my buyers and clients and seeing their reactions to how a material feels on their skin. Something that has been very successful for us is sending the actual styles in a “Sample Box.” We have been very consistent with our messaging and e-mail marketing throughout this period, and it has become a focal point of how we adapt and how we move forward and learn in these challenging times.

As far as retail, we have also adopted the above strategy for personal styling and offer retail clients a home delivered “Style Box.” Our storefront is at the Mill on Haley Street, and I am available for one-on-one personal styling sessions, which are becoming increasingly more popular.

Is your experience a trend in the industry?

I feel as a designer, this is a shared experience we’re all going through.

Sourcing has become challenging as we obviously cannot travel like we did before to sourcing fairs to discover, touch, and feel new materials. Prior to COVID, I was in Los Angeles at least one day out of the week working with my patternmaker, going to the factory and seeing fabric vendors. The garment industry in L.A. has been hit particularly hard with cases so I’ve only been to L.A. three times since mid-March. This is happening around the globe with brands and design houses from Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Paris, and cities everywhere.

Where do you see fashion heading?

Consumers, now more than ever, want to know the story of the brand, the why and the how. I know firsthand that educated consumers want authenticity, and I truly believe we are going to continue to see a mass exodus of fast fashion. Even through these unprecedented times, women want to feel ‘normal’ and beautiful, enough with the sweatpants! I think that successful fashion brands will focus on quali15 – 22 October 2020

Prelockdown designer Catherine Gee showing at the Paris Market (Photo credit: Catherine Gee)

ty and timelessness. This will drive designers to focus on smaller capsule collections rather than cranking out 36-50 styles per season, which is not sustainable. Most designers will create classic, thoughtful silhouettes.

When we launched the brand, we focused on the resort wear category including bias-cut slip dresses and travel-friendly linens. Subsequently, we moved in the direction of a broader ready-to-wear category to include tailored cotton/ denim trousers from Peru and our most successful category, effortless, day-to-night solid and printed silk blouses.

In April, we delved into our fabric archive and started manufacturing masks. The return has been phenomenal. We have not only seen a tremendous increase in our direct-to-consumer business but we’re seeing women all over the country (and world) Zoom in our matching silk blouses.

Has lockdown been a plus or minus for you?

Quite honestly, it’s been a major plus for us. Fashion is a tough industry, and the lockdown forced our team to slow down and reflect on what is essential.

It’s been disastrous for the global fashion industry. Our team is small enough to be able to pivot and take advantage of the lockdown through a healthy production of masks and matching blouses.

Any diversity sensitivity issues affecting your fashion design work and production right now?

Overall, I think society as a whole has had to confront its race and diversity issues, which really came to a head this past summer. In regards to the fashion industry, we’ve seen global legacy brands such as Chanel and Gucci create diversity and inclusion roles within the past year. I do think making diversity and inclusion a priority within these larger fashion houses effectuates change and trickles down to the rest of the fashion industry on all fronts. I am proud to say

that my team is majority female and minority led, but I think it’s important to recognize shortcomings and do better to achieve a more equitable society. The prominence of the BLM movement has forced many people to confront these issues and hopefully create change for the better.

You are a voice for fashion and your generation. How do you see the world now and your thoughts for it going forward?

Everything is about investing in personal/business relationships. It is essential to keep in touch with both your retailers and personal buyers by regular communication with not just a focus on selling but taking a personal interest in how they are coping in these demanding times.

our “woman” was a certain age, held a certain degree, you know all the psychographic/demographic things, etc.

What has been really cool to see unfold over the years is that our “woman” is all encompassing. I have a lovely client in town who is 75 and owns a dozen Catherine Gee styles, and I also sell to 30-year-olds. I think the “wow” moment was when Charlize Theron stepped out in our Emma trousers last fall. I almost wrecked my car when I was notified of that! Next for me, as a designer, is to continue studying how women want to feel and adapt in our current world and how to fill a pragmatic yet emotional place within their sartorial needs. Catherine Gee’s personal style manifesto has always been less is more, and we focus on that.

Giving back/paying forward?

The masks have become quite the symbol. Our archival prints and vibrant colors are now seen on faces all over the country, and it’s been a great way to connect to our wholesale and direct-to-consumer clients. It is important to utilize our resources and give back to others in our community. I’m proud to be able to donate a portion of our mask sales to our local Foodbank.

Any advice for fashion designers and promoters going forward? What is their role right now?

We need to make people feel good.

Whether that is through a symbol such as a heart print, a luscious butter-like fabric or a vibrant, positive color, we have the responsibility to provide comfort through our medium. Storytelling is paramount, and it’s about finding your voice and connecting through our platforms.

What’s next for you?

In the beginning, I always thought

411: www.catherinegee.com Instagram: @catherinegee

•MJ

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

43

On The Record (Continued from page 26 26))

Sotto Il Monte (photo by Jim Bartsch)

Four Helicopters and a Wedding

An outlier event at Sotto Il Monte occurred in August 2011, when Caufield invited some 175 guests to attend the wedding of Kim Kardashian and professional basketball player Kris Humphries. “It all started with a phone call from the event planner in Beverly Hills who was a friend of mine,” Pohlmeyer says. “Caufield thought it would be fun and had a good laugh because his friends were making fun of him, but it was just a gorgeous affair.”

The event not only shut down Sycamore Canyon Road but filled up many of the local hotels and restaurants with various guests and their entourages, including an army of paparazzi. Other than a road closure and some snarled traffic, the only hiccup was the fact that four helicopters were hovering several hundred feet up in the air throughout the ceremony. “We tried to deter them with

balloons and asked our contacts at the airport what else we could do, but we couldn’t get them to leave,” Pohlmeyer says, shaking his head at the memory. “They were very high up but the noise was still horrible.”

The Final Event

On November 17, 2019, Pohlmeyer helped to organize a dinner for 146 guests in celebration of Caufield’s 80th birthday at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco. Following the meal, Caufield and his family traveled to a resort in Cabo San Lucas for a private party. Finally, on November 24, Caufield and company flew north for a dinner party that night at the Rosewood Miramar Beach.

“We had the most elaborate dinner ever at the Miramar,” says Pohlmeyer.

“It was for forty-six guests and we had the San Marcos Children’s Choir, and it was just beautiful. I planned the whole thing just like everything else

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I did for him, because I knew what he likes and he gave me free rein,” he adds. “We were very close.”

Although Caufield never truly retired, in the sense that he still served on the boards of several foundations and was always fielding phone calls from friends asking for his advice, he had slowed over the years. “He had his family, but I was constantly with him,” he says. “When someone gets to a certain age and wants things done now, they need somebody next to them to get it done. They don’t want to have to call somebody and then maybe it will get done in a few days.”

Caufield spent the day after the party at Sotto Il Monte while his girlfriend tended to her horses, who were threatened by a fire near Goleta. “We spent that entire Monday together and he kept talking and talking about how appreciative he was of me and how wonderful it was to work with me, and I asked myself, ‘Why is he talking like this?’ because he is a very reserved person; he’s never opened up like this.”

Pohlmeyer reasons his boss was in “absolutely great spirits because in a matter of one week, he’d seen all his friends, and people had flown in from all over the world to celebrate

his eightieth birthday with him; he was on top of the world.” There was a power outage that Monday evening, and hours later, at 11 pm, he and Caufield were still talking. “I said goodnight to him and ‘See you at nine in the morning,’ because he had to get up for his physical therapy appointment,” Pohlmeyer recalls. “And he didn’t’ wake up.”

The Morning After

Although it’s been nearly a year since Caufield’s death, Pohlmeyer says he is still somewhat in shock at his passing. He’s spent much of the intervening time helping Caufield’s family and friends, not to mention the 13 employees who work at both Sotto Il Monte and in San Francisco, to handle the transition of the property to new owners and from there, an uncertain future.

“I learned a lot from Mr. Caufield, who was a very humble and kind person,” Pohlmeyer says as he walks along a shaded pathway that rings the estate. “I give back a lot to the staff I work with; I call them my superstars.

I do a lot for them and their children and have put a lot of people through college.”

