••• After participating in the Montecito Trails Foundation’s clean-up day, I resolved to volunteer more in 2021—if I commit to two days, I can achieve a doubling of my volunteer hours. I’m thinking of lending Santa Barbara Channelkeeper a hand: “The first big rainfall of the season has arrived, known as the First Flush, which means that a fair amount of trash has washed down to our beaches. If you’re looking to make a difference this holiday season and help tackle the problem of litter in our community, consider joining Channelkeeper’s Watershed Brigade, a network of local volunteers who clean up our creeks, beaches, and trash ‘hotspots’ on their own schedules.” More info here.
••• From Lotusland: “Explore Haber Fine Art to view a collection of fine art imagery from Ganna Walska Lotusland. 20% of all proceeds from these beautiful prints will be donated to the preservation of Lotusland.”
••• Thanks to the folks who made guesses about the recent Where in Santa Barbara…? post. No one got it right, so here’s the answer: the photo was taken at the Riviera Theatre in the Riviera Park complex.
••• We had a new house with a garage temporarily filled with furniture—and a suspect roof above it—so we needed a cheap tarp before the storm arrived. That was a good enough reason to visit Empire Cleaning Supply, which I had once wandered into by accident. It’s in a warehouse on Garden, south of Yanonali, and it shares space with parent company Aramsco (which sells/rents cleaning machines and the like) and Pacific Paper. Maybe it’s just because I’m a fan of offbeat places, but I love it.
••• The January 8 agenda of the county’s Architectural Preserve Advisory Committee includes 780 acres of cannabis cultivation in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter and you’ll never miss a post.




















Recent Comments
This write up is such a biased take that sides with a handful of people. I imagine the people groaning about this project have a… — Yesenia G.
And if the anti's are worried about pollution, the answer is obvious. Electrify the entire LOSSAN Corridor. Cleaner, quieter, and allows for faster trains. And… — Judy's Older Brother
Is MAGA in the room with us now? — Jefferson A.
Remember this: Frequency is Freedom, and for a line like this, siding projects are essential to improving frequency. (Draw some stringlines yourself, or model it… — UrbanUnPlanner
Like most NIMBYism, environmentalism is just the excuse used to block something the neighbors don’t like — LD
You win the prize for seeing past the City/County lines! The train serves all of California, just like the 101 freeway does, so what might… — Christine!
This article feels very shortsighted. It seems to heavily cater toward the viewpoint of Montecito residents instead of a broader audience. This project also affects… — Christian Lietzow
I think this is a great project, and I think all the pearl clutching by the Padaro Lane folks is a bit premature. LOSSAN reps… — Kevin
A NON-cierge Hotel.... gotta love it. — Lee
I don't understand the environmental argument for fighting this. Improved rail service increases ridership, which means more people opting to take the train who would… — John