Tipper Gore

JOURNAL

P

art-time Montecito resident Tipper Gore has lived a full life behind the lens – as a photojournalist, former Second Lady, activist, musician, world traveler, and nature lover. For this issue’s cover story, Katherine Stewart provides an in-depth interview with this passionate photographer.

SUMMER | 2021

cover photo: Tipper Gore on summer vacation at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, circa 1980

Breathtaking Ocean Views in Hope Ranch TIM DAHL

S E N I O R E S TAT E D I R E C T O R

3 8 Y E A RS OF E X PE R I E NC E

805.886.2211

T I M DA H L . CO M

DRE 00894534

Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01991628. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footage are approximate. If your property is currently listed for sale this is not a solicitation.

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JOURNAL

ontecito Volume 14 Issue 1 SUMMER | 2021

Editor & CEO Gwyn Lurie gwyn@montecitojournal.net President & COO Tim Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net Art Director Trent Watanabe Magazine Managing Editor Gina Terlinden Copy Editor Lily Buckley Harbin Photography: Edward Clynes Administration: Christine Merrick Diane Davidson Account Managers: Tanis Nelson: tanis@montecitojournal.net Susan Brooks: sue@montecitojournal.net Casey Champion: casey@montecitojournal.net Contributors: Hattie Beresford, Jim Buckley, Kelly Mahan Herrick, L.D. Porter, Eileen White Read, Zachary Rosen, Gabe Saglie, Nicholas Schou, Katherine Stewart, Jeff Wing

Montecito JOURNAL

(glossy edition) is published by Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC. Corporate Offices located at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G Montecito, CA 93108 For distribution, advertising, or other inquiries: (805) 565-1860

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40.

Contents A Life in Focus

art-time Montecito resident Tipper Gore shares a portfolio of her photographP ic images documenting her life and interests – from her experiences as former Second Lady during the Clinton administration to her love of music, travel, nature, family, and her desire to shed light on homelessness and other social issues in the United States and abroad. Katherine Stewart got a rare, in-depth interview with this passionate photographer.

66. (photo by Bill Allen)

74.

90.

Pure Gold

aving grown up in cities all over Turkey, ARA 24K ColH lection owner Cuneyt Akdolu took a childhood job of carving meerschaum tobacco pipes and turned it into a global jewelry design business. Today, he sells his wares at his boutique on Coast Village Road. Nicholas Schou visits the jeweler at his shop and tells us the story of how Akdolu ended up in Santa Barbara.

Moguls and Mansions

The Montecito Journal’s resident historian Hattie Beresford takes us inside the story of Ravenscroft, one of the splendid George Washington Smith estates that dots the foothills of Montecito.

Bon Voyage

maWaterways is beckoning international travelers longing A for excitement with post-pandemic river cruises all over the world. Jim Buckley talks about a recent family trip down the Danube with owners Rudi Schreiner and Kristin Karst.

Native Roots

96.

Sustainable landscape designer Susan Van Atta has been restoring precious local ecosystems and natural areas for more than 30 years. Boasting numerous rewards and accolades, Van Atta has had her hand in rejuvenating dozens of public and private properties – from Carpinteria’s Salt Marsh Preserve to UC Santa Barbara’s Lagoon Park and many residences in between. Eileen White Read talks with Van Atta about her passion for nature.

Animal Planet

Kristina McKean took a lifelong passion of loving all creatures great and small and founded The Elephant Project. Through the sales of whimsical stuffed animals named Kiki and Tembo – soon there will be more – she raises awareness about the ethical treatment of animals all over the world. Zachary Rosen talks to the Montecito mom of two about her love of wildlife.

(photo by Jessica Dalene Photography)

22

106.

SUMMER 2021

Contents 112.

The Ranch Returns

Having survived devastating mudslides and the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Ysidro Ranch is now open in its full glory with comfortable lodging and delectable food and wines. Gabe Saglie takes us on a tour of what the Ranch has to offer.

118.

La Dolce Vita

Using the freshest local ingredients in his Italian-inspired cuisine, chef Massimo Falsini is fine-tuning post-pandemic fare at Caruso’s at The Rosewood Miramar Beach. To accompany the prix fixe menu is Daniel Fish’s extensive wine list that boasts cult favorites from both Santa Barbara wine country and other countries all over the world. Gabe Saglie gives us a taste of the good life.

126.

144.

Two Villagers Speak

e lives and love of longtime Montecito residents/power couple Wayne Th and Sharol Siemens. Jeff Wing sat down with the dynamic duo to learn about their passions, projects, and deep respect for one another.

From Glamorous Geek to Clay Bottress

ormer professor of digital media at ArtCenter College of Design and F founder of Lynda.com, “Mother of the Internet” Lynda Weinman is focused on her next benevolent chapter – Clay Studio, an arts organization she founded last year with ceramicist Patrick Hall. Together the design-centric partners are creating works of art in both the traditional method and using 3D technology. L.D. Porter gives us a peek inside the studio and the creative minds behind the magic.

156.

A Community Hub

Developer Jim Rosenfield has taken his longtime interest in real estate and public spaces and transformed it into a way of life.

The Montecito Country Mart is his third commercial property that brings together a curated mix of business – restaurants, boutiques, and more – to offer communities a place to gather. Nicholas Schou talks to Rosenfield about how he makes this happen.

158.

Meet Me at the Mart With numerous boutiques for men, women, kids, and pets as well as places to eat and drink and other services, the Montecito Country Mart offers a community hub for local and visitors to gather. Kelly Mahan Herrick gives us a run down of the businesses and other events that take place there.

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SUMMER 2021

Setting Records and Exceeding Expectations Since the formation of Riskin Partners in 2004, the team has sold over $1 Billion more than the nearest competitor.

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Contributors

Katherine Stewart

Katherine is an author and journalist who likes to write about all the things your mother told you to keep to yourself: religion and politics.

Her work appears in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC, and The New Republic. When she’s not on deadline, you’ll find her on the San Ysidro Trail.

Italian Pottery

Jeff Wing

Jeff is a freelance writer and besotted typist who finds every whirling, particulate detail of Life on Earth 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 worldconquering tech company, with frequent stops along whatever bumpy continuum connects the two. Jeff speaks halting Dutch (through marriage) and venerates Mancini, Morricone, Andy Partridge, Marc Chagall, Saul Bellow, Thomas McGuane, local extraterrestrial T.C. Boyle, and the exalting (if churlish) Philip Larkin. If you must know.

SUMMER 2021

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Contributors Hattie Beresford – Hattie is a native of

the Netherlands and retired teacher of English and American history for the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Aside from writing a local history column for the 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.

Kelly Mahan Herrick – Kelly is originally from

Zachary Rosen – Zach is a writer, event designer,

Newbury Park, California, but has called the Santa Barbara area home for 22 years. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, she has been reporting on local news and real estate issues for multiple media outlets since 2006.

Kelly is currently a contributing editor for the Montecito Journal’s weekly newspaper, writing about new businesses, new residential and commercial developments, school district happenings, and other issues that affect our neighborhoods. Kelly is a partner with the real estate team at Calcagno & Hamilton, and she is also a director on the board of the Coast Village Association, a community organization whose mission is the advocacy and protection of the business owners and residents in the Coast Village Road area. Kelly and her husband, Jason, a local business owner, live in the Santa Ynez Valley with their young daughter, Peyton.

and artist-in-residence at the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology (SBCAST). With a background in chemical engineering and art, he has written on a wide range of creative and technical topics over the years, although beer remains his primary passion. He is a Certified Cicerone (beer sommelier) with more than 10 years of experience in the industry. Rosen specializes in abstract expressions of beer, pairing it with movies, music, and many other conceptual counterparts to discover how it pairs with life. His current work at SBCAST explores the designed beer environment, incorporating sensors and robotics into the environment around beer to pair the ambiance of a space with both its flavor and drinking behavior. If that doesn’t work, he plans to duct tape a PBR to a Roomba® and call it art. After all, it is just beer.

Eileen White Read – Eileen has covered a

Gabe Saglie – Gabe is the wine columnist for

L.D. Porter – As a longtime contributor to Santa Barbara Magazine, L.D. Porter writes about art, architecture, and the fascinating individuals who inhabit our town. She’s currently working on a book about Montecito homes and gardens with noted photographer Firooz Zahedi, to be published by Monacelli.

variety of beats for The Wall Street Journal – from aerospace and defense to real estate. In Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, she served in progressive public-policy positions, most recently as CEO of the Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy – a nonprofit that builds community and school gardens. After 27 years as a part-time resident of Santa Barbara County, she’s now living at the beach, volunteering as a master gardener, and advocating for a greener and more sustainable Montecito. She recently wrote for the Montecito Journal about post-debris flow landscaping trends and about the village’s new project to reduce homelessness.

the Montecito Journal and has been covering the Santa Barbara County wine and food scene for more than 20 years. His storytelling approach aims at making the culinary industries more accessible to consumers and at highlighting the personalities behind the labels. A former morning weatherman for Santa Barbara’s KEYT-TV, Gabe is also the senior editor for the global travel media company Travelzoo, covering destinations and travel trends as a contributor for network TV stations, radio, and major print publications across the country. When he’s not on the road or popping a cork, Gabe can be found biking, jogging, hiking, swimming, or cooking for his family – his wife, Renee, and their three kids, Gabriel, Greyson, and Madelyn.

Nicholas Schou – Nicholas is an award-winning

Jim Buckley – Jim (James) founded the Mon-

Edward Clynes – Brooks Institute graduate

investigative journalist as well as former editor of OC Weekly in Orange County, California.

The author of several books – including Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World and Kill the Messenger (the latter of which was made into a Hollywood film) – his writing has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The Atlantic, and other fine publications. In his free time, he lives with his wife, son, and an overly gregarious poodle in a cabin located in the wilds of Montecito’s hedgerows.

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tecito Journal in the summer of 1995. He cut and pasted the typeset articles and photos of that first issue on some homemade spreadsheets while vacationing at Lake Nacimiento, courtesy of friends who had a house there. His writing career began as literary editor of the Butler Junior High School newspaper (yes, even junior high schools had their own papers then). He also hawked early editions of the Los Angeles Free Press on the streets of Los Angeles (10 cents a copy, he believes) and later became managing editor of the weekly New York Free Press (not affiliated with the Los Angeles Free Press).

SUMMER 2021

and local freelance photographer Edward Clynes has been a periodic contributor for the Montecito Journal during the past six years. When not working commercial gigs, his love of the natural world drives him to explore local and faraway hiking trails in search of the next great vista to photograph.

WENDY FOSTER M O N T E C I T O | S A N TA B A R B A R A | L O S O L I V O S

UPSTAIRS AT P I E R R E L A F O N D

A S A N T A B A R B A R A S T A P L E F O R S T Y L E F A M I LY O P E R AT E D F O R M O R E T H A N 4 0 Y E A R S

WENDY FOSTER MONTECITO

·

W E N D Y F O S T E R S P O RT S W E A R

WENDY FOSTER LOS OLIVOS

·

ANGEL MONTECITO

W W W . W E N D Y F O S T E R . C O M

|

·

·

W E N D Y F O S T E R S TAT E S T R E E T

U P S TA I R S AT P I E R R E L A F O N D

W W W . S H O P U P S T A I R S . C O M

Editor's Letter

The Constant of Change

W

hy do people who can live anywhere so often choose to live here? With its recent influx of newcomers, some fear Montecito is changing. I suppose it’s true that every new resident – even every new visitor – puts a mark on a place, bringing with them their unique story, their aspirations, their values. It seems to me that what remains as true as ever, even in the wake of a dreadful pandemic, is that Montecito continues to attract some of the world’s most interesting and discerning humans. Those with diverse life experiences; those who value privacy and community at the same time; those with a penchant for giving back.

Unless you were born here, we were all once newcomers.

Our family arrived 16 years ago, and I’ll never forget my first and lasting impressions. I was immediately struck by how the people here welcomed us – opening their arms, their homes, and their hearts. I was overwhelmed by the endless opportunities to get involved with meaningful causes. And I was intoxicated by the area’s boundless beauty that met me around every corner. I still am.

Without a doubt, the most fun part of my job is getting to meet and tell the layered stories of the people who call this place home. This edition of the Montecito Journal’s glossy

36

magazine represents an embarrassment of human riches – reflected in the storied lives and artistic endeavors of a handful of our neighbors – some well-known, some little known.

Our cover story is one I have wanted to tell for a long time. I first met Tipper Gore several years ago through Human Rights Watch. To me, she was known only as the former Second Lady and the public figure made famous by her work to place warning labels on records to help parents gauge a song’s appropriateness for their children. As I got to spend some time with her, I came to understand that like so many of the public figures who populate our village, her real story was far more colorful and complex than could be contained by the box in which the public placed her. Katherine Stewart’s in-depth interview with Tipper Gore reveals little-known pieces of the life of a passionate artist, a lifelong musician, a social justice advocate, a powerful storyteller, a devoted mother and grandmother, and yes, a reluctant public figure.

I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as we have enjoyed telling them.

Gwyn Lurie

SUMMER 2021

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A Life in Focus

by Katherine Stewart

T

o spend time with Tipper Gore – even by phone, as I did, thanks to COVID-19 safety restrictions – is to marvel at the vivid tapestry of her life. As the nation’s Second Lady from 1993 until 2001, she advocated for numerous social and mental health causes, serving as a mental health policy advisor to then-president Bill Clinton and becoming a passionate supporter for the homeless. A longtime champion of LGBTQIA+ equality, she was one of the highest-ranking representatives in the Clinton administration to participate in the first AIDS Walk in Washington, D.C. As cofounder of the Parents Music Resource Center, she increased consumer awareness of violence and misogyny in popular culture, and in so doing, became a flashpoint for the culture wars around speech and artistic expression.

Yet her deepest passion – apart from her family – may be photography. Tipper Gore has been reaching out to others through her lens for five decades. Her career as a photographer preceded her family’s involvement in politics and lies at the core of her advocacy and art. While she’s focused her lens on political events, travel destinations, personalities, and humanitarian crises, these days she takes her inspiration primarily from the natural world.

Tipper divides her time between her home in Montecito, which she has owned since 2010, and her farm in Virginia, where she is spending the year of COVID-19. The Montecito Journal connected with Tipper Gore to discuss photography, public service, her enduring spiritual practice, and her unexpected friendship with Frank Zappa.

Early spring this year at Tipper’s farm in Virginia (photo by Bill Allen)

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From photojournalist in Tennessee to two tours as Second Lady to a new start in Montecito, Tipper Gore has had a remarkable journey

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41

Q:

Tell us your photography origin story.

A:

My mom, who raised me in Virginia, is the one who introduced me to photography. She had a broad-ranging interest in the arts and often took me to the museums in Washington, D.C., such as the Smithsonian, The Phillips Collection, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, as well as to concerts, plays, and the ballet. Growing up in Washington, D.C., there were lots of opportunities to see art; pieces and exhibits would come on loan from around the world. I remember standing in line with my mother to see the Mona Lisa when it was exhibited for the first time in America at the National Gallery of Art in 1963.

Music has also been another important part of my life, and that goes back to my mother, too. She really appreciated classical music and would take me to concerts at the Kennedy Center. I enjoyed those experiences, but once rock and roll hit, for me that was it! The Beatles, The Ventures, Smokey Robinson, Buffalo Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Fleetwood Mac…. I listened to them all. My mother arranged for me to have guitar lessons and bought me my first drum kit when I was 12.

She put it in the basement, bless her heart! Of course, she was a single working mom so she wasn’t in the house during the day while I was practicing. I would come home after school and play music with my friends, and she’d get home a few hours later. In high school, my friends and I formed a band called the Wildcats and we had a lot of fun.

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A Life in Focus

(above) “From the Tennessean photo essay, Groundhog Man’s sister with a photo of their parents in the background. She was 83 and he was 86. He hunted and fished for their food.”

(above left) Tipper’s first photo essay in the Tennessean newspaper; (left) Hazel, a homeless woman in Nashville

You attended St. Agnes, a private Episcopal school in Alexandria, Virginia, and met your future husband at his high school senior prom in 1965.

That’s right. As it turns out, we both pursued our education in Boston. He attended Harvard University and I got my degree in psychology from Boston University.

Al and I married in 1970, and I earned a master’s degree in psychology in 1973 from George Peabody College for Teachers, which is now affiliated with Vanderbilt University. My goal at that time was to be a counselor, working with children and families.

But my life took a different turn. That same year – after I had my first child, Karenna – Al and my dear friend, photographer Nancy Rhoda, encouraged me to take a photography class with Jack Corn, the photo editor at the Nashville-based Tennessean, whose work I had long admired. We were living in Virginia, in the house

SUMMER 2021

my grandparents built in 1936. We spent the summers at Al’s family farm in Carthage, Tennessee, and that’s where we were based when I started taking Jack’s class. I commuted 100 miles round trip to get to the Tennessean.

But I loved what I was learning.

Jack was an excellent teacher and instilled in me a devotion to using photography as a means of communication. By capturing an unusual image and telling a story, I could challenge or shift viewers’ perceptions. Jack told me to take my camera with me at all times and just shoot, shoot, shoot. He said, “Show me anything you have shot, and if it is good enough, we will see about running it in the paper.” That was back in the day when newspapers were featuring photo essays prominently. I still remember how excited I felt when I published my first story – with four photographs – one of which was picked up by The Associated Press wire service.

43

Homeless people in Miami, Florida, shot for the book The Way Home: Ending Homelessness in America; (below) Diamond, a homeless man living under a bridge in Washington, D.C.; A family living under the same bridge

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Jack ended up offering me a part-time job, and pretty soon I was working on stories, taking photographs, and writing text and captions. I also developed the staff photographers’ film and learned the printing process, and that’s what I was doing when Al had the opportunity to run for Congress in 1976.

I remember being a bit conflicted at the time, because I loved my job and didn’t want to give it up. So I spoke with Jack about it. “Al is going to win, and your life is going to change,” he told me. “But if for whatever reason he doesn’t go to Congress, your job here will be waiting for you.” In the meantime, he advised, “Keep taking pictures. When you see an image that you need to capture, or a face in the crowd, or an idea you want to convey, you’ll know. But don’t get caught seeing it and not have your camera with you. Always carry equipment and you’ll be prepared.” He gave me the idea that I could continue with photography during my political life. So during that first congressional campaign and beyond, I always kept my camera with me; it was a small Canon Z135 film camera that I could whip out quickly. And other people just got used to seeing it, too.

I decided to build a darkroom in the basement of our Virginia home. Jack told me how to do it, step by step. Some friends from The Washington Post came over to help me put it together. I loved working in the darkroom. I would print my own photos of my kids, landscapes, black-and-white images for my two books about the homeless – one in 1988 and another in 1999 – and pictures that I took during campaigns.

A Life in Focus

Can you name some of the photographers who have influenced you the most?

Jack Corn, Nancy Rhoda, and my fellow photographers were of course very powerful influencers. For a time, I was part of a group of very talented women photographers in Washington, D.C., and we’d have dinner together once a month. The group included the photographer Jodi Cobb, Newsweek photographer Susan McElhinney, and The Washington Post photojournalist Susan Biddle. I learned so much from those women.

Some of the other artists whose work speaks to me include W. Eugene Smith for his masterful photo essays; Edward Weston for his elegant natural landscapes; Mary Ellen Mark, who conveyed the idea of using photography to expose an issue; Robert Frank for his portrayals of small-town America; and Dorothea Lange for her ability to put a face on suffering and convey the reality of that time in a way that spoke to people. That’s what you want.

If you make a photograph that speaks to a lot of people, you’ve really achieved something.

My first child, Karenna, was born in 1973, followed by Kristin in 1977, and Sarah in

1979. By the time our youngest, Albert, was born in 1982, Al’s political career was well underway. But even as our family’s political life intensified, I continued to educate myself by attending workshops and seminars. One weekend, sometime between 1973 and 1975, I drove to Atlanta to attend a presentation by W. Eugene Smith. Years later, in the early 1980s, I went to the The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts for a weekend photo workshop taught by the award-winning Washington Post photographer Frank Johnston. This was after Al’s successful campaign for Congress and our move to Virginia. I was becoming involved with issues such as homelessness, mental health, violence in the media aimed at children, and elder care. And while I advocated for those causes through various means, I knew I could help illuminate these challenges and shift public opinion through images.

That is what I was thinking when I worked on my books: Homeless in America and The Way Home: Ending Homelessness in America. I wanted to take images not of homeless people, but of people who also happen to be homeless. They too are part of America.

(above) Connie, a homeless woman in Miami, Florida, for The Way Home: Ending Homelessness in America (below) A homeless man sleeping on a grate in Washington, D.C.

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A Life in Focus

“During the 1992 presidential campaign, this little boy in a stagecoach was at a campaign rally in Salida, Texas.”

L

ife on the campaign trail suited Tipper. Not one to shy away from people, she took her duties in stride and viewed political life as an act of patriotism and public service. She also enjoyed learning from those with different experiences and outlooks and often used humor to bridge ideological divides.

Tell us a little about those early days in politics, campaigning with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

When we were crisscrossing the country on the campaign bus, we’d come to a stop and would switch it up. Sometimes we divided up our talking points. One day I might go out there and make a few remarks and introduce Hillary. And the next day, she’d do the same for me, or

46

we’d both introduce our husbands. We gave thousands of speeches to huge groups over the years – from campaign groups to labor organizations to churches to civic groups of all kinds. I was not shy. I often spoke with no prepared notes. I felt truly honored to be able to meet and engage with Americans from around the country and to learn more about their concerns.

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A Life in Focus

ED

How did photography fit with your life in politics?

When we were in politics, photography gave me another raison d’être. With a camera, I became the narrator of the story, too. During the two presidential campaigns with Bill and Hillary Clinton, I took tons of photographs, which I’ve archived in my personal collection.

Jack Corn was the one who suggested I document the experience of campaigning through photography. And it really changed how I experienced those times. At the start of an event, I would go in front of a crowd and say a few things, often with Hillary or Al. But then I’d step back and, if the time was right, I’d pull out my camera. That image of the then-candidate Clinton speaking, which I’m shooting from behind – I love that image. I’m behind the lens, not in front of it. Images that evoke some of the elements of campaigning include the one of the little boy with the flag draped over his head, or the girl who’s throwing confetti. These images show how I used my camera during the campaigns.

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(above) “First Lady Hillary Clinton and Winnie Mandela were introduced to each other by the Reverend Jesse Jackson at Nelson Mandela’s inauguration in 1994. He was about to introduce me. I quickly put my camera away.”

