If not too far, Alabama Hills Cafe & Bakery is always worth a visit
Wow Dylan Star!! I always had a great shopping experience there, the owner is so genuine and kind, but I get it—brick and mortar retail is so hard. Wishing her success with Dylan Delivered!!!
Sadly, the Biltmore is in the clutches of an unhinged billionaire.
I have been on many business trips to Palmdale and Mojave. I recommend packing a lunch. Parts of the desert along the way are quite beautiful but traditional parks with grass and trees are few and far between.
Malaka!
The trip is not imminent—I would never go in summer.
I’m guessing you have to go, as it is supposed to be over 110 every day this week.https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/ca/death-valley Good luck, it’s called Death Valley for a reason, especially in the middle of summer. My wife and I went there about a month before Covid shut everything down in 2020, I can’t imagine you will find anything that will come close to your own picnic (packed in lots of ice although you may want to eat it in your car instead of a park).
The Neutra house that the Levine’s bought in the mid 80’s was where I would stay a month out of every year as they would travel to Europe. It was such a great time. Louise would stock the fridge and the bar before they left town. Jay I hope the poles are visible from the street
Re: "I get that higher-priced restaurants add a surcharge, rather than simply increase prices, in order to avoid sticker shock. But in The Win-Dow’s case, why not just raise all of the prices by a quarter? " Could it instead be the opposite: Most customers at Win-Dow are not as affluent as you and may actually be comparing its prices to fast food alternatives. The RH Fireside Grill adds 4% to their $24 RH Burger, i.e. $0.96. I doubt that their clients would object to $25 vs. $24. It seems tacky/devious of a company that is trying to transition from mid-market Restoration Hardware to upscale RH to add in fine print at the very bottom of the menu that there is a 4% surcharge for what are normal restaurant expenses.
Palmdale/lancaster doesn’t have much but Gino’s (Palmdale) pizza and salad is good and their Italian dressing is worth the stop. You can (and probably will) buy it by the case. The Third Place (Lancaster) is but far the best restaurant in the area. It could compete with other gastropubs in our area.
Window doesn’t have refills. In fact often when they are busy you sit and drink your drink before you get your food and then it’s gone. The line is so long and slow it’s pointless to wait to get another one, so they need to fix this issue, because as a customer it’s disappointing.
Regarding fires across the nation, there is a great app called Watch Duty which provides real-time updates on fires and gives info on evacuations, and much more for over 22 States. I've been using it for the Gifford fire and it's been very helpful. The app is a non profit.
Just a heads-up on the Thai Tea Cheese Cake. I made it the other day, and it's delicious, but depending on your oven, the baking time may be significantly too short. Make sure to measure the temperature in the center of the cake, or you'll end up with custard in the center. Next time I'll even aim for 145F instead. Also, use quality Thai tea, and the cake will rise well above your spring form, so you may want to let your parchment paper extend past the rim to keep the cake contained. Enjoy!
The 3 Dux on Gutierrez
Sad to say but its so true. I know one of her x-staff she threw an empty paper towel roll at him when she found it empty in the break room, and said always make sure its full. You gotta watch out for the people that say be kind for to one another, those usually are the least kind people. Normally kind people don't say things like that. They just do it. They just are.
Just develop from goleta to solvang.
Of course we want to preserve land and have open space, but not at the expense of cramming everybody so tight that it's just an absolute cluster and zero quality of living. Currently everything is such a cluster you can't even get in and out of any parking lot or Gas Station. Not to mention, there's literally construction every three blocks or a road closure.
It's just going to get worse.
On top of it there is no consideration whatsoever when doing construction nor do they even follow the law because they know nobody is checking. They get away with whatever they can, its blatant and shocking. Blocking full lanes, sending cars into oncoming traffic with no traffic control, illegally closing sidewalks… Imagine 90 units being built on Milpas and Gutierrez.
That's not even including the car wash project, Tri-County project, and whatever happened to capital plumbing after that dude bailed.
I don't think it's an either/or with the city council. I watched the meeting regarding 418 N. Milpas and several comments stood out. But most surprising to me is council members Kristen, Wendy and Oscar all supported my opinions. That was a first. Yes the NIMBY comments were abundant, many pointed out it's 90 units with only 65 parking spots. And I totally disagreed with the majority even though they had the "law" on their side. Reminded me of the song,
"I fought the law and the. . . law won."
I also noticed this, regarding NIMBY comments from the neighbors. Mike Jordan saying, "I like this project on Milpas and look forward to more like it." (loose quote)
Okay Mike, then start planning for some four story apartment buildings in the Cliff drive, Meigs commercial area. Or down the street near City College, or next to 215 Bath street in West Beach. These areas already have too many STVR's. Why not build more multi-story "housing." And if you say no then aren't you a NIMBY?
You’ll never have enough housing to satisfy demand in SB. We should add housing — and there are LOTS of responsible places to do it with positive impact. But maintaining integrity of the town is crucial. Height limits are a key element of that. Mountain views are an existential piece of SB identity. Building high-rise, or greater than 4 stories or so, will impede views with buildings and permanently destroy the charm and aesthetic value of the town.
We could easily 2-3x the housing here by doing it responsibly but there have to be certain values in place.
Spikes- I faintly remember that spot.
Ski Lodge Coffee Shop
Then Spikes
Without significantly increasing the allowed density of units and height of buildings downtown (currently limited to 36 units per acre and 60 feet in height for the central business district, the densest and highest in town) we will never be able to build enough housing to provide any meaningful change in affordability. The CBD is 169 acres (which includes streets and all government buildings like the library, city hall, the courthouse, etc.). Even if you assume all government buildings are moved elsewhere and every inch of the CBD, including streets and parks, were developed for multi-family you'd hit a max of 6,000 units. This is basic math City Council is either ignorant of or ignoring.
City Council needs to stop playing politics trying to appease the NIMBY's and affordable housing crowds simultaneously as it's been going nowhere for decades. Either accept that Santa Barbara will never be affordable and maintain the small town look and feel, or drastically change the City Council imposed limits on density and height.
Roger NIMBY just like they “do downtown” they will do behind the mission. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice they do whatever they want. They don’t care about parking. They don’t care about what the citizens say. This is in Newsom’s order and mandate, and they have to obey.
Don’t fool yourself. If you support development where it doesn’t affect you what kind of person does that make you.
This is horrible for the east side and Milpas and for the East side and the residence who are being kicked out of their homes.
This is not downtown.
I’m not saying the current set up is perfect, but the city would be wise to keep State Street closed to car traffic. However, the city absolutely needs to make it easier to build more housing vs. hotels - if memory serves, the project was originally intended to be housing, but requirements from the city made that infeasible.
I am okay with development downtown if we absolutely must grow. This structure should have more parking however.
NEVER allow the development behind The Mission to occur, however.
Hello, I see the Biltmore reopening has been pushed to 2026. I contacted them to inquire about an event I wanted to book for April and was told an April opening is not guaranteed. This seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time. Any insights?
Thank you,
Debbie
