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Compass is a licensed real estate broker (01991628) in the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdraw without notice. To reach the Compass main office call 805.253.7700

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montecito JOURNAL Volume 11 Issue 1 Spri ng â&#x20AC;˘ 2018

Publisher & Editor Tim Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net

From left to right: Gabriel Pena, Alys Martinez, Beth Farnsworth, Ian Cronshaw, Scott Nyborg

Thank you to the First Responders, Habitat for Humanity, Bucket Brigade, and all of the other volunteers that have been supporting our community in the face of adversity. As locals ourselves, we are committed to helping friends, neighbors, and clients rebuild their lives and their homes. Whether you need an ally with respect to your insurance claim, cleanup/remediation, demolition and erosion protection, or help with construction and rebuilding, our entire team is here to help you in your time of need.

Managing Editor Leanne R. Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net Art Director Trent Watanabe Copy Editor James Luksic Administration Christine Merrick Diane Davidson Account Managers Tanis Nelson: tanis@montecitojournal.net Susan Brooks: sue@montecitojournal.net Leanne R. Wood: leanne@montecitojournal.net DJ Wetmore: dJ@montecitojournal.net Contributors: Gwyn Lurie, Chantal Peterson, Hattie Beresford, Randy Lioz, Jerry Dunn, Leanne R. Wood, Ted Mills, Eva Van Prooyen, Jeff Wing

Together, we will rebuild Montecito.

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Montecito Journal (glossy edition) is published by Montecito Journal, Inc. James Buckley, President Corporate Offices located at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H Montecito, CA 93108 For distribution, advertising, or other inquiries: (805) 565-1860

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CO NTEN TS 24

THE WAY IT WAS

ON CANVAS

Longtime Journal contributor Hattie Beresford documents the ascent of automobiles as Coast Village Road rises up to meet her; she traverses the history of highway construction, hotels, and auto camps, and how businesses have transformed along the way.

Frame of mind: painter Carin Gerard, inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe, looks to the sky for her latest series of cloudy art – namely “Thin Air”. Santa Barbara Sentinel contributor Ted Mills feels the textures and Gerard’s brush with greatness.

42 CONVERSATIONS

Montecito-based singer Chynna Phillips is daughter of John and Michelle (from The Mamas & The Papas lore), while Billy Baldwin – known for co-starring in such films as Backdraft and the original Flatliners – is the brother of fellow actors Alec and Stephen. The popular couple tied the knot circa 1995; MJ contributor Gwyn Lurie catches up with the successful lovebirds to learn what makes them tick and their marriage stick.

70 CURIOUS TRAVELER

Maze craze: MJ contributor Jerry Camarillo Dunn Jr. returns to Great Britain and maps out a history lesson while traversing England’s natural networks of labyrinths, bridges, and hedges from Hampton Court to Hever Castle.

BEHIND THE WHEEL

Randy Lioz revs up the engine, kicks the tires, and checks under the hood – all in the name of The Porsche Effect, courtesy of The Petersen Automotive Museum based in Los Angeles. Here’s a look at which of the showcase’s eclectic cars best combine form and function. c ov e r p h o to c o u r te s y of Billy Baldwin and Chynna Phillips

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CO NTEN TS 98 REAL ESTATES

Leanne R. Wood highlights seven distinctive, obtainable properties in Montecito – from Villa della Costa to La Ladera Road to Schoolhouse Lane – with price tags stretching from $4.89 million all the way to $38.5 million.

112 LOTUSLAND

Little Hanna Puacz of Brest-Litovsk was sent away to her uncle’s house in culture-crazed St. Petersburg; she emerged from that chrysalis a sparkthrowing force of nature named Ganna Walska. Jeff Wing surveys the meteoric story of the life-adoring bon vivant whose heart contained the world, and whose final extravagant gesture was to create – on her own unlikely terms – one of the world’s most celebrated, and unorthodox, public gardens.

126 MASTERPIECE MAKERS

112

Leanne R. Wood chronicles what’s in store and the bottom line for Ann James Interiors, Ashton & Hope Construction Inc., Bailey Construction, Borden Interiors & Associations, Bryant Design Studio, Central Coast Audio Visual, and many more.

150 WEEKEND GETAWAY

Leanne R. Wood ventures to Newport Beach, home to the highly recommended five-star The Resort at Pelican Hill.

152 MONTECITO WINEMAKERS

Well, that’s just grape: Eva Van Prooyen, Santa Barbara Sentinel contributor, visits the vineyards of Greg Brewer, founder of Brewer~Clifton (which produces 15,000 cases yearly) and Diatom (which fills 1,000 cases annually) wines; the businesses opened a Los Olivos tasting room in March.

156 LIVING HER DREAM

Frame fame: Photographer and IMG model Sophie Haber – who grew up in Montecito and whose parents have ties to the fashion industry – lets her hair down with Santa Barbara Sentinel contributor Chantal Peterson, who chronicles her latest brush with greatness.

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CONTRIBUTORS Gwyn Lurie – Gwyn Lurie is a local chair collector. She has chaired the MUS School

Jerry Dunn – Jerry Dunn’s Curious Traveler column in Montecito Journal won

Randy Lioz – is an automotive enthusiast with more than a decade of experience

Hattie Beresford – Hattie Beresford is a native of the Netherlands and retired

Jeff Wing – Jeff Wing is a besotted typist who finds everyone and everything

Eva Van Prooyen – Eva Van Prooyen is a licensed marriage and family

Board for five years (and been a board member for eight), she is co-chair of the Santa Barbara Human Rights Watch Committee, and was chair of the Santa Barbara County Child Welfare Safety Net Task Force. Besides that, Gwyn has spent enough time in her writing chair to pen The Music Never Stopped starring J.K. Simmons (Sundance Opening Selection, 2010), Nine Lives starring Kevin Spacey and Christopher Walken (2016), and screenplays for nearly every major movie studio. Gwyn worked in broadcast news for ABC/New York upon completion of her studies at UCLA and Oxford. Today, one finds Gwyn in a chair outside Pierre LaFond or at The Goat Tree on days when Montecito is under evacuation.

in the industry, from advertising and marketing to data analytics and forecasting. Hailing from New York, he spent eight years in the Motor City, immersing himself in car culture, and came to Santa Barbara to work for an automotive forecasting company. He has extensive experience in vehicle evaluations, having tested hundreds of vehicles on a long- and short-term basis, and attending manufacturer press events. He has an economics degree from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. You can regularly find him at Cars & Coffee with his Porsche 911 or Speedster replica.

interesting and emotionally stirring, sometimes to his discredit. He writes the State Street Scribe column for the Santa Barbara Sentinel and has otherwise written for both the university and a jittery, self-congratulating tech startup, with stops along whatever bumpy continuum connects the two. He came to California as a singer in a band an eon ago, speaks halting Dutch (through delightful marriage), adores Mancini, Morricone, Andy Partridge, Marc Chagall, Thomas McGuane, the vaguely extraterrestrial T.C. Boyle, and the churlish, exalting Philip Larkin. All he wants to do is write. Just about.

Ted Mills – is a long-time writer on the arts,

a writer-director of film, artist, and currently host of funkzonepodcast. com, where he interviews artists and creative folks in, around, and visiting Santa Barbara. He fancies himself as a bit of a bon vivant and a mixologist, loves to emcee events, and would love to be on your trivia team.

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the gold medal from the Society of American Travel Writers. His wanderlust began as a 22-yearold vagabond with a backpack, listening for the Oracle at Delphi (Greece) and acting as an extra in Bollywood movies (India). It has continued through 34 years with National Geographic, 11 books, and 600-plus articles – work recognized with three SATW Lowell Thomas Awards, the “Oscars” of travel writing.

teacher of English and American history for the Santa Barbara School District. Besides writing a local history column for Montecito Journal for more than a decade, she has written two Noticias and coedited My Santa Barbara Scrap Book, the memoir of local artist Elizabeth Eaton Burton, for the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Her most recent book, The Way It Was ~ Santa Barbara Comes of Age, is a collection of a few of her nearly 300 articles written for the Journal. When she is not immersed in some dusty tome, she can be found on the tennis courts, hiking paths, or on the nation’s rail trails peddling with her husband, former Dos Pueblos volleyball coach Mike Beresford.

Leanne R Wood – Leanne R Wood is an author, speaker,

entrepreneur, and trailblazer. Originally from New Zealand, she has lived in Switzerland, Ireland, Canada, England, Scotland, and Romania. For the past 18 years, Leanne and her family have resided in the USA. She fell in love with Santa Barbara when passing through for one night. Six weeks later, Leanne and her husband had sold their home and businesses on the East Coast and relocated to Santa Barbara. Leanne loves traveling and exploring different cultures, meeting people, hiking, anything to do with the beach, and most of all, her family.

therapist, writer, relationship specialist, and selfprofessed wine geek. She moved from Truckee to Santa Barbara in 1989. Since then, she has been managing editor of Montecito Journal (weekly), became co-founder and co-owner of the Santa Ynez Valley Journal, worked for and received her master’s degree in clinical psychology and now runs a busy private therapy practice. She continues to write for various publications, enjoys her time on the yoga mat, and is in constant pursuit of a good laugh.

Chantal Peterson – Chantal Peterson is a Santa

Barbara-based writer, editor, and healer. She is the founder of Windly Creatives, a creative content agency that offers targeting marketing copy, strategic storytelling, and editing services for innovative local brands and entrepreneurs. She is also the founder of the BodyLove Project, which is devoted to inspiring women to embrace their true power. A world traveler and lover of the natural world, Chantal feels blessed to call Santa Barbara her home.

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAS CHANGED

ust behind and above Montecito, the hills were alive with flame that not only lit up the nighttime sky but also burned chaparral that hadn’t caught fire for more than 50 years. It turned out to be the largest such wildfire California has ever known. Not long after the last embers crackled out, it finally rained... rained like it hasn’t rained for perhaps a half-century – at least not all at once and so heavily for such a short period of time.

We lived through that and nearly three months of disruption and evacuation from December 2017 through half of March 2018.

But you know what? Montecito has gone back to being the Montecito we’ve all known and loved for whatever period of time we’ve been here. I grew up here, spent seven years – from kindergarten through sixth grade – at Montecito Union School, as did my sister. I’ve “luged” down Hot Springs Road from above East Mountain Drive all the way down to Coast Village Road. My friends and I skateboarded, ran, and bicycled through this village so many times we’ve left ruts in the road. Okay, I exaggerate, but it’s my way of telling you that there are few places on Earth as suitable for growing up and living in as Montecito. So, if you’ve been here forever, we now share blissful memories along with scars from the recent past. If you are new to Montecito, let me be among the first to wish you a long and prosperous life. You’re going to love it here, despite the occasional wrath of Mother Nature. We hope you’ll enjoy the rather lengthy interview with two of Montecito’s more colorful celebrities: Chynna Phillips and Billy Baldwin. We hope you like Jeff Wing’s curiously indelicate description of Lotusland, Randy Lioz’s appreciative glance at Porsche’s 70 years, along with Eva van Prooyen’s Montecito winemakers, Hattie Beresford’s detailed history of Coast Village Road and Montecito’s lower village, Jerry Camarillo Dunn’s twisted examination of English mazes, Chantal Peterson’s profile of former Montecitan and now Australian homesteader Sophie Haber, Ted Mills’ loving portrait of Carin Gerard’s floral craft, and our extensive examination of Montecito’s real estates for sale. Welcome to a neighborhood in transition!

Tim Buckley Publisher

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THE WAY IT WAS

BY HATTIE BERESFORD

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Early Days of Coast Village Road

t is safe to say that the automobile created todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Coast Village. From the moment that Mr. and Mrs. George W. Beauhoff of Philadelphia alighted in

Santa Barbara near the end of their 3,000-mile journey in a Locomobile in 1901, Santa Barbarans were star struck. By 1909, nearly 300 horseless carriages putt-putted around town, and the newspapers announced the arrival of each auto as they would the birth of a child. With the entire nation similarly affected by the horseless carriage, by the mid-1910s hundreds of autoists were passing through Santa Barbara each day as whole families celebrated the freedom of the road. When Santa Barbara City councilman A.W. Dozier returned from an auto tour in 1915, he realized the lost business potential of all these motorists just passing through. He recommended that the city create an auto camp at the western entrance of town. Those who stayed would get to know the town, spend money, and perhaps buy real estate. Such a camp was built in 1919 and was so successful that three more were built in the same area in a few short years. The eastern gateway to Santa Barbara ran along the coast highway through Montecito, and in 1916 two gas stations were built, one near Hot Springs Road and one near Olive Mill Road. For the rest, only six houses fronted this stretch of road and two estates. One, Las Acacias, comprised the lands north of the highway between Butterfly Lane and Middle Road. Constructed in 1906 for Samuel P. Calef, formerly of the war department in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey of Pasadena. It became known for its gardens whose lawn swept down the hill to the county road. Calef also made

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THE WAY IT WAS history when he became the first Californian to install a miniature pipe organ in his Pierce Arrow in 1912. The other estate was called Encinal and included a big, green shingled home built for Edward F.R. Vail. Vail tried his hand at several occupations from lemon grower to banker, but claimed he could rely on his “own income.” The estate lay on the south side of the highway on a large plot of land west of Depot Road and north of Spring Street (both approximately today’s Coast Village Circle). In 1923, Ida Lietzow decided to capitalize on the auto camp craze that was sweeping the nation and developed the Montecito Auto Camp on a strip of land west of Encinal. She started with a store and six wood-floored tents that descended toward Spring Street. By 1942,

The El Dorado Motel was built by the Bonato family in 1952 and stood at today’s 1155 Coast Village Road. Marty originally developed the lot as an auto camp (Courtesy John Fritsche)

subsequent owners had doubled the size of the camp and included cottages as well. By the 1950s, it became known as the Montecito Motel and stood near today’s 1217 Coast Village Road.

From Camps to Motels

uch transformation was happening nationwide as auto camps became auto courts became motor inns became motels. The

word “motel,” a combination of motor and hotel, was coined by Los Angeles architect Arthur Heinemann in 1925 when he designed the Milestone Mo-tel (later the Motel Inn) in San Luis Obispo, which

Motel patrons looking for a night spot didn’t have far to go. The Chalet Tyrol, which stood across from the beautiful lagoon of the Bird Refuge, offered nightly dancing until 2 am and a special combination sandwich platter. It stood at 905 Old Coast Highway, which is today Los Patos Road. (Courtesy John Fritsche)

claimed to be the first motel in the nation. Heinemann used Missionstyle architecture complete with bell tower, arcades, and the obligatory red-tile roof for his design. Motorists stayed in two-room bungalows with kitchens and private garages attached. All the units faced a central courtyard with a swimming pool and picnic tables. The word “motel,” however, didn’t catch on until after WWII, and Santa Barbara city directories listed the businesses under the heading of “tourist camps” through 1946, after which they switched the designation to “auto courts and motels.” Clearly, these lodgings were not to be considered in the same class as “hotels” or “inns.” City directories did show two hotels on Coast Highway in Montecito,

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The Sea Captain’s Motor Hotel was replaced by Montecito Bank and Trust and Sotheby’s (Courtesy John Fritsche)

THE WAY IT WAS

however. The venerable Miramar Hotel dates back to 1887; the new kid in town – the Montecito Inn – was completed in 1928. Remembered for the Olive Mill Bistro and Gil Rosas’ rousing dance music in the 1970s and ’80s the Montecito Inn became the darling of the Hollywood crowd in its earlier days and featured every modern amenity including a full-service garage called the Blue Bird. Back in the 1950s, guests could get a cocktail at its Flamingo Room and buy souvenirs at Shady Tony of Santa Barbara’s gift store. About 1929, Martin Bonato joined the tourist camp business The Golf Motel, so named for its proximity to the Montecito Country Club, once stood on land now inhabited by Starbucks near Vons and offered free TV and a playground. It stood at or near today’s 1046 Coast Village Road. (Courtesy John Fritsche)

in Montecito with Marty’s Auto Court, which stood at today’s 1155 Coast Village Road. Marty had grand plans and placed two, two-story commercial buildings at the head of his auto court, which he soon redubbed The Dreamland Inn. It boasted a dance hall for parties and clubs, confectionery, soft drinks, and cigars. He must have been doing well, because in 1952 he rebuilt it as the El Dorado Motel, which featured 24 fully modern units with tubs or showers, wall to wall carpets, vented wall heat, and radios.

A Barren Fume-Filled Canyon La Loma Lodge stood at today’s 1212 Coast Village Road and boasted it was Santa Barbara’s newest and finest highway motel in Montecito and close to beach, golf course, horseback riding, and restaurants. In addition, it had soundproofed rooms. Remnants of the motel can still be seen on the site of today’s Cava Restaurant. (Courtesy John Fritsche)

y the end of the 1920s, travel by automobile was so popular that road construction could not keep up with the numbers traveling

the roads. In addition, the rapid and helter-skelter development of services to meet the demands of travelers had led to highways that, as civic leader Pearl Chase wrote, “... are fast becoming lined with cheap and unsightly commercial establishments… that seldom serve their purpose most efficiently and with the least possible offense to the eye.” In Montecito, County director of planning L. Deming Tilton reported that the approaches to the city had become shabbier and shabbier with each passing year. “Montecito rebels,” he told the County Planning Commission, “of this once delightful, tree-bordered old carriage road becoming a barren, fume-filled canyon of blatant signs, malodorous restaurants, flimsy auto camps, and tourist hotels.”

La Siesta Motel stood at or near what is now 1010 Coast Village Road (Courtesy John Fritsche)

In response to these conditions, John Alexander Jameson,

THE WAY IT WAS who had been instrumental in forming the County Planning Commission, the Montecito Association, as well as the Montecito Water District, convinced the commission that the answer was to create a triple parkway, which separated the highway traffic from local traffic and shielded residences from the highway with landscaping. They also created ordinances that prohibited commercial development east of Olive Mill Road. The first phase, from Olive Mill Road to San Ysidro Road was completed in 1937, but the project was not completed to Sheffield Drive until 1948. Six years later, the State of California built the freeway and the roadways changed again.