(above right) Candidate Bill Clinton speaking in Chautauqua, New York, during the 1992 presidential campaign (below right) Bill Clinton and Al Gore bonding on the bus trip during that campaign

A Life in Focus

ED As Second Lady, you had numerous responsibilities. Even so, you produced a body of photographic work that made powerful statements about politics, race, and national identity. Was it difficult at that time to balance your artistic self with service to the nation?

As Second Lady, I vowed to myself to stay as grounded as possible. And because I was able to spend time behind the camera, I think, I felt protected. I knew that that was a really important thing for me to do, at first for four years then eight.

At the same time, I used my camera to communicate, to educate, and to show a different perspective on political life and public service. At the Tennessean, I learned a basic tenet of photojournalism: capture the moment, and don’t alter the reality. I used my camera to try to show what it was like behind the scenes at the highest level of public life.

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49

A Life in Focus

I also used my camera to put a human face on homelessness. I used it judiciously in Rwanda to show the effects of the horrible ethnic war and its devastating consequences on people and children. In these contexts, I understood the power of an image to educate and inform.

At a time when most of the world was averting its eyes from the horror of the Rwandan Civil War, you decided to travel to Rwandan refugee camps.

What prompted that decision?

When I learned about the atrocities in Rwanda, I wondered why we weren’t doing more about this terrible humanitarian crisis. I felt as though I had to do something and draw attention to those who were suffering.

The secretary of defense tried to dissuade me by advising that it was too dangerous. But I felt like it was a moral imperative. I got a ride with a

50

friend who was taking medical supplies for the International Rescue Committee and I brought along my communications director, Sally Aman.

This was August 1994. Refugee camps were filled with the injured, the starving, the sick and dying. I went in with Rick Hodes, a doctor with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. I remember holding up an IV bag that he used to rehydrate a patient. I recall watching a single French nun struggle to care for a roomful of orphans. There was just so much need and very few resources for those providing medical care and other forms of desperately needed aid.

I knew that the images I was capturing on that visit could have an effect.

Increasing the visibility of the situation was a way of making the case for various types of aid and support. I was able to share those photos on TV, and they had consequences on public opinion and policy. I remember appearing

SUMMER 2021

A Life in Focus

on the Katie Couric show to talk about my trip, and a $10,000 check arrived at the International Rescue Committee before the show had even finished. After that, the administration got more involved in the reconciliation movement.

I also took photographs in order to show how programs of caring can work and how aid translates into action. I went to New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina to document the relief efforts. In 2005, the Tennessean ran that series of photographs.

An orphanage in Goma, Zaire, in 1994, run by one French nun. There was a room where many children had died of cholera. (below) Dr. Rick Hodes of the Jewish Joint Committee tends to a dying woman in the camp. “I liked his work and compassion so much that I assisted him one day (by holding up the IV bottles and hugging children) and took a few photos when I could. I was there to help – there weren’t many people on the ground to help either the nun or the doctors.” (left) In the summer of 1994, a refugee camp, the aftermath of the civil war in Rwanda

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51

A Life in Focus

ED Your photo of Nelson Mandela stands out as a terrific study in character. Can you tell us about that experience?

Al and I visited him at his home in South Africa, which he shared with his wife, Graça Machel. He was just extremely nice, thoughtful, and sweet. After a lovely visit, I asked him, “Would you mind if I took a picture of you?” And he said, “Sure!” It was always an amazing experience to be with him.

Another time, we visited his former jail on Robben Island, where he had been imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he served behind

bars. That was an extremely moving experience. At his inauguration in 1994, which we attended, there was a party after the ceremony in a big tent, and Mandela told the story of his jailer, whom he had befriended during those years in prison. The jailer would bring him extra food, and he’d sometimes send vegetables home with the jailer to take to his wife who had a hard time finding them. Then, after Mandela told us that story, he brought the jailer up to the stage and they embraced. That basically tells you what kind of person Mandela was in his older years.

How did it feel to transition out of politics?

I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be in public life and to effect change in a number of areas. It was an honor to be part of what I consider to be a public trust. Al felt strongly that a political career is an important form of public service to our nation and, as his partner, I carved out how I could contribute most effectively in my own way. I wouldn’t take it back.

But part of moving on in life is being happy, having new chapters to look forward to, and being satisfied with closing an old chapter. So I don’t miss that earlier part of my life, and am really excited to enjoy the life that I have today.

Part of that, no doubt, has to do with my spiritual upbringing. I was raised in the Episcopalian Church and have always drawn inspiration and sustenance from my faith. It has guided me through every stage of my life. I remain grateful for all of them.

Fidel Castro attending the inauguration of Nelson Mandela

52

“I asked to take a photo of Nelson Mandela after we had visited with him at his home”

SUMMER 2021

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A Life in Focus

Presidential spouses fulfill important functions in our politics and society. Those roles also carry some gendered assumptions. In what ways do you think those assumptions might (or might not) be challenged now that we have a Second Gentleman, Douglas Emhoff?

I think we are entering a whole new era and it affects the way individuals wish to fulfill the roles of Second Lady or Second Gentleman. Doug Emhoff is planning to teach entertainment law at Georgetown University. Dr. Jill Biden is still teaching students. We are redefining gender roles in our society at large.

The younger generations are more accepting of racial, ethnic, and sexual and gender differences and are more committed to practicing equality. Our laws and society need to catch up to the new standards.

In December 2000, you stood graciously by Al Gore’s side as he stated that “partisan rancor must now be put aside” and conceded in an extraordinarily close election that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. What are your thoughts today after witnessing our last president trying to undermine an election whose results were not, in fact, in doubt?

Al served in Vietnam, and Bill [Allen, Tipper’s partner] served in Korea. Both have a deep respect for our democracy and our government. My mother’s first husband was an Air Force bomber pilot who was shot down in World War II; his service to our country continues to mean a great deal to our family. When you think of what others have had to sacrifice for our democracy, and when you contrast that with what we saw during the Trump administration, it’s truly shocking.

In your point of view, how have politics evolved since the Clinton administration?

If you want to know the answer, just read the book How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. We have new governance yet our democracy remains under grave threat. You can’t have unity and be bipartisan when one party is committed to total obstruction.

Mitch McConnell, the former Senate majority leader, wouldn’t even put forth a judicial nominee, the moderate Merrick Garland, for a Senate vote. Since then, of course, it’s become even worse. I have nightmares about the January 6 riot attack on our Capitol. I worry about the efforts to destroy the most fundamental institution of our democracy – our electoral system – that set the stage for the attack. But this crisis has been a long time coming and I continue to worry about where it will lead.

In 2020, a lot of Republicans at the boards of elections who were pressured by the then-president to subvert the results did the right thing. But what about next time? Republicans, and not the kind of Republicans I have known, have had this plan for years. They are playing a long game.

How do you think we might resolve some of these challenges?

President Biden is already showing that he is making good decisions in dealing with our collective challenges – such as grappling with the pandemic and seeking to strengthen our democratic institutions and international alliances. He’s working to bring economic relief to Americans who are struggling

54

with food and housing insecurity. He’s bringing in good people at the cabinet and senior-advisor level. He’s made smart executive orders to help all citizens of our nation. He’s doing things at warp speed, and I think we should feel good about the possibilities.

Of course, the direction of our country ought to be unity. We need to repeatedly communicate a message of unity over division. Attacking state officials, undermining confidence in the vote, seeking to disenfranchise voters – this is not who we are. This is not America, and we need to forcefully and immediately return to our democratic principles.

Certainly, we must acknowledge the damage that has been done. There can be no unity without accountability. In any situation where abuse has taken place, whether it’s personal or societal, you need to acknowledge the problem and hold people accountable. But then we have to ask: Where do we want to go? We don’t want to be like this. We want to respect one another, and we need to come together as a country – now more than ever. It’s time to turn the page and move forward.

“This was at a Christmas party at the Naval Observatory, which was home to Vice President Joe and Dr. Jill Biden when this was taken. Also in the photo is my son Albert, my daughter-in-law Brittany, and Bill Allen.”

Of course, it may not be easy. Not only are we dealing with a pandemic, but foreign countries took full advantage of the Trump administration’s lack of leadership. The hacking of government agencies and facilities – all this was made possible by the fact that during the Trump years, so many professionals working in the government were fired or moved around and, in some cases, their jobs were filled by new people who couldn’t do their jobs well. Foreign countries that are hostile to our interests are making inroads in a new kind of war, a cyberwar. They tried to steal our COVID-19 vaccine, for goodness’ sake!

Today, the battleground is shifting from conventional warfare to data theft and information warfare.

It’s hard for people to grasp the severity of the dangers and threats that we face, in part because it’s hard to get visuals that you can use to represent these threats. Nevertheless, we need to recognize them and work hard to come together as a nation. Everybody has a role to play in battling misinformation and fear.

SUMMER 2021

O

A Life in Focus

ver the course of 32 years in public service, Tipper tackled a number of important social issues. In 1985, she triggered a battle in the culture wars when she took on the issue of offensive language in popular culture – including violent and misogynistic song lyrics. She and three other Washington wives cofounded the Parents Music Resource Center. Their activism culminated in a system of voluntary labeling that is still used today.

“I was playing ‘Sugar Magnolia’ with the Grateful Dead at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. in 2009.

Mickey Hart, longtime drummer for the Grateful Dead, is a friend. He invited me to play with them.”

SUMMER 2021

Looking back on some of those battles, what have we gained? What have we lost? And where do we stand in those culture wars today?

In the mid-1980s, the United States was a completely different place. Music videos were new. Vinyl records and cassette tapes were the order of the day. My children were young but loved music and watched videos on MTV. Many parents saw the misogyny and violence, especially the violent sexual images that were in the marketplace and visible to young children. I worked on this issue with the National Parent Teacher Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics – organizations that had long been concerned about the effects of violent imagery on children. They were grateful for the support of someone who could serve as the public face of this effort.

Eventually the music industry decided to work with us and to place voluntary labels on their products. A product was only labeled when both the company and the artist were in agreement. But obtaining this labeling system was a struggle. All we wanted was consumer information on the product so that parents of young children could have guidance. We wanted more information, not less, to help the consumer determine what was appropriate to purchase for their family.

And yet we were accused of censorship and worse. It became quite the battle. As the face of this effort, I was cast as a prudish housewife who didn’t like sex. My loudest critics were angry young men who accused me of trying to censor them, which was something I never wanted to do. I came to realize that we had poked a multibillion dollar industry and they didn’t like it at all.

The person who advised me through this process was the late Jack Valenti, who was president

55

A Life in Focus

of the Motion Picture Association of America and had worked on the ratings system for the movie industry. He was a good friend and, like me, had a deep interest in mental health issues, having founded Woodley House in Washington, D.C. Jack told me, “You don’t start where you want to end up.” It was clever. Through this process we got what we really wanted, which was voluntary labeling.

Even today, people who remember that battle sometimes accuse me of hating music. The irony is that I love music! And I know it can be powerful. I used to have an incredible vinyl collection, though over the years my kids have depleted it. I’ve also played drums since high school, when I was a member of the Wildcats, and have continued to play all my life, sitting in with Willie Nelson, Herbie Hancock, and the Grateful Dead. And when Diva Zappa [one of Frank Zappa’s children] made a record, I played the drums.

This leads to a little-known fact, which is that during that battle, you and Frank Zappa became friends.

Frank and I often appeared on TV shows together, each of us explaining our positions. We were on opposing sides. Frank even testified against the Parents Music Resource Center before Congress. One night after we were both on Nightline, we were walking out together and he stopped and said, “Hey, would you like to get a drink?” And I said, “Okay!” We talked and joked and hit it off, and that’s how it started.

We continued to do TV news shows together, each of us representing a different point of view, but everything had changed. Privately, we were friends. Politically, I was living in a bipartisan world at the time, so I was accustomed to getting along with people with whom you have dif-

“The incomparable Willie Nelson, who I was visiting with backstage.”

ferences of opinion. Frank introduced me to his kids and his wife, Gail, and she and I became dear friends and remained friends after he died.

In fact, in 1999, when the presidential campaign started and I frequently traveled to Los Angeles for events, Gail would invite me to stay with her. And I would. It was so much more pleasant than staying in a hotel. She had this gorgeous guest bedroom, so beautifully decorated, it felt like sinking into a white rose petal. I’d wake up and we’d have a great time chatting. I’d go off and do a campaign thing then come back to her place and chat some more.

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A young squirrel taking a breather from gathering nuts

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t this point during our interview, Tipper is distracted by a fox outside her window that frequently hunts on her property.

She gives a low whistle: “Hello, Daisy Mae!” She pauses, then tells me, with a laugh: “She says hello back.” Tipper is clearly at home in the countryside. She shares her affinity for the natural world with her partner, photographer Bill Allen.

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A Life in Focus

You and Bill share a love of photography. Is that part of what drew you together?

Yes. Bill was editor-in-chief of National Geographic Magazine and had spent his career there. Our love of photography brought us together, along with mutual respect, friendship, and an interest in the same things.

We often collaborate on photography projects. A friend invited us to Wyoming to photograph the eclipse in August of 2017. We stayed for four days and brought lots of camera equipment. We set up a table in a meadow in her yard. Bill captured the phases and I shot the full eclipse. We put them together, framed them, and gave the finished series to a few friends who wanted them.

Are there specific cameras you use now?

For the last few years, I’ve used several cameras, including a Nikon D800. I used the D700 for years and got this new one about three or four years ago. In addition to its quality, I like that it’s so easy to use. With my thumb I can work the buttons on the back that change the ISOs, the aperture, the camera speed. It’s so easy to manipulate.

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I also work with a Canon and have about three or four lenses. For portraits, my favorite is an 85-mm lens. For photographing an eclipse or an animal far away, I would use a 400-mm lens with an extender that would make it the equivalent of a 560-mm lens. But it’s really heavy.

Now I use a tripod with it.

When did you fall in love with Montecito?

In 2010, three of my children were living in Los Angeles, and I wanted to find a place relatively close by. One of them had a friend in Montecito. So one day, we came here for lunch and spent the rest of the day exploring. We visited the pier, the beach, and walked the San Ysidro Trail into the mountains. By the end of the day, I knew that I had fallen hard for Montecito.

I love the two mighty voices in nature: the mountains and the ocean.

You have both in Montecito. I also love the privacy and the fact that everyone respects that aspect of living here. I have to admit that I am one of the many part-timers. Two of my children are in California now and two are on the East Coast, but I spend as much of the year as I can in Montecito. I feel a sense of belonging with the community and have made many good friends.

We especially enjoy our Santa Barbara family get-togethers. Everybody in my family loves to hike, so that’s one of the activities we share. We also enjoy our dinners at home. The kids will go to the grocery store and since some of them love to cook, they’ll spend the day preparing all sorts of dishes. When the weather is beautiful, we eat outdoors and linger into the evening.

Tipper and Bill Allen collaborated on photographing the August 2017 eclipse in Wyoming “ Bill and I on our way to the annual Lotusland fundraiser”; Bison jumping a fence in Jackson, Wyoming; Autumn in Jackson Hole, Wyoming A dusting of snow on trees in Yellowstone National Park

Some of my favorite spots in Santa Barbara are Santa Claus Beach and Cold Spring Trail. I own a half wetsuit, and some days we’ll head to the beach and swim far enough from the shore that we’re among the dolphins.

They’re not afraid and will play around us in the water, which is magical.

Currently, I am getting trained in scuba diving with a friend, and while we’ve been somewhat interrupted by the pandemic, our goal is to complete the training then explore the underwater forests just off the Channel Islands. There is so much natural beauty to explore out here. It’s one of the reasons I try to spend as much time as possible in Montecito.

Do you take a lot of pictures in Santa Barbara?

Yes. Bill and I have taken pictures in the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, on the beaches, up on the hiking trails, and at Lotusland, which we support. We love all the different aspects of the garden, especially the cactus garden in the late afternoon light. Or we just wander around, checking out the ponds when the lotuses are in bloom.

I’ve also taken photographs for Hidden Wings, a Solvang-based group that supports autistic kids and their families. They host a lot of their events at Refugio Beach, such as drumming circles, which the kids really appreciate. My friend Mickey Hart [former drummer of the Grateful Dead] put me in touch with the director, Reverend James Billington, and I’ve been working with the group for a number of years. They use my photographs for their brochures and grant proposals.

One friend who helps Hidden Wings in the most wonderful way is a FedEx driver Rob Kennedy. He’s been one of the group’s mainstays for years. Sometimes Rob will come to the house in Montecito and say to me, “Hey, Jim’s doing some kayaking with the kids at Refugio next Saturday, and he wants to know if you’ll stop by and take some pictures.”

It’s nice to have it be so community centered.

In addition to Lotusland and Hidden Wings, are you involved with any other local philanthropic groups or artistic activities?

I’ve worked with a terrific group of people on The Concert Across America to End Gun Violence at the Arlington Theatre. Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, the band Ozomatli, and many others have volunteered their musical talents for this cause. I’m also involved with Human Rights Watch, sit on the Santa Barbara committee and am on the board of the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. These are just a few of the philanthropic activities I’ve been involved with since my move to Santa Barbara.

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A Life in Focus

Would you like to say anything about your advocacy work for mental health, the LGBTQIA+ community, and the homeless?

I was the mental health policy advisor to President Clinton, and I chaired the first White House Conference on Mental Health. One of our goals was to obtain insurance coverage for mental health, equal to that available for physical health. We worked hard for such parity, which our administration started and President Obama completed.

In 1990, I founded Tennessee Voices for Children, which provides mental health services to families. The organization now serves more than 50,000 families each year, and since last year it’s provided more than 1,000 therapy sessions, thanks to many donors.

I also support the National Alliance on Mental Illness, specifically the Ending the Silence programs for high school students, which teach students across the country about mental illness.

What informed your commitment to mental health?

My mother was a single working mom in an era when that carried a lot of stigma. Perhaps as a consequence, she suffered from periods of depression. Mental health issues were little understood at the time. I wanted to know more and help educate others. That’s why I majored in psychology and got my master’s degree in the same field. My aim at the time was to work with families and children.

Of course, my life took a different turn, but I’ve remained involved in mental health and other issues related to health care. As Second Lady, I attended the first AIDS Walk in Washington, D.C., as well as many others over the years across the country. I continue to advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and publicly opposed California’s Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage. We are all equal, and no one should suffer discrimination.

Homelessness has also been a big focus of your advocacy.

What draws you to this issue?

Part of that, I think, is rooted in my spiritual practice.

When I see a homeless person I think, There but for the grace of God go I. I take the message about loving thy neighbor to heart.

In addition to working on my books on the homeless, I volunteered for many years on the Health Care for the Homeless van. I loved that work. I was paired with Sister Pat Letke, who worked on the van full-time.

We’d drive out and make connections with homeless men and women with the intention of getting them into care. Sometimes we would go out at night to reach the people living on the street. We had some failures, but also many successes.

I think that the key to reaching homeless people with mental health issues is personal connection and consistency. We’d go to the same people week after week until they agreed to come with us back to Christ House, where they’d receive food, shelter, clothing, and medical

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“Garth Brooks and I both performed at Equality Rocks in 2000.”

“I went skydiving with two of my daughters in New Zealand. It was great!”

and mental health treatment. They’d be evaluated to see if some could move on to transitional housing with the goal of helping them move to permanent housing. The program enabled some individuals to find jobs and begin to live independently.

There is so much work to be done today. And there is no shortage of issues that create deep divisions in our society and that threaten to undermine the very nature of our democracy – from widening income disparities to challenges in our education and health care systems to the threats to our environment. But there are so many avenues for positive involvement and meaningful action.

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A Life in Focus

What draws you to focus today on images of nature?

I am drawn to capturing life cycles in nature – my soul is moved by the natural world. I’m drawn to capture the beauty I see in landscapes, flowers, and animals. We’ve created an artificial separation that disconnects us from the natural world unless we actively attempt to overcome it.

There is one picture I made back in 1972. It’s a black-andwhite image of a lake in Tennessee that we visited often. My point here is that my current focus on the beauty of nature and the landscape is not new to me. I’ve been returning to these themes for years. But now that I am “retired” I can spend more of my time exploring these themes.

What is the role of a photographer in society at a time when some things we take for granted, such as nature and climate, are under threat?

I see the role of the photographer, particularly a photojournalist, as one of communication with the viewer about a reality or an issue that presents a new perspective. I grew up in a period when the nightly images from the Vietnam War galvanized the youth protest movement. The moral question was no longer abstract; it had the power of a visual. Some of the still photos published in newspapers at the time had the same impact. Just as Dorothea Lange’s images communicated the suffering of the Great Depression, there are many examples of images so powerful that they’ve changed people’s minds. Think of how images of police dogs attacking Black people gave purchase to the Civil Rights Movement. Or of Associated Press photographer Nick Ut’s iconic photo of the little girl running down the road after a napalm attack in Vietnam.

Images have power, and persuasion through images can change the world.

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This applies to nature photography, too. We should seek to capture the natural world and get it out to people so we know what it is that we have to save. For people who grew

up in the city, photographs of, say, the Amazon rainforest or the Arctic Circle are key. So when we say, “This is now under threat of development, and this is what’s going to happen if

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all the trees are cut or if oil is drilled,” people can grasp what is at stake. They can understand that certain actions are going to take away what this world is intended to be.

A Life in Focus

Do you travel with the aim of capturing images, and if so, what have been some of the most memorable locales?

Images that stay with me include those from the Old Arbat Street in Moscow and the ballet in St. Petersburg, Petra in Jordan and Cairo, Egypt, as well as La Boca, a colorful neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

A few years before the pandemic, Bill and I went to Iceland and were entranced by the fabulous landscape. It’s so vastly different from anything in this country, it blew us away. But trying to convey the beauty of Iceland can be frustrating; it’s almost impossible to capture what you’re seeing in a single frame. Bill wants to capture it with a drone, and we are hoping to return to the northwest part of the country. But number one on our post-pandemic list of places to go is New Zealand. (above left) Center Hill Lake in Putnam County, Tennessee.

“My kids learned to water ski on this lake as well as camp out.” (below left) “A bit of flooding of the banks of the lake at another time.”

“Ménage à frog – ah, spring! Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia.”

“Bison on the move in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

This was a bit of a dangerous shot – don’t do this at home.”

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A Life in Focus

Local young people demonstrating the tango dance in La Boca, Argentina; Snake charmer in Marrakesh, Morocco; Street musicians and puppeteers on the Old Arbat Street in Moscow, Russia – “this image has apparently resonated with a lot of people over the last four years. Beats me!”; Street scene in Cairo, Egypt; “A Snow Monkey in the mountains of the Japanese Alps above Nagano, Japan. I led the U.S. delegation to the winter Olympics, which were held in Nagano in 1998, the year Tara Lipinski won Gold over Michelle Kwan.”

