Open to the Public

Leslie’s Jewels – The Ridley-Tree estate continues to be dispersed with 85 lots of her rings, earrings, and other finery up for auction, P.10

Women’s History Month – From heart health to the voice-over work of Pamela Dillman Haskell, this is the beginning of our coverage for WHM, P.12

Lowenthal’s Legend – The Music Academy hosts an intimate evening with master pianist Jerome Lowenthal and his friends, P.18

A Pismo Sojourn – A weekend in Pismo Beach at the Vespera Resort brings beach views and good food at this dog-friendly lodging, P.28

www.montecitojournal.net

Open to the Public

The Planned Parenthood California Central Coast provides essential services to the Tri-County area, page 24

Swimsuit weather is on the way, and the Miramar is thinking ahead with plans to bring back its oceanside public swimming deck (Story starts on page 5)

Hot Springs on Watch

Authorities have some answers after cameras are found around the Montecito Hot Springs area, page 8

SB Travel Bureau Turns 75

Charles de L’Arbre talks about the changing industry and how their family business continues to help travelers, page 28

(Doulton Family Album, courtesy of Beverly Doulton)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

P.5

Village Beat – The Miramar is bringing back its swim platform, the MPC gets its replacement commissioner, updates on the San Ysidro Roundabout, and Cold Spring School wins awards

P.8

Local News – After cameras are found in the Montecito Hot Springs area, several authorities respond on their presence Tide Guide

P.10

Montecito Miscellany – The Wildlife Care Network happy hour, Leslie RidleyTree’s jewels, Helen Believe, and more miscellany

P.12

Our Town – Pamela Dillman Haskell speaks about women’s voices and her own voice-over work for Women’s History Month

WomenHeart – Women’s heart health is a serious issue, and this organization is helping spread the word and support

P.14

Society Invites – The Santa Barbara Museum of Art Women’s Board welcomes new members at its annual luncheon

P.16

Dear Montecito – Isa Saldivar speaks about their art, growing up in the foster care system, and queer and cultural identity

Climb Out – The Santa Barbara Rock Gym partners with Climb Out to host a monthly Queer Climb Night

P.18

On Entertainment – The legendary Lowenthal returns to the Music Academy, State Street Ballet’s spring show, and some author offerings

P.22

Brilliant Thoughts – Let’s get this straight: whether writing about war times or simply lines, Ashleigh Brilliant has a way with words

Robert’s Big Questions – Do we have a direction in the universe, history, and society, or are we just going around in circles?

P.24

P.26

The Giving List – The vital work of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast and their upcoming Birds and Bees Bash

Your Westmont – The college welcomes a new garden manager, a conference examines the liberal arts and climate change, and Diamond to Dust hits the theater one last weekend

P.28

SB Travel Bureau – Celebrating its 75th anniversary, SB Travel Bureau can add more value to your travels than a website can and serve as an American connection while traveling abroad

Travel Buzz – A weekend getaway to Pismo leads to surfers, beachside views, and churros in a cloud

P.31

P.32

Library Mojo – If you forgot to attend the Montecito Library’s Brain Education Series, here’s an overview of what you missed

The Optimist Daily – The European Union seeks to drive its greenhouse gas emissions down with a ban on the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles by 2035

P.36

P.38

Calendar of Events – Jazz in the Lobero, funk in the Chumash, pajamas in the theater, and more

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

P.39 Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

Village Beat Miramar to Bring Back Swim Platform

by Kelly Mahan Herrick

On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted to allow the county’s Community Services Department, Parks Division, to pursue all necessary permits and agreements related to placing a seasonal swim platform in the ocean off Miramar Beach in Montecito. The platform project is being pursued by the Rosewood Miramar team in an attempt to recreate the beloved ocean swim platform that was once located off the shores of the historic Miramar Hotel; the platform was part of Miramar owner Rick Caruso’s original proposal when he resurrected the iconic oceanfront resort.

The project is still very much in its preliminary phase, with County staff getting the green light on Tuesday to do the necessary legwork for the platform, including seeking a replacement of a previous State Lands Agreement, filing an application for a Coastal Development Permit, and negotiating an agreement with Rosewood Hotel Group to address the purchase, installation, maintenance, and operation of the platform, which includes indemnification, insurance, etc. The Rosewood has indicated intent to fund the construction, operations, and maintenance of the platform, including paying for lifeguards and insurance; the Rosewood has also offered to reimburse the County for the costs of all permits and agreements necessary.

The swim platform, the size of which has not yet been determined, would be anchored to the ocean floor and would likely be in operation from May 1 through Oct. 15 each summer, weather permitting. The platform would be available for use by the public, according to Christina Vu, Caruso’s senior director of Digital Marketing. “We are looking forward to working with the County to bring back the swim platform, recognizing that it held special significance to the community,” she said.

The project will be back in front of the board of supervisors at a later date, where the public will be able to weigh in on the swim platform installation. Several comments were submitted to the board in preparation for this week’s meeting. “The swim platform is an incredible part of the history of Miramar Beach, and we look forward to seeing families throughout the community once again be able to enjoy it,” wrote a neighbor. We’ll have more on the project once it is further along.

If you have any photos you’d like to share of the old swim platform, send them to miramarinfo@caruso.com

New MPC Commissioner

Also at the SB Board of Supervisors hearing, local realtor and longtime resident Sandy Stahl was appointed to the Montecito Planning Commission, filling the vacancy left by Susan Keller, who was removed from the commission in January after nearly a decade of service.

Stahl has been a resident of Montecito since 1982, and has been a top-producing realtor for 34 years; her office with Sotheby’s International Realty is in the Upper Village. Her nonprofit work includes organizations such as Childhelp USA, Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, CASA, Montecito Association, Santa Barbara

Village Beat Page 64

Rosewood Miramar is seeking to bring back the iconic swim platform that was once anchored off Miramar Beach

Sandy Stahl has been appointed to the Montecito Planning Commission

Village Beat (Continued from 5)

Board of Realtors Nominating Committee, the Santa Barbara Jewish Federation, and others.

Stahl will join fellow Commissioners Bob Kupiec, Marshall Miller, Donna Senauer, and Ron Pulice. Stahl’s first meeting will be in March, and her initial term will be for one year, which is the remainder of Keller’s term.

San Ysidro Roundabout Meeting

A community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 9, to discuss the construction staging for the San Ysidro Roundabout, which begins construction mid-March

On Thursday, March 9, at 5 pm, there will be a meeting at Montecito Union School regarding the construction staging for the San Ysidro Roundabout, which starts mid-March.

The San Ysidro roundabout project includes replacing the current intersection at San Ysidro, North Jameson, and the Highway 101 northbound entrance and exit with an oblong-shaped roundabout, and adding a four-way stop on the other side of the freeway bridge, at San Ysidro and South Jameson Lane (near the Rosewood Miramar). The single-lane roundabout will include pedestrian access on every leg of the intersection, including crosswalks that connect with paved walkways through the medians or refuge areas. The area will be heavily landscaped, per the conditions of the project, and signage is limited to coastal access and safety signs.

It’s anticipated that local streets could see five to 10 minutes of delay during various construction phases. The first stage of work on the project will include the closure of the northbound on-ramp at San Ysidro Road. Project rep Kirsten Ayars tells us before construction begins, the southbound on-ramp at Olive Mill Road will reopen. Construction on the roundabout is expected to be completed by the end of the year. For more information, attend the community meeting March 9 at 5 pm at Montecito Union School, or visit www.sbroads.com. We’ll have more about the construction staging in next week’s edition.

Cold Spring School Accepts Awards

Cold Spring School accepted both the California Distinguished School and California Exemplary Arts in Education awards from state Superintendent Tony Thurmond on Feb. 16 at the Disneyland Hotel. Cold Spring is the only school in the state to receive both honors.

Five Santa Barbara County elementary schools were named 2023 California Distinguished Schools by the California Department of Education (CDE). The Distinguished Schools program returned this year, after a temporary suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cold Spring School joined Foothill Elementary, Kellogg Elementary, Mountain View Elementary, and Peabody Charter School.

According to Thurmond, his year’s 19 awardees of the Exemplary Arts in Education award provided high-quality arts curriculum and instruction and assessment; high-quality professional learning for staff who are responsible for providing arts learning; and access to high-quality, culturally responsive arts instruction for all students, including English learners, special education students, and other special populations.

This is the first year that elementary, middle, and high schools – including all

Pictured: Copeland Mansfield bedroom in Walnut

Local News

Mandatory Forest and Trails Closures, and Montecito Hot Springs Monitoring

by Joanne A Calitri

After receiving a report of five cameras being placed around the Montecito Hot Springs areas and several agencies unaware of their presence, Montecito Journal reached out to local authorities for answers regarding the cameras. The response received was concerned with the current mandatory closure of the local forests, trails, and recreation areas to the public, and the issue of monitoring debris flow and vandalism at the Montecito Hot Springs and its trails.

The core issues are to maintain public safety during these times of unheralded weather conditions not noted since 1969, which are prevailing and competing with remedial work, and the regulations surrounding the Montecito Hot Springs and trails.

Lieutenant Ugo “Butch” Arnoldi responded:

“As mentioned in a phone conversation, last month we received a call reporting several people being observed jumping over the fence and gate at the Hot Springs Trailhead by neighborhood residents. USFS Law Enforcement Officers responded, as well as the Sheriff’s Office. While at the Hot Springs County Park Trailhead Parking Lot on East Mountain Drive, a concerned citizen and Montecito resident arrived on scene and contacted law enforcement on site. They – having knowledge of the past, as well as current problems involving that trail access which is posted ‘Closed by USFS Forest Order,’ and the history of people diverting the water flow from the natural creek to form new pools, as well as vandalizing the water pipes that run through that watershed – asked if Forest Service would be interested in them installing trail cameras on United States Forest land to monitor not only the water and debris flow, but

to possibly capture the illegal activity of persons diverting the water, as well as damaging water lines.

The two Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers said that would be a welcomed proactive enforcement tool. The citizen was told that the cameras must be within the USFS Forest Boundary and not to display any logos, et cetera.

Unfortunately, the cameras were placed with both the Sheriff’s Office logo and County of Santa Barbara Public Works logo on a tag attached to each camera, which drew attention from citizens who made the inquiry as to why they were placed at this location, rather than display the USFS logo who authorized their placement. As soon as objection to their placement was received, they were all removed by County Public Works staff and the owner of the cameras.”

MJ also spoke with Daryl Hodges, SBC District ranger U.S. Forest Service, who had this to say concerning the cameras and current closures:

Q. What area of the Montecito Hot Springs and trails is under the U.S. Forest Service?

A. Basically, there are a couple of trails that lead to the hot springs. The Montecito Hot Springs trail and the adjoining parking lot are not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, it is under the jurisdiction of the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department.

Once a person crosses onto the forest boundary where the hot springs are located, this area is under Forest Service jurisdiction. The actual location of the Montecito Hot Springs is not managed as a developed site by the Santa Barbara Ranger District, like the other campgrounds and forest areas.

Those hot springs have been there for over 100 years, and they’re known throughout Montecito and people hike to the springs. What has occurred over the years is that

some community members have built soaking tubs without authorization that have not been permitted.

The hot springs area popularity has increased since the recent COVID-19 pandemic and through social media.

What is the current Forest Closure Order status and what can the public do to help?

What has occurred as of late due to storm damage is that the Los Padres National Forest put into effect a Forest Closure Order to close the forest to the public until March 14, 2023, to do storm damage assessment on our roads, our trails, our recreation areas, and our facilities.

This is for the health and safety of the public and our personnel. In order to do the assessment, we have survey crews and large equipment moving around the area, and we just don’t need the public out there.

We are asking and wanting the public to be patient while we work through the assessment process while going into the repair process for the roads, trails, and recreation sites.

Because the storm damage was so extensive and we are still getting rain and weather causing more damage, a lot of the sites may take longer than expected to be repaired.

We also had snowfall below 1,200 feet, and people want to come and play in the snow. We understand that, and at the same time we want everyone to respect the Closure Order for public health and safety.

The feedback that I have seen and is being reported is vehicles being stuck and cutting off roadways. This is serious, as our First Responders need to access all roadways and trails and can’t get to and through because cars are blocking the way. What I am asking is the public stay patient.

I know this is something new, because I also have received reports from people calling saying they “have grown up and lived here all their lives, and every time it snows the forest never closes.” But we haven’t seen this type of damage and storm weather since 1969. It is a major weather event where we still have storm damage.

We ask the public to stay patient while we work through this.

Can you speak about the cameras that were placed at the Montecito Hot Springs area recently and now removed?

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE

Scan this QR code to access the free Los Padres ForestWatch Trails App for realtime trail closures, openings, and forest information

The SB Ranger District understands there were five cameras that were strategically placed along the hot springs, along the trail, and maybe along the creek, with some of the cameras focused and fixated on the hot springs themselves. Neither the Santa Barbara Ranger District, the Los Padres National Forest, nor I authorized or sanctioned the placement of the cameras.

I have received rumors that the Forest Service approved those cameras.

One needs a special-use permit to do anything in the forest. I did not authorize a special-use permit.

The individual who volunteered to put up the cameras should have been directed to the proper agencies for a special-use permit before placing the cameras.

newspaper

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

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

VP, Sales & Marketing | Leanne Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net

Managing Editor | Zach Rosen zach@montecitojournal.net

Art/Production Director | Trent Watanabe

Administration | Jessikah Fechner

Administrative Assistant | Valerie Alva

Graphic Design/Layout | Stevie Acuña

Account Managers | Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Elizabeth Nadel, Bryce Eller

Contributing Editor | Kelly Mahan Herrick

Copy Editor | Lily Buckley Harbin

Proofreading | Helen Buckley

Arts and Entertainment | Steven Libowitz

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

Gossip | Richard Mineards

History | Hattie Beresford

Humor | Ernie Witham

Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri

Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook

Food & Wine | Claudia Schou, Gabe Saglie

Published by:

Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC

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

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

Cold Spring School Superintendent Dr. Amy Alzina accepts both the California Distinguished School and California Exemplary Arts in Education award from state Superintendent Tony Thurmond

direct-funded charter schools, juvenile court community schools, and alternative schools of choice – could apply for this award in the same year. Eligible schools show that they offer instruction in a minimum of three arts disciplines (dance, media arts, music, theater, and/or visual arts) during the regular school day and show that special populations have equal opportunities to access these programs.

