AN IDYLLIC PARADISE

ontecito

AN IDYLLIC PARADISE...

... BUT ARE WE BECOMING A HAMPTON? ...IS THAT A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING? ...DOES MONTECITO NEED A LAMBO TAX?

At Clearview Landscaping, we create exceptional outdoor spaces that inspire adventure and relaxation. Whether it’s a luxurious pool, a vibrant landscape, or a custom outdoor kitchen, we bring your dream yard to life. Elevate your property with spaces built for excitement and enjoyment.

Clearview Landscaping – Crafting Landscapes for Living Visit ClearviewLandscaping.com | Call (805) 964-8635 Serving Santa Barbara and Surrounding Areas CA 995590

The Premiere Estates of Montecito & Santa Barbara

805 565/2208

Bringing People & Properties Together

I appreciate their warmth, attention to detail, knowledge of the area, efficiency, timely responses and communication.”

“They were able to finesse the simultaneous closing of escrows on both the old and new properties. This amazing feat allowed me to transition comfortably and happily with a minimum of stress. They are, quite simply, the best!”

“If possible, we would give them higher marks than 5-stars. Thank you for making our dream come true! ”

THE PERFECT GETAWAY

Unwind in timeless style and comfort all year long. Hayward’s has the largest selection of outdoor furniture and accessories between Los Angeles and San Francisco—in stock for immediate white glove delivery. 7 PARKER WAY, SANTA BARBARA | 805-966-1390 | haywards1890.com | Mon–Sat: 10am–5pm | Sun: 12pm–5pm

#1

M ARSHA KOTLYA R ESTATE GROUP

2925 SYCAMORE CANYON RD | MONTECITO, CA OFFERED AT $33,000,000

630 STONEHOUSE LN | MONTECITO, CA OFFERED AT $11,495,000

3091 HIDDEN VALLEY LN | MONTECITO, CA OFFERED AT $10,495,000

FINEST MONTECITO & SANTA BARBARA HOMES

MOSAÏQUE SURFACE

CEO Gwyn Lurie gwyn@montecitojournal.net

Volume 17 Issue 4

WINTER | 2024

President & COO Tim Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net

Editor  Les Firestein les@montecitojournal.net

Managing Editor Zachary Bernstein zbernstein@montecitojournal.net

Art Director Trent Watanabe trent@montecitojournal.net

Staff Writer Jeff Wing

Copy Editor Lily Buckley Harbin

Graphic Design/Layout Assistant Stevie Acuña

Director of Operations

Jessikah Fechner jmoran@montecitojournal.net

VP Sales & Marketing

Leanne R. Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net | (805) 284-7177

Account Managers

Tanis Nelson: tanis@montecitojournal.net

Susan Brooks: sue@montecitojournal.net

Elizabeth Scott: elizabeth@montecitojournal.net

Natasha Kucherenko: natasha@montecitojournal.net

Photography Kim Reierson

Contributors

Hattie Beresford, Heidi Clements, Jonathan Cristaldi, Tiana Molony, Alexis Sears, Leslie Andrea Westbrook

Montecito JOURNAL

is published by Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC. 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Santa Barbara, CA 93108 For distribution, advertising, or other inquiries: (805) 565-1860 www.montecitojournal.net

Meet Lisa Foley

Lisa Foley is known for her attention to detail and powerful negotiating skills. Offering comprehensive real estate services to both buyers and sellers, Lisa always works to go above and beyond her client’s expectations. Her name is synonymous with quality and investment value. Equipped with the long view, Lisa sees the potential of each property. She tirelessly guides her clients in their decision-making process with humor and integrity.

“It has been such a pleasure working with Lisa Foley these past few weeks on the sale of our home. From our first meeting, we could tell Lisa placed our interest as her priority. She asked pertinent questions in order to get a better understanding of what we anticipated. She clearly analyzed the market and was very accurate in doing so. Lisa was willing to go the extra mile in every detail, and we are so appreciative. The process was smooth and speedy, over before we knew it and we are very grateful for her knowledge and integrity.”

-Lynne M. Tahmisian

Previously listed and did not sell. This massive ocean view estate was relisted by Don Johnston Sutton of Sotheby’s International Realty. After implementing his proven marketing strategies, it sold for more than 3 million above the previous list price. All cash with a 15 day escrow.

Contents

50.Hamptons v. Montecito

Are we mirror images? Kissin’ cousins? Best frenemies? Well, obviously we’re biased in favor of Montecito, but there’s no denying the eerie similarities and notable differences between our fair, humble hometown and Long Island’s Hamptons communities. The only question is, which one is becoming more like the other?

54.Sunset Stripes

Painter Julika Lackner’s family ties to Santa Barbara and Germany are equally strong, but which side has the stronger influence on her series of semi-abstract California sunsets? The answer is a few brushstrokes deep.

66.Bags to Riches

Do handbags have the power to change the lives of their owners? It’s possible. But when it comes to handbags by Parker Clay, one can be assured that the Ethiopian women fabricating those bags have become empowered through their involvement in the operation.

68.

Unmatchable

Legit influencer and resident essayist Heidi Clements swore off dating two decades ago. But when given the chance to connect with a local matchmaking doyenne, Heidi dips back into the Montecito dating pool. Will Heidi find her love of a lifetime… or love of a lunchtime?

78.Godmothers

Godmothers. The word summons magic… and a glass slipper, which seems an ill-advised choice for footwear, but there you go. Now a Central Coast destination for booklovers called Godmothers is rebooting the wonder. Bookstore? Public square? Hub of transformative happenings? Yes.

86.Esbee

The places we love are more than the sum of their cartographic parts, our deep feelings transcending geology, topography, meteorology, and other textbook descriptors. Eli Gill and Andrew Schmoller adore Santa Barbara in ways they can’t completely articulate. So they turned SB love into something you wear.

104.Montecito’s Next Wave

A village is not defined solely by its cohort of delightful restaurants, bars, and stores… right? But the locals must be fed and watered. Commerce must commence! As it happens, Montecito is on the cusp of a delicious invasion. The epicureans are at the gates.

118.The Denim Duke of State Street

The character behind the Ace Rivington brand is a world-traveling absorber of culture and good will, but is he a work of fiction, or alter ego of clothing designer Beau Lawrence? Whichever you believe, we think you’ll agree that Beau Lawrence is more than he seams.

124.Sea Smoke Gets in Your Eye

Wine critic Jonathan Cristaldi shares the tale of his private visit to a Santa Barbara institution where he gets the star treatment from Sea Smoke Winery’s Hemingway-like brand ambassador Patton Penhallegon – whose name sounds like a brand all its own.

134.Grey Tickles at the MEA

Getting older can be a drag, or it can be an opportunity to drive off into the desert for a transformative and introspective retreat that aims to suss out the intricacies of living. Not only does the Modern Elder Academy invigorate the conversation of aging, but the food’s pretty good, too.

140.The Monterey Revivalist

In the continuation of her Way It Was series, resident historian Hattie Beresford shares the story behind some of the buildings of architect Roland Coate Sr., whose influence on the look of early twentieth century Southern California home design can’t be overstated.

150.Retail Repertoire

“Retail” is one of those words which, while technically correct, can sound a bit prosaic given the treasures on display. Nevertheless, we invite you to sashay through this tantalizing wonderland of finery you’re not likely to find anywhere else.

Photo by Sara Prince

Contents Grand Pursuits

161. Our newest section encompassing travel, real estate, and the sweet everythings of the world.

162. Pineapple Express

There’s a new Hawaiian resort in town and it’s making waves by blending into the scenery: 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay on Kauai. The ultimate Pacific Island getaway is standing by for your arrival and may just be the perfect place to get lei’d.

167. In-Flight Entertainment

Not everyone has the nerves for air travel, but for writer Tiana Molony riding on a cushy semiprivate flight from Van Nuys to Napa Valley, nerves are superfluous. But there is some drama:

170. Gilded Getaways

Henry Miller wrote, “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” So true, Henry, so true. But, perhaps one’s best epiphanies can be better shaped by the globe’s more sumptuous offerings? Peek inside for some excellent suggestions.

178. Real Estates

Looking for that modest duplex on a weed-choked parcel with a scenic view of your neighbor’s garage? You won’t find anything like that here. If, on the other hand, you seek the comfort of a beautiful estate home in the most beautiful town this side of the Pacific – and possibly Heaven – dive right in and have a look around. Your next dream home could be listed right now.

About Our Cover: Twilight Tones

The Central Coast figures into many of Julika Lackner’s paintings: “The subjects don’t have to be iconic, they just have to be interesting to look at.”

RISKIN PARTNERS

Since our founding, Riskin Partners has been a trusted name in Santa Barbara real estate, particularly in Montecito’s luxury market. Over the past two decades, it’s likely we’ve had the privilege of working with you or someone you know. Our reputation as the #1 team is built on a track record of success, delivering results that speak for themselves. Specializing in properties of distinction—from charming cottages to grand legacy estates— we have closed over $4 billion in sales within our community. At Riskin Partners, luxury Montecito real estate isn’t just what we do—it’s who we are.

JASMINE TENNISROBERT RISKIN DINA LANDISARAH HANACEK

•

• 24/7

•

•

•

Founded in 1956 by retired police chief Sam Post, Post Alarm has been a trusted name in home security for three generations. We’re proud to now offer our advanced home protection services to Montecito and Santa Barbara, providing customers in these communities with a new choice for securing their homes. With our modern approach – blending local expertise with leading technology – we deliver best-inclass solutions including alarm and video installation and monitoring, Patrol and Armed Response, and exceptional customer service.

Contact us today to experience the difference that nearly 70 years of expertise in home security can make for your peace of mind. Trust Post Alarm to protect what matters most to you.

Our Contributors

We asked our contributors to give us their favorite Montecito

area life hacks:

Hattie Beresford has been writing a local history column for the Montecito Journal for two decades: “When exiting onto Coast Village Road from the Vons parking lot intending to head east, don’t make a left. Turn right and circle through the roundabout instead. It will save time and be less annoying for those lined up behind you.”

Tiana Molony is a Santa Barbara-based journalist who has written for The Mountain Gazette , Backpacker , and the Santa Barbara Independent : “Just don’t drive Southbound on the 101 to Montecito after 5 pm on a weekday. Take the backroads.”

Heidi Clements is a writer and social media creator/ “While there are many beaches to enjoy here in Montecito, I spent the summer at Miramar Beach pretending I was on vacation as a guest of the Rosewood Miramar Hotel. You can enjoy parking in front, walk through the gorgeous grounds, and have the best fish tacos in town without ever booking a room.”

is the California wine magazine:

“Next time you’re in Los Olivos, go to Liquid Farm and demand to buy a bottle of the French Champagne they make. Tell ‘em Cristaldi sent you, and pray they have some in stock. Thank me later.”

Alexis Sears is the author of Out of Order (Autumn House Press, 2022) and winner of a couple national poetry awards:

“Why eat lunch on Coast Village Road when Butterfly Beach is a ten-minute walk away? Order a Saperstein’s to go from Montesano’s, bring it to the beach, and don’t let your napkins blow away in the gentle wind.”

Leslie Andrea Westbrook’s lifelong passion for art, travel, and people has led her around the globe as a writer: “I collected autographs as a kid (Count Basie, Steve McQueen); then later signed first-edition books. Gather from Tecolote book signings in the Upper Village or Godmothers in Summerland and your grandchildren could inherit something valuable.”

Jeff Wing is a Montecito Journal staff writer: “In Montecito’s finer dining establishments, if at the meal’s conclusion you rise from the table and walk backwards to the exit, they will assume you are entering and won’t bother you about the bill. I’ve also found that the resulting six hours of dishwashing badly chaps the hands.”

Editor’s Letter

Giving Thanks

Welcome to our November issue! We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

No matter your political leanings, I’m sure everyone’s grateful the election is over.

I’m also grateful for the new Godmothers bookstore (featured on page 78) – of course we love the printed word, moreover we love the people who love the printed word. So big thanks to the ladies who’ve so quickly made Godmothers a literal destination and helped level up our “Sister to the South,” Summerland, which was already doing quite well.

You’ll see a lot in these pages about how Montecito has raised its game. Do we have more hotels than a game of Monopoly? I’m not sure, but I could’ve sworn I saw some guy with a top hat and monocle emerging from Pierre Lafond.

And speaking of that great game of real estate, I hope you’re enjoying your time in the now #5 zip code for real estate valuations according to PropertyShark – that’s #5 out of more than 42,000 zip codes nationally. (Damn you, Atherton!) The question is… will we lose our collective soul? And at what price?

Seriously, I remember a time not so long ago when people like me were relatively new to town and folks were questioning if, thanks to “L.A. people” like myself, perhaps Montecito had changed. Now it’s folks like me who are doing the questioning.

The great Les Firestein (great to read, not always to be married to) posits the question, “Is Montecito Becoming the Westernmost Hampton?” (page 50). And it’s certainly a valid question.

But let me tell you this. The other night our friends' son Haven Meyer asked us if we’d like some lobsters. We said yes, whereupon Haven donned his wetsuit, grabbed his net and flashlight, and dove into the ocean right outside the Coral Casino. He then returned with several of the best lobsters I’ve ever tasted in my life.

Think about that for a moment: Our friends’ son dove into the ocean, off one of the most beautiful spots in the United States, then caught us a delicious dinner with his bare hands – which we flavored with herbs and vegetables from our garden. I’ll take that over a Hampton any day.

Happy reading!

Gwyn Lurie

Refuge From the Hamptons… Or Is Montecito Becoming One?

And Is the Lamborghinization of the 93108 Good or Bad?

Illustration: Max-o-matic

Sometimes we have to give our artist Max-o-matic (Máximo Tuja) so much lead time on an illustration it’s not quite up to date by the time he finishes. Case in point Max’s illustration of the bragging rights ‘war’ between Montecito and the Hamptons. On the Montecito side of the ledger Larry David did in fact curb his enthusiasm and sold in the Hedgerow. While Jen Aniston has still not taken up residence on the parcel she purchased from Oprah. Is she building Montecito’s third James Perse store in there?

There were even more shakeups and breakups in the Hamptons and most of those centered around JLo. Bennifer broke up much to our surprise… said no one ever. And JLo’s other ex P. Diddy also scrapped the Hamptons for a much larger residence. Sadly, it’s not on the beach and there’s no lobster roll. However, he did get to room with Sam Bankman-Fried.

