Pulp Friction

MAN ABOUT TOWN

THE DISH

THE BEER GUY

LOVE IS IN THE AIR, AND SO ARE THE SEX MEN: DR. DREW AND ADAM CAROLLA, P. 15

ZACH ROSEN SPENDS NIGHT AT SB BREWERY; LIVES TO SMELL (AND TASTE) THE RESULT, P. 9

EMBRYONIC CHEFS LEARN SKILLS THAT PAY BILLS AT SBCC CULINARY ACADEMY, P. 8

SANTA BARBARA

once a week from pier to peak

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PULP FRICTION

by Matt Mazza

The Wood Whisperer “I want to save every single beautiful log in Santa Barbara.” ob Bjorklund turned and looked down the canyon toward the Pacific. The sun had sunk just low enough in the sky to shade both sides of the forest-green gorge snaking its way to the sea below us. The radiant heat from a sunny and warm February afternoon up on North San Marcos Road dissipated quickly, leaving a slight chill in the air.

Nobody else was around.

It was quiet. Peaceful.

We’d been talking in a corner of the 80acre Bjorklund Ranch, near a huge saw designed in Australia for milling basically huge chunks of massive trees into more useable slabs and other forms. Rob leaned on a gargantuan Bunya Bunya log that had recently been felled in Santa Barbara despite being a tree species native to southeast Queensland.

A chainsaw suddenly came to life back up at the mill, breaking the silence.

Rob pushed himself off the Bunya Bunya log and kicked the sawdust in the dirt under his feet. He turned back to me.

“How do we save the freakin’ logs, man?”

It’s a good question, Rob. A good question indeed.

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HEWING HIS WOODWORKING MAGIC, ROB BJORKLUND’S GOAL AT LOCAL WOOD IS TO SAVE EVERY BEAUTIFUL LOG, ONE TREE AT A TIME…

...continued p.5

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Content Looking for a home loan?

Cover P.6 P.7

Mazza’s Missive – Rob Bjorklund asks Matt, “How do we save the freakin’ logs, man?” Well, Rob, maybe this article about your Local Wood business will help out. (It was great meeting you, man, we’re looking forward to talking more about the Ranch in the future.)

It’s Crime Time with SBPD – We’ve been joking about crimes committed in Santa Barbara for weeks now and therefore clearly lack all humanity, humility, compassion and understanding. So we’re going PC baby!

Letters to the Editor – Matt’s had enough of attacks on his personal integrity vis-à-vis Crime Time and sets the record straight; Gaucho print-media porn? (nah!); Mara Peters’ The Stepford Wives draws some (perhaps undeserved and inflammatory) criticism; Donald Polk hates traffic tickets; Elena Gourmet sets the table (the right way).

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P.8 P.9 P.10 P.12 P.15 P.16 P.18 P.22 P.27 P.28 P.29 P.30 P.31

The Dish – “There is such thing as a starving artist, but there’s no such thing as a starving chef.” Wendy Jenson goes to school at SBCC School of Culinary Arts – now you should go get some dinner. (Chances are it’ll be prepared by a SBCC grad.)

The Beer Guy – Zach spends the night at Santa Barbara Brewing Co. What exactly happens at a beer-drenched slumber party at a local brewery attended by just three men?

Eight Days A Week – The Sentinel’s new weekly calendar(ish) offering. If everybody in town does everything listed, it will be a pretty fun eight days.

Santa Barbara View – Sharon Byrne walks a lot, sees some interesting stuff and gets hit by a car; Loretta Redd gives a ton of information on asphalt, and reports on a potential green substitute; Ray Estrada previews Jorge Castaneda’s impending talk.

Man About Town – Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but you can still make up for a blown date if necessary. Just listen to what Mark Leisure has to say and you’ll be on the right track.

Presidio Sports – SBART Athletes of the Week, Santa Barbara’s Sports Figure of the Month and all the latest and greatest in local sports.

Goleta Girl – Jana Mackin is entombed in writer’s block, but a trip up to Cannery Row in search of old California helps her channel John Steinbeck.

Girl About Town – Julie Bifano relaxes on a Saturday in Summerland’s The Sacred Space. Mellow. Mellow. Mellow. (Right on, Julie, you’re off and running… er, writing.)

Keeping It Reel – New columnist – for us, anyway – Jim Luksic does movies well, and Flicks That Mostly Flop is a nice introduction. Check out the Sentinel’s movie guide as well. (And thanks, Jim, great to have you aboard.)

Plan B – Fortieth birthdays are a big deal. And they make middle-aged parents act like college kids. Briana’s all in (at least until her own 40th… in just a couple short years).

LOVEmikana – Sweaty gym clothes logistics and Bacara Resort Spa Café. (Huh?) And the Weekend Guide is tight. (Tight is right.)

Residential Real Estate – Michael takes a look at a few good deals that recently went pending or closed in town. Justin does the math. And the Sentinel’s new open house guide will get you headed in the right home-shopping direction, so check it out.

Open Houses – Neatly arrayed by neighborhoods from Santa Barbara to Goleta, the Sentinel’s non-confusing, somewhat all-encompassing Sunday afternoon house-hunting guide.

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r i v i e r a h i l l s a pa rt m e n t s | 2 3 u n i t s

Rob Bjorklund runs the forklift…

Wood is Hard Local Wood is an interesting business.

(Just like Rob Bjorklund is an interesting guy. Just like Bjorkjund Ranch is an interesting place.) The concept is quite simple, really: A local tree trimmer or city arborist plans to chop down a tree in Santa Barbara. After executing the tree – I mean, ah… the plan – the tree trimmer calls Rob up at Local Wood and asks whether he’d like the fallen beast. Rob says yes, typically, and arrangements are made for pick-up or delivery. Rob and his team then mill and process the wood into more functional pieces and offer them for sale in one capacity or another. Simple, right?

Wrong.

Like with many things, the proverbial devil is in the details.

First of all, these trees are often gigantic old-growth monoliths and just transporting them is difficult. Then there is highly specialized equipment from around the world that is needed to adequately handle different species and sizes, from a milling perspective. Then there is the seasoning

process, which involves stacking enormous heavy slabs to allow air circulation around them and months of drying both outdoors and in a special kiln. Then there may be more processing, depending on the ultimate purpose of the milled wood, following by woodworking and often shipping and more transportation logistics.

But I’ll tell you this: You’ll have a hell of a floor in the foyer or big slabby picnic table in the grass in the yard or beautiful, intricate, one-of-a-kind countertops or whatever when it’s all said and done. And you’ll know precisely where the wood came from, down to the street or property and often its exact growth location.

Pretty cool, huh?

Getting Away From the Dump And Grind Rob and the gang at Local Wood are really into preserving the character and “tree-ness” of each and every log they see, and like to focus on the rarer and wilder species that are ...continued p.21

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It'sCrimetime... ...with the SBPD

A variety of crimes are committed every day in Santa Barbara; most of these crimes are petty but they do offer a window into if not the soul of the perpetrator, at least his or her thought process. Our following (and totally unsolicited) thoughts, observations, and comments are put forth for your consideration.

Politically Correct Crime Time toryboarding Santa Barbara. The Crimeys. The Wizard of Ick. Shame on us.

We’ve been joking about people committing crimes in Santa Barbara. Joking!

We know. It’s unthinkable. No self-respecting newspaper with a highly qualified and deeply experienced editorial stiff – pardon me, staff – would ever do such a thing in a predominantly wealthy, progressive thinking town with a left-leaning university in it.

The nerve.

It’s got to stop. Now. In fact, as of this issue, we’re done with such juvenile antics and crude attempts at humor.

It’s time – high time – for the Sentinel to take a stand. It’s time for some maturity, frankly, some leadership. And it’s time for this lofty publication to take its rightful place atop the already crowded ivory tower spiraling high above our paradise by the sea.

Yes, that’s it. It’s time for the Sentinel to be more enlightened and refined.

Maybe even more civilized.

We’ll use some bigger and more academic words, words that don’t polarize readers and unfairly pick on – or even appear to pick on – any single sector of society. We’ll go completely politically correct, and be extremely careful not to so much as utter a controversial or potentially offensive statement, no matter how low the arbitrary bar for offensive statements may be by even the most extremely sensitive individuals among even the most extremely sensitive groups.

Oh, wait; hang on a second. That doesn’t sound right.

How dare we suggest there are sensitive individuals and groups. That might offend people who think they might be seen as sensitive members of sensitive groups. Please do accept our deepest and most sincere apologies – there are no differences among any of us. Each person is equally as sensitive (or not) as any other person on every issue.

We are all exactly the same. No better, no worse. Not smarter, not dumber. Not more

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Editor-in-Chief • Matt Mazza Design/Production • Trent Watanabe Contributing Partners Opinion • sbview.com Sports • Presidiosports.com Santa Barbara Skinny • LoveMikana.com

Columnists Goleta Girl • Jana Mackin | She Has Her Hands Full • Mara Peters Plan B • Briana Westmacott | The Dish • Wendy Jenson Journal Jim • James Buckley | Real Estate • Michael Calcagno Commercial Corner • Austin Herlihy | The Weekly Capitalist • Jeff Harding Man About Town • Mark Leisure | In The Garden • Randy Arnowitz The Beer Guy • Zach Rosen | The Mindful Word • Diana M. Raab Girl About Town • Julie Bifano

Advertising/Sales Tanis Nelson 805.689.0304 • tanis@santabarbarasentinel.com Sue Brooks 805.455.9116 • sue@santabarbarasentinel.com Published by SB Sentinel, LLC, Tim Buckley, Publisher PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Santa Barbara Sentinel is compiled every Friday

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productive nor less productive.

And this newspaper will no longer make jokes – jokes! – about any issues facing any of us here in Santa Barbara. You have our collective word.

With that said, individuals in Santa Barbara made choices last week. Neither good nor bad choices, mind you, just choices. Some of those choices violated legislation passed by our state’s duly elected lawmakers who represent the collective interests of the people of California (nobody in particular, though, just the people). Legal enforcement officers – who were just doing their job – were forced to detain some of these people against their will as a result of those choices (not that there’s anything wrong with that, or even that those “choices” were theirs to make.). Below we recount a few of their stories. We pass no judgment and harbor no ill-will toward anyone, anywhere, no matter what the circumstances may or may not have been.

Man Restrained for Legal Violation in Santa Barbara LEGAL VIOLATION: A 50-year-old mansient – sorry, male inhabitant who lives freely, sleeps under the stars and calls our streets his toilet and home – used his hand to strike a female Santa Barbara resident and then knocked a young man’s hat off of his head, telling him to “Come on bitch, come on and get it.” (His words, not ours.) After being restrained as a consequence of his unpredictable – not good or bad, just unpredictable – behavior, he hocked a loogie (or released and propelled an accumulation of inadvertent nasal fluid) of tremendous volume into the face of the restraining officer.

UNBIASED OBSERVATIONS: The man proceeded to advise SBPD that he was born on “Planet Earth” and that “God” could be contacted in case of an emergency. Although we have a new policy against labeling or profiling or otherwise characterizing anyone in any way at all, it appears that this particular individual could be fairly seen as an evangelical environmentalist.

COMMENT: None. We simply cannot comment on such issues for fear of offending anyone.

We pass absolutely no judgment on anything written above, not even the hocking of the loogie (or the inadvertent releasing of and propelling outwards of accumulated nasal fluid).

Man Restrained for Legal Violation in Santa Barbara LEGAL VIOLATION: A male 49-year-old Santa Barbara resident was pulled over by SBPD for a variety of minor traffic infractions. He immediately admitted to ingesting “three beers” and eventually blew a .15% BAC, nearly double the legal limit. He was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

UNBIASED OBSERVATIONS: This distinguished gentleman stood 5’6” high and weighed 176 pounds. Let us repeat: He had three beers and registered a BAC of nearly double the legal limit.

COMMENT: If our math is right – and our friend was not lying (we would never presume a citizen would do anything so onerous as intentionally mislead an officer of the law) – then any adult man or woman standing 2’9”and weighing 88 pounds will be in jeopardy of a DUI following consumption of “three beers.” Maybe we shouldn’t focus so much on math.

The bottom line is that you’d better get a cab if you’ve had more than even a single beer after a long day at work. And put Darryl Genis on your speed dial. (Did you see his letter last week? Wow.)

Three Young Adults Restrained for Legal Violation LEGAL VIOLATION: Three freedom-seeking constantly mobile young adults aged 19, 25 and 25, entered a Denny’s restaurant one afternoon last week, and ordered and ate around $70 worth of food – that’s approximately 10-15 Moons Over My Hammy sandwiches or Grand Slam breakfasts – before failing to pay the bill. They were arrested for defrauding an innkeeper.

UNBIASED OBSERVATIONS: Before their arrest, the upstanding and outgoing youths explained to SBPD that they had hoped Denny’s would let them eat for free. But they forgot to express their hopes and desires before ordering and gobbling down a feast fit for an abode-challenged king.

COMMENT: Sounds like this was all one big misunderstanding. A simple failure of communication. If these promising youths filled with ingenuity and talent had simply expressed their desire for a meal covered by Denny’s, there would have been no police intervention. See, nobody did anything wrong here. Everyone involved were just victims of unfortunate circumstances. The youths contended that if they indeed had the money they probably would have paid. In other words, who has the authority to challenge their intentions? (And hey, when did Denny’s managers become innkeepers?)

Woman Restrained for Legal Violation on Mesa LEGAL VIOLATION: A 55-year-old Mesa woman with a difficult and challenging job was arrested last weekend for public intoxication two blocks from her home after being spotted “stumbling though front yards.”

UNBIASED OBSERVATIONS: When approached by SBPD, she immediately admitted to drinking “three or four Chardonnays” before leaving a friend’s house on foot.

COMMENT: Come on guys, use some judgment here. This poor woman isn’t driving, and she’s on Marine Terrace two blocks from home. Help her to her front door, make sure she gets in all right, and go deal with somebody who’s actually doing something wrong.

If this is the standard for arrest, then all Santa Barbara area adults who chose to enjoy a couple glasses of wine with neighbors are going to jail in the next seven days. (There’s a lot of us, seriously.)

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Letters

Although you might not believe it, we actually want to hear from you. So if you have something you think we should know about or you see something we've said that you think is cretinous (or perspicacious, to be fair), then let us know. There's no limit on words or subject matter, so go ahead and let it rip to: Santa Barbara Sentinel, Letters to the Editor, 133 East De La Guerra Street, No. 182, Santa Barbara, California 93101. You can also leap into the 21st century and email us at letters@santabarbarasentinel.com.

Perspective entinel Staff and “Editor-in-Chief ” Matt – So It’s Crime Time. You state “Our following (and totally unsolicited) thoughts, observations, and comments are put forth for your consideration.” But I’m not sure if your ignorance of Homelessness, addiction and alcoholism has been put forth with any consideration whatsoever.

1) Calling someone who’s homeless a TRANSIENT is like calling an African American Person a “N*$$@#&” or a Gay Person a “Fa%$#@.”