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Where do you find your fortitude? And what words of hope do you offer to your children, grandchildren, and future generations to come?

I have three older grandchildren, and six under the age of six. Those six are still filled with the hope of youth and will need the assurance of a bright future. On a personal level, I remain hopeful.

For personal strength, I remember the 23rd Psalm, which starts: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” During tough times I say it over and over and it gives me some peace. Another prayer that is important to me is the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.

Someone gave me a copy on a piece of parchment, and I had it framed. One way I can help my children and grandchildren now, and in the future, is to remind them of the words:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy.

PURE GOLD ARA 24K COLLECTION IS PART OF A FAMILY TRADITION THAT GOES ALL THE WAY BACK TO ANCIENT TURKEY

BY NICHOLAS SCHOU PHOTOS BY EDWARD CLYNES

ARA 24K Collection owner Cuneyt Akdolu

LA HOYA

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f it wasn’t for a simple spelling misunderstanding, Cuneyt (pronounced “June eight”) Akdolu, owner of ARA 24K Collection on Coast Village Road, might never have arrived in Montecito. It was early 2004, and Akdolu, who at the time still lived in his homeland of Turkey, was in the United States for a jewelry trade show. He was with his family, and after attending the show in Phoenix, Arizona, they rented a car and drove out to Los Angeles, where they had a friend who was also a jeweler.

They asked her for advice about opening a store in the United States. “It was the first time I was on the West Coast,” Akdolu said on a recent morning inside his shop. “I did not want to be in downtown L.A., so I asked her if there were any other places she could suggest. She said there were three: Santa Fe, La Jolla, and Santa Barbara. I knew the name Santa Barbara. And when I opened the map, Santa Fe was way too far away, and I actually couldn’t find La Jolla.”

Akdolu, unfamiliar with Spanish language pronunciations, thought La Jolla would be spelled exactly like it sounded: “La Hoya.” “That’s how I came to Santa Barbara,” he adds, laughing. “I think I finally figured it out two years later!”

It’s a good thing he did, because 17 years after arriving in Santa Barbara, where he first opened his shop on State Street, his Montecito storefront – which features intricate jewelry handmade in Turkey – is still going strong.

Gold and oxidized silver chain-link necklace

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P O RT I C O F I N E A RT G A L L ERY

PorticoFineArts.com 1235 Coast Village Rd. Santa Barbara/Montecito, CA 93108 Open Daily

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(805) 729-8454

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info@porticofinearts.com

TURKEY

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kdolu, who owns ARA 24K Collection along with his brother Ali (who manages the workshop in Turkey), was born in central west Turkey in a city called Eskişehir.

“History is in our genes; the town I grew up in dates back at least 3,000 to 4,000 years,” he says. “In fact, that very town, Eskişehir, was conquered by Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C., and the town was under his rule until his death.

“My father was an artist who used to carve pipes out of meerschaum stone, which was only mined in Eskişehir,” says Akdolu.

“When I was about eight or nine, I started carving little figurines and brooches out of meerschaum, working alongside my father.

One of his business trips was to a city called Yalova in northwest Turkey, right on the Sea of Marmara. He fell in love with the city and decided to rent out a store and move our family there. It was a big surprise for us.”

There was a Turkish-American Navy base in Yalova, and American soldiers were the main customers at the store. Akdolu was carving the meerschaum pipes by this time, and at 11 years old, he was carving 20 pipes in a day – mostly designs of animals or sultans’ faces. “At this time I also started cutting the meerschaum into thin slices, and carving custom name tags as souvenirs, which were very popular with the soldiers. This was how my life was all through high school – not like the other kids. I would work half a day at the store and then do my homework at night. My father did not have the money to send me to college, so I was saving up for college myself,” he says. “Within five years, however, political problems between Turkey and America led to the closing of the Navy base in Yalova. The soldiers left, which effectively killed our business there.”

A work in progress

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Akdolu at his workshop in Turkey (photo courtesy ARA 24K)

It was Akdolu’s dream to become a mechanical engineer because he wasn’t seeing much future for himself in the family pipe business. In those days, there were no private universities in Turkey, only government universities. He passed the test required for admission and entered the mechanical engineering program at the university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. “Even during those college days, I set up a bench in my home for making the custom meerschaum name tags,” he says. “I would get a letter in the mail from my father because we didn’t even have a phone in those days, and I would make the orders and mail them out to him.”

By 1979, the family realized there was no chance for the business to survive in Yalova, so they decided to move to the southern Turkish city of Adana, where the country’s biggest NATO base was located. They opened a small store on the road that led to the main gate of the base, and from the very beginning, the business did very well there. They were initially only making the meerschaum name tags because they didn’t have the capital at the time to buy larger quantities of meerschaum. This soon changed, however. The business grew so fast that within two years of being in Adana, the Akdolu family’s shop became the largest meerschaum pipe company in all of Turkey.

In 1980, Akdolu graduated college and decided to work in the shop full time instead of becoming a mechanical engineer because business was so good. It was during this time that he started to make really complex artistic pieces and special orders. One that he made was an extremely detailed composition of The Last Supper.

“We carved with a magnifying glass,” he recalls. “A face the size of a lentil would have a full beard and exquisite facial features. In the mid-1980s, I carved an entire set of all 40 U.S. Presidents (up to that time), with perfect detail of each face.”

In 1987, Akdolu came to the United States twice to see if he

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could open a meerschaum pipe business. He had friends from Turkey who were interested in starting the U.S. business as partners.

However, the pipe business did not seem like it would work out at the time as interest in pipes was waning in those days, perhaps due to anti-nicotine campaigns. “I remember thinking at the time that I could likely have more success opening a Turkish restaurant in the United States than I would with our meerschaum pipes,” he says. “Business was already good in Turkey, so there was no reason to expand abroad.”

However, business started to decline in Turkey as well. People weren’t buying pipes in the quantities they had before, and Akdolu had an idea to experiment with selling a small amount of gold jewelry. He took over two of the pipe displays in the shop and filled them with 14-karat gold pieces that were purchased, not made on site. This turn marked the beginning of his jewelry bench-work.

“Out of necessity I had to learn sizing and repairs, and I did so quickly. I was completely self-taught,” he says. “My first attempt was somewhat of a failure. By the second try I was getting the hang of it. And as I recall, by my third try I was doing quite well.”

“Jewelry was selling better than the pipes, so I began making the pieces in-house, and jewelry became our primary business,” Akdolu says. “I made the custom name tags with gold, just as I had done with meerschaum. I also made gold name tags in Egyptian hieroglyphics, which were so popular in those days. The soldiers at the base bought pieces to bring back home to their wives and sweethearts. Things were going really well.”

In the late 1980s the Warsaw Pact was dissolving. The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union split. “Without going into all the geo-

political events of the time, I can relate what it meant for us and the business,” says Akdolu. “NATO was pulling troops from the bases and sending them home to the United States and Europe. These were our customers. Our customer base at the time decreased to about a quarter of what it had been. Once again, we were struggling and needed to make a move.”

“In 1992 we moved to Bodrum, a beautiful southwest Turkish town facing the Aegean and Mediterranean seas,” he says. “Bodrum is a popular tourist town, and all the cruise ships travelling around the Mediterranean and through the Greek Islands would stop in Bodrum. Our customer base was almost entirely visitors at that point, but some locals as well. Within a short time we had three stores in Bodrum selling only jewelry.” In 1998, Akdolu and his brother Ali began working with 24-karat gold instead of the 14- and 18-karat gold they had been selling before. This began as a hobby inspired by the history of Turkey and by ancient cultures.

People loved them. There was a huge desire for the 24-karat gold pieces. They were not able to keep up with demand, and a short time later, they hired several goldsmiths whom they trained in their particular style. From start to finish, everything was done by hand.

They even began selling their pieces wholesale to other stores because of the demand. At that time, the Akdolu brothers spent 16 hours a day on the bench. “Business was going so well,” Akdolu recalls. “And then one day we woke up to the same shock as the rest of the world – it was September 11, 2001. Tourism in Bodrum stopped completely, and business stopped for us as well. We also had trouble collecting payment from the stores we had sold our pieces to.”

Inside the boutique on Coast Village Road

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UNITED STATES

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n December of that same year, several American women visited the store. They were on vacation from Aspen, Colorado. They loved the jewelry and purchased quite a few pieces. One of them who was originally from Dallas, Texas, was a designer herself. She asked Akdolu if he would be interested in doing a holiday trunk show that same month at her stepdaughter’s gallery in Aspen. Since there was not much happening in Turkey at the time, he agreed. The Akdolu brothers travelled to Aspen for the show and were very well received. Two weeks after returning to Turkey, they flew back to the United States to attend a jewelry trade show – their first ever – in New York City. This was another remarkable hit – the beginning of what would be regular U.S. trade shows for the company.

“It was becoming clear at this time that we should open a showroom and office in the United States,” explains Akdolu. “Florida was our first choice, because it seemed to have a similar climate to Bodrum. We flew to Florida twice within a single year – once in the winter and once in the summer. We drove throughout the entire state, hitting all the major cities. What I noticed most was the difference between these two visits. Whereas winter was nice – and crowded – summer was much the opposite. The main business season seemed too short to me.”

SANTA BARBARA

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n the very beginning of February 2004, Akdolu’s family arrived in Santa Barbara (having failed to find “La Hoya” on the map). “We headed to the downtown area and saw a vacant store on State Street that we liked right away,” he recalls. “It was on the corner of State and Figueroa.

We called the number listed just to get the info, but the man was so nice and encouraging, within a half hour of calling we were shaking hands and making the agreement. It was one of the biggest milestones of my life.”

In the beginning of June 2004, the store opened on State Street. Akdolu obtained his legal investors’ visa and shortly after was able to bring his family out to Santa Barbara – their new home. His older daughter enrolled at Santa Barbara City College and his younger daughter began her first year of high school at Santa Barbara High School. The family loved Santa Barbara – being right by the water, it reminded them of

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A selection of Akdolu’s wares

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Bodrum in some ways. Boating and fishing (especially spearfishing), were a big part of Akdolu’s life in Bodrum, and although he has continued those hobbies to a much lesser degree in Santa Barbara, he often misses the turquoise-blue waters of Bodrum.

In 2015, 11 years after first opening in Santa Barbara, Akdolu relocated the store to Montecito’s lower village – its current location. He was given a tip of a property for lease from one of his regular clients. It was similar to his first rental experience – quick and decisive. He met with the agent and signed the agreement that very day.

Today, the company has two shops open in Bodrum as well, both of which are very popular with tourists and locals alike. One is in the old town, and the newer store is located at the marina, where cruise ships dock. “Some world travelers from the United States saw us first in Bodrum before ever seeing our store in Santa Barbara,” he says. “We have our workshop in Bodrum, and our goldsmiths are like family.”

Indeed, some of Akdolu’s craftsmen have been working with the family for decades. “They became very good specialists,” he elaborates.

“One guy only makes rings, one only makes necklaces, one is a stone setter. Everything is still made by hand. We sell to stores all over the country and in several other countries as well. Because of our high turnover, our merchandise at our store here is always changing.”

PURE GOLD

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s ARA 24K’s name suggests, the store sells pieces made of 24-karat gold. Every item in the collection is hammered, soldiered, and overall created by hand, never cast. The only other metal used in the jewelry is oxidized silver, which helps give certain pieces an ancient look, adds strength if needed, and makes the price more affordable. Customers have at times asked whether the store carries pieces in rose gold or white gold, to which Akdolu replies: “Twenty-four-karat gold can only be this color. This is the color of gold out of the earth.”

Whereas many jewelers use prongs to set their gems, ARA 24K uses bezel settings almost exclusively, which is how most stones were set in antiquity, given that 24-karat gold is too soft to work into prongs. Many colorful stones are used as are white diamonds as well as more rustic, opaque, and colored diamonds. Some of ARA 24K’s more unique pieces include various fish, octopus, and starfish designs inspired by the coastal region of Akdolu’s homeland.

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A LONG LINE

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kdolu owes his last name to his grandfather, as well as Turkey’s founding father and first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk undertook many progressive reforms in the country, one of which was the implementation of family surnames. Before that time, people in Turkey were not using surnames as we know them here in the United States. Everyone used their father’s name, so it was “so-and-so’s” son or “so-and-so’s” daughter. In 1935, Atatürk ordered everyone in the country to choose a surname, which would continue in the family from there on out.

Akdolu’s grandfather had the responsibility of choosing the name, and he did one evening – as the story goes – while sitting and drinking with his relatives. In Turkey, the most popular alcoholic drink is an anise-flavored beverage called raki (pronounced

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One of Akdolu’s creations

ruh-kuh), which, when mixed with water, turns a milky white. Ak means “white” and dolu means “full.” “We might imagine him raising his glass while determining the surname his family would have,” he says. “Akdolu – full (glass of ) white.”

As Akdolu related to his store manager when she asked about the meaning of his name, “I not only come from a long line of artisans, but a long line of drinkers as well!”

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Moguls and Mansions

by Hattie Beresford •••

Marguerite Ravenscroft

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er friends remembered her as eccentric, fun-loving, and generous and called her Peggy. In the late Elane Griscom’s 1990 Montecito Magazine article about Marguerite Ravenscroft, Kit McMahon, then archivist of the Montecito Association History Committee, remembered that Peggy once gave a $50,000 loan to a friend from cash tucked away in various spots in her house. Nevertheless, McMahon had noted, Peggy was a penny pincher and loved bargains, using green stamps to buy inexpensive gifts for her friends.

Despite her luxurious house in Montecito, she saved money by doing her own chores. She would then estimate the difference between hiring the work out and place that amount in a glass jar to contribute to animal welfare causes. Remembered fondly by her friends, Marguerite Doe Rogers Courtney Ravenscroft, once dubbed “the million-dollar society girl,” was a fascinating and complex woman of her time.

Born in San Francisco in 1890 to lumber magnate and financier John Sanborn Doe and Eleanor H. Doe, Marguerite Doe was destined to live a somewhat vagabond life. At the time of her birth, her wealthy father was 78 years old and her mother was 44. He died four years later, and his will stipulated that the bulk of his estate be held in a trust for her.

A year after her husband’s death, Eleanor took Marguerite to Europe to live for a year, the first of many sojourns abroad. For the next several years, they divided their time between living in Europe and in San Francisco. Then in February 1900, The San Francisco Call made a surprising announcement – Eleanor Doe had married James B. Stetson, president of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad and the California Street Cable Car Company as well as a member of the firm of Holbrook, Merrill & Stetson. Unfortunately, it was not to last.

On April 18, 1906, a 7.9-magnitute earthquake struck the city and sparked an inferno that devoured whole sections of the town.

Two months later, Stetson wrote a memoir of the events from his personal experience, and interestingly enough, neither Eleanor nor Marguerite was mentioned. In fact, possibly even before the quake, Eleanor had taken her 16-year-old daughter to a school in Geneva,

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Carolyn and Edwin Gledhill portrait of Marguerite Doe circa 1912 (courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

Switzerland; whether to escape the consequences of the quake or a bad marriage is unknown.

In 1907, Eleanor sued Stetson for divorce, claiming cruelty and violent flashes of ill temper on his part and the social snubs of his daughters. She made no claim on his fortune but wanted to resume her previous name of Doe. And so, a new chapter in the life of mother and child began.

Finishing School Graduate

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n May of 1908, Eleanor and Marguerite sailed from New York to deliver Marguerite to Miss Nixon’s School in Florence, Italy. The school was mainly for American girls and aimed at making them familiar with the great sights of Italy while instilling in them the manners and customs of high society. Miss Mary S. Nixon’s school was housed in a towered ivy-clad villa that she leased on the Via Barbacana, a narrow street that rose steeply from the square of the village of San Gervasio.

In a biography of her grandmother, the noted artist Margarett Sargent, who had attended the school two years after Marguerite, Honor Moore describes tidbits of school life that Peggy must also have experienced. The girls of the school, for instance, often took the tram down the hill for pastries at a local bakery.

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Firenze, home of Miss Nixon’s Finishing School which Peggy attended from 1908 to 1909 (Library of Congress)

A chaperone always accompanied the girls on outings to protect them from the titled but penniless young Florentine men who loitered on the Via de’ Tornabuoni on the lookout for a rich American wife. Miss Nixon, however, did host approved American, English, and Italian men at her thés dansants (tea dances) so the girls could practice their social skills.

By December 1909, Marguerite, now properly versed in the etiquette of society, had returned to San Francisco and was putting her schooling to good use by entertaining at a series of informal parties. She and her mother stayed at the Fairmont Hotel where she presided over a dinner given for her friend, Lurline Matson. In attendance were Earle Miller and Santa Barbara’s own Harold Chase, who would later develop Hope Ranch and was brother to the inimitable civic leader Pearl Chase, whose influence on Santa Barbara is still much in evidence.

Later that month, Marguerite and her mother joined Mrs. Harriet Miller and her son Earle at their home on Channel Drive in Montecito. Clearly liking the American Riviera, they leased Earlton starting in March 1910. A flurry of social events ensued. Chaperoned by Mrs. Harris Laning, wife of then-Captain Laning (he would retire as a four-star admiral of the U.S. Navy), she was a dinner guest on board the Naval cruiser USS California. She also hosted a dinner for seven friends at Earlton Lodge. Among them was Eliot Rogers, the son of Robert Cameron Rogers, poet and editor of The Morning Press, and Beatrice Fernald Rogers, daughter of pioneer Judge Charles Fernald.

Dances at the Potter Hotel, an endless stream of house guests, a chaperoned overnight trip to Cold Spring Inn (which included Eliot Rogers), and a role in Kirmess – a fundraiser for Neighborhood House – rounded off her social engagements for the season.

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Ned Greenway was the prime social arbiter of San Francisco for dozens of years (The San Francisco Call)

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The question, of course, becomes why did she spend most of her debutante year in Santa Barbara? An answer might lie in the stranglehold that Ned Greenway and Eleanor Martin held on San Francisco society. Champagne salesman turned social arbiter, Greenway had come to the rough-and-tumble town of San Francisco in the 1870s, when new money scratched from the earth mingled with old money from the East Coast. By teaming up with society matron Mrs. Eleanor Martin, he was able to establish a Western “List of 400,” à la Caroline Astor in New York.

Acceptance to the list became a must in both business and society.

Any breach of the strict rules of taste and manners ejected the miscreant from the list. According to Stephen Birmingham’s California Rich: The Lives, the Times, the Scandals and the Fortunes of the Men & Women Who Made and Kept California’s Wealth, any woman who drank more than one glass of champagne was never invited to Mrs. Martin’s house again.

Divorced people were never permitted in her home. Birmingham says that she gave frequent and dreadful parties, was intimidating and rude, and her snubs were legendary. Apparently Mrs. Astor in New York outdid her, however, for her doors were completely closed to anyone from California. With Greenway also writing the social column, the dynamic duo in San Francisco could make or break one in society. Compared to that, Santa Barbara was downright inclusive.

The Grand Debut

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arguerite’s formal bow to society, however, took place in San Francisco. The Gold and White Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel saw several hundred guests file into the decorated ballroom for a large reception. It was followed by a dinner party for 50 in the Red Room and then a dance for 150 guests. A supper near the end of the evening brought the event to a close. It was considered one of the largest and most notable debuts of the season.

In March 1911, Peggy and her mother rented another bungalow in

Marguerite, pictured above in her role for a Kirmess benefit in San Francisco, also participated in Santa Barbara’s Neighborhood House Kirmess (The San Francisco Call)

Montecito. In between the social events that filled her days (houseguests, dinner parties, golf, tennis, festivities, and luncheons) was a return to San Francisco to perform in a Kirmess benefit. The newspaper described her as one of the “Girls of our 400” – Marguerite had truly arrived. Having achieved victory in the rarified social world, Marguerite – “the million-dollar society girl” – also came into her inheritance, and she went on a buying spree.

Seen here in 1920, the Fairmont Hotel was the site of Marguerite’s debut party. Over the years, Eleanor Doe often lived at the hotel for months at a time.

(Library of Congress)

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Marguerite’s Russell Ray-designed home featured an entrance terrace and side pergola with fountain (courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

Intending to make Montecito her permanent home, Marguerite bought five acres of land fronting today’s Cold Spring Road from the artist Elizabeth Eaton Burton. The acreage was planted with citrus and sandwiched between Charles Frederick Eaton’s Riso Rivo (soon to become Lolita Armour’s El Mirador) and Ralph Kinton Stevens’s Tanglewood (which eventually became today’s Lotusland).

In October, The San Francisco Call reported, “She was immediately admitted into exclusive Montecito social circles and her many new friends were delighted when she purchased five acres in the Montecito Valley. Miss Doe is an expert swimmer, golfer, and horsewoman, and also devotes much time to driving her own car.” Indeed, one of her first purchases as an independent woman was a four-door 1912 Hupmobile Runabout in which she raced recklessly and with abandon along the roads and hills of Montecito.

Also that October, she contracted with architect Russell Ray to design a residence and garage. Christopher Tornoe was in charge of construction.

The house featured a sweeping view of the valley, channel, and islands from the south and a mountain view from the north. Ray designed an H-shaped frame house clad with three-inch brick veneer for fireproofing.

The two wings were connected by a staircase hall, and the living room comprised the whole of the west wing. The dining room, kitchen, and servants’ dining room lay in the east wing. Affected by the destruction of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, she was reassured by the numerous hydrants, hoses, and a nearby reservoir. The second floor contained four bedrooms, dressing rooms, three baths, and sleeping porches. A third story on the west wing contained bedrooms and baths for the maids. As far as landscaping, the orange grove was central, but the house would be embellished with a terrace across the front and a large pergola on the east. There was also a stable, male servants’ quarters, and, of course, a garage.

Peggy could not resist the sporty Hupmobile Runabout, whose name suited her personality

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The Smart Set

War Work

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P

roperly debuted and mistress of her own future and wealth, Marguerite continued her whirlwind of social engagements. The San Francisco Call’s “Smart Set” social column (in reporting on the changing attitudes toward unchaperoned unmarried girls) wrote, “In 1912, Marguerite Doe builds a perfect palace – they say it is – in Montecito and lives there quite alone, and no one thinks it at all unconventional.”

In 1913, hardly a week went by that her name didn’t appear in the society pages as attending or hosting some function, but her activities started to include some beneficent and cultural projects as well. In January, she became vice president of a new organization known as Cottage Hospital Bees, whose plan was to sew for destitute maternity ward patients who needed clothing for themselves and their babies. She also volunteered to work at the St. Cecilia Society’s annual Valentine’s Day Fair, which raised money to pay hospital expenses for those who couldn’t afford them.