For more information, visit www.coldspringschool.net.

“Santa

Kelly Mahan Herrick, also a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond.

Montecito Miscellany A Wild Time at Happy Hour

by Richard Mineards

Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network is battening down the hatches as “baby season” kicks off!

Executive Director Ariana Katovich says that since the New Year the nonprofit, based in the Goleta foothills, has had 222 “patients” of 62 different species, 70% of them birds, like herons and pelicans, and 30% mammals, including bush rabbits.

But with the start of “baby season” on March 1, the organization is expecting between 30 and 40 rescued animals per day to be brought in.

“Fortunately, we have been preparing all winter for the onslaught,” she told me at a Wild Wine Happy Hour for supporters at board member Gretchen Lieff’s La Lieff tasting room in the Funk Zone.

Among the 40 party animals listening to tunes from the Traveling Hurtados and noshing on Mardi Gras fare of vegan and

crawfish paella from Benjamin Schuster’s Santa Barbara Paella Catering, king cake, and New Orleans beignets were Ginni Dreier, Lisa Osborn, Brenda Blalock, Kristi Newton, Antoinette Chartier, and Amy and Nancy Taliaferro

Ridley-Tree’s Treasures

Having written about the sale of uber philanthropist Leslie Ridley-Tree ’s Birnam Wood home and her extensive couture wardrobe in last week’s illustrious organ, now it’s time for her amazing collection of bling to hit the market.

John Moran Auctioneers in Monrovia is selling 85 lots, including necklaces,

Miscellany Page 194

(805) 946-0060

My parents were leaving their home of 52 years to move into Casa Dorinda. We knew this would be a daunting logistical and emotional process. SB SOS were exceptional. Their efficient system, realistic pace, deep patience and empathy made for a seamless move. Our family is so grateful for their help. – Jennifer R.

Gretchen Lieff, Ariana Katovich, Caitlin Swedroe, Rachel Mattovich, Gina Petuskey at La Lieff Winery in Funk Zone (photo by Benjamin Schuster)

Ariana Katovich, Roland Bryan, and Ginni Dreier (photo by Rachel Mattovich)

Benjamin Schuster, executive chef of SB Paella Catering (photo by Gina Petuskey)

Our Town Women’s

History Month with Pamela Dillman Haskell

WomenHeart

Spreading Love, Support, and Education

by Joanne A Calitri

Uncredited inventors in science, math, aeronautics, architecture, music, and art, women have made numerous contributions to everyday life. Heralding causes from suffragettes, No Kid Hungry, health care, truth in cosmetic ingredients, and redefining beauty – women strive to change the patriarchal narrative.

Take notes, Almar Latour, the hemline index, rather the long and short of it, coincides with the direction of the stock market.

Women’s History Month started in 1978 with the Sonoma County Commission Education Task Force on the Status of Women who planned and held a Women’s History Week to correspond with International Women’s Day on Wednesday, March 8. With lobbying efforts, that week became a Presidential Proclamation in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter, and in 1987-1990, via Public Law 100-9 with resolutions, the U.S. president proclaimed March as Women’s History Month.

To celebrate all things women locally, this column is dedicating the month of March to them – their contributions, their stories, their inspiration, and opportunities to support.

The voice you may be listening to on your audio book as you commute to work just may be the same voice who is the president of the SB Rescue Mission Women’s Auxiliary, a VNA Health Board member for 10 years, and a board director of the Creative Network, with former volunteer work as Montecito Union School PTA president, the Friendship Center, the Lobero Theatre Associates, the Granada Theatre, the Marjorie Luke Theatre, and the Santa Barbara Council for Arts in Education. She teaches master classes and workshops in the Meisner Method of acting, holds a BFA from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art London, has acted in live theater, TV, and films, modeled, and yes, is a wife and mother.

We are talking this week about and with Pamela Dillman Haskell, who came to Montecito-SB in her teens with her dad, actor Bradford Dillman, stepmother and renowned model Suzy Parker, and her siblings. Recently nominated for an Audie Award, a.k.a. the Oscars for audiobooks, she starts her day with yoga, coffee, and then off to work!

Here is our interview with the spoilers left in.

Q. When you reflect on Women’s History Month in 2023, who stands out for you?

A. Hmm — which women come to mind as our greatest role models for today’s generation of women? Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have to be on that list, for sure. And Maya Angelou.

Among living role models, I’d say, Malala Yousafzai, Margaret Atwood, Amal Clooney, Lizzo … I could go on and on, but those women are all so incredibly inspirational, they come first to my mind.

What contributions by women are most relevant?

Women’s rights in general. And women standing side by side with men in any field, quietly, steadily, purposefully getting the work done to make the world a better place, without calling attention to themselves or angling for personal glory … but using their positions to make a difference. Those are the women I look to.

Did you have female mentors?

Both my mother and stepmother were powerful forces in my life, inspirational in

Our Town Page 234

by Rachael Quisel

“Ibarely got into the hospital in time,” said former County of Santa Barbara Supervisor Janet Wolf about the heart attack she suffered in 2004, at the age of 50. She, like many women, didn’t recognize the warning signs. If she had known what to look for, she might have gotten help before damage was done to her heart.

Motivated to prevent this from happening to more women, she went to a luncheon where then Congresswoman Lois Capps told her about the WomenHeart program. In 2005, an inspired Wolf went to the Mayo Clinic for WomenHeart training.

WomenHeart is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1999 by three women who had heart attacks while in their 40s and faced many obstacles, including misdiagnosis, inadequate treatment, and social isolation. The organization’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of women living with or at risk of heart disease through patient support, education, and advocacy.

The first step is putting old myths, such as heart disease is something that only men need to worry about, to rest. Almost as many women as men die each year of heart disease in the United States. According to the American Heart Association, “women’s awareness that heart disease is their leading cause of death declined markedly in the last decade, from 65% of women being aware in 2009 to 44% being aware in 2019.” WomenHeart is working to change this by providing support and resources to women with heart disease, as well as educating the public about the risks and warning signs of the disease.

“I had this denial factor,” said Evan McCabe, cardiology nurse and professor emeritus of nursing at SBCC, “when I started to get chest pain going up that hill, I was like, ‘Meh, it must be my asthma.

They’re cutting the grass; I must be allergic to grass.’” A colleague urged her to seek help, and she was diagnosed with microvascular disease, a lack of oxygen to her entire heart. “What if I hadn’t had the knowledge to go that step farther?” McCabe asked.

Diagnosed at 47, she didn’t know anyone who had her disease and felt ashamed and lonely. But after seeing Wolf speak to Congress on behalf of WomenHeart, she was inspired to take action. McCabe went to the WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium, which is in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, to become a WomenHeart Champion.

One of the key programs of WomenHeart is the WomenHeart Champions program. This program trains women with heart disease to become community educators and support network leaders. These women are trained to speak about their experiences, share information, and provide peer support to other women living with the condition. The first evening there, McCabe met four women who had her specific disease.

“We all got together and asked, ‘Oh, does this happen to you, too?’” said McCabe about her experience. “We just

Tabling at Cottage Hospital with four WomenHeart Champions, from left: Marsha Griggs, Lou Ann Topping, Olivia Rodriguez, and Janet Wolf (2023)

Janet Wolf and Evan McCabe in Washington, D.C. (2016)

Pamela Dillman Haskell in her soundproof recording booth (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Society Invites

SB Museum of Art Women’s Board

New Members’ Luncheon

National

Charity League, and

CALM;

by Joanne A Calitri

On Feb. 21, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) Women’s Board held its annual New Members luncheon at the Santa Barbara Club downtown. The event was chaired by board Vice President Karen Tenzer and the event committee was President Paula Farrington, Jean McCourt, and Linda Wortham. The private gala was artfully done with fresh rose centerpieces complementing the formal sit-down luncheon. The beautifully printed program, a rare find at events, showcased the 11 new members appointed to the board. They are: Linda Butterwick, a special education teacher and realtor who has worked with many nonprofits including the School Power Foundation Board, the

Next Friday!

Charles Lloyd 85th Birthday Celebration

with Jason Moran, Larry Grenadier, and Brian Blade

NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd felt that the world needed more tenderness and invited pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade to join him in making an offering to humanity. This super group of musical genius will have its World Premiere at the Lobero during the celebration of its 150th anniversary which, serendipitously, coincides with Charles’ 85th birthday!

Stacey Byers , owner of Captured Spirit Photography SB and career as a Contemporary Art Gallery director and feature film set designer; Ann Cooluris, a fourth-generation Californian working as an interior designer for private clients and on movie sets; Stephanie Hubbard, owner of the boutique architecture firm SiteCreative is a registered landscape architect and LEED AP accredited professional; Emiko Kirshman from Tokyo, Japan, is a custom floral designer; Carol Linn is a professional public speaker and former faculty at San Francisco State University, with a 30-year career in the natural gas and oil industries and serving on many nonprofit boards; Sandy Kelley Marshall holds a career in radio hallmarked by replacing Howard Stern and does voice-over commercials; Jean McCourt, an investment banker, has a long history of volunteer work including the Junior League, Children’s Hospital L.A., Westside Guild president, and is a Las Madrinas member; Diane Pannkuk is the president of the Silver Creek Corporation following her work as a U.S. Dept. of Defense contract negotiator and volunteers at many nonprofits; Michele Profant has an undeniable passion in art education for children with an art history degree and as a teacher of it; and Sue DiCicco Smith was one of two women working in animation at Disney Features, is an author, illustrator, sculptor, and founder of the Peace Crane project 2012.

The luncheon drew more than 100 members to welcome the new members. Key attendees included Larry J. Feinberg the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Director of the SBMA with board member spouse Starr Siegele, SBMA Women’s Executive Board Vice President of Development Isabel Wendt, Vice President of Communications Deb Joseph, Vice President of Social Activities Debra Cochrane, Treasurer Martha Townsend, Secretary Hsiu-Zu Ho, Parliamentarian Julie Blair, and SBMA Assistant Director of External Affairs Susan M. Bradley.

The program commenced with a warm welcome by Ms. Farrington, who acknowledged both sustaining and regular members. “We are happy to welcome eleven new members to the SBMA Women’s Board. We are a working organization and appreciate their diverse talents, enthusiasm, and ideas. Their contribution helps ensure the continuation of our mission of fundraising for and building awareness of the museum in our community,” she said.

Ms. Farrington then introduced Mr. Feinberg, who recently announced his retirement from the museum earlier this year. After noting the 11 new members, Feinberg’s speech was dedicated to laud and thank the Women’s Board for supporting the museum to help purchase major works of art, underwrite exhibitions and events, and many other avenues of support for the general well-being of the museum. He added this would be his last attendance at their annual new members luncheon.

Next, Ms. Tenzer introduced each new member who was presented with flowers and a generous applause from the attendees. The event concluded with photo-ops and warm exchanges.

Visit

411: The Women’s Board of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art was established in 1951. The board’s purpose is to support the museum by raising funds for its exhibitions, acquisitions, educational programs, and special projects. The board is composed of more than 100 active and sustaining members, who organize and sponsor fundraising events each year that also promote community awareness of and interest in the museum.

https://sbmawb.org for more information

The SBMA Women’s Board new members (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

The SBMA Women’s Board Executive Committee: Paula Farrington, Karen Tenzer, Isabel Wendt, Deb Joseph, Debra Cochrane, Martha Townsend, Hsiu-Zu Ho, Julie Blair (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

SBMA Director Larry J. Feinberg with spouse Starr Siegele (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Dear Montecito What Gets Buried

Climb Out

Santa Barbara Rock Gym Partners with Climb Out to Offer Discounted Queer Climb Nights

Isa Saldivar incorporates in their identity as a queer, Chican@ outsider into their art

by Rachael Quisel

On a blustery January Saturday, I attended the first-ever Queer Climb Night in Santa Barbara, hosted by Climb Out, a newly formed group dedicated to creating community for self-identified LGBTQ+ individuals.

by Stella Haffner

Santa Barbara’s young art scene emphasizes identity, voice, and change. All three can be found in the work of 21-year-old Isa Saldivar

Working their way out of the foster care system, Isa came to Santa Barbara as a queer, Chican@ outsider – a perspective that continues to inform their art. In our conversation, Isa reflects on the parts of our society that are pushed to the side and the role of art in social justice dialogues.

Q. Tell me about your life before you got into art.

A. I grew up in San Fernando in Los Ángeles. I was placed in a foster home when I was six years old. I was in foster care for several years before being adopted by my aunt and moving to different places – learning how to have a secure home. We moved to Santa Barbara, and I felt like I had been uprooted from where my home was, but eventually I made some family in town. Family indigenous to here. They’ve really helped me regrow my roots and keep looking for my identity, which helped me create my art.

What would you say changed when you got to Santa Barbara?

I stuck out. I think I came from somewhere that was so accepting and so diverse – we all had our own stories – but when I came to Santa Barbara, I realized a lot of the stories sound the same here. A lot of them don’t reflect anything I’d grown up with. So when I came here, I really felt alone, like there weren’t a lot of people who understood me or who accepted me. I would clutch onto tiny bits of my identity, try to quiet down, and let everyone assume whatever they wanted about me.

How was queerness a part of your life at that time?

My queerness was always there. But I wasn’t the first person to see it, and I think it made me an easy target for bullying. When I was in Los Ángeles, it felt like there was just so much more you could talk about, so much else to do other than bully each other for your sexuality. But when I came to Santa Barbara, many times I was called a dyke or had my sexuality dismissed because I wasn’t attractive to many.

It was embarrassing because I didn’t know. I didn’t notice what was going on until much later. It wasn’t until high school that I really started to recognize my own identity as a queer person. And as I started to understand my culture better, I was able to decolonize my idea of what gender is, what identity is. In western culture, gender has always been defined by how others perceive you. To us, it’s how we perceive ourselves. It’s an internal power, not an external one.

Can you tell me more about your cultural background?