2) Calling someone with the DISEASE of Alcoholism – yes, I did say Alcoholism – a Drunkard is like calling someone with diabetes “Sugar Pop” or a Cancer patient “Baldie.”

3) There also is some more of your News Paper that shows NO COMPASSION whatsoever for the mentally ill person “Bellowing Incoherently.” What do you plan on next? Making fun of a retarded man or women for drooling on themselves?

If you have the arrogance to print these immature and hurtful assumptions, then why don’t you show some real UNDAUNTED UNDERSTANDING AND COMPASSION and go sit down with a homeless or mentally ill human being for a few minutes of your PERPLEXED LIFE and learn what the word HUMILITY means.

With great sadness, Dave Hopkins Santa Barbara (Editor’s Note: “Perspective” is an ironic title for your letter, Dave. I won’t respond substantively to what I see as grossly exaggerated and frankly offensive comparisons, and am happy to let people judge for themselves whether, for example, the term “transient” relates fairly to other terms you’ve suggested.

Same goes for your comparisons of “alcoholism” to diabetes and cancer. But I’m compelled to respond to your misguided personal attack that I lack humility, understanding and compassion. Candidly, I’ve heard this before in the context of Crime Time, and I’m tired of it.

My biological father died on the streets of San Francisco from the “disease of alcoholism” when I was a young child. He left my mother and baby sister and I to fend for ourselves, and we ultimately ended up living in a project and

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generally fearing for our safety as he would sometimes show up when suffering from yet another, often violent, episode stemming from his “disease of alcoholism.” He wasn’t a transient; he didn’t often move too far from the doorways and business entrances in the Mission District. He wasn’t homeless either; he had a home and was sorely missed. My father was a bum, and he left his family in dire straits. Period.

Thankfully, my step-father came along and adopted my sister and I under his last name, Mazza, when we were young, and raised us as his own while adding two wonderful siblings to the family – my sister Kim and brother Luke.

Later in life, my biological sister, the same one who was forced to endure a tough life early on due to an alcoholic father, survived a shockingly violent crime only to become a severely drug addicted person living on the streets. Hers is a sad story, even a very sad one, and my family and I have sat down with her so many times over the years that I can’t possibly count them (or the tears we’ve cried). I have dedicated a significant portion of my mental, emotional and physical life to understanding hers, and to healing the pain and anguish my family and I have endured for two decades now.

Oh, and she’s a diabetic, to boot. (Knowing her, she’d probably get a good laugh, even still today, out of being called “Sugar Pop.” She had a lovely personality, once, and lit up entire rooms with just her presence. That’s no joke.)

These are not excuses; they are facts. I continue to believe that Crime Time raises important issues facing Santa Barbara in a way that encourages conversation, and I refuse to apologize for it. I fully understand that not all stories are the same, and that there are undoubtedly some good people living on the

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streets who are down on their luck or suffering from mental illness or disease (even diseases like alcoholism and drug addiction). But please spare me and my “perplexed life” from any more rants about my lack of compassion and humility. I’ve lived a life marked hard by the disease of alcoholism you so carelessly reference.

I’ve sat down with homeless people, transients, drunkards, druggies, thugs and bums. I support programs to help those who actually want it and make a real effort at recovery and change. I have more compassion and love and understanding than I care to try to explain.

That’s what has helped me to survive, and what serves as a constant reminder – all day, every day – of the husband and father I want and strive to be to my wife and daughters.

Come to think of it, Dave, maybe you should sit down with the children and siblings and parents of some of these people living on our streets – that just might change your perspective.

With great sadness strength, Matthew Scott Koehler Mazza, Editor-in-Chief )

Gaucho Porn?

Matt – I was at the Mesa Cafe reading the Sentinel and having lunch when I saw a woman up by the benches near the entrance sifting through a few newspapers.

I watched her blush as her 5- or 6-yearold son asked her about an image on one of them. She looked like she was going to have a stroke. My curiosity aroused, I went over to see what the fuss was about. The Daily Nexus has a cartoon illustration on

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both the front and back page of the paper of a man sucking a woman’s tit, for lack of a better visual, with the words “breastfast for dinner,” and the other nipple is heart shaped with initials on it. I was stunned.

Here is a paper sitting out in the light of day at a family restaurant with porn displayed prominently in black and white and pink (nipple that was showing needed apparently to be highlighted). I saw quickly what the mother of this very young child was stammering to explain. I showed this image to the hostess, the waitress and the other server gentleman. They were all quite shocked and said that paper has been seen outside churches in SB. I called the Nexus and left a message which of course was never returned. Your paper has proved to be informative, light, fun to read and overall very well written. I thought of the story of the phallus fountain with the pink tip and decided to reach out to you here.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to quash freedom of speech or in this case speech and a visual. But with that freedom does come responsibility. I do not think there was anything responsible about the Nexus printing porn on this paper. I have a MFA from the American Academy of Art and make a living licensing and selling my work.

I have done fine art nudes in watercolor and pastel. However, this cartoon is porn and it is left out and about for small children to see and like that fountain, at a loss to explain ...continued p.26

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by Wendy Jenson

A former magazine editor, Wendy worked at Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, and Us Weekly in NYC, before moving west with Santa Barbara Magazine. Currently a public relations consultant, she relishes being out and about working on this column.

Photos by Wendy Jenson

School of Food

The tight-knit group of students who prepared and served lunch at the School of Culinary Arts at SBCC.

Remodeled last year, the dining room features calming neutrals. For warm days, there’s a patio with ocean views – whales have been spotted.

f you go out to eat in Santa Barbara, odds are you’ve had food prepared by graduates of the School of Culinary Arts at Santa Barbara City – not Community – College. Among the school’s alumni are Executive Chefs Matthew Johnson at the Stonehouse, Joel Huff from Scarlett Begonia, Mossin Sugich at Blush, and Brandon Hughes from the Wine Cask.

For three decades now, the School of Culinary Arts and Hospitality has readied students for the restaurant and hotel industries. Each Fall and Spring semester brings fifty new students to the wellrespected culinary program. Friendships are formed – platonic and romantic. There have been a few marriages.

Department Chair Chef Randy Bublitz, with the school since 1993, speaks a lot about “esprit,” as in esprit de corps or morale.

Making a Titanic analogy, he says, “You can have all your deck chairs in alignment, but if the bridge doesn’t see the iceberg, the ship is going down.” Meaning, if your station is ready, help out a fellow chef who has fallen behind. No guest should ever realize that there was a problem in the kitchen.

An Associate in Science degree is earned in four semesters. It’s a structured program with a standard uniform and required classes. Pupils learn how to do everything necessary to run a restaurant from managing employees to purchasing and costing food.

Graduates are ready to work in a restaurant.

They know how to move in a professional kitchen.

Classes include Culinary Fundamentals, Food & Beverage Service, Sanitation & Safety, Nutrition, Meat Analysis (sharpen those knives!), and Catering. Principles of Pantry teaches the basic skills needed to run a restaurant pantry station, producing

Tasty Pear Tart is presented with caramel and mint; $3.95.

A light lemon sponge cake with lemon mousse and raspberry puree; $3.95.

I

Crepe du Jour (crab, spinach and red onion) comes “complete” with a bistro salad and dessert; $8.95.

The a la carte crepe is $6.95.

salads, sandwiches and cold sauces. Learn the Principles of Baking (bread, yum), and take a Pastry Practicum. Timely Farmers & Chefs focuses on food trends, environmental and social issues. There are several wine classes, surely the favorite of many. Separate classes are devoted to the Wines of Italy, France and California. Ice Carving is another cool class. Start up those power tools!

As Chef Bublitz writes in the brochure sent to prospective students, the “program teaches students skills based on current industry needs; skills that pay bills!”

Students are told, “There is such a thing as a starving artist, but there’s no such thing as a starving chef.” True, it helps if you are passionate.

The John Dunn Gourmet Dining Room is open to the public. Lunch is served and prepared by third semester students, getting work experience. Service is earnest and friendly. The French Bistro

Perfectly cooked salmon (the Fish du Jour) is plated with shallot beurre blanc, rice and vegetables; $9.95.

menu is somewhat limited but very well edited. Prices are reasonable. If anything, you might have reverse sticker shock.

The Omelet du Jour, for example, comes “Complete” with salad and dessert for $9.95. It’s good too.

Today’s bread basket contains two varieties baked fresh that morning by first semester students. The pesto olive oil bread is so good butter would be overkill. Start, perhaps, with the Onion Soup Gratinée, Soup du Jour or Bistro Salad; $4.25, $3.25 and $3.25 respectively. Today’s entrées include Salade Lyonnaise, which is frisee lettuce, bacon and a poached egg; $8.95. Chicken Marsala is chicken cutlets, mushrooms and Marsala wine; $9.95.

Fourth and final semester students work dinner on Thursdays and Fridays from 5:30pm-6:30pm. It’s a fairly brief window of time so plan ahead. California Wine Country Night is four-courses, the first three paired with wine.

So does Chef Bublitz have any advice to home chefs? “Buy quality kitchen tools,” he says. “With home use, they should last a lifetime.” A sparkling copper pan is not a good thing, he believes. “Like a face lined by life experience, a pot should be scuffed with love.”

Located on campus at 721 Cliff Drive, the Gourmet Dining Room is not easy to find. The best thing to do is look for the much larger Bookstore as the Dining Room is right across the way. Lot-18 is the closest parking. If you’re coming from downtown, note that Montecito Street turns into Cliff Drive.

Open Monday thru Friday from 11:30am to 12:45pm; and for dinner on Thursday and Friday from 5:30pm-6:30pm; 805965-0581 x2773.

Eagerly awaiting tips, tips, tips: If you have any restaurant information, please contact me at wendy@santabarbarasentinel. com.

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by Zach Rosen

More steam and water and sanitization – where’s the beer, guys?

Aha! There it is. Pacific Pale Ale before (left) and after (right) filtration.

M

I truly love everything about beer, even hose clamps waiting to be sanitized. Beautiful!

Steam and water spew forth as the filter is sanitized prior to filtration.

worry about interrupting someone’s meal.

If you have ever been to SBBC then you may have noticed their unique brewery set up. (And if you haven’t been to SBBC, you should go. Soon.) The brewing equipment is feet from the restaurant floor with beer being served to patrons from serving tanks located behind the bar. The fermenters are located on a second story; sitting atop a large metal structure that hold the tanks against the walls of the room’s high ceilings. A ladder gives the brewer access to the fermenters, and watching the brewers climb up and down this tiered arrangement always reminds me of enthusiastic kids playing in an indoor tree fort.

Filtering The Beer I arrived shortly before midnight. Kevin and brewing assistant, Dylan Dordick, were pulling out equipment and beginning to connect some of the pieces. I sat at the

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frame filter like a little wagon and began to hook up the hoses and prep the filter.

He then began to place a series of filter sheets into the frame. These sheets are lined with plant fiber and diatomaceous earth, the fossilized remains of microscopic plants from ocean or lake floors. If beers are being filtered often enough in the brewery, the sheets can be reused, however if this is not the case then the sheets must be replaced each time to keep the beer sanitary. These sheet filters are a common site in small brewpubs and although they can be more labor intensive than other options out there, their ease of operation, affordable costs and mobility around the brewery floor make them a popular choice.

As Dylan fitted the last sheet into the filter frame, he tightened the assembly with a large screw located on the frame’s end.

After Hours in the Brewing Process

any people associate making beer with only the brewing procedure itself but the brew day is just one step of a greater process, and beer must be continually tended to as it ferments into its finished form. While I fully plan on describing the brewing procedure in a future article, I would like to recount an evening I recently spent at Santa Barbara Brewing Co. (SBBC) learning about some of the additional tasks that take place in a brewery. There’s more, even much more, going on than you think.

Earlier that day, I had mentioned to brewmaster Kevin Pratt (over a beer, of course) that I was interested in learning more about the procedures and flavor changes that occur during post-brewing operations (more technically referred to as fermentation and cellaring). Kevin mentioned they would be filtering their Pacific Pale Ale that night and invited me to sit in on their work “day.” It sounded just like a slumber party, but with beer! (Okay, well, maybe a little more professional than a slumber party, but this is as close to sleeping over at a brewery that I’ve come to.)

So that night, I came back to the brewery, opting out of my pajamas and donning some old clothes that could get dirty instead.

Brewing is a wet business. It requires more than just the water that will become beer, but steam and cleaning water for rinsing and sterilizing equipment as well.

The exposed, sprawled layout of the SBBC brewing system means that restaurant patrons could easily be sprayed with water, and not just when sitting in the front row of the show. This may be acceptable for watching whales at a sea park but undesirable if you are just stopping in for a quick lunch. So SBBC brewers perform most of their brewing operations at night when they are free to splash around and not

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bar, finishing an article for the Sentinel as they began to connect hoses to the fermenters upstairs. The lines hung down like swings in a tree house.

Filtration was about to begin.

You may be asking yourself why a brewer would even want to filter its beers. Some beers, such as hefeweizens, are known, and even prized, for their opaque, unfiltered presence. Fermenting beer has a variety of solid matter floating around the liquid; namely protein and yeast cells. Filtering the beer removes these particles to produce a clarified beer that has a cleaner mouthfeel and flavor, and that is also, quite frankly, just prettier to look at (which actually matters quite a bit).

Several filter designs exist in the brewing industry, however many small brewers and brewpubs use a plate and frame filter fitted with sheet filters. These contraptions consist of two pipe manifolds connected by metal rods that keep the filter plates aligned within the frame. In small settings – like this one – the frame is often fitted with wheels so that the filter can be rolled to wherever it is needed.

Dylan wheeled out SBBC’s plate and

“Slumber” Party Is Over After pulling some levers, the filtering was underway. Kevin siphoned off a sample of the beer pre- and post-filtering for us to taste. The filtered pale ale had a far creamier mouthfeel and bready flavor with a nail polish-like aroma lingering above the liquid’s edge. The beer’s flavors were being overwhelmed by the extra protein and yeast in the beer.

Once filtered, however, the liquid took on a sweeter taste with the hop aromatics coming out more. The beer was lighter and crisper but the aromas seemed muted and dull. Kevin mentioned that this is due to “filter shock” and that the beer’s normal flavors would be restored shortly.

The beer was still uncarbonated (the added carbon dioxide will greatly change the beer’s drinking experience) however a light prickle remained from the small amounts of gas entrained in the liquid.

The filtering took a little over an hour and Kevin and Dylan contemplated whether this is the quickest filtration they’ve ever seen at the brewery.

The night was not over yet, however.

Before cleaning and sanitizing the fermenter that had just been emptied, the yeast remaining in the bottom of the tank needed to be harvested (transferred to another tank) so that it can be used to ferment a future brew.

By the time these final tasks were over, the night definitely resembled actual work more than a slumber party. And although caffeine consumption was certainly preferred over beer, I must admit we did gossip about beer a bit. (Sort of like what happens at a slumber party, I suppose.)

And as Dylan and I drove home, we chatted even more about beer.