In 1914, the social whirl continued and Eliot Rogers often appeared at the same events and was often a guest at those she hosted. Then, World War I broke out in Europe, and the world grew serious. At the end of October, Marguerite traveled to San Francisco, ostensibly to visit her mother at the Fairmont Hotel. On November 5, her friends were surprised when the local newspapers announced that she and Eliot Rogers had been married in a quiet, simple ceremony at the First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. Apparently, she’d been carrying around a marriage license to be ready in case she made up her mind to marry him.

(top) Marguerite’s activities came to dominate the society pages in Santa Barbara (courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

(left) Even San Francisco reported on Marguerite’s social activities (The San Francisco Call)

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either war nor marriage, however, took much spin off their social life, and during 1915 and 1916, the endless merry-go-round of society continued. As the war in Europe ramped up, however, America responded with relief efforts. In September, Marguerite worked at the Russian bazaar for the War Relief Committee of Montecito at the newly completed Country Playhouse in Montecito.

Then, at the end of September 1916, she advertised her 1912 Hupmobile Roadster for sale, saying it would be a bargain to anyone willing to take it at once. It was the first indication that something had shifted. Friends soon learned that the million-dollar society girl was putting aside her partying to join the Red Cross ambulance service in France.

What events and discussions led to this bold decision remain unknown, but Eliot was left behind, planning to join her later.

By the end of October, Marguerite and her little dog Geoffrey were en route aboard the steamship Lafayette, which was escorted by a flotilla of destroyers. The crossing took extra time because the ship took the extreme southern route to avoid submarines in the North Atlantic.

In December, word came that Marguerite was doing relief work in France, giving assistance to women and children, many of whom were in the most distressing need of clothing, food, and fuel. She was also planning to return to Montecito early in 1917 or as soon as the menace of submarines in the Atlantic became less threatening.

A Christmas cablegram to her mother and Eliot had this to say: “In company with several American ladies I went to the Gare du Nord on Thanksgiving Day (which of course means nothing here in France), where we were very busy serving cups of hot coffee and hot bouillon to some 1,750 soldiers from the front, who were being sent back to a hospital in the south of France to recuperate. They seemed very cheerful, even though they were convalescing. On the following day, I was on a party from the American embassy to see the presentation of medals to 50 officers and 120 soldiers. The huge courtyard was filled with soldiers ready for the front. There were wonderful bands of music, and it was a very impressive sight, and sad, when the widows came forward to receive their husbands’ medals. General Gallatin presented the medals with the aid of General Dolmand and General Cousine.”

In Santa Barbara, Red Cross volunteers were sewing and packing comfort bags for the soldiers. Each kit contained handkerchiefs, pencil and paper and envelopes, toothbrush and paste, washcloth and soap, small comb, New Testament Bible, shoestrings, gum, Vaseline, tobacco, and a sewing kit. A letter from Marguerite in March said she’d distributed several of the Santa Barbara bags, which she had received through the general headquarters in Paris.

In France, Marguerite drove an ambulance that had been donated by San Franciscans, often serving in places of extreme danger. She also drove a motorcar for the American Red Cross. The San Francisco Call reported, “Because of her skill as a driver, she has been chosen to take machines filled with provisions to the soldiers who are going and coming from the front. This is an extremely difficult and oft times a dangerous task.

Mrs. Rogers writes that the usual traffic rules for automobiles have been revised, and machines keep to the left instead of the right, and on the open roads there are no lights and no speed limits.

“As Miss Marguerite Doe, of this city [SF] she was the first society girl to drive her own car. Later, when she went to Santa Barbara to live, she became very proficient in driving over the hills. This experience has proved to great value, as it enables her to drive through places and over

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Women ambulance drivers in France (Library of Congress)

Marguerite’s passport to extend her stay in Europe in 1918 (Ancestry.com)

roads that would be impassable to the average woman driver. Mrs. Rogers, with her maid, is stopping at a family hotel near the Barrett Fithians, on the Place de la Concorde.…”

At the end of May, Marguerite wrote her mother saying, “Paris is very beautiful now, the trees and parks being particularly lovely this spring.”

Considering that the terrifying sounds of war could be heard inside Paris, it seemed out of sync to notice the glories of spring.

In a précis of John Baxter’s Paris at the End of the World: The City of Light During the Great War, 1914-1918, it says, “For four years, Paris lived under constant threat of destruction. And yet in its darkest hour, the City of Light blazed more brightly than ever. Its taxis shuttled troops to the front…the grandest museums and cathedrals housed the wounded...[but] at night, Parisians lived with urgency and without inhibition.

Artists like Picasso achieved new creative heights….”

Clearly the heightened awareness of danger also heightened one’s awareness of beauty and light, and Marguerite was not immune to the beauty of Paris in springtime nor to that of a certain young lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, English Imperial Army.

Women drivers had to be able to make repairs to the automobiles they were driving. The “million-dollar society girl” had to get grease underneath her nails (Library of Congress)

Driving transports was dangerous work. This American Red Cross supply car was destroyed when six shells struck within ten seconds. (Library of Congress)

Germany capitulated on November 11, 1918, and the fighting stopped when an armistice was signed. The war was essentially over, but Marguerite refused to return home. In December 1918, Eliot filed for divorce, charging desertion. She accepted service of the papers by cable in London, to which she had relocated.

In London, Marguerite did canteen work and assumed charge of a hospital for American and British soldiers, most likely St. Dunstan’s hospital for the blind. The horrible mustard gas used by the Germans had stolen the sight of many soldiers. When Marguerite eventually returned to Santa Barbara, she would raise funds for St. Dunstan’s.

With negotiations for terms of the peace treaty being hammered out at Versailles and an official end to the war imminent, Marguerite made plans to return to the United States via China and Japan. Interestingly enough, a dashing young lieutenant by the name of Geoffrey Stuart Courtney would also be on the ship that arrived in San Francisco on January 22, 1920, six days after Prohibition went into effect in the United States.

The San Francisco Call reported her arrival, saying, “Mrs. Marguerite Rogers is returning home today and thinks it will be difficult to resume her former life. She arrived on the China Mail steamship Nile, by way of Suez Canal and was met at the dock by her mother. ‘I’m coming back to rest,’ said Mrs. Rogers, ‘but I’m afraid I’m going to find it difficult. I’m afraid there will be nothing a servant can do in my house. Military rule has taught me to depend on myself.’”

The article goes on to say that she washed her own car and did her own repairing, and that she was a familiar figure on the battlefronts when the fighting was thickest.

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Marguerite Doe Courtney

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ieutenant Geoffrey Stuart Courtney of London, England, traveling with his friend, Colonel George Nutting, had planned to investigate ranch property in Miles City, Montana. Big Sky Country, however, didn’t hold a candle to the vivacious Marguerite Rogers. Nutting and Courtney were soon ensconced as guests at the beautiful El Fureidis estate in Montecito. Santa Barbara friends were once again surprised, however, when newspaper headlines blared “MRS. MARGUERITE DOE ROGERS WEDS: Rich San Francisco Girl Again in Cupid’s Net.” The newspaper revealed that the wedding was the outcome of a war romance three years prior when the bride was in France as an ambulance driver.

Once again, the quiet ceremony took place at the San Francisco First Presbyterian Church.

After the honeymoon, the happy couple returned to Montecito where they indulged in a blitz of social engagements and tennis and golf. Two new features were added to their annual repertoire of hosted parties.

One was a huge swimming and supper party at Plaza del Mar for 150 friends, and the other a paper chase, a game that imitates a foxhunt. On the day of the first paper chase, 20 friends on horseback gathered on the beach at the end of Eucalyptus Lane. Geoffrey took the role of one of the hares, dropping bits of paper to imitate the scent of the rabbit as he dashed away through the estates of Montecito and the others gave chase, following the shreds of paper.

This rendering of the design for the living room by George Washington Smith was not carried out. Notice the fireplace in the corner. Marguerite wanted a grand fireplace and double staircase to anchor the living room. (courtesy UCSB Architecture & Design Collections) Floor plan rendering for George Washington Smith’s design of the Courtney residence (courtesy UCSB Architecture & Design Collections)

ED

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During this time, Marguerite embraced the style of the 1920s with aplomb. Many years later, her friend Virginia Cherrill Martini, actress and former wife of Cary Grant, said that Peggy had a great figure and wore flapper style for many years, including a cloche hat and everything else that was considered “the cat’s meow.”

In 1921, an article in The San Francisco Call tackled the issue of bobbed hair. “That clicking sound is the snip, snip of sheers upon patrician locks,” reported the writer. “Maid and matrons are being shorn and some find it ‘Just the Thing’…. Mrs. Geoffrey Stuart Courtney, who once had a beautiful mass of dark hair, now wears it nearly as short and close as a man’s.”

That same year, Marguerite commissioned George Washington Smith to design a new home for herself and Geoffrey. Presumably completed in 1922, it stood on the eastern side of her property. Casa de Campo, as she named it, was tailored by Smith to accede to her wishes. She insisted the house be built of fireproof The double staircase surrounding the fireplace, seen here in 2011, was Peggy’s idea (courtesy Harry Kolb)

By 1956, the Sanborn map had been changed to show the Ravenscroft house, which was built of fireproof concrete tile (courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

reinforced concrete tile. There were to be no moldings because she didn’t wish to dust them. The six tiled garage bays resembled Roman baths and formed one wall of a tiled courtyard, the other being formed by box stalls for her horses. Smith even designed doghouses for her pack of Sealyham Terriers.

The most prominent feature of the house was the grand fireplace of the living room with its surround of two curved staircases leading to the owner’s suite upstairs. Charles’s bedroom suite was on one side of the central sitting room and hers on the other. Today, the house is known as Ravenscroft.

Early photo of the entrance to Casa de Campo/Ravenscroft (courtesy UCSB Architecture & Design Collections)

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Humane Society

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Lutah Maria Riggs’s rendering of Jack’s Trough (courtesy UCSB Architecture & Design Collections)

y 1922, an interesting change occurred within the society pages.

There was less emphasis on party, party, party, and more on cultural events and activities. The lectures and educational opportunities offered by the Women’s Club; the plays, art, and concerts sponsored by the Community Arts Association; and the world-renowned musicians and orchestras brought to town by the Civic Music Committee took precedence, as did philanthropic benefits.

In April of that year, Marguerite was elected to the board of the Santa Barbara Humane Society. For Be Kind to Animals Week, she captained a public drive for two funds. One was for the purchase and operation of a small horse-drawn animal ambulance and the second to provide free dispensary care for sick horses. Booths on State Street were sponsored by local businesses and staffed by society women. In May 1922, she took the oath of office to become a county humane officer, though she only served a few months.

In May 1924, Marguerite and Geoffrey boarded a ship in San Francisco bound for England via the Panama Canal to visit his family in London. Upon her return in August, she commissioned George Washington Smith to design an animal hospital in San Francisco.

The Santa Barbara Humane Society headquarters and Thrift Shop were located in this building at 1215 Anacapa Street from 1959 to 1961. Peggy was the driving force behind it. (courtesy Santa Barbara Humane Society)

Jack’s Trough, also known as the Courtney Fountain, on the corner of Stanwood Drive and Sycamore Canyon Road (author photo 2016)

Peggy Courtney with her horse Jack at the stable at Casa de Campo, aka Ravenscroft (courtesy Montecito Magazine)

Since 1921, the Santa Barbara Humane Society had fought to reinstall drinking troughs for horses which had, they felt, been inexplicably removed by the city.

As the horseless carriage continued to replace the four-legged variety, these thirst quenching amenities had been disappearing all over town. Perhaps that is why in 1925, Marguerite commissioned Lutah Maria Riggs to design a fountain on the corner of Stanwood Drive and Sycamore Canyon Road. Completed in 1926, it was dedicated to her favorite horse, Jack, and offered both a trough for horses and two basins for smaller animals.

Peggy convinced her friends to help staff the Humane Society Thrift Shop on Anacapa Street (courtesy Santa Barbara Humane Society)

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Marguerite Doe Ravenscroft

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n October 24, 1929, the stock market crashed, ushering in a worldwide Depression. Information about Geoffrey and Marguerite is scanty for the next few years, though they seemed to spend much of those years abroad. In 1930, Marguerite sold off the western portion of her property, leaving herself with approximately one acre on which Casa de Campo/Ravenscroft stands. By 1933, she and Geoffrey had parted ways.

About 1934, Peggy met and married another Brit, Henry Ravenscroft.

The marriage didn’t last long, but for some reason, she retained the name, and her home on Ayala Lane became known as Ravenscroft.

Marguerite’s work for the benefit of animals continued for the rest of her life. In 1927, she commissioned George Washington Smith to design animal hospitals in Sacramento and Long Beach. At various points in her life, she had established animal shelters around the world, including India, Africa, Indonesia, Egypt, and Ethiopia. She always asked her friends who were traveling in those areas to check on them.

Peggy remained active with the local Santa Barbara Humane Society and served on the advisory board for many years. In the 1950s, she was responsible for opening a thrift shop to benefit animals at 1215 Anacapa Street near Anapamu. (Today, it’s a parking lot.) As late as 1962, she donated a new automobile, equipped as an animal ambulance and a pick-up truck, to Palm Springs Desert Animal Shelter.

Marguerite Doe Rogers Courtney Ravenscroft died in 1970. Besides specific bequests to particular institutions, her will stipulated that her estate be used to fund the Marguerite Doe Foundation for the assistance of animals. Monies from her foundation allowed the Santa Barbara Humane Society shelter to expand and build the society’s columbarium.

Peggy Ravenscroft may have been a blithe spirit, but the sum total of her life was not frivolous. Her openhanded generosity, bravery, and convivial personality made her a most remarkable woman.

Marguerite donated the funds for the Long Beach Animal Hospital in 1927, and George Washington Smith designed the facility

A grant from the Marguerite Doe Foundation funded the Santa Barbara Humane Society columbarium (courtesy Santa Barbara Humane Society)

The courtyard of Ravenscroft in 2011 reveals the box stalls for Peggy’s horses. It was also where George Washington Smith had designed special dog houses for her Sealyham terriers. (courtesy Harry Kolb)

(Sources not mentioned in text: contemporary newspaper sources; ancestry.com resources; Library of Congress; Patricia Gebhard’s George Washington Smith: Architect of the Spanish-Colonial Revival; White Blackbird: A Life of the Painter Margarett Sargent

by Her Granddaughter by Honor Moore; UC Santa Barbara’s Architecture & Design Collections; Santa Barbara Humane Society; Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and property ownership maps; transcript of 1985 oral interview with Lutah Maria Riggs with Montecito Association History Committee. Many thanks to Julia Larson of UCSB’s Architecture & Design Collections, to Chris Ervin of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum for his assistance, and to Harry Kolb and Trish Davis.)

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WealthTrack. “51% of Personal Wealth in the U.S. is Controlled by Women,” June 28, 2019. Available at https://wealthtrack.com/51-percent-of-personal-wealth-in-the-u-s-is-controlled-by-women/.

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BON VOYAGE

BY JAMES BUCKLEY

THE TRAVEL COMEBACK WITH AMAWATERWAYS

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wo years – and a century (it seems) – ago, I had the pleasure of taking my wife, Helen, our son, Tim, his wife, Jacqueline, and their two boys, Deacon and Kessler (then five and seven years old) on a glorious seven-day Christmas Market cruise on AmaWaterways’ 164-passenger river cruise ship, AmaCerto. We traveled down the Danube from Passau, Germany, through Austria, all the way to Bratislava, Slovakia, before turning around and spending time in Vienna prior to disembarking. During that time, we visited 12th-century villages and castles, quaint walled river towns, a medieval torture museum that the boys were particularly fond of, and scores of Christmas markets (40 of them in Vienna alone!) covered in twinkling fairy lights, overflowing with unique and delicious regional foods, and featuring one-of-a-kind handmade products.

The Founders Cruise

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AmaWaterways co-owners Rudi Schreiner and Kristin Karst (seen here at their home in Calabasas, California) met more than 20 years ago and celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary this April

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maWaterways cofounder Rudi Schreiner was aboard AmaCerto and co-owner Kristin Karst was on another AmaWaterways vessel; the two met up in Vienna on what was billed as an Owners’ Cruise. It was an additional pleasure for us to join the couple for breakfast, drinks, dinner, and evening performances showcasing local talent who hopped on board at various ports along the river and sang everything from country music to opera – even Great American Songbook classics. All the various singers, guitarists, violinists, and pianists entertained us in the ship’s intimate yet spacious lounge. (One of those nights, Deacon and Kessler – capped in berets and wearing other French finery – were “hired” by the entertainment director to be her assistants.)

Naturally, we had planned to join AmaWaterways for even more exotic trips in the near future, but in March 2020, COVID-19 forced most cruise lines around the world to suspend operations. It was a crushing blow to a vibrant travel category that no one could have foreseen or predicted.

As this was being written, COVID-19 cases were finally coming down across the board in the United States and Asia. In Europe, there continued to be country-to-country differences in the numbers of cases and the speed of rolling out vaccines, but I stay in contact with friends in Paris, and their best guess is that things will be much improved this summer.

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Among the company’s 18 ships operating in Europe is the double-width AmaMagna, seen here on the Danube approaching Bratislava, Slovakia

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BON VOYAGE

Future Travel

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f all the businesses impacted by COVID-19, travel and leisure companies have been among the hardest hit. For the first time since the end of World War II, even transatlantic crossings have been canceled en masse. And because cruises – such as those offered by quality operators such as AmaWaterways – are among life’s most pleasant diversions, I hope to be among a vanguard of early travelers to get back to exploring the world when international travel restrictions are lifted.

To that end, Schreiner, Karst, and I held a lengthy telephone conversation to talk about the future of the travel industry, the pent-up travel demand that’s emerging, and how their river cruise company has adapted to this new world.

The company is based in Calabasas, California, so when the stay-at-home order on March 19, 2020, was issued, the couple hurriedly equipped their office teams with laptops and headsets. While the AmaWaterways call center was ready to continue booking travelers, new reservations slowed down dramatically. “The 18 ships in our European fleet were more than 85 percent booked for the 2020 season,” Schreiner says. “We were anticipating a very successful year and were ready to welcome close to 100,000 passengers.” Unfortunately, with international travel restrictions in place, their ships have been on pause for more than a year.

One bright spot was that AmaWaterways became the only U.S.-based river cruise company to actually sail in Europe during the summer and fall of 2020; with enhanced health and safety protocols in place, they completed a successful four-month series of river cruises for a German tour operator sailing the Rhine river within Germany. Because of that, the company gained valuable experience in operating in a COVID-conscious world.

Taking Care of Travelers

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efore going on to future plans – as the United States, and presumably the rest of the world, begins to open up – it’s worth noting how AmaWaterways chose to handle travelers whose plans were affected by the suspension of sailings in 2020. “We wanted to encourage our guests to reschedule rather than cancel their plans completely,” Karst explains. “Once we announced a suspension date, rather than opt for a refund, all those who wanted to move their trip to the future received 115 percent future cruise credit. So if you paid $10,000, you got $11,500 for future use.”

It was a policy that earned them well-deserved admiration and kudos from clients and their travel-advisor partners, who worked closely with AmaWaterways to patiently reNORTH SEA NETHERLANDS schedule all their clients’ travel plans.

Germany During the summer of 2019, AmaWaterways launched the double-wide AmaMagna, an innovative vessel that essentially offers twice as much space as any other European river cruise ship. “When Rudi designed the ship,” Karst marvels, “he didn’t anticipate what was coming, but now this ship is Belgium the top ship, because it’s all about the luxury of personal space.

Luxembourg You have the double width which provides our guests with huge standard staterooms and spacious suites with open-air balconies.”

Sein e Karst also mentions a “well-equipped Zen Wellness Studio, which allows outdoor ‘spinning with a view’ Austria classes, plus an expansive sundeck with a heated swimSwitzerland France ming pool. And with four separate restaurants,” she adds, “people can really get away from each other if they want to.”

Gironde HOORN

ZAANSE SCHANS HAARLEM KEUKENHOF

ROTTERDAM

AMSTERDAM SCHOONHOVEN

DELFT

KINDERDIJK

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GHENT

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MILTENBERG WERTHEIM WÜRZBURG VOLKACH SCHWEINFURT PRAGUE BAMBERG PILZEN NUREMBERG

KITZINGEN HEIDELBERG ROTHENBURG

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ROUEN HONFLEUR VERNON

LAHNSTEIN RÜDESHEIM LUDWIGSHAFEN MANNHEIM

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LE HAVRE NORMANDY BEACHES

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BILBAO

AmaWaterways’ world includes cruises on rivers in Europe, Africa, and Asia

RÉGUA PORTO

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Portugal TOMAR

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SUMMER 2021

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BON VOYAGE

Coming Soon to a Ship Near You

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hen asked when they believe they’ll be sending their 25 ships out again, Schreiner says he expects to be nearly fully operational by August; Karst is more optimistic and hopes for a July kick-off with their two new ships, AmaSiena and AmaLucia, both of which are scheduled for a christening ceremony on the Rhine on July 4. As for what changes guests should anticipate when river cruising resumes, local and international regulations are still evolving, but there will probably be enhanced health and safety protocols in place that will need to be respected. AmaWaterways, for example, may limit the number of passengers to 100 to facilitate a certain amount of physical distancing. The mask policy is yet undetermined, but it will follow what local government officials require and what individual passengers are comfortable with. Seating arrangements in the dining room and elsewhere have been adapted with Plexiglass dividers installed in the lounge between sofas, and hand sanitizer stations are plentiful. There may also be temperature checks for guests before breakfast. Table service with expanded menu choices is replacing the self-serve buffets for breakfast and lunch, although there will still be all-day snacks available and – weather permitting – sundeck barbecues will be more frequent.

All staterooms were designed with “fan coil” individually controlled heating and air conditioning units, so there’s no circulation of air between staterooms. In the public areas, a “rain fog” system produces cool air that falls down as warm air rises, so there is no blowing of air as there would be All standard 355-square-foot suites onboard the AmaMagna feature full step-out balconies with regular air-conditioning units.

The Near Future

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iver cruising’s main advantage over ocean excursions is that the smaller ships dock right in the center of towns. The variety of small group excursions offered each day is an additional and attractive benefit, and nearly all come at no additional fee. And – this option often appeals to me and my wife – one can always simply walk off the ship and wander around town at one’s leisure.