Before I lived in Santa Barbara, I knew my family was from Mexico, we spoke Spanish at home, but being separated from my family didn’t help me pick it up. On my mom’s side, her father’s generation is the most Americanized generation. He was born into a world that so aggressively hated brown people, so that side of my family mostly assimilated, or adapted into being Chicano. Learning our language wasn’t really that important, and the parts of my culture that I did get was through Chicano culture. Chicano culture is a whole different way of understanding Mexican culture, because it’s within the context that we exist in a whole other country, separate from our ancestors. From my dad’s side, my tía, my grandparents, and

Dear Montecito Page 194

As much as I enjoy the sport as an on-again, off-again pastime, I often feel intimidated when walking into climbing gyms. The walls, which have holds and textures that mimic natural rock formations, are covered with climbers whose dedication and technical know-how seem semi-professional. My first thought is always, “Why do I think I belong here again?” Quickly followed by, “Is it too late to leave?”

But I’m glad I pushed through the imposter feeling to meet Climb Out founders, and dynamic husband-and-husband duo, Leif and Hunter Johnson. They sat at a welcome table that held colorful, branded stickers, and a name tag station. Their warm welcome immediately put me at ease. I stuck on a name tag and glanced around for others, but I was the only one.

“How many people do you expect to attend?” I asked.

“Between three and 40,” Leif said.

“You’re our first-ever official attendee,” Hunter said.

Since I signed up for membership the night before, I was also their first official member.

“Once we have enough members, we are hoping to join the American Alpine Club’s Affiliate Support Network,” said Johnson. This affiliation would ensure Climb Out’s 501(c)(3) recognition, giving the group access to infrastructure and tools that they wouldn’t normally have.

They needn’t have worried about attendance. An hour into the event, and the gym was full of people wearing name tags. The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming, with climbers of all skill levels and backgrounds working together and encouraging one another. When asked about their experience with Climb Out, climbers expressed appreciation for the inclusive atmosphere and enthusiasm to participate again in future events. This was exactly what the Johnsons were hoping for.

“It’s for people who want to connect with other queer climbers and don’t know how to do it,” Leif said. He and Hunter began Climb Out to realize their shared dream of combining social justice and their love for the outdoors.

The next day, Leif reported 43 total attendees with 22 signing up for membership – more than he expected. The duo plans to take Climb Out into the outdoors with volunteer stewardship opportunities and group trips to some of their favorite climbing spots: Wheeler Gorge, Black Wall, Joshua Tree, and Idyllwild.

Climb Out and organizations like theirs are on the rise. These organizations are doing the year-round work that makes climbing trips and outdoor spaces more welcoming and safer for the LGBTQ+ community. People of all skill levels and backgrounds are invited to join Queer Climb Nights on the second Saturday of every month, from 5-8 pm, at the Santa Barbara Rock Gym with the next one on March 11th.

If you’ll humor me, here’s where I’ll analogize having a queer climbing community to the thick padding that covers the gym’s floors – both are there ready to cushion our falls.

Leif (left) and Hunter Johnson welcoming guests at the first Queer Climb Night at the Santa Barbara Rock Gym

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On Entertainment The Legendary Lowenthal

by Steven Libowitz

Piano faculty member Jerome Lowenthal figured he’d wrapped up his half-century at the Music Academy when he was the star of MA’s 2019 Opening Night Gala, “Honoring a Legend,” a densely packed evening that featured a cocktail reception, a performance at Hahn Hall curated by Lowenthal that featured a series of MA alumni pianists from his studio, and a dinner in the Miraflores courtyard with a special al fresco encore performance from the honoree.

Indeed, the pianist has not been back to the Music Academy in his normal capacity ever since, that being full-time during the summer festival as one of the most popular presences on campus, a performer of particular precision and personal flair, and a purveyor of masterclass wizardry with pedagogue’s knowledge and a mischievous panache.

It’s not because Lowenthal was wanting to let up on his career, despite entering his late 80s – at that point a half-century after Maurice Abravanel first hired him at the academy as a replacement for Leon Fleisher. Indeed, Lowenthal had just wrapped up another nine-hour day auditioning another batch of the 200 young pianists vying for a spot in next year’s piano studio at Juilliard, when he explained over the phone that it was more than having felt “a change in the air” with the new MA administration that the pianist had finally indulged in accepting an invitation to visit another summer festival. It was in Iceland, as it turned out, which the pianist recalled “broke the ice” on those endeavors.

“After that, we developed a different

understanding of my role” at the Music Academy, he said, explaining that he only spent a couple of weeks in Montecito for the next couple of seasons, and since the pandemic hit in 2020, hadn’t been back at all.

That was not OK with Teresa McWilliams, a realtor and well-known supporter of the arts in Montecito, and a patron of the Music Academy in particular who decades ago befriended Lowenthal and had produced previous concerts with the pianist outside the purview of MA.

“I hadn’t seen Jerry for a while, and he wasn’t playing here anymore,” recalled McWilliams, whose tenure in town goes back more than 70 years as her father, the famed Polish pianist Tomasz Glinski, brought his family to Montecito back in 1949. Among other pursuits, he played regularly at the San Ysidro Ranch, and Teresa started attending Music Academy events when Lotte Lehmann was still giving masterclasses. “So, I told him I’d produce a concert here.”

A planned “Jerry & His Friends” celebration with some big-name colleagues instead, by Lowenthal’s suggestion, eventually turned into something smaller and more intimate, though the concert’s new title of “Lowenthal’s Legend” came from MA. The event on Thursday, March 9, will feature a single piano on stage played four-hands style for one selection each by Lowenthal and his longtime partner Ursula Oppens, as well as daughter Carmel Lowenthal, plus solo works performed by Evan Shinners, Vassily Primakov, and Nadia Shpachenko – each an MA alumni and Lowenthal favorite. Shpachenko will even be offering the world premiere of a new piece by Harold Meltzer called “Dribble.”

Lowenthal will wrap up the night –which not surprisingly sold out instantly – performing two Chopin Impromptus, representing some of his favorite works in one of his favorite places to play on the planet, even if he now is operating on the equivalent of emeritus status.

“It wasn’t my choice (to leave MA), but I’m so busy with festivals and Juilliard and other performances,” he said, adding that he’ll be making his off-Broadway debut performing the music for several previews and opening night of a pandemic-delayed revival of Chekhov’s Three Sisters starring Greta Gerwig and Oscar Isaac, and directed by Sam Gold, later this spring before jetting off for another festival. “But I do have my memories of Santa Barbara. It is like a second home for me, and it was strange to me to think of not going back. I had such lovely friendships with my colleagues and the faculty, but also with people in the community like Teresa, as I still do. So, I’m thrilled and really very grateful.”

As for contemplating actual retirement, given that he’s 91, don’t hold your breath.

“It’s my limitations that keep me going, because I can’t think of anything else to do,” Lowenthal said, with his trademark understated sense of humor. “This is my life, and I still feel very happy doing every aspect. I keep doing it because I love it.”

Spring Program is in the Cards

State Street Ballet’s (SSB) spring show, which has a single performance on Saturday, March 4, at The Granada, is drawn entirely from its existing repertory. But nobody should think the dance concert will be anything less than thrilling. That’s because co-artistic directors Rodney Gustafson and William Soleau have put together a program that covers the artistic scope of the company from contemporary to classical, with several SSB iconic works getting another viewing. The night opens with Tango Rain, Soleau’s spicy series of visually stunning vignettes set to the sensuous Argentinian music of Astor Piazzolla. Spring Waters features a pas de deux to showcase State Street’s skills in classic pairing. The first half closes with Fold, a nine-minute caricature of a poker game from the creative mind of choreographer Kassandra Taylor Newberry. The high-energy piece is danced to the propulsive rhythms of music by Hans Zimmer, the veteran composer who holds two Oscars and four Grammys, plus Emmys and Tony nominations.

“My husband used to play online poker, and when I heard the music from Hans Zimmer’s Sherlock Holmes and I fell in love with Zimmer’s score, I did what I often do – just close my eyes and listen to it over and over again to see what visuals come to mind. It just kept coming up that this should be an underground poker game,” recalled Newberry. “It felt very steamy and intimate, but also exciting and challenging for the dancers athletically. This was one of those pieces that just unfolded clearly from start to the end, the whole vision.”

With her husband’s help, Newberry picked up enough about poker to feed the ideas into the dancer and create a meaningful story in movement.

“Poker is usually a very minimal move-

Jerome Lowenthal is joined by an all-star set of pianists at the Music Academy

great-grandparents really held up the foundation of my identity. Former danzantes, Spanish fluent, and stable, they uplifted me a lot in my life after foster care, because that separated me entirely. I truly felt like no one before I got my family back.

I grew up in Los Ángeles with a lot of lowriders, a lot of aunties, a lot of curanderas, and a lot of cooking. Once I moved out here, I realized that simply being Mexican in my blood wasn’t enough. Because you get steamrolled so easily and so fast. They assimilate you so fast. As a kid, you get caught up in trying to be the Lululemon, the two-parent home, the money, the whole supremacy of it all. But I didn’t have any of that. I’ve realized that you’ve gotta be loud, you’ve gotta be vocal. You’ve got to find it. You’ve got to find those connections, and you really have to hold on to your identity, because throughout all of our history people have tried to erase it. In my experience, I felt the shame used to erase us, to make sure we don’t want any more connections to our family, any more connection to our roots, or any more unity to organize.

It’s important. It’s so important. It’ll shape what you do and who you are, if you find it out. If you look for it. You’ll see yourself in a different way and the world in a different way.

How would you say social concerns around queerness and around cultural identity have influenced your desire to make art?

At times it can feel crippling, the thought of all that is wrong. All the fights that people are having right now just to stay in their homes, just to live. It can make creating art feel silly, it can make it feel useless and unhelpful. Like it has no point here, ’cause it’s not changing anything policy-wise, it’s not changing any laws. But it is changing minds. That is the part that encourages me to create – at least it puts these ideas in front of people’s faces, so they can’t look away.

It screams because really that’s what you need. You need people screaming: What’s wrong with you? What is wrong with this city? Why is everybody OK with this? Why are the only people that can pursue happiness wealthy?

As someone who has had to uproot myself many, many times through foster care, through homelessness, through all these different things, I don’t wish these burdens on anyone.

Can you tell me more about your experience with homelessness?

I have been homeless a few times in my life. When I was little, before I’d entered foster care, my mom had gotten in a fight with her parents, and I lived in a car with her and my brother. It was very difficult, and I don’t remember most of it. I remember the feeling. I remember the fear. I remember being cold. But that’s about it.

I considered myself homeless when I was in foster care, because I didn’t feel

like I had a home, I didn’t feel like there was anywhere that I could go to rest – I had to be on high alert everywhere. My life had been reduced to a trash bag and a stuffed pig.

The final time I was homeless was in (my) senior year of high school. My tía decided she wanted to leave the country and travel, and I was on my own. It was difficult. And also just so embarrassing and so hard, finishing high school, having to rely on the kindness of others’ parents. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to find a safe place to sleep in my car. I thought the hardest thing would be finding a place to shower or finding somewhere to cook my meals, but it was finding a safe place where the police wouldn’t roll up on me and flash their lights. It’s so creepy to have someone be able to look inside your vehicle like that. I was 17 years old.

I was afraid of being towed. I was afraid of being arrested. All these ways in which Santa Barbara makes it illegal to be homeless. It’s illegal to be homeless but you can’t afford to live here. I don’t know what they want us to do. But going through and destroying encampments, forcing people to leave through the fear of being arrested; that’s how Santa Barbara does it. For many, it’s easy to ignore injustice when it’s against a beautiful sunset.

What would you say is the role of art in these social justice conversations?

I think art is a tool. Audre Lorde said: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” And I think art is not an oppressor’s tool. Propaganda can, of course, be used as a tool for oppression, yes, but arts and literature are tools for learning and expression. When you ban those things, you refuse our humanity and disrespect knowledge as a human right.

I’d say art is a tool for self-care, to be able to reflect yourself in an abstract way that doesn’t have to be tangible to anybody but you. And I think that in these social justice conversations, it’s important for activists and for people who are feeling the effects of these injustices to practice self-care. It’s important for them to have their messages on paper, and it’s important for them to have those messages heard. I feel like art is the perfect thing for that, because it looks like so many different things and can be accessible to everyone.

large diamonds, sapphires, rubies, pearls, and emeralds, many from prominent jewelers such as Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, David Webb, Henry Dunay, and Boucheron.

The main highlights of the sale on Wednesday, March 29, include a large, pear-shaped 25.80-carat diamond platinum ring, with an estimated price of between $400,000 and $500,000, and a pair of diamond earrings set with two diamonds in 14-carat white gold, weighing 9.2 grams, valued at between $200,000 and $300,000.

One Van Cleef & Arpels work consists of cabochon sapphires and diamonds, including a three flat link necklace featuring a slide pendant centering a bezel set oval cabochon-cut sapphire, and pair of matching ear clips. The three-piece set’s estimated price is between $12,000 and $15,000.

It merely goes to prove that carats do help you see in the dark!

Ballet Along the Lake

The classical 1877 Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake took on a whole new complexion when France’s 27-year-old Ballet Preljocaj, based in the charming university city of Aix-en-Provence, performed at the Granada, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures program.

With extremely creative video and lighting design by Boris Labbé and Eric Soyer, the 110-minute work combining the Russian composer’s music with more contemporary work by 79D, featured the choreography of company founder Angelin Preljocaj transposing the story of the swan princess into the

context of today’s society.

With 24 permanent dancers, the company gives more than 110 performances annually and dances on stages worldwide.

The last time I saw the work was in 1984, when I was lucky enough to score a ticket for Le Lac des Cygnes at the Paris Opera House, which the late legendary Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev choreographed and danced in.

A world of difference from the latest work, but definitely a memory to treasure.

Also in the Neighborhood

Former Montecito resident Michael Douglas has moved into truly majestic accommodations in London.

The Oscar winner, 78, and his Welsh actress wife Catherine ZetaJones , 53, have rented an apartment in historic St. James’s Palace, just a tiara’s toss from Clarence House, the home of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla

The monarch’s sister, Princess Anne, and Prince Andrew’s daughter, Princess Beatrice, and cousin Princess Alexandra are also close neighbors.