Are We Transforming into the Westernmost Hampton?

Here’s something you may not know about Santa Barbara: That the indigenous Chumash consider Santa Barbara their Humqaq or “Western Gate” through which the souls of the dead ascend to what we call heaven and they call Similaqsa. Fortunately, the acreage around this Chumash sacred site was purchased and donated by Giving Pledge signatories Jack and Laura Dangermond in the largest gift ever bequeathed to the Nature Conservancy.

So where, one might ask, is the Chumash Eastern Gate? As it so happens, it’s in Montauk, New York, the furthest point east out on Long Island, just past the Hamptons. Who knew Montecito and the Hamptons were linked not just as enviable havens, and by Jerry who went to the Hamptons while Larry bought in Montecito, but also the two locales share a sacred significance to the Chumash? Montecito and the Hamptons also share other things. Like Gwyneth’s attention. We both also cherish surfing and beaches (though ours are better). Both places are proximal to a world-class city (though ours is superior as the Dodgers thumping the Yankees proves). Both are great places to hit a golf ball and enjoy polo—the actual sport, not just the shirt.

In all fairness the Hamptons does have the edge on us in a few departments. For example their arts and literary legacies. I’m talking about the likes of Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, and Richard Price. And an extensive list of artists that starts with Rothko, Lee Krasner, and Jackson Pollock and goes on and on and on from there. Mind you we also have titans of the arts like T.C. Boyle and Beatrice Wood. But our list is not as extensive. Why is that?

Because generally speaking, writers and artists are solitary “inside people” who don’t play well with others. And with the Hamptons’ 2.5 cold seasons, it’s the perfect stark

by Les Firestein

landscape for insular mole artists and writers to chew their cuticles. Montecitans simply have too much outdoors to enjoy for Santa Barbara to be a fertile breeding ground for angst, angst being the cold fusion that drives most art. Well good art, anyway.

But it’s our incredible great outdoors that’s ultimately what gives Montecito the edge over the Hamptons. We have the mountains and the sea while they just have… the sea. Our terroir is second to none and our vineyards are second to maybe one (Napa). You’ve also really got to appreciate how we’ve laid the whole thing out.

On Billionaire’s Lane (Meadow Lane in Southampton), approximately 100 homes are lined up next to each other like Indy cars at the start of a race. While in Montecito, there is no race and our masters and mizzes of the universe tuck themselves away, most of us unaware we live next door to someone whose family holds the process patent for fire. Meadow Lane also has a heliport while Montecito would never allow one.

For sure, Montecito has some growing pains to deal with and, to an extent, there are downsides to our inadvertent ascension as an “it” place. We’re now the 5th most expensive housing zip in the U.S., behind Sagaponack and Water Mill in the Hamptons, Fisher Island in Florida, and the perpetual #1, Atherton. Of course with real estate success comes commercial development and questions as to whether Montecito can retain its semi-rural character. To wit, we have a Restoration Hardware coming to Montecito’s Upper Village. The problem is there’s nothing left to restore.

Please enjoy Tiana Molony’s exhaustive piece (story on page 104) on the changing face of Montecito. And we’re not just talking about Ozempic.

SUNSET STRIPES

BY ZACHARY BERNSTEIN

WHAT

THE WORK OF A WEST BERLIN-BORN, SANTA BARBARA-RAISED PAINTER CAN TELL US ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA DREAM

For a long time, painter and Santa Barbara native Julika Lackner felt apprehensive about applying any artistic ambition toward the sometimes frothy world of painting sunsets.

“I shied away from sunsets because they can be quite kitschy,” says Lackner. “With landscape it’s already dangerous if you want to be taken seriously; to not be put into a regional painter category.” Also dangerous? Attempting to maneuver up Lackner’s driveway without four-wheel drive. Curving up a steep hill upon another hill in Los Angeles’s Eagle Rock neighborhood, an unprepared driver could easily lose momentum and slide backwards into the retaining wall. But if, by foot, you huff your way to the top and reach her home and art studio, you’ll realize at that elevation just how frequently Lackner gets exposed to the kind of sweeping sunset views for which California is famous.

It would take an event of monumental proportions to alter Lackner’s ensconced views on sunsets as a subject for serious art; maybe something like a global pandemic.

“We were stuck inside our houses and I was looking at the view from my house looking at all the hills, taking all these sunset walks,” Lackner says. “And for the first time I gave myself permission to challenge myself, to see if it’s possible to make a serious painting that includes a sunset.”

With her series of sunset paintings, Lackner has attracted private and corporate buyers as well as regular showings at local galleries like Sullivan Goss. The linear landscapes depict real, though not always iconic, locations up and down the California coast (I recognized one as a spot I regularly pass by on my drive home), mixing representational landscapes and abstract color bars that give depth to the pictorial plane. But rather than limning California sunsets with scientific accuracy, she pulls off the trick of capturing how these sunsets make us feel.

THE GERMAN SANTA BARBARANS

Before moving to Santa Barbara at nine years old, Lackner spent her early youth cloistered in West Berlin, in what was then a vibrant island of Western freedom surrounded on all sides by the Communist Eastern Bloc in its final decade. “I was too young to understand the politics,” Lackner says. “To me it was just completely normal that the city was surrounded by a wall. And now that Berlin is united, I realize how small it was.”

Where time disappears and enchantment is found.

A visit to The Winston invites an otherworldly experience, where time is yours to dream in a place of extraordinary beauty and thoughtfully curated design enhanced only by the idyllic backdrop of the Santa Ynez Valley wine country. From luxuries like a pre-stocked honor bar to the privacy of our Invisible Service, your time to be enchanted awaits at The Winston.

Lackner recalls going on family road trips through East Germany to visit family in West German Bavaria, papers tucked securely in the glove compartment. “As a West Berliner, we were allowed to drive through East Germany, but it was not pleasant. We were not allowed to stop. I remember my parents always being very tense. One time my dad wanted to help someone on the side of the road and my mom said, ‘No, you can’t do that! We can’t get out of the car!’”

30"X24"X1.5"

It wasn’t the first time the Lackner family got caught in the middle of German politics. Her Jewish grandparents, Margarethe (known as “Puck”) and Stephan Lackner, fled Nazi Germany for the United States in the 1930s, but not before the Nazi party themselves helped to galvanize her grandfather’s love of art, in particular painter Max Beckmann. Says Lackner, “Beckmann was in that famous Degenerate Art exhibit in Munich where the Nazis put up an art show and said, ‘This is all the bad art, all the art we’re not going to allow.’ Of course, it’s all the art that people like now.”

Stephan was only in his early twenties at the time, but thanks to that perverse art exhibit, he would eventually become a lifelong Beckmann scholar, preservationist, and friend. “My grandpa put his life on the line to save paintings,” says Lackner. “It instilled in me that art is so important.”

Safely out of harm’s way in the United States, Stephan and Puck went on a cross-country drive on a grand search to figure out where they wanted to settle down. “They didn’t want to live in a big city,” says Lackner. Eventually they picked a dirt cheap Spanish casa in a California town of mostly orange groves called Montecito. The Lackner family has been yo-yoing back and forth from California to Germany for generations ever since.

Young Julika treasured her family visits to Santa Barbara (“It was like heaven on Earth,” she says), but took some time to adjust after becoming a resident, which necessitated a six-month period of learning how to speak English from scratch. Today, she claims nativity in her original and adopted homelands.

COLOR THEORIES

Being originally from a Long Island suburb, I still find myself overwhelmed sometimes by the natural wonders of California that I didn’t have growing up: a mountain range visible from my bedroom window; the potent smell of orange blossoms; silhouettes of palm trees against a pink and yellow sky. Something tells me that I’d find all these things perfectly ordinary if I was a born-and-bred Californian.

But for an artist like Lackner whose nascent years were spent in the gray confines of Berlin, the whiplash of going back and forth between there and California could only provide a greater appreciation for the fruits of the American West. California is known for its piercing, colorful sunsets whereas Berlin is known for, well, other stuff. On a list of the things Berlin is most known for, pretty sunsets will not appear. Currywurst would be lucky to make the top ten.

It may be serendipitous that Lackner’s home studio and vicious driveway have that flawless view of the archetypal California visual experience, but it probably takes an outsider who at one point had none of that to fully appreciate how fortunate she is to now have all of it. www.julikalackner.com

Handbags Fêted by the United States State Department

by Jeff Wing

Santa Barbara leather goods purveyor Parker Clay lives at the intersection of gorgeous Ethiopian handwork and the U.S. State Department. Yes, we realize this is a comment that merits some elaboration.

Way back in 1999, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright established something she thoughtfully named the Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE). The ACE award would recognize the heartening fact that U.S. companies can, and often do, play an important torchbearing role in elevating global standards of business conduct. The ACE award specifically throws a spotlight on those U.S. businesses abroad that transcend the role of mere exemplar to positively affect individual lives on the ground where they are doing business. These challenging efforts are often undertaken in turbulent administrative circumstances. Each year several categories of recognition are awarded to those U.S. companies with the genuine determination and vision to make an actual difference. The State Department’s ACE Award categories for 2024 were Women’s Economic Security, Innovation to Strengthen Communities, and Climate Resilience.

In the Women’s Economic Security category, the State Department honored Santa Barbara’s own Parker Clay. While Parker Clay’s beautiful storefront is at 133 East Anapamu Street (across the street from the courthouse), their manufacturing operation is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the American leather goods brand employs 200 workers, over 80 percent of whom are women. Many of these women—gifted artisans all—are former victims of human trafficking. For many of these workers, the job marks their first experience of company payroll and earning a steady income. They are making new lives for themselves and their communities through the beautiful leather goods they meticulously hand-produce of Ethiopia’s uniquely whole grain leather.

The awards ceremony took place on October 22 at the State Department in Washington, D.C. and was hosted by current Secretary of State (and tireless frequent flyer) Antony Blinken. Parker Clay’s mission is straightforward. “To us, empowerment demands more than just jobs and living wages. We aim to break the chain of dependency by providing women with the skills, tools, and means they need to uplift their communities, their way.”

"For many of these workers, the job marks their first experience of company payroll and earning a steady income."

Photo by Kim Reierson

UNMATCHABLE

by Heidi Clements

HOW I BELLY FLOPPED BACK INTO THE DATING POOL

“Are you ready for your first date?”

Immediate panic set in. Never had a text terrified me more. I threw my phone like it was hot lava in my hands. The message came from Santa Barbara matchmaker Lisa Amador of Amador Matchmaking, a bright beautiful ray of sunshine and love and the woman tasked with finding me a match—an exercise possibly more difficult than solving our climate crisis, only I was the iceberg and I actually needed melting.

It’s been 24 years since I’ve been on a date, kissed another human, or did the thing people do between the sheets, in the backseats of cars, or restaurant bathrooms if you’ve had a sufficient amount of liquid courage. One day after a terrible split, I announced to no one in particular that I was taking a break from dating. The next thing I knew, I’m nearing my silver anniversary of being sex free. I don’t think anyone gives you a silver platter for this.

A lot happened in those 24 years: the iPhone and Facebook were invented, COVID came and went, we even landed on Mars. But my love life made no headlines. I’d been on one “app” date about three years ago and it ended with me crying in my car vowing never to do it again. Men are a bit terrifying to me. I have some trauma in my past and it’s been the dark cloud that hangs over my confidence. Being an unnurtured child who grows into a people pleaser is not the best foundation upon which to build a house of love. It led to a lifetime of narcissists, love bombers, immature boys, and my general inability to not recognize any of these types of people. I finally realized that perhaps the game of love was one I should sit out. Instead, I learned to live and love a solo life. It’s been a very pleasant life, but very few people understand, or cheer me on from the sidelines. Not many can grasp the concept of a woman not having sex for a couple of decades. Sure, under the umbrella of religion you can do anything, but just make a decision to be sex-free on your own and somehow you’re a lunatic, a spinster, a cat lady. How is she even

walking about, living her life without sex? Ask a woman who’s been married for 30 years and you’ll get your answer.

So how did I end up here, about to go on a date set up by an elite matchmaker? I accepted an assignment from this magazine, a chore my editor thought could be poignant and possibly hilarious as he knows my dating history or lack thereof. He clearly has a dark sense of humor.

So now here we were. Gametime. My skin started itching; my stomach swirling. My excuses for why this was a terrible idea started piling up. What on earth was I thinking?

Lisa Amador has been matchmaking since 2012. By the end of this year alone, she will have been responsible for four weddings that only happened because of her ninja-like skills in connecting people. She has a network of singles and also offers love coaching. What I love about what Amador does is that unlike online dating where you just see a picture, hope for the best, and meet at a police station so you don’t end up as someone’s dinner, Lisa does the heavy lifting and all you have to do is show up to see if there’s a connection.

Lisa’s initial consultation fees start at $300 and grow from there and her coaching fees start at $7,500. Love is serious business for Lisa and now I was all set up in her system. Once she finds you a match, you get a text with where to show up and who to ask for.

I first met Amador on a Zoom call. She wanted to make sure that I was serious about the prospect of finding a match and so I did what any good journalist would do: I lied. “It’s been a dream of mine for years to find a real partner.” I slapped the fib on so thick that I almost believed myself. I convinced Lisa to take part in my little experiment.

I then met with Lisa in person at the University Club of Santa Barbara to go through her very rigorous questionnaire about what I’m looking for in a man, a 90-minute Q&A filled with questions like: What does he do? How much money does he make? Does he have children? Does he like sports? Is he allergic to shellfish? Does he fold the toilet paper roll under or over?

Lisa also asked me to sign a contract with myself, listing all the things I was looking for in a mate. Some of mine were: he’s non-judgmental, I can be myself, he’s positive, he’s curious, he’s funny, he’s kind. It included a commitment to myself about how I would handle the dating process. I promised to be open and give someone a chance before making a rash decision. Has this contract met me? My middle name is Rash Decision.

Lisa told me it would be a fun challenge to find me a match as I am not your typical Santa Barbara lady (hidden meaning: I am “different”). She said the biggest block could be my tattoo sleeves (did my dead Jewish mother call you?) and that she would need to personally ask each man if they would find this a turnoff. Guess what? Most did. But a funny thing happened at the end of our meeting—I was totally on board. Lisa’s optimistic thoughts and beliefs on love and marriage were so infectious, I actually wanted to find a mate. Somehow this woman took a stoic happy single lady and turned her into Tzeitel from Fiddler on the Roof! I skipped off into the sunshine singing, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch.” That feeling ended quickly.

