••• A long Independent profile of Dart Coffee Co. includes the news that “the Carp location [at Linden Square] will also be the first Dart not to use vendors for food. […] The offerings will include beer, wine, some savory and sweet toast options, and organic soft-serve. And at the end of the piece, there’s mention of “a hint about developer Brian Kelly’s plans for the Funk Zone block bordered by Yanonali, Santa Barbara, Mason, and Gray streets. ‘Brian is repurposing buildings. Dart Coffee and Roastery in the Funk Zone will move to the large building at the back end of the garden,’ Erika [Carter Dart] reveals.” But that’s a couple of years out. (P.S. I got an early peek inside Linden Square, which opens tomorrow, and it looks fantastic—a real game-changer for the town. And there are a handful of parking spaces, some only for 20 minutes, behind the complex.)
••• Across the street, the owners of The Palms in Carpinteria have taken over the Oaxaca Fresh space at 721 Linden Avenue, with the intention of opening Rincon Hill Market there. Along the lines of their Rigor Hill Market in New York City—which is also affiliated with a restaurant (One White Street) and farm (Rigor Hill Farm)—the Carp shop will have produce from Rincon Hill Farm, prepared foods, bread and pastries, juices, and coffee.
••• Sunshine Café’s former building at 3514 State Street (east of N. Ontare Road) has been sold, reports Restaurant Guy, and clean-up work is underway inside. It was purchased as an investment property, so the odds are good it will get leased out to a restaurant (because restaurants tend to stay restaurants).
••• Think twice before you park: I hear that the strip mall next to RH Firehouse Grill is having RH patrons’ cars towed, as threatened by signs all over the place, and H. sent in this: “My friend went to meet some friends at Ospi and she didn’t want to pay $15 to use the valet. So she drove around and found one spot available at the former Cafe del Sol building [30 Los Patos Way], which is currently abandoned. There were No Parking signs other places but not there, so she figured she was in the clear. After finishing a delicious lunch she went outside to find her car gone. Her friends gave her a ride to Love’s on Haley, and as she was paying the $500, she was told the building owners call them every day, often multiple times a day, and they pointed out five other cars that suffered the same fate.”
••• Rori’s Artisanal Creamery is offering a heck of a deal: agree to donate $5 monthly to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, and you get a free scoop at sign-up and unlimited buy-one-get-one-free on all items at all locations. (Could be a good Father’s Day gift….) If ice cream isn’t your thing, consider donating directly to Foodbank. The organization has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s cuts, which does not believe that keeping its citizens from going hungry should be a priority.
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In other news- Jake Tapper’s media bomb on Joe Biden’s shadow puppeteers lying about his cognitive & medical conditions has so upset people- they are willing to steer a food column down the road of bumpy facts. I personally wish Pete Buttigieg, Joe’s Transportation Secretary- would have fixed the Air Traffic Controller issues- then he could cross the Country speaking about the amazing and improved systems he installed for the American public.
Why not add a FOOD BANK donation button at the end of every real estate column?
Do you hear yourself? Yikes. Thanks for the update on Rori’s x Foodbank, Siteline. It’s a nice reminder to support organizations that do important work in our community. Christine, maybe a $5 ice cream will make you feel better…
Used to enjoy the comments section but they’ve been taken over by angry peevish keyboard warriors who need to calm down. Or stick to next door or political blogs/social media. Food bank donation gives us anti Biden tirade? Give me a break. Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather and living in a beautiful place.
Please show me where it says rebuttal is not welcome? Please also don’t overlook the reason I responded- it wasn’t about the FOOD BANK, it was about the petty snide remark about President Trump- which has NO PLACE ON A FOOD BLOG POST……. “which does not believe that keeping its citizens from going hungry should be a priority.” . President Trump is anti abortion, not anti kids eat healthy. VIVA POLITICS FREE SITELINE
Are you forced to be here ? No. I don’t go to sites that post things I don’t like. And I don’t feel the need to post on their sites. Plenty of other places for you to go
What “bumpy facts” are you referring to?
Food banks do keep citizens from going hungry.
Trump did cut $1B from federal food bank funding, indicating this is not a priority.
Trump does want to extend tax cuts and increase military spending, costing trillions of dollars, indicating that these are his priorities.
It’s pretty straightforward.
Thanks Doug for the factual, concise commentary.
Parking for Ospi is not mandatory valet, only if you choose to use it. You’re free to self park and I’ve been twice with no problem finding a spot. The owners of the upper village are just gross.
The owners of upper village have generously subsidized local mom and pop businesses for the past few decades, and successfully resisted redevelopment bids from outside investors. Their stewardship of that property is a big reason that upper montecito has retained its charm. The CEO of RH bombs in and out of SB airport in his beige colored (obviously) “RH 1” private jet to make his tv appearances, yet can’t find the time to sort a parking solution for the restaurant that he required be built within close proximity to his house. Which one is gross, Dan?