When asked about the future viability of businesses such as AmaWaterways, Schreiner and Karst remain confident. “Reservations are strong for sailings during the second half of 2021,” Schreiner notes (particularly for those Christmas markets my family so enjoyed). “And 2022 is filling up very quickly with both rescheduled guests and new-to-river-cruise travelers anxious to get away from crowds,” Karst adds.

Besides the two new ships in Europe, Schreiner is particularly animated when talking about the new one he has planned for Egypt that begins sailing the Nile in September.

AmaWaterways has ships in a number of exotic locations, including one that sails on the Chobe River through Namibia and Botswana, and a favorite of both Karst and Schreiner: the Mekong cruises through Vietnam and Cambodia. Looking further out, new potential river cruise destinations include the Gambia River from Senegal that would feature a visit to the island where the fictional character Kunta Kinte (from the 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family) came from.

Of special note is a never-before-offered seven-river, 47-day cruise through 14 countries in Europe just announced for June 2023.

AmaWaterways also offers special-interest cruises that may highlight anything from wine, beer, classical music, biking, and hiking, to one of my favorite pursuits – golf. Santa Barbara and Montecito residents should know that some of the trips have included local winemakers (Doug Margerum and Bion Rice have both been featured on AmaWaterways cruises in Europe).

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AmaDara guests join Buddhist monks in a blessing ceremony in Oudong, Cambodia

The Chobe River in Africa features unique wildlife viewings aboard the Zambezi Queen

Charters (with enough advance notice) for groups or companies are also available. And, if you peruse the website you’ll find a plethora of eight- to 12-day cruises in Africa, Asia, and Europe from which to choose.

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Native Roots

Sustainable landscaping doyenne Susan Van Atta is healing the local ecosystem one acre at a time . . .

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t was Susan Van Atta’s birthday just after the presidential inauguration and she wanted to spend it quietly riding her bike on a nostalgic tour through “her” Carpinteria. She set off along the paths of the Salt Marsh Reserve (she helped designed the restoration 20 years ago in collaboration with UC Santa Barbara ) then caught the rustic bike path she helped create, pedaled past the state campground, the old tar pits, and the sea lion refuge, headed south through the Carpinteria Bluffs – the lush woodland her firm has been helping restore by removing invasive trees and weeds as well as building an eco-friendly network of trails, public open space, and unobtrusive parking. It was a ride filled with pride and memories. “Since before anybody really talked about ‘habitat restoration,’ we’ve been working on this coastal area with the city,” she mused. And more to come. “We’ve just completed a master plan for the Rincon Bluffs – 21 acres. Soon the city of Carpinteria’s coastal bike trail will take you all the way to Rincon.”

Renowned landscape architect Thomas D. Church planted an espaliered magnolia tree that still adorns the carport of a Lutah Maria Riggsdesigned home in Montecito (photo by Edward Clynes)

by Eileen White Read

Landscape architect Susan Van Atta (photo by Matt Weir)

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D

ays off like this are rare for Van Atta, who, during the past 30-plus years, has quietly become one of Santa Barbara’s most sought-after landscape architects. Her design and sustainability awards are so numerous that her website lists them grouped by year. She was selected by the American Society of Landscape Architects to receive one of its highest honors, election to the Council of Fellows.

“Susan is in the great tradition of Florence Yoch,” says Charles Birnbaum, founder and CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C. He’s known Van Atta since the early 1990s, when he was in Montecito to give a series of lectures and workshops about our local landscape treasures, including Val Verde and Lotusland. Birnbaum asserts that just like Yoch – renowned for gardens ranging from the Huntington Library to the set of Tara in Gone with the Wind – Van Atta “is a person of grace and sensitivity, sensitive to the bone structure, the history of every place she touches.”

While Van Atta has commissions all over Southern California, her most concentrated body of work is in Santa Barbara’s South County, where it might be a challenge to find important outdoor spaces that haven’t benefited from an environmentally conscious Van Atta transformation. What was once a six-acre beachfront parking lot at UCSB became the renowned Lagoon Park wetlands habitat with bioswales for natural water filtration, which Van Atta calls “ecologically intelligent design to balance aesthetics, function, and the environment.” She redid the rose garden at Lotusland, intuiting “What would Ganna Walska herself have done?” After preparation of a Cultural Landscape Master Plan, which included goals to preserve important Beatrix Farrand/Lockwood de

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Forest-designed Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, she was asked to sit on the organization’s board. At the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, she peeled back earlier makeovers that added sod and concrete, replacing them with restored woodlands, creeks, and riparian garden areas. In handing the project its annual award for public open space in 2019, Santa Barbara Beautiful hailed a “metamorphosis” that “imbues a quintessential sense of Santa Barbara.”

Project by project, Van Atta is one of several landscape architects – others include Kris Kimpel and Sydney Baumgartner – who are effectively helping to heal the local ecosystem acre by acre, responding to Santa Barbarans’ awareness of the destructiveness of climate change, the fragility of our coastal infrastructure, the poisonous nature of herbicides, and, particularly in Montecito, the enormous expense of water and its gross overuse.

(According to county records, Montecito consumes an astonishingly wasteful 200 gallons of water daily per capita, compared with 75 gallons in Santa Barbara.) These environmental professionals’ efforts help promote an earth-friendly South County with native landscapes that attract beneficial insects, support soil health, are adapted to local weather, and support wildlife as well as people. About these goals for Santa Barbara, Van Atta is hopeful and forward looking. “People in Montecito and Santa Barbara are sophisticated about landscaping. They know the beauty of a woodland. They have seen native plants,” she says.

“We have moved beyond the noises of mowing and blowing and big lawns that are expensive to water.”

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Van Atta’s talent was noted as early as the 1970s by her internship advisor, later UCSB environmental planning professor, Paul Wack, who subsequently hired her to work for the county planning department. For decades since then, Wack had Van Atta serve as a guest lecturer in his class until he retired last year. “Susan is in a class by herself; she would come and just blow the students away,” he says. “Afterward, they all wanted to be landscape architects. She made them understand the connection between all of the different specialties, and how the landscape architect can combine science, culture, climate, and design.

It’s all about sustainable systems.”

The Four Seasons Santa Barbara Biltmore resort might be Van Atta’s best-known project, one in which she demonstrates that landscaping

Van Atta is “a person of grace and sensitivity, sensitive to the bone structure, the history of every place she touches.” – Charles Birnbaum

Sustainable and natural beauty emerges from Van Atta’s “war” on concrete, asphalt, and sod. (left to right) UCSB’s beachside Lagoon Park, formerly a parking lot; a metamorphosis at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History; saving wetlands for wildlife at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve.

can be environmentally conscious and sexy. She cannily cut 50 percent of the hotel’s lawns around the perimeter and replaced them with bold-leaved and colorful regional adapted trees, palms, and shrubs to create a buffer to the street while disguising the chain-link fence. She visualized verdant garden rooms for public events and “green” privacy screening for guest rooms, punctuated by paths, pools, and plant accented corridors – a feat that involved thoughtful use of a tapestry of subtropical palms, trees, shrubs, and perennials from the world’s Mediterranean-climate countries. “It’s lush, it’s colorful, it really teaches that drought-tolerant doesn’t look anything like a desert,” she says. Since its completion, the Biltmore has become a sort of living billboard for drought-tolerant landscaping, a place where visitors are constantly taking photos of the plant combinations and asking staff, “What is the name of this plant or that tree?”

Much of Van Atta’s oeuvre, though, eschews “come hither” features in favor of carefully balancing subtle aesthetic pleasure with solid environmental rigor. It’s a consequence, she says, of being both a scientist and a designer – she followed her UCSB environmental studies degree with a second degree in landscape architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo – a duality that’s very much a part of her own life. Van Atta and her architect spouse Ken Radtkey of Blackbird Architects reside in

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a LEED Platinum home they designed in Montecito’s Sycamore Canyon; it has a 10,000-gallon water collection system, an energy-saving “green roof,” solar trellises, an acre of native California landscaping, and more. Conscious of our area’s vulnerability to fire, the couple milled a grove of eucalyptus trees they removed from their property and used it to create everything from garage and front doors as well as all the trim, including shelves, stairs and some furniture. Coyote House, as they call it – where they raised two sons – is both a laboratory and a quiet refuge for enjoying the views, a drink, and a game of bocce. She says, “We rarely talk about work at home unless we have to.”

The pair was introduced in the 1980s by Jon Clark, now president of the James S. Bower Foundation, when all were involved in the Community Environmental Council, the Santa Barbara nonprofit that works to combat the causes and effects of climate change. Clark and Radtkey were roommates, and it was an easy connection, he says, because “they were both very smart, very kind, quiet, thoughtful, super hardworking, type-A people.”

Many of the elements Van Atta has learned over the years imbue her favorite designs today – trellises and arbors with espaliered fruit trees. Venerable California coastal or live oak trees underplanted with a wide variety of native vegetation. Tree-shaded seating groups with wood, stone, or concrete benches from which meandering natural paths and walkways lead to tranquil ponds. Serene areas of native California grasses. Rainwater gardens and bioswales that treat and take best advantage of rainwater while appearing to be natural creeks and ponds, yet central to the philosophy that water conservation should be on the mind of every Santa Barbaran.

One of Van Atta’s initially controversial commissions involved designVan Atta’s innovative walking path of decomposed granite bordered by succulents, in lieu of concrete sidewalks, has since been copied all over Montecito At the Santa Barbara Bowl, Van Atta built a naturalistic landscape of stone staircases and boulders, surrounded by native trees and plants

“I think she’s brilliant in her knowledge of what feels right in a particular setting.”

– David Anderson

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ing Montecito’s first Safe Routes to School pedestrian walkways for the public works department after the county was unable to muster support for mandatory curbs, gutters, and sidewalks. At the time Montecito Union School parents acquired a grant for a route along San Ysidro Road so MUS students could walk safely to and from school, yet the community rebelled at the idea of this intrusion into Montecito’s rural setting. “I proposed an alternative made of decomposed granite bordered by succulents, which we installed along the west side,” she says.

“It wasn’t a sidewalk, and it required no water.” As a result of this precedent, the Montecito Trails Foundation and the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade have gone on to construct similar pedestrian paths along several of Montecito’s busiest byways.

Another personal favorite is Montecito’s Westmont College, where she has served as designer-in-residence for two decades. The landscape master plan called for native planting within an overall context of native oak woodlands while preserving the historic core. Students now enjoy a parklike pedestrian core that encourages them to leave their cars at the dorms and walk from place to place, sit outdoors to study, and learn to appreciate the area’s unique ecology. “In the Montecito foothills, it would be unnatural to see a super-mowed, super-trimmed, edged landscape,” says Randy Jones, director of campus planning at Westmont.

“Our site blends seamlessly into the foothills beyond our campus.”

A typical day for Van Atta is spent juggling multiple site visits with field meetings and research. She sometimes returns phone calls by texting photos to let callers know why she cannot answer, such as a recent one she sent from the Santa Barbara Bowl (another client for two decades). The image shows she’s occupied with pressing green leaves into freshly poured cement for the Bowl’s newest venue. After Van Atta spends time with a new client to begin a commission, her next step frequently involves determining the cultural importance of the site or setting. “Especially in Montecito, with important history and culture,” she says, “I strive to do thorough research to respect those elements as much as I do the environment.” She’s had the privilege of poring through the books, drawings, and letters of eminent design predecessors such as Beatrix Farrand and Lockwood de Forest for her restoration at the botanic garden, and Farrand for the landscape at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Given this penchant for landscapes with pedigree, it was almost kismet a decade ago when Van Atta and her architect spouse met Bostonians Mark and Michelle Dishop after they bought a three-acre property on San Ysidro Road that held a midcentury modern A-frame house overlooking a pond. “We liked the wraparound windows,” says Michelle. “We thought it would be a nice place to be in the winter.”

They reached out to the designers since “we were one of the largest water users in Montecito because the whole property was planted in grass,” says Mark. “It was absurd. There was grass all the way up to the trunks of the oak trees. You couldn’t walk on it. It required constant mowing.” Through the designers’ research, the Dishops learned they had struck a lode of Montecito gold, so to speak. Their house was a late commission by Santa Barbara’s revered first female architect and associate of George Washington Smith, Lutah Maria Riggs. Moreover, the garden was designed by renowned California landscape architect Thomas D. Church.

Van Atta’s take was that “whoever came in and put lawn everywhere probably had no idea it was a Thomas Church garden, or they didn’t care.” Her solution began with a visit to the Church archives at UC Berkeley, where she found his own photos, drawings, and descriptions of the original garden. She recommended that the Dishops committed “to take it back to what it was,” she says. Today, the modernist yet tranquil acreage boasts a restored pond, orchards, herb gardens, patios, play areas, and decomposed granite pathways that travel all around the property. Van Atta shows off a long-neglected espaliered magnolia tree that dates from the time of Church, which she carefully pruned, back-lighted, and made into an honored garden feature. Radtkey’s architectural renovation gave the house even more of an indoor-outdoor feel. The design duo, says Mark, “made it

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our home. With Susan’s choices of California plants that don’t require much water – and a design more in keeping with the original Church concept and more appropriate to our climate – we have substantially cut our water use and our water bill.”

Previous owners had removed the original Thomas Church garden of this San Ysidro Road home, replacing it with tract house-style grass sod (photo by Edward Clynes)

“Especially in Montecito, with important history and culture, I strive to do thorough research to respect those elements as much as I do the environment.” – Susan Van Atta SUMMER 2021

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Van Atta’s latest commissions include a redesign of the bluff-top, fouracre Lookout Park at Summerland Beach. There are stylized pergolas made of driftwood that Van Atta’s team asked to be collected from the shore below, a sandbox with – at the community’s request – artwork paying homage to the town’s history in the oil industry, natural stone benches, decomposed granite trails, and concrete tables for ping-pong.

A natural drainage system is composed of boulders and rocks accented by riparian trees and plants that are suitable for treating stormwater runoff from the parking lot. Plants unique to the Channel Islands surround the play and activity features provided.

This fall, Van Atta hopes to continue a collaboration with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Channel Islands Restoration for the restoration and protection of Montecito’s Chumash Native American burial site, known as Hammond’s Meadow Open Space and Shalawa Meadow (the latter referring to a bustling village that once stood there). It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and will require satisfying diverse stakeholders including the Barbareño Band of Chumash Indians, the Santa Barbara County Parks Department (the site’s owner of record), the Channel Islands Restoration nonprofit organization, and Sea Meadow, the community of 27 luxury beach homes that surrounds the site.

Because the open space includes four acres adjacent to the beach, it attracts curious daytime visitors who unknowingly trample over what is considered sacred ground. At night, problems are caused at the unlighted, unguarded property by vandals, treasure hunters, and campers building bonfires. A public trail leads from the train tracks to the site, which was dedicated to the County of Santa Barbara Parks Department at the time of the subdivision.

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Oak trees surrounding the original pond at this San Ysidro Road home lend the rear garden a quintessentially picturesque and relaxed Montecito atmosphere (photo by Edward Clynes)

While Van Atta’s landscaping plan can’t solve all, it does address issues of horticultural history, sensitivity to native plants, and protection of Chumash sacred artifacts buried underground. She identified two Chumash-era natives that are still growing at the site – jimsonweed (Datura wrightii) and lemonadeberry (Rhus integrifolia). These would be retained and joined with about 30 tall and medium grasses, shrubs, and perennials, all natives to the coastal region. California coast live oaks and Western sycamores, species that would have been growing at the coastline centuries ago, would replace the myrtle (Myoporum) on the site’s southern border.

Under a new top dressing of several inches of soil, Van Atta would “cap” the burial ground with a layer of sand and wire mesh to deter both gophers and treasure hunters. Because it’s a burial site, chemical herbicides can’t be used to kill weeds and weed seeds; instead they would be “solarized,” a process that involves laying out black plastic to enhance the heat effect of the sun’s rays.

Will this project succeed in satisfying all the stakeholders? Given the complex political, protection, and policy issues of the site, it’s likely to be one of her most challenging commissions. Nonetheless, the project, says attorney David Anderson, an Occidental College trustee who lives nearby, will likely be better off due to her thorough research, her respectful combination of native vegetation, and her willingness to combine environmental sustainability with a respect for history. Says Anderson, who has hired Van Atta for several previous projects: “I think she’s brilliant in her knowledge of what feels right in a particular setting.”

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Kristina McKean’s passion project is saving one elephant at a time in the United States and abroad

by Zachary Rosen

ED The Elephant Project’s two eight-inch plushies are named Kiki, which means “new life,” and Tembo, which is Swahili for “elephant.” Kiki is adorned in a pink dress while Tembo sports olive green overalls. Kiki and Tembo were recently featured on The Today Show as one of this holiday season’s “Gifts That Give Back” (photo by Jessica Dalene Photography)

(photo by Jessica Dalene Photography)

K The Elephant Project founder Kristina McKean

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ristina McKean has funneled her lifetime passion for helping animals into a full-time profession by creating The Elephant Project. McKean had always felt drawn to animals and their related causes but it wasn’t until her honeymoon to Thailand with her husband, Aaron, about 20 years ago when the harsh reality of elephants’ living conditions became more visceral. She was watching their treatment at one of the tourist attractions and became overwhelmed by the scene. “I saw all these baby elephants that they had taken from their mothers,” says the Montecito mom of two, Paloma and Penelope. “You could ride them or you could pay to get your picture with them. That moment for me – I couldn’t handle it. I was so upset about it. When my girls were younger, I decided I really needed to do something to help them.”

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McKean wanted to find a way to help the elephants and stop the cruel practices the travel industry supports, which includes conditioning baby elephants in a “crush box” – literally designed to crush their spirit. She notes that almost all elephants used in entertainment go through this treatment. “Sadly, despite their status and heritage, many factors have led to a huge decline in the numbers of elephants in Thailand today,” she says. “It is estimated that the country now only has around 4,000 elephants compared with some 100,000 in the middle of the 1800s. Thailand has approximately 3,800 elephants in captivity, mostly in the tourism industry. Many live monotonous lives marked by suffering.” She also notes that in Africa, ivory poaching has killed 100,000 African elephants in just three years. With the animals facing danger and cruelty, both in captivity and the wild, McKean felt compelled to help elephants around the world.

“ I couldn’t go work and help save the elephants at sanctuaries, but at least I could do something from here – and it’s something I know how to do.”

Before the days of social media when it was harder to organize and communicate with like-minded people, McKean began protesting the appalling conditions of elephants’ treatment at circuses. “They are tortured with bull hooks – it’s horrific. I think if people knew of the abuse, they would never ride elephants or go to circuses,” she says. “Plus, it’s so important to teach our children about ethical travel. Whether you are an elephant lover or not, we need them for our ecosystem – they are essential to mankind.” Through her protesting of circuses, she met others who believed in the cause. At the time, she was also involved with getting petitions signed for different causes but thought it wasn’t enough.

In 2014, McKean rescued a German Shepherd from a high-kill shelter in Los Angeles. “There are so many dogs in shelters, but I felt like I had to rescue him, and his rescue really propelled the start of The Elephant Project,” she says. The woman who helped her find a home for the dog mentioned she had a talent and should do more. “I couldn’t go work and help save the elephants at sanctuaries, but at least I could do something from here – and it’s something I know how to do,” she says. As she considered her professional background, the idea for The Elephant Project took root.

McKean was born in Minnesota but moved to California in the 1990s to attend the University of San Diego to study international relations and Spanish. After college, she worked in product development for Gap Inc., and her mother had worked at Tonka Toys. In 2000, McKean and

Sangduen “Lek” Chailert at her elephant sanctuary in Thailand

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ephants as well since places such as Thailand have faced sharp drops in tourism, which supported the elephant attractions. “It’s been a challenge because of COVID – I can’t be out there. I feel like once people hear my story they really want to help to make a difference.” While McKean does not want to support the industries in any way, the lost revenue from the drop in tourism means that many of these elephants are now starving and chained in cages. She feels that once people are made aware of these problems, they want to do something to help. Fortunately, Kiki and Tembo offer this chance. She says, “Especially during this year, when there are so many sad stories, I think people love a good story.”

McKean acknowledges there are many other animals that also need help. She wants to do something for big cats such as lions and tigers, which face terrible conditions both in captivity and the wild, where poaching, trophy hunting, and habitat loss have endangered

(photo by Jessica Dalene Photography)

her husband moved to Montecito. One day, McKean was looking at her daughters’ stuffed animals when the idea came to her to design a plushie so the proceeds could go to support gentle giants. It was then that she realized she had the insight necessary to bring her idea to reality and began creating the concept for the toys. The Elephant Project was founded in 2017 and since then it has been well received. It sells two stuffed animals, Kiki and Tembo, and 100 percent of the proceeds support elephant sanctuaries around the world.

Two years ago, she wanted to bring the documentary Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story to the Marjorie Luke Theatre, and her willing effort paid off – the community and local media quickly got behind supporting the event. She says, “I only had a little bit of time to get people to rally around it, and so many people helped me – 99.9 KTYD, the news – we sold out the theater.” The screening was not only an opportunity to educate the public on the brutal conditions elephants face, but to tell the inspiring story of one woman, Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, and her heroic efforts to change these practices and provide sanctuary at her Elephant Nature Park in Thailand. Today, McKean continues to work with Chailert, who was featured as one of Time magazine’s Heroes of Asia in 2005. “We are so grateful for the passionate support of The Elephant Project,” says Chailert. “Kristina is a wonderful voice for us, helping to change the minds of how we treat the gentle ones – one Kiki and Tembo at a time.”

Since the beginning, The Elephant Project has been able to help support more than a dozen elephants and several sanctuaries. McKean also works with the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – a nonprofit that operates helicopters and patrols to stop poachers and trophy hunters in Africa – as well as The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, which focuses on helping former zoo and circus elephants here in the United States. “I work with so many different organizations. I am also trying to expand a bit. There are so many elephants in need, I’d like to produce another plushie,” McKean says, noting it can take anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 to rescue an elephant depending on its age and location.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about challenges for the el-

different feline species and have threatened the ecosystem in which these apex predators play a key role. McKean is releasing a new stuffed animal this summer to benefit these majestic beasts. “It’s a lion, but it looks like they’re all in the same family,” she says, also mentioning that she is always open to new ideas for other animals and suggestions. Currently, Kiki and Tembo can be found locally at Diani Boutique or online at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Gifts for Good, and of course at The Elephant Project’s online shop, which also offers original lion prints by local artist Pedro de la Cruz with 100 percent of the net proceeds going toward big cat rescue organizations. As McKean says, “If you’re going to buy a gift, why wouldn’t you buy a gift that at least gives back, or at least helps elephants?”

