••• Gwendolyn’s Playground at Dwight Murphy Field is coming along—and it makes quite a trippy impression as you glimpse it from Cabrillo Boulevard. Apparently it’s due to open sometime in 2027.
••• The Highway 101 construction giveth and taketh away: this Saturday, June 13, the same date that three Montecito ramps reopen, the southbound exit at Hot Springs/Cabrillo Boulevard will close until the summer of 2028, at which point it will be a right exit.
••• Icon alert! Diana Ross plays the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 27. Below: 10 minutes of bliss.
••• The 1909 Frank Lloyd Wright house at 196 Hot Springs Road is more visible (from Summit Road) than I recall it being in years, although to be fair I don’t walk down Summit Road very often. From the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust:
The Emily and George C. Stewart summer cottage was Wright’s first design and only Prairie style residence realized in California. Wright prepared and delivered a number of blueprints for the Stewart house before closing his studio and embarking on a trip to Europe in the fall of 1909. Because it was constructed after his departure and without his direct supervision, the overall plan varies slightly from that which Wright initially proposed. Still, the house retains a close affinity with other of Wright’s work from this period. Board and batten siding gives it a horizontal thrust, and casement windows with geometric patterns and wood mullions create views onto the lush landscape that surrounds the house. Like other of Wright’s domestic structures, a living room, dining room, porch, and service area radiate from a central fireplace to create four distinct wings. The living room spans two stories, and the second story features four bedrooms and a balcony overlooking the living room below. Exterior balconies flank the living room on the second story. Sheltered by the eaves of the house’s low, hipped roof, these spaces were designed for sleeping. Wright included a drawing of the Stewart house in the Wasmuth portfolio, an indication that he was satisfied with the outcome of the design.
••• Gallery Josephine is coming to 133 E. Anapamu Street (the western storefront of the former Victor the Florist building) this summer. It’s dedicated to the art of Josephine Tournier Ingram.
••• From L.: “There’s a new, almost complete bike path from Las Palmas Drive (back end of Hope Ranch) along Modoc to the bike path that ultimately takes you to UCSB. This new bike path has a smooth concrete surface for part of it, and a coarse surface for the other part. What’s the reason for the use of two different surfaces? My guess is that it has to do with the underlying ground/trees/roots, etc., but I would like to know definitively. By the way, chapeau to the city/county for the ever improving bike lines and access!” The answer from the county’s Public Works department:
Your reader is referring to the section of the path that runs through the Modoc Preserve. The entire path is concrete, but this section is constructed with an earth-toned permeable concrete.
The Preserve is owned by the La Cumbre Mutual Water Company, which serves Hope Ranch and nearby neighborhoods. In 1999, the Water Company granted a conservation easement to the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County to keep this land open and undeveloped for community benefit.
During the project’s design phase, two alignments were considered. Alignment A would have constructed the path entirely within the public right-of-way but would have removed more trees, including the row of palm trees between the two entrances to Via Zorro. Alignment B preserved more trees but required the path to travel through the edge of the Preserve. The County moved forward with Alignment B and worked with the landowners on an agreement to build and maintain the path within a defined easement.
The Land Trust provided criteria for the section of the path that travels through the preserve. The criteria state that the path should avoid erosion and dust, maintain natural drainage, not function or appear as a road, protect scenic and habitat values, and minimize long-term disturbance. Ultimately, the County went with an earth-toned permeable concrete for that section of the path.
••• The cute little building at W. Montecito Street and Anacapa Street in the Funk Zone, once home to Avis, has been leased by Sun Coast Rentals. It’s a rather prominent spot for an equipment-rental business. And the parking lot behind it now has signs for each space, so patrons of Mony’s, Tendrel, SBmidmod, and Commen Unity have a shot of parking there. The Spearmint Rhino’s spaces are rentable during the day, when the club is not open. (Despite the sign, it’s not actually open till 7 a.m.) The lot is just one of several private lots in the Funk Zone where you can pay to park.
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