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A garden view of the villa (photo by Jim Bartsch)

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15 – 22 October 2020

A partial aerial view of property (photo by Neue Focus)

Sotto Il Monte’s hall and travertine staircase (photo by Neue Focus)

owner is revealed, it remains unclear if Pohlmeyer or his staff will remain on property, although it is a distinct possibility, as there are only a handful of people with his level of expertise managing large estates in Montecito, where it pays to have a veteran in place who boasts the deep community ties and professional network to swiftly and reliably handle whatever task may arrive.

“It is certainly possible,” Pohlmeyer says of the likelihood he’ll remain at Sotto Il Monte. “But it has to be the right match. You have to like what you do and the person you work for, because it’s very intimate, it’s very

after,” he explains. “We want them to be blown away, not just by the dinner, the wine, the food, the chef, the menu printing and seating arrangement, but knowing that people were happy when they woke up the next morning.

For me that was always the highlight of working at Sotto Il Monte, because I always had complete freedom to do something really special.”

elaborate, and it’s very secretive. You basically work in a bubble, and nothing comes in and nothing comes out.

I consider myself ultra-discreet and have always conducted myself that way, because that’s the kind of person I am and that’s what the people I work for expect.”

Whatever happens, Pohlmeyer says the main goal of his staff remains simple: planning, organizing, and staging someone’s life in such a way that both they and their family, friends, and other guests are always happy, and not just in the moment of any particularly over-the-top event.

“Our goal is always the morning

Next week: Montecito Journal tackles the developing controversy over Cold Spring School’s effort to raise nearly $8 million in bonds to replace three temporary facilities with permanent classrooms.

•MJ

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

45

For Goodness’ Sake

by Ken Saxon

The New World of Virtual Convening

H

Ken Saxon meets virtually with a group of local nonprofit leaders who are alumni of Leading From Within’s Emerging Leaders program

umans are communal by nature.

Even for an introvert like me, this pandemic has made me miss “face-time” with friends and colleagues. I, for one, will be very happy when we can be together again without fear of infecting one another. There is no substitute for in-person bonding and collaboration.

Yet in talking with a number of local nonprofit leaders in recent months, I note that there have been lots of learn-

ings and innovations from this forced physical separation. I also sense there will be no going back to the way things were before COVID-19. In terms of how we come together – to convene and collaborate – this global pandemic is changing us.

Over the past decade, I’ve convened many hundreds of local leaders in programs and retreats and conferences – all in-person. This kind of human-tohuman gathering is something I take

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46 MONTECITO JOURNAL

great pride in, and it’s something I’m known for. So, I’m shocked that I am saying this, but “Thank God for the Internet!” As disruptive as physical distancing has been, the impact on our organizations and businesses would have been so much worse without our digital connectivity.

Forced to adapt online, many nonprofit leaders have been surprised how much we have expanded our reach.

It turns out there are many invisible obstacles to people attending our typical in-person meetings – geographic distance, access to transportation, childcare and parent care duties, traffic and parking hassles, and even shyness.

It’s much easier and more time-efficient to pop into an online meeting.

With the forced move to digital, many organizations are reaching more people with virtual offerings and meetings than they did in-person before the pandemic. As one example, Sigrid Wright of the Community Environmental Council (CEC) told me that “a lunchtime webinar on electric vehicles drew four or five times more participants as a similar in-person event.”

When COVID-19 hit in March, CEC delayed its huge 50th Anniversary Earth Day celebration in April to summer. Then, realizing that summer was in no way a sure thing (a good call, in hindsight!), they cancelled the in-person festival and quickly pivoted to virtual. Earth Day is a beloved Santa Barbara celebration, and holding it online was a disappointment.

And the organizers had only a few weeks to plane the virtual festival!

Despite all that, Wright says views of CEC’s online Earth Day celebration exceeded their normal 30,000 in-person attendees.

Virtual meeting platforms like Zoom provide a diverse set of tools to engage people. Wright talked about the chat box in Zoom, and how it has allowed for CEC to respond to more many more questions from webinar participants than they could at an in-person education session. Lori Goodman of Isla Vista Youth Projects (IVYP) mentioned how easy it has been for her group to record webinar sessions and post them online so that even more people can view them, and at a time that’s convenient for them.

Jordan Killebrew, Director of Communications at the Santa Barbara Foundation, told me about how the foundation used technology to quickly pivot their work environment from in-person to virtual. He said, “with so many tools like Slack, Google Drive and project management platforms like Asana, Trello and the like, we have been able to mold our virtual workspace to be more efficient, organized, and dare I say fun.”

Some things are definitely more challenging when you can’t be together in person. For one, it’s more difficult to manage the human element and to build trusting and caring relationships in a virtual space. Lori Goodman of IVYP told me she’s found that “it’s much harder to build new relationships online. The work of engaging face-to-face, breaking bread together, having a natural give and take, is lost in most virtual spaces.”

Another thing that can be challenging in a digital environment is to hold

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people’s full attention and focus.

It’s way too easy for participants to multi-task or otherwise check out in an online environment. Thus, virtual meetings and gatherings require skillful facilitation. I myself have attended four trainings on virtual facilitation in recent months, and I’ve learned a whole new set of skills and approaches to help keep people engaged and connected in a digital meeting environment.

The good news is that it is possible to lead effectively in a virtual meeting space. However, you can’t just do online what you did in-person.

Quality virtual convening requires a somewhat different approach to group dynamics and engaging agendas. Yes, we old dogs must learn some new tricks if our organizations and initiatives are to thrive online.

When we get beyond the threat of COVID-19, why won’t we just revert to the way things were before the pandemic? Because there are too many good things that virtual convening enables that we won’t want to lose. It’s cheaper, more time-efficient, easier to pull off, requires less real estate and catering and staffing, and can engage more people from a much larger geographic area.

But the limitations of virtual convening are real, as well as the oft-heard complaint about “Zoom fatigue.” My guess is that post-COVID, we will find a balance between virtual and in-person convening. We’ll get much more thoughtful about which method of convening we use for what objective.

When we bring people together in person, we will know why we are choosing that, and we’ll be much more intentional about how we use that time and space.

Will some people continue to office remotely? Yup. And many organizations will move to hybrid set-ups that require less office space and emphasize collaboration and interpersonal connection and shared space when people are together. I expect we’ll see many fewer private offices and assigned cubicles. Well managed, a setup like this should be more productive, more cost-effective, and greener (with less traffic and better air quality).

I think one final question about our future is among the most interesting – what will happen to handshakes and hugs post-COVID? Some I’ve spoken to think they are gone for good. Many others disagree. I do feel that if we lose human touch, something substantive will be lost.

We already have too much disconnection, alienation, and loneliness in our contemporary society. For my part, I hope this is something we hang on to.

But until it’s safe for the real thing, virtual hugs to you all.

•MJ 15 – 22 October 2020

Muller Monthly Music Meta – Oct 2020 Our new monthly music-themed crossword puzzle is created and brought to you by Montecito resident Pete Muller and runs in the Washington Post and the Montecito Journal. Thank you, Pete, for playing with your home team!

What is a Meta Crossword Puzzle?

A

meta crossword puzzle provides the ultimate “aha” moment, challenging the solver to come up with a single answer somehow hidden in the puzzle. Hints to the answer can come from the title, Muller has enjoyed solving the theme entries, the clues, or the grid. If I’ve done my job as a constructor, once you get the meta, you’ll Pete crosswords since he was a teenager. know it. If you’re thinking, “Hmmm…maybe this is it,” you probably haven’t found the meta yet!

He started creating them in 2005 Metas are well-suited to contests, since it’s hard to cheat on a meta. An obscure crossword clue like and published his first NY Times puzzle in 2006. While Pete is known for [Nickname for President Van Buren, from his birthplace] can be answered in a second using Google his innovative and tricky puzzles, he (“OLD KINDERHOOK”), but you can’t do the same for a meta. While googling is considered cheating places primary importance on creating a fun experience for the solver. (to some) in solving a crossword, googling is encouraged in solving metas.

The meta answer will usually be reasonably well-known to most solvers. If it’s not, it will definitely be accessible via a web search.

Mind the Overlap

The solution will be posted next week but if you want Muller Monthly Music Meta to see it before then you can check it out here: http://www.pmxwords.com https://pmxwords.com/oct20solution

October 2020 Mind the Overlap by Pete Muller

ACROSS 1 It has the fifth-largest economy in Africa: Abbr.