Wan Mai at home at the Elephant Nature Park

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THE RANCH RETURNS New post-pandemic guest experiences at the San Ysidro Ranch

by Gabe Saglie The Stonehouse and Plow & Angel at the San Ysidro Ranch have reopened for locals and visitors (photo by Edward Clynes)

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Guests can get cozy at the Plow & Angel (photo by Edward Clynes)

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he latest industry accolades came in fast and furious early this year. Right as California relaxed its travel regulations, both locals and tourists alike returned to the Ranch with gusto: Forbes bestowed its prestigious five-star rating while Travel & Leisure included the property in its 2021 list of the 500 Top Hotels in the World. Welcome recognition after a very deliberate and detail-driven effort by its owner to meet – no, exceed – the glory, the beauty, and the spirit of its storied past. “The San Ysidro Ranch is a special place where one can indulge the senses and invigorate the soul – a slice of Heaven unlike anywhere else in the world,” says owner Ty Warner. “We all have worked diligently during the pandemic to ensure public safety and create a relaxing experience for our guests.”

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THE RANCH RETURNS

The chef’s garden grows fresh produce used in Matt Johnson’s delectable creations (photo by Edward Clynes)

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OVID-19-inspired safety protocols are a significant, albeit seamless, aspect of the new Ranch experience. All public areas are disinfected daily with electrostatic sprayers and Ecolab virus-killing chemicals that are both non-harmful to humans and friendly to the environment. The Forbes Travel Guide lists the resort as Health Security Verified.

The fresh wow factor exists in the upgraded features to the San Ysidro Ranch stay. The 550 acres with undulating hillsides and sparkling ocean vistas that were famously home to a citrus farm in the early 1800s. The property now features 41 vine-covered cottages, three of which are newly built along the San Ysidro Creek. Each features a gated entry, enclosed private gardens with outdoor shower, and cottage-side parking, several with electric vehicle charging stations. Accommodations range from 450 to 2,200 square feet and start at $1,295 a night.

Foodie guests rejoice: Stays come with complimentary dining – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – either in-room or inside The Stonehouse Restaurant.

Think dining at its finest and a regionally inspired menu that features herbs, fruits, and vegetables grown right in the Ranch’s organic garden. “Each dish is a unique creation of seasonal ingredients that represent the bounty of our region,” says executive chef Matt Johnson.

Wine collections manager Tristan Pitre (photo by Edward Clynes) The cellar at the San Ysidro Ranch boasts more than 12,000 bottles of wines from all over the world (photo by Edward Clynes)

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he Stonehouse is among only 100 eateries in the world to win Wine Spectator’s Grand Award. The temperature-controlled cellar, newly built underneath The Stonehouse and adjacent to the coolly posh Plow & Angel bistro, houses more than 12,000 bottles. “They represent the entire world of wine,” says wine collections manager Tristan Pitre. About a third of the collection represents premium Santa Barbara County brands such as Jonata, Folded Hills, and Peake Ranch, with which the Ranch has just partnered for this year’s house Pinot Noir – single clone and single barrel. International classics and rarities abound – there was that one group of oenophiles that recently flew in just to sip through rare Grand Cru Burgundies. And the seasons influence the cellar, too. In spring and summer, for example, “we’re keeping the focus on wines that are more refreshing and more acid and mineral driven,” adds Pitre. “So, more rosés, Sancerres, and Chablis.”

A selection of vintages imported from France (photo by Edward Clynes)

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rivate tours of the cellar – complete with canapés and bubbly – are among several enhanced post-pandemic guest experiences. Couples or small groups can also opt for private dining in the Carriage House, with its secluded stone-paved patio, or the elegant Old Adobe that was built in 1825.

A day of golf at the 18-hole, par-71 Jack Nicklaus-designed course at the members-only Montecito Club, another Ty Warner property, also comes standard.

Frequent visitors to the Ranch will want to consider Connoisseur Club membership with Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts, which offers exclusive perks at all of the Ranch’s sister properties, including the Four Seasons The Biltmore Santa Barbara, the Four Seasons New York, and Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Outdoor dining beckons relaxing summer meals (photo by Edward Clynes)

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JEWELRY YOU’LL AND

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La Dolce Vita CHEF MASSIMO FALSINI FINE TUNES FARE AT CARUSO’S

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by Gabe Saglie

he driving force behind the way food is made at Caruso’s has been constant since its opening. “The secret,” says executive chef Massimo Falsini, who launched the signature restaurant at the Rosewood Miramar Beach in 2019, “is in the ingredients.”

The surrounding environment holds the key, he insists, and seasonality is king. For the upscale restaurant cradled by the Pacific Ocean and by a region teeming with growers, the focus, then, is squarely on what’s available locally, and available now. And relationships matter. “Chefs must bend completely to Mother Nature,” Falsini continues. “Culinary development [at Caruso’s] starts with the landscape of the American Riviera and with our partnerships with the fishermen and ranchers and

farmers of the area. Those friendships make us part of a community.

And then we, as chefs, have nothing else to do but to try to give something of ourselves with nourishment of our guests in mind. And then, magically, it all comes together.”

The chef ’s very emotional link to what he does grew during 30-plus years on the international dining scene – stints in places such as Switzerland, Monaco, Jordan, Dubai, and Singapore – and an impressive professional path peppered with Michelin stars.

He was working at Solage, a Forbes Five-Star Auberge resort in Napa, when developer Rick Caruso “twisted my arm,” he jests, to launch Caruso’s with the Rosewood Miramar Beach’s grand opening two years ago.

Inside Caruso’s, the striking ocean-inspired decor that created so much buzz when it opened remains: located in the resort’s Beach House, just on the other side of the train tracks that slice across the property, it’s festooned with rich hues of maritime blue and elegant jewel box touches

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Available now in store or online for home delivery

La Dolce Vita

As the COVID-19 pandemic winds down, locals and guests look forward to frequenting the seaside haunt for drinks at the sultry bar

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alsini’s love for feeding others and respect for ingredients, though, springs from his own Roman roots, including his beloved pastry chef grandmother and his family in the charcuterie-making business for seven generations. At first, the youth, hungry to pave his own path, had his career sights set on banking; he earned a bachelor’s in business administration and accounting, in fact, instead of ever going to culinary school.

Fate is tough to resist, though. At age 16, while working in neighborhood restaurants to make money, “I suddenly discovered that I could cook,” Falsini remembers. “I learned to fall in love with food, and I have never stopped since then.”

He’s not shy about admitting that, while elevated, the dining experience he aims to create for his guests is “a hint of the pleasure of the Italian sweet life,” where meals last a little longer, conversation flows more freely, and where “people can cut away for a while from their busy worlds.” Says property developer Rick Caruso: “I am incredibly proud of the hard work that Massimo and his team have put into bringing the glamour of la dolce vita to the Americana Rivera.”

The COVID-19 pandemic, interestingly, has served to fine-tune Falsini’s focus. Amid staffing changes and rolling closures, the charitable Miramar on the Move initiative – with the chef behind the wheel of the Miramar Food Truck as it covered ground from Montecito to Los Angeles – did manage to deliver 12,000 meals through local charities and 81,000 meals to children on Skid Row. But the chef recognizes the toll that the virus has taken on his community, and the world at large. “People are meant to be together, to hug each other, to kiss each other,” he says. “This pandemic has interrupted our fundamental need for this.”

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Executive chef Massimo Falsini

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La Dolce Vita

ood, though, can play a role in the recovery, and Falsini beats the drum for local ingredients even louder now. “Sustainability is the new immunity,” he insists. “Now more than ever, you must stay local, you must stay with your community. We have to be much, much more attached to the zero-mile philosophy.”

And he sprinkles in some color. “If you take a drone and fly it over the farmers’ market, and you take a still shot, you get a beautiful pattern of color. And then, if you take a shot of your dishes in the kitchen, As Caruso’s emerges from the pandemic and faces its future, the dining experience has undergone a small from the top, those colors makeover. Portions are smaller, and guests navigate should match,” he says. “That’s a four-course, $120 prix fixe tasting menu. But the how you know you’re respect- sweeping ocean views remain. And the caliber of cuisine shines. Pictured here, gnocchetti sardi and ing seasonality.”

Stephanie’s uni with yuzu butter, dulse and durum Bending with Mother pasta, caviar, and bottarga.

Nature means Chef Falsini’s food options can change weekly. “My team calls it, ‘menu gymnastics,’” he says with a laugh. Recently, antipasti included charred Pacific octopus, handpulled burrata with pickled guava and Jerusalem artichoke with Dungeness crab, crème fraîche, tangerine oil, and caviar; first course options ranged from gnocchi al Pomodoro to tagliatelle al ragù; and main courses offer an options from the sea, like line-caught Ventura yellowfin tuna and potatocrusted Channel Islands halibut, and the land, including Rocky Canyon chicken and truffles and mesquite-grilled certified Angus prime filet mignon.

Desserts are the handiwork of pastry chef Elizabeth Grant and can include berries Mara des Bois crostata with crème diplomat and Santa Barbara pistachio, and a yuzu and fromage blanc cheesecake served with mandarin sorbet.

However, some things never change in the Caruso’s kitchen – like the pasta Falsini makes by hand every afternoon. And his inhouse charcuterie program – creative and nostalgic at once, especially in the way it keeps the chef focused on nourishment for his guests. “Caruso’s represents not just my family’s Italian roots, but also my belief that some of life’s best moments come from memories made and conversations shared while enjoying a great meal,” says Caruso. “It brings me joy to see Caruso’s as a destination for celebrations big and small, and I consider a true honor that we have quickly become a part of cherished traditions for so many.”

Farm-fresh ingredients also play a role in the cocktail menu

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Sip and Savor

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he wine program at Caruso’s is led by Daniel Fish, the resort’s director of wine. “I saw an opportunity to reflect the same fusion of local and international influence” as Chef Falsini’s menu, he says.

“I source and carefully select incredible, rare labels that represent some of the best local California wines and also highlight the wonderful wines of the world,” primarily from France and Italy. Among the rare and exclusive standouts, with notes from Fish: NV Jacques Selosse “Substance,” Blanc de Blancs, Avize, Champagne ($995) One of the most sought-after smaller producers of Champagne, Jacques Selosse’s unique style, small production and cultlike status make it challenging to keep on the list and one of the great Champagnes to have the pleasure to enjoy.

2014 Mail Road “Mt. Carmel Vineyard” Chardonnay, Sta. Rita Hills ($215) Fruit from the famed Mt. Carmel Vineyard has been prized in the Sta. Rita Hills for years. The vineyard produces some of the most incredible Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes on the entire Central Coast.

This particular Chardonnay has an unbelievable balance of fruit, structure, acidity, and minerality.

2018 Littorai “Pivot Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast ($220) For me, one of the best producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in California. Winemaker Ted Lemon crafts vibrant, balanced wines that complement the exciting culinary world of California’s cuisine.

2007 Biondi-Santi “Tenuta Greppo” Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy ($500) Iconic, world-class Brunello di Montalcino. This wine is harmonic, well-structured, and perfectly blends tannins and acidity. Great depth of fruit and purity of earth persist on the palate.

2013 Diamond Creek “Three Vineyard Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($675) Diamond Creek is one of the quiet giants of Napa Valley. Founded in 1968, Diamond Creek is revered by those who know it for its wines, which are rich, complex, and also withstand the test of time.

The Rosewood Miramar Beach has also launched the Miramar Wine Collective, a club that offers members exclusive wine offerings Fish curates every month. Wine selections follow a unique theme – May’s theme is Coastal Wines from California followed by Enter the Summer with Rosé All Day in June – and represent rare finds from Santa Barbara and around the world. The three-tier club features monthly shipments of four to 12 bottles and are priced between $500 and $2,000. For more information, email miramar.winecollective@rosewood hotels.com.

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Wayne and Sharol hiking in the Black Forest around 1998

Two Villagers Speak

by Jeff Wing

Longtime Montecito dwellers Wayne and Sharol Siemens talk with us about their passion, projects, and more . . .

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ayne Siemens is a laconic guy with the build and carriage of a retired stevedore. He leans back in his chair with an air of amused command and starts in. “I was a farmer’s son in Bakersfield. I’m one of the last of the hand-cotton-pickers and potato-picker-uppers on my dad’s farm,” he says, using decidedly nontechnical terminology to describe his work there. “He wanted me to work the same 10 hours that everybody else did who worked for him.” How’d he feel about that as a young guy?

Wayne’s oblique reply settles the matter. “In retrospect, I feel great about it.” Behind him, a wall of sliding glass gives onto a shade-dappled fairway of some repute. The jittery plebe in me is convinced that at any moment an errant Titleist is going to come whistling in and dramatically

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break up the meeting in a cinematic, slow motion burst of flying glass.

I’ve been invited out to Wayne and Sharol Siemens’ place in the Woods to get the lowdown on these Westmont kids made good. We’re seated around a long dining table on a late autumn afternoon, sun reluctant to leave and throwing ambient honey into the room like a bribe.

Sharol offers me a painterly plate of grapes and Brie that is too gorgeously composed to imagine touching, let alone eating. Sharol is beautiful, gracious, and sports the surprised, incautious laughter of a 20-something. She also exudes that perceptible sense of will that would see her delicately tearing a phonebook in half with an unfaltering smile. How was Audrey Hepburn described? An iron fist in a velvet glove.

Sharol’s record of civic activism on behalf of her beloved home village is as long as a bank robber’s rap sheet, and approximately as intimidat-

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ing. Wayne’s long stewardship of the swaggeringly successful Santa Barbara Capital – founded with his Westmont roomie Dave Grotenhuis the year The French Connection won Best Picture® – has been a rewarding adventure of the sort that makes the family swimming pool a local water hazard for some of the most expensively driven balls in the Northern Hemisphere. But… Power Couple?

If these Westmont kids fit that Where were you in ’62? description, it’s that benign and Wayne’s Westmont graduation nourishing power earned over a (Sharol is a Junior Page) lifetime of laughing with pals, giddily adoring their kids, hosting loud, lamplit soirées, fishing golf balls out of the pool by moonlight – and otherwise making daily headway on their own terms. At this juncture things are looking up for the couple.

Their grown offspring live a stone’s throw away, their gorgeously appointed, classily understated hacienda cozily embraces them in the heart of the leafy village, and the damned guest has not destroyed the Brie.

Wayne’s World and Sharol’s World.

Kismet in the Forest.

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hat’s that fairy tale that has the young, gauzy innocents enter the woods from separate paths, meet in a clearing, and fall in love?

“We met at Westmont. I was a sophomore and Sharol was an incoming freshman,” Wayne says. His tone is reportorial but his eyes… well. “Stan Anderson is a great friend who rejoined us here in retirement from a life in Washington, D.C. He also lives in Birnam now. Stan introduced us, you see.” One day in 1960, Westmont students Wayne and Stan were looking at pictures of the incoming class of 1960. As sophomores, the two had survived the inaugural frosh humiliations and now regarded the new first-year cohort from the security of their second-year aerie.

“I pointed at Sharol’s picture and said, ‘You don’t happen to know this girl, do you, Stan?’” He did. “Let me introduce you,” Stan offered, adding “…she’s engaged to a UCLA football player, a really great guy.”

The UCLA Football Player brand alone would be enough to make any sensible young suitor fold up his raggedy pup tent and hitchhike home in the rain. Was Wayne a sensible young suitor? Let’s put it this way: Nope. “So I met her. I courted her,” Wayne says without irony. “I courted her for a long enough time…” He pauses. “What do you call it when…it happened to Patty Hearst – oh yeah. Stockholm syndrome.”

Sharol bursts out laughing and Wayne joins her. “Yeah, that kicked in.

I ended up with Sharol, and the girl I’d been dating ended up with the football player. And we’re all still married!” What drew him and Sharol along their separate paths to Westmont? “Westmont was, and is, as fine a small private institution of higher learning as we have in this country,” Wayne intones with sudden gravity. “I played baseball for four years at Westmont...” “ – and he hit .403 in his junior year!” Sharol suddenly yells into the recorder, her shout later rattling the writer’s crummy little headphones and sending his startled paws fluttering across the keyboard. Still. It’s an endearing template – lovebirds cutting each other off to boast their partner’s achievements. Wayne, though, is a stubborn lovebird. “No, hey – I don’t want to put that baseball stuff in there,” he says. “Sounds like I’m bragging!” “No, I’m bragging for you,” Sharol cheerily corrects him. Wayne responds with a practiced grumble, Sharol looks at me sideways and smiles – and I see in an instant this is one of those privileged moments where the interviewer/interloper is granted a glimpse of the pas de deux that animates a lifelong friendship.

Plus – Sharol is right to fling Wayne’s college baseball career into the mix. Wayne had been recruited by Westmont to pitch. He’d injured his arm the summer before freshman year and had to settle for “record-setting slugger” instead. It was the start of a successful run.

Minneapolis to Montecito, Farm to Fable

S

harol was born in Minneapolis and raised in Los Angeles. She was headed to university when she stumbled onto Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken – and took it. Not the poem, the actual road. “I was on my way to UCLA when I decided I wanted to first take a year and study the Bible academically, which is what Westmont offers.” It seems fair to say that a year plowing through the Good Book in the original Greek is not everyone’s cup of tea. It sure worked out for Sharol, though, who on arrival at that fragrant wooded clearing took one look around and quietly put UCLA in cold storage. “There was no going back.”

And Montecito in that day? “Extremely quiet, as you can imagine. I just have a vision of these ladies,” Sharol says with fond wonder.

“You know, the ones who would winter here from Chicago and other places out east. I can still see them being chauffeured around in their Rolls Royces.” Wayne hears “car” and dives in. “And their Dodge and ChrysThe New Chordettes mercilessly serenade a hapless audience member.

Always avoid the front row seats, folks.

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Chick Treks in Estes Park, Colorado; their happy-go-lucky group demeanor suggests they have yet to trek

ler limos, too! Cars no one had ever seen out here. These people were the icons of Detroit and Chicago, successful folks of a Midwestern bent.

And they were lovely people, too.” His eyes turn ruminative. “Their chauffeurs would stand outside the car door, and they would go into Jurgensen’s, where they paid once a year on credit.” These extremely liquid Midwestern visitors made a lingering impression on the two saucer-eyed Westmont kids. These years later their shared remembrance hushes the room, pleasantly darkening now at the onset of dusk. “It was a sleepy town,” Sharol says airily. “Very sleepy.”

Wayne and Sharol married, and after Westmont, tried their hand at the family business in Bakersfield. Wayne’s dad had asked him to come back and take over the farming operation. “My brother was stuck in academia, and I guess I seemed like the perfect guy to run the farm,” Wayne says. “But I was antsy.” He laughs. “My dad would see me out there – staring, you know.” He laughs again. “I’d say, ‘These plants aren’t growing very fast, dad.’ My dad had patience.

People who work farms have patience. I had no patience. We had a lovely time for three years.”

One day a stranger made an offer on the house he and Sharol owned on the outskirts of Bakersfield. “We made a quick sale and came back to Santa Barbara with no job and no home,” Wayne says with something like joy, and Sharol laughs loudly. “But we bought one,” she says. “Out of necessity!” Wayne barks through laughter.

Now…time passes, to put it as plainly as possible. The sprinting rigors of daily life often prevent us from feeling the full force of family magic as it unfolds right in front of our preoccupied faces. Even as we mow the lawn, wash the car, and dispatch endless TV dinners (so to speak), the happy madness of “ordinary life” is lavishly incandescing under the radar. So it is that the two little ones Wayne and Sharol brought along to their new adventure – baby Jason and his two-year old brother Ryan, would grow to produce their own saplings – two year-old Ryan miracu-

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Sharol’s record of civic activism on behalf of her beloved home village is as long as a bank robber’s rap sheet, and approximately as intimidating. lously growing up through baseball caps and skinned knees to meet his wife Angela and gift Wayne and Sharol three grandchildren – Olivia, Blake and Nicholas. The gurgling baby Jason would eat all his vegetables, hesitantly begin shaving, and eventually (maybe even inevitably) cross paths with his Jennifer; another set of lovebirds producing babies of their own, grandchildren Sunny Rose and Harrison. And so it goes – a Russian doll of endless love.

But back in the day, all this was about as foreordained as the Mars Rover. The young marrieds were fixated on just making it to the next hour. You know how it is. So having established their roots in a lovely new town, Wayne and Sharol Siemens put away the dishware, hung the curtains, and threw themselves at life. Pretty much literally. Here are a few highlights.

Repurposing the Union 76

S

ome people stand in place and patiently await the arrival of random happenstance. For these, there are salami sandwiches, pleasant episodes of blanched sunlight, lots of thumbing through twice-read magazines, and the occasional sip of champagne from a glass that once contained off-brand grape jelly. This may constitute a life, and a perfect-

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ly marvelous one at that. Knowing what we know about Wayne’s impatience with potatoes (and other slowpoke phenomena, we can guess) and Sharol’s proven yen for moving the ball downfield, something else was in the cards for these two. Like what?

The Montecito Community Foundation? Kapow. “It’s a quiet organization that just enhances the nature of Montecito,” Sharol says demurely.

Yeah, and a car is just a monthly payment until Andy Granatelli slips behind the wheel, right? Sharol retired as president after 20 years on the Montecito Community Foundation’s board, and she is perhaps proudest of her role in helping establish “The Park” at the corner of East Valley Road and San Ysidro, where once stood a Union 76 gas station.

“Those in the know call it the Corner Green,” Sharol says. A so-named plaque on the grounds and a book in the foundation offices commemorate the many, many village friends whose modest donations collectively purchased and repurposed the spot in leafy perpetuity. Not that the boarded-up Union 76 wasn’t a perfectly lovely thing. Sharol is at pains to give major props to the small energized group she and her friend Patty Whalen helped steer through the fund-raising process, and she speaks frankly and lovingly of the local power brokers who reached into their networks to get things moving. “There was a fabulous committee made up of a lot of talented people, including older men – and I say that respectfully – who had a lot of influence and a lot of friends. Under the direction of our persuasive leader Patty Whalen, they just went around and got everybody involved!” Capitalism as a force for sun-drenched grass and shaded benches. Apparently cash is just stuff that does one’s bidding. Who knew?