That first date would take place at the Bacara Bistro in Goleta. So, what does one wear to their first date in 24 years other than panic and flop sweat? I put on a floral jumpsuit and pink pumps. No photos are allowed. Each person is noted by the first letter of their last name, so I was Miss C. and my date was Mr. T. The classic “I pity the fool” line immediately entered my head and I wondered which one of us would be the fool that needs pitying. I’ll let you guess (it was me).

The outdoor seating area at Bacara Bistro was packed. But inside, one lone man in a down vest and trackpants sat at a table with his back to me. I guess he was ready to run away? I came around the table and realized making speedy escapes probably wasn’t really something he could do. This can’t be my date, I thought. He was older than I had hoped and I don’t necessarily mean his age but his demeanor. My dad also wears a down vest indoors because he’s 95 and always cold. Suddenly, the Bistro felt like the Horizons Club in Delray Beach, Florida and I was having lunch with someone’s father. It wasn’t exactly an Anna Nicole Smith/ Howard Marshall situation—I’m 64. But it felt close. “Okay Heidi, breathe. Stop being

"NOT MANY CAN GRASP THE CONCEPT OF A WOMAN NOT HAVING SEX FOR A COUPLE OF DECADES. SURE, UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF RELIGION YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, BUT JUST MAKE A DECISION TO BE SEX-FREE ON YOUR OWN AND SOMEHOW YOU’RE A LUNATIC, A SPINSTER, A CAT LADY."

by Kim Reierson

Photo

" I AM MY OWN SOULMATE. SCREW JERRY MAGUIRE, I COMPLETE ME."

so judgmental,” I thought. But one hour after struggling through my Caesar salad, I was the one making the speedy escape. He didn’t bother getting up to say goodbye. Or maybe he did and I was too busy fleeing to notice. The truth is, he was a perfectly lovely man, just not for me. And the whole thing felt like I was being interviewed for a job I knew I didn’t want.

I called Lisa afterwards and we discussed changes that could be made for my next date. Things like, he needs to be more youthful in spirit. He needs to not tell me about his health ailments. Also, no more meals. I don’t want to see or hear anyone chew, cut their food in weird ways, or hold their fork like a toddler. I think we’re starting to see why I’ve been on my own for a couple of, um, decades.

My second date at Loquita was a blast. My date and I had a ton in common, laughing over drinks, and discussing pop culture gossip. I left feeling happy, but it wasn’t a romantic match. A lot of friends said, well at least you met a new friend, but friendships are relationships to me and I wasn’t ready to put the time in on this one. At least I didn’t feel like hurling myself onto the Pacific Surfliner across the street.

Lisa and I met after this second date to discuss some other potential ideas for finding me a match and it turns out she was going to have to expand her reach into the Los Angeles area. It seems that in Santa Barbara and Montecito, I’m unmatchable.

Or, it was time to admit the truth: I don’t want to date anyone. I am happier on my own for now and if I did meet someone, it would have to be organically, accidentally, and out in the wild. Yes, a funny thing happened on my way to writing this article. I found myself on the other side of trauma. I remembered who I am, what I want in life, what’s important to me, and not to be terrified to go out with someone because I’m still in control of the situation and no is a complete answer. In fact, I met my perfect match and her name is Heidi Clements. I am my own soulmate. Screw Jerry Maguire, I complete me.

I am now a huge fan of matchmaking, just, for other people. I hope it becomes a thing and that more young people start finding their way to the Lisa Amadors of the world because it certainly feels safer than seeing a photo on your computer and crossing your fingers that the person on the other end of the internet isn’t moderator of the Cannibals Are People Too Facebook group. Lisa makes the idea of love fun. Even for me.

"SHE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT I WAS SERIOUS ABOUT THE PROSPECT OF FINDING A MATCH AND SO I DID WHAT ANY GOOD JOURNALIST WOULD DO: I LIED."

Photo by Kim Reierson

jewellery with a statement armonia, unità, pace ... harmony, unity, peace small and large bespoke pendants with intertwined religious symbols priced from $95 to $7995

www.armonitace.com

Owner, Lori Runnfeldt

KELLY FAJACK

At Wohali, golf is elevated to an art form, seamlessly blending championship-caliber challenges with an inviting sense of community. Offering charming cottages and serene estate homesites, Wohali provides the perfect retreat for residents and their guests. Once powdery snow has blanketed the backcountry, join our adventure team for guided ski tours through open aspen groves and bowls.

Your Favorite Place on Earth

Book People

BY SARA PRINCE

BY JEFF WING

STORY

PHOTOS

Godmothers co-founders

Godmothers is the Heart-Centered Literary Hub We’ve All Been Waiting For

An idealized village dusk. Main street’s neatly planted trees rustle and murmur as nightbirds start swapping gossip in earnest. Up ahead, lavish lamplight pours out of the corner bookshop’s windows. The wooden door feels ceremonially heavy as you push through it for the umpteenth time, and the bookshop is warm with congregation, the paper-and-dust-scented air a nearly barbiturate balm. Your companionable fellow-villagers glance up as you enter. The scene is of a piece. Not to get precious about it.

“Love is not too strong a word for what we’re up to here,” says Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, co-owner, co-conspirator, and co-founder of Godmothers Bookstore— Summerland’s newly minted literary salon and storytelling galactic center.

Walsh’s business partner is similarly hard-nosed. “There’s definitely been magic and fairy dust at play here,” says Victoria Jackson.

To be clear: Godmothers’ proud parents/fuel-injected daydreamers are two globally celebrated successes who have long since conquered their respective realms. Walsh is a veteran 30-year literary super-agent with storied WME, her clients and associates having included Tom Clancy, Brené Brown, Alice Munro, and most of the other litterateurs you can verbalize. Significantly, Walsh was steward of both Oprah’s “The Life You Want” arena tour, and a narrative road show of her own device called Together Live (with Glennon Doyle), where Walsh foregrounded her deep reverence for the untapped power of storytelling itself—an exalting keynote in the Godmothers vision statement.

Jackson is a groundbreaking cosmetics innovator, transformational emissary to the incarcerated, entrepreneur, and … a molecular immunology autodidact and paradigmchanging medical philanthropist.

Victoria Jackson (left) and Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.

In the wake of their 14-yearold daughter’s terrifying diagnosis and the medical establishment’s downcast eyes, Jackson and her husband, entrepreneur Bill Guthy, would launch the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation – funding previously scarce research in Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO), a disorder whose comparative rarity had made it strategically invisible to pharmaceutical incentives. Rigorous, resourcenourished scientific collaboration has dramatically moved the needle. The couple’s daughter is today a Juris Doctor / MBA, and hasn’t been a teen for quite a little while.

Now Walsh and Jackson are training their combined, hardwon superpowers on … the launching of a bookstore? Their approach, it must be said, could be given the Latinate taxonomy Strategus Approximus.

“We spent the first two months working on our business plan,” Walsh says, “and literally never looked at it again.”

Godmothers. Plural, not Possessive.

Godmothers is a bookstore like a fusion reactor is a tea kettle. Both are designed to boil water, but they part company over the question: is boiling water an end or a means?

This stupendously gorgeous bookstore at 2280 Lillie Avenue in Summerland rises like a brilliant mirage. Three stories high, festooned with street-facing windows and topped with a Wyeth-like widow’s walk, the magisterial white barn looks like a blazing Jungian dream symbol with a door. Pass through this door and an unspeakably cozy, many chambered world opens her arms to you. Godmothers’ 10,000 titles, staff of energized bibliophiles, and powerfully cozy, home-like atmosphere promise a 5-star bookstore reverie.

From the beginning—from before the beginning—her founders envisioned a world-class bookstore enfolding a vitalizing public square; the human family reunion that reconvenes a hobbled digital diaspora.

“You could be lying in bed with your spouse,” Walsh says. “You’re both reading your iPads and being delivered two totally different worlds of information. Victoria and I wanted to create a place where everybody can hear the same thing at the same time. Not just to share the experience, but to be witnessed in your full humanity.”

Walsh’s love of and fealty to storytelling—down to its species-nourishing roots—lives at the center of the Godmothers vision. Jackson brings her collaborative energy.

“Everything that I’ve done has been about bringing people together, whether it was in my world of cosmetics and going to the jails for 20 years, or in the world of medicine that I’m in now—where my day job is bringing clinicians, researchers, scientists, and patients together from over 50 countries. I love that Godmothers is another way of doing that. When we’re not siloed, when we work together, incredible things manifest.”

The two have lengthy, very public track records as doers of the implausible. Patronizing naysayers have, historically, been sidelined without fuss. Jackson’s determined march into the middle of the medical research space is emblematic. I mention to her that the words, “You can’t really do that, Victoria,” is like waving a red cape at a bull. She nods.

“If I can’t come in through the door,” she says agreeably, “I’ll try the window. If that doesn’t work, I’ll come up through the floor. If that doesn’t work I’ll come down through the ceiling. I’ll find a way. So, yeah.”

GLitodmothers is off and running, her demure grand opening a predictably quiet affair. Guests included the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Oprah Winfrey (who bestowed the Godmothers name), Jane Lynch, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi—and a bevy of other cultural quasars. There was energetic circulating, animated gesturing, and, rumor has it, there were heads thrown back in lusty laughter. Invitees noshed on vittles provided by in-house Airstream epicures Miles Robbins and Kamil Jumale. Walsh and Jackson were in the mix holding court. As life-pivots go, this is one for the ages.

“I stepped away from my career in January of 2020 and started what I called my Sacred Pause,” Walsh says. “I had no idea how long it was going to last.” People turn corners and are heard to say I never looked back. Walsh looked back and retrieved the good bits. “About three and a half years into it, I realized I didn’t miss the book business, but I missed book people. So I moved out west from New York. I moved two miles up a mountain. I have donkeys and goats and micro cows.”

A lushly appointed, raised corner of Godmothers’ main reading room is a discreetly wired stage for interviewing, speaking, and streaming. Plans to take the Godmothers magic global are afoot, the varied and ever-surprising event queue already jamming. The founders’ collective business pedigree suggests an exacting way forward.

“No,” Walsh assures, eyes smiling. “We’re driving by our high beams at night. We can see maybe six feet in front of us, but we trust that we’re going to find our way home.” She looks at her business partner, who looks at me.

“Yeah,” Jackson says, her grin blossoming. “That’s kind of how we are.”

IN ASSOCIATION WITH PETER FETTERMAN GALLERY

THE POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY

JANUARY 3–27, 2025

ORMOND GIGLI (1925-2019) Models in the Windows, NewYork City, 1960

Copyright Ormond Gigli / Gigli Estate. Courtesy of Peter Fetterman Gallery

KRISTOFFER ALBRECHT | PAUL CAPONIGRO | GEORGES DAMBIER | MARTIN ELKORT

ELLIOT ERWITT | ORMOND GIGLI | BURT GLINN | DON HUNSTEN | YALE JOEL

MICHAEL KENNA | HERMAN LEONARD | GRACE ROBERTSON | WILLY RONIS

PENTI SAMMALLAHTI | GEORGE TICE | TODD WEBB | SABINE WEISS

The Business Partners Behind Esbee: Santa Barbara Superfans and Inseparable Chums

Authenticity. Some of us get the memo early on. “My dad and I would be out hiking,” says Esbee’s Eli Gill. “And often he’d just see some palm tree in a creek bed somewhere and he would get so pissed off because this non-native plant would be encroaching on the California sycamores and the oaks.” These remembered episodes—Gill Sr. loudly berating a forlorn, dusty palm in a backcountry gulch—would make an impression. Authenticity is all.

Eli Gill and co-conspirator Andrew Schmoller have made Santa Barbara authenticity the defining cornerstone of Esbee, their fine men’s casual wear boutique. “I’m happiest,” Gill says, “when everything is on fire and we’ve got 10,000 orders and we’re losing our minds.” Schmoller jumps in. “This is one of the best communities in the world!” he says with characteristic brio. “How do you take that and spread the news?” How indeed.

Speak the word aloud—Esbee—and you’re pronouncing the source of Gill and Schmoller’s sartorial inspiration. These longtime friends have launched an homage to SB that you wear.

“What’s great about Santa Barbara,” Schmoller says, gesturing expansively.

“Is this…”

We’re on the peaceable sunken lawn in front of Pierre Lafond in the idyllic Upper Village. Round little birds

WEARING THE PLACE YOU LOVE

by Jeff Wing

flutter from tree to tree, hollering musically under a sky of cloudless, domed cobalt. “Santa Barbara…” Gill says ruminatively, smiling. “It’s about never being inside. The beaches, the hiking; it’s outdoor living. The windows are just open.”

“How to represent Santa Barbara and Montecito with the best of California manufacturing?” Schmoller asks energetically. Words come out of this guy like they’ve been crowding the exit for an hour. If Schmoller has an indoor voice I won’t hear it today. His enthusiasm is infectious. Gill looks at his chum and laughs.

“We’re lucky to be born in California,” he says. “And we’re completely unable to leave.”

Model Ben sports Esbee's Rincon Surf Jacket and Montecito Supima Crew in Olive Mill.

(Photo by Eli Gill)

The Esbee Essence

Lewis and Clark, Rodgers and Hart, Butch and Sundance, Jobs and Woz. Legendary duos often trade on the alchemy of opposites. Gill and Schmoller— two UCLA alums, former and future biz partners, buds from way back—embody that almost cinematic yin and yang associated with entrepreneurial conquest. Eli is softerspoken, chooses his words with some deliberation, and keeps his hands folded as he speaks. Andrew is a roman candle in a phone booth.

“He’s our momentum guy,” Gill understates. Yes, that seems a fair description.

“And he comes from the operations, design, and creative standpoint,” Schmoller says.

“I’m on the demand side of the house.” And Schmoller is Montecito strong.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018, wee hours—he’s awakened by a torrential downpour. He gets up and walks outside, the rain stops, and a minute later he hears muted explosions, trees audibly snapping, and an ominous approaching roar. He dashes back inside, gathers his family upstairs. The house is shaking in the onslaught but is spared. The cataclysm reaffirms his dedication to the area, centers in him an even deeper focus on what he loves here.

The guys have worked together before, their respective strengths long since established. Today, Esbee has Gill ideating the product and Schmoller’s solid-fuel business rocket moving the ball into orbit. “I got into the custom suit business about a decade ago,” Gill says. “I have a lot of experience in the clothing industry, a lot of connections there.”