It was now 6 am and darkness was melting away with the beginning of the day. Soon the Pacific Pale Ale would be carbonating and on its way to being served. The streets were starting to stir as people got ready for their work day.

Patrons would sidle up to the bar after their work shifts. Finishing their day with a cold beer, not realizing that as their day draws to an end, Kevin and Dylan would be getting ready to begin theirs all over again.

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8•Days• a•Week We Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Love, Babe‌

Want to be a part of Eight Days A Week?

Space is limited, but if you have an event, exhibit, performance, book signing, sale, opening, trunk show, or anything else interesting or creative that readers can attend, let us know at 805-845-1673 or email us at santabarbarasentinel.com. We’ll consider all suggestions, but we will give extra consideration to unusual events and/or items, especially those accompanied by a good visual, particularly one that has yet to be published.

• Friday

• Saturday

February 15

February 16

photo by Wendy Jenson

• It’s Friday and the weather looks great. Go blow off that week’s worth of steam with some cured meats and stinky cheeses paired with a glass of wine (or maybe even a Martini or a Manhattan).

Intermezzo will do the trick quite nicely this week – sit inside at the cozy bar or at a shared table with a few friends, or do what we do: Sit outside and watch Santa Barbara go by. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do. And tell Sarah Rudd hi for us. www.intermezzosb.com. P.S.: Ask the bartender to lay off the hard techno; it’s really difficult to think and/or talk with that stuff rumbling at a high-decibel level. It’s meant for a dance club, not a nicely lit conversation bar with an inviting ďŹ replace‌

3849 State Street

(next to See’s Candies) s -ORE 7INES s %ASY 0ARKING s -ORE 7INES� s %ASY 0ARKING� in October! s 'RAND /PENING s 3TAY TUNED FOR NEWS SPECIALS Subscribe to our emails at WWW THEWINEHOUND COM

• Transition day, and we’re thinking wine and art (instead of just the former, although you could argue that some wines are themselves art).

The Urban Wine Trail and the Arts Fund are collaborating to bring you a day of wine education and tasting, and a live auction to beneďŹ t the Arts Fund. Local artists will be producing hand-crafted labels; local eateries will be doing hors d’oeuvres; winemakers will be giving talks and pouring Syrahs (and other varietals). Fun... but not free. Only 50 tickets will be sold ($50 - $100 each), so go to www.artsfundsb.org and get yours quick. And, oh, don’t drive and drink. Really. The Trail runs along lower Anacapa Street and many of the tasting rooms are within easy walking distance of each other.

• Sunday February 17 • Transition complete. No booze, just art. Slow down and spend your Sunday getting some culture. Santa Barbara Museum of Art is showing off a powerful and dynamic photography exhibition called, “The World Is Not My Home: Danny Lyon Photographs.â€? The exhibition features works that trace Lyons’ celebrated career and includes an expanded section of his Civil Rights work from the 1960s. Should be good‌ and who knows, maybe you’ll bump into Lisa Volpe and get some knowledge. www.sbma.net.

• Monday February 18

The Winehound

3TATE 3T 3ANTA "ARBARA s

photo by Wendy Jenson

– Cheers, "OB 7ESLEY THE 7INEHOUND #REW

• Ugh, it’s Monday again. Get up and start strong: Hit State & Fig in La Arcada (1100 block of State Street, behind the Museum of Art) for a nice little breakfast – maybe an Arugula and Mushroom Scramble or a little Breakfast Burrito to get you going. Then walk your apologetic posterior to work and tackle the day. www.stateandďŹ g.com • Later on, reward yourself for getting through yet another Monday by heading to SOhO and enjoying the smooth sounds of Jazz Jam with Jeff Elliott.

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Jeff has played with Les McCann, Doc Severinsen, Airto Moreira and many other jazz legends, and you won’t want to miss him play the trumpet while simultaneously stroking the ivories on the piano. www.sohosb.com

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• Friday February 22

• Tuesday February 19 • Start Tuesday with a candid conversation with a trusty member of the SB Police Department.

Discuss issues, exchange ideas, and get your caffeine fix, all at the same time.

Coffee with a Cop takes place this week at the Starbucks on the corner of Carrillo and De La Vina. From to 9:30 - 11:30am. Call 805-897-2407 for any additional information.

• No brainer for this evening. Taco Tuesday at Bay Roadhouse Bar and Grill.

Their site says it best: “Mondays can be brutal so we decided to make Tuesday better for you with our amazing taco and drink specials… plus happy hour.” You had us at “Mondays can be brutal.” See you there. www.thebayroadhouse.com

• Friday again, but let’s lay off the booze this weekend.

Check out The Artistry of Strings, a rare Santa Barbara performance by four outstanding artists – Mary Beth Woodruff (violin), Basil Vendryes (viola), Andrew Smith (cello) and Cynthia Darby (piano) – doing chamber music by Mozart, Faure, HandelHalvorsen and Beethoven in Lehmann Hall at The Music Academy of the West for the benefit of Santa Barbara Strings. There’s even a pre-concert talk by Linda Shaver-Gleason that should be dynamic and informative.

Oh, and there’s a wine reception following the concert. So much for no booze. (Come to think of it, what better way to start a lovely evening like this one than hitting the Biltmore for a pre-show Martini. Mozart never sounded so good.)

• Wednesday February 20 • Hump day. Stay home, enjoy the evening. But first run down to TriCounty Produce and get yourself some fresh local ingredients to cook something out of this month’s Food and Wine (or whatever food rag you get). Take a risk, spend some time in the kitchen. Treat yourself to that great bottle of wine. Pop it, sip it, open the magazine, follow the directions and eat well. Share with some friends, maybe they’ll even help in the kitchen. Then sleep sound. There’s almost no better day.

• Thursday February 21 • So close to the weekend.

Dedicate this evening to changing your views on sharks and learn about their importance in keeping the balance in the oceans’ ecosystem. Starting at 7pm Richard Salas presents a lecture at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum titled, “Sharks: Misunderstood Marvels.”

In order to keep these creatures safe, people must stop thinking of them as man-eaters waiting for the opportunity to attack any and all ocean swimmers (according to Salas, humans are more likely to be killed by a falling coconut or slipping off a ladder at home than to die by shark attack), and start appreciating their place in the animal kingdom. For more information and to register, visit www.sbmm.org.

805.451.1767 Licensed, Bonded and Insured

License # 936794

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15 – 22 | 2013

W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

Opinion, stories, events, and people that shape Santa Barbara

sbview.com

Milpas on the Move Early Morning Scenes From the Streets of Santa Barbara

by Sharon Byrne

Sharon Byrne

Sharon Byrne is executive director for the Milpas Community Association, and currently serves on the Advisory Boards for the Salvation Army Hospitality House and Santa Barbara County Alcohol and Drug Problems.

sbview.com Not locals.

My internal alarms went off.

My boyfriend texted me: BOLO – be on the lookout. He’d passed them on his way to work minutes earlier, and got the same feeling I did.

Thirty minutes later, the police arrived. A neighbor started his car to warm it up, went in to get his work mate, and came back out to find the car gone. I told the responding officer about the sunrise thugs, and sent out an email warning to my neighbors. Don’t be an easy victim. One neighbor responded that a black car was crawling through the neighborhood the night before, probably

Illegal dumping on Gutierrez.

live downtown because I wanted an urban lifestyle. I wanted to walk everywhere, take the dog out for strolls, and be in the center of all the excitement. My derriere has long been trying to expand into its own zip code, so I figured burning calories by walking would rein that in a bit.

I walk down State and along the beach between 6 and 7am daily. The winter sunrises are spectacular, but you also see a very different side of our city at that hour in the morning. For this student of humanity, it’s sometimes revelatory.

On my Sunday morning walk, I encountered a dump on Gutierrez.

Annoying?

Absolutely.

Illegal?

Totally.

There’s a massive difference between that peculiar form of urban recycling where one puts out a useable item that will be snatched up immediately, and dumping piles of refuse from a recent move-out. Too much of the latter activity goes on around this city.

I took pictures, and sent them off to Sue Sadler, the city’s code enforcement officer.

Sue has educated many of us on illegal dumping, and asks us to report it so she can enforce. Identifying offenders (especially those midnight dumpers) is hard. We have some ‘suspect’ properties, where tenant turnover is high and dumping nearby frequent, but unless there’s a witness, or evidence, the city can’t prosecute.

I stacked the pile for easier pick-up, and a clump of mail fell out, all addressed to one individual at a nearby residence.

Busted!

This is how the city catches many illegal

I

entered the crosswalk when I had the signal. Halfway across State, someone took a baseball bat to the back of my left calf.

Stunned, I barely processed that a car was going down State, having just completed a left turn off Gutierrez.

I’d been hit by that car.

The homeless crowd on the corner was screaming. I had enough sense to try to burn the license plate into memory. The driver stopped the car and jumped out. He was very young, and totally distraught. I moved immediately from shock to anger, like a total possession by the Furies of Greek myth. DUDE! You have to wait until the pedestrian CLEARS the lane before you turn into it! What were you thinking? You couldn’t wait one more freaking second for me to make it across?

The homeless rushed over to see if I was okay, and then exhorted me to sue the pants off him. I was relieved that a) I didn’t faceplant into the concrete, lose a leg, or heck, die and b) my pup wasn’t running amok in the intersection. One of the homeless guys got hold of his leash for me.

My daughter later asked me, in her elder stateswoman affectation, “So, Mom, what have you learned this week?”

Sometimes I have this distinctly odd sense that I might be the child around here.

But I’m not giving up those walks!

Asphalt Brainchild

by Loretta Redd he first asphalt-paved road in North America was laid in 1870 in Newark, New Jersey, followed by Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. and 5th Avenue in New York City. Although the material has changed somewhat from its original composition, and a variety of additives have been tried, the same pliable yet relatively durable black goo has been covering our nation ever since.

In 1919, a young officer named Dwight Eisenhower was impressed with the difficulty of road travel as part of the Army’s first cross-country Motor Transport Convoy. While in Germany during WWII, he noted how the Autobahn had served the enemy transport of military hardware and troops, as well as the relative ease of repair compared to reconstructing bombed out rail lines.

By the 1950s, President Eisenhower was governing a country living with the fear of nuclear attack from the Soviets.

The President foresaw the potential need for massive evacuations from populated areas, along with the rapid deployment of our military. By 1956, the Federal Aid Highway Act was enacted, leading to our 42,000 miles of interstate highways, and its millions offshoot roads across every state, city and town.

Today, roughly 3.25 trillion miles are driven annually in the United States.

Although that number has been flat for a decade, the condition of our roads and highways has been in constant decline. We still rely on the same smelly, heat attracting, toxic asphalt for most of our roadways, and suffer the erosion of our Public Works budgets as the material cost for this petroleum product rises astronomically.

T

SBPD contacts a homeless camper at East Beach.

dumpers, believe it or not.

At sunrise, the homeless are often the only people moving around, giving the city a strange, post-apocalyptic feel, especially in fog. Interesting urban juxtaposition: at 6am, the liquor stores open and the Salvation Army hands out sack lunches.

This is rush hour for the homeless.

On return from Tuesday’s walk, at 6:50am, I was surprised to see two thug types walking down my street.

Hmm… either gang shift started really early today, or the vandalism crew is clocking out after a long night.

I hadn’t seen them before, and then I realized their uniforms were off. They were in all black, with serious neck bling, straight from Central Casting for L.A. gang members.

casing the area. Our beat cop wrote back immediately from his smartphone, and encouraged us to keep watch. We’ve been safe for a while, but complacency creates fertile ground for crime, I guess.

On Wednesday’s walk, I went up the east side of State back to the house. I normally come up the west side of the street, and then head left on Gutierrez. I waved hello to my homeless friend across the street at the train station. He lost his beloved chow-chow to old age a year ago, around the same time my old German shepherd passed on. We each feel we had The Best Dog That Ever Lived, and you never really get over losing that dog. He lavishes my exuberant puppy with affection, but a taste of bittersweet always hovers in the background.

I waited for the Gutierrez light, and

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Loretta Redd’s diverse background includes being a psychologist, business owner, non-profit director, Air Force officer, writer, speaker, and executive coach. Loretta has served on several Santa Barbara city committees and has been a candidate for public office.

Loretta Redd

sbview.com So why haven’t we invented a better material than asphalt, which has limited durability and is toxic to both the applicators as well as ground water and the environment? Apparently we’ve tried.

In addition to concrete, which is durable but more difficult to apply correctly and to spot repair, bright minds have created a variety of new products. Landlock is a paving material made from natural soils, but it can’t withstand the rapidly increasing heavy transport traffic.

Another product, Ironweave, is used for dust control and paving large transport areas like truck stops. But it’s actually recycled asphalt covered with a penetrant made from pine resin.

There’s a new company called Eco-Pave, now using polymers that are elastic and strong, but the cost is not significantly lower, and the composite is untested over time. Yet another company is creating sandstone roads that are “organically grown” using a common microbe called Bacillus Pasteurii that cements the grains of sand with calcium carbonate.

As I researched alternatives, it appeared we were stuck with rough roads of potholes and seas of slurry seal, until I read about an Idaho company called Solar Roadways, brainchild of Scott Brusaw. If what I’m about to write sounds so incredibly amazing that it can’t possibly be true, well, it’s as true as NASA, supercomputers, iPhones and all the other unimaginable inventions of our lives. If nothing else, it sets the ‘roadways’ of our minds off in a different direction.

The product consists of panels made from glass, which can be manufactured to be as strong as steel and have at least the same traction as today’s surfaces. And underneath the top layer there are solar panels that store the sun’s energy. One mile of road could produce enough electricity to power more than 400 homes.

If the antiquated federal highway system of Dwight Eisenhower was replaced with Solar Roadways, it would produce three times the energy need of the United States.

Electric vehicles could potentially be recharged while driving through mutual induction techniques. (Think our young genius might be making Edison and Exxon just a little nervous?)

Scott writes that the roads would be built upon a base layer of recycled garbage pellets, relieving landfills and being carbon neutral. Because they store energy, they could be heated to speed the drying after rain, or melt ice and snow, making road salt and snowplows unnecessary, while alleviating millions of dollars in auto damages and personal injury.

The roads also have dynamic lighting, which could display warning signals, or illuminate the pedestrian or bike path.

Potentially, they could house fiber optic cables as well, creating a cross-country web of communication capacity. The sections would be built to last 22 years, according to the website, “exactly the time they would take to produce enough electricity to pay for themselves, so in practice they’d cost nothing.”

Solar Roadways may not be the answer to our fossil-fueled nightmare of a highway and roadway system in need of constant repair, but if it points us in a new direction of earth-saving, tax lowering, budget slimming roadways, even the old “I Like Ike” crowd might jump on this new highway! Would someone in Santa Barbara, with our residents and government dedicated to reducing our landfill, improving our environment and saving the planet want to make a little investment in the future?