“J” has anger issues clearly.
Def didn’t intend for my comment to read as angry. But not sure why upper village not wanted RH to park in their lot is “just gross”
That is very generous of Rori’s, which is without a doubt the best ice cream ever made. I applaud their efforts and will sign up for this. As to what the Trump administration believes about the poor, who knows. It’s up for debate. True, I haven’t heard much talk about those at the bottom. Much more about the middle class and the rich. And that’s not good. So fair to say it’s not a priority. But I’m not sure any politicians truly care about the marginalized. I think the poor get showboated around, in order to make people look good. “Hey, we care, these people need our help” = “Hey, look at us because we care!” It’s more about the politicians than the poor. If they cared, the programs would be much better and more effective. And much of the money we send to Washington stays, well, in Washington. Maybe it’s better to do what Rori’s is doing, let us contribute directly to causes that are important. I have a feeling that if we send $5.00 to Washington for a program, only .50 cents gets to the org. If that. But if we send $5.00 to Food Bank, they get $5.00. And now we get free ice cream too – in addition to a tax deduction. That sounds like a better way to go.
I believe Americans have proven themselves to be very generous to those in need. Let us take care of some of these things directly. Half the people don’t like the government in power at any given time. So let’s have less of it, not more. We don’t need the ‘magic’ of government to get things done. We the People got this. Ordinary people are caring, clever, and capable. We can organize efforts to assist. We already are, evidently.
Relax people take a deep breath and chill. I can’t believe the things people will bring up on a good blog. You should be ashamed.
Roy
I see. I also see you are part of the problem Roy. If you don’t like what someone has to say, you just try marginalize them, call them names or employ some bully-lite comment. Such a shame. I thought it was a good time to have a real discussion. Sorry I’m not as superficial as you would like but think and reflect on a deeper level. I’ll work on not being so thoughtful so as not to offend.
I’m sorry you feel this way. I think I would just like people to be a bit more considerate and watch what they say.
Roy
You’re spot on John, efforts like this need to be local. Sending our money to DC to fund these programs is like trickle down economics and has about the same results. Too many hands tanking a slice of the pie before it gets to where it’s actually needed only for crumbs remain.
Can’t we all at least TRY to meet somewhere in the MIDDLE? It seems folks are hell bent to stay either hard left or hard right. I agree with John, let’s volunteer more and not rely on government to try to solve all problems, because they can’t.
Interesting news as always but holy cow can we get rid of these brainrot Nextdoor boomer bots?! This stuff shouldn’t be allowed on this glorious local news site!
You’re right, this site doesn’t need stuff like that, nor does it need name calling like “brainrot Nextdoor boomer bots” but here you are.
I was seriously suggesting there’s bots infiltrating this or something similar that’s easily observable on other websites. The style of writing is really bizarre. If that’s true I don’t feel bad about name calling. If they are actually people then I take back the name calling and will agree to be civil. That’s a promise!
I think they’re real, since a handful of the same people leave most of the comments. Honestly, it’d be fun to meet up with them in person. We clearly disagree on a few things but I bet we’d find we agree on more than we realize. And we’re clearly all passionate about SB improving, and feel like it’s underperforming. Erik… let’s do a friends of Siteline gathering!
I’d add that it’s not just passionate about SB but a group of people who specifically care about the health of the food/restaurant, retail, and public spaces and local gov’t scene. We have a lot of common ground.
EXACTLY! Why the snide comments about POLITICS is off target here. So much in common✔️
Selfawarewolf says what?
Referring to the Upper Village as a neighboring strip mall is hilarious.
Ha! Now thats’s good😁
Not wanting to pay the $15 valet fee and then having to pay for your towed car?! My office is in the riviera office park and we consistently have to tell people heading to the El Encanto to not park in our lots as there are signs posted everywhere. Heading to a fancy lunch but not wanting to pay up to park your car…lame.
Parking on private property and getting towed? Oh the horror! 30 Los Patos is owned by the Magic Castle, and is not “abandoned”
For me the real parking issue are the towing fees which are, I believe, over $400 now. It’s excessive. Towing is a super regulated business, for obvious reasons, but the fees seem untether to reality and not incongruent to the offense. It’s a very blunt instrument. Whether you made a mistake or were intentional, whether you parked for 10 minutes or 10 hours in the wrong place, you’re paying big time. From a legal perspective I suppose people are trespassing and deserve what they get. From a human perspective people make mistakes and do stupid stuff when suddenly confronted with bad or no parking options and they are in a 4,000 lb contraption on wheels with no where to put it. If we still had horses someone could move your horse over to another post if you goof. Progress can be expensive, if convenient. I suppose all these places with parking problems will b go away once the robo-taxi arrives.