Built by King Henry VIII in the 16th century, the palace, just a short drive down the Mall from Buckingham Palace, is a sprawling and imposing property. As well as housing State Apartments, it plays a largely ceremonial role in the royal calendar, including receptions and christenings in the Chapel Royal.

I used to go there to attend Christmas parties thrown by a friend who held the title of Assistant Lord Chamberlain. On one occasion I answered a knock at his door, and it was the Duke of Kent, grandson of King George V, asking if one of the guests could move their car so he could get his Jaguar XJ6 out of the garage!

Adam’s Award

Santa Barbara realtor Adam McKaig has won the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

Adam, an agent with Douglas Elliman, is recognized for service positively impacting the community and Miscellany Page 304

of Scotland,

From the shores

Stella Haffner keeps her connection to her home in Montecito by bringing grads of local schools to the pages of the Montecito Journal

Jewelry from The Estate of Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree

pieces of the late Leslie Ridley-Tree’s jewelry collection up for auction

Swan Lake takes on a new look with Ballet Preljocaj

President of the American Psychological Association

Dr. Thema Bryant

Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to

Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self

Fri, Mar 3 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (Registration recommended)

“Dr. Thema Bryant is teaching people how to come back to themselves and handle challenges along the way of self-discovery.”

– Nedra Glover Tawwab, New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace

Co-presented with Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara

Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Song of the Cell : An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human

Wed, Mar 8 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

“Mukherjee has a storyteller’s flair and a gift for translating complex medical concepts into simple language.” The Wall Street Journal

“If you are not already in awe of biology, The Song of the Cell might get you there. It is a masterclass.” The Guardian

2023 Grammy Award-winners

Santa Barbara Debut

Attacca Quartet

Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram, Andrew Yee

Sun, Mar 5 / 4 PM / Hahn Hall, Music Academy

Tickets start at $10

Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte, Evergreen , and additional compositions for string quartet

“Classical music observers say we’re living in a golden age of string quartets. It’s hard to disagree when you hear the vibrant young players in New York’s Attacca Quartet.” NPR

Presented in Association with Ojai Music Festival

Alisa Weilerstein, cello FRAGMENTS

Fri, Mar 10 / 7 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

Tickets start at $20

“A multimedia Bach show.” The New York Times “Weilerstein’s Bach was a true model of the meaning of mastery. Her command of the cello, of its sound and of Bach, was consummate.” – Mark Swed, LA Times

Enjoy Bach as you never have before in this wholly original and immersive audience experience from Alisa Weilerstein. FRAGMENTS weaves music old and new in a dramatic journey that elevates the senses to provide an opportunity to go deeper into the music. An Arts & Lectures Co-commission

Ballet Hispánico

Doña Perón

Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Choreographer

Sat, Mar 11 / 8 PM / Granada Theatre

“In Lopez Ochoa’s high-varnish, athletic style of contemporary ballet, gorgeously danced… you see not just a riveting story but a company having reached a new horizon.” The New York Times

This empowering portrait by acclaimed choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa looks at the divergent legacies of Eva Perón, one of the most iconic women in South American history.

Event Sponsor: John and Jody Arnhold

Dance Series Sponsors: Margo Cohen-Feinberg & Bob Feinberg, Ellen & Peter O. Johnson, Barbara Stupay, and Sheila Wald

West Coast Premiere

Scan to watch trailer

Brilliant Thoughts Give It to Me Straight

by Ashleigh Brilliant

As most of us learned in school, the shortest distance between any two points is a straight line. And a point is something which has a location but has no dimensions. Many of us also learned that light travels in straight lines. Amazing as it seems (to me, anyway) light has a certain speed, which is now well-known but was measured, in historical terms, only recently – and that figure is basic to all modern physics. In fact, in Albert Einstein’s famous equation, which even I can tell you is:

“e” equals (“m” multiplied by “c” squared)

That “c squared” represents the speed of light multiplied by itself – which is a large number but still calculable. The “e” stands for “energy,” and the “m” is “mass” – but don’t ask me to explain exactly what those things are. All I can tell you, and what, apparently, it all boils down to, is that inside the very smallest pieces of everything, there is incredible power – and hence the notion of “splitting the atom,” to release the force inside. This only became a possibility, and then an actuality, less than a century ago – in fact, within my own lifetime.

And – wouldn’t you know it – the first use that was made of this wonderful knowledge had to occur in a wartime setting, so it was naturally employed against “the enemy,” to make a bomb. There is in existence a letter signed by Einstein himself – the world’s greatest physicist – to President Franklin Roosevelt, leader of the world’s most powerful nation (to which Einstein had immigrated from Germany), in August 1939, just a month before the beginning of World War II, warning that Germany, the potential enemy, was already working on this project.

At that point, the U.S. was still more than two years away from becoming directly involved in the conflict, and this whole matter was still a subject mainly of interest to scientists – but it soon became a hush-hush military concern, and a gigantic industrial project, centered in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Not until 1954, a year before he died, and nine years after Hiroshima, did Einstein, who was generally a pacifist, call his signing of that letter to Roosevelt, the “one great mistake in my life.”

I don’t know how my raising the subject of straightness brought us so quickly to such a world disaster – but there are far more pleasant aspects of that subject to consider. In fact, the whole idea of

being “straight” has a decidedly positive image, as opposed to being “crooked” or “bent.” One example that immediately comes to mind is that of being a “straight shooter.” But where did that come from? I thought the origin might somehow be in archery or artillery. But actually, the expression seems to have begun comparatively recently as a metaphor, based on the idea that something that has been shot travels in a straight line to its target.

This brings us to ballistics – the science of how things that are shot, usually from a gun or cannon, actually do travel. Of course, thanks to gravity (whatever that is) the trajectory is never a straight line, but always some kind of a curve, more noticeable and measurable over longer distances.

So, the truly straight shooter never has existed and never will. But in our language, the idea has a positive place, at least in conventional thinking. What has now become one very common usage refers to those people who are, or are not, homosexual, as being either “gay,” or “straight.”

But we also refer to the opposite of being under the influence of alcohol, or other drugs (for which there are innumerable terms, such as “drunk” or “stoned”) i.e. sobriety, as being “straight.” And the opposite of being a criminal, or just being dishonest, is, of course, following a path that is “straight and narrow.”

Geographically, however, a “strait,” which is a water passageway between two land masses, is always narrow, but is not necessarily “straight” at all. For example, the Strait of Magellan, at the bottom of South America, is anything but straight, as its discoverer, Ferdinand Magellan, discovered, to his dismay, in 1520.

Another interesting usage is the “Straight Man” in a comedy act, in which his partner is the one who makes all the jokes.

I myself would wind up this article with something really funny – but it would be hard for me to keep a straight face.

Robert’s Big Questions

Is the Universe Linear or Cyclic?

by Robert Bernstein

“There is nothing new under the sun” comes from Ecclesiastes

1. It is a warning that all worldly efforts are futile. That all seeming progress is erased in history.

For most of human history, progress really was not a visible thing. People used the same stone tools for thousands of years. Life was a subsistence existence with little legacy to show for it. Each generation started anew. It was for good reason that most religious mythology saw the universe as endless cycles. Life, death, and rebirth. Repeat.

My father was a research biologist, but he was also an excellent student of history. He worked tirelessly for progress in science and in social justice. But he often relapsed to a view that people just keep repeating the same behaviors, and so there is no real progress.

As a teen, I was teaching myself electronics and I showed him the transistor data books from about 1960 and 1970. The first was a thin pamphlet, the second a thick book. “That is progress!” I exclaimed. I offered a compromise: Progress occurs in epicycles – cycles that move forward.

It is indeed disheartening when we see a superpower like the U.S. invade Iraq or Putin lay waste to Ukraine. We keep thinking such barbaric militarism is a thing of the past. Then it happens again.

But some researchers like Steven Pinker claim that in the big arc of history, there has been progress. Violence is on the decline overall. Invasions happen, but the world largely condemns them.

Over two years ago, I claimed that “The Opposite of Progress is Fashion.” Noting that fashion does not “improve” or “progress” in the way that we hope – that science and social justice progresses. Often, the ugliest fashions of the past come back and fashion history repeats itself.

point?” he asked. He is told that this is billions of years in the future, and we should enjoy and make the best of the time we have.

Some Big Bang theories are also cyclic. The universe expands until it falls back into a Big Crunch. Then starts over. Some physicists find this objectionable on the basis of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Entropy is always increasing. Meaning at the Big Crunch, the universe is in a higher entropy state than at the Big Bang. Meaning it is in no position to start over.

Capitalist economics is based on constant growth. American economist Kenneth Boulding famously quipped, “Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” But some versions of economics are also cyclic. When growth gets out of hand, a crash wipes it all out and we start over. For the past couple of hundred years, this was largely true. It remains to be seen if this can change going forward.

For most living things, progress mostly happens only through evolution over long time scales. But humans have the ability to learn and to pass along knowledge from one generation to another. This should allow accumulated progress.

But German philosopher Georg Hegel said, “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”

For most of human history, wise elders were revered. It is only in recent generations that youth is revered for its innovation and fresh perspective. But people can be so focused on the latest “shiny new thing” that they forget to ask wise elders if they have seen similar cases in the past that did not end well.

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000.

email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

But, what about the entire universe? The Bible imagines a sky god who creates the universe over the course of six days. Modern science found this silly, and most cosmologists were determined to construct a theory of a steady-state universe with no beginning. This worked well until evidence grew that there was indeed a beginning to our universe. These ideas were derisively called “Big Bang” theories, until that term was embraced as real science.

In Annie Hall, young Alvy Singer refuses to do his homework because the universe is expanding. “What’s the

As I indicated in my “Utopia” article, I do believe we can make progress toward a more perfect world for everyone. Belief that progress is possible is key to making it so. But we should also learn from wise elders and history, so that we don’t repeat past mistakes. That would be the greatest progress of all.

Robert Bernstein holds degrees from Physics departments of MIT and UCSB. Passion to understand the Big Questions of life, the universe and to be a good citizen of the planet. Visit facebook.com/ questionbig

different ways. Both were actresses. Suzy Parker, my stepmother, was a passionately artistic woman who made an enormous impact on my life. She was a model of international stature, then became an actress. My mother, Freida Harding McIntosh, influenced me greatly in my love of books, literature, and the spoken word. To their lasting frustration, neither of my mothers were formally educated beyond high school. They grew up in a generation when women were expected to marry young, and if they had beauty, as they both did, to marry “well,” and be an asset to their husbands and providers. That is a truth that makes my daughter’s generation cringe — but it certainly still exists in today’s world.

Anyway, both Suzy and my mom were fiercely self-educated, powerhouse women in their own ways who made more of their lives — and became more influential — than they were raised to believe they could. I would say their looks sort of shadowed their potential, though, because when the world sees you as a beauty, there are expectations about what you are supposed to do with that, and there are implied limits upon how you should impose yourself in a man’s world.

When you attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art London, how were women viewed?

When I was at RADA, there were seven young women and 14 young men selected for the course that year, which was the standard term limit. The half number of women-to-men was supposed to reflect the fact that there were twice as many roles for men in the professional world of acting, so the school was being “realistic.”

In fact, there were far, far fewer than 50% of job opportunities for women in the field of acting then, as now. It’s a slightly improved percentage in today’s world, I should say, but still not equal opportunity.

What experiences as a woman in your profession made an impact on you?

I really struggled with a sort of identity crisis in the early years of my acting career. Having gone to RADA, I thought I should be a Royal Shakespeare Company actor. I worked in the U.K. for years after graduation from RADA, completely hiding my American accent and trying desperately to become fully English. My maternal family is English, so I forgive myself somewhat for my confusion, but honestly, I was just trying too hard to find myself. And in acting, trying hard is death. “Efforting” just shows. It’s only when you stop trying so hard, and just live your truth, that your work can be any good at all. These struggles were certainly part of being a woman in a dominantly male field, where the roles available were at that time more limited to ingenue, vixen, or what we called “character.” I do think that has begun to change, today.

Tell us about your nomination for an Audie Award for your narration of The Wilder Widows by Katherine Hastings

I’m really so happy about that. Everyone says, “It’s an honor just to be nominated,” but really, those are true words! Even if I only get to give a fist bump to David Sedaris at the awards ceremony in New York City this March, I’ll be incredibly tickled.

It’s sort of like a small indie film that gets major recognition, you could say, because the book was published independently, as opposed to the other four finalist audiobooks, which were from major publishers, and I produced and directed the audiobook from my own recording studio. So, woo-hoo! That’s why it’s an honor just to be recognized as a finalist for the 2023 Audies.

I’m very proud of The Wilder Widows, though. The books are terrific, and Katherine Hastings is a remarkably versatile and talented writer. Her characters simply resonated with me, so it was easy to bring them to audio life. I relate to them all, in different ways. I just finished recording the second volume, and there is a third coming soon.

When you transitioned from acting to book narration, were there many women narrators?

It is true in the early days of recorded books that a good number of the narrators were men, due to the publishers focusing on classics, which they felt were best read by men, as most of the classic authors were male. Except, of course, for the Jane Austen genre.

Now, most of the time we are cast as narrators based on the gender of the author and/or the gender of the main character of the book. I recently narrated a series of books about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Jackie Stories, for instance, which were written by a man (wonderful William Kuhn), but he decided to cast a woman narrator to suggest the voices of Jackie and her best friends, even though he wrote the stories in first-person reflection.

What is it about voice-over/narration work you find most rewarding, or what keeps you motivated in this genre?

I love interpreting the author’s words and bringing the author’s vision to life. You have to convey so much without being overly performative. But it comes to the same truth as performing in any medium. The listener will absolutely know if you are not “in” the story, or if you are merely reading the words. The best narrators are living the story as they tell it, while letting the listener envision the scenes and characters in their own way. I also love that audiobooks are a very valid way of consuming literature in a world when so many don’t have time to sit down with a book, but can enjoy listening to one while traveling or working out or doing hobbies, et cetera.

Where do audiobooks fit in with increasing literacy awareness and access?