4 Florida city next to a national forest 9 The "I" of NIN 13 Tori on the piano 15 Arborio and Jasmati, say 16 Sphinx site 17 Address with an elision 18 Young mate?

19 "___ and Zeros" (Jack Johnson tune) 20 Bug, e.g.

22 Bring back, biblically 24 R&B singer Hilson 26 Bible ender?

27 Title article for a J.Lo remix record 28 Make a sticky connection with?

31 See 43-Across 33 Results of some physical excitement?

34 Word at the start of the chorus in "Livin' on a Prayer" 36 Slice of old Turkey?

39 Like many marine steam engines 42 Bug 43 31-Across look 44 Carpenter's connector 45 Perches for some songbirds 47 The String ___ Incident (legendary bluegrass band) 49 Marcher in a Dave Matthews song 51 Degree in math 52 Take off 53 It's above the fold 56 Chris Martin or Rihanna character in their "Princess of China" video 60 Surfing vacation destination 61 Crème de la crème 63 Online meeting platform 64 Uma Thurman's role in "The Producers" 65 Barmaid, to the Bard 66 Hangover you might have at home?

67 "___ Is Mine" (Vance Joy song) 68 "Ditto" 69 "___ Song" (Elton John biography) DOWN 1 She "may be from Manhattan, but Georgia never had a sweeter peach" 2 Congresswoman Ilhan (D-MN-5) 3 Katy Perry song used by the Bengals that didn't sit well with many of their fans

1

2

3

4

13

14

17 20

28

29

7

8

9 16

18

19 22 26

30

39

35

36

43

38

58

59

44

46

47

51

53

37

41

42

50

12

32

40

45

11

27

31 34

10

23

25

33

49

6

15

21 24

5

48

52

54

55

60

61

64

65

67

68

56 62

57 63 66 69

The meta for this puzzle is a British pop hit from the '80s.

4 It's mined in Minecraft 5 White wisps seen on a blue background 6 Result of an oil glut?

7 Gibbon 8 Sharp 9 Stravinsky's first?

10 Number of Luftballons in a Nena song 11 Dvořák, for example 12 First word of a "Terminator" catchphrase 14 Tokes 21 Emeritus: Abbr.

23 ___-Main-Flughafen (Frankfurt airport with a rhyming name) 25 Opera-singing TV show host Mike 28 Bhagavad ___ 29 Bereft, to the Bard 30 Removes, as an app 31 Crews' directors

• The Voice of the Village •

32 Reduce the color palette of, as a picture 35 Places of extreme misery 37 Poker chits 38 Poker chip, perhaps 40 Colorado town that hosts RockyGrass and the Folks Festival 41 Opposite of pizzicato, for a cellist 46 Alanis Morissette's hometown 48 Solo in the sci-fi sky 49 Swift's "Red" or "Reputation," say 50 "Conversations With God" author ___ Donald Walsch 52 Major food distribution corporation 54 Martes y miércoles 55 Orange exterior 57 TV's Trevor 58 Bon ___ 59 Surname of brothers with 38 chart hits in the '40s and '50s 62 Misery measure, for short

© 2020 Pete Muller

MONTECITO JOURNAL

47

Neighbors (Continued from page 24 24)) and families into housing. The agency is currently partnering with the city of Santa Barbara and Cottage Health to help navigate homeless individuals into housing and services (similar to what Alvarado does for S.B. County.)

In Montecito, City Net caseworkers will visit our residents experiencing homelessness weekly, create case files, and treat each individual as a client in need of permanent housing and support.

In late September, the HAM project commenced with a detailed baseline survey of Montecito’s homeless residents by a team of caseworkers, sheriff’s deputies and the group of volunteers accompanied and organized

by Byrne, whose decade-long experience in case-based homeless outreach undergirds the new project. When she headed the Milpas Association several years ago, Ms. Byrne and local business partners created a similar program serving a group of chronically homeless panhandlers who lived along Milpas Street – all but one were in treatment and housed within a year. In establishing a correspondingly ambitious goal in Montecito, Byrne also draws on a deep knowledge of county resources she has gained since 2012 as chair of Santa Barbara County’s Behavioral Wellness Commission.

“What we really need,” she says, “is a results-oriented model of operation.

A lot of service providers think of success in terms of we gave out so many blankets or so many meals. Our metric is going to be, how many people have we housed, made stable, and treated?

And have people been able to stay that way for a year or more?” Ms. Byrne would be satisfied, she says, if half of Montecito’s unhoused residents were off the streets within a year.

So far, the $100,000 project already has received funding pledges, donations, and commitments totaling $40,000. Partner organizations including Heal the Ocean, Montecito Trails Foundation, California Highway Patrol, Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department, Montecito Fire, and the county’s Behavior Wellness department have signed on. Caltrans has pitched in three times in 2020 to pick up litter left by unhoused individuals on state property throughout the county. Rubayi Estes, Vice President for Programs at the Santa Barbara Foundation, extended the Montecito Association an invitation to apply for a $5,000 grant to support an independent program evaluation. [See nearby information for how to make a donation.]

“As our homeless count continues to grow, it is increasingly posing safety and health risks in addition to cleanliness and security problems, for our residents, businesses, employees, and tourists,” says Orloff, an execu-

48 MONTECITO JOURNAL

tive vice president of Montecito Bank & Trust. “Unlike giving money directly to panhandlers, City Net’s model, focused on repetitive and sustained outreach, has proven successful in providing the foundation to assist individuals in getting off the streets and connected to services they need.”

Still, Dana Newquist, one of the project’s earliest supporters, would like to seek more local involvement by active groups that have large numbers of dedicated volunteers and equipment, such as Montecito Emergency Response and Recovery Action Group, or MERRAG, and the Bucket Brigade.

Andrea Eltinge, Newquist’s wife and a Montecito Association board member, adds: “The community will step up and go the distance for solving this problem. It affects all of us who live here, and Montecito is a generous community, and we have and will stand together both financially and getting out to do the job. I am very hopeful.”

A Growing Problem

Dozens of residents have contacted the Montecito Association to complain about the growing “footprint” of homeless individuals in Montecito. For years, the only noticeable Montecito homeless residents have been elderly women such as “M” on the Upper Village green, and “V” who spends most days in front of the Chevron gas station and car wash. But recently, there have been numerous folks regularly pushing grocery carts along Coast Village Road. A block to the west at the Montecito Country Mart, a local professional wrote to the Montecito Association in September complaining about “an increase in homeless, drug, and mentally impaired individuals flocking to” the Mart each morning. Along with daily panhandling, the complaint noted that, early that month, a male was observed chasing and menacing a barista inside a local coffee shop until he ran away when Santa Barbara police officers arrived.

“We do what we can when people call us” regarding the homeless, says Sheriff’s Lieutenant Butch Arnoldi, who serves the Montecito area. If someone has a criminal record and is engaging in harassment, “you can get a restraining order.” However, Kathy Washburn, president of a local homeowners association, says the process is “very, very expensive, and no guarantees.”

Montecito and Summerland have experienced a dramatic increase in thefts in 2020, compared with the previous two years, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff.

Together, Summerland and Montecito had 119 reported thefts in the first eight months of 2020. That compares with just 67 reported thefts in all

of 2019, and 62 reported thefts in all of 2018. “Theft is up throughout the county,” says Lt. Arnoldi. “The thefts are coming from handbags in shopping carts, unlocked vehicles and garages, everywhere there is an opportunity.”

County statistics don’t break out crime according to whether an individual lives indoors or out, and Montecito’s crime statistics are reported together with a dozen other unincorporated county communities.

Annual homeless counts frequently list Montecito’s unhoused residents as living in Santa Barbara. As Montecitans perceive a greater presence of homeless individuals, many are wondering, where are they sleeping?

The answer, as our Hands Across Montecito support group is discovering, is mostly in camouflaged tent communities hidden among deep vegetation near the beach and the Union Pacific railroad tracks – frequently referred to as a “corridor of concern” – stretching from the Bird Refuge to the Rosewood Miramar Hotel. The appeal of these remote locations is immediately clear to volunteers; the areas receive few police patrols or visits by county homeless outreach workers.

“One day, we startled a big group of maybe fourteen meth users in a camp near Hot Springs Road,” says Byrne, referring to methamphetamine. “They sure weren’t expecting to see us.”