Zoommates: Andrew Schmoller (in the chair) having a super serious video chat with partner and pal Eli Gill. (Photo by Kim Reierson)

Esbee’s shore-to-summit casuals are just what you’d hoped. We’re talking Montecito Supima Crew tees, Montecito Supima Long Sleeve Crews, and something they’re calling the Vintage Cotton Sweatshirt Tee. Gill is wearing an Esbee innovation, the Rincon Surf Jacket—a carelessly elegant bit of coastal chill couture that, like everything Esbee, comes off the shelf feeling and looking like that favorite thing you’ve owned for a decade.

Esbee’s color palette, like that of its namesake, travels along a sort of sea-glass continuum. Supima crew tees and sweatshirt tees are in Slate Blue, Charcoal, Mesa Fog, Black, Dusty Pink; while jackets are Cream, Olive Mill, and Navy. Materials and workmanship live in the U.S.A. Esbee has no brick-and-mortar presence.

“How do you do high quality in California, and execute on a company like this?” Schmoller asks rhetorically. “By utilizing the nimble, modern tech of online, of social media, of a DTC model.” Having worked in Cloud and ‘Post-Cloud,’ (X)aaS, IT Transformation, FinTech, and FinOps (among other bewildering tech terms and digital careers), Schmoller knows whereof he speaks.

“If I go to Tokyo,” Gill says, “I can find something that’s made in Japan, something that’s cool, unique, something you bring back home—and then it’s a story. ‘I got that thing in Tokyo!’” Santa Barbara—vacay nirvana and global daydream—is now incarnate in Esbee’s must-have prêt-à-porter. Throw it in your suitcase and take it home. These two pals, Eli and Andrew, have transfigured their love of place into something tactile, and with a real thread count.

“I would even say,” Andrew half-murmurs to Gill, “…between you and me right now? This isn’t the last business we’re going to have.” Eli nods in agreement. With a caveat.

“This will just be the most successful,” he says.

esbee.us

(Photo by Kim Reierson)

We are passionate about guiding clients through the complexities of one of the most significant purchases of their lives. With over 28 years of experience in Santa Barbara, our seasoned agents provide skillful risk management and trusted advice every step of the way.

IMAGINE HAVING A WHOLE VILLAGE BEHIND YOU.

Photo: David Kafer

FAIRMONT GOLD

An exclusive, personalized experience from check-in to check-out and beyond

VANCOUVER ISLAND

British Columbia's Capital City is a stunning blend of natural beauty and historic architecture.

CANADA'S CASTLE ON THE COAST

Fairmont Empress is located in Victoria, overlooking the city’s sparkling Inner Harbour.

NEWLY RENOVATED FAIRMONT GOLD

This upgrade enhances the signature Fairmont Gold experience, captivating those in search of the ultimate in luxury.

MONTECITO IS READY FOR ITS GLOW UP

by Tiana Molony

While driving through Montecito on a recent Tuesday afternoon, my sister, who sat beside me in the passenger seat, gestured to what was formerly Oliver’s Montecito.

“I wonder what that’s going to be,” she said as the vacant building streaked by, her head with it. Then, just a few seconds later, the former Cava restaurant location appeared, and, noting the construction there, she asked, “And what’s going on around here?”

Montecito is experiencing something of a rebirth. Going back to the 2017-2018 Thomas Fire and ensuing debris torrent—which followed multiple years of drought—Montecito has been in an attenuated rebuild mode with a robust local economy. To put things in perspective, in 2024 Santa Barbara rose to #5 in PropertyShark’s ranking of Most Expensive U.S. Zip Codes by Median Sale Price. While the previous #5, Beverly Hills, dropped out of the Top 10 after an $800K median sales drop. And we still have more to look forward to…

The Post. (Courtesy of KAP Studio)

Nobu at the Biltmore, Thomas Keller at the Coral Casino

In March 2020, Montecito resident Ty Warner closed the Four Seasons Biltmore to renovate guest rooms, add new restaurants, and install a pool. However, Sean Lavelle, the Biltmore’s Director of Development, told me that the closure was never a matter of changing the hotel’s iconic look, but rather a reaction to changing times.

Maintaining the Biltmore’s historical significance took precedence, ensuring that intrinsic elements remained unchanged. The less sacred parts, however, are indeed evolving. The everyday traveler has changed, and so have the hotels that accommodate them.

For starters, the hotel’s La Marina Restaurant will soon become a Nobu, the renowned Japanese restaurant with over 56 locations worldwide. Montecito will become the latest hotspot for the enduring restaurant, joining the ranks of Dubai, Monte Carlo, and Malibu.

The Ty Cocktail Lounge will return as before, albeit with a facelift. American chef Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame will be at the helm of the Coral Casino’s new Tydes Restaurant. Keller’s also transforming the hotel’s former hair salon into a Bouchon Bakery, adding to its original location in Yountville (and another in Las Vegas). “The intent is to give two of the finest dining experiences in Santa Barbara County, here in Montecito,” says Lavelle. We’ll take it. Slated for re-opening in the summer of 2025, Montecito residents and visitors can once again explore the resort that’s been dearly missed.

ESCAPE IN A MOMENT

Escape in a moment and enrich your wellness journey at Spa Ojai. Surrounded by the inspiring Topatopa Mountains, this 31,000-square-foot Forbes Five-Star spa features two pools, a fully equipped gym, Mind & Body classes, Spa Boutique, and Spa Café o ering a menu of fresh, healthy indulgences. Nourish your body and inspire mindful renewal amidst a natural setting of oak trees, fresh lavender, and idyllic vistas—all just a short drive away.

(844) 597-8955 OjaiValleyInn.com

Other New Places To Eat

So to answer my sister’s question, shortly after the popularamong-vegans restaurant Oliver’s Montecito closed its doors in 2023, its replacement, Bar Lou, moved in. The restaurant, owned by Warner Ebbink and Brandon Boudet (both of Little Dom’s), aims to be an all-encompassing gathering spot where the experience extends beyond food and drink. It’s a French-inspired restaurant that highlights ingredients from local farmers. As Gabrielle Badawy, the chef’s consultant for Bar Lou, says, “It feels like a place that you want to hang out at more than a place where you get a bite and run off.”

A few months ago, a sign appeared on the building of the former Mexican restaurant Cava—which reigned for 24 years—announcing its replacement: Clark’s Oyster Bar, with the anticipatory statement “Docking Soon” underneath. The restaurant has locations in Austin, Houston, Aspen, and now Montecito. It offers seafood dishes alongside a raw bar featuring a selection of oysters and other accoutrements.

“We want people to feel like they’re someplace timeless, where the details are cared about, and the hospitality is warm and genuine,” says Larry McGuire, a partner of McGuire Moorman Hospitality.

This desire to create an inviting atmosphere is a hallmark of the area’s evolving dining scene. Brandon Ristaino and Misty Orman, owners of Good Lion Hospitality, recognized the area’s potential and chose the Montecito Inn as the site of their next cocktail lounge—Lion’s Tale. “We noticed years ago that there

wasn’t a dedicated cocktail bar where the primary offering was that of cocktails,” says Ristaino. The couple enjoys spending their nights out visiting multiple establishments. They envision Lion’s Tale as the perfect place to begin or conclude a memorable evening in Montecito.

Hopefully, with a martini. “People are drinking so many martinis, it’s shocking,” says Orman, who also takes the temperature of their martinis very seriously. “There’s nothing worse to me than a martini that’s not cold.” Not only are they better ice-cold, but to suggest any other way is preposterous.

Bar Lou. (Photo by Blake Bronstad)

Clark's Oyster Bar

A Little Bit Country Mart, a Little Bit Rock and Roll

Latte in hand, I also perused the Montecito Country Mart, as one does, and learned that the British luxury clothing store, Sunspel, will be making its Central Coast debut here. The brand is women’s and men’s basics designed to last a lifetime. And as we all know, Montecitans can live a very long time.

Alma Fonda Fina, a new Mexican restaurant, took over the space once home to Little Alex’s (which featured moderately priced Mexican food). In its stead, chef Ramon Velazquez, a 2024 Michelin Bib Gourmand winner, heads the new eatery where they have Mexican dishes made with locally-sourced ingredients that explore novel takes on the classics. “We never want to do another just Mexican cuisine, another taqueria, another taco spot, for the sake of it,” says Andres Velasco, the restaurant’s manager of operations. “We just want to be a little bit more involved.”

The restaurant also adopts a nascent design concept including a hot pink sofa and refurbished chairs from Cate School. The chairs are a nice touch. They say something about how our community handles change—by offering something new, nodding at something old, and paying close attention to the community’s needs.

by Meg Sandu)

(Photos

Revamp by the Bird Refuge

That much is the case for the Runyon Group, headed by developers David Fishbein and Joseph Miller, who purchased the Las Aves complex across from the Andree Clark Bird Refuge. With the change they envisioned, they also had to consider the property’s history, which meant preserving and restoring the six historic buildings. “It was as if these buildings, with their lived-in elegance, were calling for a revival,” says Fishbein. When they brainstormed how they would transform the property on the corner of East Cabrillo Boulevard and Los Patos Way, they first asked themselves what the Montecito and Santa Barbara communities needed—what businesses were missing that they could bring?

The result is The Post: a gathering where 13 hand-selected retailers and restaurants will reside, including, but not limited to lifestyle clothing brand The Great, hair salon Providence Salon, and, coming in early 2025, Italian restaurant Jemma Montecito, a modern Italian concept from husband-and-wife team Jackson and Melissa Kalb (Jackson, formerly of Alinea, Joël Robuchon, and Top Chef fame) with pastas, pizzas, and craft cocktails.

The Post will open in mid-December; however, design renderings provide a sneak peek into what we can expect. Fishbein and Miller recognize that retail shopping is alive and well, and at this little corner of Montecito, it certainly will be. “Montecito already has incredible places to gather, but we’re excited to add a fresh dimension—a place where people can start their morning over coffee or unwind with a special evening out,” shares Miller.

(Courtesy of KAP Studio)

New Neighbors in the Upper Village

The Old Firehouse building on East Valley Road was most recently home to Lucca Antiques. But its newest resident will be the furniture and homewares juggernaut Restoration Hardware (RH), or as my mom likes to call it, “Resto.” At first glance, a big-box furniture store in a place like Montecito seems unusual. But, I say, it makes perfect sense. A Restoration Hardware in Montecito is as natural as an armadillo in Texas, especially since this new location will have a café and wine bar. Moreover, the RH CEO and largest shareholder Gary Friedman has articulated a desire to turn Restoration Hardware into an American LVMH, so is the 93108 really such an unnatural fit for such a flagship?

Just across the street, the Wine Bistro is poised for a revival. It will soon be home to Little Mountain restaurant, led by chef Joel Viehland (formerly of Noma), who was named Best Small Town Chef in America by Cooking Light, and two husband-and-wife duos Graham Duncan and Courtney Smith and Bryan and Eve Schreier. Expect an opening sometime in spring or early summer.

A Roundabout Way of Saying How Much I Love This Town

These shifts, large and small, are part of the ongoing evolution of Montecito, a testament to its adaptability and resilience. I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss the new roundabouts in all their glory. Not everyone’s a fan, but the truth is they’re safer and reduce traffic (ask anyone from Carmel, Indiana, famous for having over 150 roundabouts). I remember what it was like before to stop and wait for the people who stopped before you, only to be cut off by the person who stopped after you. All that stopping, and for what? These roundabouts will reduce the madness. They’re symbols of our progress, of our willingness to improve.

These thoughts crossed my mind after I dropped my sister at her destination. Traveling along Coast Village Road, I made my way to the roundabout where Coast Village connects with Olive Mill, connects with Jameson, connects with the 101 freeway— so many possibilities, so many options to choose from. I took the first exit and went to Butterfly Beach, parked on Channel Drive, and watched the waves crash on the shore. Maybe after my respite, I’ll grab an iced mocha from Caffe Luxxe and wander the Country Mart. Or, perhaps I’ll grab a loaf of that delectable lemon bread from Pierre Lafond. That’s the thing about this beguiling little town with just eight and a half thousand residents: you find yourself wanting to hang around.

DESIGNED

ACE OF DENIM

by Alexis Sears

“ We’re the opposite of fast when it comes to fashion. Effortless is a much more appropriate understanding of what we do.”

(Photo by Cory Cullington)

If Anyone Can Tell a Story Through Pants, It’s the Denim Duke of State Street

In his long career designing denim, Beau Lawrence has racked up several moments that he’ll always be able to reflect upon with pride. But there’s one moment that’s memorable not just for the client involved, but for the extra fabric the client required. “I got to make a pair of jeans for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,” says Lawrence. “Those were some very, very big, very tall jeans.”

Lawrence is the founder and brains behind Ace Rivington, a Santa Barbara-based denim design brand proudly serving men and women of all heights. Living with his wife and co-founder, Yasmin, and their daughters in Carpinteria, he operates his business out of his flagship store in La Arcada Plaza, the culmination of years of experience working in the clothing design industry.

It’s interesting to think of the things that make their way into our homes. Open your closet. Have you kept a pair of jeans in there within the past quarter-century? By Lawrence’s own estimate, he’s made 25 million pairs of jeans over the span of his career. Whether you realize it or not, there’s a good chance he’s had a hand in your pants.

And while most designers are content to provide you only with comfortable, fashionable clothes, Lawrence has a passion for weaving storytelling into his craft, making a character out of his company’s namesake, Ace Rivington: “He’s a modern day private jet pilot with lineage that ties him all the way back to the early days of aviation,” says Lawrence. “I wanted to sell clothes in a really unique way, and incorporating story has been an important part of it.”

Lawrence’s own story began in Nashville, but really, Nashville only factored into his tale in the very, very beginning. The day after Beau’s birth, his father, Claude, took the family St. Bernard into his station wagon and set off for Hollywood. “He loaded up the car and started driving west,” says Lawrence, “and when he called the hospital to check in with my mom, she didn’t tell him that I was in the incubator because I had jaundice.”

Baby Beau would continue to incubate for another month, his mother beside him every day, as his father kept driving away with the dog. Times were different then.

But the rest of the family eventually caught up with him. Claude managed to establish himself in Hollywood as a producer and assistant director (Dallas and Eight Is Enough are a couple of his credits) and his experience in the world of storytelling left an impression on his son.