I think it’s a growing conversation. When audiobooks first emerged, the first company was called Books on Tape, invented for commuters (which later evolved into Recorded Books). Publishers saw it could be another marketing tool and started recording “classic” books, and later best-sellers considered popular enough to warrant having an audio version. So, the focus was more on the market, not literacy.

Now, every published book has a concurrent audio edition, and there is more focus on how they fit into literacy and education. There have been many studies done on how our youth are not as much inclined to reading hardcover books as they are to audio or cinematic exposure.

In the early days, some people might have thought of audiobooks as an “inauthentic” way of consuming books. That is no longer a widely held belief. As book narrators, we speak the words exactly as the author wrote them, just with interpretation.

Your next project? Any spoiler alerts?

I’m working on a “cozy murder-mystery” series for Dreamscape, currently. And an amazing fantasy series for Santa Barbara-based author Bobbie McMorrow. I spend so much time in my recording booth, my husband is starting to complain, lol!

You also edit books…

Yes, I am a book editor, which arose from my audio work. I think if I hadn’t become an actress, I would have pursued journalism, because the written word is just so powerfully moving and lastingly impactful. I’ve always been fascinated with editing, and how it can make a good work great. A few authors had contacted me with the desire to have their books recorded, but they felt their books needed editing first. I offered to work with them on the editing and the audiobook. It worked out — and so I’ve been doing more of that.

What does your community volunteer work mean to you?

It means a great deal. In a very challenging season of my life, I turned to volunteer work as a way of giving back to the community and getting out of my own head, and I honestly can attest that doing hands-on work for others will get you out of contemplating your own navel. The more I volunteered, the more work I saw needed to be done. And I wanted to do it right, so I became more and more involved until I began to see the changes manifesting, for the community and in me.

411: www.womenshistory.org/womens-history/womens-history-month www.womenshistorymonth.gov www.pameladillman.com

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

The Giving List Planned Parenthood California

Central Coast

by Steven Libowitz

Planned Parenthood California Central Coast (PPCCC) is one of scores of affiliates across the country that share a vision of a future where everyone has an equitable opportunity to experience health and wellness – including high-quality sexual and reproductive health care provided with respect and without judgment.

Founded in 1964, PPCCC might be best known for providing access to abortion, but the nonprofit also does much more, including providing breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, gender-affirming hormone care, and other primary preventive health services. It operates six health centers in the three counties and engages in education, outreach, and advocacy.

As the area’s most trusted provider of reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood takes its responsibilities seriously and has a major impact on its clients. Collectively, over the last fiscal year, the six Tri-County offices provided a wide range of services to more than 31,000 individuals who made a total of nearly 60,000 medical visits. This includes 25,739 visits for sexually transmitted infections, as well

as tailoring birth-control methods that fit their individual needs for more than 19,000 people, conducting nearly 6,000 cancer screenings, providing more than 200 youth with evidence-based sex education, and more than 7,500 people with information and resources they need to make the best decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. Those figures are significantly higher than just one year earlier.

That’s partly because of the influx of women seeking an abortion in California following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe vs. Wade that ended the national constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, leaving states free to outlaw the practice.

“We had to be prepared to care for many additional patients coming from out of state, primarily from Arizona and Texas, so we have really had to expand our services in the last couple of years,” said Luz Reyes-Martín, PPCCC’s Vice President of Community Engagement. “But we’ve also seen more patients from other parts of California. We expect that that’s due to folks coming from out of state that go to large metropolitan areas that are easy to fly in and out of, which creates a domino effect for those local patients in Los Angeles who may find an appointment sooner at our health center in Thousand Oaks, for example. That

wasn’t something we predicted.”

To be sure, PPCCC makes no apologies for amping up its services to meet increased demand. In fact, it’s the opposite.

“Abortion is not at all the number-one thing that we do at our health centers, but it’s still a really important part, and we really work hard to destigmatize it,” Reyes-Martín said. “Abortion is a medical procedure. It is healthcare, often lifesaving healthcare. And whatever leads a person to make a decision to have an abortion, we are here to provide that care, and we want to make sure patients feel absolutely safe coming to our health centers, because their decision is their decision.”

Another side effect of the Dobbs decision was a big jump in men seeking vasectomies, a service PPCCC has provided for years but one that has seen a significant increase in demand as people consider alternatives to prevent pregnancies.

But much of the marked increases in patient visits have nothing to do with Dobbs or its domino effect, as in recent years PPCCC has been expanding the breadth of its services, including providing menopause care, and, more recently, gender-affirming hormone care. Remaining open during the pandemic allowed trans and nonbinary individuals on estrogen and testosterone therapies to continue their hormone care without disruption.

“First and foremost, we see ourselves as a healthcare provider for any and all patients, and we want to provide what they need,” Reyes-Martín said. “This is the care that our trans, non-binary or gender non-conforming patients need, and we have clinicians who are committed to providing that care in a safe, accepting, and welcoming place. We’re proud that we’ve become a preferred provider in that area.”

PPCCC has had an ongoing partnership with Pacific Pride Foundation, a relationship that also found Planned Parenthood able to react quickly to last year’s outbreak of Mpox (monkeypox), Reyes-Martín said. “We worked really closely with them to make sure that we were able to provide vaccinations and information to community members who thought they might be infected and came to us as a trusted non-judgmental healthcare provider or checked in with Pacific Pride Foundation.

Our doctors and nurses were the ones who volunteered at many of the pop-up vaccination clinics, and we also worked with Pacific Pride to partner on a webinar town hall to provide more information and education.”

It’s all part of PPCCC’s goal to make it possible for all people — no matter where they live, their language, or economic barriers — to be able to exercise the right to control their own body, life, and future. Serious stuff.

But that doesn’t mean there can’t be some lighthearted moments in all of this. For example, the organization’s annual major gala eschews a militant or descriptive title and instead is called the Birds and Bees Bash (BBB). The 2023 event is coming up quickly, and is set for April 29 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort, where the previous BBB in 2022 turned the resort into a big-time party featuring cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the balcony that offers stunning ocean and mountain views, a sumptuous dinner served at tables in the rotunda, humorous emcee work by SBCC Foundation’s Geoff Green, updates on Planned Parenthood affairs, bestowing of the initial Community Partner Award (which this year goes to Pacific Pride Foundation), and after-hours dancing with Tina Schlieske and the Graceland Exiles.

“It’s a really fun night, and it’s the main event that raises a lot of funds to support all our health center operations, funding the direct healthcare delivery, as well as our education function,” Reyes-Martín said.

Indeed, the bash also raises some serious cash, grossing some $600,000 in 2022 to support PPCCC’s mission, which recognizes that even a well-delivered talk about the birds and the bees isn’t anywhere near enough to overcome society’s qualms about sexual freedom and access to reproductive care.

“We’re always wanting to make sure that we’re caring for every patient that comes through our doors,” said Reyes-Martín.

Planned Parenthood California Central Coast Luz Reyes-Martín, VP of Community Engagement Lindsay Soleimani, VP of Philanthropy (800) 230-7526 www.ppcentralcoast.org

Last year, Planned Parenthood California Central Coast reached more than 7,500 people with information and resources about sexual and reproductive health

Your Westmont Getting Back to the Garden

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

Janell Balmaceda uses a pitchfork to spread mulch over the walkways that weave between the garden rows below Thorrington Field. Student intern Peter Schramm (’25) hammers together pieces from several wooden pallets to create new compost bins.

This spring, the Westmont garden will be flourishing again, thanks in large part to Balmaceda, Westmont’s new sustainability coordinator and garden manager. A team of student volunteers will soon begin planting vegetables, which the dining commons will be able to serve, hopefully before the end of the spring semester. After some repairs, the chicken coop will again house egg-laying hens.

Balmaceda, who is completing her master’s degree in conservation science at the University of Minnesota, oversees rows 11-20 in the garden. Rows 1-10 remain for faculty families, such as Andrew Mullen, Barbara Pointer, and Amanda Sparkman, who have maintained the northern section of the garden for years. “It’s because of them the garden is still

alive,” Balmaceda says. “I value them.”

She is brainstorming new initiatives and connecting with students and faculty to make Westmont more environmentally friendly. “Right now, we’re focusing on sustainability in our food,” she says. “In partnership with Bon Appétit, our food service, we’re planning panel discussions, a cooking class in the Global Leadership

You’re getting ready for tax season.

You’re getting ready for tax season.

Center, and connecting with student life and academics to holistically approach food sustainability on campus.”

Just days before, students in Professor Sarah Johnson’s nutritional biology lab planted their own row of greens in the garden. Balmaceda hopes to reintroduce promotions such as Farm-Fresh Fridays, when all the vegetables in the dining commons salad bar come from the garden, and a smoothie bar using healthy produce from the garden.

Balmaceda’s position, funded through a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and Westmont’s Office of the President, includes coordinating “Faith. Climate. Action: A Workshop on Christian Climate Advocacy.” In her administrative role, she has assisted with travel arrangements for about 30 students from 10 different members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities to attend the summer workshop.

“We knew we needed a big personality, somebody who metaphorically and literally wants to get their hands dirty, to dig into this new position, and work with lots of different people on campus,” says Eileen McQuade, associate dean of faculty. “Janell is a godsend and a great fit for this role.”

“I’ve always dreamed of bringing together science and my faith, because my faith informs everything I do,” Balmaceda says. “Working at a Christian college is incredible. Westmont’s location is absolutely gorgeous and stunning — it’s a great place to show other Christian colleges how to use a community garden to engage people and to work toward sustainability.”

Conference Examines

Liberal Arts, Climate Change

The 21st annual Conversation on the Liberal Arts explores how a liberal arts education can prepare us for the future, March 2-4 at the Global Leadership Center. “Educating for the Unknown: Liberal Arts in the Age of Climate Change,” sponsored by the Gaede Institute, attracts teachers, administrators, and students from around the country.

The Cannabis Industry Isn’t.

The cannabis industry isn’t paying their fair share. Cannabis tax revenues are a mere 25% of initial projections and make up just .06% of the County budget. Why? Because more than 1/3 of all growers didn’t pay a penny in taxes last year.

It’s time for that to change.

“We’ll spend three days exploring the many ways that climate change might prompt us to reevaluate teaching and learning,” says Aaron Sizer, director of academic and congregational integration.

“How might professional pathways be defined by new technical needs? What tools or dispositions will help us adapt in the face of significant uncertainty? Are there new theological or ethical questions that should re-center the formational purposes of higher education?”

The conference includes a lecture and discussions by psychologist Athena Aktipis, literary scholar Jeffrey Bilbro, and economist and Jesuit priest Gaël Giraud

Please visit westmont.edu/gaede-institute/ conversation for more information.

Final Weekend for Flying A

Wet weather and storm watches didn’t keep people away from the opening weekend of the Westmont College Festival Theatre’s world premiere Diamond to Dust: A Flying A Fantasy. Director John Blondell and writer Michael Bernard, a local actor, educator and playwright, have brought Santa Barbara’s treasured cinematic history to the stage in a creative exploration of the silent film industry and its historical significance. Westmont’s Porter Theatre hosts performances March 2-4 at 7:30 pm; and Saturday, March 4, at 2 pm. Tickets, which cost $15 for general admission, and $10 for students and seniors, are available at www. westmont.edu/boxoffice.

In Santa Barbara, one of the centers of American film from 1912 to about 1921, the American Film Manufacturing Company of Chicago, commonly called the Flying A, made more than 1,000 films. It produced numerous serials, comedies, Westerns, and even a few notable features with some of the most famous actors of the period: Mary Miles Minter, Lottie Pickford, and Jack Kerrigan.

“What to do with a mistake – recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” – Dean Smith

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

Janell Balmaceda, new sustainability coordinator and garden manager

Noah Nims stars as William Desmond Taylor Rory Nguyen stars as Lottie Pickford

SB Travel Bureau

Seventy-Five Big Ones!

Travel Buzz

Pismo, Paso, and Pooches!

by Jim Buckley

Santa Barbara Travel Bureau

co-owners Charles and David de L’Arbre and his family left Brussels, Belgium, in May 1940 just ahead of an advancing German army. Charles’s father packed their things, filled the family Buick’s gas tank, threw another tank of gas in the trunk, and took off. Charles recalls that his grandmother was walking around with jewels sewn into her lingerie and a five-pound gold brick in her purse.

They made it to the south of France, where they had a home but still didn’t feel safe, so, in 1941, they fled to Portugal and eventually made it to the U.S., landing in Santa Barbara.

In 1947, their father launched the Santa Barbara Travel Bureau. The company’s main office has been at 1028 State St. ever since. They bought the building in 1982.

The following is a short interview with Charles de L’Arbre, edited for space considerations:

Q. Congratulations on your company’s 75th anniversary. You’ve been with Santa Barbara Travel Bureau your entire life and have seen many alterations in the travel industry. How have things changed since, let’s say 1995, after the airlines decided to reduce and then completely cut travel agents’ commissions?

A. The biggest change is there were 70 travel agencies in the Santa Barbara area in, say, 1981. Ours was one of the oldest. Our business changed dramatically when the airlines went to zero commission.

That probably knocked out maybe two-thirds of the businesses who were here. There are a few left. Robertson Travel is still around. Your Travel Center and AAA are still around. We’re still around, but that’s about it.

You had to re-adjust your entire business model, correct?

by Leslie Andrea Westbrook

After the deluge, I took a quick, much-needed weekend jaunt up the coast. Our Central Coast hills, highways, and byways were verdant after the rains, making it hard to believe it’s still winter. Well, California winter. Tourism was evident (but not too crazy) and staffing issues are still difficult in the hospitality trade.

Los Alamos – Build a Public Restroom… And Watch Your P’s and Q’s.

First stop, Los Alamos for gas and a little picnic I’d packed for our easy jaunt up to Pismo Beach. We stopped at a little pocket park that I remembered from the kick ass Sunset Magazine / Taste of the Santa Ynez Valley benefit dinner that I attended in early November of last year, making it a quick and easy stop. The town was relatively quiet on the late-January Saturday afternoon I was there, while Los Olivos was jumping and jammed. As luck would have it, turned out that the pocket park with two picnic tables didn’t have a public restroom.

