Author: Erik Torkells

October 3, 2019

California Has Tightened the Rules for Planned Power Outages

Other recent news: Santa Barbara Cemetery to start using recycled water; Montecito Sanitary District rebuts concerns about its proposed new building; Old Town Goleta to get sidewalks; destructive beetles seen in local trees; arguing over emergency dispatch operation centers.

October 2, 2019

Tyger Tyger Founding Chef Daniel Palaima Has Left

Plus: Bristol Farms opening pushed back; a rundown of restaurants that are slated to open here; Carpinteria's farmer's market is in a different location this week; another wine tasting room; fresh yuzu.

October 1, 2019

Earl Warren Showgrounds Is in Financial Trouble

In other news: Helistop decision delayed; city creates a hotline to report illegal homeless camps; crackdown on longterm parking at the waterfront; residents oppose homeless housing; questioning the Montecito Sanitary District's desired new building.

September 30, 2019

Under the Tuscan Spell

Rhonda Byrne, author of "The Secret," has put her Montecito estate back on the market at a lower price. If anyone can actualize a sale into happening....

Fitness Studio Opening Next to French Press

Plus: AIA Santa Barbara's annual self-guided architecture tour is coming up; a rare sighting of a diving board; anyone up for a cold plunge?

September 28, 2019

Can You Solve This Midcentury Modern Puzzle?

The full list of this weekend's open houses is here. Among the more intriguing ones: a Japanese-Craftsman hybrid, a 1904 house off Miramar Beach with a kooky floor plan; and a well-made Hope Ranch house that just won't sell.

September 27, 2019

Blackbird Remains More or Less Unchanged

Other food-related news and notes: Opening forecast for Mesa Burger in Montecito; Santa Barbara County's natural wine scene; local library has cake pans you can check out; Dart Coffee now selling Buena Onda empanadas.

A $2.6 Million Price-Chop Makes for One Cold Shower

Also newly reduced: The last remaining part of the Lolita Armour estate; European pastiche below San Ysidro Ranch; killer views on Eucalyptus Hill; tasteful Don Nulty manor in east Montecito.

September 26, 2019

No More Elephants at the Santa Barbara Zoo

Other recent news: Carpinteria warms up a bit to ADUs; moratorium on new water hookups continues in the Goleta Valley; Olive Street duplex approved; conversations with Philip Glass, Elizabeth Strout, and others; microscopic plastics.

The Cheapest Ocean View in Town—But There’s a Catch

Plus: What might be the best parquet floor ever; design workshop for the Randall Road Debris Basin Project; bucolic artwork at Sullivan Goss; "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" on the big screen.