On an early September day, at the height of the recent heat wave, two of us follow Mr. Alvarado, the County’s health and wellness coordinator, as he “walks the line” along the tracks, gazing north at the gleaming white Montecito Club clubhouse and south at the Santa Barbara Cemetery’s George Washington Smith-designed chapel. We pass the cemetery’s long-abandoned former crematorium.

Alvarado explains that the Butterfly Lane tunnel enables campers to leave their concealed campsites to access Coast Village Road for panhandling and socializing. Therefore it’s often best, he notes, to visit his hoped-for clients in the early morning.

We find another camping couple that relates with delight that they just acquired a bicycle, sold it for $800, and are happy to be moving, even temporarily, to a motel room in Santa Barbara. We look around for a group of three young people, familiar to county agencies and law enforcement, that have been camping on a hardto-reach beach bluffs area below the cemetery during the spring and summer. They were suspected of starting a fast-spreading campfire in the historic cemetery on July 30 that required two fire departments to extinguish. “We’d really like to get them off the beach and into housing,” says Byrne.

On another stretch of the railroad campground corridor, we head to

“Being bitter makes you immobile, and there’s too much that I still want to do.” – Richard Pryor

Drug paraphernalia is common in the camps visited

what has become the community’s major center of concern: the densely populated, upscale, area surrounding Hammond’s and Miramar beaches adjacent to the Chumash burial ground. Residents of the gated neighborhood comprising three contiguous beach communities, Bonnymede (which is where I live), Montecito Shores, and Sea Meadow – about 250 condominiums and single-family homes – have been complaining to the Association, the Sheriff’s office, and on Nextdoor about trespassers who look like campers. Residents want to know, how did they get inside the gates, and what do they want?

The Montecito Association’s Byrne shows us how: an open, legal footpath known as the Surfrider Trail that begins on Danielson Road, heads south over the railroad tracks, and opens directly into the gated neighborhood. Public beach access is, of course, an important and protected legal right in California. However, this public access lane is adjacent to what Byrne describes as “attractive nuisances,” the two- and three-story condominiums at Bonnymede and Montecito Shores. Last year, Montecito Shores residents found evidence of visitors sneaking in at night to use swimming pools, restrooms, and basement washers and dryers.

We meet Alvarado near the burial ground and follow as he treks the Surfrider Trail toward the railroad tracks, struggling to keep up as he quickly disappears up a steep hill into a hidden and rugged, heavily forested path. After a while we encounter a flimsy tent sheltering two young men who are surrounded by drug paraphernalia and piles of bicycle parts.

A brand-new bicycle sits outside the tent. The young men aren’t interested in speaking with us, yelling at Alvarado to “hit the rocks,” meaning get out of there. Undaunted, Alvarado calmly asks their names, makes a note of the encounter, and explains he will “come and visit them another time.”

Back on the tracks, we encounter a dazed looking young man who says he is from Pennsylvania. He doesn’t want to stay and chat either, but Alvarado, nonetheless, makes notes about the young man in case he 15 – 22 October 2020

The inhabitant of this tent, located in a gully just steps from the 101 freeway, says he has been on the streets for 20 years

encounters him again. Continuing on into an even more remote jungle-like area, we look down into a campsite tucked under a creek culvert, a spot that is difficult to see and would be much harder to access. The appeal of camping along the creek isn’t merely its remoteness, Alvarado points out; the creek offers direct access to the beach. Although the area appears to be a hive of campsites, many strewn with drug paraphernalia and bicycle parts, we meet fewer people on this visit than on others. Andrea Hein, one of the volunteers, sums up our feelings: “I was amazed at how many individuals are full out living along our train tracks and how much outreach is actually necessary to get them in to programs.”

A key concern of Montecito residents, like homeowners all over the U.S., is removal of the furniture, tents, and other items left by campers.

During COVID, the Union Pacific railroad has been dealing with a massive expansion of people camping on the railroad company’s property up and down the state of California, says spokesman Tim McMahan. Because of the danger of pedestrians around the railroad tracks, he says, Union Pacific strongly urges individuals and nonprofit groups not to take on clean up themselves. However, he notes, Union Pacific is interested in working with the Montecito Association and City Net on implementing removals by a professional company.

Elusive Solutions

Ultimately, the HAM project’s expectations for favorable outcomes depends on the patchwork of agencies – governmental and nonprofit – into whose hands the City Net outreach workers will entrust unhoused residents in Montecito who agree to place themselves “in the system” for services. A highly critical report from the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury earlier this year noted, among other systematic shortcomings in the county’s homeless response, that “all overnight emergency shelters are at capacity year-round, there are not enough day centers.”

The Grand Jury labeled as woefully inadequate and uncoordinated Santa Barbara County’s programs to combat 15 – 22 October 2020

homelessness. The report said that over several years, only 76 of the 3,623 eligible people in the county’s official computer systems got into permanent housing. Housing advocates say affordable rentals are nearly impossible to find in Santa Barbara where even 700-square-foot apartments go for more than $2,000 per month.

Skeptics of the HAM project are questioning the need for a program targeting just 50 individuals, an insignificant number in a county whose official pre-COVID homeless population was already at 1,900. “The county government should have been engaged on Milpas, and they should be engaged in Montecito,” says Susan Rose, who retired from the County Board of Supervisors after eight years of service and who in 2004 founded New Beginnings’ nationally recognized Safe Parking Program, which serves hundreds of families living in their cars each year. Yet Rose and others acknowledge that the county employs far too few homeless outreach workers, and these are chiefly needed in the North County, where newly homeless and unemployed families are struggling.

Montecito’s residents experiencing homelessness mostly fall into the category of chronically homeless, similar to about one-third of the county’s unhoused population. As such, says New Beginnings Executive Director Kristine Schwarz, they are most likely to suffer from trauma that impairs mental health and/or to be addicted to substances. They have the greatest need for services and are considered the most difficult to persuade indoors.

“It’s about building a relationship with them. Once they get housed, sometimes they really will make a miraculous change in their lives and evolve back to a distant self, someone who is functioning, thriving in life. But sometimes they’re just too wounded. Even when they get into housing, it’s hard for them to maintain it,” says Schwarz.

Byrne knows only too well the importance of maintenance – and diligence. After she left her position at the Milpas Association, the homeless-outreach project she founded wasn’t continued, and Milpas Street gradually devolved back into a magnet for unsheltered individuals and

panhandlers. She also strongly recommends better security at Montecito’s homes and businesses and along the railroad right-of-way. A separate Santa Barbara County Grand Jury in 2019, following a surge in rail deaths, found that 12 out of 20 people killed by trains were transients living along the tracks, including some suicides. The report recommended installing cameras to help patrol “hot spots.”

The beach communities, Byrne notes, also need to embrace modern security technology and “close the ‘candy store.’” An ad hoc committee of residents from beach neighborhoods has been meeting regularly to exchange information, brainstorm ideas, and research how other communities in California are handling similar issues. A major step has come from the board of Montecito Shores, which reached out to a nationally recognized security firm, Covered Six, to conduct an assessment of Hammond’s Beach access/security problems and to recommend a comprehensive technology and human-based security system. The charge is being led by one of the complex’s newest beachfront owners, Laura McCorkindale, who has worked closely with Covered Six as a city council member in the guarded, gated community of Hidden Hills – an enclave that has a reputation for excellent safeguards.

Even as the HAM project just gets underway, Byrne is already planning for follow-through and follow-up, frequently speculating about “where we will go after the first year” and expressing a desire to get county and private homeless-services agencies more involved. She’s not the only one with expectations; the 2020 Grand Jury report on homeless programs includes a ray of sunlight: “…the Jury was told by the director of a local homeless organization that the cooperation demanded by COVID-19 opened new doors and created alliances that hopefully will continue to grow.”

Byrne can also count on our ever-expanding cadre of volunteers and supporters. “I’m really surprised,” she says, “shocked even, in a really pleasant way, that so many Montecito ladies and gentlemen are willing to come out, walk the railroad tracks, and find out how some of our most vulnerable people are living.”

•MJ

How to Donate to Hands Across Montecito

T

he new Hands Across Montecito, a one-year pilot project of the Montecito Association to address homelessness in our village, is seeking to raise $100,000 through tax-deductible contributions.