This park needs a restroom – expressing my interest in skipping to a loo to a local named Don who was walking his dog; he suggested I go across the street to a winery tasting room. A sweet staff member reluctantly gave me the code to the bathroom in my moment of need. Maybe we should have picnicked at the 51-acre Los Alamos County Park in Drum Canyon, referred to as one of the town’s “hidden treasures.” The park website notes there are restrooms. Or eaten at Bell’s, Pico, Full of Life Flatbread, Bob’s Well Bread, or Norman at the Skyview Hotel, which all have bathrooms for their customers. Next time.

No Clams in Pismo – And a Whole Lotta Gentrification Going On…

Pismo Beach has a long-held reputation as the clam capital of the Central Coast. These days clams for the chowder come from Mexico, but the mighty clam is on the rebound. Popular with families – and a lot of folks from California’s Central Valley – Pismo has been an affordable family vacation destination with a beautiful beach, a great pier, beachside strolling path, and tawdry gift shops. That seems to be changing… case in point:

The 4-year-old Vespera Resort (part of the Marriott Autograph Collection) is perfect for a family getaway, especially if you have teenage grommets who’ve got the surf bug. Don’t be surprised to see sand and Pacific Ocean water on the elevator floor – or passels of young kids especially hormonal (surf-age boys 12-17) when the elevator door opens. Or cute little ones, such as 4-year-old Jackson, traveling with his single dad visiting from Boston on holiday, who “wanted to go home.”

The town still has a bit of a funky side to it: Everyone recommends the bowling alley (Pismo Arcade) and Harry’s Bar (a loud cry from Harry Cipriani’s in Venice/Rome/New

The Vespera Resort offers views of the coast, a close-by boardwalk, and is dog-friendly

Charles de L’Arbre and his wife, Barbara (on left), often accompany fellow travelers, such as these hearty folks during a recent Antarctic expedition

Santa Barbara Travel Bureau co-owner (along with his brother David) Charles de L’Arbre

York) for live rock and roll or country music. I can’t remember if my friend “the pizza king” recommended Gino’s or Giuseppe’s for pizza. I will have to make a return visit to research! I discovered a trendy, cool surf shop with a super-friendly staff (to the older generation) called Esteem. I liked the $40 “Pray for Surf” and other cool T-shirts, knit beanies, et cetera and – cowabunga! – assumably awesome surfboards.

The owner of a highly recommended Mexican restaurant in town, El Mirador, was in Mexico on vacation, but my traveling companion and I had a tasty dinner at the hotel’s restaurant – Pequin Coastal Cocina. We started with Kumamoto oysters from Baja, a tasty Baja caesar salad big enough to share, garlicky papa brava (small potatoes) and cauliflower fritta. We also shared the lobster – split and easy to eat; my friend raved about the braised short rib ancho demiglaze; but my favorite dish was the llano seco bone in pork loin in an apple mezcal butter. We enjoyed a glass of the Wolff Pinot Noir (I’m a longtime fan of that lowkey winery) and one of the Daou Cabernet (always love visiting that winery for the Daou brothers, stellar views, and tasty cabs). Our tummies were more than full, but

we couldn’t resist the cinnamon “churros in a cloud.” A glass dome was lifted dramatically to reveal two dipping sauces, chocolate and dulce de leche. The super-rich, spiced mocha espresso “Abuelita Chocolate Tart” could last weeks on end. Talented Executive Chef Alex Aviles’ granny must have been a helluva baker!

There are fireside pits: All were taken after our dinner with groups and dogs –which are welcome here! A lovely pool and jacuzzi, beachfront views, and a new boardwalk make Vespera Resort an easy-peasy destination an hour-and-a-half north of Santa Barbara.

More information can be found at www.vesperapismobeach.com, Instagram, and Facebook. For more info on Pismo Beach, go to www.visitPismo.com.

Pequin Coastal Cocina Executive Chef Alex Aviles

The enchanting churros in a cloud

Enjoy the new boardwalk at Pismo!

Leslie A. Westbrook is a Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel writer and journalist who loves exploring the globe. A 3rd generation Californian., Leslie also assists clients sell fine art, antiques, and collectibles via auction. lesliewestbrook.com

inspiring those around him to take action, too.

The award was founded in 2003 by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation to recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity.

Adam received the award from Tom Spadoro , whose nonprofit Genuine Concern for Others has been serving Santa Barbara’s homeless and their basic needs for a decade.

Three years ago, Adam founded his own homeless charity Adam’s Angels with fellow realtor Melissa Borders, distributing 300 bags of non-perishable foods each week.

A Helen Believe Bash

Montecito dynamic duo Bill and Sandi Nicholson co-hosted a boffo bash at the Sullivan Goss Gallery for a new feature documentary, Helen Believe, which debuted at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The film, one hour and 33 minutes in length, focused on Helen Maroulis, who debuted in her first Olympics aged 23 in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, becoming the first American woman to win a gold medal in freestyle wrestling.

Producers, Montecito actor Chris Pratt and Darren Moorman, attended the fun fête, as well as writer-director Dylan

SINGLE ITEMS TO WHOLE ESTATES

Sandi

Mulick, along with David Salzberg, Christian Tureaud, Jeff and Jill Jani, Allen and Julie Shatzel, Belle Hahn, Gretchen Lieff, Jeremy Lindaman, and Thomas Rollerson

For the Love of Choral

Santa Barbara Choral Society, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, put on a heavenly concert at Trinity Episcopal Church under veteran conductor JoAnne Wasserman, herself celebrating 30 years at the helm.

The performance, For the Love of Miscellany Page 354

Santa Barbara realtor Adam McKaig (center) has won the President’s Volunteer Service Award (photo by Priscilla)

Nicholson, Amie Raney, Savanna Jani, and Jill Jani with Lanny Raney (left) and Jeff Jani standing (photo by Priscilla)

Darren Moorman, Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis, and Gretchen Lieff (photo by Priscilla)

David Salzberg, Christian Tureaud, Toni Brinker, Leo Terrell, and Matt Solloway (photo by Priscilla)

Participating choral members: (in front) Susan Robbins, Marilyn Mazess, Kate Rees, Karen Williams; (back) Greg Pantages, Ross Williams, and John Rodkey (photo by Priscilla)

Paula Von Simson with Dr. Gary Van Deventer and JoAnne Wasserman (photo by Priscilla)

Marshall Gorges, JoAnne Wasserman, and Jim Robbins (photo by Priscilla)

Library Mojo Brain Health as Public Health

by Kim Crail

Our Montecito public library serves a diverse population of patrons, emphasizing lifelong learning, and acting as a community center providing support and connection. Our new Brain Education Series is offered the fourth Wednesday of the month and teaches all of us how to be more caring and compassionate members of our community.

Our presenter, Kathryn Westland, director of programs for the California Central Coast Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, generously shared after the class about what the broader community of Montecito should know about brain health and why it matters.

Crash Course

Our first class on Feb. 22 covered 10 cognitive changes that are cause for concern and things to look for. Here’s a quick summary:

1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life

2. Challenges in solving problems or planning

3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks

4. Confusion with time and place

5. Spatial relationships including driving and sitting difficulty

6. New problems with words in speaking or writing

7. Misplacing things and being unable to retrace your steps

8. Decreased or poor judgment

9. Withdrawal from work or social activities

10. Changes in mood, personality and values

How We All Help

Westland stressed the positive impact that neighbors, friends, and loved ones can have on the journey of people going through cognitive impairment. It is common for people to want to avoid being nosy or presuming that someone is experiencing dementia or something else, but she notes that it is much better to risk hurting someone’s feelings than risk the person being in a dangerous situation or feeling isolated.

As many of us have not been taught about how to identify these changes, it can also be overwhelming for people to vocalize what they are experiencing. We are all able to reach out to the Alzheimer’s Association, whose meetings and visits are confidential, for support in determining next steps in getting help, whether that be talking to a physician or getting resources through other agencies. There are many supportive resources available in Santa Barbara County.

Intervening earlier and providing support involves talking about cognitive changes earlier, allowing the care team and network of support to ensure more options for the best quality of life possible, the way the individual wants it – no one else’s decisions, but his or her own decisions. Certainly, the earlier the better when it comes to being able to advocate for what someone wants, as well as being able to manage symptoms, access treatments, and use lifestyle interventions.

This is why this is so important to learn, whether we are directly affected.

Compassionate Communication

We will be learning about communication on Wednesday, March 22, at 10 am, when Westland will discuss strategies and techniques to maintain dignified and joyful

relationships with our loved ones despite any changes in cognitive functioning that they might be experiencing. Particularly for someone who’s concerned about a spouse, family member, or friend, it can be challenging and frustrating.

We encourage everyone to join us at these classes at the Montecito Library to learn more.

March Events:

Stay & Play – Tuesdays, Drop in anytime 9-10:30 am

Preschool Storytime (ages 3-5) – Thursdays, 10-10:30 am

Knit ’n’ Needle – Thursdays, 2-3:30 pm

Learn Library Apps: Coursera and LinkedIn Learning – Wednesday, March 1,10-11am

Library on the Go Van @ Cold Spring School – Wednesday, March 1, 3:30-5:30 pm

Brain Education Series: Compassionate Communication in Aging – Wednesday, March 22, 10-11 am

Montecito Book Club: Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America by Conor Dougherty – Tuesday, March 28, noon-1 pm

Spring Break Painting (grades K-6) – Wednesday, March 29, 11 am-noon

Closed Friday, March 31, for Cesar Chavez Day

See you at the library!

Kathryn Westland, director of programs for the California Central Coast Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association

Kim is the Librarian at the Montecito Library. Questions or comments? Contact her: kcrail@santabarbaraca.gov

Yes. At one point we had seven offices, but once electronic ticketing came in, there was really no reason to have anybody. Sometimes, one person would be sitting there doing nothing for a week with no revenue.

We had to find a way of maximizing revenue. The big watershed was going to [a fee-based business]. Nobody traditionally had charged a fee. We started with a $5 fee. I had a guy call me one day and he was just outraged. He says, ‘I’ve been charged a $5 fee by Santa Barbara Travel, and I’ve never been charged a fee by an agency in my life.’ And I said, “Well, let me see what [your agent] did for you. I see that we were able to open up some low-cost seats by a program that we have, and we saved you $500 on your ticket. I see that we used the buying program to get discounts on the hotel you’re staying at in Berlin. We also have a buying program with Hertz, which saved you 20% on your car rental.”

So, you do the leg work and save people money?

Yes, we add value. We have programs with hotels, with tour companies, with cruise lines that, you know, add a shipboard credit, or add a resort credit, breakfast, early check-in, early checkout. We’re in all the preferred programs of the major hotel chains. Rosewood Four Seasons, Preferred Hotels, all the Starwood Marriott combined. Those things actually give us almost an automatic entree to whoever the sales manager is.

But apart from the products, there’s the issue with airlines where we have a robust system that in a matter of seconds can ferret out fares that people may not be able to find [on their own]. We belong to an organization called Tour Connection as do many hotels around the country. So, we save a lot of time.

We’ve got a great group of people at Santa Barbara Travel Bureau; some have been with me for 35 years and have been in the travel industry even longer. We have hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge, institutional knowledge, and that’s important.

The other thing that’s changed is that we have a tremendous business that involves film, television, and travel for touring jazz musicians that started almost by accident 35 or 40 years ago.

How so?

My brother, David, was playing tennis with a guy who was moving up from Los Angeles and his production company did a lot of productions for Lifetime. And he wondered if we could handle logistics for some of those productions. [The first one we did for him] was a remake of South Pacific with Harry Connick Jr. and Glenn Close

A few weeks later, we get a call from Harry’s assistant saying, ‘Gosh, you know, Harry thought you were great. Would you mind handling his personal travel?’

A couple months after that, we got a call from his manager. ‘Harry has some tours coming up, could we handle his tour travel?’ We started picking up other managers within the same firm, then other firms.

I’m not producing a concert or a TV series; I just want to go to Paris, stay in a nice place, and fly business or first-class.

I will tell you that if you’re flying nonstop to Paris, I mean, your choices are pretty slender. There’ll be Air France out of L.A. But if you wanted to stop in Reykjavik, there’s Icelandair. Aer Lingus through Dublin, or Turkish Airlines...

Charles had many more suggestions and ideas, too many for this article. He convinced me that using a travel agent can be invaluable; it is something I discovered myself during a two-month-long stay in Europe. Because of a situation resolved by my agent, I now think of a travel agent as an American connection. One that you may find will come in handy when problems – medical, financial, or just with scheduling – arise, as they often do.

Luckily, there are still a few travel agents who continue to work in the field. And, even luckier, one of them is Santa Barbara Travel Bureau, the grandfather of travel agents in this area.

EU Bans New Gas or Diesel Vehicle Production by 2035

The European Parliament adopted a ban on the sale of new fossil-fueled cars and light vehicles by 2035.

Following in the footsteps of California and New York, among other U.S. states, the European Union (EU) will now be one of the major car markets to compel a move to electric vehicles (EVs).

“Today’s vote is a historic vote for the ecological transition ... it is a victory for our planet and our populations,” said Karima Delli, Chair of the Transport Committee, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The decision on February 14 formalizes an agreement struck between the European Parliament and the European Council in October 2022 as part of the “Fit for 55” aim of lowering EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.

In turn, the 2030 aim contributes to the EU’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. According to the European Parliament and Reuters, the wording will still need to be formally approved by the council, which is expected to happen in March.

In addition to the 2035 target, the rule requires that new cars sold in the EU lower emissions to 55 percent of 2021 levels by 2030, and vans reduce emissions by 50 percent by the same year, according to a press statement from the European Parliament.

“These targets create clarity for the car industry and stimulate innovation and investments for car manufacturers,” rapporteur and Dutch Member of European Parliament (MEP) Jan Huitema said in the press release. “Purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers, and a second-hand market will emerge more quickly. It makes sustainable driving accessible to everyone.”

Advocates underline the significance of taking action to cut emissions to avoid the worst effects of the climate catastrophe, as well as maintaining the EU’s competitiveness as the global automotive market electrifies.

According to The New York Times, Ford Motor announced that it would reduce its European staff by roughly 11 percent over the next few years as it refocuses its operations on EVs.

Major European automobile manufacturers have joined the EV bandwagon, too. According to Reuters, VW CEO Thomas Schafer declared in 2022 that his business would only develop EVs in Europe beginning in 2033. Due to industry opposition, the final bill allows automakers producing less than 10,000 vehicles per year to negotiate for lower emissions reduction targets through 2036.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Achieve Behavior Change; Achieve Behavior Health, 2342 Professional Pkwy, 300, Santa Maria, CA, 93455. Holdsambeck And Associates, INC, 2342 Professional Pkwy, 300, Santa Maria, CA, 93455. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 8, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000349.

Published March 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JC Plumbing Supply, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. JC Plumbing Supply LLC, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 2, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20230000283. Published March 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAMESTATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JCH Plumbing, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. JCH Plumbing LLC, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 2, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20230000282. Published March 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAMESTATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Villa De Montecito, 1934 N. Jameson LN, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. The Montecito Villa Association, 7 W. Figueroa St., STE 300. Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 8, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000348. Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

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

School, 1070 Fairwar Rd, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. Seungah Seo, 743 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 7, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, CountyClerk(SEAL).FBNNo.2023-0000330.

Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023

ORDERTOSHOWCAUSEFORCHANGEOF

NAME: CASE No. 22CV04680. To all interested parties: Petitioner Neal Stuart Mazer filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to NealStuartHiken. The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed January 18, 2023 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: March 15, 2023 at 10 am in Dept. 3, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published February 8, 15, 22, and March 1, 2023.

MONTECITO PLANNING COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING*

DATE OF HEARING: MARCH 15, 2023

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The following methods of participation are available to the public.

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

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

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

• Attend the Meeting In-Person: Individuals are allowed to attend and provide comments at the Montecito Planning Commission meeting in-person. Please note, we are following all local and State guidelines and are no longer requiring face coverings indoors. Please be advised that the Public Health Department is still strongly encouraging County staff and members of the public to mask and social distance themselves in public areas.

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

When: March 15, 2023 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Montecito Planning Commission 03/15/2023

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Vm5REIPfSiKjeMtyMW_m5w

OR PARTICIPATE VIA TELEPHONE:

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

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

The Montecito Planning Commission hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. The order of items listed on the agenda is subject to change by the Montecito Planning Commission. Anyone interested in this matter is invited to speak in support or in opposition to the projects. Written comments are also welcome. All letters should be addressed to the Montecito Planning Commission, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, California, 93101. Letters, with nine copies, and computer materials, e.g. PowerPoint presentations, should be filed with the secretary of the Planning Commission no later than 12:00 P.M. on the Friday before the Montecito Planning Commission hearing. The decision to accept late materials will be at the discretion of the Montecito Planning Commission.

Maps and/or staff analysis of the proposals may be reviewed at https://www.countyofsb.org/plndev/hearings/mpc.sbc or by appointment by calling (805) 568-2000.

If you challenge the project(s) 22CDH-00000-00025, 22MOD-00000-00013, 22CUP-00000-00008, 22CDP-00000-00032, 21RVP-00000-00109, 21CDP-00000-00129, 22AMD-00000-00005, or 22CDP-00000-00075 in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Montecito Planning Commission prior to the public hearing.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this hearing, please contact the Hearing Support Staff (805) 568-2000. Notification at least 48 hours prior to the hearing will enable the Hearing Support Staff to make reasonable arrangements.

* This is a partial listing of the items to be heard at the Montecito Planning Commission Hearing of March 15, 2023. Previously noticed Case Nos. 22CUP-00000-00008/22CDP-00000-00032 (Clark Sound Wall) were continued to this hearing from the hearing of February 15, 2023. See previous notice for full descriptions of these items. If you have any questions, call Planning and Development at (805) 568-2000.

22CDH-00000-00025 Beach House, LLC New Residence, 22MOD-00000-00013 Garage, and Setback Modification

Exempt, CEQA Guidelines Section 15303

Hearing on the request of the Owner, Doug Tudor, to consider Case Nos. 22CDH-00000-00025 and 22MOD-00000-00013, for:

a) Coastal Development Permit with hearing in compliance with Section 35-169 of Article II, the Coastal Zoning Ordinance, on property zoned Single-Family Residential (15-R-1) to allow for the demolition and reconstruction of an existing single-family dwelling;

b) Modification in compliance with Section 35-179 of Article II, the Coastal Zoning Ordinance, to allow a reduction of the standard front yard setback from 20 feet to 16.5 feet to construct a new detached single-car garage and gravel parking area partially within the standard front yard setback that will serve the parking needs of the new single-family dwelling; and

c) Determine the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15301 and 15303 of the State Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act.

The application involves Assessor Parcel No. 009-341-009, located at 43 Humphrey Road in the Montecito area, First Supervisorial District.

21RVP-00000-00109

21CDP-00000-00129

Addendum to 03-EIR-06

Hearing on the request of the Music Academy of the West to consider:

Music Academy of the West CUP Revision

1070 Fairway Road

Alex Tuttle, Supervising Planner (805) 884-6844 Steve Conner, Planner (805) 568-2081

a) Case Nos. 21RVP-00000-00109 and 21CDP-00000-00129 for approval of a Revised Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to Case No. 90-CP-111 RV01 and associated Coastal Development Permit to update the CUP and revise operational conditions with no new structural development or increase in annual or daily attendance caps, in compliance with Sections 35-172.11.3 and 35-169 of Article II, on property zoned Single Family Residential (1-E-1); and,

b) Accept the Addendum to Environmental Impact Report (03-EIR-06) pursuant to the State Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act. There are no new significant environmental impacts as a result of this modification request. The original EIR identified significant effects on the environment in the following categories: aesthetics/visual resources, archaeological resources, biological resources, grading/drainage, fire protection, land use compatibility, noise, solid waste generation, transportation/circulation, and water quality.

The Addendum to the EIR and all documents may be reviewed at the Planning and Development Department, 123 East Anap amu Street, Santa Barbara or on-line at https://www.countyofsb.org/201/Projects. The application involves Assessor Parcel Nos. 009-282-029 and -030, located at 1070 Fairway Road, in the Montecito Community Plan area, First Supervisorial District.

22AMD-00000-00005

22CDP-00000-00075

Addendum to 04EIR-00000-00006

Coral Casino Renovations Project

1260 Channel Drive

Gwen Beyeler, Supervising Planner (805) 934-6269

Alia Vosburg, Planner (805) 934-6259

Hearing on the request of Steve Welton, Suzanne Elledge Planning & Permitting Services, Inc., agent for 1260 BB Property, LLC, to consider Case Nos. 22AMD-00000-00005 and 22CDP-00000-00079 for approval of an amendment to the Biltmore Hotel and Coral Casino Development Plan (DVP; 03DVP-00000-00002) to modify Condition Nos. 3 and 22 of the DVP Conditions of Approval in compliance with Sections 35-174.10.2 and 35-169 of the Article II Coastal Zoning Ordinance, on property zoned Resort/Visitor Serving Commercial (C-V); and to accept the Addendum to Environmental Impact Report (04EIR-00000-00006) pursuant to Section 15164 of the State Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act. There are no new significant environmental impacts as a result of this modification request. The Addendum to the EIR and all documents may be reviewed at the Planning and Development Department, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara. The Addendum to the EIR is also available for review at the Central Branch of the City of Santa Barbara Library, 40 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara. The application involves Assessor Parcel Nos. 009-352-009, 009-354-001, 009-351-012 and 009-353-015, located at 1260 Channel Drive, in the Coastal Zone of the Montecito Community Plan Area, First Supervisorial District.

MONTECITO COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION RECORDING SECRETARY (568-2000)

Published March 1, 2023

Montecito Journal

became instant friends. Thank goodness

I was able to find someone to talk to that got my problem. That was the most incredible thing for me.”

McCabe became deeply involved in the organization and spent nine years on WomenHeart’s Board of Directors. She helped Cottage Hospital become a member with the National Hospital Alliance — a select group of hospitals and organizations across the country that are there to provide specialized support to women with heart disease. For the past 12 years, McCabe has been leading the WomenHeart Support Group at Sansum Clinic, where women living with or at-risk for heart disease connect with one another, share information and resources, and receive emotional support.

A total of five local women have now been certified as WomenHeart Champions, they are: Janet Wolf, Evan McCabe, Marsha Griggs, Lou Ann Topping, and Olivia Rodriguez

“I just adore these women,” said Wolf. “We’ve become so close. We call ourselves heart sisters.”

While Wolf was on the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors in 2006, it became her mission to talk about heart disease. Recently retired, Wolf has returned to this mission. This past January, all five champions worked closely with Cottage to set up the HeartScarves and Visitation program.

“We go in and sit down, and hear their story and provide support,” said Wolf. “The first time I went into someone’s room and gave her a scarf, she got emotional, and I got emotional, so it’s a very symbolic connection between us and the patient: you’re not alone, we are there for

you. It’s a symbolic embrace.” Along with the scarf, women are offered a Red Bag of Courage, which contains resources, educational information, and more symbolic hugs in the form of encouraging notes.

The WomenHeart Champions program has trained more than 1,000 women across the United States, who have reached more than 100,000 women with their message of hope, support, and education. These Champions have given presentations in hospitals, community centers, and other venues, sharing their stories and offering practical tips on how to live a heart-healthy lifestyle.

Visit www.WomenHeart.org for more information and resources. The WomenHeart Support Group at Sansum meets on the second Monday of the month from 5 to 6 pm, is free of charge and open to the community. Please call (805) 681-7672 or email HealthEd@ SansumClinic.org for more information.

To learn more about the HeartScarves and Visitation program at Cottage Hospital, or to become a volunteer knitter, please call (805) 569-7357 or email volunteering@sbch.org.

ment game, so I went with the idea of what would be happening in your head, going over all the possible scenarios of how to play, trying to pick up tells, everything a player is thinking at the table,” she explained. “I wanted to take the mental action and put it physically on the dancers’ bodies.”

The result is a work that requires complex coordination of hands on the table that is center stage, as well as pairings that represent one-on-one interactions during a poker hand.

“As their characters unfold during the piece, they have a very playful but very guarded way of moving that is leaning itself to try to fool somebody, and all the interactions are really just ways of representing that everybody’s out for themselves,” Newberry said. “The fun is seeing all the intricacies in people’s personalities, and examining the motivations for an action, just expressing all that mental activity with motion.”

The lighthearted flavor continues after intermission with the main event, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with music by Felix Mendelssohn. Company founder Gustafson himself has revisited his choreography for the one-act, a whimsical and humorous homage to the transformative power of love that SSB hasn’t presented for more than a dozen years.

The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Emperor of All Maladies and the No. 1 New York Times bestseller The Gene continues his exploration in this story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. The Guardian called the book a masterclass that will leave you in awe of biology, while The Wall Street Journal said Mukherjee has “a storyteller’s flair and a gift for translating complex medical concepts into simple language.” Mukherjee’s Wednesday, March 8, “Word of Mouth” series event from UCSB A&L at the Granada is co-presented by the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara and in association with UCSB Department of Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology.

Elsewhere, John Sayles could easily have been in town earlier this month for SBIFF, as the New Jersey native writer-director has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay – for Passion Fish (1992) and Lone Star (1996) – while also writing and directing several cult and classic movies including Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980), Baby, It’s You (1983), The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Matewan (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), City of Hope (1991) and The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), not to mention videos for Bruce Springsteen’s hits “Born in the U.S.A.,” “I’m on Fire,” and “Glory Days.” Sayles, however, is also a novelist, with six novels and a few collections to his credit.

Not surprisingly, his latest, Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade’s Journey, has been called a thrilling historical and cinematic epic, one being compared to the work of such authors as George R. R. Martin, Philippa Gregory, and Charles Dickens. The epic spans 13 years, two continents, several wars, and many smoke-filled and bloody battlefields, in the world of the novel’s eponymous hero. Sayles signs copies at Chaucer’s Books on Friday, March 3.

Rachael Quisel is a freelance writer who specializes in health and fitness. Their short story, “Departure,” was nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage

Real Estate Appraiser Greg Brashears

Book ’em

Cancer physician and researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee, who has been praised for making scientific discoveries read like riveting mysteries, is coming to town to talk about his new book, The Song of the Cell, an exploration of medicine and our radical new ability to manipulate cells.

Housing needed . The MJ arts editor and Giving List columnist must relocate from my rental cottage after 17 years. Got great response here, but things have fallen through, so I’m still looking for solo space (cottage, ADU, ???) locally, rent in low $2Ks, available ASAP (check with me). No pets or smoking. Great references. Any ideas? Call Steven at (805) 837-7262 or email sml.givinglist@gmail.com.

not how big you are, it’s how big you play.” – John Wooden

Marsha Griggs, Janet Wolf, Evan McCabe, and Karen Bradbury, R.N. (Cardiac Liaison R.N.), Lou Ann Topping, Olivia Rodriguez

The State Street Ballet spring show will be a single performance at the Granada on Saturday, March 4 (photo by Heidi Bergseteren)

Music, with Music Academy graduate David Potter on piano, featured works by Pachelbel, Byrd, Bradbury, and Morten Lauridsen’s “Sure on This Shining Night.”

Impressive solos were also sung by tenors James Kirkland, Lorenzo Johnson, Will Breman , and mezzo-soprano Gretchen Adams, with the concert, ranging from the Renaissance to American spirituals, wrapping with Joseph M. Martin’s “The Awakening.”

An evening of high note and a few in-between....

A WAVE to TVSB

TV Santa Barbara and our Eden by the Beach hosted the two-day Alliance for Community Media (ACM) Western Region conference and trade show, with events at the station’s South Salinas Street studio, the Mar Monte Hotel and a welcome reception for 100 guests which I attended at the Cabrillo Pavilion.

The conference, which attracted 168

guests from Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico, also staged the WAVE Awards, honoring the best in regional media, including video editing and best documentary.

Interestingly enough, Santa Barbara was the site of the first ACM West Regional Conference in 1982, and the first WAVE Awards ceremony was held here in 1988.

“It’s a great opportunity for us all in the community TV industry to get together and discuss ideas and planning for the future,” enthused Erik Davis, executive director of TVSB, which was founded in 1974.

The Baby Name Prophecy

If her real estate investments should ever fail, former TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres could always become a clairvoyant.

A resurfaced interview in which Ellen, 65, seemingly predicted Paris Hilton’s baby name one year before he was born, has set her extensive fan base in a spin. Paris, 42, and her husband, Carter

Reum, who is also 42, welcomed their first child together in January via surrogate – a baby boy they named Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum

But Ellen actually predicted the name on a show she did with Paris in January 2022.

Next time I see Ellen at Pierre Lafond, I will ask her advice on the winning Mega Millions lottery numbers!

Peeps Pumps

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry is sole searching!

The former Dos Pueblos High student, 38, is working with the famous candy company Peeps on creative ideas for her new shoe line for Easter.

“I love bright colors, playfulness, and iconic shapes and motifs, so, of course, when the opportunity to have our first brand collaboration be with Peeps, I had to hop to it,” she says.

Katy Perry Collections, of which Katy is founder and CEO, launched last week with her deal with Peeps described as a “dynamic collaboration.”

The footwear retails for $59 a pair, selling at Macy’s, Nordstrom, Zappos, and Amazon.

How sweet it is......

A Hefty Hampton Sum

The Hamptons, just 100 miles from Manhattan on Long Island, has always boasted hefty real estate prices, much like our rarefied enclave.

But an off-market listing for an 800-square-foot, two-bedroom oceanfront trailer in Montauk now contracted to sell for $3.75 million – which equates to $5,000 per square foot – has certainly set a new record.

Located in Montauk Shores, the price paid far exceeds the previous record of $1.85 million for a trailer that sold last year.

Richard Belzer Remembered

On a personal note, I remember actor Richard Belzer, famed as an acerbic detective on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, who died at the age of 78 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, his home near Nice and the postage-sized principality of Monaco.

I well remember doing a TV talk-show pilot at the Metropolis Studios on 106th St. in East Harlem in the 1980s with his resident band, The Moody Jews, with me as the show’s gossip reporter.

Sightings

Oscar winner Jon Voight at the RitzCarlton Bacara... Ellen DeGeneres and actress wife Portia de Rossi noshing at Tre Lune... Actor Christopher Lloyd picking up his New York Times at Pierre Lafond.

Pip! Pip!

From musings on the Royals to celebrity real estate deals, Richard Mineards is our man on the society scene and has

The four executive directors of TVSB since it became a nonprofit: Erik Davis, Matt Schuster, Keri Stokstad, and Hap Freund

But the show never took off and I eventually became a regular, under contract, on the syndicated Joan Rivers Show, taping at the CBS Studios on W. 57th St.

Belzer played his detective role for 22 consecutive series, exceeding the previous primetime record of 20 consecutive series held by James Arness who played Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975.

He retired as an actor in 2016.

Ken Pfeiffer, Lisa Osborn, and Debbie and Wade Nomura (photo by Sarita Relis)

Erik Davis, Tracy Beard, Oscar Gutierrez, Meighann Helene, Tony Ruggieri, and Eric Friedman (photo by Sarita Relis)

(photo by Sarita Relis)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

THURSDAY, MARCH 2

1st Thursday – With frigid temperatures part of February’s farewell, March will hopefully be more hospitable to folks looking to frolic downtown at the monthly art and culture walk. Peter Horjus , whose artwork can be seen at the studio in the Walter Claudio Building (11 W. Figueroa), is looking even further ahead, as his paintings are of watermelons, swimmers, divers, and splashy cannonballs… More upending of seasonal norms finds The Yes Store (1100 State St.) – which has been a November-December pop-up operation sporting local handmade arts and crafts intended as gifts for 55 years – is going year-round with a grand reopening this evening at its new permanent location in La Arcada Plaza... Perusing the wares while enjoying tasty snacks and beverages will have a soundtrack of music by the Summerland Band… Lonetree (1221 State St., #14) joins the transition train by celebrating its new digs with locally created art, mirrors, rugs, vases, and lighting on display with tastes of the vine from Kompas Wine Club… Elsewhere, Ensemble Theatre (33 W. Victoria) also expands its outreach by throwing open its doors even though there’s no current show on stage. Instead, folks can tour the historic New Vic theater every 15 minutes from 5 to 6 pm tonight… Other highlights include two venues marking Women’s History Month as Sullivan Goss’ (11 E. Anapamu) Surrealist Women exhibit collects contributions to the genre from women since 1934, while Frequency Wines focuses on art, music, and food from female-owned businesses, donating 10 percent of sales to Domestic Violence Solutions.

WHEN: 5 to 8 pm

WHERE: Lower State Street and side streets

COST: free

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

3

Tension with Tenors – Playwright Ken Ludwig ’s works have been popular wherever they play, as his c.v. boasts 32 plays and musicals, including six shows that played Broadway, seven in London’s West End, and several that have become a standard part of the American repertoire. Lend Me a Tenor won two Tony Awards and was called “one of the classic comedies of the 20th century” by The Washington Post , while Crazy for You was on Broadway for five years and won the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical. Ludwig hasn’t been shy about cashing in on his successes, as 2016’s A Comedy of Tenors is filled with characters from Lend and aims to be an uproarious ride full of mistaken identities, blissful romance, bedroom hijinks, and madcap delight. ( Lend Me A Sopran o premiered just last year) Santa Barbara Community College (SBCC) Theatre Group takes on the Comedy caper for the first time this month, tackling a plot that features one hotel suite, four tenors, two wives, three girlfriends, and a soccer stadium filled with screaming fans in 1930s Paris. The stage is set for the concert of the century, as long as everything doesn’t go kablooey. SBCC, no stranger to Ludwig’s works, employs a talented cast of largely local thespians featuring Justin Davanzo , Jean Louis Dedieu , Felicia Hall , Luke Hamilton , Isaac Lewis , Sean O’Shea , Tiffany Story , and Grace Wilson . SBCC co-department chair Katie Laris directs.

WHEN: Tonight-March 18

WHERE: SBCC’s Garvin Theatre, 721 Cliff Drive

COST: $14 to $24

INFO: (805) 965-5935 or www.theatregroupsbcc.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 3

Monsters, Pajamas and Vampires – Oh, My! – What happens when the clock strikes midnight? What worlds and creatures emerge under the comfort of night? What do vampires, onions, peaches, and roller-skating grandmas have in common? What seems like a series of increasingly ridiculous questions come together in Night Night, Roger Roger, by UCSB undergraduate student Roni Ragone. The senior playwriting major also gets a chance to respond to the question of how it feels to get the rare chance to get your evening-length play produced on stage at UCSB’s Studio Theater as part of the department’s 2022-23 season. The fanciful and quirky show is described as a delightful evening-of-jesters-type play that invites audiences to embrace their creativity, channel their silliness, and reconnect with their inner child as they experience midnight all over the world. It’s also meant to remind adults what it feels like to embrace the world with a child-like imagination. “This play is a plea for every person to stop growing up so fast, and take your moment with the universe and enjoy it,” Ragone says. The author’s peers in the theater department will perform in the play, directed by Julie Fishell, acting and directing lecturer at UCSB. Meanwhile, audience members who want to get even more immersed into Night Night, Roger Roger’s eccentric world might want to mark their calendars for special themed dress-up nights, with Friday, March 3, and Sunday, March 12, serving as pajama nights, while Tuesday, March 7, encourages vampire/monster costumes. Folks who attend in costume will also be entered into a raffle.

WHEN: Tonight-March 12

WHERE: UCSB Studio Theater

COST: $17 general, $13 students & seniors in advance, $19/$15 day of INFO: (805) 893-2064 or www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu

FRIDAY, MARCH 3

Beale Street is Back at Lobero – More than 60 years into its residency in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, the touring version of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB) continues to spread the joyful and timeless spirit of New Orleans/Dixieland-style jazz across the land. Their current nationwide tour, aptly titled Pass It On – 60th Anniversary Musical Celebration, commemorates all six decades of the Hall’s well-worn, well-loved space that’s physically small, but spiritually huge, carrying on the legacy of founder Allan Jaffe. Now led by Allan’s son Ben, the group’s mission remains focused on initiating audiences into the ineffable, almost religious experience of channeling their ancestors through the music and culture they’ve inherited from them while still facing forward to modern times. Trad jazz remains the core focus for PHJB’s cross-pollinated approach to serving as ambassadors for New Orleans, exploring original compositions, Afro-Cuban rhythms, R&B influences, and collaborating with artists beyond the jazz spectrum.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

COST: $46 & $56; $106 VIP tickets include premier seating and a pre-show reception with drinks and hors d’oeuvres

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 4

The Royal Family of the Guitar – There’s a good reason why The Romeros, the first guitar quartet to ignite the international concert scene and one that’s still going strong, play Santa Barbara so frequently. Our little big town was an early landing spot for the legendary Spanish guitarist Celedonio Romero, who left his native country in 1957 when his artistic freedom was jeopardized under Franco’s fascist regime and eventually settled in Santa Barbara. The following June, Celedonio made his United States recital debut at the Lobero Theatre,

Montecito

“Don’t worry about being cool. Worry about being the best” – Jeff Van Gundy

FRIDAY, MARCH

Parliament? Funkadelic? Clinton in Concert – George Clinton earned induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his achievement that more or less revolutionized R&B by twisting soul music into funk through adding influences from several late-1960s classic rock acts, including Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Sly Stone. Recording both as Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s, Clinton and his collective of more than 50 musicians garnered a Grammy and scored more than 40 R&B hit singles including three No. 1 hits with a formula that paired Motown’s assembly line of sound with a funk-free-for-all that blended influences from James Brown and Stone with eccentric costumes and themes inspired by ’60s acid culture and science fiction. Now at 81, Clinton isn’t satisfied sitting home reflecting on his vast influence on hip-hop and rap music, which is seen in many artists’ sampling of his songs, as segments and snippets of his music have been used hundreds of times by the likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Warren G., among many others. Instead, the “Godfather of Funk” is still out on the road performing such iconic songs as “Flash Light,” “One Nation Under a Groove,” and “Give Up the Funk,” energizing the crowd and likely still greatly influencing new generations.

WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: Chumash Casino Resort, 3400 E. Highway 246, Santa Ynez

COST: $49 to $69

INFO: (800) CHUMASH (248-6274) or www.chumashcasino.com

returning the next year with his three sons, Celin, Pepe and Ángel, each performing solo guitar works. Just three years later, the family performed together for the first time as The Romeros at the theater. Sixty-five years since that first local concert, the group – now featuring a third generation of Romero guitarists – returns to the Lobero marking both the 40th Anniversary Season for CAMA’s Masterseries but also the theater’s 150th birthday. They’ll play a varied program representing their longevity, featuring works by Vivaldi, Granadados, Barrios, Villa-Lobos, Tárrega, Boccherini, de Fall, Bizet, Albéniz, Iradier, Giménez, and the late founder and patriarch Celedonio Romero.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

COST: $45 & $55

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com

SUNDAY, MARCH 5

Attacca! Attacca! Attacca!

– The young members of the New York-born Attacca Quartet – Violinists Amy Schroeder and Domenic Salerni, violist Nathan Schram, and cellist Andrew Yee – obviously don’t have to resort to violence or exhortations to keep people’s attention, as the foursome has become one of the most versatile and verve-filled ensembles of our time.

Praised for its dexterity to glide between music of the 18th and 21st centuries, the now-Brooklyn-based quartet will perform works from its two albums of music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw – Orange, which won a 2020 Grammy for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, and last year’s follow-up, Evergreen, which also claimed a Grammy. In their only West Coast date of the current season, the quartet hunkers down at Hahn Hall, the Music Academy venue that has often hosted Shaw herself.

WHEN: 4 pm

WHERE: Hahn Hall, Music Academy of the West campus, 1070 Fairway Road

COST: $10 to $35

INFO: (805) 893-3535 www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

Living Well with Parkinson’s Disease

Sponsored by:

Dr. Michele Tagliati Cedars Sinai Medical

Dr. Adrienne Keener

SANTA

BY Lucy Kirkwood

DIRECTED BY Jenny Sullivan

Tickets starting at $40!

“an eco-thriller, bristling with chills and suspense”

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RENTAL WANTED

Housing needed. I’m the MJ arts editor and Giving List columnist. I have to relocate from my rental cottage after 17 years. Got great response here but things have fallen through, so I’m still looking for solo space (cottage, ADU, ???) locally, rent up to lowmid $2Ks, available ASAP, or early April. No pets or smoking. Great references. Any ideas?

Call Steven at (805) 837-7262 or email sml.givinglist@gmail.com.

AVAILABLE FOR RENT

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Amazing Furnished condo across from East Beach 2 + 2 Pvt garage, pool, gym, tennis, pickle ball $6900/mo. incl all but electric. Prefer long term lease. Submit pref. Text owner 805-358-0052

ITEMS FOR SALE

PLAYBOY COLLECTION, Complete. High Quality, Every US Magazine. WWW.MYPLAYBOYCOLLECTION.COM

FOR SALE

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TRESOR

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Plot at Santa Barbara Cemetery over looks Country Club. $35,000. Block A 176A. Phone 805-681-0441

74’ Mercedes 450sl, 7,550 mi. Excellent condition. Stunning color combo. Always garaged. Many new parts. Asking $23K. Call Dinesh 805.448.7961

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We accept Visa/MasterCard/Amex

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REAL ESTATE DOMAIN NAMES FOR SALE

SantaBarbara.rent, SantaBarbara.rentals, Ventura.rent, Ventura.rentals, MontecitoVacation.rentals, HopeRanchVacation.rentals, and BeachVacation.rentals.

Interested parties, please contact Jeff at 586-260-1572 for pricing.

REAL ESTATE WANTED TO BUY

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AUTOMOBILES WANTED

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KNIFE SHARPENING SERVICES

EDC Mobile Sharpening is a locally owned and operated in Santa Barbara. We specialize in (No-Entry) House Calls, Businesses and Special Events. Call 801-657-1056 to schedule an appointment.

ARCHITECTURAL HOME DESIGN

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