Over time, the extensive gardens gave way to a pool surrounded by a luxurious green lawn (Courtesy John Fritsche)

In 1954, addresses on Coast Highway were altered as Montecito embarked on a program that changed the entire numbering system of the road – odds became evens and evens became odds. Montecito Auto Camp, which had once been 30, then 54, then 1050, suddenly became 1217-1225 Coast Highway. That same year, work was being completed on the stretch of the 101 freeway that by-passed the original highway through Montecito, and the village changed again. Most of Spring Street, the southern property line of Coast Highway businesses, was gobbled up by the freeway. Only a small section remains today, the off-ramp for Olive Mill Road. In its place, and replacing Depot Road as well, is Coast Village Circle. In 1960, plans to annex the area to the City, which promised to

The Coast Highway circa 1942 catered to families on the road looking for an inexpensive place to stay and bite to eat despite dim-outs (Courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

put in a sewer system to replace the failing septic systems, were met with strong opposition by many in greater Montecito. In April of that year, developer Sherril Broudy, who owned several parcels and businesses on the Coast Highway, convinced other owners to join together to form the Coast Village Road Association. By May, the annexation was complete and the name “Coast Highway” changed to Coast Village Road. An era of improvements ensued. By 1968, the former highway was reconfigured from its four-lane system to two with slot parking protected from the main road by grassy medians. A typical motel room with the ubiquitous chenille bed spread (Courtesy John Fritsche)

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THE WAY IT WAS

A view of Coast Village circa 1990 reveals the many changes that occured since 1930 (Courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Bill Dewey photograph)

What’s There Now

On the southeast corner of Butterfly and Coast Village, a

n 1952/53 the stretch of Coast Highway between Hot Springs and

Chevron Station still stands though the businesses to the west

Olive Mill roads boasted 11 motels and 10 gas stations. Other services

were wiped out by the impending freeway in the mid-1950s. One

for tourists and residents were three liquor stores, two grocery stores, a

of those to go was the much-lamented, Bud Blesoe’s Blue Onion

bakery, and a pharmacy. Those who didn’t want to drive to Santa Barbara for

restaurant, which stood across from today’s Vons Shopping Center.

dinner had their choice of the Hot Spot Café or the Bermuda (the former

The Rancheria Motel at 1235 Coast Village Road, which shared

El Cortijo), Pink Cricket, Blue Onion, or Arell’s restaurants. For a fast-food

the property with the original Casa Linda Restaurant, became the

option, the Blue Onion Drive-In was always popular. The drive-in was built

Golden Windmill Motel and is today a business complex housing

on land of the Encinal estate. It didn’t last long and was supplanted by Turk

Portico Galleries. The Bonatos’s El Dorado Motel at 1155-59

Hessellund’s Nursery. Recently, a new complex, anchored by the Honor Bar,

Coast Village Road was replaced by a small business center, which,

has replaced the nursery and placed its own stamp on the ever-changing face

interestingly enough, retains the basic footprint of the original auto

of Coast Village.

camp and motel.

So, what happened to all these early motels and businesses? The sites

From simple auto camps to motel chains in one generation,

of the Golf and Laurel motels now house apartments at 1062 Coast Village

the automobile and auto tourism has caused, shaped, and

Road. China Pavilion has taken over Casa Linda’s Mexican Restaurant, which

accelerated the transformation of American cities, and it

took over an old gas station. Across Hermosillo Drive, Menelli Trading

continues to have its effect on Coast Village today. (For more tales

Company replaced a pool supply store that was also once a gas station,

about the automobile in Santa Barbara, see a copy of my latest

Coastal Properties inhabits the Moody sisters’ English Cottage, and the

book, The Way It Was ~ Santa Barbara Comes of Age, available

Bank of America replaced the Somerset Restaurant. Across Butterfly Lane,

at Chaucer’s, Tecolote, Read N’ Post, and the Santa Barbara

Montecito Bank and Trust and Sotheby’s supplanted the Sea Captain’s Motel.

Historical Museum.)

The old De Anza Motor Inn continues into its second millennium as the

(Sources: Sanborn Maps, City Directories, Montecito

Coast Village Inn. Across Middle Road, the Bottle Shop was created from the

Association History Committee, Myrick’s Montecito and Santa

former Montecito Richfield Service Station, and Cava Restaurant was carved

Barbara, Steven Gilbar - September 10-17 Montecito Journal.

out of La Loma Lodge Motel. Remnants of the motel can still be seen.

Opening photo: Coast Highway in 1931 Courtesy S.B.H.M.)

32 |

ON CANVAS

BY TED MILLS

PORTRAIT PHOTOS BY CHRISTY GUTZEIT PAINTING PHOTOS BY BILL DEWEY

CARIN GERARD

ake a base layer of the old masters and apply a coat of contemporary art, a mix of European style and American boldness, a traditional subject with a modern sensibility, and you have the paintings of Carin Gerard.

Her series of large monochromatic paintings of flowers in extreme

close-up called “Organic Origins” demands such a mix of Old World stilllife objects and pop-art aesthetics. These sensual blooms, as well as the occasional fruit subject, are rendered so large and so close that they start to shrug off meaning and become surreal. Georgia O’Keeffe, Carin says, is one of her inspirations. At the same time, Gerard has also began a series of cloud paintings called “Thin Air”, which are intense studies of color gradients. This is shaping up to be big year for Gerard, currently represented by John Pence Gallery in San Francisco and S.C.A.P.E. in Corona Del Mar.

34 |

Her mother was a fine artist and her father was an architect, but they got divorced; her mother died when she was young, and Carin wound up in foster care. But she was “lucky, lucky, lucky” to be raised by a pastor and his wife in a loving home. Gerard got her B.F.A. at Bowling Green University in Ohio, with a style that was “very different” from her current one. Her early work was very impressionistic “really pastel California colors,” she says. From there, she found herself making hand-painted fabrics and making money from it, until it became “monotonous.” It was studying with representational painter Martha Mayer Erlebacher up in Seattle that got her on the road to her current style. The teacher encouraged Gerard to follow her inclination, moving from impressionism to slowing “way, way down” and focusing on realism. She studied outside of Florence, Italy, in 1991, studying at the Charles H. Cecil atelier, where she learned in the traditional Academy style, studying still life in several media, working up to oils. It’s also where she really tuned into her own ideology of painting. “It’s not just making a pretty picture, but really asking what you’re painting and why.” So... why? That’s a question that never really gets answered during our visit. When we meet for this interview, she’d only recently moved back after the evacuations in January. Too much anxiety, too much death and

ON CANVAS destruction: Gerard says she found it hard to snap back into a routine in the studio. And now her softer, more feminine flower paintings have changed, she says. They’ve gone darker, more high-contrast. “More drama, perhaps?” she asks herself. Four years ago, she was commissioned to paint a very large canvas, and since then she’s continued to work large. “It was a new world,” she says. “It’s intimidating also. These are big pieces to place, and nerve-wracking. They have to be substantial if I’m going to do all this work.” But this shift from classical still-life arrangements to these extreme closeups have been very “empowering and freeing.” She really only works on one painting at a time – which then promptly leaves the studio to be shipped to her buyers – and when I visit her home at Birnam Wood Golf Club, she only has a preliminary black-and-white sketch of vellum to show me, which is dominating the far wall. A camera is set up opposite to document the entire process in time-lapse, which will then be uploaded to her Instagram. The studio is impeccably tidy – even in the throes of painting the studio only gets a little less so. If anything dominates, it’s her neat piles of paint tubes and stacks of sketchbooks. The books, in particular, are fascinating: since her time in Italy, Gerard loves a special brand of handmade paper sketchbooks with a classical leather binding. There is lots and lots of writing in them too, and Gerard even has a handwriting style that looks flown in from the Renaissance. She tries out colors and sketches, but you might really mistake it all for a diary. “I’m not a good writer or a speaker, but I’ll write down quotes from artists I love,” she says. She makes sure to spend time at least once a year in her beloved Florence, Italy, and now owns a studio there in a palazzo once owned by the Medici family. That’s going right back to the source. She came to Montecito in 1997 when she returned from Italy and met her husband on a blind date, then moved here permanently in 1999. However, she said, it was hard to find her artistic community here, but later she met realist painter John Nava, who was more on her wavelength, and has

36 |

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ON CANVAS found a small group of fellow painters. With two major galleries representing her, she’s admittedly less a Montecito artist and more an artist who lives in Montecito. “Montecito reminds me of Italy,” she says. “It reminds me of the countryside when you drive around in the mountains. Because I’m not a sun person, I love the greenery here. When I come off the 101, the world looks different. It’s so close to L.A., which is so crazy and busy. And then you come here, and it’s serenity and quiet and there’s no street lights, so you can see the stars at night. I just fell in love with it.” The year looks great for Gerard, and she says she going to keep things a bit looser. “My goal is to be even more contemporary,” she says. “So, I’m going to be a little bit more free.”

40 |

CONVERSATIONS: CH Y N N A P H ILLI P S & B I LLY B A LDWIN

hen Billy Baldwin and Chynna Phillips first moved their tightly-knit family to

BY G W Y N LU R I E

P H OTOS CO U RT E SY O F B I L LY A N D C H Y N N A

CHYNNA

Montecito in 2007, Billy was riding high in Hollywood from star turns in films like

Internal Affairs and Backdraft and had begun a recurring role in ABC’s hit dramatic series Dirty Sexy Money. Chynna, the daughter

s we make ourselves comfortable in the sunroom of her home overlooking an expansive garden, untouched by Montecito’s

of Hollywood royalty, was touring the world as the lead singer of

recent dual calamities, Chynna snuggles into the corner of her couch

the band Wilson Phillips, when she wasn’t parenting their three

and looks at me patiently.

young children. Montecito is not the obvious choice for a working Hollywood

Chynna is my friend, so I want to start off the interview on a playful note.

couple. But Chynna and Billy, each from a legendary show business family, are as committed to their life here as they are to their life together. The story of this couple oddly tracks that of Montecito.

Me: So, here’s the deal. The Montecito Journal wants to know about your and Billy’s intimate life. Chynna: [Laughs] Oh, that’s very funny.

Like this town, both are easy on the eyes. The pleasing aesthetics, however, have been shaped by storms and great forces. There

[Chynna leans forward with a devilish twinkle in her eye.]

have even been upheavals. But when there is work to be done, when things are covered in muck – be it their community or their relationship – they roll up their sleeves and dig out.

Listen, it’s a brief moment in time. When it does happen, it’s only maybe 10 minutes from beginning to end, but it’s hot. Those

I first met Billy and Chynna in 2007 when they rented our

10 minutes are hot. You know, you don’t want it to become arduous.

home on El Bosque Road. Two years later, when we broke the news

You don’t want to start feeling like, when is this going to be over? You

that they’d have to leave because we were moving up from L.A., we

know, you don’t want to have that feeling ever, so you got to keep it

expected them to be upset. But to our delight, they welcomed us

short and sweet.”

with open arms and said, “We can’t believe you didn’t move up years ago. Montecito is paradise.” We have been friends ever since.

42 |

[Chynna throws back her head and laughs from her joke, exposing her long sinewy neck that at 50 betrays few signs of aging.]

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

You’re from L.A., Billy’s from New York, you both have active careers in show business, Montecito is not the obvious choice… Our friend Lisa Scibird told us we had to come up here, that if

What didn’t you know then? I think anything white is a bad idea. ‘The whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead,’ is what they say.

we didn’t we would regret it. She’s an old friend; we modeled together back in the eighties. We were at the same modeling agency. She did way better than me, by the way.

[Chynna’s mother is legendary singer/songwriter Michelle Phillips, who co-founded The Mamas & The Papas with Chynna’s father, John Phillips, in 1965.]

As a model? She booked a lot more jobs because she was willing to give up the puffy foods, and I wasn’t. I think she had insight back then on how to keep her body trim that I didn’t.

Tell me about your childhood. It was colorful, wasn’t it? Yes. My parents divorced when I was two years old, so I lived with my mother. And she refused to take any child support. I mean, my dad, she claims, didn’t want to pay it, but the story I heard is that she

Jimi Hendrix, Michelle Phillips, and Mama Cass take a timeout backstage at the Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967 (photo by Henry Diltz)

44 |

refused child support. And so we lived, you know, meagerly. We had an apartment in Beverly Hills, but it was an apartment. We weren’t living in a mansion. I wasn’t spoiled rotten. My mother was very frugal. She

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CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

loved Pick ‘N Save and would take me there often; I learned how to drive in the K-Mart parking lot. But I was definitely privileged in the sense that I had a roof over my head and I had enough food and I had an amazing saint for a housekeeper/ nanny – her name was Rosa Garcia. Rosa basically was my other mother. She was a saint of a nanny. She got me up every morning and made my breakfast and sang to me and walked me to school and she picked me up after school and made me dinner and this went on until I was about eighteen. [Laughs] That’s why I speak Spanish fluently, because of Rosa Garcia.

Where were you in the sibling line in your family?

(from left) Mackenzie, Michelle, Bijou, and Chynna Phillips sing at Billy and Chynna’s wedding, September 9, 1995

In the middle. But I am the only child between my mom and my dad. My dad had two kids with his first wife before he even met my mom. Then he married my mom and had me.

How did that inform you when you became a parent?

Then they divorced.

I actually have a much more lackadaisical viewpoint about the whole thing. I’m not so paranoid about my kids becoming

So, Mackenzie was the first child and your brother Jeffrey next, and then Bijou was after that... Very good! And then my mom went on to have a love child with

addicted to drugs, about them going off the deep end. I don’t think they would like the feeling of being out of control. I think that that would scare them. And I’m happy about that. Because

her boyfriend, Grainger. That’s my brother, Austin. Then she also

even in my days, I didn’t like feeling out of control. I was putting

adopted a son, Aaron. So, yeah, there’s Jeffrey, Mackenzie, Tamerlane,

a Band-Aid on my pain, really, so I didn’t have to feel the feelings.

Bijou, Austin, Aaron, and myself.

I didn’t know I was doing that consciously though. As I got older and started therapy, I was like, oh, I see what I was doing. I was

Did both your parents have problems with drugs?

running away from the pain. The feelings of abandonment. I

My father did... I mean, you know.

definitely felt abandoned by dad.

Yes. That is well-known. You had your own ups and downs with using drugs, right? Well, I was completely sober by the time I was 19 years old.

46 |

Are you still close with your mom? Oh, yeah. We see each other probably every six to eight weeks. Either I’ll go down there or she’ll come up here, spend a few days.

C O N V E R S AT I O N S :

How did you and Billy meet?

into the airport; he walks right up to us and says, “I love you guys. I

Billy and I were on the same flight to New York City on April 25,

think you guys are amazing and I bought your album.” He was just so

1991. [Laughs] We went back and called American Airlines to find out

cute. And then I said to him, “I saw your movie, Backdraft.” We had

exactly what the date was that we met.

seen it a couple weeks earlier and the minute I laid eyes on Billy in

I was breaking up with this guy who was way more in love with

that movie, I grabbed my friend Courtney’s leg and I was like, “Who

his guitar than he was with me. And a few people, including my

is that?” She goes, “That’s Billy Baldwin.” I was like, “Who is Billy

makeup artist and my nail lady, said to me, ‘You know, you really

Baldwin?” She said, “You know, Alec Baldwin’s little brother.” I said,

ought to think about dating Billy Baldwin. He seems like the perfect

“Alec Baldwin?” She goes, “You know, Hunt For Red October”... I had

guy for you.’

seen that movie and then I remembered, “Oh, yeah, they do look

Then Carnie and Wendy (Chynna’s Wilson Phillips band mates) and I were at the MGM Grand LAX lounge, waiting to catch a flight for New York, on our way to do a tour in Europe, and Billy walks

Jack Nicholson and Michelle Phillips at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, circa 1973

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

alike.” But I was still with this rock star dude…

So we started dating and I’m very proud to say we took it really slow. Four months into it we decided we’re going to do this. And the

...who loved his guitar more than you.

rest is history.

Who loved his guitar more than me. When I saw Billy in the airport I kind of gave him the cold shoulder because I was so

That’s a great story.

stunned that I’d run into him after so many people said ‘you should

Yeah. Except it took him four years to propose to me. I had to

date this guy.’ He just thought I was like a B-I-T-C-H, but he did talk to me on the airplane. When he walked away from us in the waiting

throw a framed collage of his sister’s wedding at his head and FedEx all my stuff from New York City back to Los Angeles and move back into my apartment in order to convince him that I’m the one.

area, Carnie turned to me and she goes, ‘A thousand bucks says he’s going to ask you out before we land in New York.’ I said, ‘Okay, let’s

You guys were living together in New York City?

bet.’ And I won [the bet] because he asked me out at baggage claim

Yes. But after I flung the collage at his head and FedExed everything

[Laughs].

48 |

back to L.A., he kind of saw the light of day. It took him nine days.

C O N V E R S AT I O N S :

and I have known each other since infancy. We were best friends. Every weekend, I would go over there and we would have sleepovers and we’d sing songs and put on little shows, like you do when you’re a kid. But then there was a time we didn’t really see each other, from the time we were like 15 until we were 17. But then this sort of smarmy Hollywood man called me, and said, “I’m putting together this Children of Hollywood Legends, kind of like a We Are The World. I was wondering if you would want to participate. I’ve got Moon Zappa and I’ve got…” I think he had China Slick and a few others. He said, “Can you call Carnie and Wendy?” I said, “Let me see what I can do.” I called Carnie and Wendy and they’re like, “Yeah, we’re into it.” So, I said, “Well, we should all get together and make sure we still know how to sing.” I went over there and it was a great reunion. And we started singing together and it was like this incredible blend…

Wilson Phillips (from left: Chynna, Carnie, Wendy) make the cover of Rolling Stone in 1991

That’s how Wilson Phillips came about? [Yes, pretty much]. I went to my mom and asked her if she could call a producer for us. So she called this guy, Richard Perry, he’s

Well, that’s what a framed collage to the head will do. Yes! We got married a year later. We had Jameson about three years after that.

legendary, who was at the time producing the Pointer Sisters... But first he wanted to hear us sing. So one night we go over to his house and he’s like, ‘Uhhh…’ That’s how he talked. ‘Uhhh, so let me hear what you guys got.’ We stand up and we sing Stevie Nicks’s ‘Dare

So, you had some time to yourselves to travel and play.

My Wild Heart,’ in three-part harmony. And he goes, ‘That’s it?’ We

We had a lot of time to do that and we went on a six-week

said, ‘That’s it?’ He goes, ‘You’re signed! I love it!’ We started laughing

honeymoon all around Europe, just the two of us, and it was fabulous. The last day of the honeymoon we both were in tears

so hard. So, what we would do is, the Pointer Sisters would do a session at

because we couldn’t believe how much fun we had had and that it

his studio and then we’d go in the studio and we’d dig through their

had come to an end.

trashcan and we would find all the tapes they didn’t want anymore and then we would record the tapes that they’d thrown in the trash... We’d

Carnie and Wendy, your partners in Wilson Phillips – they were childhood friends, right? Yes. Brian Wilson and my father used to play basketball together, on their free time. They were good friends… So, Carnie and Wendy

do our own version of the songs that they’d thrown away… There we were able to learn all these little tricks of the trade…. Thank goodness we had those three and a half years to develop our sound. It was the most exciting, most creative, most inspiring time.

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

Childhood besties Chynna Phillips, Carnie, and Wendy Wilson top the charts as Wilson Phillips

Are you still in school while you’re doing this? Mm-hm. …On the days I chose to show up. My mom used to pray for me to get a D. She’d be like, ‘Just pass, just get a D.’ Meanwhile Richard turned us on to Glen Ballard, who ended up

A whole lot of ups and a whole lot of downs, to be honest. It was, and still is, a relationship that is sacred and untouchable. Nothing else comes close to my relationship with Carnie and Wendy and nothing comes close to the experience and the high and the joy and the

producing the first record. We wrote “Hold On.” We wrote “You’re In

fulfillment of singing with Carnie and Wendy on stage. When I sing

Love, With Him.”

with the girls, I feel like I’m being transported in a strange way. But, you know, what comes with being in a partnership like that,

Those are big hits.

often times – and it was true for us – a lot of misunderstanding. A lot

Yep, number ones. Then we started pounding out on my mom’s

of frustration and a lot of creative frustration; also, we were young, so

antique piano and we wrote “Release Me.” That was the first and last

we didn’t have the sophistication to be able to communicate in a way

song we ever wrote together and completely on our own. Not only did

that was really productive. So what ended up happening was that we

it go to number one, but it knocked Madonna out of the number one

would say hurtful things to one another… things that sometimes we

spot with “Vogue”.

couldn’t recover from. Once you sweep enough under the carpet, it’s really hard to

Was it all smooth sailing or where there ups and downs in that partnership?

50 |

bounce back. But we’ve managed to do it. I mean, it’s thirty years later and we’re still singing together. That’s a huge testament of our love.

C O N V E R S AT I O N S :

Speaking of love and ups and downs, you were pretty public about the moment you and Billy thought you weren’t going to make it. Around 2010.

That was horrifying to you? That’s when things started to turn around. [Laughs]

Can we talk about that? Yes. Well, for us, therapy was difficult. We’d always walk away

At the same time, you were dealing with a whole other family drama,

even more angry. Finally, after a bunch of sessions where we just ended

right? Your Christian album was released the same time your sister’s book

up being more disillusioned, I said to him, ‘You know what? We’ve

alleging she had been involved in an incestuous relationship with your father.

been friends for a long time. If we can’t like take beach walks and figure this out, then there’s a problem.’ So we just started taking beach walks together and talking.

That was a nightmare. I just really felt like… that was something my sister could have worked out in therapy on her own. And I quickly came to realize it was more of a money issue for her than it was about doing something cathartic. I mean, I hate to say it, but it’s true. And

I remember Billy talking about your walks on the beach, like a sacred thing.

she knows that’s how I feel. I mean, we talked today, we’re not enemies. I talk to my sister and we text now and then.

Yeah. It was the walks that really healed our marriage. It’s so easy to point fingers and say ‘I don’t like the way you’re treating

But still, you supported her?

me’ but I realized in the process of those walks, that there were a

Yeah, I mean, I did, because, that was a horrible thing and I don’t

lot of things that Billy wasn’t getting from me that I was unaware

deny that it happened. I’m just saying, ‘Did you really have to share it

of. It was never emulated for me. I didn’t have a good role model

with the entire world? Put our dirty laundry out for everyone to see?

for that. I didn’t realize the importance of taking care of your

Was that really necessary?’

man—it might sound a little old-fashioned, but it really worked

And then I was put in an awkward position because my record

for us. I started being a little more giving of myself, and saying

company basically said to me, ‘If you don’t do Oprah, we’re not going

things I truly believed like, ‘You’re such a great dad, you show up

to release the record. We’re not going to promote it.’

for the kids. You’re always so demonstrative with me and it really

That was a teachable moment, because I never should have done

means a lot to me.’ Just acknowledging things. It really shifted

it. I was happy to have supported my sister, but I shouldn’t have done

our marriage.

it under those circumstances, because I felt blackmailed by the record

I remember this therapist… I was crying so hard, and she goes,

company. But it gave me the opportunity to say to millions of people,

‘This is not normal. You don’t want to divorce this man.’ I said, ‘I

‘Who here has not done something that they’re not proud of? Of

don’t?’ She goes, ‘No… It wouldn’t hurt this bad. You’re crying over

course, we’ve all sinned. Who is going to cast the first stone?’ I felt

things that people who want to divorce don’t usually cry over.’

good about that because the bottom line is like, honey, I know I ain’t

My sister, Bijou, said to me, “You realize if you leave Billy, you’re going to go to your MUS Sings, and he’s going to be sitting in the

perfect. It was mortifying and embarrassing, and it was a nightmare. But guess what? I never lost my sense of humor about it. Ever.

front row with his 25-year-old wife, who’s going to be pregnant, and she’s going to be the one tucking your kids in at night and they’re

Yeah, who hasn’t had an incestuous relationship with their father?

going to call her Mom.” [Laughs]

[Laughs] Right, who hasn’t? And why wasn’t he attracted to me?

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

[We have a good laugh, and I think we both appreciate it.] Faith seems to be a big part of what gets you through life’s travails. When did faith, become a central part of your life? When did the Bible become real to me? …That’s basically what it comes down to. When I was twelve, I had stolen a bottle of milk from the cafeteria and all the Christian girls were mortified and asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus as my Lord and savior. I said, ‘Sure!’ They took me into the bathroom and they all huddled around me and I read the Salvation Prayer and I wasn’t expecting anything, but I just felt completely washed, like white as freshly-fallen snow. Then as I grew up and matured my faith became deeper.

Did you go to church? No, because, you know, I went home to a broken home, basically, so I didn’t have much to fall back on. And I was drinking and using and all that. So, I know it might sound confusing to people, like how

Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas with daughter Chynna, circa 1972

could you know Jesus is Lord and still go do drugs? But trust me, when you’re in enough pain, you can still know who the living God is and drink. And I was still so young, I was only 12.

might be a better cook than I am, but I’m a pretty close second. And I love to lay outside. I love to lay on my chaise and just let the sun hit my back and listen to the birds and feel the breeze. I

Is faith something you and Billy share?

know it sounds kind of cliché, but I got to tell you, like those are my

Billy and I are not equally yoked in that sense, but he’ll go to

happiest moments. Just being outside in my backyard and listening to

church with me and he’ll pray with me and I’ll read him scripture or

my wind chimes. I do it every day. It’s part of my morning therapeutic

I’ll text him a little scripture and he’ll like it. So, is he at the foot of the

routine. I walk into the sanctuary of my backyard and it feels like am

cross with me? No, not yet. But Billy does such amazing philanthropic

walking into God’s beating heart.

work that I’m so proud of. I believe he has the heart of Christ. How about growing up with Michelle Phillips as your mom? She was He was raised Catholic, right? Yeah. He was an altar boy, until they kicked him out. [Laughs.]

a famous singer back then. What was that like? My mom would build fires at night, crackling fires. I remember the smell of the fires in the evenings. That was happy for me. And my

Besides your spirituality and your faith, what else centers you? I know you love to cook. I love to cook. I probably get that from my mom. My sister Bijou

52 |

mom would take me to Idyllwild. We would go at Christmas time and sometimes she would just say, ‘We’re going to do a four-day weekend,’ and she’d let me skip Monday and Tuesday. It was just awesome.

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CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

Do you have distinct memories of growing up around celebrities? Uh-huh. I lived with Jack Nicholson for three years. I lived with

to be there, they tell you what time you can leave. I can’t live like that. That’s why I love the music business. I was like, ‘Are you kidding

Warren Beatty for three years. I used to hang out with Mick (Jagger),

me? I get to make my own hours?’ I remember the first time my

and Joni Mitchell was around. Just around. [Laughs] It was cool. I

manager was like, ‘Okay, what time do you want to be at the studio?

have pictures of my mom and Jimi Hendrix.

What do you want your start time to be?’ And I was like, ‘I get to

I mean, I don’t want to say it was just everyday life for me, but at the same time...

choose what time I start?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ And then I was like, ‘Well, how many hours do I have to be there?’ He said, ‘Chynna, you leave whenever you want to leave, it’s your studio.’

How is it with you and Billy’s family? He comes from his own complicated celebrity family, right?

I know this sounds really spoiled, but to me, this was like the heavens had opened up.

Yeah. I love his family, they’re hysterical. They’re frickin’ crazier than my family.

Okay, so here you are. You are living in this beautiful home; you are with your three children who are thriving. Your marriage is good. And yet,

Is it difficult to have two celebrities in a couple?

Montecito is in the wake of the January 9 debris flow. How are you dealing

Not for us. I’m the only celebrity. [Laughs] It’s true. It’s true, like I

with that?

forget that I even am. I mean, I hate that word.

I’m still struggling with it. These past eight weeks have just been super-rough, and I feel like I’ve been challenged in a way that

But you’re well known, you’re a performer.

I’ve never been challenged before. This is on a different level. It’s a

I forget that I am, but in this house, there’s only one celebrity.

catastrophe. I was in 9/11. I was there that day. I was in Manhattan. I was in the Northridge earthquake. But for some reason, this was more

I’m going to talk to Billy too so we’ll see what he says about that.

personal. It just felt very personal because I love my community and I

No, it’s not that hard for us because a couple years after I met

love everyone in my community. I feel like I’ve never moved anywhere

Billy, Wilson Phillips had pretty much already kind of disbanded.

in all my years and said, ‘I could die here.’ I want to live and die here. I

And then, Billy was doing these big movies and I just felt like I was

don’t ever want to leave Montecito.

the girlfriend. I wasn’t recording anything at the time. I wasn’t really doing any movies, other than Bye Bye Birdie for NBC… that’s like

Why?

the only thing I did.

Because there’s a comfort here. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to and I’ve traveled far and wide. To me, this is a perfect

Did you enjoy acting?

place to live. It’s like heaven on earth. I look at all the different types

I’m the Academy Award winning actress that has never won her

of vegetation and beautiful plants. Some of these trees that almost look

Academy Award. I feel like I’m a really good actress. [Laughs] But let’s

prehistoric. I just feel very comfortable in this environment, and who

face it, it’s a tough life. I don’t like the trailer life. People knocking on

wouldn’t? I mean, I’ve met people here in Santa Barbara who have said

your door all day long, telling you, ‘It’s time.’ They tell you what time

they lived in Tuscany and they lived in Hawaii and nothing compares.

54 |

C O N V E R S AT I O N S :

They came back to Santa Barbara. The people in Montecito are very down to earth and very kind and very grateful. I’ve never lived anywhere where people just look at you – even a stranger will say: ‘Can you believe we live here?’ Whenever my kids write me a note, they always end it with, ‘P.S., thank you for moving us to paradise.’ My kids get it. On a cellular level they understand how special Montecito is.

BILLY

y conversation with Billy took place over a three-and-ahalf hour breakfast at D’Angelo’s Bakery in downtown

Santa Barbara. There we run into the Santa Barbara City School Board president who knew Billy from his work on the 2016 bond campaign. It occurred to me that wherever we met in town, we would likely encounter someone Billy knew through his community service, because his local celebrity has as much to do with his penchant for giving back as it does with his Hollywood notoriety. When the waiter approached our table, Billy ordered for both of us. “Two waters with lemon and two coffees. Thank you,” he says.

money. The kind of money where… if I do this for a couple of seasons I can buy a house in Montecito. [Laughs]

I don’t drink coffee, but I didn’t say anything because I think it’s sweet and a little old-fashioned how Billy ordered for me. But when

Can you tell me what it is?

the waiter returns to the table, I sneak in an order for a Yerba Matte

I’m starring and producing in this new Netflix show. A family

Latte with almond milk: my favorite. Billy smiles his rascally Baldwin

show. Not like Brothers and Sisters, or Parenthood, or like Party of Five

smile and understands he ordered me the wrong drink.

but in terms of pushing the envelope...It’s like how we define families today. I think this is going to throw “You can pick your friends but you

Me: Are you working a lot right now?

can’t pick your family” on its head. As you know, I have a complicated

Billy: I have the most work and travel from now until Labor Day

extended family situation… I’m going to try the famous Huevos

that I’ve had in like 10 years. And thank God one of them is the old

Rancheros. Medium.

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

[I order the special omelet with whole wheat sourdough. I’m relieved Billy lets me order my own food.] Anyway… In the show, kids are going to smoke pot. Kids are

It’s like a well-kept secret? Well, by Toronto standards it’s not. But by Hollywood standards it is. The thing that’s really cool about it is… there’s three lakes. You

going to get arrested. It’s a sweet concept. I don’t want to talk too

know how I do those corporate hosting and charity gigs in Canada?

much about it.

I do two events for Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital. It’s the premier pediatric cancer hospital in the world. One of the events is a scavenger

Where does it take place?

hunt boat rally on Muskoka. So, I’ve been going to do this event for

We’re shooting June, July and August in Muskoka, Canada. It’s

like eight years in a row.

like Toronto’s Hamptons. It’s a lake community, two hours north of Toronto. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have a house there. Marty

You do a lot of work for charities.

Short has a house there.

Yeah. There’s a couple reasons. The main one is… that’s the way I was raised. It’s just sort of in my DNA to… be of service. I

The Baldwin brothers at Billy and Chynna’s wedding; (from left) Daniel, Alec, Billy, and Stephen

56 |

would have been doing that if I wasn’t in show business. But I think it’s compounded by the fact that I have this currency. I have this

C O N V E R S AT I O N S :

commodity of, I guess mostly of celebrity. I would say the greatest influence of my parents on my siblings

Do you try to instill that sense of service in your kids? I kind of dropped the ball with that. I don’t see it in them as much

and me would be what I call… it’s gonna sound like Santa Barbara

as I would like. But, I think if I just lead by example, by my actions,

Middle School’s ‘four sides of the diamond.’ And for us, the four

that eventually… My father never preached it to me. My father just

sides of the Baldwin diamond were: academics, athletics, the arts, and

ran the Cub Scouts for 15 years. He was my Little League coach for

activism. The four A’s.

15 years. He ran the Key Club, unpaid. He ran the Youth Council, unpaid. He took students in to see theater on Broadway. I remember I saw Shenandoah and Pippin and The Wiz in like 1971. I got to see a lot of theater as a kid.

Do you think that influenced you toward acting? No. No. I always gravitated towards ‘I’m going to study, I’m going to go to a four-year university, I’m going to graduate, I’m going to study political science, I’m going to go to law school and I’m going to take my degree in political science and law and I’m going to work behind the scenes in government.’ And that’s what I always thought I was going to do.

What happened? When I was a freshman in college, my brother, Alec, bailed on The Baldwin kids : Jameson, Vance and Brooke

GW [George Washington University] and transferred to NYU. He studied with Lee Strasberg the last two years of Strasberg’s life. And not long after he got there he auditioned for a daytime soap and he got a

Do you have a pet cause?

job and he was making more money in a month than my father made

My cause? My family. And my community. And service. I used to

in like three years. And everything started changing.

be involved with a lot more stuff. I’m involved with a lot less now, but

I remember when I was living in Georgetown, I worked on the

the thing I’m most heavily involved with is my mother’s breast cancer

Hill for a Congressman from Long Island named Tom Downey, and I

foundation. It’s called the Carol Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund.

remember sitting on my porch one day, and I don’t know if I ever told Rob Lowe [who also lives in Montecito] this, but they were shooting

Your mother is still alive, right?

St. Elmo’s Fire, and his trailer was right outside my door. And he came

Yeah, she’s 88. My dad died when I was 19. I support, you know,

out with an entourage of PAs, and he looked up at me and smiled, and

a lot of stuff around here, my foundation has supported a lot of things.

gave me a nod; it was the height of the Brat Pack. My initial thought

I’m trying to do it quietly, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.

was, ‘Wow, the Brat Pack, they’re such big stars, I could never do

CO N V E R S AT I O N S : something like that.’ Then, literally, six months later, my brother, Alec, was just working non-stop, and I remember I looked at my brother and thought, ‘Wait a minute; if this schmuck can do it, anybody can.’

That’s funny, how we can never give credit to our siblings. It just helped me to realize… I looked at my brother and thought, ‘Wait a minute, if my brother can do this and Rob Lowe can do this…’ I had been accepted to law school and I was working on the Hill. And I was like, ‘I don’t want to go to law school. When I’m done here I’m going back to New York.’ Alec would say ‘Take the train in, and come hang out with me in the city for a day.’ He was in the program (AA). And he would say, ‘I’m going to a meeting at like 6. Come with me and we’re all going to go out for some sushi after.’ A lot of his AA friends were show-business friends. And my brother didn’t just hang out with people on his side of the camera. He was always friends with art directors, set designers, writers, directors, producers. And a lot of actors. Everyone across the spectrum. And I kept going to see him. And I kept meeting these people in the business… some of the most creative people in the world... some of these people are so incredibly bright and remarkably talented, they’re so dynamic,

nervous. I tried again, and again, I could not get the words out. When I got off the plane and I saw Chynna at baggage claim, I

they’re so interesting, and they’re so complicated. You know what I

was finally able to speak. I said, ‘I’d like to take you out; how do I get

mean? Where else am I going to be able to go in life and be able to

in touch with you?’

work with people that are this interesting? So, that was really a big

You know what she said?

part of what had drawn me.

She said: ‘Great; call my agent.’

Chynna told me the story about how you guys met. How so many people thought you two should be together. And how you ended up on the same flight. Tell me your version. I was on the plane and I got up to go to the bathroom and I came

She told you to call her agent? She had just met me and she didn’t want to give me her number. She was nervous. So I go, ‘Who’s your agent?’ And she says, ‘CAA.’ I might have been represented by CAA at the time. So I get in the car

back and Chynna was sitting there reading the L.A. Times. [Laughs]

and I call CAA. And I say, ‘Hi, this is Billy Baldwin. I just met Chynna

It may have been upside-down, I think it was the last time she ever

Phillips, I just got off a plane in New York. She’s going to the TJ Martel

read that paper. It was really cute. I tried to talk to her and I literally

Foundation event tonight. I want to know what hotel she’s staying

could not get my words out. It was like I was having a stroke. I was so

at because I want to send her flowers. And they say, ‘Chynna is with

58 |

C O N V E R S AT I O N S : Wilson Phillips, singing. She’s got a record deal. We haven’t spoken to her in like two years.’ I go, ‘Guys, you’ve got to help me out here. I’ve got to get in touch with her. And they go, ‘Here’s some number we have for her. You can leave a message for her. She hasn’t gotten back to us in six months.’ So I call and leave a message. But she never checked it. So she thought she never heard from me. She thought, ‘It’s so typical. I go out with actors. They say they’re going to call. They never call.’ And then she remembered she had this voice mail that she checked once a month. So she checked it and there were like 40 messages. And she finally got to my message and she was like, ‘He did call!’

According to Chynna, she had to throw a framed collage of your sister’s wedding at your head and FedEx all of her stuff back to L.A. to get you to finally realize she was the one. [Billy becomes indignant.] I always knew Chynna was the one! From the beginning, I would hold her in my arms and she would nuzzle

Billy with his dad, Alexander Rae Baldwin, at high school graduation, 1981

her head in my chest and I would whisper to her, “Do you feel that?”

How did you propose to Chynna? (Before Billy answers the question he talks about Chynna’s childhood because clearly he feels it’s relevant.) Chynna’s parents got divorced in 1970 when she was two, and her mom, Michelle, lived with Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, married

[Billy gets tears in his eyes when he tells this story, and I can see how much he loves not only the woman he married, but the six-year-old girl who once walked into the room to find her mother in bed with Mick Jagger. It wasn’t until later, when I visited Chynna and Billy again at

Dennis Hopper, and was, you know, running around with Mick Jagger

their home in Montecito, this time to look through their treasure trove of

and people like that.

photographs for this piece, that I spotted one of a younger Billy Baldwin,

One time Chynna walked into her mother’s bedroom, and Mick and Michelle were tussling under the sheets and Chynna was like six or

sitting in a hotel room, amidst dozens of wedding gowns, that I got to hear the story of how Billy formally proposed to Chynna.]

seven and the sheet comes off and Jagger says good morning to her. That’s my wife’s childhood. So, when I told her my dad was my Cub Scouts master and

I wanted to propose to Chynna in the Carlyle Hotel and for the room to be exploding with wedding dresses and white candles and

my Little League coach, she walked into the kitchen, took a piece

white roses. My friend Elizabeth Saltzman was the fashion editor

of aluminum foil and twisted it into a silvery ring and walked back

at Vogue, and she helped me secure a 3,000-sq-ft suite at the hotel.

into the living room and got down on one knee and proposed to me.

Vera Wang’s retail store was in the lobby, and she emptied her store

Because I was like, you know, Mr. White Picket Fence and stability

and brought it up to our suite on the 31st floor. And Robert Isabel

and blah, blah, blah.

exploded the suite with white candles and white flowers. Chynna

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

thought we were going to Oliver Platt’s Christmas party, but when we walked into the room and she heard “Someone Like You” playing and saw all the candles and the dresses… she was breathless. She just kept spinning around in circles and repeating, ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe it.’ And she turned and looked at me and I was standing there with a turquoise Tiffany ring box, and I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. We spent the next three days in the hotel room eating room service and [making love] and trying on wedding dresses.

[By any standard, that’s a pretty storybook beginning to a marriage. But as with every marriage – even ones that begin with the most romantic proposals – Yours has had its ups and downs.] Chynna spoke about a time when your marriage hit some bumps in the road. Do you want to talk about that? Yeah, she filed for divorce.

60 |

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CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

But that didn’t happen. Chynna says you healed your marriage through your walks on the beach.

only problem. I think she didn’t want to go but she felt responsible for recouping some of the money I had invested…

Yes. It was really simple and I would recommend this for

At the same time, her sister Mackenzie’s book had come out in

anybody. I remember being at a therapy session with Chynna

which she alleged having had a 10-year-long incestuous relationship

and the therapist said something so incredibly simple. He said,

with her father, John. And now Chynna goes on [The] Oprah Winfrey

‘Chynna, I don’t want to hear a long list of problems you have

[Show] to promote her Christian record, and all Oprah wanted to talk

with Billy. I don’t care if your list is thirty things or only three

to her about was Mackenzie.

or four things. I just want to know one thing that you need right

Believe me, had I known it was jeopardizing our relationship, the

now. One thing you’re not getting from Billy, that you need. And

way I was communicating with her… I wish she had said something

Billy, I want to know one thing from you. Just one.’ And he said,

five years ago. And I said, ‘Watch, I can’t guarantee you you’ll never see

‘I want you both to make a commitment to address this one thing.

that again, but I’m going to try my hardest.’

So Chynna said to the therapist, ‘I want Billy to change the way he communicates with me.’ I couldn’t believe how impactful it was. [Later] she took me to MUS, to the terraces, and we sat out at that

What was your one thing you wanted from her? Well…I said... ‘Chynna, we run a corporation. It’s called the Baldwin Family. And I’m the Daddy Husband, and you’re the Mommy

tree, out near the paddle tennis court. And she said to me that famous

Wife. And this is my job description on this side of the ledger, and this

line. ‘Have you ever heard of married, living apart?’ And I said, ‘Like

is your job description on this side of the ledger and, trust me, I’ve told

Woody Allen and Mia Farrow?’ And she started laughing and said,

you from the beginning, I never need you to cross over to my side of

‘Yeah.’ She goes, ‘Listen. I love you. You’re my husband, you’re the

the ledger, you don’t ever have to take care of a thing unless I’m like,

father of my children. I could go home and [jump into bed with] you

dying. But what I do need from you is to be a more equitable partner

right now. I just can’t live with you anymore. I’ve got to get out of here.’

in a way that doesn’t make me feel like I’m being taken advantage of. It doesn’t have to be 50/50. But it can’t be 90/10 or 80/20 anymore.’ I

That must have been tough to hear.

needed her to try to be a better partner. Not a perfect partner.

Yeah, she was going on tour with that Christian band she had started. And I had invested $250,000 in that venture… and she was

What do you love most about Chynna?

going to do 40 shows for three or four months. She’s never gone 48

There are so many things. You know, I get a real rush from

to 72 hours without seeing the kids, and now she’s going to see them

Chynna’s creativity, her showmanship. The way it touches people,

every ten days to two weeks. For three months. And not make much

and brings tears to their eyes… But what I really love about her is

money, and be on a real tour doing 40 shows; she’s going to work

that some people really struggle with being true to themselves and

harder than she’s ever worked. And she’s freaking out.

don’t ever figure that out. But Chynna has never been embarrassed

I think that Chynna doesn’t appreciate it when I frame it this way,

by who she is. I adore and respect her and that she can just say:

but I think she was going through a menagerie of issues at that time.

This is who I am, even if it reveals something about herself that isn’t

And I was a part of it. I was definitely a component. But I wasn’t the

flattering.

62 |

C O N V E R S AT I O N S :

The Baldwin family includes (from left) Billy, Brooke, Chynna, Jameson, and Vance at home in Montecito

You say you love her showmanship. From what I understand that

for a potential cover of BC News and BC News is The New York Times

is true on and off the stage. Hasn’t she pulled off some pretty incredible

magazine insert section of the Sunday Vancouver Sun. It’s like their

practical jokes?

New York Times magazine. I said, ‘No, I’m not giving up my lunch

Oh, it’s unbelievable. But I can’t believe I was dumb enough to fall for them. One time I was doing a movie in Vancouver. My

when I’m doing 500 other interviews a day!’ All she ever had to say to me to push my button was, ‘Well, you

manager at the time was Carol Bodie who represented Winona

know, Winona…’ and she said to me, ‘Winona did it when she did a

Ryder, and she said to me, ‘They want to add this one-on-one

movie up there and she wound up getting the cover and it wound up

interview for a full hour at lunch.’ I was doing all one-on-ones, but

being really good for the movie.’ So I’m like, ‘Oh, Winona Ryder did

in between shots, quick five-minute interviews. And I said, ‘I’m

it, I guess I should do it.’

working my ass off… I’ll give them their five minutes.’ She keeps

I do the interview in my trailer. I’m being asked really, really

asking me, and I shoot it down five times. She says, ‘You know, it’s

interesting, fun questions. Totally different. Some of the obvious ones,

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

but not an interview that I’ve done 5,000 times. We get to the end of the interview and the person who is interviewing me has a Southern accent and she’s saying—she’s like, ‘Okay, Mr. Baldwin, we are just about through here. I just have one more question. If you don’t mind, there has been speculation that your wife, Chynna… [the suggestion is sexually graphic and provocative.] [Laughs] What? I’m like – and it’s a woman – ‘What the f**k did you just say? And she says, ‘Yes, sir, there is talk about that your wife likes you riding her...’ I haven’t ever hit a woman, but I lean over the table and I’m about to grab her by the throat and Chynna throws her head back and I see her neckline and teeth and I hear her laugh.

Chynna walked up to her literally five minutes before the solo to like

It was Chynna?

give her a hug and give her a kiss and calm her down and wish her

She’s in prosthetics. As soon as she starts to laugh, she starts

luck. She goes, ‘Honey, when you get out there on that stage and that

pulling the stuffing out of her bra and she starts laughing and pulls her

spotlight hits you, you’ll know you’re home.’ [Laughs] Brooke looked

wig off. I didn’t know it was her. She had purple glasses, a purple wig, a

at her and just burst out laughing and said, ‘Mom, get out of here, get

fat suit, a denim jacket, a prosthetic nose!

away from me.’

Were you upset? [Billy is beaming] How could I be? It was so brilliant!

It’s funny. It’s one of the only places in the world where Chynna feels safe. You get Chynna on a stage, you put a mic in her hand, you hit her with a spotlight, maybe even without a crowd, I don’t know,

Both you and Chynna come from showbiz families. Do you think

and Chynna is in her element.

your kids will want to be a part of that? Jameson may very well because she’s had the MAD Academy. She’s a voracious reader and a good writer and I just don’t know if she’s interested in my side of the camera. It could create magic. I mean, she’s got a lot of angst and a lot of great stuff.

Has moving to Montecito affected your careers? Being here, out of the spotlight? I think my career and Chynna’s career have definitely suffered by not embracing the show business community more…. I remember

I could see Vance (16) being like the general manager of an

doing a movie with Jamie Lee Curtis and she talked to me about how

NBA basketball franchise, but I could also see him being like Johnny

when she gets home she and her husband were having like Rob Reiner

Carson. I could see him in show business, too. Brooke thinks Vance

and Marty Short and those guys over for lunch. I got jealous. I was

should be the host of a talk show.

like, ‘I could’ve done that. I could’ve stayed friends with a lot of my

Brooke, (13) forget it, it’s done. Brooke would move to L.A. right

show business friends and I could’ve kept networking…’ And in some

now if I let her. It’s very clear that’s where she’s headed. Chynna did

ways I regret it. But at the same time, I readily acknowledge and am

something very funny. Brooke was 9 and had her first dance solo, and

okay with it. If I could do it all over again, would I do it differently? I

64 |

C O N V E R S AT I O N S : might. But I’m comfortable with the fact that I wasn’t willing to work as hard as you need to work to service and maintain a career as a star in Hollywood.

weeks.’ Vance was like six months old. I can’t believe I was in a position to say no, but I was a new dad, it was all happening. We were having babies and she was doing records

My brother Alec said to me straight up and he’s said publicly in interviews: ‘Billy sacrificed his career for his family, and I sacrificed my family for my career.’

and I was doing movies and I’m like, ‘I’m not going to China for $850,000. Kiss my ass, I’m not doing that.’ Today I would go for a lot longer for a lot less. Because I would

Billy on the set of Three of Hearts, released in April 1993

So, there are some regrets...

have to do it for a lot less today. I’m 55 and I’ve got three kids, and

I remember one time a producer on a Montreal film offered me

every time I finish a gig, I don’t know if I’m working for two months

$850,000 to go to Beijing for three weeks and I said: ‘There’s no dollar

or for two years. I don’t know when I’m working again. But when

figure that could get me to leave my wife, Chynna, and Vance for three

you’re 27 and you’re getting $2 million to do Sliver with Sharon Stone,

CO N V E R S AT I O N S :

and you’re not married and you have no dependents, A) You don’t

that I was offered and that I turned down and I didn’t realize that

think about that; B) You don’t think anything is going to change; and

even though you think you’re a big star, if you don’t work, if you do

C) You don’t give a flying [fig] anyway.

something only every 18 months to 2 years, you can’t do that. A lot of it is about being relevant.

Talk about your first film. Born on the Fourth of July with Tom Cruise. It was one of his best

I remember the first movie I wound up doing after Backdraft, when I was offered everything—and I turned everything down—

performances ever, where he played Ron Kovic, the veteran in the

was this little independent movie called Three of Hearts with

wheelchair.

Sherilyn Fenn and Kelly Lynch. It was unlike anything I’d ever

You know how I got that film? Ron Kovic was from my home

read before and everyone thought I was making a mistake to make

town, Massapequa. My father was his teacher, my father was a Marine.

this little independent film about a love triangle between a lesbian

When [Kovic] got shot and paralyzed, my father used to go, take the

woman, a bisexual woman, and a male escort. I kept saying, ‘Bring

Sunday New York Times into his VA hospital room, put me on the

me something that I want to do, but until you do, I want to do this

floor with my toys, and my father would read him Time magazine,

movie.’

Newsweek, and the Sunday New York Times, and the magazine section.

I think in doing that, I turned down all of this stuff that

I told Oliver Stone that. I was like: I know Ron Kovic. I used to

I should’ve done in the middle. I turned down Cool World and

go visit him in the VA when I was five, six, seven years old. He was

I turned down Speed, that was a big one. And I turned down

like, ‘What?’ I said, ‘My father was his teacher. My father was a

Kalifornia and A River Runs Through It. I would’ve done A River

sharpshooter in the Marines.’ He’s like, ‘You’re in the movie!’ He said,

Runs Through It, but it just conflicted. And I had to walk away

‘If you can walk a straight line and speak in complete sentences, you’re

from Thelma and Louise because it conflicted with shooting days for

in the movie!’

Backdraft.

I helped Tom Cruise with all of his research. I took him to

[Billy flashes a devilish, movie star smile…] And Cool World, I didn’t

Massapequa. I took him to the high school, I took him to meet

get it, but that was with Kim Basinger. Imagine me doing a movie with

[Kovic’s] wrestling coach, I took him to the local – we have a thing

Kim Basinger before my brother met her – God knows, that could’ve

called All American Burger, I took him to the All American Burger.

changed history.

Do you have regrets?

What’s been your favorite Hollywood experience?

I have three or four big regrets. One was Dirty Sexy Money being

I’ve had so many. That’s hard to pin down. I loved doing Internal

cancelled. It was during the 2009 crash and if we had done six or seven

Affairs, Backdraft, Dirty Sexy Money. But one of my favorite experiences

seasons on that instead of two, it would’ve been life-changing.’

happened off the set. Ethyl Kennedy introduced me to Mohammad

Another is the way in which I handled the conflict on the set

Ali at an event for the Robert Kennedy Memorial. Ali was already

in Sliver, with Sharon Stone. I would’ve handled it differently. It

seriously affected by Parkinson’s by then, and he grabbed me by the

presented problems for my career.

hands and leaned in to me and whispered: ‘Do the girls still love you?

I guess the last one is I would’ve worked more. There were things

66 |

Cause you sure are pretty.’

C O N V E R S AT I O N S :

So, you’ve paid a price for living away from Hollywood. Why did you move to Montecito? When I got Dirty Sexy Money, I was relocated from New York for

over Summerland and Montecito and you can see as you’re turning a curve, it exposes the Riviera. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to my kids, ‘Guys, look at this. Do you understand? Do you have

the gig, and my wife and I always agreed that we never wanted to live

gratitude for where you live? Do you understand how lucky you are for

in L.A. and we had three kids and we were trying to find three things:

where you live?’

away from show business, on the water, excellent public schools. Our friends the Scibirds kept campaigning for us to come and

The Riviera looks like the south of France and Greece and then when you get those smoky clouds that are resting on top of the

visit for years. So when I moved out here [from NYC] to do Dirty Sexy

mountains in Summerland and Montecito and they’re sort of like... it’s

Money, we moved to a house in Beverly Hills, and they kept inviting

like a little lava flow of clouds that’s coming down into Montecito. It

us up – and they set me up with Tim Werner and I kept renting their

looks like Hilo, it looks like Hawaii. I said, ‘You live in a combination

condos and coming up during the first season to stay there.

of Hawaii and the Greek Islands.’ I’m like, ‘I hope you understand

And the Scibirds kept taking us to Knollwood for barbecues and

how lucky you are.’

stuff where there’d be like six or seven or eight other families, and I fell

My kids are all saying, ‘I’ll leave, but I’m coming back.’ My kids

in love with the people that I met up here. I love it here. I come down

love it here. I grew up in Massapequa, Long Island and I love it and I

the 101 and when you get to that curve in the 101 South – where

do a lot of stuff there. I go back all the time. But I wouldn’t want to

you’re approaching Garden Street and you can see all of the mountains

live there. I like where I live better.

Kurt Russell and Billy on the set of Backdraft, director Ron Howard’s 1991 hit

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CURIOUS TRAVELER BY JERRY CAMARILLO DUNN, JR.

The hedge maze at Longleat House is a walk-in puzzle with more than a mile and a half of paths and tricky overpasses to compound the conundrum

70 |

GARDEN GAMES: ENGLAND’S MAZES AND LABYRINTHS

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” – Yogi Berra

“J

ust nip down to the palace wall, then turn left.” A guard dressed in a blue blazer is giving me directions to the famous hedge maze at England’s Hampton Court. He

surveys all 6 feet 7 inches of me and flashes an amused smile. “You might be able to see over the hedges! But have a lovely visit.” I cross a lawn shaded by ancient trees and hear shouts and giggles float over the maze’s perimeter hedge. Inside, children are scampering down hidden pathways. Their mission, and they have chosen to accept it, is to reach the elusive goal at the center of the labyrinth – and then find their way out. “Mummy! Come on! This way!” “But we’ve already been that way, I’m sure of it . . . .” This is England’s oldest hedge maze, planted in 1690 by William III at the Tudor palace where Henry VIII later spent three unpromising honeymoons. Millions of people have challenged this topiary puzzle, with its half-mile of paths, wrong turns, and dead ends. They love the mild adrenaline rush that comes with feeling trapped (temporarily anyway). Then there’s the perennial appeal of a mystery. In a maze, everyone is Sherlock Holmes. I step through the gate and head down a corridor of neatly trimmed yew hedges. They’re just high enough that I can’t peek over the top for clues, so I have to strategize. Maze designers and

TRAVEL

Hampton Court Palace boasts the world’s first hedge maze (1690), viewed from overhead (top) and in a vintage souvenir photo (bottom)

owner of lordly Chevening House planted a maze in which keeping your hand on one hedge leads not to the center but back to the entrance. This is because the goal lies in a separate island of hedge that floats within the maze; it’s not linked to the perimeter hedge at all. (There’s a secret to solving this type, too, but I don’t want to be a spoiler.) During a maze craze in Victorian times, hedge mazes popped up at stately homes and public parks all over England. I visited the one at Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, later purchased by wealthy American William Waldorf Astor. In the early 1900s, he planted a square maze of veddy British formality, thanks to its absolute symmetry the public play a sort of chess game, and the first move was made here

and meticulously trimmed hedges.

at Hampton Court. Although the leafy puzzle is clever, savvy visitors

During my visit, the local village band was seated on chairs alongside

eventually found a key to unlock its secret: The maze is basically one

the maze, playing a concert of jaunty tunes on their horns, drums, and

continuous hedge folded and refolded upon itself, so if you keep your

glockenspiels – a perfectly surreal scene that could have come right out

hand on either the left or right hedge, you inevitably reach the center

of the British TV series The Prisoner.

(even if you have to go in and out of every dead end). For their next move, the designers grew more devious. In 1820, the

72 |

I followed a sign to another, more unusual maze on the grounds. It looked like an island in a pond. Pathways made of concrete slabs circled

TRAVEL triggered hidden squirters to drench the unwary. Older kids would lead unsuspecting younger ones into the maze and merrily soak them. Posted nearby was a list of eight rules (“No Boisterous Behavior, No Running, No Dogs,” et cetera). At least seven of them were being gleefully violated. Kids scrambled around the maze and up the tower like crazed ferrets. I talked with a warden in a vivid yellow vest. “It’s very wild today,” he remarked, gazing at the scene. Then he across the water toward the center goal, which was a stone tower draped with greenery

looked at me and added drily: “You can go into the maze

and cascading yellow blossoms.

– if you promise not to run, jump, or shove.”

“Avoid Water Obstacles,” said a sign. “Get to the Center without Getting Wet.”

Eventually, maze designers ran into a blind alley.

Ha! What a laugh! All the pale-faced English children, having been deprived of

They couldn’t get much beyond the basic game plan

sunshine over the long winter, were stripped to their shorts and soaked to the skin.

originally devised at Chevening. It took 150 years for

Special slabs in the pathways were cleverly rigged as treadles, and stepping on one

them to discover the next move.

(above) Chevening House’s 1820 maze (photo courtesy Trustees of Chevening Estate/Hattie Young) When American business magnate William Waldorf Astor bought Hever Castle in the early 20th century, he planted a square hedge maze (photo courtesy Hever Castle & Gardens)

74 |

TRAVEL

Hever Castle’s hedge maze was planted with a beautiful – and baffling – formality. Its novel water maze (bottom), though, is strictly for fun (photos courtesy Hever Castle & Gardens)

In 1978 at Longleat House, designer Greg Bright got the idea of adding bridges to a maze, which meant that paths would cross over each other. This innovation transformed a twodimensional pattern, like the kind children trace in puzzle books, into a three-dimensional enigma. A bridge creates a topological frying pan: You can walk around inside endlessly without getting out . . . until a bridge carries you over the pan’s “rim” into the next section. Eventually, you’ll be swept along to the goal. At Longleat, a round-trip to the maze’s central wooden tower and back out takes the

merrily from hedge to hedge. (No worries, guv!) And thanks to sloppy previous walkers, I spied

average person about 90 minutes. It’s one of the

some clues – a gum wrapper here, a crushed soda can there – to use as road markers. If I saw them

world’s longest hedge mazes, with 1.69 miles of

again, I’d know I had trod that path before.

paths bordered by 16,000 English yews. When I

Soon I came to realize a truth about mazes: You’re fine as long as you keep entering new

visited one sunny day, I followed a robin hopping

territory. If you find yourself retracing old paths, though, you’re doing something wrong. Now

76 |

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TRAVEL there’s a life lesson for you! Of course, some people (especially kids) purposely cheat. They’ll push their way right through a hedge to reach the correct path, rather than discover it on their own. (The resulting damage is a nightmare for the poor groundskeepers.) But what kind of adult would do this? After all, a maze is more than a puzzle; it’s a metaphor for the path we take through life. Is someone the type of person who would cheat on a spouse or a business partner? One who’s always cutting corners? That a maze prompts philosophical musings shouldn’t surprise us. Its labyrinthine pattern has a profound relationship to human nature.

(photo courtesy Hever Castle & Gardens)

The mysterious realm of the unconscious mind is often symbolized by corridors, passages, chambers, and labyrinths. The winding paths also

(below) Getting lost in the Longleat maze can be a merry game or (right) a silent journey inward

look like the whorls of our own fingerprints. Or like the convolutions of the human brain – a design that, like a maze, packs a big mystery into a small space. A labyrinth, unlike a maze, has no walls to confine and confuse you, no dead ends or wrong turns. Simply follow the gently looping flat path, and you’ll get to the center. Yet this disarmingly simple pattern has a mysterious power of its own. When you walk a labyrinth, you participate in something ancient. King Minos’s fabled labyrinth on the isle of Crete held the monstrous Minotaur, half-man and half-bull, who regularly devoured a tribute of youths and maidens. The hero Theseus found his way to the center, slew the Minotaur, and retraced his steps with the help of a golden thread. Was the Cretan labyrinth only a myth? Archaeologists at Knossos

78 |

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TRAVEL uncovered the ruins of an immense Minoan palace with an intricate

sensation.) The chatter that often clutters our heads – what Buddhists

network of corridors, galleries, and passages. Its walls were decorated

call “monkey mind” – faded away.

with images of a double-headed axe called a labrys – from which we derive the word labyrinth. By the first century B.C., a stylized emblem of the Cretan labyrinth was minted on coins. The pattern spread across Europe and was adapted

Without this background static, I had a refreshing, direct awareness of things around me. The village bordering the green looked bright and clean, as if newly scrubbed. Roses in a nearby garden became patches of pure light.

to Christian purposes in 13th-century France, where a labyrinth with 11

Soon I reached the center, a low grassy mound. Surrounding me

rings circling a central cross was laid into the stone floor of the cathedral

were the 17 rings of curved path I had just walked. Here I felt protected,

in Chartres. Walking the path served as a symbolic journey, perhaps a

as if I were inside a castle ringed by stone walls. A labyrinth creates a

substitute for making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land or simply a way to

separate world, a cosmos ordered from the surrounding chaos.

contemplate the meandering course of human life.

My favorite turf labyrinth is Julian’s Bower in Alkborough, set on

On foggy English downs in the 17th century, the Christian pattern

high ground at the edge of a river plain. After centuries of being trod and

appeared as a mystical intaglio cut into the grass of village greens. I visited

recut, the path has sunk a foot below the surrounding land. As I stepped

the largest of England’s eight surviving turf mazes in Saffron Walden, an

onto it, I remembered the words of Jeff Saward, a leading researcher of

old market town. The single path goes on for a mile, wound like a tangled

British earthworks: “If you perceive a faint magic lurking just beneath turf

spool of thread inside a circle only 38 yards across.

labyrinths,” he says, “you may get some idea of the very subtle principles

I began walking, at first sweeping inward toward the central goal,

and symbolism built into the old ones.”

then swiftly flying away. The pattern was as mesmerizing as a hypnotist’s

On the lonely gray afternoon when I visited, a light snow lay on the

whirling disk. Keeping my feet on the narrow path occupied a part of my

pathway, like a dusting of powdered sugar on a cake. Snowflakes were

mind, while the rest went pleasantly blank. (In my case, not an unfamiliar

still falling, and the wind swirled them round and round. In my mind, the

Hedge trimmers tidy up some of the 16,000 yew trees lining the paths of the Longleat maze

80 |

COMPASS POINTS INFORMATION:

www.labyrinthos.net has authoritative information and links for mazes and labyrinths worldwide. There is also a labyrinth finder at labyrinthlocator.com. Prolific maze designer Adrian Fisher has a site at mazemaker.com.

MAZES:

HAMPTON COURT: www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/ explore/the-maze CHEVENING HOUSE: private residence

whirling white columns began to look like spirits â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the figures of all the men, women, and children who had walked this gently spiraling path over the past seven centuries. A single circle somehow contained the whole world. Perhaps I had found the true secret of the labyrinth.

HEVER CASTLE: www.hevercastle.co.uk/hever-attractions/ the-mazes Longleat: www.longleat.co.uk/main-square/ hedge-maze SAFFRON WALDEN: www.visitsaffronwalden.gov.uk/Mazes.aspx JULIANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BOWER: www.britainexpress.com/attractions. htm?attraction=2583

The turf labyrinth on the village green in Saffron Walden packs a mile-long single pathway into a circle just 115 feet across. It inspires both a walking meditation (top) and festivity (bottom). (photos courtesy Jeff Saward/Labyrinthos Photo Library)

82 |

Behind the Wheel BY RANDY LIOZ

PH OTOS CO U RTE SY O F TH E PETE R S E N AU TO M OT I V E M U S E U M

The Porsche Effect

he Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles has just opened its latest exhibit, The Porsche Effect, exploring the history of the brand, from its rise in the wake of the second world war to its seminal position in automotive and popular culture. We talked to Brittanie Kinch,

a curator with The Scenic Route, who partnered with the Petersen’s creative director, Brian Stevens, and other content creators, such as Santa Barbara-area photojournalist Randy Leffingwell, to create the exhibit. Ms Kinch discussed a few of the cars she considers the most significant, as well as what the display says about the Porsche brand overall. The exhibit is timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Porsche brand – launched with the Type 356 in June of 1948 – and any auto enthusiast will find it a veritable candy store of cars and artifacts. The year-long event examines many aspects of the brand’s history and vehicle development, including Porsche’s legendary racing history. And for those who don’t consider themselves car people, the company’s design tradition offers a host of visual delicacies that appeal to a broad range of tastes. Porsche has an incomparable history of combining form and function in a way that elevates both to high art. “[Porsche] is one of our luxury marques that has been able to make such a lasting impression on contemporary culture… which makes it recognizable, timeless, and classic,” says Kinch. She emphasizes that this conception of the brand is in the eyes of not only automotive consumers but also onlookers who appreciate the brand’s aesthetic achievements. In fact, Porsche’s design history is so respected that the Porsche family has created a robust business out of crafting product executions for many companies outside the auto industry, several of which are featured in the Petersen’s exhibit. Along with the visual representations of the culture around the brand and some engineering blueprints, The Porsche Effect does come across as somewhat of an art expo.

Behind the Wheel

1939 Type 64 60K10

he car that might qualify as the most significant of the exhibit doesn’t even bear the Porsche name. The Type 64 was an aluminum-skinned

race car based on the Volkswagen Beetle that Ferdinand Porsche had engineered. Erwin Komenda, after styling the Beetle, took the opportunity to create a visual signature that would set the template for all Porsches to come. The team built three cars to compete in the 1939 Berlin-Rome endurance race, but it was cancelled when war broke out in Europe. Many fans of the brand “don’t necessarily know that Porsche existed prior to 1948,” said Kinch. “The Type 64 has definitely made its mark on Porsche fans and the Porsche world, so I think that’s a very special car.” The car on display was rebuilt using many of the parts from car number 2 – which had been disassembled after the war – and has resided for the past several years at the automotive prototype museum in Hamburg. “That was indeed a special journey to get it over here,” she added.

84 |

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Behind the Wheel

ne of the most exciting cars for many of the museum’s visitors will no doubt be the Speedster owned by Steve McQueen.

The 356 was the first production car from Porsche, based on the architecture of the Beetle that Ferdinand had designed for Adolf Hitler. His son, Ferry, created the new car and set up shop as the sports car maker that survives today. The Speedster version was the brainchild of renowned American importer Max Hoffman, who knew that distilling the car to its bare essence, with no roof, a low-cut windshield and minimalist interior, would bring it success in the U.S. market. The “King of Cool” had been racing motorcycles, but his acting success allowed him to buy the Speedster, and he entered his first race in Santa Barbara in 1959, where he won his class. He followed this up with victories at several other venues including Laguna Seca, which helped to grow the Porsche legend. The car now belongs to McQueen’s son Chad, who also has a history of racing Porsches.

Steve McQueen’s 1958 356A 1600 Super Speedster

86 |

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Behind the Wheel

1964 901

ne of the Petersen’s own, this 901 is one of the first run of cars that would become the 911, the

name Porsche adopted when Peugeot objected to another company using a 3-digit model number with 0 in the middle. The design is from the hand of Ferdinand’s grandson, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, a.k.a. Butzi. It was so successful that the original shape barely changed at all until 1997, when the Type 996 version was introduced, and even then it was a modern interpretation of the same silhouette. The 901 “really shows what you can do when you take a few elements, refine them to their purest form, and then create a work of art out of it,” says Kinch. None of the 901s were sold by Porsche to the public, so they’re highly valuable and rare.

88 |

Behind the Wheel

1966 906 (Carrera 6)

nother car credited to Butzi is the 906, which is the last of Porsche’s race cars to be legal for street use.

Says Kinch, “That car’s really stunning – it’s just a beautiful car. It’s probably the car I’d most want to drive.” The 906 was highly successful in racing, racking up class victories at Sebring, Spa, and Monza.

90 |

Sotheby’s International Realty is proud to recognize

SUZANNE PERKINS for her extraordinary achievements in 2017

154

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Behind the Wheel

911 GT1 (993) and GT1 Strassenversion (996)

hese two cars sit side by side in the lobby of the museum, which expands the Porsche story beyond the main exhibit hall. They represent different generations of the GT1 racing program, the latter being a street-legal homologation version of the racecar.

“In the lobby, we have further opportunity to tell additional stories that we don’t really have an opportunity to get to tell in the gallery,” says Kinch. She emphasizes that this sort of pairing hasn’t been shown in the U.S. before, so it’s a rare opportunity to see them together outside of the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. “They’re the cars that took Porsche through a difficult time in its history in terms of racing” she adds, “and put them back on the map.”

94 |

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Behind the Wheel

ALPHA Pianos by Porsche Design

significant space in the display is dedicated to products styled by Porsche Design, which creates designs for its own brand and for others. Founded by Butzi Porsche, the company crafts items ranging from pens and sunglasses to computers and even buildings.

“If you look at what he did with other types of consumer objects, he really took the concept of what, for example, a pen was, and broke it down into its key elements in order to reinvent and redefine what a pen could be,” says Kinch, relating it back to Butzi’s experience designing the 901. This digital piano does the same, combining stunningly simple design with engineering that provides an authentic experience, in this case using special alloy springs that create the feel of a real piano keyboard. In addition to the 19 cars in the main exhibit and eight in the lobby, there are 20 cars in The Petersen Automotive Museum’s famous vault that continue the Porsche story. The exhibit will run until January of next year.

96 |

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REAL ESTATES

CLIFF DRIVE

he beach beckons! Rarely does water front property become available in Santa Barbara and more rare still is an oceanfront home such as

3219 Cliff Drive. Situated on 1.3 acres on a bluff overlooking the surf, this estate offers a front-row seat as the ever-changing Pacific Ocean ebbs and flows with aquatic life and the night sky is illuminated by gorgeous sunsets. Whereas views of the ocean often tend to wane over time as landscape matures, here the 180-degree view will remain indefinitely. Expansive terraces are ideal for entertaining and everyday moments. The main floor master suite opens to the coastline and is filled with cool morning breezes. Extensively remodeled in 2015, this approximately 6,700-sq-ft property has all the creature comforts one would expect.

This estate is offered for $11,200,000 by Riskin Partners and Julie Barnes of Village Properties. (photos by L.A. Light Photography)

REAL ESTATES

VILLA DEL MARE

uilt in 2016, the gracefully designed Villa Del Mare offers unparalleled opportunities to experience the vibrancy of unspoiled

surroundings from its 287 grassy acres. This property is a portion of the historic Rancho Tajiguas, located on the pristine, protected Gaviota Coast, just a 20-minute drive north of Santa Barbara. Designed by J.M. Sewall & Associates, there is a main house, a separate guesthouse, and cabana with a full kitchen and a bedroom/ massage area. Flowing fountains grace the master bedroom patio, the meadow, herb garden, and 7-car garage. Some of the unique features that adorn this home are custom hand-scraped rustic French Oak wood floors, reclaimed roof tile from Spain and Portugal, Riviera bronze steel windows and doors with bronze screens, hand-carved Santa Barbara sandstone fireplaces including an antique mantel in the living room, and a reclaimed brick ceiling in the wine lounge.

Offered for $ 38,500,000 by Randy and Deanna Solakian of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury.

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(photos by Jim Bartsch)

REAL ESTATES

E A S T M O U N TA I N D R I V E

ontecito’s architectural history is rich and diverse, and one of its more beloved and colorful contributors is none other than the grandfather of Hollywood Regency, John Elgin Woolf. Woolf’s designs are thoughtful, clever, and above all else, full of glamour. An excellent example of his

signature work can be found at Le Ciel, 1478 East Mountain Drive in Montecito. In addition to great architecture, Le Ciel’s defining characteristic is a sweeping ocean and island view enjoyed from nearly every room in the main residence. Lofty ceilings and grand proportions balance the power of the sea and give the home a grounded position within its environment. Chic, newly designed interiors help push the historic origins into the 21st century in a direction that is both reverent and forward-thinking. A guesthouse, pool, spa, and cabana help round out this intimate compound.

Offered for $13,950,000 by Riskin Partners of Village Properties.

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(photos by Jim Bartsch)

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REAL ESTATES

V I L L A D E L L A CO S TA

illa della Costa overlooks Santa Barbara’s Gaviota Coast with 360-degree views of the mountains, pastoral countryside, Pacific

Ocean, and Channel Islands. The estate was conceived to reflect a passion for privacy, quality, and the ever-inspiring drama of this remarkable setting. Newly built and completed in 2014, by architect J.M. Sewall & Associates, with interior finishes designed by Mark Weaver & Associates and built by Kitchell – a luxury estate builder – the result is a fusion of early California style with today’s demand for modern technology, convenience, and comfort. Surrounded by large coastal ranch properties, all 106 acres were handpicked as an ultimate hideaway. Offering multiple areas for entertaining, the large-scale, wellproportioned rooms incorporate the expansive coastal setting. Custom hand-hewn walnut floors, steel windows and doors with bronze screens, Sun Valley bronze door hardware, antique roof tiles from Spain & Portugal, a wine cellar, and antiqued ceiling beams throughout, enhance the home.

Randy and Deanna Solakian of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury have this estate listed for $35,000,000.

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(photos by Scott Gibson)

REAL ESTATES

CO L D S P R I N G R OA D

rovenance and pedigree meet comfort and contemporary convenience on this private 4.5-acre gated Montecito estate.

The Mediterranean-style home, lovely guesthouses, and pool house rest on the grounds of historic El Mirador. There is a special, rarefied quality here, yet the ambiance evokes a sort of joie de vivre. Landscaped gardens, sprawling manicured lawns and hedges, a pond, on-site well, pergolas, terraces, tennis court, and a large pool provide space and amenities for entertaining and celebrations. The main residence, though substantial, offers an air of intimacy, warmth, and calm. There is liberal use of warm woods in floors, crafted

Homage to the craftsmanship of yesteryear, created using only the finest materials, this is a truly magical Montecito estate.

cabinetry, and paneling. Vast open-beam and truss, barrel- and groinvaulted ceilings combine with an abundance of French doors and windows to imbue the home with a profusion of spaciousness and light.

Cristal Clarke of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices offers this estate for $12,750,000.

(photos by Eric Foote)

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REAL ESTATES

L A L A D E R A R OA D

hile the look of luxury is evolving in the 21st century, 4160 La Ladera in Hope Ranch is redefining the essence

of Santa Barbara style. This newly built, 2.3-acre, ocean-view estate takes its cues from Moroccan extravagance and minimalist design. Sleek Mexican travertine and white stucco walls balance rustic rubble stones and the reclaimed Nicaraguan tiles that crown the roof. This composition, both eminently chic and effortlessly provincial, paints the stage for a resort-like living experience. Dual master suites plus additional 4 en-suite bedrooms are spread throughout more than 11,000 sq ft. Although spacious in size, the clever, almost modular, floor plan allows for the home to live intimately for a couple or graciously for a crowd. A pool, outdoor kitchen, bocce court, al fresco dining areas, and a hidden gym/spa are intriguing destinations to explore and offer indoor/ outdoor living at its finest.

This estate is listed for $17,500,000 by Riskin Partners of Village Properties.

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(photos by Jim Bartsch)

REAL ESTATES

E A S T VA L L E Y R OA D

ocated in close proximity to the heart of Montecito’s upper village and surrounded by Billionaire’s Row, is a magnificent

European estate located at 1567 East Valley Road. The flat 1.49acre lot, down a private lane, inspired architect Robert Shachtman to create the elegance of this home. The house features 5 bedrooms and 5 full bathrooms, a private study, 5 fireplaces, 2 powder baths and an au pair quarters with separate entrance. The designer’s kitchen with great room boasts a sunny breakfast nook, walk-in pantry, stone fireplace, and hand-hewn beams from a 300-year-old European barn. The master bedroom sanctuary has an intimate sitting area, fireplace, yoga/exercise room, two walk-in-closets, steam shower, luxurious soaking tub, and romantic balcony. This enchanting home possesses solid mahogany doors, copper rain gutters, Santa Rita stone, wrought-iron railings, custom copper lights, gold-plated hardware from Europe, cabinetry by Charlie Starbuck, and a slate roof.

Listed for $5,950,000 by Lisa Scibird of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

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(photos by Jim Bartsch)

SMOARCHITECT

Sheida Moradi Owrang Architect

RESIDENTIAL | COMMERCIAL | INTERIOR DESIGN

REAL ESTATES

S C H O O L H O U S E R OA D

ramatic mountain views and a peek of the ocean showcase this upscale Montecito estate. Situated down a private stone lined drive sits the 4-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home designed by local architect Don Nulty and built by Claus Construction in 2000. Filled with natural light, it

offers luxury on a grand scale with vaulted ceilings, oversized windows and doors, and generously sized rooms. French fossil limestone floors and a barrel ceiling highlight the hallway leading to the office and master suite. On the south-facing side of the home is a gourmet kitchen-family room-casual dining area with vaulted beamed ceilings. Designed for indoor-outdoor entertaining, the kitchen opens out to a patio with built-in barbecue, fountain, and large seating area that flow seamlessly into the open grass lawn and gardens. The dramatic circular formal dining area just off the kitchen features a Poul Henningsen chandelier, walk-in wine room and a serene courtyard view.

This estate is listed by Ryan Strehlow of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage for $ 4,895,000.

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(photos by Tom Ploch)

What began as a dream home...

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Casa Dorinda is a private LifeCare community, type A CCRC, owned and operated by the Montecito Retirement Association, a nonsectarian, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. State of California Licenses RCFE #421700160, SNF #050000112, CCRC Certificate of Authority #126.

Lotusland Hanna Puacz’s Last Invention

by Jeff Wing

“When Ganna Walska got here, she stopped collecting anything else and devoted herself to the garden. And this is so

clearly her garden,” laughs Gwen Stauffer, Lotusland’s CEO. “It’s

mesmerizing palette of Chagall, the stark, glassine beauty of Georgia

look of Lotusland is such that one walks around half expecting a

O’Keeffe, the mirthful angularities of de Kooning, the shadowy,

glimpse of The Cat in the Hat ranging through the peripheries of

tea-colored welcome home of Wyeth (Andrew), and the floral

this oddball Eden. Lotusland director of communications Bob

primordialism of The Flintstones opening credits.

Craig, a laconic appreciator of his eccentric home turf, has agreed

ow to describe the indescribable? Lotusland is a horticultural fireworks display, a kaleidoscope with roots. Lotusland’s aesthetic embrace has the playfully

so personal. The garden has her genes.” The place is indeed a wonderland, a dreamscape – a couple terms that are likely too shopworn to truly suit the subject. The

There.

to take me around the many sunlit rooms of this roofless mansion.

Most significantly, Lotusland is the floral incarnation of bon

We’re headed for the so-called Cactus Garden. We stop along the

vivant Ganna Walska; the bejeweled comet whose 96 spark-throwing

way to take in one of Lotusland’s many roadside attractions. “This

years find their summation and their ongoing expression here. Is the

is kind of an embodiment of Ganna’s whimsical nature,” Bob

founding matriarch alive? Ganna Walska is very much alive. Where

understates with a chuckle as we approach the object in question.

blood once coursed through Ganna’s veins, chlorophyll is now the

“A topiary clock.”

life-stuff that animates her. That the very name Ganna Walska was an

More than a just a grin-producing decorative element, the

invention sheds the barest introductory light on Lotusland’s dynamo.

floral clock is a work of horticultural art, the face upholstered with

She invented at will, did Ganna; or Hanna, rather. She was inventing

low-lying succulents and muted blossoms, each hour represented

to the very end, to our immense common benefit.

with a large zodiac symbol of beautifully tooled copper. “It’s

Garden Schmarden

a working clock!” Bob confirms. Twenty-five feet in diameter, Madame’s flower-bedecked timepiece was showily unveiled the

anna’s life project – Lotusland – is a garden in much the

year Captain Kangaroo made his television debut – 1955. And as

same way the Eiffel Tower is a radio antenna. The description

you have no doubt guessed, dear reader, the unveiling was done in

is technically correct but hobbled by an insufficiency of color and

the jostling presence of 600 delegates to the National Shade Tree

gravity. A lifelong iconoclast and gatherer of jewelry, fine art, and

convention then meeting in town. True story.

experiential wisdom, Madame set everything aside when she found her floral mission.

112 |

Where exactly did Madame come up with her ideas? “It’s interesting,” Craig says. “She was a big scrap-booker. We probably

| 113

Lotusland have a hundred of her scrapbooks. She would see something she liked, cut it out of a magazine, and paste it into a scrapbook.” Wow. With this knowledge, one may look with new eyes on Lotusland’s phantasmagorical offerings and see an endearing, excited lover of beauty, little Hanna Puacz – now in her autumn years and having supped at Life’s table – seated by lamplight with scissors, preparing a final grand assemblage.

Hanna and Ganna: Little Girl Found

anna’s facts are well recorded, as is the droll bullet list of her several husbands, as if that explains Madame and her deliciously mad garden

(and it just may)! She tied the knot six times, yes. The Edwardian era’s strutting, cigar-chewing, lavishly mustachioed, wife-oppressing chauvinists were drawn to powerful women outside the marital contract like iron filings to a magnet. Whether this meets the technical definition of irony we can’t be sure, but the bravado-radiating Ms Walska was a beneficiary of the age’s masculine bipolarity. The husbands Ganna drew out of the woodwork were of a particular stripe. Her last husband could twist himself into a tantric pretzel (one of his leastexhausting qualities, but it can’t have helped). One invented, amid much fanfare,

114 |

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Lotusland a Death Ray. One of them reportedly received an experimental implant of monkey glands to keep up with Madame’s lamp lit amour. Our meteoric heroine inspired that sort of courtship. But before Ganna, there was Hanna. Hanna Puacz (“Hanna Pu-aught”) was born in 1887 in BrestLitovsk, in what is now a sovereign Poland, but which was then part of the Russian Empire. When little Hanna was 9, her mother died, and nine years later her father shipped her off to live in Russia proper with an uncle in St. Petersburg. Possibly it was the teenaged Hanna’s rampant energy that prompted her harried father, Napoleon Puacz, to send her off to his brother’s home in another country. We can only guess – though a glimpse of Lotusland may shed some light on what Mr. Puacz was up against. Lovely, isn’t it?

Gift of the Cacti

ne enters each of Lotusland’s separate gardens like a stunned bit player in an episode of The Twilight Zone – each beauteous

but jarring scene-change wholly unannounced by what came before, an imaginary violin describing the guest’s pleasant dislocation with a

116 |

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Lotusland marcato major 7th chord. And so the sudden Cactus Garden with its towering, muted browns and greens spontaneously looms, extending as far as one can see, somehow. The 300-plus species of prickly succulents are punctuated, of course, by the occasional Boojum tree and are arranged by country of origin. Designed by Eric Nagelmann, from a massive donation of plants by longtime Ganna pal Merritt Dunlap (whose remarkable collection dated from 1929), the Cactus Garden has a smallish summit in its midst from which one can survey the desert forest. It’s an extraordinary site. “This place is practically indescribable,“ Craig concedes. “Madame could be a challenge to work for, but she was revered around here.” It would seem some of the designers would drop their intransigence and come to see things through Ganna’s eyes. “The garden designer – Eric Nagelmann – is a really interesting guy. He tells a story about presenting the Cactus Garden design to the board of trustees. One of the directors says, ‘Eric, won’t the transition from the Cactus Garden to the lawn be rather strikingly abrupt?’ And he says, ‘I certainly hope so!’”

Star-Crossed Singer with a Green Thumb

ven those only glancingly acquainted with Ganna’s biography know she spent much of her life in the determined pursuit of

an opera career that had its fits and starts, but never quite blossomed to her satisfaction, though she did once successfully share the playbill with legendary tenor Enrico Caruso. Acquiring the Montecito property at the age of 54, Ganna finally discovered her true canvas and began applying her liberated brushstrokes with real abandon. “She was outrageous,” Stauffer says, “and she was ahead of her time, adopting styles of dress way ahead of the mainstream. For instance, she was wearing turbans in the 1920s, and they didn’t become fashionable until the ‘50s or ‘60s. She did what she wanted to do. Because she liked her bling, she blinged up the garden. Stauffer chuckles appreciatively. “So much of what she was doing was her own thing, and it was over the top.” 118 |

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Lotusland

Tibet or Not Tibet

anna Walska’s purchase of the Lotusland parcel roughly coincided with both the disintegration of her sixth and final

untranslated sacred Buddhist texts. So Ganna, primarily a creature of New York City and Paris (France, not Texas) indulged her Theos, patiently moving her life

marriage, and her revelatory conclusion that her avid pursuit of a

(and her voice coach) from the East Coast to sun-soaked California.

career in opera was not, after all these decades of earnest effort, going

It was, as these things go, a fateful decision. Her handsome,

to bear fruit.

mercurial final husband, an author and authority of some note on

What happened was this: At the pleading suggestion of her

Tibetan Buddhism, would later that decade vanish under mysterious

last and most exasperating husband, Ganna Walska had bought the

circumstances along the Rhotang pass near Pakistan, where he’d

37 acres of Montecito prime from British diplomat and part-time

trekked in search of lost Sanskrit manuscripts. For all his authority

yoga hobbyist Sir Humphrey Clarke in 1941. It was Clarke who

on the region and its spiritual underpinnings, Theos finally didn’t

had suggested to his New York spiritual teacher – Ganna’s husband,

have the rationalist sense to stay out of the area as India and Pakistan

Vedantic gadfly Theos Bernard – that the California property might

were undergoing their explosively violent partition. Theos and Ganna

be the perfect spot on which to found Bernard’s long dreamed-of

had agreed that their new Montecito purchase would be called

Academy of Tibetan Literature, where throngs of Tibetan monks in

Tibetland. Ganna later changed the name to Lotusland. The monks

saffron-colored robes would toil monastically over thousands of as yet

would never arrive.

120 |

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Lotusland

The Effect of Ganna Rays on a Formerly Traditionalist Garden

Dali-esque cacti of several varieties. Following her orders, the famed landscape architect would later, in lightly coded language, send a note congratulating Madame Walska on her design “spontaneity.” Still later would come Charles Glass’s immersive Bromeliad

hen Ganna Walska effectively surrendered her opera dream

Garden, William Paylen’s ecstatically hushed Fern Garden, Frank

and pivoted to her new avocation – what we may call

Fujii’s Japanese Garden, Dutch designer Peter Thiele’s water stairway…

Madame’s Botanical Expressionism – it was with the energized rapture

and Lotusland’s growing reputation as one of the world’s most

of someone in the throes of self-discovery. Ganna began enlisting

magnificent, and singular, public gardens. In the mid-1970s, Charles

people. Lockwood de Forest, Santa Barbara’s premier landscape

Glass pitched another wild idea to Madame, an idea that would flower

architect, was brought in to clean up and refurbish the somewhat

into the Cycad Garden; a Mesozoic rock show without parallel. Ganna

timeworn gardens as they then existed, to do new plantings around

would sell off her precious jewelry collection to pay for it, correctly

various cottages on the property, to construct certain pools and “oases,”

surmising that this garden’s aesthetic and biological value would make

and to festoon the house’s entrance with both statuesque and artfully

it a priceless addition to Lotusland.

122 |

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Lotusland

Egad – Cycads!

“T

hese are probably the most famous plants in the garden,” Lotusland’s Bob Craig tells me on our

Cycad Garden walkthrough, gesturing at three apparent prop trees from Spielberg’s Jurassic Fleeing film franchise. Standing side by side in their own corner of the cycad jungle, and perched on the banks of a koi pond, the three look for all the world like venerated founding fathers. “They’re called Enchephalartos woodii,” Bob explains, “and they no longer exist in the wild. They only exist in Botanic Gardens. And there are no known females any longer, there are only males. The only way to propagate them is to take a shoot from the bottom of the plant and try to get it to grow.” The lower-lying cycads in the garden are primordial-

124 |

looking and coniferous, their ground-level seed cones poking upward like hastily painted Star Trek set pieces. The Cycad Garden contains more than 450 specimens, and more than half the world’s Cycad species. “Look at the color in this guy!” Bob exults at one point. Some of the cones are tactically disintegrating, spreading the cycad news, as it were. “We bring every fourth grader in Santa Barbara County through here,” Craig tells me, describing Lotusland’s outreach to elementary school kids. “When I first started here, I thought ‘Oh, my gosh, will the kids be interested’? But we first send someone to the classroom, where they give the kids an hour or so of plant biology. The kids come in here so jazzed, so excited!” For those particularly struck with wonder during the Lotusland guided wander, there are volunteer opportunities. What could be more thrilling than to be an emissary of the place? “We have a docent training program,” Craig says as we make our way from the Cycad to the Tropical Garden, with its dangling orchid cacti and banana plants. where a toothy T-Rex seems even more likely to appear with its dripping jaws agape. “Twelve weeks of classes on Mondays. You learn about the history of Lotusland; you learn some plant science, and then we turn you loose on the guests. As a docent, you get all kinds of access to the garden.” We enter the Aloe Garden, with its burst of flowering color and reported 140 varieties of the Africa and Madagascar native. The meditative space is anchored by the kidney-shaped Shell Pond, a personal favorite and pet project of Madame’s. The pristine, whitebottomed, crystal clear abalone-lined pool is pure Ganna. After a minute or so of quiet appreciation amid the music of water cascading down a series of gigantic South Pacific clamshells, Bob Craig breaks the silence. “I love this garden,” he says ruminatively. “I like to bring people here last. In some ways, this is the summation of Ganna’s vision. You see all the other whimsical parts of the garden, and here it suddenly sort of all makes sense.” I stare as the water gambols down the alarmingly cartoon-like giant clams. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” I reply.

m | 125

MASTERPIECE MAKERS BY LEANNE R. WOOD

C R E AT I N G H O M E

hether you know Montecito inside and out, live here full- or part-time, have only recently moved and been introduced to the area, or are reading this publication

during a visit and know nothing about Montecito but are curious, the following group of architects, interior designers, landscape designers, contractors, home builders, audio-video suppliers, and custom stone and tile experts will help you understand what a diverse and talented group you have to choose from when it comes time to redecorate, rebuild, renovate, add on, or engage in brand-new construction.

126 |

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

ANN JAMES INTERIORS

nn James is a custom interior designer who resides in Santa Barbara. She has worked in the Southern California area for more than 30 years, resulting in a special familiarity with all the sources

and vendors in the field. “Each project has its own distinct personality,” she says, “and should reflect the client’s individual needs, tastes, and lifestyle, creating a rich personal world.” She says that her clients are as varied and diverse as the interiors she creates and that a sophisticated sense of style imbues each of her projects, which range from the latest in contemporary design to a more traditional approach. “I believe designing a home should always be a collaborative endeavor between the client and the designer,” says Ann. “My goal is to design unique homes that reflect the individual tastes and lifestyles of the people that live in them. Combining style, comfort, and appropriateness in beautiful personalized environments is the ultimate reward.” More information can be found at www.annjamesinteriors.com

(photos by Jim Bartsch and Kim Reierson)

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MASTERPIECE MAKERS

A S H TO N & H O P E CO N S T R U C T I O N I N C .

artners Kyle Ashton and Robert “Bertie” Hope are the owners of Ashton & Hope Construction, a general contracting company with not-so-general standards. Bertie

and Kyle have built their company on a foundation of honesty, efficiency, and high standards. They work in tandem with clients to accommodate tight time frames and budgets, delivering quality craftsmanship devoid of high mark-ups and completion delays. They pride themselves on their ability to build anything. From a bathroom remodel, to a new pool house, or a full build-out from the ground up, nothing is out of reach. They have the resources to create a homeowner’s backyard of dreams, whether it be landscaping or hardscaping, ponds or pergolas, trellises or terraces. Ashton & Hope take the same pride in creating livable workspaces. From single offices to boardrooms or recording studios, they collaborate with companies to construct workspaces as diverse as those who inhabit them. Some of their noteworthy construction includes the Santa Ynez Inn and Coach House, the Petersen Properties on Gould Lane, and Jessica Risko Smith Designs on Miramonte. More information can be found at www.ashtonandhope.com or by calling 805-729-3584.

128 |

(photos by Matt Wier and Joseph Claus )

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

BAILEY CONSTRUCTION

ailey Construction has been building and remodeling homes from Santa Barbara to Beverly Hills for the past 10 years. The company was founded on the principles of customer service and

top quality workmanship. More than 90 percent of their work comes from referrals, and they have developed long-term relationships and repeat business from much of their customer base. While the genesis of Bailey Construction was as a general contracting firm building custom homes, over the past few years, due to requests from clients and designers, they have expanded to include custom cabinetry, doors, and furniture. Some of the homes they have built or remodeled have been featured on television, in The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Their favorite designers to work with are Christine Markatos Design and Odile de Schietre-Longchampt. Currently, Bailey Construction is focusing on rebuilding homes in Montecito that were affected by the Thomas Fire and 1/9 debris flow. To better serve their community, they are offering discounted rates for their neighbors. More information can be found at www.baileyconstructionsb.com

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MASTERPIECE MAKERS

HARRISON DESIGN

arrison Design is a full-service architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture firm. Founded in Atlanta in 1991, their

residential expertise encompasses a range of architectural styles, from traditional to modern. The Santa Barbara office was established in 2004 when local architect Anthony Spann, AIA, aligned his practice with Harrison Design. They have developed a reputation for excellence in design, responsiveness to clients, and unparalleled project execution. Today Anthony Grumbine, AIA, leads the office. He also serves on the City of Santa Barbaraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Historic Landmarks Commission. Their work in Montecito and Santa Barbara ranges from extensive renovations to new homes. In keeping with the area, many of the residences are in the traditional Spanish style. Their design expertise and historical sensitivity has led to numerous awards, including the 2014 City of Santa Barbara inaugural Edwards & Plunkett Historic Preservation Award and the 2016 American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara Chapter Honor Award for Architectural Heritage, both for the extensive renovation of Crocker Row #5. In 2010, Harrison Design received the Phoenix award for its pro bono efforts after the Tea Fire. More information can be found at www.harrisondesign.com or by calling 805-899-3434. 130 |

(photos by Jim Bartsch)

harrisondesign.com 805.899.3434 921 De La Vina Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

CENTRAL COAST AUDIO VISUAL

entral Coast Audio Visual specializes in the design, installation, and service of “smart” homes, theaters, and commercial environments, seeking to create what owner and founder Chris Wilson calls “the

ultimate home sanctuary,” or office space. “The focus,” he says, “at Central Coast AV is to integrate elegant technology that is simple and intuitive to use.” With a combined 30 years’ experience, each Central Coast AV team member brings a unique skill set to the job. “We pride ourselves in keeping all aspects of the project in-house, from design and prewire to programming and maintenance,” says Chris. “This allows us to offer the best of technology, aesthetic design, and ongoing customer service.” Collaboration with industry professionals is key when building new smart homes and commercial spaces. Central Coast Audio Visual works with top architects, builders, and interior designers from around the Central Coast. “These relationships,” Chris notes, “and our attention to detail are the backbone of our company.” Currently, Central Coast Audio Visual is involved in the Montecito Country Club remodel, restoration efforts at San Ysidro Ranch, and providing audiovisual enhancements for Direct Relief’s new world headquarters. More information can be found at www.centralcoastav.com.

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M O N T I al M A R É

in THE FUNK ZONE

128 ANACAPA STREET • SANTA BARBARA, CA Within Santa Barbara’s waterfront neighborhood, colorfully called “The Funk Zone,” this new, Mediterranean-style townhome has been recently finished. From the thoughtfully designed floorplan, to the tiled roof, evidence of craftsmanship and attention-to-detail are everywhere. The luxurious three-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath home, with nearly 3,700± square feet, has plenty of space to live, work and play, and includes a private elevator to all levels. Modern, high-tech amenities have been integrated including video surveillance cameras, WiFi, a Sonos sound system and custom Lutron lighting. And with entertaining in mind, the home’s rooftop terrace is pre set up for a barbeque and wet bar, and features incredible views of the mountains, ocean, and downtown. 128-130AnacapaStreet.com 3 Bedrooms | 5 Bathrooms | Offered at $3,295,000

TIM WALSH & PRISCILLA BEDOLLA 805.259.8808 | 805.680.7146 tim@villagesite.com | priscilla@villagesite.com

All information provided is deemed reliable, but has not been verified and we do not guarantee it. We recommend that buyers make their own inquiries. Priscilla Bedolla CalBRE # 00892339 • Tim Walsh CalBRE # 00914713

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

CORINNA GORDON INTERIORS

orinna Gordon started her Interior Design career by decorating her own homes in London, Monte Carlo, the Virgin Islands, and Big Sur. Next, her friends asked her to decorate their homes,

and she discovered that she enjoyed the process of transforming people’s lives. “I try to leave my ego at the door and really listen to what the client wants. After all, they are the ones who will live there, and they should be surrounded by everything they love and enjoy. I like to find creative ways to interpret their vision and try to make it all practical, comfortable, and affordable, with a few surprises thrown in to keep it magical,” explains Corinna. After a house she built on a private island in Fiji graced the cover of Architectural Digest, she moved from Big Sur to Montecito, where she now has her office. Some of the notable homes she has designed are a Malibu house for the president of Virgin Records U.S., a 25,000-sq-ft home for Dr Dre, houses for Anne and Kirk Douglas, Dame Anita Roddick, Marcus Allen, and William Randolph Hearst II. From 1998-2001, she helped build and decorate a Georgian Mansion in Montecito for Bob and Marlene Veloz, which was subsequently purchased by Oprah Winfrey. She recently completed a 15,000-sq-ft Tuscan Farmhouse in Beverly Hills and is looking forward to more projects in Montecito. More information can be found at www.corinnagordon.com

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A COMMUNITY OF LOCALLY-OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES CREATING ON-SITE

A BARBA T N R

101 | E

REZ

L C H A PA

THE HUB – WHERE LOCALS MEET, EAT, SHOP, YOGA & SPA WALK THE BLOCK AND SEE WHAT THE HUB IS ALL ABOUT Backyard Bowls – açai bowl café | Carlyle Salon – full service salon + blowdry bar Chapala & Parker – clothing + accessories | Chocolate Maya – chocolatiers Crimson Day Spa – body essentials + boutique | Elizabeth Gordon Gallery – contemporary art Evolutions Medical & Day Spa – skincare treatments | folio press & paperie – letterpress goods + gifts HOME-santa barbara – furniture, design + decor | Juice Ranch – organic cold-pressed juices Le Reve – organic spa + boutique | Yoga Soup – yoga classes, books + gifts BEGINNING WHERE STATE MEETS GUTIERREZ | BORDERED BY A 75-MINUTE FREE PARKING LOT | SHOP LOCAL

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

GRACE DESIGN ASSOCIATES

race Design Associates are a landscape designbuild firm; they build the gardens they design, which takes an especially talented team with a

wide diversity of skills, according to Margie Grace, founder and lead designer of Grace Design Associates. “I love taking something from blight to beauty,” she explains. “We believe the building of the garden begins with the design – and the design of the garden continues throughout its construction. That allows us to tailor the landscape to fit the land, oversee every aspect of the work, hand select materials, accessories, lighting, furnishings – right down to transitioning to the maintenance gardener. Because the process is integrated, the finished garden is too.” Margie is the winner of the prestigious International Landscape Designer of the Year Award, the top honor in her field. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Garden Design, Sunset, Traditional Home, Better Homes and Gardens, and California Homes. An avid traveler and perpetual student of gardens, Margie has also made gardens in Spain, Australia, and New Zealand over the past three decades. More information can be found at www.gracedesignassociates.com

(photos by Jim Bartsch, Holly Lepere and Marc Royce)

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MASTERPIECE MAKERS

BORDEN INTERIORS & ASSOCIATES

orden Interiors is an Interior Design firm working out of Santa Barbara. Owner and principal designer Debra Borden has 35+ years experience in the Interior Design Industry. Debra lives by the motto “Home is where your story

begins,” which exemplifies how she approaches each project. Seven years ago, Casey Geeb joined Debra as a design associate and project manager, bringing her youthful aesthetic feel along with a passion for the design process to Borden Interiors. They work well together because they represent two different age demographics, bringing a plethora of different clients. They have been featured in the Best of HOUZZ in design and customer service since 2015 and have worked with the Towbes Group for over 30 years. Some of their notable projects have been the Ritz-Carlton Bacara Wine Bar, the Charles T. Munger Physics Residence at UCSB, the Foley Family Wines Private Event house, and the Crossroads Estate at the Firestone Winery. Casey & Debra pride themselves on being particularly hands-on in all their projects. “We love what we do and we have fun doing it,” says Casey. More information can be found at www.bordeninteriors.com

(photos by Joshua Shelly, Jake Longstreth and Jim Bartsch)

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MASTERPIECE MAKERS

KATHRYNE DESIGNS, INC

s an internationally recognized interior designer, Kathryne Dahlman, ASID, CID, has been enchanting us for more than 25 years, both in her home décor boutique and from her design studio

workshop in Studio City. Kathryne Designs offers full-service interior design dedicated to creating unique and innovative spaces for living. Her design team collaborates with architects, general contractors, landscape architects, and audiovisual consultants to achieve a harmonious design scheme individualized to each client. Dahlman’s passion for extrapolating her client’s taste is seen in the detail she implements in every room. “There is a wonderful, deep satisfaction I get from working closely with my clients in creating a living or working space that intricately reflects their lifestyle and character,” says Dahlman. Dahlman’s passion is apparent in her boutique at 1225 Coast Village Road. There, her walls are adorned with vibrant art by acclaimed local artists. The rooms reflect an ever-changing display of hard-to-find home accents, furniture, art, and gifts. You can see some of Dahlman’s work in such iconic venues as The Getty House, the Pasadena Showcase House Design, the Bel Air Showcase, and dozens of home décor publications. More information can be found at www.kathrynedesigns.com

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(photos by Erhard Pfeiffer)

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

K & A DESIGN GROUP

eter Kavoian founded Kavoian and Associates in 1994 in collaboration with Henry Lenny Design Studio and Sam Maphis of Earthform Design. Combined, the team has 80+ years of design experience and has worked

on numerous residential and commercial projects together. The K & A Design Group advantageously offers talented designers, architects, and landscape architects who create a fully integrated solution to every project. Mr. Kavoian’s philosophy is that the principles of scale and balance take priority in every design that he creates. This is essentially the same philosophy as the great architects of the 1920s. Whether a classic Spanish Colonial villa or a modern masterpiece, every residence makes a timeless statement. Henry Lenny adds “My mission as an architect is to find solutions that create serene environments and provide tranquility to the soul through architecture.” Sam Maphis, who has created numerous award-winning landscape designs, says “We are in the business of creating functional, long-lasting gardens that are both sustainable and beautiful with close attention to detail.” The K+A team has had significant experience working on many important

K+A Design Team

historical homes in the Montecito area and has had both small and large budget projects and awards to their credit. More information can be found at www.ka-dg.com

(photos by Tony Luna)

Peter Marshall Kavoian

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Bellagio Village, Las Vegas NV

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

MENELLI TRADING COMPANY

enelli Trading Company is a family-run business offering an ever-changing selection of natural stone, custom tile, new and antique pottery, and rare design elements from around

the world.

Whether a small or large bathroom, kitchen, pool or courtyard, home, estate or commercial project, they pride themselves that their knowledgeable staff knows what is the perfect match for the project. In the photos featured in this article, Menelli Trading Companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design and construction team comprised architect Tom Oschner, general contractor Mark Cline Construction, Menelli Tile & Design, and landscaper RJK Maintenance. They collaborated, earning respect and admiration for one anotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disciplines, to create a masterpiece. Their clients put faith and trust in their skills and abilities to bring their vision to life. The result was a casual, contemporary Spanish hacienda with unique details that enhanced their distinctive sense of style. More information can be found at www.menellitradingco.com

(photos by Jim Bartsch)

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MASTERPIECE MAKERS

MISSION AUDIO/VIDEO

ission Audio/Video has been serving Santa Barbara for 30 years. Today, the team is comprised of 18 experienced

staff members who understand that everyone’s audio and video needs are different. According to Bill Janka, owner and president of Mission Audio/Video, not only does the staff understand state-of-the-art equipment, but more importantly they know how to make it user-friendly to anyone. Whether the client wishes to relive their favorite concert, experience the power of a movie, create the ultimate home theater, or simplify their busy life with a home automation system, Mission Audio/Video will craft a system to meet their needs and budget. “Our clients live extraordinary lives and we are looking to enhance their lifestyle,” says Bill. “Relationships are important to our clients and who they do business with really matters.” This is why discerning clients, architects, designers, and builders keep returning to Mission Audio/Video time and again. Reference audio, private cinemas, enterprise grade networks and whole house smart control are just a few of the options available. For a memorable experience, visit their showroom at 1910 De La Vina St. More information can be found at www.missionaudiovideo.com

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(photos by Matt Wier)

MIRACULOUS EAST END OJAI With breathtak ing views and exquisite gardens, this 9+ acre proper ty is truly one of the most beautiful destinations in the Ojai Valley. Originally built by two concer t pianists who per formed in the great room, the home has been a creative hub ever since. The surrounding groves afford the proper ty utter privac y. The spacious main house features an elegant living and dining area, four bedrooms, including dual masters, and a home office. The two -bedroom guest house boasts a k itchenette, a separate driveway and is nestled in a private garden. A sauna, spa, and pool provide environments to decompress and relax. O ther amenities include a detached writing/ recording studio complete with sound booth; a bocce cour t set in the orange grove; a family orchard, rich with apples, peaches, plums and pears; and a fenced vegetable garden nex t to a raised bed garden. This estate has been a beloved workspace for Broadway playwrights, filmmakers, screenwriters, authors, and musicians, as well as a place where people can just sit and watch the mountains turn pink . This idyllic proper ty is a treasure, a paradise which feels as magical as it is beautiful. ThacherJewelOjai.com

Offered at $11,500,000

PAT T Y WALTCHER

(805) 340-3774

pattywaltcher.com

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

SMO ARCHITECT

heida Moradi Owrang was born in Tehran and said that from a young age knew she was destined to be an

architect. After she graduated with her masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in architecture, she left Tehran and went to Japan, where she continued her studies and received her Ph.D. in architecture at the University of Tokyo. She was fascinated by Japanese art and architecture and worked with architectural companies while residing there. In 2005, she moved to California, where she continued to pursue her career in architecture and interior design. Today, she brings a wealth of experience and diversity to her company, SMO Architect. Sheida has experience in both commercial and residential architecture, as well as interior design. Some of her architectural projects have included a medical spa design, restaurants, residential renovations and rebuilds, and new home construction. With her high degree of devotion and commitment to her projects, along with her sharp eye for design, Sheida is pleased to offer her services to discerning clientele. More information can be found at www.smoarch.com or by calling 805-280-9177.

(photos by Tammy Newcomer)

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MASTERPIECE MAKERS

SORRELL DESIGN

ontecito’s Sorrell Design, an architectural firm led by husband-and-wife team Jon and Mary Lou Sorrell, have been restoring homes, as well as designing new homes for more than 35 years. Together they have

completed 100+ extraordinary residences in Montecito, Hope Ranch, and Santa Barbara. They offer the services of licensed architects, interior designers, and landscape designers. Although small in size, the combined talents of Sorrell Design have led to a body of “timeless” architectural design. While the preponderance of Sorrell-designed homes over the years has been of the Mediterranean genre, the Sorrells’ forte has always been keeping the charm and yet overcoming the functional shortcomings of most historic homes, according to Jon. Typically dark interiors, tiny bedrooms, staff kitchens, and lack of indoor-outdoor living areas are replaced with light-filled loggias, great access to gardens, views, and entertaining areas, without compromising historic design and scale. Their projects range from designing charming 2,000-sq-ft country cottages, to magnificent 20,000-sq-ft French Manor Homes as shown in the adjoining photos. Sorrell clientele include entertainment celebrities, corporate leaders, billionaires, and all those seeking the perfect blend of historic ambiance with ease of living. More information can be found at www.sorrelldesignusa.com

(photos by Jon Sorrell and Interior Pixels)

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MASTERPIECE MAKERS

THE WARNER GROUP ARCHITECTS, INC.

ack Lionel Warner founded The Warner Group Architects, Inc. in Santa Barbara in 1966, with partners James Morris and Charles Wilson. The firm’s first project was to convert the old lemon packinghouse in Montecito into the clubhouse for the prestigious Birnam Wood Golf

Club. The venue has continued to be the hub of the firm’s projects for 52 years. Currently the firm is run by CEO Thiep Cung AIA, along with

principal Kelly Teich AIA, and Senior Interior Designer Jamie Hallows. The Warner Group Architects, Inc. specializes in maximizing the potential of challenging sites, and the firm’s projects encompass nearly every architectural style. From classical to modern, Italian villa to French Chateau, their homes are clean, strong, and bold – sometimes traditional, sometimes contemporary – but never trendy. The firm is widely recognized as an authority within the fields of architecture and interior design. Their staff is composed of a group of highly diverse and motivated individuals accomplished in their respective fields. The firm’s portfolio of regional and international projects includes a distinctive group of country clubs, resorts, and high-end private residences. More information can be found at www.wgarch.com

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(photos by Eric Figge and Jim Bartsch)

EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL LAYOUT SYSTEM See the actual layout of the stonework before we make a single cut!

CELEBRATING 24 YEARS OF BUSINESS IN VENTURA & SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES

(805) 648-4098 www.PacificStoneworks.net 31 Peking Street, Ventura, CA

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

LEONARD UNANDER ASSOCIATES, INC., GENERAL CONTRACTOR

eonard Unander Associates is a 4th-generation custom home builder that was founded by Leonard Unander Sr. in 1977. His two sons, Leonard and Clint, and his son-in-law, Brandon Friggione, now accompany him in the business.

As a family-owned-and-operated firm, Unander says they understand that

excellent communication skills and close working relationships are essential in the building and creative processes. He emphasizes that they are known for meticulous attention to detail, quality, and integrity. They offer full-service construction from preconstruction right through the building process. “What I enjoy is seeing a project go from the dirt to the furniture,” says Leonard Unander Sr. “From the early stages of a project, to seeing art go up on the walls, beds being made, the smell of food on the stove, we get to see a house become a home. It becomes a place where people live and raise their families. That part of the process is what has always made this business and this industry so rewarding.” More information can be found at www.unanderconstruction.com

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(photos by Jim Bartsch)

MASTERPIECE MAKERS

ELIZABETH VALLINO INTERIORS

lizabeth Vallino Interiors has been serving Santa Barbara since 1999 from their studio at 726 Anacapa Street. Elizabeth grew up in Ventura, and received her interior architecture degree

from the Istituto Pantheon in Rome, Italy. She says her time spent in the Eternal City formed her design sensibility, as did her childhood in southern California. Her trademark aesthetic blends casual, indoor/outdoor California lifestyle with the Old World elegance of Mediterranean living. “I love European formality,” Vallino says, adding that, “at the same time, I’m from California; I’m a barefoot girl. What I try to do is balance that – it’s formal but effortless, so it doesn’t feel heavy.” She explains that her passion is partnering with her clients to achieve their vision, so that the interior design reflects who they are. Artwork is a big inspiration and an important part of all of her projects, as are antique textiles. “We always start by responding to the architecture of a building in the belief that true style comes from within and is not superficial,” says Elizabeth. More information can be found at www.elizabethvallinointeriors.com

(photos by Kim Reierson)

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WEEKEND GETAWAY BY LEANNE R. WOOD

NEWPORT BEACH FIVE-STAR STRESS RELIEVER

eace and tranquility can be hard to corner in today’s world of fast and furious. When it is time to find this precious ambrosia, with only a few days to spare, where does one flee? Perched upon 504 acres of unrivaled coastal beauty in Newport Beach is The Resort at Pelican Hill. The works of Andrea Palladio, an Italian architect from the 16th century, inspired the architectural style of the Resort. Groves of

olive trees, rows of lavender, cypress, fig, and pine trees plus 45-foot Canary palms grace The Resort, evoking a timeless, authentic landscape. Upon arriving here for my three-day interlude from “busy,” it was as though I had been magically transported to some far-flung Mediterranean treasure. Accommodations at the five-star, five-diamond retreat, whether in the spacious villas complete with personal butler, or the gracious bungalows, all rooms whisper words of peace and serenity to guests. I was no exception. As someone who is a tad fussy when it comes to dining out, I wondered if all expectations would be met within the gates of Pelican Hill.

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With seven restaurant choices on offer, farm-to-table ingredients, tantalizingly delicious gastronomic creations, fabulous ambience, and beautiful settings, I was not disappointed. The iconic Coliseum Pool, 136 feet in diameter, was designed with more than 1 million glass mosaic tiles, laid by hand to form the pool’s perfect circle. The Spa, with its soaking pools set amidst colonnades, was voted “#1 spa in California” by Condé Nast Traveler magazine and was a recipient of the Forbes five-star rating for its ninth consecutive year. What better place to receive a stress-relieving couple’s massage with my beau by my side? Sigh... When it came time to poke my nose outside the oasis, I did not have to venture far. The folks at The Resort at Pelican Hill chauffeured me down the hill to Crystal Cove Beach. An afternoon on the pristine sands, gazing into rock pools, strolling along the beach until the sun gently dipped below the horizon, brought my inner peace meter to its perfect resting spot. In just three flawless days, I had found quiet away from chaos. You can too. Just call (888) 820-6800 or book online: pelicanhill.com. (photos courtesy Pelican Hill)

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M O N T EC I TO W I N E M A K E R S GREG BREWER

B Y E VA VA N P R O O Y E N P H OTO S CO U R T E S Y B OT T L E B R A N D I N G /J E R E M Y B A L L

B R E W E R ~ C L I F TO N W I N E S

n 1991, while teaching French language classes at UC Santa Barbara, Greg Brewer – founder and winemaker of Brewer~Clifton and Diatom wines – says he “concurrently got a fun part-time job at Santa Barbara Winery tasting room.” By

the end of 1992, Greg reports he was increasingly interested in wine and wine production, “so I worked during harvest, punched down, and cleaned tanks,” Greg, explaining he quickly parlayed that hard work into the assistant winemaking position, then known as cellar master, working alongside Santa Barbara Winery winemaker Bruce McGuire. (Santa Barbara Winery was established in 1962; Bruce became winemaker in 1981 and is now president of Santa Barbara Winery and serves as winemaker for both Lafond and Santa Barbara wineries). “The winery had a 25,000-case production and it was an amazing opportunity. It was formative and critical and taught me a lot. Bruce gave me a shot, and I owe him so much. I loved learning all I could

project in 2005, focusing on starkly raised Chardonnay, as well as Ch.igai Takaha, which is marketed predominantly in Japan. As an award-winning winemaker, he has consulted on a number of

about wine. It was just the two of us, and the exposure I had was

celebrated wineries including Hilliard Bruce and Spear, and the entirety

phenomenal.”

of his career has been committed to the Sta. Rita Hills appellation,

Greg had considered moving to France to study wine when he

which he helped to map, define, and establish in 1997. Jackson Family

first got the job as cellar master and says, “I was in the position for a

Wines purchased Brewer~Clifton in May of 2017 keeping Greg on

few weeks and quickly realized – ‘I am in school now.’ It’s a craft where

fulltime as founder and winemaker.

you can still do that – work hard and endure the pressures of the environment. It is a viable way to make it in this business.” Greg created his eponymous label, Brewer-Clifton, with original

Sta. Rita Hills is part of the larger Santa Ynez Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area), located between the towns of Lompoc and Buellton with the Purisima Hills to the north and the Santa Rosa

partner Steve Clifton in 1996 and later designed Melville, where he

Hills to the South. This wine region is exposed to fog and coastal

worked as winemaker from its inception in 1997 through the end of

breezes from the nearby Pacific Ocean. The hills run east to west,

2015. Greg additionally created Diatom, his own stainless-steel wine

which allows cool ocean breezes from the nearby Pacific Ocean to

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enter the valley, creating a cool micro-climate. “For me, the nexus between the appellation and ocean – the

Wine Cask established itself as a food and wine landmark there in 1985. Greg recalls how during that era, Wine Cask asserted itself as

proximity of the area’s orientation opening due west into the sea – is

a hub for Santa Barbara County’s burgeoning wine scene, acting as a

paramount. Our soils are all marine-based, largely sand and fossilized

hotbed and creative incubator, ultimately becoming an inspiring think

plankton. It’s a very stark oceanic landscape, which serves as a great

tank of talent in food, wine, and hospitality. Steve Clifton managed

template for chardonnay and pinot noir,” says Greg adding, “I’m

the Wine Cask wine store at the time. “Our logo is a really important

fortunate to be surrounded by like-minded colleagues, beautiful

emblem that punctuates that time, which is really special. I’m so

people, giving this area recognition.”

fortunate to have been a part of that era in that stage of my career.

Brewer~Clifton produces award-winning chardonnay and pinot

It was exciting. Every day there were tastings, invites, introductions,

noir, “sourced from multiple estate holdings throughout a finite stretch

and accessibility to the big leagues in wine – Jim Clendenen, Bob

of land within the Sta. Rita Hills appellation,” says Greg. “From our

Lindquist, Richard Sanford. Every relationship was so valuable.

first working moments here in the early 1990s, we have been lured and

Brewer~Clifton was ultimately a result of that.”

seduced by this magnificent wine growing area. The pure crystalline sand soils under our feet and the salty air blowing continuously from the rugged nearby sea set an immediate hook, from which we could never escape.” The Brewer~Clifton logo was taken from the famed historic vaulted wood beam ceiling (adorned with gold leaf by American artist

A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NATIVE

aised in Los Angeles in the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, Greg reports at the time, his mother was a deputy

district attorney in Ventura, specializing in sexual assault and

Albert Herter) of the Gold Room at Wine Cask – located in one of

homicide, and has since retired to the Sonoma Coast. “She would

Santa Barbara’s historic locales, El Paseo (built in 1828).

commute, and once I graduated from high school in 1987, she saw

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WINEMAKERS no real reason to make the long drive,” says Greg, “so between 1985

Greg and his wife, Sonja Magdevski (who is the founder and

and 1986, she and my grandfather looked around for property in

winemaker for Casa Dumetz Wines), explain when they are home,

Montecito and found a lot where we are now, tucked away on a lane

they typically stay put, host friends, and take in Montecito on foot.

just up from Coast Village Road.

Giving a heartfelt acknowledgement and recognition of the impact

“My grandfather designed the house for my mother and using a

of recent tragic events, Greg says, “It’s obviously a sensitive time for

local contractor, it was constructed in 1987. It’s a minimalist Japanese-

our community as it heals. As runners, Sonja runs six to eight miles

inspired humble sanctuary. It is very calming, and the landscaping

at sunrise every day, all over – every possible loop and figure-eight

plays an important part in the nurturing, protected feeling and

throughout the community. I run right before sunset. Butterfly Beach

environment. Inside, the artwork is all my grandmother’s; she was an

is our go-to. It is an amazing stretch of earth that never gets old. When

artist, and all the furniture is mid-century modern. It is the furniture

we’re there, we breathe more deeply, and the experience of being

I had growing up, so it is all very comforting for me,” explaining

there is a reminder and helps us set a clear perspective.”

he lived there periodically in the early phase of his career and reanchored in the community in 2009. “Montecito is an amazing place to call home. I can think of

Greg’s Diatom label produces 1,000 cases a year and Brewer~Clifton produces 15,000 cases a year. His wines can be found at The Bottle Shop, The Liquor & Wine Grotto, and Vons, and Greg

no other place I would rather be. With the work and travel I do,

says that San Ysidro Ranch, Lucky’s, and The Biltmore have all been

[Montecito] is a beautiful complement to what I do for a living. There

huge Montecito supporters.

is nothing like it.” Greg poetically describes the continuum of his

“One exciting thing happening this year is we [opened] up

day-to-day work routine in Sta. Rita Hills, which lends to “beautiful

a new tasting room in Los Olivos in March for Brewer~Clifton

expanses of vineyard vistas and vast landscapes,” and then there is the

and Diatom, located at 2367 Alamo Pintado Avenue. We [are]

promotional travel worldwide, offering up a variety of bustling and

open seven days a week,” and for those who would like the

interesting scenes and backdrops. “To come home to something so

full experience of the wine, Greg takes clients and guests by

precious is wonderful. I value the beauty and energy here more and

appointment for personal tours and tastings.

more every year.”

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For more information: www.brewerclifton.com or call (805) 735-9184.

Celebrating 70 Years of expertise & service in the community

Bartlett, Pringle & Wolf, LLP began in 1948 as a sole proprietorship. Now 70 years later, the firm has over 65 team members, including 7 partners and 12 managers, offering the most comprehensive tax and accounting solutions to both high net worth individuals and privately held businesses. BPW is proud of our long-standing relationships with our clients as well as the community, and we are thankful for their continued support over the past 70 years. We look forward to serving future generations for years to come.

1 1 2 3 C h a pa l a S t re e t · Sa n ta Ba r b a r a , C A 9 3 1 0 1 · ( 8 0 5 ) 9 6 3 - 7 8 1 1 · w w w. b pw. co m

LIVING HER DREAM BY CHANTAL PETERSON

SOPHIE HABER

ver the years, this area has attracted an array of talented creatives, entrepreneurs, and visionaries.

Given this, it is not surprising that many Montecito millennials are leading lives that reflect the creative environments and unique opportunities they were exposed to as children. Enter Sophie Haber, model, photographer, and most recently, Australian homesteader. Having moved to Montecito with her family at a young age, Sophie says growing up here set the stage for the leap of faith she recently took that has utterly transformed her life.

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| PL ANTI N G T H E S E E DS |

ophie remembers the big changes she experienced when her family moved from L.A., where her parents, Michael Haber, a successful fashion photographer, and mother, Eileen Cavanaugh, a fashion model, had

established careers. “It was as if we had moved countries,” Sophie reflects. “The buzzing artistic culture of Ojai and Santa Barbara,” she continues, “created the foundation that nurtured my creativity.” She also credits the adventurous opportunities she was given as a student at Santa Barbara Middle School that opened her up to a way of living that valued connection to community and to the earth. “Our teachers told us stories,” she says, “and led us on bike journeys across the country. We sang songs around the campfires and enjoyed life through community.” She reflects that these childhood experiences helped her conquer some of her early fears and taught her to trust her intuition, tools which eventually inspired her to begin modeling and taking photos, following in the footsteps of each of her parents. Haber’s obsession with photography set in during her teenage years, along with her growing interest in – not to mention genetic graces for – modeling. “I was exposed to both these worlds at a young age; my father is a photographer and my mother was a model. Growing up, I remember being on set with my dad and just observing every little thing, and thought to myself, ‘I could never do anything like this.’” But photography came into Haber’s hands when she was given her first film camera by Morgan Maassen (a well-known local photographer and filmmaker) in exchange for some modeling work. “My whole world opened up,” she recounts, “and that’s when I became really passionate about photography.” Perhaps it is that fearlessness she cultivated as a teen that gave her the courage last year to upend an enviable life working as a bi-coastal model and photographer, and to take a chance on a new way of living – a way of life that stripped her of many creature comforts but gifted her handsomely in many other ways.

| 157

LIVINGHERDREAM

| SETT ING ROOTS |

or a number of years, Haber’s long-time boyfriend, Eliot Hodges, and his family had been talking about uprooting from Montecito

and buying a piece of raw land to finally realize their dream of, essentially, modern homesteading. They wanted to learn to live closer to the earth and tread more lightly upon it. When the right property presented itself, the Hodges family decided to take the leap and purchased a large lychee farm needing revitalisation in the hinterlands of Byron Bay, Australia. At the time, Sophie was living in New York growing her modeling career after having signed with International Management Group (IMG), owned by the William Morris Agency. Then came the invitation from Eliot and his family: did she want to come to “Oz” with them? And so her internal debate ensued. Giving up a burgeoning modeling career in New York and leaving the city would be a tough decision. But after visiting the land in Byron Bay, Sophie was smitten; she followed her heart and said yes.

| CULTIVATING THE DREAM |

he magnitude of her life transition was huge, but not as romantic as she imagined it would be, at least not at first. Day

by day, a new kind of confidence grew. Amid the adjustment to daily tasks required to maintain and cultivate the land, Sophie has found herself creatively inspired by her new world. Both she and her boyfriend, Eliot (also a photographer), have been able to dive into their work as artists, playing the role of both muse and collaborator to each other. “It is really exciting when Eliot and I get to create a story together. We get to meet each other in new ways each time and it keeps us on our toes.” It is clear that the latest work each is producing is inspired by their experience living on the land in Byron Bay. 158 |

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LIVINGHERDREAM

| A SIMPLE H ARVE S T |

ay a visit to her Instagram account (@seedofremembrance) and you will see a glimpse into this farm life experience

(albeit an Insta-curated one) that expresses more than a passing obsession for a photo op. You will see images of her and Eliot planting veggies, hauling water for a bath, playing with farm animals, and sleeping in a rustic bungalow in the open field. And yet, it must be said, Sophie makes rural life look undeniably chic. It is... and it isn’t. Surely, it’s not the most comfortable lifestyle. But it is one that is for her and the Hodges a deeply rewarding one. Montecito will always be Sophie’s “hometown,” and she speaks of many strong ties that will make regular visits certain. Sophie is already hosting her family members on the farm in Byron Bay and, who knows, maybe some will end up staying awhile.

160 |

m all photos by Sophie Haber

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