I think that’s a great idea, I’m going to get my buddy Morgan and some friends and saddle up a ride our horses to the Ospi /Post and tie them up down there, we will see how the towing company does with that…
I totally get that and agree they should have signs at least warning people. But the owners may just be flat out fed up with people parking on their property.
When the Post was getting ready to open, the owner (either Runyon group or the individual owners, not sure which) were telling all the staff to park in Stella Mares parking lot. Mind you this is when the restaurant was STILL OPEN and extremely busy due to their impending closure.
The owners were forced to block their own private parking lot to prevent Post employees from using it. So the Magic Castle owners may be at the end of their rope and going tow crazy.
Don’t fall for Erik’s engagement bait. He’s the one that inserted politics with his claim to know what the entire Trump administration believes about charity and by implying the federal government has a responsibility to feed every American citizen. 🙄
Please believe me when I say that I don’t care whether people comment. The business doesn’t need more interaction or even traffic (although, sure, that’s always nice). And I often dream about turning the comments off entirely. Now and then, there are great ones—insightful, educational, and/or entertaining—but a lot of times people are just complaining (not merely about what I write, but everything), and it wears me down because I have to vet every one. On top of that, there are all the comments you don’t see because I don’t allow them: people can be so mean. But I leave the comments on because a lot of readers tell me how much they love reading them (even if it’s in a hate-read way). And perhaps it’s good to give people an outlet for their grievances so they don’t go storm the Capitol.
I don’t bring up national politics very often because the subject is rarely relevant—but in the case of Foodbank struggling because of cuts, it certainly is.
As for a government ensuring that its citizens don’t go hungry—far different from “a responsibility to feed every American citizen”—I struggle to think what could be more important. Is it really such a controversial opinion? I absolutely believe in a safety net. May none of us ever need it.
I applaud you Erik!
Well said Erik, and the levity is enjoyed and appreciated.
Please, carry on!
Very nice response Erik! It’s hard to believe that people here are actually hungry and rely on food assistance from the Food Bank but it’s true, sadly.
Thank you. I really enjoy your site and think it is extremely valuable. Fills a need in our community. Why people feel a need to visit someone’s website and then feel the need to rudely comment on that website’s content, is unbelievable. No one is forcing anyone to be here. You and your website are very appreciated.
I would love for you to turn off the comments section. Some are simply too disrespectful and unkind. Thank you for all you share, Erik. Your site has become such a wonderful part of our community!
Hear hear! My sister works at the Food Bank and these cuts are VERY real and painful. It’s devastating for the staff and the people they’re feeding. Absolutely absurd that people can argue in the comments about feeding our local Santa Barbarians who need assistance. Go Erik!
I can imagine the comments section is a lot of work. The independent turned theirs off and that is likely where you will end up. It is nice however to have a community bulletin board. Granted, people can be very absurd, unkind, vulgar and so you have to police the comments. It’s easy for us to say ‘keep it’!
Regarding feeding the hungry, I think everyone agrees it is a #1 priority, along with tending to those who are sick or hurt. However, some of us have lost faith government. But we have not lost our faith in people. To have faith in people and nonprofits – but not the government – in carrying out various missions and functions – does not make some of us bad or uncaring people. We just want things to be more efficient so they can continue on. In the end, I don’t relish saying this, it is about economics. The debt reaper will come and he be merciless, and more will suffer rather than less. There will not be enough money to plug all the holes.
I think most reasonable people care about the same things, just not always on the means to achieve the ends. Let us not be unnecessarily divided and find solutions we can all agree with. Consensus is often found where unanimity cannot even be imagined.
I certainly agree that the government isn’t always efficient, and shouldn’t be expected to do everything. But federal funding for food banks (say that ten times fast) is generally considered to be pretty efficient. And if we’re going to be critical of government efficiency, maybe we could start with the hundreds of billions spent on the military?
Right On!
How about we start with things more local and within our control, like with the $25 BILLION CA spent on homelessness the past five years only for the problem to get worse, with zero accountability attached to those $25B. Trump’s foodbank cuts to USDA were about $1B nationally. Imagine what CA could have done with that $25B.
snide
/snīd/
adjective
1.
derogatory or mocking in an indirect way.
“snide remarks about my mother”
thumbs up !
correction: thumbs up to Eric’s reply on comments.
$700 for parking at Cafe Del Sol! Your $500 was a deal! Took my mom to a bday brunch at Ospi this past Sunday and parked in front of Cafe Del Sol/Magic Castle/nothing really for years… and came out to a missing car. There is a RING camera on the building so apparently they can amke quick calls to Loves Towing. I need to quit my day job and start a towing business- this is a heck of a racket!
Wow, just wow! I am so sorry you had that happen to you parking there, but I thank you kindly for the fair warning!! That is not right what Loves Towing is doing to its victims. The Post & Ospi should warn customers about this!