December 14, 2025
Plus: City recreation facilities are closed; Lotusland, Riviera Theatre, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art are on hiatus; real-estate agents' caravan is off; Island Packers suspends trips for a while; help spruce up the Sespe Wilderness trails; two recent sales of note.
Other local news: The current tally of tests administered here; Santa Barbara Zoo and Chumash Casino have closed; permits for Montecito debris nets get renewed; the tree of the month.
March 16, 2020
More food news: Stella Mare's and Le Cafe Stella are also temporarily closed; The Daisy is ceasing regular service, but takeout and (soon) delivery are available; Sama Sama Kitchen's addictive sambal tomat; support your favorite restaurants by buying gift cards now.
More food news: Ways to help local restaurants; ordering bread from Riviera Bread, Bree'osh, and Bossie's Kitchen; Bettina's English pea pizza; new chef at Pico in Los Alamos; a bit of help from GrubHub.
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March 15, 2020
Other local news: A running tally of tests given here and cases by state and country; Santa Barbara schools close indefinitely; UCSB suggests students leave campus; farmers' market stays open, for now; social-distancing guidelines for restaurants; Mammoth and Big Bear shut down.
March 14, 2020
The week's other top price reductions: Adorable 1911 cottage off East Beach (↓$400K); hilltop castle (↓$105K); sweet seclusion where Diana Road meets Diana Lane (↓$100K); two-week price-chop on Conejo Road modern (↓$200K).
March 13, 2020
More food news: Foster's Freeze said to be on its last legs; Chick-fil-A's lame response to its traffic issue; chef-owned Lemon & Coriander in Goleta; dormant plaza in Montecito's Upper Village; non-alcoholic cocktail mixologists; three home winemakers.
March 12, 2020
The Riviera Theatre is limiting audience size; the public library is canceling events; Slightly Stoopid is coming to the Santa Barbara Bowl; MarBorg will soon rent hand-sanitizer stations; Cottage Hospital has COVID-19 test kits; toilet-paper hoarding continues; a free house.
Other local news: UC Santa Barbara has moved to online classes through April at least; Santa Barbara City College has switched some classes to online; second COVID-19 case in Ventura County; Earth Day event postponed; SLO farmer's market canceled; gang members convicted of post–debris flow crimes, including a Montecito home invasion; bad behavior on the rise in area schools.
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Renaming the post office and spending $500 k to do it. Is another great example tax payers money being wasted. — Dan Kolodziejski
Hallelujah! The return of that Southbound on-ramp is long overdue — Tammy
You've done a great thing for the hapless men of Santa Barbara with this series. Stopping by half of these stores. — Andy
The post office renaming will cost roughly $500,000 paid for by the USPS internal funds from stamps and fees. — Derek
Thank you, Erik, for reminding your readers to support local businesses; it is one of the critical ways to help our communities thrive. (I laughed… — Pat
I agree about the skimpy wine pour. However, we loved the shared entrees (chicken and salmon) with their special rice. Yes there were leftovers but… — ElizabethW
That 5% would go to all employees proportionate to their hours I would presume compared to tips where more skilled staff take a higher percentage,… — Don
Geo , you know absolutely nothing about the restaurant business. — Roy
What if, and bear with me here because this is complicated, restaurants just paid their staff normally and charged prices that reflected those expenses, i.e.… — Rich
Little Mountain just isn’t organized. Everyone is very nice and the atmosphere stylish, but there is something wrong with it. The food is weird, portions… — Joan
Recent Comments
Renaming the post office and spending $500 k to do it. Is another great example tax payers money being wasted. — Dan Kolodziejski
Hallelujah! The return of that Southbound on-ramp is long overdue — Tammy
You've done a great thing for the hapless men of Santa Barbara with this series. Stopping by half of these stores. — Andy
The post office renaming will cost roughly $500,000 paid for by the USPS internal funds from stamps and fees. — Derek
Thank you, Erik, for reminding your readers to support local businesses; it is one of the critical ways to help our communities thrive. (I laughed… — Pat
I agree about the skimpy wine pour. However, we loved the shared entrees (chicken and salmon) with their special rice. Yes there were leftovers but… — ElizabethW
That 5% would go to all employees proportionate to their hours I would presume compared to tips where more skilled staff take a higher percentage,… — Don
Geo , you know absolutely nothing about the restaurant business. — Roy
What if, and bear with me here because this is complicated, restaurants just paid their staff normally and charged prices that reflected those expenses, i.e.… — Rich
Little Mountain just isn’t organized. Everyone is very nice and the atmosphere stylish, but there is something wrong with it. The food is weird, portions… — Joan