Check it out: www.ilookforwardto. com/2010/08/solar-panel-roads-why-youmay-soon-drive-on-glass-highways.html

Business Beat

by Ray Estrada

Immigration is Topic of Feb. 22 Castañeda Speech In a speech about one of the most economically and socially important issues of today, former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda will discuss “Immigration in Global Perspective” at 8pm February 22 at UCSB’s Campbell Hall.

The free speech is the keynote lecture of the annual Santa Barbara Global

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Ray Estrada

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Ray Estrada is a writer, editor and media consultant who has worked for newspapers, radio news, wire services and online publications for the past 40 years. He has taught journalism at the University of Southern California and now runs his own consulting business based in Santa Barbara.

sbview.com

Author and former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda will speak at a free event at UCSB’s Campbell Hall on Friday, February 22.

Studies Conference presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, the UCSB Global & International Studies Program and Orfalea Foundation’s Support for Global & International Studies.

Castañeda’s books will be available for purchase at the event, and a book signing will follow the talk.

Castañeda was foreign minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003 and attempted to run for president of Mexico as an independent candidate in 2006.

His books include Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans, and Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara.

Born in Mexico City in 1953, Castañeda received a bachelor’s from Princeton University and Université de Paris I

A Santa Barbara View

photo by BillHeller.com

(Pantheon-Sorbonne), a master’s from the Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes and his doctorate in economic history from the Université de Paris I. Castañeda has taught at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, Princeton, UC Berkeley, New York University and the University of Cambridge. He was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation research and writing grant recipient.

Castañeda is a regular columnist for the Mexican daily newspaper Reforma, the Spanish daily El País and Time Magazine, as well as a contributor to Telemundo and NBC News. In 1997, he was appointed Global Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies at New York University. He is a board member of Human Rights Watch and One Laptop per Child. In April 2008, he was elected foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is an international member of the American Philosophical Society.

For more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or visit www.

ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

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W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

WIN THIS MILLION DOLLAR HOME OR $1 MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH!

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Only 19,000 tickets will be sold. 1 in 100 can win one of many amazing prizes including luxury cars, vacations, shopping sprees, cash and more! Enter by March 7, 2013 to qualify to win additional prizes. Refer your friends to have a chance to win even more great prizes!

The raffle benefits The Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and it’s recognized partners.

For more information, a complete list of prizes, virtual tours and images of the home, and to download entry forms please visit sbhomeraffle.com.

3 WAYS TO ENTER

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CALL (805) 884-5900 Purchase tickets using your credit card

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MAIL ENTRY FORM (With a check or credit card information) PO Box 61809, Santa Barbara, CA 93160

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FAX ENTRY FORM Fax your entry form with your credit card information to (805) 884-0494

SBHOMERAFFLE.com

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Mark spends much of his time wandering Santa Barbara and environs, enjoying the simple things that come his way. A show here, a benefit there, he is generally out and about and typically has a good time. He says that he writes “when he feels the urge” and doesn’t want his identity known for fear of an experience that is “less than authentic.”

So he remains at large, roaming the town, having fun. Be warned.

with Mark Leisure

Love Day Lingers FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15

Get your questions answered by “Loveline” veterans Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla Saturday at the Lobero.

Locals Night Happy Hour 5-7

Featuring: Jason Campbell and the Drive

It’s Magic! takes the stage for two showings at the Lobero on Sunday.

ou thought Valentine’s Day was over?

Well if you forgot the flowers, candy, a card or at least “good wishes” for your significant other, it might really be over for you… the relationship, that is. But any holiday that falls on a Thursday unofficially lasts through the weekend, so there may be salvage possibilities.

Castle veterans Chuck Jones, Eric Buss, Matt Marcy and Ray Pierce performing illusions, sleight-of-hand and other tricks at the Lobero at 2 & 6:30pm Sunday. Perhaps there’ll be something that might come in handy the next time you’re caught stepping out, or forgetting to take out the trash.

Good luck with that!

Sexual Healing

Classical Acts

On Friday, you might go right for the, ahem, jugular (that’s a euphemism) if you dare and head to Yoga Soup for the second night of “The Vagina Monologues,” the latest local presentation of the oncecontroversial show delving into women’s sexuality, bodies and soul. On Saturday, take a shot on getting your relationship questions answered – or at least dissected, expanded upon and maybe laughed at – when former “Loveline” cohosts Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla bring their reunion tour to the Lobero for a live edition of their current collaboration. On the podcast last weekend, the pair were queried about how a couple would know that they’re exclusive. “No one could come up with a cohesive model,” Dr. Drew reports. “There’s this weird amorphous fear of courtship. Nobody knows how to declare themself… Closeness is a very scary place and we don’t know how to do it. We don’t know how to sustain intimacy. And we confuse intensity for love.”

Meanwhile… classical music fans are swimming in it this week, with no less than five fantastic events ranging from intimate recitals from two of the world’s great violinists to one of the largest and most powerful orchestras in the world, all in the space of five days. Greek violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos kicks things off Friday with his Santa Barbara recital debut at the Music Academy’s Hahn Hall. Kavakos and pianist Enrico Pace are playing an allBeethoven sonata set drawn from a CD that came out just last month.

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Sing It, Roberta Yikes! Might be smarter to just go hear pop-soul singer Roberta Flack – who at age 75 just tackled the Beatles song book in a remarkable album released last year! – explore where the love is and killing (softly) with faces at the Granada instead.

It’s Magic!

Or maybe find a way to put the magic back in your romance from a professional… magician, that is. This year’s lineup for the annual “It’s Magic!” show includes Magic

Sunday afternoon brings the annual CAMA visit to the Granada from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this time conducted

by Charles Dutoit, who just left the Philadelphia Orchestra but still leads London’s Royal Philharmonic, for a program of Mendelssohn, Mozart and Strauss. On a smaller scale, Trinity Episcopal Church hosts local flutist Suzanne Duffy and New West Symphony principal flutist Paul Fried, accompanied by pianist Christopher Davis, in “A Valentine Delight” (there’s that theme again!), a free recital featuring music by Hanson, Gaubert, Damase, Reinecke and Doppler.

On Tuesday, the Catalyst Quartet performs works by infrequently heard 20th century Latin-American composers in the incredibly intimate setting of Mary Craig Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, in conjunction with the museum’s new exhibit “Myth and Materiality: Latin American Art 1930-1990,” which opens on Friday. Finally on Wednesday, fabulous fiddler Joshua Bell brings his brilliance (and his 300-year old Stradivarius) to the Granada to play melody-heavy works by Schubert, Strauss, Prokofiev and more with pianist Sam Haywood. Happy listening!

8pm-11pm

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16

Music by Chel

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 17

Live Piano Featuring: Al Reese 3pm-6pm

MONDAY FEBRUARY 18

Industry Night

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 19

Brian Kinsella’s Open Mic 8pm-11pm

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20

All Night Happy Hour w/ M&M

Featuring: Justin Claveria Jazz Trio 8pm-11pm

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 21

Ladies Night Ladies drinks 1/2 off all night Featuring Brian Kinsella Band 8pm-11pm

805-845-8800 3126 STATE ST

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Santa Barbara Sports Figure of the Month: Simon Chavez

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By Barry Punzal Presidio Sports is a provider of local sports news and information for the Santa Barbara community. Founded in 2008, the small team at Presidio has covered hundreds of local sporting events and published thousands of articles connected to Santa Barbara’s athletic community. Please visit their website for more local sports news and information.

Press Luncheon: Playoffs Make For Exciting Times

by John Dvorak here weren’t any pretenders at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon. Only contenders.

CIF playoffs begin this week and a majority of the teams reporting at Harry’s Plaza Café had postseason thoughts on their minds.

Santa Barbara High has five teams competing in CIF, the most of any area school. Dos Pueblos, Bishop Diego and Cate have four teams still in the mix.

The Dons also led with three league crowns. The Channel League champion girls soccer and boys basketball teams were in attendance, as was the runner-up girls basketball team.

The Dons boys basketball team has won nine straight games, including two last week over rivals San Marcos and Dos Pueblos that earned junior forward Jack Baker the Male Athlete of the Week award.

“I think that’s what CIF playoffs is all about, who’s playing at their best,” said Dons assistant coach Andrew Gil. “I don’t think we’ve peaked yet. We keep getting better every game and this last week was a test to that.”

Baker recorded two double doubles, including 25 points and 12 rebounds against the Royals.

The Dons girls soccer team also won a Channel League title – the first for the program since 1986. After not winning a single game in league the season before, Santa Barbara went from last to first and unseated perennial league champion Buena in the process.

The Dons open playoffs on Thursday.

“We look forward to all the challenges that we face in the coming playoffs,” said assistant coach Brian “Ziggy” Ziegenhagen.

Other recently crowned league champions in the room included Carpinteria boys soccer, Carpinteria girls water polo and Bishop Diego girls basketball.

The college programs in attendance were thinking playoffs too; they just haven’t made it there yet.

Westmont’s women’s basketball team has just three home games remaining this season, including two this week. Warriors head coach Kirsten Moore urged the community to come see reigning NAIA Player of the Year Tugce Canitez, a Westmont senior that played in the Olympics last summer and is getting lots of attention from WNBA scouts.

“We’re undefeated in conference which for our conference is really quite amazing

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Carpinteria Water Polo player Maddie Brooks.

Grant Schroeder, Dos Pueblos’ Student-Athlete of the Year.

Santa Barbara High School’s Jack Baker was recognized with the Male Athlete of the Week award.

and Tugce has been at the center,” Moore said. “Her numbers are just unbelievable.”

Prior to the coaches reports, Dos Pueblos’ Grant Schroeder was recognized as DP’s Student-Athlete of the Year.

Schroeder is a captain of the boys water polo and swim teams, who has also participated in basketball and track.

Schroeder carries a 4.83 GPA in the classroom and hopes to attend Stanford in the fall, but is considering UCLA, Harvard and Princeton as well.

Dos Pueblos aquatics coach Chris Parrish said a few words about Schroeder.

“Grant has been a fantastic athlete to coach,” Parrish said. “There has been in my eleven years of coaching no easier athlete to coach. He is a sponge. He absorbs information and goes out there with determination.”

The National Honor Society member and

hat smile.

Longtime Santa Barbara High varsity baseball coach Fred Warrecker will never forget the ear-to-ear smile that was always on the face of Simon Chavez.

“You’d look at him and he was smiling or laughing,” Warrecker said of Chavez.

“That’s just the way he was, he had a sunny disposition; just a good kid to be around here. He was never in a bad mood, or down.

He’d say during a game, ‘Something good is going to happen in a minute, just wait.’”

Chavez was just 22 when he died on January 15. He was struck by a hit-and-run driver on Highway 101.

Presidio Sports is honoring Chavez as its Sports Figure of the Month.

Chavez was a special young man. He was working three jobs while finishing up his courses at SBCC to transfer to Cal State Channel Islands. He wanted to be a teacher and a baseball coach.

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California Scholarship Federation member was also the school-wide top scorer on the AMC 12 Mathematics Exam.

Schroeder was accompanied to the luncheon by mother Dawn, his grandparents, Dos Pueblos principal Shawn Carey and Athletic Director Dan Feldhaus.

Schroeder thanked the Round Table for recognizing local student-athletes.

“It means a lot to us to be honored and recognized at these luncheons,” Schroeder said.

“Finally I’d like to thank the Dos Pueblos administrators who voted on the award. I know there are a lot of great student athletes at Dos Pueblos who are deserving of this award. I feel especially honored that I was selected for this award.”

Kimberly Williams was named Special Olympics Athlete of the Month.

The 14-year Special Olympics veteran is a standout on the soccer field and as a swimmer. She recently completed the Camarillo Triathlon in one hour and 28 minutes.

Williams graduated from San Marcos High School and works at the Food Bank.

“She’s not only a terrific player but she’s got a terrific attitude as well,” said coach Jerry Seigel.

There is no press luncheon next week because of Presidents Weekend. The meetings, which are open to the public, resume on Monday, February 25.

STUDENT-ATHLETES PRESENT: Brandon Burkhardt, Dos Pueblos Basketball; Kurtis Randmaa, Dos Pueblos Basketball; Michael Day, Santa Barbara Basketball; Louis Stanley, Carpinteria Soccer; Alexa Benitez, Carpinteria Soccer; John Salda, Bishop Diego Soccer; Jacob Brosnan, Bishop Diego Soccer; Eden Schmidt, Bishop Diego Soccer; Gabby Koepenick, Bishop Diego Soccer; Josie McCoy, Bishop Diego Basketball; Greer Shull, Bishop Diego Basketball; Emily Allen, San Marcos Soccer; Hannah Ball, San Marcos Soccer; Spenser Wyatt, Laguna Blanca Basketball; Maddie Brooks, Carpinteria Water Polo; Hope Grant, Carpinteria water Polo; Ricky Arroyo, Carpinteria Soccer; Luca Rigonati, Carpinteria Soccer; Grant Schroeder, Dos Pueblos Aquatics; Makayla Miller, Santa Barbara Basketball; Melissa Lemus, Santa Barbara Basketball; and Desirea Coleman, Santa Barbara Basketball.

Presidio Sports recognizes Simon Chavez as Sports Figure of the Month; he passed away last month at age 22.

“He was always going to school and working,” said Warrecker. “It was hard on him, but he did it all the time.”

When he wasn’t in a classroom or at work, Chavez could be found at Eddie Mathews Field, coaching the freshman and junior varsity baseball players at his alma mater.

Chavez had a great passion for baseball.

After graduating from SBHS in 2008, he stayed in the baseball program as a coach. He coached Santa Barbara’s JV and freshman club teams during the offseason and was given the responsibility of guiding the JV team for the regular season.

“He was a really good kid,” Warrecker said.

Coach Bill Oliphant, who cut Chavez during his freshman year, said Chavez overcame the disappointment, worked hard and made the JV team as a sophomore.

“I can still remember how mad his father was at me for cutting him in ninth grade,” Oliphant recalled. “He played for me in the summer. He worked so very hard to get

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Bishop Diego’s girls basketball team recently won its first league championship since 1984. Seniors Josie McCoy, left, Greer Shull, right, and head coach Jeff Burich host their first playoff game on Thursday in the Cardinals’ home gym.

better and damn if he didn’t. He came back his sophomore year and was the starting second baseman on the JV team. From there, he worked very hard and his last two years he played on the varsity team.”

The Dons were loaded with talented infielders during Chavez’s junior and senior years. But that didn’t discourage Chavez. It motivated him to learn how to play every position on the field. He was an invaluable member of the team.

“He was the kind of kid who could play any position,” Warrecker said. “He pitched, he caught and he could play any position in the infield. He was really a utility man, so he really knew how to play the whole game.

“It was really natural for him when he got out of high school to start coaching. He knew how to coach because he could play all the positions.”

Said Oliphant: “It was as if he had never left. He would be at practice the first day of school and coached our frosh and JV club teams, even though it didn’t pay a dime.”

The coaching staff had so much confidence and trust in him that they made him the Dons’ JV coach in the spring of 2009.