The New Chordettes, Chick Treks, Late-Night Snakes

W

hen not helping turn defunct gas stations into patches of nature through the alchemy of community love and greenbacks, Sharol could be found touring the western United States in a singing group called the New Chordettes. Singer/producer Bob Duncan – tenor for golden age recording artists The Diamonds, three-year fixture on the iconic Lawrence Welk Show, and Westmont alum – obtained the rights to the name Chordettes. The original a capella four-piece from the 1950s – major hits included “Mr. Sandman” and “Lollipop” – had long since disbanded, its members decamping to the Big Proscenium that awaits us all – the hams among us, anyway. Christening his group The New Chordettes, Duncan managed and booked the harmony group all over the western United States, the group receiving great notices. Sharol toured with The New Chordettes for eight years. “It was a lot of fun,” she says. “We sang at county fairs and various events.” In a stage-whispered aside, she confides with a rueful grin, “…there wasn’t much money in it!”

Then there was Chick Treks – an enterprise whose politically ill-advised name could get one boiled in oil today. “Joanne Rapp and I are still dear friends, and we owned a company called Santa Barbara Protocol, which morphed into Chick Treks – Women Walking. We led all-female groups on hiking trips around the western United States.” Sharol also worked on the 1984 Olympic Committee (“Twelve-hour days and a group of foreign athletes who wanted us to

A reception at the Abercrombies’ estate – Roger Whalen, Patty Whalen, Wayne Siemens, Gwen Randolph, Sharol Siemens, and the then Vice President George Bush

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get them snakes to eat. Turned out they meant snacks...”), was part of the Reagan/Bush advance team, served as chair of the Santa Barbara Concours d’Elegance, and spent six fruitful years on the board of the International Foundation for Election Systems, which travels the world helping fledgling democracies find their feet, root themselves in precious freedoms, and navigate the difficult walk into sunlight and self-determination. No big deal.

During some of this period Sharol presumably ate and slept, but there are no records of those activities.

San Ysidro Pharmacy, JCR Vineyard, Yellowstone

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ayne Siemens could be described as restless. Case in point – early attempts to hasten his dad’s harvest by staring intently at the soil. His professional, philanthropic, and volunteer efforts are likewise episodes of projectile will power and life-loving good humor – from pharma-rescue to Pinot Noir, and from Cuban baseball ambassadorship to pack wolves. Space restrictions preclude a fuller exposition of Wayne’s array of adventures. The brushstrokes below can be expanded upon by Wayne if you’re able to corner him on the phone.

“The San Ysidro Pharmacy was up for sale. Its business was at risk of being bought by a big name pharmacy,” Wayne says. He sent out letters to friends and connections he thought might be able to help, and indeed the Palmer Jackson

Wayne at JCR Vineyard during harvest; Dave Grotenhuis and Wayne with wine from JCR Vineyard

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family and Leslie Ridley-Tree stepped up with the funds to finance purchase of the business by its longtime staff.

Cottage Health had an important need for space and a long-term vision for a consolidated campus for its essential non-patient care programs, including accounting and financial services, information technology, research, and human resources. As it happened, David and Anna Grotenhuis and Wayne and Sharol Siemens were in possession of desirable real estate that could help Cottage achieve this vision. Through a creatively structured 20-year lease and with a gift component, the couples have been able to help Cottage create a business campus for the future. “Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital opened its doors in 1891 and has provided extraordinary care for our community – uninterrupted for 130 years,” Wayne says. “We share a feeling of appreciation and pride in the care Cottage provides to our friends and neighbors, and are excited to support Cottage into the future.”

Wayne’s seat on the board of the Yellowstone National Park Foundation put him in the middle of the fundraising and conservation efforts that augment decreasingly effective government appropriations earmarked for the park. “The wolves need to be fed in the middle of winter,” Wayne says, “and it’s going to cost one million dollars. The foundation tackles those kinds of things with private donations from companies like Michelin, ConocoPhillips, and Kodak. It’s terrific and we love it.”

When Wayne and his lifelong business partner/buddy/former Westmont roommate Dave Grotenhuis purchased Jalama Cañon Ranch in 2004 (located about seven miles due north of Point Conception) it was for sheer love of the 1,000-acre setting. When the region’s wine whisperer stopped by to have a look-see, he informed Wayne that the limestone-riddled soil made the place a perfect Pinot petri dish. JCR wine, all 5.5 acres of it, had a good critical run for years but was not a revenue stream. Wayne and Dave recently sold to the White Buffalo Land Trust, which is going to make the rolling acreage an experimental space for development of regenerative agriculture practices and a teaching farm for kids – tomorrow’s enlightened food producers.

Sharol and Wayne with sons Jason and Ryan

Roger Whalen, Sharol, Patty Whalen, and Wayne in Portugal – surely taking a break from arduous Portuguese lessons

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Having established their roots in a lovely new town, Wayne and Sharol Siemens put away the dishware, hung the curtains, and threw themselves at life.

Sharol and Patty Whalen hiking in Germany circa 1980

SUMMER 2021

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Our Man Near Havana

C

uba, an island nation about 90 miles south of Key West, Florida, was for decades defined as the Soviet Union’s stooge off the Florida coast – a reputation that reached its terrifying apotheosis in October 1962.

When JFK successfully stared down Nikita Khrushchev over the Soviet missiles stationed there, school kids came out from under their desks and nuclear war largely left the headlines. The sorry episode had the effect, though, of thenceforth rebranding Cuba and Cubans as a virulent Communist menace. When the Soviet Union collapsed in ’91, so did their sponsorship of and trade with Cuba. It’s been a difficult time for the reportedly indomitable Cuban people ever since.

“These are people who would rather be selling condos in Scottsdale, or come to the States and establish meaningful lives,” Wayne says with some heat. He’s grown fond of the place, is weary of Cuba’s fate as a geopolitical pawn, and speaks adoringly about the people there.

For 17 years, Wayne and Santa Barbara Foresters owner Bill Pintard have traveled to Cuba with a singular mission that has nothing to do with cigars, rum, or the Cold War. “Their sport down there is baseball,” Wayne says. “They’re crazy about it. Not European football. Baseball. Anytime an American baseball team goes down there, it’s like a festival for the Cubans.”

The mission? “All we want to do is bring baseball gear for the kids. And that’s what we’ve done for 17 years.” He pauses. “The Cubans are lovely people who just want to be able to live a good life and pay for their own families.

They’re not Communists. They’re people who laugh and hug and weep with us.” Another pause. “Tears flow… so that’s why we went.

We want to be friends.”

When Wayne describes several trips down to Cuba with the Santa Barbara Foresters baseball team, his commanding voice cracks audibly.

“The Foresters in that big stadium down there, all the happy people…I don’t know how you’d describe it.” The game plan – on pause because of COVID-19 – will continue until someone intercedes to make it stop. “We’re going to bring bats and balls and equipment to the kids down there for as long as we can.”

Wayne is red-eyed in his storytelling. He and Sharol have spent a lifetime in shameless pursuit of very ordinary joy; Corner Greens for gas stations; four-part harmony with friends on a series of wind-blown county fair stages; rescue of the local pharmacy – and a

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yearly haul of baseball bats and gloves to kids who can’t transcend their circumstances but through a game invented 180 years ago and a scant 90 miles away.

Wayne’s got one more. “Thirty seconds,” he promises.

“There was a Cuban center fielder, had a cast on his arm. He walked up to us and spoke to our friend in Spanish, our translator. The translator walked me around the corner and said, ‘Tavares is one of our best players, but he’s worried about being able to bat when his cast comes off. He’s asking if we might be able to send him a batting glove one day, with a little padding here and here.

And he’s left-handed. Might that be possible?’” Wayne takes a breath. I see Sharol in my periphery, carefully watching her longtime roomie compose himself, surely for the umpteenth time in a life of shared love and malarkey. “So a USC equipment manager takes a couple batting gloves,” Wayne says with growing difficulty, “you know, with the USC logo and everything. He flips them over and sews the padding in as requested, just like that. We take the gloves over to Tavares…” – here is where Westmont slugger Wayne Siemens loses it – “...and Tavares just looks at us and says, ‘No no. No no. No no no. This only happens in fairy tales.’” Wayne can barely finish the sentence. Five seconds of silence. “Sorry about that,” Wayne says.

“I’m under control now!”

Sharol and Wayne Siemens in their finery

Wayne is red-eyed in his storytelling. He and Sharol have spent a lifetime in shameless pursuit of very ordinary joy.

The Siemens clan: (Back row, left to right) Wayne, Ryan, Angela, Jennifer, Jason, and Sharol; (front row) Olivia, Sunny Rose, Nicholas, Harrison, and Blake

SUMMER 2021

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From Glamorous Geek

Lynda Weinman at Clay Studio in Goleta (photo by Edward Clynes)

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to Clay Bottress Lynda Weinman’s next act

by L.D. Porter

W

ith her distinctive eyeglasses, Lynda Weinman has been a stylish icon for two decades. It began with the brand identity for Lynda.com, the online subscription-based computer teaching platform she started with her husband, Bruce Heavin. The corporate logo, a black-and-white cameo portrait of Weinman sporting her signature specs, perfectly captured her trademark style. “My glasses are a symbol, I realize,” she says. “It’s your vision, it’s how you see the world, it’s your perspective.”

The world became aware of Weinman’s vision and perspective in 2015, when Lynda.com was sold to LinkedIn for a reported $1.5 billion, and pundits dubbed her the “Mother of the Internet.” At the time, this “unicorn-like” success appeared instantaneous but was in fact the result of two decades of hard work by the couple, who revolutionized the way computer skills are learned worldwide.

Following the sale, Weinman’s focus shifted to philanthropy, and local nonprofits such as the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and UC Santa Barbara’s Arts & Lectures have benefitted from her largesse. But her lifelong goal was to return to ceramics, an activity she relished as a teenager but put off as something to pursue in retirement. As she and Heavin embarked on plans to build a new home (currently under construction), a clay studio was included – something Weinman calls “a big leap of faith,” as she had not touched ceramics since high school.

Waiting for her new home and studio to be built, Weinman enrolled in a ceramics class at Santa Barbara City College in 2018 and simultaneously searched online for clay workshops.

An advanced class making ceramic molds from 3D software at Colorado’s Anderson Ranch Arts Center quickly caught her eye.

“I was completely captivated by the description, because I had never thought to marry technology and ceramics,” she says, “and I thought, that’s really interesting because I know a little about 3D software from the past.” (This is an understatement from the woman who penned the international bestseller Designing Web Graphics – a bible for Mac users – and taught digital media for more than a decade at the ArtCenter College of Design.)

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Lynda Weinman

ClayStudioSB_PROOFS-33 ClayStudioSB_PROOFS-35 would need to edit out chair

ClayStudioSB_PROOFS-37 ClayStudioSB_PROOFS-39

I

An interior view of Clay Studio in Goleta (photo by Edward Clynes)

t was easy enough for Weinman to finesse her way into the Anderson Ranch class, but the actual experience was profoundly humbling, as recounted on her ceramics-focused blog, Claybottress: “As I showed the image of the first pot to the class of far more accomplished potters, my eyes welled with tears, and my voice shook. I was no longer the person who had created a company, or taught computer graphics, or had earned awards or accolades. I was completely naked in my lack of knowledge.

An abject beginner. I felt as if I was an imposter, and it was terrifying,” she says. However, the “learning new stuff part” was and continues to be exhilarating. “I was drinking from a fire hose of new knowledge and I loved it.”

Near the end of her Anderson Ranch stay, Weinman had an epiphany.

Not only did she enjoy making ceramics, she enjoyed making ceramics with other people. “I loved the idea of having my own studio,” she recalls, “but I also loved the idea of having a community studio.” She immediately emailed the one person in Santa Barbara who could help make that idea a reality: Patrick Hall.

An acknowledged ceramics master, Hall is known for his impressive large-scale sculptural pieces. After taking ceramics in high school and working as a production potter in a commercial ceramics studio, Hall was drawn to Santa Barbara by UCSB’s now-shuttered ceramics program, where he earned both an undergraduate and a master’s degree.

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He’s been in Santa Barbara ever since, but put his ceramics practice on hold for 30 years to helm a design/build construction business. He returned to clay in 2011, with his former UCSB professor, noted ceramicist Sheldon Kaganoff. Together they established the Clay Studio in Goleta in 2015, where the two taught classes and generated a loyal following of several dozen students. Unfortunately, after three years the land was redeveloped and the studio closed. At that point, Hall began searching for another location, giving his students and followers frequent updates. Weinman was on Hall’s contact list; she had visited the Clay Studio before its closure.

In her email to Hall, Weinman offered to provide financial support for a new Clay Studio. The two met for breakfast the morning after Weinman returned from Anderson Ranch. Hall smiles when recalling their meeting. “I told her what the small dream was, and what the big dream was, which was that I’d really like Clay Studio to evolve into an art center that supported the community. By the end of breakfast, she said, ‘Why don’t we just start big?’” His dream had come true.

Weinman’s dream had also come true. “I’m retired and I want to be retired,” she insists. “I loved the idea that Patrick already had a nonprofit, he wanted to run it, he had all the equipment, he had all the knowhow, and I could basically fund it and show up and enjoy it. It was the perfect thing.”

SUMMER 2021

An eclectic trio of Weinman’s pots made with 3D software and a clay printer (photo by Edward Clynes)

“As I showed the image of the first pot to the class of far more accomplished potters, my eyes welled with tears, and my voice shook. I was no longer the person who had created a company, or taught computer graphics, or had earned awards or accolades. I was completely naked in my lack of knowledge.”

– Lynda Weinman

A close-up of Hall’s hand-made handles wait to be attached and (below) tools of the trade (photo by Edward Clynes)

Weinman’s whimsical 3D printed clay series titled Insecurity Awards

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Lynda Weinman

The Clay Studio Gallery, which plans to host six exhibitions each year once COVID mandates are lifted (photo by Edward Clynes)

T

he new Clay Studio is a 24,000-square-foot building surrounded by four pastoral acres in Goleta. Hall is its executive director. “We looked at quite a few properties,” Weinman says, “and when I saw it, I realized it was the perfect place for an art studio because it was a building that had been hit so hard with an ugly stick, it just had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, except that it was big and inexpensive [compared to] normal Santa Barbara prices. If it had been downtown, it would have been ten times as expensive.” Given Hall’s extensive construction experience,

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initial renovations were completed in a mere five months, and the newly-designed Clay Studio opened its doors in January of 2020. (It closed seven weeks later due to COVID-19.)

One of Clay Studio’s recent acquisitions – courtesy of Weinman – is a 3D clay printer. “I didn’t want to get a kind of a ‘hobby’ printer here,” Hall says, “because we’re going to teach workshops, and it has to be able to do things at scale. So we bought a pretty ambitious piece of equipment. It can print out five-foot-tall things.” A technician from the

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Hall with his beloved dog Tucker (photo by Edward Clynes)

manufacturer was brought in to demonstrate the printer’s operation, but the COVID-19 lockdown forced him to leave after just one day. For Weinman, that single day of training was “enough to give me the right amount of knowledge to then figure out the rest myself.” Within a few months she was teaching the studio staff how to clay print.

To the uninitiated, using a 3D printer to make a clay pot looks as simple as pressing the button on a coffee machine, because it’s easy to ignore the complexities behind mechanical technology. All digital fabrication

– 3D printing included – uses software that translates into detailed code commands. But often a disparity exists between what the software can accomplish and the user’s capacity to make it happen. Weinman discovered this years ago after reading the manual for her then-boyfriend’s Mac computer, prompting her to write her groundbreaking book on Web graphics. She encountered a similar situation with the computer software visualizations of her clay designs; sometimes they failed to match what the 3D clay printer produced, or they collapsed during printing.

At first, Weinman simply documented these “failures” on Claybottress, and even glazed some of the strangely beautiful pieces. But eventually, after being unable to locate any resources addressing the technical issues she was experiencing, she contacted the clay software company directly, and ended up working closely with the company’s programming team.

She even co-launched a tutorial site on the company’s website with a fellow ceramicist. (She also posted instructional videos on YouTube.)

When the COVID-19 lockdown banished Weinman from Clay Studio, she installed a desktop clay printer in her existing dining room “since we weren’t going to be doing any entertaining,” she says. She insists the messy part – changing the clay – is done in the garage (after moving her car). She also took over the home’s entryway to dry her pieces. “Then I realized I really wanted a pug mill, which is what you use to mix clay, so you can use a lot of different types of clay,” she says, “and then I also decided I

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Lid detail of Hall’s Yogun #13, porcelain with black bamboo and leather straps

Patrick Hall’s ceramics reflect an aesthetic honed over many years of practice. He generally works in multiples, which allows him to see the lineage connecting the first piece to the last and how his expertise and eye for that particular form or proportion evolves. Yogun #13, is a sodium silicate piece with a crackled texture that results from expanding the inside of the vessel after coating the outside with slip. The uniformity of the cracks is a testament to Hall’s advanced technique.

Hall’s Yogun #13, 16 x 13 in.

Collab #15 is an example of the power of collaboration, mixing Hall’s thrown and hand-built work with Weinman’s 3D printed clay elements. “We’re really creating a new language in ceramics genre,” Hall notes. More examples of these trailblazing works can be seen at Sullivan Goss: An American Gallery through May 24

Covid Vase is one in a series of 50 such works Hall executed at Clay Studio during the pandemic lockdown when no one else was around. “I had a very peaceful, calming time doing it, because I was just immersed in my work,” he says, and the serenity of these vessels reflect Hall’s attempt to find equanimity in throes of the pandemic (photos by Edward Clynes)

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Hall detailing the contours of a large porcelain extended thrown vase

wanted a kiln, so I just said to Bruce, ‘I’m willing to park my car in the driveway’ and he said ‘Ok.’” (Actually, he told her he hadn’t seen her “this lit up” since they first met.) Ultimately, she confesses, “I’ve really turned our house into a clay studio, bit by bit, during COVID. Bruce will say to me, ‘Were you doing something with clay? There’s clay on the handle of the door….’”

News of Weinman’s clay adventures reached the owners of Ojai’s Porch Gallery, Lisa Casoni and Heather Stobo, who visited her dining room studio to witness the 3D printer at work. That visit led to Weinman’s first public display of her ceramics for “The Ojai Invitational, 2020, The Ceramics Show” at the gallery last year. According to Stobo, the initial impetus for including

A fully loaded kiln of 3D pottery displaces Weinman’s car at her garage studio

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Weinman’s work in the exhibition was to provide insight into the 3D printing process in contrast to the traditional methodologies of the other ceramic artists. “We assumed that her pieces would be meticulous and robotic in their precision,” Stobo says, “and some were. But what really captured our interest was the way she embraced the outtakes.

Adding gold leaf and glazing to collapsed vessels, Weinman embraced the beauty of wabi-sabi. There were no mistakes, just variations on the form.”

Even so, Weinman is shy about exhibiting her work. “It just doesn’t quite feel deserving yet,” she confesses. (Weinman’s pottery is available for sale on Clay Studio’s website; she donates the proceeds back to the studio.)

But the best is yet to come – namely the fruits of a collaboration between Weinman and Hall. While the latter admitted to “sitting on the sidelines” as the 3D printer was installed at Clay Studio, he soon hatched the idea of combining Weinman’s printed clay with his own hand-thrown pieces. “I think the work is really promising,” he says. “I think it’s interesting – the wedding of art and technology.” Nathan Vonk, owner of Santa Barbara’s Sullivan Goss: An American Gallery, obviously agrees, having organized “Kindred Spirits”, a show of the duo’s collaborative work currently on view at the gallery through May 24. “I’m super excited,” Vonk says, “because their two aesthetics are relatively distinct from one another; his are very round and organic, and hers are much more precise, analytical things.

That juxtaposition is really, really interesting. It’s a synergistic sort of thing where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.”

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“She’s one of those unique people who has both hemispheres of her brain firing at similar frequencies.”

– Nathan Vonk A collection of collaboration pieces by Hall and Weinman await color and texture

Hall and Weinman with Scara, the sophisticated 3D clay printer at Goleta's Clay Studio (photo by Edward Clynes)

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Two luminous pieces designed by Hall and Weinman demonstrate the power of their creative collaboration

Some of Hall and Weinman's unglazed "collaboration" pieces

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Weinman’s 3D printed clay pieces on display at Ojai’s Porch Gallery, part of "The Ojai Invitational 2020: The Ceramics Show"

“We assumed that her pieces would be meticulous and robotic in their precision and some were. But what really captured our interest was the way she embraced the outtakes. Adding gold leaf and glazing to collapsed vessels, Weinman embraced the beauty of wabi-sabi.”

– Heather Stobo One of Weinman’s Beautiful Disaster pieces in 3D printed clay

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eanwhile, Hall and his staff continue their efforts to fulfill the ambitious vision for Clay Studio. Permits for a dozen studios, four workshop spaces, and two residency apartments are in process. “Our plan is to have two residencies taking place here at all times,” he says. There’s also the possibility UCSB students might access Clay Studio as part of their studies, and Hall is open to including photography studios at the facility in the future. Not to mention installing an outdoor screen for movie nights and tending to the refurbished orchard surrounding the building (whose fruits will be donated to the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County).

The potential impact of the Clay Studio on the arts community in Santa Barbara is not lost on gallery owner Vonk. “I think that the scale of the impact the institution can have is boundless,” he says. “I think it won’t be long before it will be a nationally recognized place.” The primary reason for that, of course, is Weinman herself. “She’s one of those unique people who has both hemispheres of her brain firing at similar frequencies,” Vonk continues, “and what’s really unique about her is that she’s not just writing checks. She dove into the deep end and is creating a thing that is totally new and unique. We’re extraordinarily lucky that it’s happening here.”

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LINDSAY PARRISH 805.451.7609 lindsay.parrish@compass.com DRE 02007433 Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01991628. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate.

MICHELE WHITE

MICHELE WHITE 805.452.7515 michele.white@compass.com DRE 01930309

A Community Hub

(photo by Michelle K. Min)

by Nicholas Schou

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The Montecito Country Mart beckons locals and visitors with a plethora of shopping and dining experiences

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ver since he was a small child, James Rosenfield remembers driving up Highway 101 from his home in Los Angeles until the family car reached the San Ysidro Road offramp. More often than not, it was during the winter holiday season, and a large tree to the right of the freeway would typically be decorated with Christmas lights. When he saw the tree, Rosenfield felt that he was in the epicenter of his universe, or at least what he imagined it could be. “I would see it and think that I was home,” he recalled on a recent morning over coffee in the courtyard of the Montecito Country Mart. “Sometimes a place just grabs you and you don’t know why.”

Rosenfield’s parents would take him to the San Ysidro Ranch to ride horses up into the canyons and look out over the ocean. “I looked at the coast and thought, This is where people who have been lucky live,” he says, “and it created this desire in me to get here.”