(Photo by Cory Cullington)

The flagship store in La Arcada Plaza, uncommonly cozy.

(Photo by David Kafer)

Lawrence grew up believing architecture was his calling until a friend came to him with an unusual job offer: a very low wage job working at his screen-printing company. To compensate for the low wage, Lawrence would receive two percent ownership of the company. “The next morning I went down to the surf shops, looking at all the brands like Rusty, Billabong, and Quiksilver,” says Lawrence, “and I was thinking to myself, these guys are smart, but they aren’t any smarter than I am. I can do the same thing. I’m going to build a brand.”

That career in architecture didn’t stand a chance, something of a shock not just to him, but also to his folks. “I sat down with my parents and told them I was going to be a fashion designer,” he says. “It was an interesting conversation.”

He thrived at FIDM and after graduating, Lawrence landed a job in the men’s design department at Guess? where he met a head designer named Silvio Marceca. Marceca would become his mentor. “Silvio basically gave me my PhD in denim,” says Lawrence. “And I was lucky over the years to fill up passports, travel the world, visit factories, work with suppliers, and create incredible collections of product.”

Though not technically an alter ego, Ace’s journeys were inspired by Lawrence’s own expeditions and Lawrence shares more than a few qualities with Ace Rivington the character. Both are world travelers seeking to broaden their horizons, absorbing stories to tell from far away lands, always searching for the shared humanity in everyone. “There are many things that make us much more similar than there are that don’t,” says Lawrence.

Breaking away from the image of the singlemindedly ambitious entrepreneur, Lawrence is a refreshing change. Funny and down to earth, he’s candid about his shortcomings and unfulfilled goals. Celebrating the achievements of his mentors, friends, and family—including his children—he fosters a genuine sense of community. I get the impression he views everyone as an important character in the larger narrative.

“The most magical thing is that I can say with incredible confidence that I found happiness and freedom in having built a business and not caring about having to chase anymore,” says Lawrence. “We’re so happy in Carpinteria and I’m such a family-focused person. Now my adventures and happiness comes from making pancakes on Sunday mornings.”

Photo by Rocco Ceselin

by Jonathan Cristaldi

Galaxies in a Glass: The Sea Smoke Experience

Exploring the Connection Between a Santa Barbara County Wine Estate’s Bold Creations and Richard Foreman’s Ontological-Hysteric Theatrical Chaos

Listen: A wine from Santa Barbara got me thinking about how the avant-garde New York City-based playwright Richard Foreman uncorked a heady dose of tension while exploring rationality and irrationality in his pivotal work Bad Boy Nietzsche!

The show ran at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater in the East Village at St. Mark’s in early 2000. In the play, Nietzsche is portrayed more as a symbol of rebellious, iconoclastic thought—a “bad boy” in the sense that he challenges conventional ways of thinking.

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star” is something that Nietzsche wrote in his seminal philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra. This quote suggests that great joy and creativity can emerge from inner chaos or struggle, emphasizing a profound and dynamic joy.

You hear that ‘bad boy’ Nietzsche? Enough about you; let’s talk about the joy of drinking a bad boy sparkling wine from the Santa Barbara-based winery Sea Smoke.

My god—the tension, the rebellion of it all, my rational and irrational thoughts after drinking it, the great struggle it put me through, and the emerging joy that ensued.

The first time I drank a glass of Sea Smoke’s Sea Spray sparkling wine, a blanc de noirs made from Pinot Noir grapes grown at the winery’s Sta. Rita Hills estate, it felt like the entire galaxy was dancing on my palate. Let’s get real here: The moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Pluto, you name it, weighed down the center of gravity of my tongue with flavors so deep that an existential pain was unfolding in my mouth. Then, the Big Bang of electric acidity, and just like that, the weight was ephemeral—transformed into the darkened lightness of deep space, the imagined holy smoke of an everlasting uncertainty leaving in its wake a trail of moondust or some mineral we’ve never seen and never known and cannot, therefore, describe it—when words and their imagined meanings simply fail us.

I’donly ever felt like that at the end of a Richard Foreman play. His work is, simply put, surreal, intellectually challenging, full of fragmented narratives, abstract dialogue, and striking visuals. I was almost an actor in one of his last stage plays—The Gods Are Pounding My Head (AKA Lumberjack Messiah), which had a run in the winter and spring of 2005. But the commitment paid very little, and it was some four months of maddening rehearsals and then four months of a run. I was broke then and couldn’t find a job that worked around Foreman’s demanding schedule. I’ll beat myself up about not making it work until my dying day. I did see the show. I saw it several times, and I walked out feeling a mix of bewilderment, sensory overload, and mental whiplash each time.

Just as with a Foreman play, the wines of Sea Smoke leave me delightfully off-kilter and intrigued, plunging me into a sensory whirlpool—a dance of vibrant fruit, earthy undertones, and elusive spices—that lingers like an unsolved riddle.

It’s no wonder the conglomerate Constellation Brands purchased Sea Smoke earlier this year for some undisclosed sum (read: tens of millions of dollars—or at least an amount of money that would have easily supported me through the oppressive rehearsals and monthslong Foreman production and thereafter).

The thing is, if you want to buy Sea Smoke’s wines to experience their ethereal beauty, you can do so once you get to the front of the line of their two-year-long waitlist. On any given day, thousands of people are waiting for somebody to opt out or die to get closer to the front of the line.

In a great year, when the weather is divine, and the grape harvest abundant, the winery makes around 240,000 bottles—most of that split evenly between two core Pinot Noirs: Southing and Ten, and the rest made up of a small amount of Chardonnay and Sea Spray sparkling. In 2017, they made 247 bottles of Sea Spray, and only around 300 in the 2018 vintage. Rare, to say the least.

Nevertheless, over the July Fourth holiday week this year, I was granted an appointment to visit the Sea Smoke Estate

Vineyard. I brought along my wife, her cousin, and his wife, and we left all our kids with the grandparents at their ranch in Santa Ynez. We were hosted by Patton Penhallegon, who strikes me as a fitter Zach Galifianakis with the energy and drive of Ernest Hemingway. Penhallegon drove us around the estate and gave us a lay of the land.

The vines at Sea Smoke were planted in 1999, shortly after founder Bob Davids acquired the farmland from a group of nuns. It was known as the Mount Carmel Vineyard when the nuns tried their hands at farming. It didn’t work out, though. Maybe God wanted them to do something else.

by Rocco

A Moveable Fiesta: Patton Penhallegon exudes a "Hemingway-like mystique." (Photo by Kim Reierson)

Photo

Ceselin

SWIM

It was known as the Mount Carmel Vineyard when the nuns tried their hands at farming. It didn't work out, though. Maybe God wanted them to do something else.

Photo by Rocco Ceselin

Today,roughly 170 acres of divine vines are spread across 900 acres with elevations rising from 350 to 650 feet, and the estate includes neighboring Rita’s Crown vineyard. After kicking up moondust—very fine diatomaceous earth particles—in Rita’s Crown, Penhallegon ushered us to an open-air tasting pavilion. Sweeping views of the Santa Ynez River valley revealed stalwarts of the Sta. Rita Hills appellation—I could see the iconic vines of Fiddlestix, La Rinconada, and Sanford & Benedict as I sipped on generous pours of the 2018 Sea Spray Blanc de Noirs.

I asked Penhallegon how things were going since Constellation changed the locks. “They seem to have our best interests in mind,” he said. “We are simply doing all we can to keep Sea Smoke Sea Smoke. Word is obviously out that we purchased fruit for the first time in Sea Smoke history.”

I shrugged my shoulders at that. In wine speak, he means that overall production will increase—that’s the natural next step for any winery bought by a publicly traded company—but it’s a good thing maybe, allowing the team to play in some other sandboxes.

“We were able to purchase fruit from some of the other top sites in the Sta. Rita Hills,” Penhallegon explained, filling my glass with another pour of Sea Spray, “then apply the same winemaking techniques we would for our estate wines—and we are still working out the fine details on what that wine will become—but our vision is to keep our ‘Southing’ and ‘Ten’ Pinot Noirs entirely estate.”

We drank those, too. The 2021 Southing and Ten and the Chardonnay. It all seemed momentous because the first Southing release was the 2001, a wine I had tasted with Penhallegon, former General Manager Victor Gallegos, and winemaker Don Schroeder at a rare retrospective tasting they held in Ojai. It was a wine as intellectually stimulating as a Foreman set—stark contrasts and bold visuals, layered projections, dream-like chaos, dense, surreal, and even disorienting. I gave it 100 points after tasting it again, some five hours after one bottle had been opened and left to wither under the oppression of oxidation. “I fully expected it to have resolved into a shell of itself,” I mused in my review. “Still, I was floored to discover an almost fuller wine, with more power, energy, tension, and balance.”

Many factors come together to make Sea Smoke the remarkable place it is. Unlike the ancient, storied hills of Burgundy, where generations of family farmers have worked the land for so long they know to which decade each stone underfoot belongs, Sea Smoke’s youth and untapped potential add to its mystique, offering something fresh and profound, born from the singular soils of California’s Sta. Rita Hills, its vines thriving amidst the shifting elements, grappling with nature’s unpredictability, the external chaos of time and place, and the evolving art of viticulture, ultimately yielding a wine that captures the dynamic joy and complexity of its journey.

Sure, I missed out on being in that Richard Foreman play, but at least I got to taste this wine.

Time Honored Montecito Living

“Casa Dorinda combines the magic of a historic estate, a lively social scene, and unparalleled private healthcare. Peace of mind has never been so inviting.”

At Casa Dorinda, we work to foster a culture of understanding, acceptance of individual differences, and respect throughout our community. We recognize and embrace the diversity of our residents, their families, our team members, and Board members, while sharing a common goal of cultivating inclusion and collaboration.

THE GRILL - CASA’S CASUAL DINING VENUE

THE SANTA BARBARA COAST

As the golden winter sun illuminates the hills of the American Riviera, we invite you to enjoy a festive season of rich tradition, local craft and contemporary luxury overlooking the Santa Barbara Coast. From fireside cocktails, sumptuous cuisine and live jazz to seasonal workshops, decadent afternoon tea and joyous New Year’s celebrations, join us for a calendar of unforgettable festivities full of friends, family and merriment.

Please contact our Reservations Team at 805 845 5800 to plan your festive season retreat.

WAY IT WAS

BY HATTIE BERESFORD

THE MONTEREY REVIVALIST

The Santa Barbara Architecture of Roland Coate, Sr.

Roland E. Coate, Sr. (1890-1958) grew up in an Indiana farm town where his father was vice president of a mercantile company and a well-to-do, prominent citizen. Coate studied architecture at Cornell University and augmented his studies with a threemonth sketching tour of Europe. After graduation in 1914, he worked for an architectural firm in New York.

In 1920, Coate moved to Pasadena, California, where he had obtained a position with Reginald D. Johnson, a notable residential architect. (Johnson would complete several Santa Barbara commissions, most notably the Santa Barbara Biltmore and Mira Flores.) A year after his arrival, Coate was promoted to full partner in the firm.

Early on, the majority of Coate’s design work was done in the popular Mediterranean and Spanish Revival styles though he accommodated his clients’ tastes for other motifs, as well. He had a particular affection, however, for Monterey-style architecture, which he believed captured the historic and romantic spirit of California’s past. He aimed to imbue his designs with livability, informality, and simplicity, incorporating a harmonious relationship to their surroundings.

Prominent Pasadena architect Roland E. Coate, Sr. designed four homes in Santa Barbara and has three homes on the National Register of Historic Places in the Los Angeles Area. (Courtesy Marc Appleton, Bret Parsons, and Steve Vaught)

As Coate’s popularity soared, Hollywood took notice and he soon became a favored architect for film stars and producers like Gary Cooper, David Selznick, Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Howard Hughes, and Myrna Loy.

Three of Coate’s four homes in Santa Barbara were designed as summer places for prominent people from Pasadena and Los Angeles.

Coate’s son, Roland E. Coate, Jr., followed his father’s lead and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in architecture. He declined to follow his father into revival architecture, however. Instead, he experimented with Brutalism and is responsible for the Modernist Alexander House in Montecito.

National Register of Historic Places – Parley Johnson House

Born in 1890 to a prominent Riverside family that was invested in real estate, citrus, and oil businesses, Alexander Parley Johnson assumed his place as an influential member of the community. He married Geline “Gypsy” Richardson in 1925, and in 1926 they commissioned Roland Coate to design a 6,000-square-foot house on their 50-acre orange grove in Downey, California.

Coate made use of rough-hewn lumber to simulate historic authenticity for the Johnsons’ home. (UCSB Architecture and Design Collection)

Coate designed a red-tile roofed Monterey-style home with the requisite cantilevered balconies. The basic rectangular shape of the house was augmented by the landscape work of Florence Yoch and Lucile Council, who created a complex of gardens that functioned as outdoor rooms.

A two-story entry hall featured an L-shaped stairway with a wrought iron banister. Each room on the ground floor had handmade tiles set in different patterns. The grand 24’ by 36’ living room had a ceiling of hand-hewn wooden beams and a large fireplace. One innovative feature was a furnace that could heat any room in the house by the click of a button.

One latter-day visitor to the estate wrote, “The Johnson home is a rare medium of exquisite architecture and subtle elegance.”

Over the years the house became a state and national historic landmark, and took its place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, the year that Gypsy died. In her will, Geline Johnson bequeathed the house to the Assistance League of Downey.

In 1926, Roland Coate, Sr. designed a Monterey-style home for Parley and Geline Johnson. (UCSB Architecture and Design Collection)

The living room of the home displays rough-hewn beams and a pattern of handmade clay tiles, which add to the impression of Spanish California. (UCSB Architecture and Design Collection)

PRESENTS SPOTLIGHT VO YAGE ON GOLF WITH ANNIKA SÖRENS TAM

PRESENTS SPOTLIGHT VO YAGE ON GOLF WITH ANNIKA

SÖRENS TAM

LONDON

ROUNDTRIP | Seven Seas Grandeur®

14 Nights • June 23, 2025 • Up to 31 Excursions Included

Play some of the most storied golf courses across the British Isles in the company of a Hall of Fame golfer. Set sail aboard Seven Seas Grandeur® next summer on Regent Seven Seas Cruises new Spotlight Voyage on Golf with Annika Sörenstam.

Learn more about this voyage or other Regent voyages and discover why The World’s Most Luxurious Fleet® is the ultimate way to travel.