“He was here (at the ballfield) every day for probably eight years,” Warrecker said.

You’re missed Simon.

This is just an excerpt of our tribute to Simon. Please visit PresidioSports.com to continue reading.

Weekend Guide ou have to excuse the Santa Barbara High girls soccer coaching staff for being overly excited about the team’s successful season.

Assistant coach Ziggy Ziegenhagen was so thrilled about the team’s remarkable turnaround he told the crowd at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon that the Dons won CIF. What he meant to say was they captured the Channel League title after going winless and scoring one goal last season.

The Dons dethroned Buena, which

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owned the league title for the last 19 years.

“That’s a massive, massive achievement for our girls, and we’re very proud of them,” Ziegenhagen gushed.

By winning the league, Santa Barbara was rewarded with a home game for the CIF Division 2 playoffs. It will open against Long Beach Millikan on Thursday at 5pm at Peabody Stadium.

CIF postseason competition began this week for boys and girls soccer, girls water polo, boys and girls basketball and wrestling.

The Santa Barbara girls soccer program has produced some outstanding players over the years. Among them: Meghan Moore, who went on star at Boston College; Greta Shirdon, a standout goalkeeper who helped Cal Poly win Big West titles; Alma Martinez, who played at SBCC and UCSB before earning a spot on the Mexican National Team and played in the 2004 Olympics; Kai Miller, who is currently playing at Boston University.

The Dons were always in contention for a league title and a CIF playoff berth.

But the team struggled last season as it went through a transition period with new coach Jeff Johnson. The Dons didn’t win a match and scored only one goal.

For Johnson – a former UCSB player, a longtime club coach in town and owner of One Soccer Schools – and the Dons, there was nowhere else to go but up.

And it’s been quite a climb.

“Our motto has always been maximum effort, every player putting in their shift and never looking past the game in front of us,” said Johnson about the team’s mindset this season. “We have stressed the importance of learning how to manage games, when to play with urgency and when to slow down and take their time.

“Each girl on the team has a specific role and it has been outlined to them on what is expected when they step across the white line in order for us to succeed.”

The highlights of the season include a 1-0 win over Buena and two wins against San

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Filmmaker Aaron Lieber stands with professional surfer Lakey Peterson prior to the World Premiere of Zero to 100 at the Lobero Theatre on Sunday. Peterson left Santa Barbara for Australia this week to begin her second season on the ASP World Tour. (photo: baplove.com)

Marcos.

There were some lowlights, too: two losses against Dos Pueblos and a 6-1 drubbing at Buena.

“We have had some mental lapses... that we have all spoken about learning from in order to keep growing and keep finding ways to become better,” Johnson said.

Johnson noted that he and Ziegenhaggen have never put any pressure on the girls to win.

“They have always been told that all the pressure is on the other team to beat us and that no one expects anything from us, so it is our job to go out and make ourselves proud while proving otherwise to the opposition,” he said.

He added: “We have also stressed that every game is only another test for ourselves to go out and compete and be better than our personal best. We never really emphasize the opponent, it is always compete against your personal best and be hungry about putting in complete performances.”

In the 6-1 loss at Buena, Johnson said his team never let up even when the score got out of hand.

“The play was extremely physical with some crunching tackles. They might have won but they definitely felt the effect of the Dons for the next two to three days,” he said.

Johnson acknowledged that chemistry has been a key ingredient to the team’s success.

“Everybody on this team gets along and there is a genuine sense of compassion and good feeling always in the air,” he said. “The girls understand how much we have gone out of our way to take care of them and in return have been killers on the field.”

Other Events Worth Checking Out: FRIDAY BOYS BASKETBALL: Norwalk at Dos Pueblos, 7pm – The Chargers play a quick Norwalk team in a

Division 2-A first-round game.

BOYS SOCCER: Fountain Valley at Santa Barbara, 5 pm – The Dons play the No. 2 team from the Sunset League in a Division 1 opener.

Santa Monica at Carpinteria, 5pm – The Warriors, co-champions of the Tri-Valley League, face a tough first-round opponent in a Division 4 first-round match.

Orcutt Academy at Cate, 3:30pm – After winning back-to-back titles in Division 7, the Rams move up to Division 6.

Oakwood at Bishop Diego, 3:15pm – Coach Ivan Becerra has the Cardinals back in the CIF playoffs for the first time in several seasons.

SATURDAY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Arizona Western at Westmont, 5:30pm – The Warriors’ Tugce Canitez is putting up 20-point, 20-rebound performances on a regular basis.

Cal Poly at UCSB, 2pm – The Gauchos are Mustangs are tied for second place in the Big West with Hawaii.

SUNDAY RUNNING: The 7th annual Carpinteria Kiwanis Winter Warm-up 5K Run/Walk is a Santa Barbara Athletic Association (SBAA) Grand Prix event. Race held at Carpinteria Bluffs.

SURFING: The Rincon Classic is in its waiting period. If conditions cooperate, the Queen of the Coast will be contested. Check RinconClassic.com for confirmation.

TUESDAY, FEB. 19 COLLEGE BASEBALL: UCLA at UCSB, 2pm – The Gauchos play their home open against the two-time defending Pac-12 champions.

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by Jana Mackin

A journalist and a poet, Jana has lived everywhere from New Orleans and Butte, Montana to Saudi Arabia, where she taught English to children.

Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The Washington Post and San Francisco Examiner. She now lives in Goleta.

In Search of Steinbeck and Old California

Signs of the times are everywhere now, and I doubt very much that the vistas I’m enjoying are similar to those of Steinbeck’s Cannery Row.

A huge rusted anchor adorns the Cannery Row and Wharf area.

ard times had fallen on Old Town, er, ah…Cannery Row. Mack and the boys moped around the Palace Flophouse, deep in some unnamed malaise; not even wild night frog hunting could rouse them from their doldrums.

For weeks, Dora and the girls at the Bear Flag Restaurant were plagued by broken nails and tight-fisted Johns. Not even an apoplectic cephalopod could get a rise out of Doc. And the Seer was no where insight.

Ditto for Goleta Girl this week. If she were a book, she would have been Cannery Row in search of her author’s fix. Entombed in writer’s block, she needed a trip up El Camino Real to the Emerald City and the world’s salad bowl to resuscitate her flat characters.

But before taking that Yellow Brick Road, Goleta Girl spoke with Thomas Steinbeck, asking him whether such a trip to Cannery Row, the National Steinbeck Center, Steinbeck House, and the Garden of Memories Memorial Park would be worth the trip to Central Coast Oz or just so much wilted lettuce.

“Save yourself a trip,” said Steinbeck, 68, novelist, writer, photographer and journalist…and eldest son of John Steinbeck. He and his wife Gail live in Santa Barbara. They head the John Steinbeck Family Foundation.

“What is there to do in Salinas except watch the lettuce grow?” he asked rhetorically (I think). “I’m an old California boy but there are only so many places like the one where I grew up…I love old California but it’s being inundated by another version of itself. It just doesn’t have the warmth I remember.”

Never one to listen to advice, Goleta

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Girl nevertheless clicked her ruby running shoes and set off in search of Steinbeck and old California to the ringtone of “a change would do you good.”

Cannery Row Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.

-John Steinbeck idden amidst the present day Cannery Row “shop, dine and play” tourist hype – where the Spirit of Monterey Wax Museum animatronic interactive figures might spew a spiel about how an anonymous hack from a local paper first coined “Cannery Row” in 1919, where you can play Oceans 18 Black Light Miniature Golf in the American Tin Cannery, or dine at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company just steps from the Aquarium – are some rusting remnants of what at its heyday was the “Sardine Capital of the World” running full throttle with some 19 canneries and reduction plants. This was around the time of the storied friendship between Steinbeck and Ed “Doc” Ricketts, a visionary marine biologist, ecologist and philosopher, who is a main protagonist in Steinbeck’s masterpiece.

During her visit, Goleta Girl sniffed around back alleys, old foundations, dank peers and underbellies of luxury hotels to ferret out sardine shards from the old row.

She could smell the faint orchid whiff of Dora’s perfume, imagine Lee Chong’s gaze as he flatly told Mack and the boys that a pint of Old Tennis Shoes now cost a whopping 25 frogs. Likewise, the backyard of Doc’s laboratory, Pacific Biological Laboratories

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More of the same, though the wares in Cannery Row Antique Mall were quite enjoyable.

(fictionalized as Western Biological Laboratory) houses rows of concrete marine specimen tanks that once held sharks, rays or octopi, but are now empty sepulchers.

Uphill from Cannery Row, a bronze bust of Doc commemorates where the Del Monte Express passenger train hit his car at Drake Avenue. He died three days later on May 11, three days before his birthday.

Steinbeck and Doc collaborated on The Log from the Sea of Cortez which details their marine-collecting, boat expedition in 1940 around the Gulf of California.

But what really reeks of old Cannery Row are some of the San Xavier Canning Company sardine tanks clustered on a hill behind 498 Wave Street. These rusted, riveted behemoths reportedly held sardine oil. They stand amidst wild flowers and weeds near abandoned foundations surrounded by a chain fence that protects these archeological treasures from commercial exploitation.

“I’m a great Steinbeck fan,” said Frank Louis Blair Koucky III, managing director of Blair Financial Group, located about a half a block down from the tanks. “But the true local hero is Ed Ricketts. Steinbeck is respected. Ricketts is loved.”

“These are about the last authentic remains of Cannery Row,” said Koucky, 62.

“These tanks were where Mack and the boys hung out.”

“Old California is disappearing so fast,” he continued, “we have now become a state

Specimen tanks behind Ed “Doc” Ricketts’ Pacific Biological Laboratories – one of the last authentic holdovers from the old Cannery Row.

of whiners and complainers. We live in paradise and call it hell.”

Steinbeck Museum For a long time, I had a secret language.

-John Steinbeck s part of the National Steinbeck Center, a museum and memorial opened in 1998, the John Steinbeck Exhibition Hall chronicles Steinbeck with a multi-sensory

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The National Steinbeck Center’s Steinbeck Exhibition Hall houses tons of quotes and artifacts and archives of Steinbeck’s life and work.

Steinbeck’s Rocinante for his Travels With Charley (the poodle).

“I grew up in this town,” said Diane Garren, a long-time volunteer and server. “Somewhere Steinbeck speaks about making bootleg whiskey on Pine Canyon Road. That’s where I grew up.

Some of my husband’s family was from Oklahoma. They lived like Grapes of Wrath. I have a friend, Beverly Geren, and her dad used to shoot marbles with John Steinbeck.”

Now that’s a game of marbles Goleta Girl could really get into.

More of the Steinbeck Exhibition Hall…one can easily spend hours perusing

museum offering a journey through the man’s works and life. Six themed theaters with film clips and various exhibits, artifacts, diorama, objects, archives and spoken words and texts educate and entertain.

Visiting the exhibition hall can frankly overwhelm at times, through the curated magnitude of exhibits. Sometimes, sensory overload compresses into a surreal docent leading Goleta Girl through various literary exhibits. At the East of Eden exhibit, period ensemble actors in a clip state, “The Salinas was only a part-time river...it was not a fine river at all,” followed by colorful swirls with a disembodied voice narrating, “It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon” at the Steinbeck childhood exhibit.

Far out. I don’t think it’s exactly old California, per se, but I’ll take it.

Besides Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, excerpts are read from other of Steinbeck’s favorite authors: Jack London, Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, John Bunyan and Walt Whitman.

For an hour or two, Goleta Girl wanders through the exhibit; past an old movie poster for Of Mice and Men, a life-size replica of The Red Pony (similar to the toy plastic horses of Goleta Girl’s youth). One exhibit displays a coil of barbed wire crowning open diaries written by Dust Bowl immigrants Mel Thatcher and Lou Wagner. When a Cannery Row exhibit features frogs croaking in a burlap bag, Mack and the boys begin to stir. Meanwhile, the stars have once again aligned favorably for Dora and the Girls.

And Doc looks up from the page and smiles at The Sea of Cortez exhibit.

“My feeling is there are two John Steinbecks – Steinbeck the California writer who used composites of real people

and real places, and the second Steinbeck who was universal in his humanity,” said Herb Behrens, 84, museum archivist and volunteer. The center is reportedly the repository of the largest collection of Steinbeck archives in the world.

“Cannery Row is the only book Steinbeck wrote with a sequel, Sweet Thursday. I think that was to lay the ghost of Ed Ricketts to rest. The death of Ed Ricketts dealt Steinbeck a severe blow...after the death of Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck severed his ties with Cannery Row. He said, ‘I’ll never do the same book again.”’

Steinbeck House When our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build-why, I’ll be there.

-John Steinbeck oleta Girl suddenly finds herself hungry for something more than literary text. She stops for lunch at the Steinbeck House, a restored Queen Annestyle Victorian that was Steinbeck’s birth place and home. The Steinbeck House Restaurant serves gourmet lunches with Salinas Valley produce and Steinbeck family recipe dishes. As she sits at her table, she is served by Victorian-era dressed volunteers in keeping with the pictures, memorabilia and furniture of the Steinbeck family in this restored historical landmark purchased by the Valley Guild in 1973, which is still responsible for the house’s restoration and maintenance. The restaurant opened on Feb. 27, 1974 – Steinbeck’s birthday. While food is being served, what’s on Goleta Girl’s menu are the volunteers’ Steinbeck stories and reminiscences.

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Garden of Memories Memorial Park In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable -John Steinbeck he mawkish kitsch of cemetery names would be amusing if they weren’t so sad, and The Garden of Memories is

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...continued p.23

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SAVE THE DATE! SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

HEAL THE OCEAN IS HAVING A RIP-ROARING MUSICAL DINNER SHOW AT THE NEW EL ENCANTO RESORT ON THE FABULOUS SANTA BARBARA RIVIERA! No Auction, No Raffle, No Kidding!

Just Fabulous Dinner and Entertainment!

Invitations go out early August 2013 Heal the Ocean is realigning itself. Instead of suing city and county (or State) agencies, we are focusing on facilitating the process by which millions of dollars can be had for these agencies through the State grant process.

We are focused on upgrading wastewater infrastructure, and we are helping local water and wastewater districts find funds for the things we, ourselves, want to upgrade and change, to help the ocean.

And, we’d like you to be part of it. Join us on September 28 and get to know the rest of us at

Heal The Ocean!

Heal the Ocean, 1836 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101; (805) 965-7570 www.healtheocean.org

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...continued from 5

Ed Smith readies the saw for some milling. (You should see the size of the larger mill.)

…while ranch hands Chris Green (kneeling) and Cody Hemmens work hard to position a heavy lemon eucalyptus log for the mill. (I made up the ranch hand titles, guys; I just like the way it sounds. Really.)

Watch out! Magnum the doggy is on the loose and he’s hungry for…well, bacon mostly.

Rob and Ed Smith make some last minute adjustments to the smaller mill before letting it rip.

to air-dry – Rob even stacks the milled wood in the same shape in which the tree grew to ensure its character is preserved in the seasoning process – and then, when appropriate, moved into a kiln for further drying.