Rosenfield, who grew up with undiagnosed dyslexia, never earned stellar grades in school, but his learning disability instilled in him a determination to succeed at everything he tried, which served him well. Instead of going from high school to college directly, he interned on Capitol Hill for California Congressman Tom Lantos and eventually gathered enough letters of recommendation from various politicians to win himself acceptance to UC Berkeley, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1984. Later, he studied art at the Slade School of Art in London. He broke into the California real estate market at age 25 with the specific intention of someday acquiring the Brentwood Country Mart in Santa Monica.

“I took the bus to the beach with my friends and often ended up at the Brentwood Country Mart when it got overcast. I fell in love with it,” says Rosenfield. “I told my parents I was going to acquire it one day and they said, ‘No you’re not,’ and that was the fuel I needed to do that.”

Rosenfield knew that if he wanted to make that dream a reality, he’d have to spend considerable time building wealth and expertise.

“I knew I had to develop a good relationship with one retailer,” he recalls. “For me, it was Sears, Roebuck and Co. So I flew to Chicago to meet several Sears executives and pitched a building in Fresno. I made a lease for the next 10 years, purchased buildings, and leased them to the retailer or helped in any way I could. Whatever they needed in the western United States, I would do it for them.”

One of Rosenfield’s mentors was James W. Rouse, who restored Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall as a public marketplace in 1992 and developed Columbia, Maryland, as the first fully integrated planned community in the United States, among other notable projects.

Rouse helped instill in Rosenfield a sense of faith in his vision of acquiring historic California shopping malls and returning them to their original glory.

Rosenfield’s first acquisition, in 2003, comes as no surprise:

The Brentwood Country Mart, originally constructed in 1948, was not in the then au courant midcentury-modern architectural style but intended as a nostalgic throwback to what Hollywood stars (and local shoppers) of the time – Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, James Dean... – remembered from their childhoods. Rosenfield also purchased and restored Santa Monica’s Aero Theatre (built by legendary aerospace engineer Donald Douglas of McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Co.) and became a landmarks commissioner for the city. Building on that success, Rosenfield then acquired the Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, California, which had been built in the mid-1970s, before finally turning his attention to Montecito, where he began restoring the Montecito Country Mart more than a decade ago.

As he’d done with other properties, Rosenfield examined the original building plans for the shopping mall, which first opened in 1964, and set about returning the mart’s exteriors – buildings, doors, windows, and paint scheme – to their original glory. “This is a style of architecture we often call Town & Country,” Rosenfield says. “But it had been altered.

Well-meaning landlords allowed a bakery to update the doors to metal ones or have a red awning, and all of a sudden you had a hodgepodge of doors and windows and awnings and things like that.” Rosenfield insisted on a brown and white color scheme to match Montecito’s country-style road signs, as well as local landscaping such as loquat and lemon trees, agave plants, and rosemary bushes.

“We were inspired by local places such as Lotusland and the San Ysidro Ranch,” he says, adding that creating a courtyard that offered ample outdoor seating was a feature he’d appreciated from his travels to the South of France. “The courtyard area hadn’t previously been used for gatherings,” he says. Additionally, Rosenfield was determined to have the Montecito Country Mart serve as a public space in which people could come together, drawn either by their desire to shop, drop off a package, or eat at one of the upscale yet casual eateries such as Merci Montecito or Bettina, which he carefully chose as tenants.

“We kept spaces empty for years to find the just right tenant,” Rosenfield reflects. “My friends would always make fun of me for overthinking the tenants and tell me that it’s not a marriage. I may have been leasing to people for five or 10 years but I was creating an institution that would be a part of the community for decades. It’s a little bit like being a painter who has an idea of what the painting will look like when it’s done. I saw the location, the courtyard, the parking around the facility, and realized this could be a place I could love and would be loved by the community.”

Just after the January 9, 2018, mudslide disaster struck Montecito, Rosenfield and his wife purchased a house within walking distance of the project. “My wife and I see ourselves living here,” he continues. “This is a fabulous community and a wonderful part of the world. And in the past year, a lot of people have discovered Montecito. I think those of us that have loved it for years are wondering, What took you so long?”

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Meet Me at the Mart Get to know Montecito’s dynamic shopping destination

by Kelly Mahan Herrick

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hen Los Angeles developer Jim Rosenfield added Montecito Country Mart to his array of boutique Southern California shopping malls back in 2009, he promised to make it a place where mom-and-pop shops and services could be accessed in a single shopping trip for Montecito locals. With more than 20 micro-sized shops and a handful of uber popular dining options, the Mart also offers an elegant courtyard, ample parking, and convenient location on the cusp of Montecito and Santa Barbara. Rosenfield and his team have further elevated the idea of a community gathering place, offering thoughtful and unique events at the Mart throughout the year. An Easter egg hunt in the spring; petting zoos, lemonade stands, and movie nights in the summer; a pumpkin patch in the fall; holiday “sip n’ strolls” in the winter; and more. Here are the Mart’s current retail, restaurant, and service offerings.

Bettina

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ew York City transplants Brendan Smith and Rachel Greenspan opened their chic pizzeria, Bettina, in 2018 after a successful stint in wedding and event catering with their mobile wood-fired pizza oven. Bettina features naturally leavened pizzas – the dough is slowly fermented for 48 hours and blasted in a wood-fired oven to produce a characteristically blistered, puffy crust with a soft, chewy interior – dressed up with inventive toppings such as house-made pork sausage, Ojai honey, wild chanterelles, and more. The ever-changing menu also includes simple salads and small plates – think fried calamari, burrata with tomato confit, and meatballs al forno – as well as desserts; an offering that the couple describes as “California cuisine with an Italian accent.” At the heart of the bustling eatery is an expansive marble counter and bar, serving up a mix of new- and old-world wines, a unique and well-crafted selection of spritzes, amari, digestifs, and vermouths, and a selection of classic cocktails with an Italian twist.

Patrons can dine inside at luxurious leather booths or tables, or outside on a quaint patio framed by olive trees.

(805) 770-2383 | www.bettinapizzeria.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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Montecito Country Mart

Caffe Luxxe

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his European-style café was founded in 2006 by friends Mark Wain and Gary Chau, who both left corporate jobs to pursue their dream of opening a local coffee business. The pair sources coffee beans from around the world, forming relationships with farmers and importers who offer sustainable practices and fair pay to farm workers. The beans used in the espresso and coffee drinks are hand roasted in small batches in Los Angeles and available for retail purchase. Caffe Luxxe has been featured on numerous “Best Of ” lists, winning accolades for quality offerings and a friendly atmosphere.

(310) 394-2222 | www.caffeluxxe.com

(photo Courtesy of Caffe Luxxe)

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Clare V.

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fter noticing a lack of functional yet stylish laptop cases while working as a journalist for French TV, designer Clare Vivier decided to create her own line of handbags and accessories, which feature a beautiful play on classic shapes, modern detail, and Parisian charm. Her namesake store, Clare V., continues to evolve with each new collection, and Vivier has collaborated with brands and partners including Anthropologie, Adam Scott, artist Donald Robertson, Mike D., TOMS, Garrett Leight, and InStyle, and gives back through ongoing partnerships with Every Mother Counts, When We All Vote, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Planned Parenthood. Since opening the very first Clare V. flagship in Los Angeles’s Silverlake neighborhood in 2012, additional locations have opened in Nolita, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Brooklyn, Newport Beach, San Francisco, Chicago, and now, Montecito. Customers can customize their bags with hand-painted monogramming and mix-and-match hand and body straps, which is a signature of Clare V.’s style.

(805) 869-2598 | www.clarev.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Clic

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lic is the brainchild of Christiane Celle, who was the original founder of resort-wear company Calypso. The first Clic store was opened in 2008 as a photography gallery and bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. The store has evolved and now offers a collection of contemporary photography, home goods, books, textiles, apparel, and accessories. The Montecito Clic store is the eighth Clic to open; other locations are in NYC, the Hamptons, Marin, and St. Barth. The happy, whimsical store is full of colorful housewares, from textiles such as blankets, rugs, and throw pillows, to handcrafted items like alpaca figurines and wood serving bowls, to pottery, to furniture pieces, coffee table books, photographic art, and more. The store is also lined with racks of a variety of apparel, from resort-style dresses, to luxurious jackets, and everything in between.

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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(805) 869-2503 | www.clic.com

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Montecito Country Mart

Coco Cabana

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boutique swim and leisure wear shop, Coco Cabana was founded in 2018 by Heather Fort. The shop began as an online destination for women and men’s swimwear, clothing, accessories, and home goods, and the tropical, chic space at Montecito Country Mart offers a smaller selection of what’s available online, as well as some merchandise that is not listed on the site. Pop into the refreshing space if you want to imagine – and shop for – your next vacation.

(925) 683-8038 | www.ilovecococabana.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Cynthia Benjamin

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ynthia Benjamin is a Los Angeles-based optical boutique store owned by husband and wife team Cynthia and Benjamin Montoya. The pair has been in the eyewear business for more than 25 years, with a successful and beloved store in the Brentwood Country Mart for the last 16. At the heart of Cynthia Benjamin is the customer experience, which includes educating the client on fit, quality, and style of both sunglasses and eyewear. The shelves at Cynthia Benjamin are filled with a mix of small, independent eyewear brands as well as an impressive array of vintage frames that date back to the 1940s.

All frames can be completely customized with optic lenses or for wear in the sun. The shop has its own lab to produce customized glasses as well as equipment that can read eyeglass prescriptions from existing lenses. The full-service boutique can also help with frame adjustments, troubleshooting, repairing or rehabbing old frames, advising on prescription concerns, and more.

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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(310) 260-0160 | www.cynthia-benjamin.com

S A L T O P T I C S . C O M

Montecito Country Mart

Farm Stand

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n Santa Barbara’s Mesa neighborhood, a beloved year-round farmers market called Mesa Produce is a go-to for the freshest fruits and vegetables available directly from local growers. The Farm Stand at Montecito Country Mart is Mesa Produce’s satellite location, offering an adjudicated yet bountiful collection of the freshest seasonal produce and flowers, all organic and pesticide free.

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

George

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his aesthetically pleasing pet shop is the brainchild of Bobby Wise and Lyndon Lambert, who started the company in 1991 and named it after their wirehaired fox terrier. The Montecito location is the fourth shop for the duo, who design their own line of pet accessories for the stores. The pet retailer is designed to look like a candy store for pets, with cat and dog treats and toys housed in glass containers. There are rows of George brand leashes, collars, and clothing for dogs and cats as well as a plethora of other accessories, including beds, quilts, bowls, food mats, and ID tags.

(805) 565-4777 | www.georgesf.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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Montecito Country Mart

Hudson Grace

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his stylish home store is filled with timeless decor for those who love to entertain. The carefully curated collection of beautiful yet practical serveware, dinnerware, glassware, flatware, linens, candles, and entertaining essentials is the perfect place to stop in for a hostess or housewarming gift, or stock up on the simple yet authentic designs for your own space. The store in the Mart is the third location for owners Monelle Totah and Gary McNatton; they have since gone on to open four more stores on both coasts. The small shop also offers a registry service for easy gift giving.

(805) 565-9600 | www.hudsongracesf.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

James Perse

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nown for his “luxe-yet-casual” style and vibe, designer James Perse’s namesake store offers high-quality basics as well as readyto-wear items for both men and women, including jackets, sweaters, pants, dresses, and more. Perse’s low-maintenance, high-fashion brand emphasizes both comfort and sophistication and is well-known for its soft, simple, and great-fitting T-shirts. The Montecito store is one of 37 boutiques across the world; the brand also offers home items and furniture in other locations.

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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(805) 969-0300 | www.jamesperse.com

Montecito Country Mart

Little Alex’s

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elebrating 32 years in business this spring, Montecito’s longest-running restaurant is located in the Mart. Dan and Lynette Briner have owned and operated the popular eatery since it opened, exemplifying the “mom-and-pop”-type atmosphere Rosenfield strives for in the Mart. The Briners set out to come up with a healthier Mexican restaurant, and when they opened the business in 1989, the American Heart Association helped tweak their family recipes to be “heart healthy.” With no lard in the tortillas or the beans, the food has long catered to vegetarians; the eatery is also known for its freshness, with all house-made sauces and salsas. Favorites include enchiladas, pork chili verde, and the chicken soup, and the menu ­– and staff – has changed little over the last 30-plus years. The eatery’s reasonable prices draw customers from all walks of life, and has catered to families since day one. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week.

(805) 969-2297 | www.littlealexs.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Malia Mills

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ashion designer Malia Mills started her business more than 25 years ago, pioneering an inclusive and inspiring voice on women and beauty. Her swimwear line, launched in 1993, has gained a cult following thanks to its bra-sized swimwear separates that are designed to fit every body type. The award-winning brand, which also features complementary clothing and accessories, is created in small batches in America, living up to Mills’s mantra of buying better quality items and making them last for many years.

(805) 845-2137 | www.maliamills.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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Montecito Country Mart

Mate Gallery

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pecialty home and lifestyle shop Mate Gallery is the brainchild of Ron Brand and Matt Albiani, who have brought their New England-meets-Southern California style to the Mart. The duo has carefully curated Mate Gallery, which features vintage textiles, tabletop accessories, ocean paraphernalia, out-of-print books, a rotating roster of artists’ works, needlepoint hats, vintage OP shorts, unique home decor and accessories, and other rare finds. The space is styled like an old-world ship cabin, complete with wood-paneled walls, ropewrapped surfboards, paintings of lighthouses, and vintage anchors. The nautical-themed store has an ever-changing selection and also features Albiani’s own photographic work.

(805) 895-6283 | www.mategallery.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Merci

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erci owner and chef – and former food editor at House & Garden Magazine and Martha Stewart Living – Elizabeth Colling has created a chic, modern, warm space to enjoy breakfast, lunch, pastries, and coffee, giving customers the ambiance of a contemporary Parisian café. With a seasonal menu focused on the freshest ingredients – as well as vegan and gluten-free options – the menu features breakfast items such as homemade brioche, waffles, soft-boiled eggs, and homemade granola, and an all-day menu includes homemade meatballs, vegetable curry, mac and cheese, and a variety of sandwiches, grain and veggie bowls, and salads. And don’t forget the incredible bakery items; Merci offers an array of sweets including brownies, cookies, cake of the day, panna cotta, and more. Espresso and coffee service is also available.

(photo by Studio Arna)

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(805) 220-0877 | www.mercimontecito.com

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Montecito Country Mart

Montecito Barbers

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erving Montecito since 1966, Montecito Barbers is the oldest running barbershop in Santa Barbara still managed by its original owners. The popular business has been in the Sanchez family for three generations, and is now run by Tim Sanchez, who many Montecitans remember as a kid running around the shop. Whether you are needing a haircut, a beard trim, or a shave, Montecito Barbers offers a first-class, friendly experience every time.

(805) 969-1314 | www.montecitobarbers.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Montecito Cleaners

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ontecito Cleaners, aka Martinizing Dry Cleaning, offers dry cleaning, laundering, alterations, wash and fold, and pickup/delivery service. The convenient neighborhood outpost is known for its exceptional, friendly service.

(805) 969-3880 | www.martinizing.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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Montecito Country Mart

Montecito Natural Foods

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ontecito Natural Foods is the go-to spot for anything health related. This unassuming store has been serving the community since 1963, and has the most extensive selection of supplements and vitamins in Montecito in addition to locally sourced foods including fresh eggs, local honey, teas, and more. It also has a vast selection of skincare products, nutrition bars, juices, health drinks, natural groceries, and more, and the knowledgeable staff is ready to help heal whatever is ailing you.

(805) 969-1411 | www.montecitonaturalfoods.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Panino

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his ultimate sandwich shop is a favorite in Santa Barbara County, with locations in Montecito, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, and Solvang. The menu features custom creations with high-quality ingredients and includes sandwiches, salads, and daily soup offerings. From turkey to tuna, roast chicken to salami, the shop has something for everyone, including vegetarians – think veggie sandwiches, tomato and English cotswold, caprese, and more.

Grab a bag of gourmet chips and a soda from their extensive collection, and lunch is served.

(805) 565-0137 | www.paninorestaurants.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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A men’s and women’s boutique www.dylanstar.com

110 Anacapa Street | Santa Barbara Open for stying and shopping Mon – Sun from 11– 6

Montecito Country Mart

Poppy Marché

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oppy was founded by Jenny Belushi and Heather Whitney Rosenfield, two mothers who became friends and bonded over their young children and shared love of design. Their chic baby and children’s store offers luxury essentials, perfectly curated basics, and the most stylish selections from the best international brands in pint-sized fashions. Also housed in the Brentwood Country Mart and the Marin Country Mart, Poppy offers clothing, shoes, accessories, toys, books, and homewares for the youngest of shoppers. From adorable Belgian play clothes to the chicest Parisian party dresses, and a selection of resort wear – including swimwear, sandals, hats, and pool toys – Poppy is a must-see when shopping for the littles. Resort brands include Minnow, Sunuva, Roller Rabbit, and Vilebrequin, while basic brands include Hunter, Superga, Petit Bateau, Lacoste, and others.

(805) 845-4026 | www.poppystores.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Pressed Juicery

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os Angeles-based Pressed Juicery offers a walk-up window at the Mart. The juice is made fresh each morning at a commercial kitchen in West Los Angeles, then it’s bottled and delivered to more than a dozen locations throughout California. The juice has a three-day refrigerator lifespan based on the perishable and non-pasteurized nature of the product, which is cold pressed and organic whenever possible. The juice, waters, and other drinks – of which there are about three dozen varieties – are made from green vegetables, citrus, root vegetables, almonds, herbs, and other fruits. Pressed Juicery also specializes in cleansing systems for detoxing and recharging the body.

(805) 845-2093 | www.pressedjuicery.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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Montecito Country Mart

Rori’s Artisanal Creamery

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ce cream aficionado Rori Trovato has perfected her small-batch, organic ice cream using locally sourced ingredients and coming up with new, unique flavors. Trovato, a former food writer and food stylist, offers a menu of ice cream treats including 14 flavors of ice cream, homemade cones, malts, shakes, floats, and various cookies, pound cake, and coffee. Pints are available to take home, and there is cozy patio seating just outside the shop, making it a popular hangout after school and on long summer nights.

(805) 770-2266 | www.rorisartisanalcreamery.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Studio C

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tudio C is a brand new concept from C Magazine founder and editor Jennifer Smith, who, along with her team, has curated an array of California-made items including ready-to-wear clothing, bathing suits, beauty products, fashion and home accessories, homewares, and more. The chic and trendy space features art by Heidi Merrick –­ daughter of legendary surfboard shaper Al Merrick ­– whose hand-shaped surfboards adorn the walls.

Other artists include Ojai photographer Dewey Nicks, who has art and coffee table books available for purchase at the store. Other offerings include works by illustrator Donald Robertson, clothing and accessories by Rosetta Getty, jewelry by Sheryl Lowe, jeans by Re/Done, and custom hats by Nick Fouquet, among others.

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

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(805) 969-9664 | www.shopstudio-c.com

908 BEL AIR RD BEL-AIR | $99,000,000

1251 TOWER GROVE RD BEVERLY HILLS | $58,000,000

1024 RIDGEDALE DR BEVERLY HILLS | $38,000,000

510 & 520 STONEWOOD BEVERLY HILLS | $29,500,000

10102 ANGELO VIEW DR 1010 N HILLCREST RD BEVERLY HILLS | $27,000,000 TROUSDALE | $26,995,000

807 CINTHIA ST BEVERLY HILLS | $24,999,000

632 N PALM DR BEVERLY HILLS FLATS | $23,995,000

1150 CHANNEL DR MONTECITO | $23,800,000

809 N REXFORD DR BEVERLY HILLS | $18,500,000

PENTHOUSE B THE EDITION WEHO | $18,500,000

PENTHOUSE 19E THE WILSHIRE HOUSE | $17,995,000

1054 ANGELO DR BEVERLY HILLS | $17,995,000

9380 SIERRA MAR BIRD STREETS | $16,495,000

940 OAKMONT EAST BRENTWOOD | $15,995,000

©2021 The Beverly Hills Estates. Broker does not guarantee the accuracy of square footage, lot size or other information concerning the condition or features of property obtained from public records or other sources. Equal Housing Opportunity. DRE 02126121

your destination for great design in west Malibu at Trancas

JOON HAN SARA WEINSTOCK IRIT DESIGN DRU. ALEXA SIDARIS CARRIE HOFFMAN REBECCA PINTO SUSAN HIGHSMITH SHEBLE CRONINGER CUSTOM WORK

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Montecito Country Mart

Toy Crazy

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wonderland for the youngest shopper, Toy Crazy is packed to the brim with a fine-tuned selection of the best of the best toys and kids’ products. Owned by Melissa Moore, who has been in the toy business for more than three decades, the shop’s mission is to expand the imagination through games, puzzles, creative play, arts and crafts, outdoor activities, and more. The shop offers a wish list service for holidays and birthdays, keeping your child’s favorite picks on file for those who come in to shop for them. Toy Crazy is known for its picture-perfect gift wrapping, and is an ideal place to stop before heading out to a birthday party.

(805) 565-7696 | www.gotoycrazy.com

(photo by Meg Fish Photography)

Montecito Mercantile

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he newest addition to the Mart, Montecito Mercantile is set to open this summer in the space once occupied by Read ’N Post.

The carefully curated space will feature a selection of high-quality items, including home decor, men and women’s clothing, magazines, books, gifts, kitchen and tabletop items, and more. The Mercantile will also be a community gathering spot, offering book signings, tasting events, and more.

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“It’s Like Banking With Friends”

“I love American Riviera Bank. The level of service is very personalized. It’s like banking with friends that you trust.”

— Sasha Ablitt, Owner Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners What does True Community Banking mean? It means working together to find solutions under even the most trying of circumstances.

OWNER OCCUPIED REAL ESTATE LOANS | BUSINESS LINES OF CREDIT | EQUIPMENT LOANS

Preferred SBA Lender

AmericanRivieraBank.com • 805.965.5942 Santa Barbara • Montecito • Goleta • San Luis Obispo • Paso Robles

imagine the LifeStyLe . . .

Ken Switzer

BerKShire hathaway Luxury CoLLeCtion

HISTORIC LEGACY COMPOUND $12,000,000

MONTECITO PRIVATE ESTATE $3,950,000

LUXURY DOWNTOWN PENTHOUSE $3,950,000 805.680.4622 KenSwitzer1@yahoo.com DRE# 01245644

©2021 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC. BHH Affiliates LLC and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that information.

Specializing in the purchase of

fine Watches, JeWelry & entire estates

1482 E. VALLEY ROAD, MONTECITO, CA 93108, STUDIO #3 | (805) 565-0621