“We

Locally owned and family-managed, Santa Barbara Travel has proudly served the Montecito & Santa Barbara community for over 75 years. As a member of the exclusive Virtuoso Travel Network, we have established relationships with premier travel companies worldwide. Specializing in luxury, entertainment and corporate travel, partner with a trusted local travel company to craft your perfect travel experience.

SANTA BARBARA TRAVEL BUREAU

DAVID DE L’ARBRE Santa Barbara 1028 State Street (805) 869-1107 or davidd@sbtravel.com

CHARLES DE L’ARBRE Montecito 1485 East Valley Road, #9 (805) 969-7746 or charlesd@sbtravel.com www.sbtravel.com

Dorothy D. Cotton House in Montecito

In 1927, Coate Sr. designed a Monterey-style home for Dorothy Louise (Davidge) Cotton in Montecito. Dorothy was a recent divorcee from Pasadena and the elegant second home became a retreat for her and her family. In 1930, she married Alan Evans Morphy, a well-to-do businessman in Pasadena, and the house remained in the family until 1950 when it was sold to Charles Albert Storke II.

Storke was a 7th-generation Santa Barbaran whose heritage extended back to the rough and tumble Spanish and American days in Santa Barbara. Storke was the son of News-Press founder Thomas More Storke, and was a newspaper man himself.

At that time, the house became part of the social whirl of Santa Barbara. Besides hosting garden tours, the house became a favored venue for parties. At the 1953 Fiesta party, for instance, costumed guests, the reporter wrote, “gathered on the wide tree and flower bordered lawn that extends from the brick terrace off the living room of the Storke casa. The beautiful house is built somewhat on the style of a Monterey adobe, with long corridors, and second floor balconies with their wrought iron railings. An outside stairway reached the balconies, and the old-fashioned shutters were painted green to make a stunning backdrop with the tall olive trees.”

To echo the picket fence, Coate designed a delicate wooden railing on the cantilevered porch, which was counterbalanced with heavy corbels. (UCSB, Architecture and Design Collection)

In 1984, architect William R. LaVoie was commissioned to make interior changes for the then-owners, and he remembers it as a beautiful, gracious house.

(Courtesy William R. LaVoie)

One of the five upstairs bedrooms circa 1930. It led to one of the four upstairs bathrooms. Downstairs, the vestry, dining, and living rooms were reserved for family, but an entire wing held the service areas and two maids’ bedrooms. (UCSB, Architecture and Design Collection)

(left) In the spacious backyard, brick patios and wrought iron railings led to a guest bedroom. (UCSB, Architecture and Design Collection)

The dining room with its carved corner cupboards, stood off the grand stairway hall. (UCSB Architecture and Design Collection)

John Wolcott Stewart House in Hope Ranch Park

In 1930, Roland Coate Sr. designed a home for John W. and Louise Stewart, who moved to Santa Barbara in 1928. A Yale graduate and scion of a prominent Vermont family, Stewart devoted his time to becoming the “Link King” of Santa Barbara, winning all the major local golf titles. In 1938, he obtained a pilot’s license and served with the Air Corps Ferry Command in Long Beach during WWII.

The two-story baronial home that Coate designed in Hope Ranch Park used steel I-beams to span the great width of the large dining room, living room, and library. American walnut was used for elaborate paneling and wainscoting. Carved corner cupboards enhanced the dining room, and several fireplaces warmed the home.

Upstairs were six commodious bedrooms (with two more

in the servants’ wing), and six bathrooms of which four had dressing rooms. A balcony ran the length of one side of the house with a smaller balcony on the opposite.

Large bricks, 3x5x17, were used in the main part of the home to represent adobe, though the overall design more closely resembled the Federal style. One entire wing of the home—and most of the downstairs—was given over to service, including a laundry, flower room, maids’ quarters, servants’ dining room, kitchen, pantry, service hall, and stairs.

A three-car detached garage and a two-bedroom, two-bath guest house connected to the main house by a long-covered porch completed the estate.

Despite the use of large bricks to simulate adobe, the fanlight and sidelights of the entry reflected a Federal style. (UCSB Architecture and Design Collection)

The guest house connected to the garage and the main house along a covered arcade. (UCSB Architecture and Design Collection)

Hoover House at Sandyland Cove

In 1906, well-known author Stewart Edward White and Carpinteria rancher/Santa Barbara Country Club owner Joel Remington Fithian purchased 160 acres of slough and dunes in Carpinteria to create a private beach retreat whose lands were sold only to favored friends.

In 1946, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Cooper Bryce, who had acquired the dune lands east of Santa Monica Creek, sold 30 lots to a developer who planned to resell the lots, which would be controlled by a Sandyland Cove owners’ group, thus maintaining the exclusivity of the area. In 1949, Margaret and Herbert Hoover, Jr. purchased a lot, and Roland Coate designed a charming single-story beach house that celebrated and suited its location.

The U-shaped house enclosed a large brick patio, from which a roofed lanai led to a brick terrace on the ocean side of the cottage. Flanking the large patio were four bedrooms with two shared bathrooms. It was truly a casual family home that the Hoover family enjoyed for many years.

A visitor to the home in 1953 remembered a large oil painting of First Lady Lou Henry Hoover and a long refectory table with a dozen chairs all hand-carved by Margaret Hoover, Jr.

Of all the homes Coate designed in Santa Barbara, this one perhaps best reflects Coate’s goal of livability, informality, and design simplicity while remaining in harmony with its surroundings. Today the house is owned by others, listed as a monthly rental at $25,000 a month.

Coate’s plan for the Hoover Beach Cottage included three bathrooms, five bedrooms, and an open living arrangement that easily led to lanais, patios, and porches and brought the outdoors in. (UCSB Architecture and Design Collection)

In 1949, the Santa Barbara News-Press reported that Herbert Hoover Jr., who would become Under Secretary of State during the Eisenhower administration, was building a beach cottage at Sandyland Cove.

(Sources: Master Architects of Southern California, 1920-1940: Roland Coate, Appleton, Marc, et al. Tailwater Press, Angel City Press, 2018; Roland Eli Coate Sr. papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara; contemporary newspapers; Montecito Journal, “Sandyland I and II” by Hattie Beresford; ancestry.com resources; laconservancy. org; “Casa de Parley Johnson,” The Downey Patriot, 12 February 2010, https://www. thedowneypatriot.com/articles/looking-back-on-parley-johnson-house – accessed 21 September 2024.)

Retail Repertoire

As we close another year and embark on a new one, we reflect on the moments that make our lives precious, the experiences that quicken the pulse, and the people who we keep close. And by golly, this is the time of year we traditionally shower our loved ones with meaningful gifts, isn't it? Lucky you, we've gathered here a friendly selection of artisans and tastemakers that speak to the soul of your favorite people. What would you do instead? Get them a gift card? We think not.

Globally Curated Style at True Love Always

gorjana: Style Your Everyday

orjana is celebrated for its everyday styling, offering a stunning collection of intentionally designed jewelry that encourages mixing, matching, and layering. Specializing in gold pieces adorned with diamonds, opals, sapphires, and more, the store provides a personalized experience with a talented team of stylists ready to help you craft your perfect layered look.

gorjana.com

True Love Always offers an eclectic, stylish mix of globally sourced must-haves for home and wardrobe. Inspiration from owner Lori’s travels plus daughter Olivia’s editorial eye make it an unparalleled destination for the new and next. Their highly curated lifestyle boutique features beautiful, interesting finds to add intrigue to your lifestyle. With an eye for unique pieces from around the world, they help you curate a collection that reflects your distinct style.

www.tlagoods.com

(photos by Meg Sandu)

Handcrafted Jewelry from Silverhorn Design Studio

Designer Eyewear at OCCHIALI

For more than 35 years, OCCHIALI has combined fashion awareness with prescriptive expertise. They offer an unrivaled selection of couture eyewear from Europe, Japan, and America. OCCHIALI strives to provide a premier client experience. Their top opticians excel at guiding the perfect pair selection. Find couture eyewear that is equal parts glamorous, innovative, and tailored to your needs. With an extensive collection of today’s most coveted designers, OCCHIALI helps you see clearly while staying on trend.

www.occhialieyewear.com

For more than four decades, the internationally recognized Silverhorn has been hand-crafting exquisite pieces of jewelry from the finest materials and with enduring quality. Seeking out rare and unique gemstones, Silverhorn’s designers win awards for creativity and craftsmanship year after year. Each piece, created with a specific gemstone in mind, is meticulously crafted using artisan methods and exacting precision. Clients can visit the Design Studio and observe the artisans at work, surrounded by a gallery exhibiting fine jewelry. There, one can select a finished piece or commission a custom design for a truly one-of-a-kind statement piece.

www.silverhorn.com

Handcrafted Eyewear from SALT. Optics

SALT. Optics offers premium Japanese eyewear with best-inclass hardware and polarized lenses. Located at The Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge (Studio City, California), their professional opticians help find the perfect fit and can fill prescriptions. Custom options create a bespoke experience. SALT. features handcrafted frames made with top-quality materials designed to last. With an array of styles and lens options, they have the perfect pair to fit both your vision needs and personal style.

American Art Leaders at Sullivan Goss Gallery

Established in 1984, Sullivan Goss Gallery is the largest between Los Angeles and San Francisco. For 40 years, they have represented the work of American artists with approximately 20 exhibitions annually, including solo shows, thematic exhibitions, and more. As specialists in important historic, modern, and contemporary American art, Sullivan Goss helps collectors build significant collections. With a vast inventory and rotating exhibitions, Sullivan Goss Gallery remains dedicated to showcasing the breadth of creativity expressed through American art across eras.

www.sullivangoss.com

(photos by Steven Clouse)

(photos by Lauren Wilson)

Explore Arrediamo: Handcrafted Rugs + Carpets

At Arrediamo Summerland, experience strictly handmade carpets and collectible rugs made from hand-spun wool with natural colors, sourced from overseas. Expanding beyond textiles, Arrediamo now offers furniture, accessories, and women’s apparel in the iconic “Big yellow house” in Summerland, CA. Home to the largest contemporary carpets crafted in Nepal and India by Tibetan weavers, Arrediamo provides custom designs and sizes to meet every customer’s needs. Ideal for interior decorators, designers, and home stagers, visit us for a unique shopping experience.

www.arrediamo.com

(photos by Kim Reierson)

Authentic Italian Ceramics at Italian Pottery Outlet

Family owned for 40+ years, Italian Pottery Outlet offers the West Coast’s largest selection of quality, handmade Italian ceramics and volcanic stone tables. As a wholesale distributor buying in volume, they provide 30% off regular retail pricing. Since moving to State Street in 2008, they’ve expanded to offer artisanal gifts from around the world like glassware, linens, books, and candles. Discover beautiful, authentic Italian pottery imported directly for cooking, serving, and decorating. Their knowledgeable staff helps you find the perfect piece for your home.

www.italianpottery.com

(photos by Keith James)

Classically Inspired Elegance at Daniel Gibbings

Daniel Gibbings is renowned for his timeless, classically inspired jewelry designs, crafted with an impeccable eye for detail. He blends rustic charm with refined elegance, creating a distinctive niche in artisan jewelry. Utilizing pure silver and 22 karat gold, his pieces often incorporate coins, artifacts, and precious gemstones sourced ethically to ensure authenticity and conflict-free origins. Daniel’s creations are designed to become treasured family heirlooms, marking life’s milestones with beauty drawn from the earth.

www.danielgibbings.com

Inspired Design by Marc Normand Gelinas

Decades in the design and antiques business have endowed Marc Normand Gelinas with a sophisticated eye for inspired traditional design. He has proved adept at styles ranging from transitional Mediterranean to farmhouse to glam contemporary and beyond. His antique store, part of his design business, is an extension of his passion in design.

www.mngdes.com

(photos by Blue Gabor)

Luxury Meets Modern Feminine Design at Catherine Gee Boutique

Experience designer Catherine Gee’s sensual, feminine collections at her La Arcada boutique in downtown Santa Barbara. Originally known for silk shirts and slip dresses, she now creates effortless yet elevated pieces in luxurious fabrics. Her classic, flirty style is embraced by Hollywood stars and everyday women alike. Mixing flattering silhouettes with chic accessories, her timeless fashions are designed to make women feel confident and beautiful. Catherine Gee is the destination for investment pieces that are feminine, versatile, and reflect personal style.

Experience Historic La Arcada Plaza

In Downtown Santa Barbara’s Arts District, discover La Arcada Plaza, a charming historic complex with an international flair. Wander the flower-filled plaza featuring interactive sculptures and the famous Turtle Fountain. With wonderful photo ops throughout, La Arcada offers a curated mix of locally owned boutiques, brand flagships, galleries, wine tasting rooms, and restaurants with indoor/outdoor dining. Shop, dine, and celebrate community in these beautiful historic buildings. La Arcada Plaza is the premier destination for a relaxing day of shopping, dining, and exploration in the heart of the city.