The drying process, and in particular the kiln itself, is typically the most expensive

part of processing the wood, Rob explained.

But Local Wood uses solar power “with a fire kicker” in the kiln (the fire is stoked from old wood scraps) rather than electricity, further lessening impact and cost. No dumping. No grinding.

When I asked Rob how he came up with ...continued p.24

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“It’s our local history,” Rob told me, “right here in this wood. I mean, this tree right here,” he points to one of a dozen massive logs, “this was over one hundred and fifty years old. Indians sat underneath it and looked out at the Channel Islands.

Missionaries sat underneath it and did the same. It’s lived its cycle, and now we can recycle it, repurpose it, and give it new life so it can continue to tell its story for generations to come.”

Rob and his crew do just that, and they do it pretty damn efficiently and environmentally consciously, too.

The first thing that is important to note

is the fact that all of the logs that Local Wood “saves” are repurposed rather than dumped into a landfill or tossed into a grinder. Both of the alternative options are hugely expensive (dumping fees for such weights are astronomical and operating a grinder has significant labor and energy costs), negatively impact the environment (dumping adds to landfill growth and grinding is generally filthy) and wasteful (for obvious reasons).

Local Wood really capitalizes on those inefficiencies. There are minimal local transportation costs and the sawmills are relatively low-impact. Once milled, the wood is stacked outdoors on the Ranch

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Girl AboutTown

Employee Issa Marasovich passes out tea for customers.

with Julie Bifano Ms Bifano is drawn to micro-fiction and is currently w writing her first novel – “The Grace Below.” She has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in writing from the University of San Francisco and a M.F.A. in Creative Writing, also from the University of San Francisco. More of Julie’s stories and poetry can be viewed on her website juliebifano.com.

A Sacred Saturday Jack and Rose Herschorn opened The Sacred Space in 2005.

A meditation hut in the outdoor area of The Sacred Space.

n my days off, I find myself looking for peace and quiet. I turn my cell phone off and like to find new places where I can truly unwind.

It was a lazy Saturday, driving down Lillie Avenue in Summerland, passing quaint antique stores and restaurants. At the end of the street, I was drawn to a lot with gravel and a few Buddha statues scattered out in front. What I was about to discover would quickly become my favorite place to chill out and let the stress of the week dissipate.

As I stepped onto the graveled entrance, I noticed a little square sign that read, “The Sacred Space.” I pulled open a heavy door and was warmly greeted by owners Jack and Rose Herschorn. At first glance, I noticed sparkling crystals, each containing a paper message of truth. Cedar and white sage filled the air and the sunlight filtered into the room through dancing dust motes. I innately felt like I should whisper.

I asked Jack and Rose to explain a little about the origin and symbolism of the crystals and other ornate art objects in the room. “The merchandise is one of a kind, handmade in small villages. Some of the pieces come from temples,” said Rose. I imagined wearing a bracelet, or taking home a crystal that was from another land.

It occurred to me that purchasing an item from this serene oasis was like taking a piece of history with you. Although there were many figurines of Buddha and Buddha statues around the store, Rose explained there is no specific religious agenda at The Sacred Space. She remarked, “We try to represent all of the religions.” Clearly, there was a spiritual element to walking through the store. The soothing music and blanketing aura of peace that I experienced externally, was quickly internalized. I began to feel like the worries and stressors of my busy life were disappearing.

I talked to Jack about the infrastructure of their establishment. He described how

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Visitors immediately feel like they have been transported to a different world, or perhaps Bali, when entering the Herschorns’ Summerland boutique.

the building itself was historical, being 100 years old, made from adobe with recycled wood on the inside taken from an old oil pier. I wandered through other rooms taking note of assorted rocks with messages inscribed on them, Tibetan prayer flags, candles, music, books and many other items. I found myself at another door and pushed it open to sunlight.

Outside, I heard the soothing sound of water rushing and was surprised to find what looked like an enchanted tea garden. There were koi fish in a pond and multiple covered huts to sit and journal, meditate or talk with friends. Lush green trees, bamboo and other landscaping transported me to what felt like a vacation on a foreign island. Was I still in Summerland? Around another pathway there was an area of Buddha statues. There were so many hidden alcoves and mysteries to be discovered here; I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and quiet, just what I had been looking for. Issa Marasovich, an employee, appeared offering me a tray with tea and sugar rocks. She described her

Jack and Rose Herschorn travel around the world, finding one-of-a-kind items to bring back to Summerland.

Koi ponds and lush gardens fill the outdoor space.

experience working at The Sacred Space. “I feel that being of service is one of the most healing, transformative experiences one can have – and I get to participate in that almost every day here.”

On my way back inside, I had more time to talk to Jack and Rose. Jack explained, “In Santa Barbara, we are very rich in materialism, but low in happiness. Whereas in countries that we visit, we’ve found the happiness has been high, but the materialism low.” The kindness of the owners and employees, as well as the positive energy that resonates from the objects, architecture, and outside areas make The Sacred Space a happy way to spend your lunch break or day off. Rose stated, “As the Dalai Lama said, loving kindness is my religion.” I left with

a satisfied soul and a desire to share this hidden gem with everyone. Just bring an open mind and some free time, and you’ll be sure to experience what I did.

A Sacred Space offers a plethora of courses throughout the year. Upcoming three-night courses will include Stephen Huyler’s course on Hinduism. Huyler has had the longest running exhibition on India at the Smithsonian Institute. Additionally, Swami Beyondananda will lecture on seeing and expressing comedy from a spiritual standpoint. There will also be an upcoming one-night lecture on the emotional grief of pet loss.

For more information call 805-565-5535.

A Sacred Space is located at 2594 Lillie Ave in Summerland and open 11am-5pm daily.

Admission is free. For more information, visit thesacredspace.com.

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...continued from 19

Frank Louis Blair Koucky III, managing director of Blair Financial Group, is a Steinbeck fan but a Ricketts fanatic.

Cannery Row – #1 Visitor Destination on the Central Coast!

Old Doc Ricketts’ bronze bust on Drake Avenue where he died in a fatal car accident.

no exception. How memories can grow like lettuce or rutabagas then rot and die memorialized into granite is beyond Goleta Girl’s comprehension. Yet, here she is at plot-block N-5, staring at Steinbeck’s bronze headstone, his ashes buried in the Hamilton family plot.

What’s surprising is the fact that no pithy epitaph from the author’s work adorns the plaque, just his name and dates are there.

But a serendipitous text is being written by others in search of Steinbeck. Simple offerings: stones, pennies, a flat pencil, a dried chrysanthemum, a pine cone. Goleta Girl leaves a penny.

And as she heads back to her car, she hears boots sloshing through muddy water.

It’s late night. A Greek chorus of croaking, then silence.

Mack and the boys are once again stalking…

And my writer’s block lifts.

Thanks John, I had a blast.

Xifsf!gsjfoet!nffu 3 4 % ! + s 3 % ! & / / $ s # / # + 4! ) , 3

Lunch from 11:30am s $INNER from 5:00pm 2ESERVATIONS s (ARBOR 7AY

A surprisingly banal gravestone for a writer the likes of Steinbeck.

Jana’s Journeys f it’s Saturday night it must be Noleta. Get some soul with Dylan Schmidt and the Rhythm Souls at The Creekside on Saturday, February 16 at 9 pm. 4444 Hollister Avenue. (If I have to tell you where the immortal Creekside sits, then you mustn’t have been here long.)

I

hy not get the honey and avoid the sting at “Introduction to Beekeeping.” A beginning beekeeper’s class will introduce you to respectful and organic ways of keeping honey bees. Students will learn about such topics as honeybee society and biology, equipment, starting colonies, and spring management requirements. At class end, students will visit the Fairview Gardens apiary. Bring your own protective gear or a bee veil will be provided. The class begins at 9 am on Saturday, February 16. For more information, check out www.fairviewgardens.org/2012/12/22/introduction-to-beekeep.

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oly Ursa Minor! It’s Telescope Tuesday. Watch the night sky through telescopes set up by the Astronomical Unit, the amateur astronomy club sponsored by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. This free event will be held Camino Real Maketplace in Goleta at the plaza near the theater on February 19 at 7 pm. Call 805-964-8201.

H

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...continued from 21

The Local Wood Mobile Chariot will soon be used to bring Rob’s beautiful slabs to the masses for inspection and purchase on the spot. They’re taking their show on the road.

Local Wood stacks its slabs for seasoning in the same way the milled tree grew, to ensure that it retains its character as it dries.

the basic process, he smiled and, with a twinkle in his eye, told me directly, “This is a redneck hillbilly Santa Barbarian you’re looking at.”

Then he turned around, jumped up into a forklift, and moved a 1,500 lb. lemon eucalyptus log on to the mill for processing.

Rob has quite a way of making his points.

Rob Likes Wood

What can we say? Rob loves wood.

Rob also loves four-wheelers and cruising the ranch; here, he’s up at the top looking down at a massive view of SB.

So, just how did a “redneck hillbilly Santa Barbarian” come to the milling business?

He liked trees.

“I grew up in Santa Barbara,” he told me, “and I always loved our urban forest.

We have a wide variety of tree species from around the world growing here, mostly because a bunch of botanist-types realized a long time ago that our local climate and weather patterns are great for growing all sorts of stuff. It’s like they got together back in the late 1800s and

Rob is working on a project with UCSB to repurpose some its trees brought down in construction projects. (Very cool.)

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asked each other, ‘Okay, who can get the weirdest thing to grow?’ Now we have one of the biggest selections of urban wood in the country, maybe even the world, right here in Santa Barbara and environs.”

I guess that’s one positive way of looking at June Gloom.

Rob started out teaching people about woodworking and milling their own wood on a smaller scale. Then he realized the capacity for a larger business and began developing the concept for Local Wood.

That was over ten years ago.

“And I’m still having the best time of my life doing this work,” he said, proudly.

I believe him.

Rob admits, however, that Local Wood only gets a small percentage of the felled trees in Santa Barbara, and dreams about saving all of them someday.

So, hey Rob, how do you save “all the beautiful logs?” Keep going, man, keep pushing. And maybe someday you will.

Bobby Jr. is the man; he’s camped on the ranch for quite a few years now and has a nice little spot carved out for himself.

That’s the main area of the Local Wood operation taken from across the main Bjorklund Ranch canyon.

Ed Smith, milling that heavy lemon eucalyptus log into giant slabs. (Beautiful piece of wood.)

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Stuff I Like I like Rob Bjorklund. I like Bjorklund Ranch. (There are many stories to tell about the Ranch, trust me, and I will definitely tell more of them another time.

What a place.) And I really like Local Wood. So the next time you need to chop down a tree in your yard (gasp!), tell the tree guys to get in touch with Rob and have him make your new garden bench and matching picnic table out of the repurposed wood. Or just give him a call directly if you want anything at all made from our local wood, our local history.

It will give you a great story to tell, and everybody loves a great story. And hey, like Jack Johnson says, Reduce, Reuse, (Repurpose,) Recycle. Check out www. localwood.net for more information and pictures of the current slab inventory.

And be on the lookout for the Local Wood mobile slab chariot, coming soon to Farmers Markets and other interesting places. And, if you have a log you believe is worth repurposing, you can simply call Rob at 805-705-1154.

Changing gears, I also like the Wine Cask for a lot of reasons, including its recent partnership with the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation to help provide financial and emotional support to families with children who have been diagnosed with cancer. Go in to the Wine Cask for lunch anytime through the end of February and treat yourself and a client or friend to a great meal and bottle of wine (yeah, that’s right, for lunch… loosen up already, we’re in Santa Barbara for Pete’s sake), and the Wine Cask will donate 10% of the check to the Foundation. Good food, good wine, good conversation, good cause. What else is there? www.winecask. com Finally, I like Strong Belgians and a Hot Polish. Know what I mean?

(If you want more stuff we like here at the Sentinel, check out our newest calendaresque addition, Eight Days A Week, on page 10.)

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...continued from 7 the image before them.

Now, granted, this is a college rag (for lack of a better term). If they want to distribute this on campus to adults attending school there that is one thing, but I clearly believe this crosses the line into bad taste and inappropriate content. I would not imagine to see this in your paper, or the cover say of the Independent or any other local paper.

I wanted to throw them all in the trash to spare another parent a moment of having to explain a porn image lying around on a bench at a family restaurant but I didn’t.

Feel free to contact me and I appreciate your responsible reporting and taking to task the things in our community that we should never have to become “immune or callous to” because we are bombarded with it everywhere.

Ann Fox Santa Barbara (Editor’s Note: This is tough, Ann, but I appreciate the perspective. The bottom line is that the freedom of speech is a hallmark of a functioning democracy and I support any paper’s right to publish newsworthy items.

In this case, the Nexus published a wellwritten story about sex (newsworthy subject, no?). The picture may push the obscenity/ pornographic/art envelope for some but not for others. And while your view of the images is certainly relevant – especially given the fact that you are an accomplished artist who has done nudes – others will think differently; after all, one person’s porn is another person’s masterpiece (within certain dynamic parameters, of course).

Perhaps former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said it best when it comes to obscenity back in 1964: “I know it when I see it.” I’m glad for the letter, Ann, and respect your position on this one. At the end of the day, a paper and its publisher do indeed have ethical and moral responsibilities in light of the quite public nature of this particular business. It’s well put. – MSM)

The Stepford Wives, Part I I was visiting Santa Barbara this weekend, and found myself perusing the most recent edition of the Sentinel, only to feel outraged at The Stepford Wives article written by Mara Peters.

It appears that Ms. Peters has attacked another member of your community in a vicious manner. If she wants to be selfdeprecating toward her own family that is her prerogative, but she has passed judgment on a woman that she admittedly met only one evening, actually forming her opinion even before this woman graciously invited Ms. Peters into her home.

I was extremely bothered by her conclusion that one’s ability to remain calm under pressure equates to a disconnect

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within the family, and as a mother. As a mother of two young children, I strive to create a warm, safe, loving environment for my family. To be fair, it is impossible to never lose your cool, and it does happen to everyone occasionally, even the host of the mentioned book club. However, the home life that Ms. Peters describes with such pride sounds incredibly chaotic, and quite frankly makes her look like a lazy and incompetent parent altogether.

I find it rather unsettling that her attitude toward parenting, and lack of respect for the fellow members of your community are being celebrated by your publication.

A. Saler Houston, Texas (Note: I really appreciate your comments. In many ways this column was written to make people feel better for not being perfect parents.