The project involves a partnership between the Association, a nonprofit outreach provider known as City Net, other local agencies and nonprofits, and individual citizens and businesses. City Net and others “will mobilize community resources to coordinate supportive service provision to those experiencing street-level homelessness.” The goal is to move the approximately 50 people experiencing homelessness into supportive housing and counseling and rehabilitation services, as needed.

The HAM project already is off to a good start. Approximately $40,000 has been committed or pledged. But the Montecito Association is appealing to the residential and business communities to help meet the annual budget.

To help the Montecito Association reach its goals, there are two ways to donate: CHECKS can be sent directly to the Montecito Association, P.O. Box 5278, Santa Barbara, CA 93150. Or they can be sent to City Net, P.O. Box 146, 133 East De La Guerra, Santa Barbara, California 93101. The checks should be made out to City Net, with a notation on the check that the contribution is for Hands Across Montecito.

The nonprofit’s tax I.D. number is 57-1162424.

CREDIT CARD donations can be made by entering the following address: https://www.citynet.org/montecito VOLUNTEERS are also desired.

Questions about the program, including those from potential volunteers, may be directed to Sharon Byrne, Executive Director, Montecito Association, at 805.969.2026.

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On Entertainment (Continued from page 38 38)) ing to get back to live performances and the kinship of the shared concert experience. So much so that even though the 2020-21 concert hall season was long ago canceled, the principal players have come up with the idea for CoronaConcerts, a series of solo concerts programs to be presented as “pop ups” when it’s safe (and legal) to do so.

The performances will be held out- Cellist Ani Aznavoorian has chosen a program door, with venues chosen for their of music by Bach, Sheng, and Sollima for her supportive acoustics but as yet unan- upcoming Camerata Pacifica CoronaConcert nounced. Mask wearing will be mandatory, and social distancing strictly observed, which will necessitate limiting attendance. Subscribers and other friends of Cam Pac will be notified seven to ten days before the events take place. Accordingly the dates aren’t yet available, but the programs are.

Cellist Ani Aznavoorian has chosen a program of music by Bach, Sheng, and Sollima, which she describes as “ranging from classic to wild and crazy, as I think we’ve all been experiencing the full spectrum of emotions these months.” Camerata Pacifica dean Warren Jones’s piano program consists of “favorite music of mine: a Mozart sonata, some Brahms short pieces, and a variety of novelties and rags by Gottschalk, Lamb, Novacek, and Joplin,” while keyboardist Gilles Vonsattel plays Bach and Mendelssohn before taking on Rzewski’s “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues,” which he terms “a truly American work of great social consciousness and implicit protest, which also happens to be a great virtuoso piece deploying a true command of the piano’s resources.”

Violinist Paul Huang has opted for Bach, Kreisler, and Corigliano, “highlighting the three most important qualities of the violin: virtuosity, charm, and its ability to move us.” Fellow violinist Kristin Lee will also play a Bach sonata, adding works by Ciupinski (“Wreck of Umbria for Violin and Electronics”) and Ysaÿe, with the centerpiece serving as representative on quarantine-induced online-only music-making as she’ll be “following the score on the laptop that is synced with electronics, playing a duet with pre-recorded sound that is manipulated to create colors, sounds, and rhythm.”

Also featured are instruments rarely heard in solo recitals, with marimba player’s Ji Hye Jung set consisting of “musical works that are new and exciting to me as a musician,” stemming from her work with composers “to find a new voice for percussion,” while also featuring music by women and minorities. “This program is a great challenge since I have not performed any of these pieces before,” she reports. Harpist Bridget Kibbey’s program, with music from Spain, Cuba, Germany, and Russia providing the template, highlights her favorite “comfort food” works, “which doesn’t mean they’re pastel in color or docile in nature but rather conjure up an immediacy of emotion. Each transcription is lent a special color and perspective on the harp – indeed, the harp morphs into an organ, a piano, a guitar.” Finally, flutist Demarre McGill engages with eight different shorter pieces, including two by Nielsen, in a rare opportunity to offer so much repertoire on a single concert.

Cam Pac plans to charge $100 for tickets (free to its Premiere Circle Donors), and prospective attendees will need to be on the ensemble’s email list to receive the alerts. Visit https://cameratapacifica.org for details and to register.

Classical Corner Wonders from Westmont and CAMA’s Connection

Westmont College’s Friday Night Concert series of pre-recorded performances from faculty, alumni, community members, and more, which began back on September 4, continues to offer new shows each week through the end of the academic year. Coming attractions for October include “Miniature Masterpieces”: Chamber Music from sections of the Westmont Orchestra (October 16), an orchestral sampler (October 23), and the annual Fall Choral Celebration (October 30). November brings concerts by the Jazz Ensemble, Student Composers, String Chamber Ensembles, and Vocal Chamber Ensembles and the Westmont Chamber Orchestra Concert before the Sixteenth Annual Christmas Concert arrives online, coping-with-COVID style, December 4-6.

Watch the events at https://vimeo.com/showcase/westmontmusic, or visit www.westmont.edu/music/concerts for details.

Given that its mission is to book large international touring orchestras into the Granada as well as present more intimate yet still sizeable recitals at the Lobero – both of which require a lot of planning – CAMA has had to completely cancel its current 2020-21 season. But the organization is proudly promoting a series from its long-time sister organization, the Los Angeles Philharmonic,

50 MONTECITO JOURNAL

which has played annually in town under CAMA’s auspices for more than a century. Sound/Stage is a nine-part series of live concerts filmed over the spring and summer on stage at the Hollywood Bowl, with no audience and with the film crew and musicians masked and safely separated. The innovative adventure features a bounty of bold programming, and lots of baton work from its musical director Gustavo Dudamel. The series began on September 25 with the ultra-timely “Love in the Time of COVID” program and continues through November 30, and you can watch each new episode when it premieres on Fridays as well as all of the archived ones online at https://www.soundstage. laphil.com.

SBCC Theatre Group is ‘Looking Back, Looking Forward’

Santa Barbara City College’s theater department is blessed not only with a barely decade-old facility that includes the large and well-appointed Garvin Theatre, but also the more intimate black box-style Jurkowitz Theatre. But the organization has never taken advantage of another space that lies just steps away from its seaside headquarters: the lush green meadow on the West Campus overlooking the ocean that is made more accessible by our year-round tepid climate.

Now, in our new reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, SBCCTG is eyeing mounting a production on the spot. Of course, protocols and guidelines for such live outdoor performances with an audience have not yet been released, so such an outdoor opportunity is something we can look forward to, perhaps in the spring.

But education and entertainment must go on. So in the meantime, the group is, like almost every other arts organizations, pivoting to provide online access to something new. In this case, it’s a musical revue called Looking Back, Looking Forward, consisting of songs from past and planned future shows of the Theatre Group at SBCC, more than eight decades worth in all. Among the classic Broadway shows represented are Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, West Side Story, Oklahoma!, Rent, and many more, as well as such modern works as the 2017 Sara Bareilles-composed musical Waitress, and Be More Chill, which premiered off-Broadway just two years ago.

“When we thought about what we were missing most during this period of theatre shutdown, (we realized) it was the unique emotional experience provided by great songs from musicals,” explained theater department co-chair Katie Laris, who is directing the production that will premiere as an on-demand streamed video on October 17. “Broadway is going to remain closed at least through May, which leaves a huge void in the life of everyone who loves theatre, but Broadway shows continue to hold so much importance in all of our hearts. (The revue) lets us celebrate our longevity as a community theatre by choosing songs from shows we’ve produced over eighty years, and also (previewing) songs from shows that we’d like to do in the future.”

The cast of singers participating in the production are split between students and local professionals, including Hazel Brady, Christian Duarte, Nick Ehlen, Amanda Elliott, Grace Gibbs, Felicia Hall, Aaron Linker, Miranda Ortega, Margaret Prothero, Daniel Sabraw, Shannon Saleh, Willie Simpson, Levi Smylie, Travis Stehmeier, and Tiffany Story. Of course, the actors can’t be close on stage, so the idea of a full musical production was out. Instead, a revue allows for mostly solos, with a few duets and trios.

“We were able to rehearse in person in a very limited way outside, masked and socially distant, individually or in very small groups with very strict safety protocols in place,” Laris said. “And there was a lot of organization involved in scheduling (inside the theater for the actual shoot) because we could never have more than a few people in the same space at the same time and had to surround the actors-singers with plexiglass shields.”

SBCC’s team was up to the challenges, Laris said, noting that the stage designers had to work mostly in isolation but managed to create beautiful designs while Pat Frank created gorgeous lighting looks on the stage and longtime costume creator Pamela Shaw pulled together elegant clothing for the actors. A professional quality television production featuring four cameras, audio equipment, a switcher and monitors captured the performances in the Garvin Theatre.

If conditions allow, SBCC hopes to remount Looking Back, Looking Forward as a live outdoor show during the afternoon, with the audience attending on the West Campus lawn fully masked, as soon as the spring. But for now, anyone anywhere can stream the revue whenever a viewing is desired through November 7, at a cost of $15 per household. Visit www.theatregroupsbcc.com or call (805) 965-5935.

UCSB Shakes it up All Over the ‘Net

UCSB’s Department of Theater and Dance’s new season got underway last weekend with a reprise of its summer production of Immortal Longings, a serious

“I believe in divine forces and energies.” – Richard Pryor

15 – 22 October 2020

Resonance, which was videotaped over three days on the Marjorie Luke stage in late September followed by rigorous post-production, is presented in conjunction with The Luke’s “Mind, Body & Soul Series.” The program will stream on demand at www.luketheatre.org, where viewers can also watch the first episode, “Mendeleyev In Concert.” Upcoming productions include “Jackson Gillies in Concert,” “Pianos at The Luke” in collaboration with Pianos on State Street, “Tariqh Akoni & Friends,” and a special holiday show to be announced soon.

Greene Screen

Forced Entertainment’s Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare, co-commissioned by UCSB Arts & Lectures, continues its series of virtual stagings of Shakespeare’s complete works

take on deals on issues of power and corruption in Shakespeare adapted and directed by Irwin Appel. This weekend, Appel launches its first-ever Naked Shakes Solo Festival featuring renowned artists Debra Ann Byrd, Patrick Page, and Lisa Wolpe with one-person shows exploring Shakespeare’s take on race, villainy, and gender. The first show, Becoming Othello: a Black Girl’s Journey, is an autobiographical memoir about award-winning Shakespearean actress Debra Ann Byrd’s trials and triumphs with race and the classics, her memorable experiences growing up in East Harlem, and her gender-flipped journey on the road to taking on the role of Shakespeare’s noble, flawed general. The solo show features songs and lyrical language from Black women playwrights, as well as Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King, Jr., Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman. See the 90-minute, five-act performance at 6 pm on October 17 via Zoom at https://bit.ly/302SdXU. Meanwhile, Forced Entertainment’s Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare, co-commissioned by UCSB Arts & Lectures, continues its series of virtual stagings of Shakespeare’s complete works re-imagined by the innovative theater company for viewing and interaction online. The At Home edition was conceived to be presented in the time of the coronavirus lockdown and its aftermath by telling the stories from Shakespeare’s plays as a series of inventive, intimate, and playful presentations direct from the kitchen tables of the six Forced Entertainment performers in London and Sheffield, England, and Berlin. The production of each of Shakespeare’s 36 plays features just a single performer, with ordinary objects on the tabletop cast as stand-ins for the characters.

The series continues at 12 noon every Thursday-Sunday through November 15, and can be accessed via www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu. This week’s schedule features Henry VI, Part 1 (October 15); Henry VI, Part 2 (October 16); Henry VI, Part 3 (October 17); and Richard III, followed by a live post-show discussion over Zoom with the week’s performers (October 18).

COVID-19 doesn’t seem to be cramping the creative output of Santa Barbara blues-rock guitarist Alastair Greene. His forthcoming album, The New World Blues, which we’re told is not a reference to our “new reality,” is set to be released on October 23, but you can get a sneak preview this weekend of a number of the songs via his band’s first live concert since March.

The Alastair Greene Band, with longtime mates Jim Rankin on bass and Austin Beede on drums joining the guitarist/singer-songwriter, has filmed and recorded the performance at the Los Angeles studios of Bandprod.com employing a fully professional production, including audio, video, and lighting. The show includes Greene favorites from his eight-album catalog as well as the live debut of the songs from the new record, which was produced by Tab Benoit.

Greene will return to the BandProd.com studio to host the livestream playback of the concert film at 5 pm on October 17, and will tell stories and answer fan questions live during and after the screening. Greene, who toured internationally for seven years as lead guitarist with the Alan Parsons Project, also recently spent a year as the guitarist in the Sugaray Rayford Band. His last album, Live from the 805, was recorded at SOhO. Visit https://agsongs.com for details and tickets.

Doubly Distanced Day of the Dead Celebration

Luke Livestreams Resonance

A sizable swath of Santa Barbara spoken word artists, singers, and musicians have come together to create Resonance, the second installment in the Marjorie Luke Theatre’s periodic Virtual Concert series that streams for free on its website starting this Friday, October 16. The aim of the event, and indeed the whole series, is to uplift, unite, and inspire the community’s spirits, according to its creator-producer, Luke executive director Rod Lathim, who said the more than 30 participating artists and community members were chosen to reflect our diverse cultures with songs, musical compositions, and spoken word selections that resonate with the times.

The musicians, who performed established and original compositions created specifically for the event, include classical guitarist Chris Fossek, composer Cody Westheimer playing the shakuhachi, Alice Bradley on banjo, Charlotte Choi on cello, Gil Rosas and Jay Real on piano, Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra founder Adam Phillips singing and playing guitar and Chinese flute with Laurie Rasmussen on Celtic harp and Nicole McKenzie on violin, and Miguelito Leon & Friends sharing a traditional Afro Cuban percussion and vocal work.

Spoken word pieces performed by Remi Sandri, Solomon N’dungu, Jane Sweeney, Jean Howard, Sharon Hoshida, Gil Rosas, Kareem Battle, Lailan McGrath, Aliz Rubicalva, Fred Madrigal, Rich Hoag, Marion Freitag, Rosalina Macisco, Jay Real, and Tom Hinshaw include works by Maya Angelou, Robert Fulghum, Suzy Kassem, and Albert Camus, plus a monologue from the Stage Manager character in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town read by 14 community members stitched together seamlessly in the editing process.

15 – 22 October 2020

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art celebrates the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos with two, onehour livestreams

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has celebrated the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead” in English) with music, dance, art activities, and altar displays for decades, long before the Pixar film Coco brought the South of the Border holiday to mainstream attention. This year, in light of the continuing pandemic restrictions, the museum is hopping on the virtual bandwagon to take the festivities online via Zoom. The good news is they’ll be streaming live from Oaxaca, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the artisans and art that are central to the deeply moving holiday. Over two, one-hour livestreams taking place at 11 am on Saturday and Sunday, October 17-18, cultural anthropologist and museum travel guide Florencio Moreno will speak about how some of the traditions and unique ways Day of the Dead are celebrated in Oaxaca via visits to the home studio of woodcarver Zeny Fuentes Santiago and papel picado master artist Margarita Sanchez Martinez, both of whom were selected as a Great Master of Mexican Folk Art by the Rockefeller Foundation and National Bank of Mexico’s Cultural Foundation. After the Q&A with each artisan, museum teaching artist Tina Villadolid shares ideas about how to create meaningful elements out of simple materials that can be added to home altars to honor loved ones who have passed. Reserve tickets for the free events at www. tickets.sbma.net.

•MJ

• The Voice of the Village •

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51

NOSH TOWN

the first plant-based personal chef delivery companies in the country. Having served more than three million meals nationally, she is a leading authority in plant-focused food. She is also a stage-3, double cancer

by Claudia Schou survivor, who credits her plant-focused diet for her recovery.

“I take my inspiration for the farm to fork meals I prepare from many places,” says Chef Thibeault. “My culinary idols include Nybll Chefs Thomas Keller and the divine Alice Co-Founder Waters. My favorite meals have been Kristen Thibeault savored at Souen in New York City, L’ Ami will share her take on vegetar- Jean in Paris, and The French Laundry ian cuisine and in Yountville, California. My time in Paris cooking methods often comes through in what I have coined with guests on my vegan fusion style of cooking – I call it October 24 stealth health.”

For more information, visit alisal.com/ République Wine Director Sam Rethmeier will host an educational coastal wine tasting at Ojai news/california-ranch-cookouts.

FALL’S OUTDOOR FEASTS AND EPICUREAN CLASSES

Valley Inn on October 28

OJAI VALLEY INN’S FARMHOUSE EXPERIENCE

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I

n Santa Barbara, complying with evolving health guidelines and ensuring guests’ safety has been a challenge that restaurateurs, winemakers, and hoteliers have faced with zeal and creativity. Perfecting the outdoor dining experience with new furnishings, socially distanced seating and health precautions are part of today’s operation. Bringing a Central Coast dining sensibility to outside areas, sidewalks, gardens, and parking lots is a welcome idea for restaurants and diners. More than ever, Chef’s are embracing their new dining landscape with seasonal items and outdoor culinary experiences. Two venues that are fine-tuning the outdoor dining and experiential culinary experience are the Alisal Guest Ranch and the Ojai Valley Inn. Here’s a peek at what’s on their culinary calendars

ALISAL’S OUTDOOR CULINARY ADVENTURE

O

ne of the beauties of The Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort is the endless wideopen space, perfect for hosting social distanced programs like California Ranch Cookouts featuring notable guest chefs providing tips on ranch-style cooking. Fresh off the heels of his “Beat Bobby Flay” victory, Alisal’s Executive Chef Anthony Endy partners with each guest chef to create a memorable outdoor dining experience for resort guests to enjoy. Meals are served outdoors and space is provided in accordance with CDC guidelines, with the rolling hills of the ranch as a backdrop. “The California Ranch Cookouts gives guests a chance to experience something in addition to what they normally find during their Alisal stay,” said Kathleen Cochran, general manager of The Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort. “All staff wear masks, and we require guests to wear masks when they are walking around the property,” she added. “To ensure a safe dining experience for our guests, we ask that guests only sit with their party. We have buffet service and call tables up one table at a time. Staff serves guests from behind plexiglass shields. We work hard to ensure the spirit and fun of the dining experience, while also implementing procedures to keep everyone safe.”

On October 24, Nybll co-founder and executive chef Kristen Thibeault will share her take on vegetarian cuisine and cooking methods with guests. According to Nybll’s website, Chef Thibeault is considered one of the pioneers of the modern plant-based food movement. A nationally recognized vegan chef since 2012, Kristen founded one of

52 MONTECITO JOURNAL

he Farmhouse at the Ojai Valley Inn is a culinary center, which features regular dinners with renowned guest chefs like Ruth Reichl and Christopher Kostow, as well as cooking classes.

Unveiled in early 2019, the $20 million, multiuse epicurean and event center draws inspiration from the magical setting of Ojai to incorporate a natural esthetic for the 30,000-square-foot facility. James Beard Foundation Award winner Nancy Silverton serves as The Farmhouse’s culinary ambassador, curating a series of experiential, bucket list-worthy epicurean events aimed at providing guests the opportunity to experience master classes, book signings, talks, and workshops.

These days, capacities for all culinary classes and guest chef events have been reduced to ensure physical distancing, and James Beard Foundation award recipient Nancy guests attending special dinners are offered Silverton serves as culinary ambassador at The al fresco seating in The Farmhouse Garden Farmhouse at Ojai Valley Inn with the parties they book with rather than a communicable dining table, according to Ben Kephart, director of operations at Ojai Valley Inn. Upcoming events include a four-course fall-themed wine dinner with winemaker Doug Margerum from 6:30 pm to 9 pm on October 15. The cost is $175.

On October 27, Ojai Valley Inn pastry chefs Heather Campbell and Amy Hong will lead a macaron pastry class from 4 pm to 6 pm. The cost is $125. This hands-on workshop will teach pastry lovers how to make the perfect French macaron from start to finish. Discover the proper mixing methods, piping techniques, and assembly of these elegant and colorful treats. The cooking class includes recipe cards and a box of macarons for each guest to take home. Children age six and older are welcome. Guests 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

On October 28, sip some of the best coastal wine varieties with Sam Rethmeier from 2 pm to 3:30 pm. The cost is $95. Rethmeier has held positions in some of the country’s finest wine-centric establishments including Frasca Food & Wine, chi SPACCA, and Les Marchands. Now the Wine Director at Walter and Margarita Manzke’s beloved République in Los Angeles, Rethmeier will lead an engaging, educational afternoon, as the flavors and nuances of six unique wines are tasted and explored. Guests will be seated exclusively with the parties they book with.

One of California’s greatest wine minds, Sarah Clarke will lead an educational and engaging afternoon exploring the diverse Italian viniculture from 2 pm to 3:30 pm on November 5. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Clarke worked for Patina Group, José Andrés, Michael Voltaggio, and most recently served as Beverage Director for Nancy Silverton’s Mozza Group. Tasting includes six wines from Italy. $125 per person.

On December 5, The Farmhouse will host guest chef Dominique Crenn, proprietor of San Francisco’s Atelier Crenn, Petit Crenn, and Bar Crenn, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. In 2016, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list named her the world’s best female chef, and two years later Crenn became the first, and still only, woman in the country to earn a third Michelin star. Guests will be treated to a multi-course dinner paired with wines from our cellar. The chef’s dinner cost is $450 and includes a signed copy of Crenn’s latest book, Rebel Chef: In Search of What Matters.

For more information, visit www.ojaivalleyinn.com.

•MJ

“I see people as the nucleus of a great idea that hasn’t come to be yet.” – Richard Pryor

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• The Voice of the Village •

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54 MONTECITO JOURNAL

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 Make everyday a pain free Riviera day. myrivieralife.com “Covering Reagan”. 95 well-framed, original, national and international full-color magazine covers, previously on loan and displayed at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. This one-of-a-kind and unique collection is now offered for sale by the original collector/owner. The covers encompass Ronald Reagan’s years in office during which time he was pictured on the front covers of more magazines than anyone else previously and to date. The covers are from both national and international publications including the Soviet Union, France and Germany. The Reagan Library placed an insured value of the collection in the mid five figure bracket – seller has established an asking price of $25,000, but reasonable offers will be considered. It is the seller’s wish that another party acquire this historical collection to help preserve Ronald Reagan’s legacy. The collection is close by in Ventura and can be inspected there by appointment. Contact: Richard Main, email:rzmain@verizon.net.

Telephone 805-861-4135

Fit for Life REMOTE TRAINING AVAILABLE Customized workouts and nutritional guidance for any lifestyle.

Individual/group sessions.

Specialized in corrective exercise – injury prevention and post surgery. House calls available. Victoria Frost- CPT & CES 805-895-9227

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

POSITION WANTED LOCAL ESTATE MANAGER/CHEF. CPR/AED, Guard Card. LiveScan.

Excellent References.

Simon 805-455-2800.

PRIVATE CHEF Private Chef/Estate Mngr/Shiatsu Practitioner 25 years experience specializing in fine dining, with an emphasis on natural wellness cuisine if desired. Live-in or live-out, full or part-time. 7 day menu available.

Excellent references. 791-856-0359 robertpdonohue@icloud.com available starting Sept 25, 2020.

Matt house sits. Very local (805) 403-8313

WANTED WANTED: Reel to reel music tapes.

Please call Patrick at 510-517-3351.

$8 minimum

SPECIAL SERVICES NOW OPEN

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD

It’s Simple. Charge is $2 per line, each line with 31 characters.

Minimum is $8 per week/issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue.

Email text to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860 and we will respond with a cost.

Deadline for inclusion is Monday before 2 pm.

We accept Visa/MasterCard/Amex

“Rosa Parks showed us all that one little person can make a whole bunch of noise without so much as a whisper.” – Richard Pryor

Available personal shopper to find the best quality at the best price; handle returns successfully. $20/hr or $50/ maximum per day. Call 602 679-4219 REAL ESTATE WANTED Local PP wants to purchase SFR; or 2 to 4 units with FHA financing; or lease with option; or seller financing.

805-538-1119 or JBG PO Box 3963; SB, Calif. 93130.

DONATIONS NEEDED Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary Menagerie 2340 Lillie Avenue Summerland CA 93067 (805) 969-1944 Over 25 Years in Montecito

Over25 25Years YearsininMontecito Montecito Over

MONTECITO MONTECITO MONTECITO ELECTRIC ELECTRIC ELECTRIC

EXCELLENTREFERENCES R EFERENCES EXCELLENT EXCELLENT REFERENCES • Repair Wiring • Wiring • Repair Repair Wiring • Inspection • Electrical Remodel Wiring • Remodel Wiring • Wiring • New New Wiring • New Wiring • • Landscape LandscapeLighting Lighting • Landscape Lighting • • Interior InteriorLighting Lighting • Interior Lighting

(805) 969-1575 969-1575 (805) 969-1575 (805) STATE LICENSE STATE LICENSENo. No.485353 485353

STATE LICENSE No. 485353 MAXWELLL. HAILSTONE MAXWELLL. HAILSTONE MAXWELL L. HAILSTONE East Valley Road, Suit 147 1482 East Valley Road, Suit 147 1482 East Valley Road, Suite 147 Montecito, California 93108 Montecito, California 93108 Montecito, California 93108

www.montecitoelectric.com www.montecitoelectric.com 15 – 22 October 2020

ADVERTISE IN THE LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY (805) 565-1860 LOCAL LOBSTER FINANCIAL PLANNING AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE William T. Toner, Jr. CFP AIF

805-855-0292 www.plainscoastal.com bill@plainscoastal.com 1482 East Valley Road, STE 10, Montecito, CA

Direct from the boat Garrigan Seafood Co.

Call/Text: 415-533-4509 Local, Sustainable, Family owned (Mention this AD for $5 off)

ARCHITECTURAL

CITY OF SANTA BARBARA - GENERAL SERVICES DIVISION PO BOX 1990, SANTA BARBARA, CA 93102-1990

FACTORY

We design We fabricate We build We install

INVITATION FOR BIDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that sealed bids will be received via electronic transmission on the City of Santa Barbara PlanetBids portal site until the date and time indicated below at which time they will be publicly opened and posted for:

Local Contractor Licence #911243 Cristian Salamanca (805) 696-8507

www.larenaissanceofart.com

BID NO. 5868 DUE DATE & TIME: NOVEMBER 4, 2020 UNTIL 3:00 P.M. SECURITY PATROL SERVICES AT CENTRAL LIBRARY Scope of Work: The qualified firm will provide uniformed, unarmed security guard officers at the Central Library facility located at 40 East Anapamu Street in downtown Santa Barbara.

Bidders must be registered on the city of Santa Barbara’s PlanetBids portal in order to receive addendum notifications and to submit a bid. Go to PlanetBids for bid results and awards. It is the responsibility of the bidder to submit their bid with sufficient time to be received by PlanetBids prior to the bid opening date and time. The receiving deadline is absolute. Allow time for technical difficulties, uploading, and unexpected delays. Late or incomplete Bid will not be accepted.

If further information is needed, contact Caroline Ortega, Senior Buyer at (805) 564-5351or email: COrtega@santabarbaraca.gov A MANDATORY pre-bid meeting will be held on October 21, 2020 at 10:00 a.m., at the Central Library, located at 40 E Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA, to discuss the specifications and field conditions. Please be punctual since late arrivals may be excluded from submitting a bid. Proposals will not be considered from parties that did not attend the mandatory meeting. All attendees are responsible for bringing and wearing a facemask on-site and following current CDC and Santa Barbara County Public Health social distancing guidelines.

The City of Santa Barbara requires all contractors to possess a valid State of California, Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, Private Patrol Operator's license and be accredited by CALSAGA, California Association of Licensed Security Agencies, Guards and Associates. No private patrol operator shall provide services within the City of Santa Barbara without first having registered with the Commission in the manner provided in this Chapter. (Ord. 4499, 1988; Ord. 3748, 1975.), per City of Santa Barbara Municipal Code 5.07.030.

FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE ACT Contractor agrees in accordance with Section 1735 and 1777.6 of California Labor Code, and the California Fair Employment Practice Act (Sections 1410-1433) that in the hiring of common or skilled labor for the performance of any work under this contract or any subcontract hereunder, no contractor, material supplier or vendor shall, by reason of age (over 40), ancestry, color, mental or physical disability, sex, gender identity and expression, marital status, medical condition (cancer or genetic characteristics), national origin, race, religious belief, or sexual orientation, discriminate against any person who is qualified and available to perform the work to which such employment relates. The Contractor further agrees to be in compliance with the City of Santa Barbara’s Nondiscriminatory Employment Provisions as set forth in Chapter 9 of the Santa Barbara Municipal Code.

LIVING WAGE Any service purchase order contract issued as a result of this request for bids or quotes may be subject to the City’s Living Wage Ordinance No 5384, SBMC 9.128 and its implementing regulations.

CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE Contractor must submit to the contracted department within ten (10) calendar days of an order, AND PRIOR TO START OF WORK, certificates of Insurance naming the City of Santa Barbara as Additional Insured in accordance with the attached Insurance Requirements. _______________________ William Hornung, C.P.M. General Services Manager

15 – 22 October 2020

Published: October 14, 2020 Montecito Journal

WE BUILD

ARGENTINE BARBECUES Custom made Stainless Steel/Iron Cristian Salamanca - (805) 696 - 8507

www.larenaissanceofart.com/argentinebarbecue

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Aquareon Publishing, 1240 Estrella Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93110. Glenys L. Archer, 1240 Estrella Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93110.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on October 2, 2020. 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. 2020-0002504. Published October 14, 21, 28, November 4, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INB Productions, 126 E. Haley Street A15 Second Floor, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. John Markel, 3214 Campanil Dr., Santa Barbara, CA 93109. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on October 1, 2020. 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. 2020-0002492. Published October 14, 21, 28, November 4, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Deep It Management, 919 Linden Ave, Unit B, Carpinteria, CA, 93013. Deep It Management LLC, 919 Linden Ave, Unit B, Carpinteria, CA, 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 8, 2020. 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. 2020-0002281.

Published October 7, 14, 21, 28, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Daum Commercial Real Estate Services; Daum Property Management Services, 801 S. Figueroa St. Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA, 90017. D/AQ Corporation, 801 S. Figueroa St. Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA, 90017. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 9, 2020. 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, Coun-

ty Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2020-0002302.

Published October 7, 14, 21, 28, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Nalaya Healing, 1021 Neil Park Ave, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. Willa Kveta Photography, 1021 Neil Park Ave, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 29, 2020.

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. 2020-0002462.

Published October 7, 14, 21, 28, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Nalaya Healing, 1021 Neil Park Ave, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. Willa Kveta Photography, 1021 Neil Park Ave, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 29, 2020.

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. 2020-0002462.

Published October 7, 14, 21, 28, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: The Mission Group Property & Estate Man-

CAL STATE HAULING

“You Load or We Load & Haul Away” • Debris Removal • Material Pickup (sand, rock, gravel, mulch etc.)

• Move Out Clean Ups • Residential and Commercial Fully Licensed and Insured

805-259-4075

agement, 1435 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. Shane M Amburn, 1435 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 25, 2020. 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. 2020-0002451. Published September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Gadzooks Brands, 327 W Figueroa St, Unit B, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. Nathan Silverglate, 327 W Figueroa St, Unit B, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 24, 2020. 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. 2020-0002433. Published September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Fog City Investments, LLC, 4141 State Street Suite E2, Santa Barbara, CA, 93110.

Fog City Investments, LLC, 4141 State Street Suite E2, Santa Barbara, CA, 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 23, 2020. This statement

lic#974407

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. 2020-0002428. Published September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: South Coast Fine Arts Conservation Center, 1807 Cleveland Ave., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. Patty West, 1807 Cleveland Ave., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 18, 2020. 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. 2020-0002393. Published September 23, 30, October 7, 14, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Bree’Osh, 1150 Coast Village Road Suite E, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Artisan Sourdough Bakers, 27 West Anapamu Street, Suite 101, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 16, 2020.

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. 2020-0002374. Published September 23, 30, October 7, 14, 2020.

CA$H ON THE SPOT CLASSIC CARS RV’S • CARS SUV • TRUCKS MOTORHOMES We come to you!

702-210-7725

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

55

Tri-color Gold Diamond Ring 1.02 Carat

812 Stat e St ree t • Sa n ta Ba rba r a • 805.966.9187 1482 E a s t Va lle y Roa d • Mon t eci to • 805.565.4411 Brya n tAndSons.com