(photo by Erick Madrid)

(photo by Alex Feggi)

(photo courtesy of Coast 2 Coast Collections) (photo courtesy of Ace Rivington)

(photo courtesy of Lewis & Clark)

(photo courtesy of La Arcada Plaza)

from House of Rio

House of Rio Design offers concierge design services from initial concept through builder coordination. With a focus on high-end residential projects, House of Rio tailors your space to your unique aesthetic while keeping a keen eye on function and ease of living. Offering two brick and mortar shops, including the newest on State Street, House of Rio carries custom furniture, apparel, and one-of-a-kind housewares to accent your home. Stop by and say hi!

www.houseofrio.com

Hayward’s: Generations of Outdoor Living

Building on over 130 years of family tradition, Hayward’s has been a cornerstone of the Santa Barbara community since 1890. As Santa Barbara’s oldest continuously run family-owned business, Hayward’s expertise spans five generations. Today, Hugh Hayward continues his family’s commitment to outstanding craftsmanship and personalized service, offering the finest outdoor furniture and accessories. Whether you need a complete refresh of your outdoor living areas or just a few new pieces, their 12,000 square foot showroom and experienced staff provide personalized space planning and material selection to enhance your home. Celebrate family gatherings and create lasting memories with Hayward’s.

www.haywards1890.com

Heidi Merrick Summerland: Chic &

Tailored

The Heidi Merrick Showroom in Summerland showcases the complete collection from the brand’s coveted ready-to-wear line, known for its chic dresses and tailored suits, alongside Merrick’s Swim and SRF collections. Offering both retail hours and private shopping sessions, the showroom provides a unique experience with experienced members of the Heidi Merrick team, ensuring a personalized approach to fashion.

www.heidimerrick.com

(photos by Elizabeth Lipman)

Bryant & Sons: Celebrated Designers & Custom Creations

For nearly 60 years, Bryant & Sons has been a purveyor of fine jewelry and distinguished timepieces from celebrated designers like Roberto Coin and Omega. Located in its original El Paseo setting since 1965, the store features an onsite workshop where graduate gemologists assist with custom creations, appraisals, and repairs. Whether a first-time buyer or a seasoned collector, visitors will find timeless, high-quality pieces to cherish for generations, with expert guidance available to select the perfect addition to any collection.

www.bryantandsons.com

(photos by Mehosh Dziadzio)

Ace Rivington: Denim Perfected

Ace Rivington, a Santa Barbara-based denim lifestyle brand, proudly announces the opening of our newest flagship location at the corner of State and Figueroa. Specializing in full-service denim tailoring, our store ensures jeans fit perfectly alongside a selection of super soft, pre-washed flannels and tees. Visit us for a personalized shopping experience and enjoy a beverage at our welcoming new location.

www.acerivington.com

(photos

Furniture Gallery by Mattress Mike

Furniture Gallery by Mattress Mike, led by the father-son duo Michael (“Mattress Mike”) and Garret Gustason, has been a staple in the Santa Barbara community for over 30 years. Renowned for its vast selection of high-quality mattresses, recliners, and home furnishings, the store offers both luxury and budget-friendly options to suit every customer’s needs. With a commitment to exceptional customer service and community involvement, the Gustasons continue to forge a trusted legacy, ensuring every visit is as comfortable as the products they sell.

www.mattressmikesb.com

by David Kafer)

Belrose Estate Jewelers: Generational Heirlooms

Since 1967, Belrose Estate Jewelers has been a premier destination for antique and estate jewelry, blending historical elegance with modern allure. Under the guidance of the father-anddaughter team, Joe and Sarena Schweke, they offer a meticulously curated collection of high jewelry, designer pieces, and significant gemstones. Their commitment extends to restoring and reimagining heirlooms, ensuring sustainability and timeless beauty in each piece. Trust, quality, and family-like customer service are the cornerstones of their business.

www.BelroseEstate.com

Aquarius Cocktail: Couture Meets Street

Located in DTLA with a Santa Barbara outpost, Aquarius Cocktail is a small batch design house where vintage meets contemporary. Supported by a dedicated team of local makers, we offer unique one-of-a-kind items and limited runs that embody sophisticated spunk. Our collection features high-quality fabrics crafted into easy styles, allowing for personal expression and a blend of high/low, boy/girl aesthetics.

www.aquariuscocktail.com

(photos by Jeremy Diamond)

(photos by Mikey Piliero )

Grand Pursuits

Treating yourself to the world’s bounty is the key to living well. These are the pages where you can cross the passerelle to find the ambrosian goods and experiences that await you: plush wares, fashionable finery, and far-off escapes. For anyone desiring for the pearls of a comfortable life, welcome to Grand Pursuits.

L’Ermitage Beverly Hills. (Photo by Rich Stapleton)

NEW HAWAII

BY GABE SAGLIE

KAUAI’S NEWEST RESORT TAKES A CUE FROM MOTHER NATURE

Kauai’s lush forests, spectacular mountains, and sweeping shoreline give credence to its moniker, the Garden Isle. This is Hawaii’s fourth largest island, the oldest of the chain’s 137 isles, and one of the wettest places on Earth. Its wildly scenic terrain has long been a popular Hollywood backdrop for the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean, King Kong, and Lost. Travelers seeking to satiate their wanderlust—lovers and nomads alike—have been escaping here for generations.

The island’s northern shores recently became the epicenter of one of the state’s most ambitious eco-minded projects, the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay. Formerly a popular

St. Regis hotel, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay opened in 2023 only to become one of the most sustainably-driven resorts in the country.

The 1 Hotels brand is young—it launched just in 2015—and built upon ethos of both luxury and environmental thoughtfulness. Its 11 hotels around the globe are in popular urban destinations: New York City, Miami, London, Los Angeles among them. A half-dozen more are in the works. All are inspired by their surroundings.

“This hotel has the advantage of being surrounded by the most gorgeous nature,” says General Manager Nicholas Gold. “So it’s really easy to bring that into the property.”

NATURAL BY DESIGN

Some of the sustainability touches at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay are small, but meaningful. “Even something as basic as the team members’ name tags,” Gold says. “They’re made by a local artisan who makes ukuleles out of indigenous koa wood, and these are the cast-offs from that. We are conscious about giving things a second life.”

Natural artwork, sustainably sourced furnishings, and reclaimed pieces—teak frames, lava stones, quartz—are prevalent throughout the resort, including the 252 rooms which are airy and elegant.

“We try to blur what’s inside and what’s outside,” adds Gold, pointing to a deliberate effort to blend into the hillsides that cradle the resort. A fresh-air openness takes the place of walls, offering a litany of striking views throughout. Otherwise, it’s all about floorto-ceiling windows.

FLAVORS OF THE ISLAND

The onsite gardens fuel what’s on the menu at the hotel’s main restaurant, 1 Kitchen, where the fresh catch of the day is listed on a chalkboard. All the produce and proteins are grown and raised on the islands, much of them on nearby farms and ranches. Star items include the 1 Kitchen Burger, featuring a Wagyu blend; local fish tacos served with avocado salsa and pico de gallo; grilled mahi-mahi presented on an edamame purée; the Next Wave Island Chicken with garden greens; and a roasted cauliflower steak served with avocado tahini, sweet corn purée, and chimichurri.

The more casual Welina Terrace is popular for happy hour, with a concise menu of island- and Asian-inspired dishes, including fresh sushi and specials like Brussels sprouts served with Hawaiian macadamia nuts and the Wagyu Tataki, with spicy ginger soy and crispy shallots.

The garden inspiration spills into the bar, where mixologist Johnny Quinn, a Dana Point native and a holdover from the St. Regis days, lets his imagination run wild. The Kunia Trading Post features multiple Kō Hana Kea Agricole rums, lime, and macadamia nut syrup, served in a black lava salt-rimmed glass. The Lumahai Ehukai is made with Roku gin, a homemade lemongrass and coconut cordial, yuzu, lime, and egg white. Edible flowers from the area often make their way into the glass, too.

YOUR CHARIOT AWAITS

The 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay house car is the Audi Q8 e-tron. There are more than a half-dozen of these sleek, all-electric vehicles available for two-hour complimentary drives around the North Shore. For a fee, the e-trons can be borrowed for longer treks around the island, lasting 200 miles on a full charge.

The valet team makes their own test drive recommendations: Hanalei Pier, a prime kayaking stop and historic landmark once used to load and offload sugar; Kilauea Lighthouse, once a beacon for incoming ships; and the Maniniholo Dry Cave, a geological wonder that inspires myriad local legends.

DEEP DIVE WELLNESS

Wellness is inherent across the 1 Hotel properties, and it takes a nourishing island slant on Hanalei Bay. “We call it Within Wellness,” says Gold. “It’s a holistic approach.”

The hotel’s Bamford Wellness Spa is an 18,000-squarefoot sanctuary with a menu of body rituals featuring local oils, leaves, plants, stones, and honey-made salt scrubs. Facials and facial reflexology treatments feature local gems and organic products.

The touchless therapies are cutting edge: a hyperbaric oxygen chamber delivers 100% oxygen to clear the mind and rejuvenate the skin; the Somadome meditation pod, with its LED lights and surround sound, is a high-tech vehicle for stress relief. The Normatec 3 compression leg cuffs offer pulse technology and targeted air compression to reduce swelling and revive muscles.

The 10,000-square-foot Anatomy Fitness Center features an impressive selection of state-of-the-art equipment, while the staff at the onsite Vitality Kaua’i offer longevity-inspired medical aesthetic treatments, from injectables to IV therapies.

Nightly rates at the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay start at $1200-$1700, depending on the season. Go to 1hotels. com/hanalei-bay.

THREE DEFINITIVE EXPERIENCES FOR TRAVELERS TO KAUAI’S NORTH SHORE

SUNSET CART TOUR AT THE PRINCEVILLE MAKAI GOLF COURSE

Located near the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay, the Princeville Makai Golf Course was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and is considered one of the most picturesque courses in the world. Its Sunset Cart Tour is a guided two-hour trek across the course’s most scenic spots. The guided experience, with guests riding in pairs in electric golf carts, ends at the seventh hole, which offers stunning ocean views, right at sunset. $120/golf cart, makaigolf.com

COMMON GROUND KAUAI

Set in the town of Kilauea, Common Ground Kauai is home to an agroforest and a regenerative farm that uses no pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Seasonal produce grows year-round, including pineapple, banana, papaya, tomato, and coffee. The weekday Farm & Food Experience takes guests on a walking tour that ends with a dinner made exclusively with food grown onsite or that’s been Kauai-sourced. $120 adults/$65 kids, commongroundkauai.com

HANALEI BAY AND PIER

This historic bay has been immortalized in music: it’s the land where one Puff the Magic Dragon lived, at least according to Peter, Paul and Mary. Located at the mouth of the Hanalei River, the Bay is a popular sunbathing, swimming, and camping spot. The pier features some of the calmest waters for children to play in the surf. Contact Hanalei Beach Activities for snorkel and kayak rentals, as well as surf lessons, and Hanalei Charters for boat tours of the gorgeous Na Pali Coast.

BY TIANA MOLONY

IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

A PAMPERING AT 30,000 FEET

A1950s airline ad will show a family dressed to the nines: kids polished and proper, Dad in a taut suit, and Mom with her hair styled under a green cloche. The kids beam as Dad points out the window, instructing them to admire the scenery while the flight attendants push a cart laden with delectable desserts and accoutrements. It’s a stark juxtaposition to the modern flying experience, which today has been reduced to a means of getting from point A to point B.

For Aero—a semi-private jet company—bringing back that

mid-century charm means taking a page out of the book of the early days of commercial flight, where the travel part of a trip was just as noteworthy as the trip itself.

Arriving at Aero’s private terminal in Van Nuys, I expect at least some of the usual airport hassles, particularly security’s precarious demands—“take off your shoes” and “remove all devices from your bag.” However, in lieu of this, I’m handed a glass of champagne and invited to relax in the lounge and have complimentary snacks—I am playing a member of the Royal Family, being tended to like a baby bird.

Our destination this time is Napa Valley, but it could have just as well been Sun Valley, Las Vegas, or Cabo. For anyone in Montecito heading for Aspen in the winter, Aero’s direct flights help get rid of those pesky layovers through Denver.

I chat with another passenger who feels just as much of an imposter as I. Then, an Aero employee greets us. “So, what do you do at Aero?” I inquire. “I’m the CEO,” replies Ben Klein, a former pilot with a wide smile reminiscent of Bob Saget. I apologize for my ignorance, but he only laughs—he is more

interested in talking about Aero than he is in himself, sipping his non-alcoholic wine and gesturing around the waiting room.

I’ve been in fancy airport lounges before—the kind where you enter through glass bi-parting doors to a room where only elite flyers are allowed. While inviting, these lounges can often be as crowded as the gates, and the security process remains unchanged.

With only five planes and 16 seats each, few travelers grace the Aero lounge. There are no monotone intercom announcements, layovers, or gate changes; just you and your 30-second walk to the plane. It’s less akin to air travel and more some

"INSTEAD OF GLUING OURSELVES TO AN AIRPLANE SCREEN, CONVERSATION FILLS THE VOID; PEOPLE LIKE TO TALK WHEN THEY’RE CONTENT. "

form of magical transportation. Within a mere 30 minutes of my arrival at the Aero lounge, I am airborne.

The plane itself is downright serene. I comment on the warm lighting overhead and ask Klein, who sits in front of me, if this is intentional. “Everything is intentional,” he relays. He then encourages me and other passengers to touch the plane’s interior walls lined with cream suede material that is supposed to help with noise reduction. It is incredibly soft to the touch. Klein admits while it’s not the most practical option, it is certainly the most luxurious so that’s what they went with—I, too, prefer ballet flats to tennis shoes.

Instead of gluing ourselves to an airplane screen (which Aero has none of), conversation fills the void; people like to talk when they’re content. We are like a group of excited schoolchildren on a wine-country field trip. There I am, sipping wine from an in-flight tasting, eating my Erewhon cheese, and stroking the suede walls, wondering how the hell I got here.

Free from the stress of the airport, I can fully savor the flight experience, just like those carefree families in the old airline ads. As we pass San Francisco, Klein grabs everyone’s attention, exclaiming, “Look at the Golden Gate Bridge on your right.”

GILDED GETAWAYS

Curated Experiences

Dunne and Ryan specialize in crafting bespoke, luxury travel experiences to Ireland and the UK, designed exclusively for the world’s most discerning travelers. Their expertise lies in curating personalized journeys that highlight the charm, heritage, culture, and elegance of these stunning destinations.

They offer complete, end-to-end services—from planning and booking to managing every detail during the trip—ensuring clients have a seamless experience from start to finish. Clients enjoy private, flexible adventures with exclusive access to hidden gems, ancient castles, and authentic local experiences.

Accommodations are exceptional, ranging from stays in some of the most renowned hotels to secluded retreats off the beaten path for those seeking privacy. With private chauffeurs and a flexible, personalized approach, every journey is tailored to the client’s tastes—whether they are after relaxation, adventure, or cultural exploration. Dunne and Ryan guide clients through the beauty and history of Ireland and the UK, with every detail thoughtfully curated to suit individual preferences and create unforgettable experiences. Clients discover more than just a destination—they discover a story that’s uniquely theirs.

Canada’s Castle on the Coast

Nestled in the heart of Victoria, British Columbia, Fairmont Empress stands as a beacon of historic charm and elegance. A celebrated icon since 1908, the magnificent hotel boasts timeless architecture and grand décor. With stunning harbor views, beautifully appointed rooms, and attentive service that caters to your every need, Fairmont Empress delivers an unparalleled experience. Visitors are invited to indulge in the world-renowned Afternoon Tea, a lavish ritual set in the exquisite Lobby Lounge, offering a selection of the finest teas and desserts fit for royalty. Willow Stream Spa provides a sanctuary of relaxation, while Q at the Empress offers a vibrant cocktail program and culinary delights crafted with the finest local ingredients. The Fairmont Gold experience elevates your stay with exclusive lounge access, personalized check-ins, and tailored services. A stay at the Fairmont Empress is more than a visit; it is an unforgettable journey into luxury and refinement.

www.fairmont-empress.com

King's Camp, South Africa

Set within the exclusive Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa, Kings Camp offers an intimate safari experience that brings visitors closer to the beauty of the African wilderness. The accommodations include the main lodge, which can host up to 18 guests, and the private Waterbuck villa, suitable for 8, ensuring a luxurious, personal escape.

Guests can enjoy twice-daily safari excursions to witness the Big Five and more. Gourmet dining at Kings Camp features a dedicated Kosher kitchen and vegan offerings, accommodating every palate with sophistication.

For a truly immersive encounter, the underground, eye-level photographic hide allows visitors to observe wildlife up close. Additional amenities include a spa, gym, wine cellar, bar, viewing deck, and boutique, offering a complete relaxation experience.

Kings Camp is deeply committed to responsible tourism, prioritizing conservation efforts and community engagement for a meaningful and sustainable luxury adventure.

www.kingscamp.com

Beverly Hills, L’Ermitage

Nestled in the heart of Beverly Hills, L’Ermitage Beverly Hills is a premier, independent five-star hotel celebrating understated luxury.

Proud to be the longest-tenured all-suite hotel with a Forbes Five-Star rating in the world, L’Ermitage has been recognized with the renowned Two Key status from the MICHELIN Guide, is a AAA Five Diamond property, and is part of Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ Legend portfolio.

Guests step into a world of refined elegance, where each of the 116 residential-inspired suites offers a sanctuary of comfort and sophistication. From intimate 650-square-foot retreats to expansive 4,400-square-foot havens, every detail is thoughtfully curated to provide an unparalleled experience.

Visitors can indulge in the coastal Italian flavors of Costa Covo Osteria or sip on a classic Negroni at the stylish Alcova lobby lounge. The reimagined rooftop features a heated pool, stunning views, and a fresh take on dining, making it the perfect place to unwind and soak up the Beverly Hills sunshine.

Santa Barbara Travel's Big Sur Serenity

Santa Barbara Travel Bureau, with offices in Montecito's upper Village and downtown Santa Barbara, has been providing the community with expert travel advice since 1947. As a member of the elite Virtuoso Travel Network, the company has relationships with premier travel companies worldwide. One of its featured winter getaways is the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, California. This exquisite resort, perched on cliffs above the Pacific Ocean, offers a perfect blend of nature and luxury. The friendly staff greets visitors, and the property features rustic architecture. Each of the 39 guest rooms is uniquely designed to provide unparalleled comfort and privacy. Many accommodations boast floor-to-ceiling windows, private decks, and outdoor hot tubs, allowing visitors to fully immerse themselves in the stunning vistas of the ocean, mountains, and forests.

Book a two-night Ocean View room through Santa Barbara Travel and receive a $500 Resort Credit and one complimentary 60-minute massage treatment.* www.sbtravel.com/santa-barbara-travels-big-sur-serenity

(photos by Kodiak Greenwood)

Montecito Village Travel

Montecito Village Travel, a luxury travel agency, has been building relationships with global travel partners for over fifty years. MVT travel advisors specialize in creating unique, memorable itineraries with exclusive perks and insider knowledge. From land and sea, the spotlight is on Regent Seven Seas’ Aston Martin Aramco Formula One® voyage, hosted by former driver Pedro de La Rosa. Participate in meet-and-greets, masterclasses, and exclusive race-themed shoreside experiences in Monte Carlo and beyond. This once-in-a-lifetime all-inclusive luxury cruise departs on July 22, 2025, for 10 nights along the iconic Mediterranean coast. Elevate your F1 experience to include flights in your preferred air class and a new private executive chauffeur service with Blacklane. Bring the whole family—children can sail on Regent Seven Seas for a special rate or free on select voyages. MVT travel advisors handle every aspect of your dream vacation, milestone celebration, or corporate travel, providing access to exclusive resort or shipboard credits and unmatched travel experiences. A travel advisor allows their client to focus on taking the scenic route while exploring the world.

www.montecitovillagetravel.com/plan-your-trip

Out Now!

Pick up a copy today.

Your Guide

REAL ESTATES

MONTECITO GRAND ESTATE

Magnificent and grand estate designed by architect George Washington Smith situated in the heart of Montecito on approximately 3.36+/- acres.

At the end of a stunning cobbled drive, this 2.8-acre ocean view estate epitomizes Montecito's spirit! Marc Appleton's timeless architecture harmonizes with lush grounds and specimen trees, creating the legacy property you've been waiting for.

1360 E Mountain Drive, Montecito

$27,000,000

Riskin Partners Estate Group

805.565.8600

2925 Sycamore Canyon Road, Montecito

$33,000,000

Cristal Clarke

805.886.9378

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices DRE#: 00968247

PRESTIGIOUS PADARO ESTATE HOPE RANCH VIEWS

Located on the prestigious Padaro Lane, this beachfront estate seamlessly blends sophistication with coziness, providing an unparalleled private haven for relaxation and entertainment. The breathtaking ocean vistas stretch as far as the eye can see along the coastline.

3599 Padaro Lane, Carpinteria

$19,500,000

Emily Kellenberger

805.252.2773

Unique property on 5.5 acres in Hope Ranch with panoramic ocean and mountain views. Includes lighted tennis court, detached guest quarters, and garages for 6 cars.

4475 Via Abrigada, Hope Ranch

$16,000,000

Randy Solakian Estates Group

805.886.6000

Coldwell Banker Realty DRE#: 00622258 HISTORIC MOUNTAIN ESTATE

Village Properties DRE#: 01954177

Emily Kellenberger & Associates DRE#: 01397913

REAL ESTATES

Located in the coveted Riven Rock neighborhood, 1190 Garden Lane features a striking blend of modern elegance and sophistication. This turnkey, single-level home on 1.4 flat acres offers a captivating stage for all your hosting desires.

Ocean views, newly remodeled interiors, and an A+ location make this the ultimate Montecito destination! With generous scale, an open floor plan, abundant natural light, and an epic primary suite, this beautiful Park Lane estate has everything on your wishlist.

890 Park Lane, Montecito

$14,950,000

Riskin Partners Estate Group

805.565.8600

Village Properties

DRE#: 01954177

Located in a coveted Montecito area with stunning ocean views, this newly remodeled home features a fabulous floor plan. Reimagined by Becker Studios in 2015, it embodies the style and ease that Montecito is renowned for.

910 Buena Vista Drive, Montecito

$13,990,000

Riskin Partners Estate Group

805.565.8600

Village Properties DRE#: 01954177

1190 Garden Lane, Montecito

$13,000,000

Riskin Partners Estate Group

Village Properties

805.565.8600

DRE#: 01954177

Mid-Century

architectural masterpiece by re-

nowned designer Jack Warner, offering an unparalleled blend of sophistication and comfort. Boasting 5 beds and 5.5 baths, this modern estate features an open floor plan with soaring high ceilings and walls of glass.

238 Miramar Avenue, Montecito

$9,890,000 Cristal Clarke

805.886.9378

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

DRE#: 00968247

PARK LANE PARADISE BUENA VISTA VIEWS MID-CENTURY MIRAMAR MARVEL

RIVEN ROCK MODERN

REAL ESTATES

BIRNAM WOOD SINGLE-LEVEL ESTATE

This single-level garden estate overlooks the 4th fairway on a picturesque 1.4-acre parcel within the coveted Birnam Wood golf community. With mountain views and romantic oaks, this property offers a tranquil setting at a great new price!

Overflowing with style and authenticity, this Montecito Hedgerow estate has been modernized while staying true to its classic Spanish character. Circa 1924, this vintage estate was thoughtfully reimagined by the renowned celebrity designer Paul Fortune and most recently updated by Cliff Fong.

1586 San Leandro Lane, Montecito

$8,495,000

Marsha Kotlyar Estate Group

805.565.4014

Berkshire Hathaway Home Services DRE#: 01245275

2125 Ten Acre Road, Montecito

$8,500,000

Marsha Kotlyar Estate Group 805.565.4014

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties DRE#: 01245275

Nestled at the end of Finney Street, this charming Summerland home is a unique coastal retreat. Newly renovated and featuring bright beachy interiors, this delightful residence exudes a laid-back, easy ambiance perfect for coastal living.

2311 Finney Street, Summerland

$7,300,000

Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

Village Properties DRE#: 01954177

Montecito

coastal living at its finest, offering approx. 5,100sqft, optimal floorplan with living, dining, kitchen, family room, office and primary suite on main level. Two upstairs suites & lower level offers home theatre, wine room, game area & gym.

90 Butterfly Lane, Montecito

$6,950,000

Barbara Koutnik

805.689.3015

Sotheby's International Realty DRE#: 00809916

REAL ESTATES

MID-CENTURY IN HOPE RANCH FARIA BEACH DREAM

Mid-century modern architecture with clean lines, expansive windows, and an emphasis on bringing the outdoors in. Located on 1.6 bucolic acres in the coveted enclave of Hope Ranch, this stunning estate is a rare blend of architectural history & modern luxury.

785 Carosam Road, Hope Ranch

$5,850,000

Team Scarborough

805.331.1465

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties

DRE#: 01182792

HISTORIC MISSION CRAFTSMAN

Exquisite 1913 Craftsman in Lower Mission Canyon on nearly an acre with oak trees, lush gardens, and views of St. Anthony's Bell Tower. Features 4 beds, 3 baths, an office, great room, 520 sq. ft. accessory building, and serene outdoor spaces.

841 Mission Canyon, Santa Barbara

$3,760,000

Crysta Metzger 805.453.8700

Sotheby's International Realty

DRE#: 01340521

WhatCalifornia dreams are made of! This enchanting Faria Beach bungalow delivers true coastal living, just steps from the ocean. Inside, inviting charm flows seamlessly to a patio with a sunken fireplace, hot tub, and breathtaking panoramic views of both ocean and mountains.

3974 Pacific Coast Highway, Ventura

$4,995,000 Gary Goldberg 805.455.8910

Coastal Properties DRE#: 01172139

MID-CENTURY MODERN RETREAT

Welcome to Vista Alegre: A mid-century Montecito retreat in the coveted Cold Springs School District. This 3-bed, 2-bath home offers panoramic mountain views, a guest apartment, modern finishes, and stunning outdoor spaces. Just minutes to the lower and upper villages of Montecito, Santa Barbara, and the beach.

165 Canon View Road, Montecito

$3,195,000

Daniel Zia, Zia Group

805.364.9009

eXp Realty

DRE#: 01710544

CHARMING MESA HOME

Charming Mesa 3-bed, 2-bath home on 0.56 acres with an ADU, new roof, solar panels, Tesla Power-wall, expansive deck, hot tub, and lush landscaping. Open floor plan, gourmet kitchen, and fireplaces. Near beaches, downtown Santa Barbara and Washington school.

276 Santa Monica Way, Santa Barbara 93109

$3,875,000 Lisa Foley 805.252.2271

Goodwin & Thyne Properties

DRE#: 01995513

DOWNTOWN LUXURY PENTHOUSE

Opportunity to own a property that embodies the Santa Barbara lifestyle! Located walking distance to the beach, harbor, and best restaurants, this coveted downtown 2 bed/2 bath penthouse features an expansive wrap-around terrace with stunning ocean and mountain views.

350 Chapala Street #301, Santa Barbara

$2,499,000

Calcagno & Hamilton Real Estate Group

805.565.4000

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties DRE#: 01499736

LUXURY RENTALS

From picturesque beaches on which to spend the day on the sand; to multiple luxury resorts to bask by the pool or enjoy a spa day; to a lively downtown scene with five-star dining, boutique shopping, and historic theaters, Santa Barbara and neighboring towns offer an ideal place to vacation.

The Gray Malin Getaway House is a unique vacation experience designed by fine-art photographer Gray Malin to step into his world of escapism and make your stay the ultimate getaway, exclusively hosted by Vacation Rentals of Santa Barbara.

940 Channel Drive, Montecito

$1,500-2,500/night

Vacation Rentals of Santa Barbara

805.319.4045

DRE#: 01751182

Historic four-acre property is a private mini resort for your next getaway. Enjoy the pool, sauna, beach, and a bevy of outdoor amenities. A one-ofa-kind experience!

Montecito, CA 93108

Price Upon Request Paradise Retreats

805.275.1851

DRE#: 02090892

HISTORIC RESORT ESTATE

GRAY MALIN GETAWAY HOUSE

REAL ESTATES OUTSIDE THE AREA

SPANISH LOS FELIZ ESTATE

This 1930s Spanish-style transitional home sits on one of Los Feliz's most coveted streets. Between the main house, guest house, and poolside loggia, there's approximately 7,200 square feet of living space dressed in muted, moody tones and soft textiles. Artfully reimagined by Clements Design, this home effortlessly combines original architectural details with refined modern luxuries.

BEL AIR DEVELOPMENT

Incredible development opportunity in Bel Air designed by acclaimed architect Noah Walker. Plans are fully approved to build a 17,000 SF estate on over an acre, offering unobstructed views from Downtown LA to the Pacific Ocean. Prime location near Bel Air Hotel and East Gate.

1001 Bel Air Road, Los Angeles, CA 90077

$22,950,000

Tyrone McKillen

949.212.8721

Plus Real Estate

DRE#: 01915539

2401 Nottingham Avenue, Los Feliz, CA

$11,900,000

Tyrone McKillen

949.212.8721

Plus Real Estate

DRE#: 01915539

ELEGANCE IN OLD LAS PALMAS

The epitome of exquisite contemporary elegance awaits in this exceptional Old Las Palmas residence. The expansive 5,450 square feet of luxurious living space has 4 suites with stunning baths and private patios all nestled on a generous walled and gated 1/2-acre lot.

International Realty DRE#: 01868263 MLS #: 219108203DA

MOUNTAIN BASE LIVING

TRAILSIDE PARK CITY

JOHANNA DEARINGER

Director of Membership Sales jdearinger@tymail.com cell: 805.276.7669

KELLY CAMPBELL

Director of Membership Sales kcampbell@tymail.com cell: 805.455.2587