I know, as a mother, there is nothing like the mom who has it so together to make me feel a little inadequate. By judging the book club member, I was also very much judging myself. I question what is “perfection” and I also question the standards we hold ourselves to. And I promise, we do have some quiet moments where we listen to a little Mozart. I swear. – Mara Peters)

The Stepford Wives, Part II Hello. I am choosing to remain anonymous in this email. I personally love the Santa Barbara Sentinel, but I was unpleasantly surprised to read the article written by Mara Peters last week (The Stepford Wives). This article had so many low points, I was proud of myself for even finishing it. I was on the verge of literally throwing my laptop on the ground. The article begins with Mara explaining her point of view on parenting, and telling us that anybody with a different opinion is parenting wrong. She uses half of the article to explain how and when she screams at her children. She also refers to her husband as “Alpha.” What kind of GOOD PARENT would refer to her husband as “Alpha” and teach her children that males are dominant? Mara continues by explaining how she rudely ruined the whole book club dinner (which she was invited to). It is clear that this woman thought that what she was doing was OK. It was not. It was extremely rude to act like she did at the dinner, but she even went to the extent of writing her opinion in a public newpaper!

I am hoping all of you at the Santa Barbara Sentinel will do the right thing and fire Mara Peters. I, and probably everyone else who reads this article, am extremely ashamed, disappointed, and angry. Thank you for your time.

Anonymous

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Santa Barbara (Note: Thanks so much for your feedback. I am sorry you had trouble reading my column as my biggest aim is to entertain – and also to use a sense of humor. You see, sometimes I find parenting to be brutal, and laughing out loud at myself (and sometimes at my kids) has allowed me to stay sane for 11 years as I navigate growing my family. I do disagree with you that a difference in parenting views is something I don’t tolerate. I think we all do the best we can and that makes us all good parents. My book club is full of a lot of moms trying to figure it out. We did talk about our book too. And we drank a bit of wine as well. And then there is my husband, Alpha.

He was a professional mountain climber, finance master-of-the-universe, and very much a manly-man kind of guy when I met him (hasn’t really changed that much). But trust me, he has met his match and it is very clear just who is in charge. You know what they say: Behind every good man is a strong woman. – Mara Peters) (Editor’s Note: Your anonymous letter is addressed to me, and I am compelled to respond. I’ve gone back and re-read Mara’s piece and find it again to be satirical and fun. My wife – a loving, caring parent in her own right (and definitely not a screamer) – found it the same. I know we don’t speak for everyone (and don’t purport to) but perhaps some of what Mara was portraying somehow got lost in translation. The fact is that this paper does quite a bit of satire and opinion (even straight sarcasm in appropriate situations) – I can only assume that this is something you’ve enjoyed about the Sentinel in the past – and I stand by it and by Mara here. I genuinely hope this doesn’t affect your reading habits too much and that you’ll continue to pick us up – and even read Mara from time to time. She’s actually pretty damn good. Thanks very much. – MSM)

Traffic Ticket Tenacity My letter published in the Sentinel last month questioned the aggressive enforcement and severity of fines in Santa Barbara for traffic violations. Coincidentally, the February 6 News-Press published a letter from a visitor to Santa Barbara who got a ticket for $353 for not having a front license plate. He reportedly returned all the merchandise he bought on that shopping trip from SLO county and vowed never to shop in Santa Barbara again… not good for business or our tourism image.

This incident reinforces my previous belief that fines in Santa Barbara for traffic violations, in particular those that do not create a safety hazard, are excessive. Such excessive fines can be devastating for those earning a low salary and living paycheck

to paycheck, or for the elderly living on a modest fixed income.

I suggest that Santa Barbara’s traffic enforcement efforts deserve to be fully evaluated for fairness and effectiveness.

How are fines set? How do they compare to neighboring jurisdictions? What happens to the funds collected through fines, and how much is collected? Other than overtime parking, is enforcement encouraged as a way to raise money rather than improve public safety? What fraction and types of tickets are written by parking enforcement personnel versus regular police? Does the system encourage police to write as many tickets as possible because it is in their self interest (e.g., performance evaluations and promotions; overtime to appear in court when tickets are appealed)? Given a fixed staffing of the police department, should the police be spending less time on non-safety traffic issues and more time addressing crime and quality of life issues?

Donald Polk Santa Barbara (Editor’s Note: Thanks for the follow-up letter, Donald, $353 for a missing front plate does seem a tad high, doesn’t it? My wife just got a cell phone ticket for around $175 (right on the heels of my seatbelt ticket for the same price). My two cents, for what they’re worth, are to do your best to comply with the traffic laws. Draconian and Machiavellian though they may be, I sincerely doubt that we will get the review you’ve suggested (especially given the State’s budget issues). That’s not to say I don’t think a little thoughtful activism sometimes goes a long way – I do – it’s just a practical reality on this one. Thanks again for the letter.

– MSM)

Table Etiquette Faux Pas Hi Matt – I enjoy your newspaper a lot and especially The Beer Guy articles, but I do have a beef with last week’s piece on Laurence Hauben and Telegraph Brewing Co. In looking at the photos, I noticed that the silverware is set on the wrong side of the plate - the knife is never on the left! It’s a big no-no. Anyway Market Forays sounds like a great thing to do. Sign me up!

Elena Gourmet Santa Barbara (Editor’s Note: I’m impressed, Ms. Gourmet, that’s quite some active reading and attention to detail in your read of the Sentinel. (Can anyone say “Copy Editor?”) We’ll have to get to the bottom of who set that table and provide some guidance on generally accepted table etiquette principles. In fact, why don’t I head over to Telegraph, sit down, order a beer, and start the investigation and education myself.

Thanks for the letter. – MSM)

SANTA BARBARA

805.845.1673

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•MOVIE A longtime writer, editor and ďŹ lm critic, Jim has worked nationwide for several websites and publications – including the Dayton Daily News, Key West Citizen, Topeka Capital-Journal, Las Cruces Sun-News and Santa Ynez Valley Journal. California is his seventh state. When he isn’t watching movies or sports around the Central Coast and Los Angeles, you can ďŹ nd Jim writing and reading while he enjoys coffee and bacon, or Coke and pizza.

Flicks That Mostly Flop

I

GUIDE•

Information Listed plays thru Thursday - February 21

by Jim Luksic

t should come as no surprise with the Academy Awards on the horizon (Feb. 24) that Santa Barbara cinemas have served up a batch of Oscar contenders and winter’s unappetizing leftovers. If you prefer inferior mainstream fare over quality movies – and hey, who doesn’t? – you’re in luck: A few current misďŹ res are clogging Central Coast theaters: Bullet to the Head, the latest Sly Stallone shoot-‘em-up, is deftly directed by veteran Walter Hill (48 Hrs.), but otherwise oers few reasons to disrupt your daily schedule.

Sarah Shahi and Jason Momoa emerge as eye candy, as if trying to distract us from the gulfs in logic and boatloads of collateral damage.

Identity Thief is a bumpy road comedy, more like road kill, co-starring Jason Bateman as a hapless accountant swindled – ad nauseam – by Melissa McCarthy’s titular player. Nobody does the burdened and slow-burn routine better than Bateman, but a few laughs don’t atone for the ďŹ lm’s lawbusting inanities, which stretch on tiptoes for 110 minutes. I kept shaking my head and rolling my eyes, to no avail; it’s a rip-o all right.

The Last Stand, admittedly, proves nothing special and is chockablock with stock characters – but it’s strangely satisfying. The tale at hand, about a deeprooted sheri (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in a sleepy border town, swells with absurdities.

Stick around for the pivotal car chase – between the hero and antagonist – that takes place in a cornďŹ eld (an ingenious spin

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on a tired gambit). When the enemies pause and peek through endless cornstalks, the silence is golden; they’re all ears.

Out of the darkness comes Warm Bodies, which falls under the genre of “zom-romcomâ€? (zombie romantic-comedy, for the uninitiated): It’s a kinder, gentler ghoul ick. John Malkovich, often prone to overemoting, is suitably understated here as the stern leader who wants nothing to do with the walking dead. There’s a smattering of ďŹ ne touches, including a spooky glimpse of skeletal Bonies trying to penetrate a glass ceiling. Too many pop songs get injected into the story, but most of its laughs are casual and subtle. (Best quip of the bunch, amid the mayhem, is from a confused security guard: “Who in hell do I shoot?â€?)

As the sun (and marine layer) has set on the latest installment of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, it seems essential to publicly credit Roger Durling and crew for another impressive and successful celebration. Something tells me that Quentin Tarantino is still gushing.

If SBIFF organizers are seeking a worthy honoree for 2014, how about the brutally undervalued character actor Jerey Wright?

The overlooked supporting player made his mark in Basquiat, but has an extensive ďŹ lmography that includes Shaft, Ali and Broken Flowers. His most recent turn, in the otherwise forgettable Broken City, reminds us how Wright’s smooth delivery can pay dividends – especially with the reďŹ ned, notmy-problem tone of this line: “I’m just the handcus guy.â€?

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PASEO NUEVO

8 W. De La Guerra Pl. - S.B.

A Dustin Hoffman Film QUARTET (PG-13) 12:30 2:50 5:10 7:30

+ SAFE HAVEN (PG-13) 12:45 3:40 6:40 9:25

SIDE EFFECTS (R) 12:45 3:15 5:45 8:15

+ IDENTITY THIEF (R) 1:15 4:10 6:50 9:35

ZERO DARK THIRTY (R) 1:00 4:30 8:00

SIDE EFFECTS (R) 1:45 4:25 7:10 9:45

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (R) 1:20 4:45 7:45

+ A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (R) thru Mon 2:00 4:30 7:00 9:30 Tue-Thu - 2:00 4:30 7:00

Saturday at 9:55 am MET OPERA - LIVE IN HD + Verdi’s RIGOLETTO

RIVIERA

2044 Alameda Padre Serra - S.B.

Ends - Thursday 2/14 Bill Murray is FDR in (R) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON Thu 2/14 Only - 5:00 7:30 Starts Friday February 15:

+ AMOUR

(PG-13)

Fri & Tue-Thu - 4:45 Sat-Mon - 1:45 4:45

7:45 7:45

METRO 4 Features Stadium Seating 6 1 8 Sta t e St r e e t - S . B .

+ A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (R) thru Mon 12:40 3:00 5:30 8:00 10:20 Tue-Thu - 3:00 5:30 8:00 + SAFE HAVEN (PG-13) thru Mon 1:20 4:10 7:00 9:45 Tue-Thu - 2:00 4:50 7:30 + IDENTITY THIEF (R) thru Mon 1:40 4:30 7:20 10:00 Tue-Thu - 2:20 5:10 7:50 THE IMPOSSIBLE (PG-13) thru Mon 1:00 3:50 6:40 9:20 Tue-Thu - 2:10 5:00 7:40

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15 – 22 | 2013

W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

Plan B

Bond party.

No bikinis.

by Briana Westmacott Hailing from NorCal, Briana has lived in Santa Barbara for the past fifteen years. While she is indeed an adjunct faculty member at SBCC and has contributed to LOVEmikana, Wake & Wander and Entrée Magazine, much of her time is spent multi-tasking her way through days as a mother, wife, sister, wantto-be chef and travel junky. Writing is an outlet that ensures mental stability… usually.

The 40th Phenomenon Judging by the smile on my husband’s face – Paulie is on the right onstage – fortieth birthday celebrations are pretty worthwhile.

(We all had a blast at the Bay Roadhouse talking about the old days, and the kids and the jobs and the other important stuff happening in our lives now.)

enga, venga to a Mexican villa for a long weekend of fiestas. A “Bond” party in San Francisco. Murder, mystery and mayhem in Los Angeles. Cocktail cruising on the Condor Express. Vixens in Vegas.

Live bands at the Bay Roadhouse Bar and Grill. These are just snippets from invites that have landed in my inbox within the last year, all real and all being thrown in honor of someone turning forty.

Huh? Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good party (my parents will be proud to know my years at UCSB helped develop this skill). And a theme party makes me even happier.

But why does the fortieth birthday mandate such a substantial leap in party props? Is turning forty that big of a deal? I guess it is… and hey, I’m not complaining.

I’ve been exposed to all sorts of new party concepts in the last year, and I went to a school notorious for creative partying. (Go Gauchos!) That’s really saying something.

I’m not sure if it’s saying something good or bad, but it is definitely saying something.

V

007 A “James Bond” party was something new. Before packing our bags to head north, I had to Google what exactly one should

wear to something of this nature. The only images I could conjure from my search involved many, many different Bond girls, all clad in bikinis. Nope, a two-piece wasn’t going to work for me. San Francisco is way too cold for that. I went with some slick gold pants and we ran around the city looking ridiculous… all in the name of aging. Good times, I’ll stop at that. (And a good theme if you are attempting to get your friends’ wives to wear bikinis to a bar.)

Trolley Tales A group of collegiate comrades that I knew rented the SB Trolley to take a bunch of venerable friends on a tour through Isla Vista in honor of turning forty. They hit up The Study Hall, Woodstock’s, Giovanni’s… pretty much all the places that serve drinks around the IV loop (my guess is they did not get carded upon entry). After that, they proceeded to go knock on the door of one of their old residences on Del Playa Drive. I can just picture the faces of those UCSB students when they opened the door to find fifty shades of gray standing on their porch. They all proceeded to celebrate together, young and old, those with more years pretending like time hadn’t passed at all. Those with

there is a better way...

The Trolley of Lights has become a SB tradition for my family and lots of local friends and their kids. (A trolley makes every occasion pretty memorable, even middle-aged birthdays.)

fewer years humoring my friends.

I suppose it would be hard to turn away a trolley full of your elders. Even if they are two decades your senior.

Mayhem, Murder and Vixens A little over a year ago my husband turned forty. I threw a bash, although it didn’t have any fancy bells or whistles or themes (I just made sure there was plenty of booze – priorities were in line). And somehow or another, memories were made.

We celebrated at a bar in the Funk Zone and took over the patio with our mayhem.

My husband got up on stage with his buddies and murdered a few songs (I ended up giving the real band a big tip for turning over their equipment). I found a bicycle and proceeded to ride some friends around the dance floor on my (borrowed) handlebars – in a mini dress. This proved to be an inadvertently vixen moment (sorry, darling, I never can resist a bike).

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Let’s not forget, we weren’t always tied down to jobs and kids and life (don’t get me wrong – I do love mine!) and there is something about those old days that will eternally remain in the back of our minds.

Days when it took twenty minutes to rally some friends and pack the car for a trek from Santa Barbara over the border to La Fonda for a weekend. Days when all our belongings actually fit into our car. And we could skip our return flight home and stay in Europe for six more months. Days when summer meant living in Thailand or Costa Rica rather than creating the kids’ summer

camp line-up. Days that were dictated by Let’s Go books rather than What To Expect When You’re Expecting.

If forty gives us a chance to pretend that we are still young and free and innocent, then I say bring on the parties. Why not?

Turn back the clock, if not only until midnight when it’s time to get home to pay the babysitter.

So, my friends, keep those invites coming.

I’m in. I want to partake. Despite the fact that I may need to set up a special fund for all the jet-setting to Cabo and Vegas, I’m on board.

But when my fortieth happens to come up on the calendar, it’s more than likely you will find me hiding out on a far away island.

The Maldives maybe?

I hear they’re hard to get to… and even harder to leave.

Briana’s Best Bets I’m a trolley girl. Ok, girl may be a push… but I do love the SB Trolley. In college we used to organize “Trollaween,” and we’d trolley around State Street in costumes – doing more tricking than treating. Now, we make sure to book an entire Trolley for the annual Trolley of Lights tour with the kids and all. No matter what your event, though, the SB Trolley is a good way to step it up a notch. www.sbtrolley.com The Bay Roadhouse provided a great venue for my husband’s fortieth celebration.

Their patio was made private for us, with an outside bar and room for a band to play. Those guys at the Bay were quite accommodating throughout all of our fortieth follies… even my bicycle mayhem. www.thebayroadhouse.com

GR SC EE EN N GR E SC EE EN N E

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WEEKEND GUIDE

29

by

• LOVE IS FREE What: W

.com

Where: W When: W

by Courtney Dietz

Why: W

Dazzzle Mee withh Dazzzle V! hat’s dripping wet, somewhat stinky and a short trip away from the washing machine? Not sure? Here’s a clue. It’s your postworkout gear. You don’t want to put it all in your workout bag because all that smelly sweat gets on your make-up bag and non-funky items.

What about your purse? That’s just gross. And forget about disposable plastic bags – they’re just so yesterday.

So what’s a (hot, sweaty) girl to do with her stinky stuff after that Bikram yoga or intense spin class? Wouldn’t it be great if there was an upcycled, reusable and easy-to-clean bag you could stash it all in until you get home?

There is. You just might not have heard about it until now.

Your workout woes have been answered by local sisters Carmel and Veronica AguirreKolb at dazzleVdesigns. They’re offering the very thing for which we’ve all been pining: The aptly named My Grodi Bag. My Grodi Bag is made of waterproof up-cycled PVC vinyl. Carmel and Veronica have even designed one for our yoga mats. (Thank you.)

So fear not, fit ladies, and don’t stop the sweat. Just stop the sweat from getting on everything else on your way home. Go to wwwdazzlevdesigns. bigcartel.com and get Grodi.

W

WINE & DINE TGIF Treat

by Eve Sommer-Belin y the time Friday finally rolls around, most of us feel like an extra treat. (And most of us deserve it.) We’ve got just the thing to give your busy mind a break and satisfy your taste buds as well as add a bit of flare and stay-cation sensation to your week.

Relax your mind and take yourself out to a fresh, vibrant lunch at the Bacara Resort Spa Café.

The Spa Café menu is mouthwatering and one simply can’t make up one’s mind about what to order. Start with the edamame dumplings with daikon sprouts and wasabi dipping sauce. Or the Kaniwatofu lettuce cups with shiitake mushroom, cashews and ginger-soy. Follow it up with the Freekeh chicken bowl with cereal made from green wheat and roasted free range chicken, coconut milk, thai curry and fish sauce. Or the soba noodle soup with rock shrimp, asparagus, snow peas and enoki mushrooms. And don’t forget to leave room for dessert; a wonderful selection awaits you including healthy spins on chocolate cake and blueberry tart. (Is it Friday yet?)

The menu leaves us drooling and the whole experience will undoubtedly leave you feeling healthy, rejuvenated and ready for the weekend ahead. Pair a glass of wine with your meal and let the relaxing begin!

Oh, and while digesting, feel free to let yourself be distracted by the spa treatment options and pool-with-ocean-view only steps away from the Café. Perhaps extend your lunchtime into the rest of the afternoon… we won’t tell, we swear. For more information, visit www.bacararesort.com/dining/spa-cafe.

B

F E B R UA RY 1 5 – 2 2 | 2 0 1 3 |

How: H

Get Organized with 10-minute Tasks for 31 Days Online at www.kmdorganizing.com March 1 – 31. Sign up now so you can March into Organization starting March 1.

As part of this local challenge you will receive weekly emails (including helpful materials, tips and tricks), the opportunity to receive free gifts and a chance at a $25 Target gift card.

March into Spring a more organized you!

What’ll It Cost Me: Founder Keri Dickerson says it’s totally free to free yourself of clutter.

• LOOSE CHANGE W What: It’s Magic!

Where: The Lobero Theatre, W 35 East Canon Perdido Street When: Sunday, February 17, 2pm and 6:30pm W Why: Do you believe in magic? Top illusionists W from exotic showrooms and Hollywood’s famous Magic Castle will perform incredible feats of magic, from jaw-dropping sleight of hand and off-beat comedic magic to mind-boggling full stage illusions.

How: Who knows... It’s Magic!

What’ll It Cost Me: $20 - $35

• HEY BIG SPENDER Wh What: Grand Tasting and Syrah Seminar Where: Goodman Reed Warehouse, Wh 120 Santa Barbara Street When: Saturday, February 16, 10am Syrah Seminar, W 5:30pm Grand Tasting Why: Sip and learn about Syrah with six of Santa W Barbara’s top Syrah producers. Follow that with an evening of food, wine, art and music at the Grand Tasting with all 17 winemakers of the Urban Wine Trail.

How: Impress your palate.

H What’ll It Cost Me: $50 - $100

30 | F E B R UA RY

15 – 22 | 2013

W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

REAL ESTATE

25 Betty Drive

by Michael Calcagno

Michael has consistently been ranked in the top 1% of Sotheby’s agents worldwide. Shortly after joining Sotheby’s, he partnered with Nancy Hamilton to form one of the most successful real estate teams in Santa Barbara. Michael can be reached at Michael@ HomesinSantaBarbara.com

The Week in Review oy, these weeks have rolled by quickly.

As have home sales… lately… for example, all three properties from last week’s Real Estate article went pending this week.

Additionally, in the past week – in the areas east and west of State Street and Hope Ranch, from $500,000 to $1,700,000 – there have been 21 new listings, with 12 transactions closed and 20 newly pending. (Wow.) Based upon what is beginning to look like if not a frantic real-estate market, at least a really hot market for sellers and a tightening market for buyers (at least at the lower end), my guess is we are facing the best selling environment in maybe as many as six years. Limited inventory (where did all those foreclosures and short sales go?), low interest rates (3.5%, 30 years; you’ve got to be kidding; no, they’re not kidding), and affordable prices continue to make this a decent time to buy something you’d be happy and willing to live in for, oh, ten years or so.

Illustrated on this page are a few of the properties that went pending or closed last week that should have won a Grammy for being good deals.

Roll out the red carpet, I’ll go get the popcorn and champagne.

B

Purchase price: $557,000 Down payment (20%): $111,400 Loan amount: $445,600 Loan payment: $2,000 (30 yr fixed rate at 3.5% (3.52% APR))

Property taxes estimate: $510 Home insurance estimate: $80 Total Monthly Payment:

3920 Harrold Avenue

$2,590

4061 Ramitas Road

Purchase price: $744,000 Down payment (20%): $148,800 Loan amount: $595,200 Loan payment: $2,672 (30 yr fixed rate at 3.5% (3.52% APR)) Property taxes estimate: $682 Home insurance estimate: $80

Total Monthly Payment:

$3,434 Mortgage statistics provided by Justin M. Kellenberger, Senior Loan Officer at SG Premier Lending Group, Inc. Justin can always be reached at justin@sgpremierlending.com.

Purchase price: $1,625,000 Down payment (20%): $325,000 Loan amount: $1,300,000 Loan payment: $5,946 (30 yr fixed rate at 3.65% (3.72% APR))

Note: The foregoing economic breakdowns do not include potential tax benefit analyses since that will ultimately depend upon a number of additional factors. But home ownership can indeed have tremendous tax-savings potential and should be considered with your realtor and/or tax accountant as part of the ownership decision.

Property taxes estimate: $1,489 Home insurance estimate: $100 Total Monthly Payment:

$7,535

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F E B R UA RY 1 5 – 2 2 | 2 0 1 3 |

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OPEN HOUSES SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 Downtown 18 West Victoria Street #308 18 West Victoria Street #212 18 West Victoria Street #307 1519 Olive Street 18 West Victoria Street #108 121 West De La Guerra Street #5 649 Verde Mar Drive A 18 West Victoria Street #111 18 West Victoria Street #109 121 West De La Guerra

12-5pm 12-5pm 12-5pm 2-4pm 12-5pm 2-4pm 1-4pm 12-5pm 12-5pm 1-4pm

$2,600,000 $2,500,000 $1,250,000 $1,149,000 $1,100,000 $1,059,000 $895,000 $875,000 $855,000 $837,000

2bd/3ba 2bd/3ba 1bd/2ba 2bd/2.5ba 1bd/2ba 1bd/1.5ba 2bd/2ba 1bd/1ba Studio 1bd

Alma Del Pueblo Sales Team Alma Del Pueblo Sales Team Alma Del Pueblo Sales Team Marcy Bazzani Alma Del Pueblo Sales Team Diane Waterhouse Joan Katz Alma Del Pueblo Sales Team Alma Del Pueblo Sales Team Sofie Langhorne

845-4393 845-4393 845-4393 717-0450 845-4393 886-2988 895-6695 845-4393 845-4393 689-5759

Village Properties Village Properties Village Properties Village Properties Village Properties Sotheby’s International Realty Prudential California Realty Village Properties Village Properties Coldwell Banker

1-4pm 2-4pm 2-4pm 1-3pm

$2,899,000 $2,750,000 $1,740,000 $585,000

4bd/5ba 5bd/4.5ba 4bd/3.5ba 2bd/2ba

Sergio Gonzalez Cara Gamberdella Ken Switzer Christina Ruelas

283-7003 680-3826 680-4622 452-9931

Prudential California Realty Village Properties Prudential California Realty Village Properties

1-4pm 1-3pm 1-4pm 1-4pm 1-4pm

$2,995,000 $1,950,000 $1,795,000 $1,490,000 $829,000

4bd/3.5ba 4bd/4ba 5bd/4ba 4bd 4bd/2ba

Ken Switzer Sharon Wilson John Bahura Vicky Garske Louis & Susan Manzo

680-4622 570-1551 680-5175 705-3585 570-7274

Prudential California Realty Village Properties Village Properties Coldwell Banker Village Properties

1-3pm 1-4pm

$2,300,000 $1,000,000

5bd/3ba 2bd/2ba

Thomas Johansen Kevin Hall

886-1857 451-9998

Village Properties Village Properties

1-4pm 1-3pm 2-4pm 2-4pm 1:30-4pm

$2,525,000 $2,150,000 $1,650,000 $1,295,000 $1,249,000

4bd/4ba 3bd/2.5ba 3bd/2ba 3bd/2ba 3bd/2ba

Jake Ralston Brittany Lough Teresa Salvione Dan Johnson Robert Johnson

455-9600 455-5736 570-7812 895-5150 705-1606

Prudential California Realty Village Properties Prudential California Realty Sotheby’s International Realty Prudential California Realty

1-4pm 1-4pm 1-3pm

$1,299,000 $1,229,000 $699,000

4bd/2ba 5bd/3ba 2bd/1ba

Mimi Greenberg The Easter Team Realtors Madhu Khemani

570-9585 570-0403 252-0625

Prudential California Realty Prudential California Realty Prudential California Realty

1-4pm 1-4pm 1-4pm 1-4pm

$5,500,000 $1,520,000 $949,000 $819,000

2bd/2.5ba 4bd 3bd/1ba 4bd/2ba

Eric Schott Scott Westlotorn Yanet Solis Kathy Hughes

698-8165 403-4313 617-8531 448-4881

Coldwell Banker Coldwell Banker Coldwell Banker Prudential California Realty

2-4pm 2-4pm 1-4pm 1-3pm 1-3pm

By Appt.

1-4pm

$775,000 $649,000 $559,000 $550,000 $405,000 $264,000 $189,000

4bd/2ba 3bd/2ba 3bd/2.5ba 4bd/2ba 2bd/1.5ba 1bd/1ba 3bd/2ba

Justin Corrado Randy Freed Alisa Martin Pepper Mary Layman Gail Pearl Michael Pearl Cindy Campbell

451-9969 895-1799 570-5680 448-3890 637-9595 637-6888 570-4959

Sotheby’s International Realty Prudential California Realty Prudential California Realty Prudential California Realty Sotheby’s International Realty Sotheby’s International Realty Village Properties

East Side 1703 Paterna Road 2535 Anacapa Street 25 Islay Street 1006 East Montecito Street

La Cumbre Area 4687 Via Roblada 622 Via Trepadora 1212 Bel Air Drive 550 Via Sinuosa 3842 Center Avenue

Mission Canyon 770 Mission Canyon Road 1400 Mission Canyon Road

Riviera 1734 Franceschi Road 1042 Arbolado Road 237 Las Alturas Road 401 Loma Media Road 479 Mountain Drive

San Roque 210 Calle Palo Colorado 3656 Eileen Way 3920 Calle Cita

Mesa 3030 Sea Cliff 316 Lighthouse Road 202 La Plata 1015 Belmonte Drive

Goleta 7769 Bradford Drive 5073 San Vicente Drive 345 Kellogg Way #15 7468 San Bergamo 5788 Encina Road #2 313 Moreton Bay Lane #5 30 Winchester Cyn, #30

EUROPEAN VILLA | WEB: 0113663 | $19,995,000 Suzanne Perkins 805.895.2138

COASTAL LIVING | WEB: 0631886 | $4,950,000 Ron Dickman 805.689.3135

FABULOUS VIEWS | WEB: 0631883 | $3,995,000 Robert Hanrahan 805.698.2826

Expect Expertise. ONLY WITH US.

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Sophisticated marketing approach. Renowned auction house. Global real estate network.

STYLISH CRAFTSMAN | WEB: 0113660 | $3,595,000 Lisa Loiacono 805.452.2799

BIG OCEAN & MOUNTAIN VIEWS | WEB: 0113601 | $2,995,000 Tim Cardy 805.637.0878

CAPE COD STYLE FARMHOUSE | WEB: 0621537 | $2,320,000 Mary Ann Foss 805.455.1476

ELEGANT UPPER EAST | WEB: 0592485 | $1,445,000 Michael Calcagno 805.896.0876, Nancy Hamilton 805.451.4442

OCEAN VIEW DUPLEX | WEB: 0592536 | $1,129,000 Jeanne Palumbo 805.689.1968, Michael Palumbo 805.895.4270

BUNGALOW HAVEN DUPLEX | WEB: 0592516 | $1,095,000 Carol Mineau 805.886.9284, Jeanne Palumbo 805.689.1968

QUINTESSENTIAL SAN ROQUE | WEB: 0113652 | $995,000 Jay Krautmann 805.451.4527, Darcie McKnight 805.637.7772

SAN ROQUE FOOTHILLS PARCEL | WEB: 0113656 | $950,000 Rich van Seenus 805.284.6330, Janet Caminite 805.896.7767

LOCATION, LOCATION | WEB: 0631923 | $799,000 Marie Larkin 805.680.2525

SANTA BARBARA AREA BROKERAGES | sothebyshomes.com MONTECITO COAST VILLAGE ROAD BROKERAGE | MONTECITO UPPER VILLAGE BROKERAGE SANTA BARBARA BROKERAGE | SANTA YNEZ VALLEY BROKERAGE Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc.