Welcome to Montecito Magazine

Transcription

Welcome to Montecito Magazine
FROM THE COLLECTION OF HANRO
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FROM THE COLLECTION OF CIVIDINI
Spring/Summer 2016
Alexander Bertrand Harmer
To The Manner Born ~ 20
Through four decades, Bert played a prominent role
in transforming Santa Barbara into an idealized
version of its romantic past.
By Mark Lewis
Tomasz Glinski at the Plow & Angel
Black and White Memories ~ 34
A gifted pianist who fled his native Poland with his
family shortly before World War II, Tomasz
entertained locals and celebrities at
a popular nightspot during the 1950s.
By Adele Menichella
Gone But Not Forgotten
Miramar Beach & Tennis Club ~ 48
Close-knit members of a unique club—an eclectic mix of
blue blood and blue collar personalities—reflect on the
casual family atmosphere that prevailed at the
Miramar Hotel for nearly three decades.
By Leslie Dinaberg
The Case of
The Unknown Architect ~ 60
Fred Sidón goes to bat for Bert Harmer, a talented
but largely forgotten contemporary of Reginald Johnson
and George Washington Smith.
By Mark Lewis
Music Academy of the West
2016 Summer School & Festival ~ 69
One of the nation’s preeminent summer schools and
festivals, with over 200 festival events, gears up for
a stellar performance season at the Miraflores campus
and venues throughout Santa Barbara.
Cover Artist…Tom G. Carey
Architect and Avid Watercolorist ~ 70
Carey has painted his way around the world and back
again, but still loves to capture local scenes in
and around Santa Barbara.
By Michel Miller
Art, Wine & Food ~ 76
Highlights of the spring and summer cultural and
culinary calendar, from art shows, studio artists and
fundraisers to foodie finds.
always fashion
By Nancy Ransohoff
1046 COAST VILLAGE ROAD
MONTECITO 93108
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Illustrated Map of Montecito ~ 84
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By Janice Blair
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Pine Trader Antiques Retirement Sale
A Conversation
with Clive Markey, owner
Q: Why are you retiring now?
A: Having been in the antiques business in
Santa Barbara and Southern California for
over 35 years, I have worked with some
amazing people and bought and sold
some incredible pieces. I’ve only been
interested in bringing quality antiques from
Europe, mostly Ireland, to my stores, but
the antiques market in Europe has become
increasingly difficult o find quali y pieces to
bring back for our customers.
Q: What are you going to do with all of your
inventory?
A: I intend to sell it all. We are now having our
“retirement sale” and we are clearing out
our existing inventory. Every piece, even
ones that I’ve held for years will be sold.
Q: Where do you plan to go once you retire?
A: I’m going to be staying in the area. I love
Santa Barbara! My family is here and my
friends are here, so this is where I call home.
2345 Lillie Avenue, Summerland, CA 93067
805.845.2618
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Publisher
NOT WHAT YOU NEED,
BUT WHAT YOU WANT.
Peter Freitag
Director of Art & Design
Christine Flannery
Story Editor
Cheryl Crabtree
Production Assistant
Keith Flannery
Copy Editor
Lindse Davis
Circulation
Jon Jessup
ADVERTISING
Peter Freitag, Christine Flannery, Keith Flannery
CONTRIBUTORS
Writers
Cheryl Crabtree, Leslie Dinaberg, Mark Lewis,
Adele Menichella, Michel Miller, Nancy Ransohoff
Artwork
Janice Blair, Tom G. Carey, Chris Flannery, Tom Henderson,
Ruth Ellen Hoag, Martha Shilliday
Photography
Bob Faulkner
Historical Photos & Art
Ania Patterson, Crane Country Day School, Teresa McWilliams,
Fred Sidón, John Woodward, San Ysidro Ranch,
Montecito Association History Committee,
Santa Barbara Historical Museum
Resources
Trish Davis & Debbie Hughey–Montecito History Committee,
Ana Papakhian & Kate Oberjat–Music Academy,
Randy Reetz, Fred Sidón, Debbie Williams,
Michael Redmon–Gledhill Library
ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES
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Volume XXXVI, Number 1
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COVER
Tom G. Carey
Montecito Fire Station
watercolor
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Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
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Congratulations
to Terry Ryken for
Joining Compass!
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Compass is excited to announce that
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Terry’s commitment to go above and
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PHOTO COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
Alexander Bertrand Harmer
To The
Manner Born
Story by Mark Lewis • Art by Tom G. Carey & Martha Shilliday
When George Washington Smith first arrived in Santa Barbara
in December 1914, he was still a landscape painter, seeking exotic
California locales to reproduce as marketable canvases.
Inevitably, at some point that winter he would have found his way to
De la Guerra Plaza, where the distinguished painter Alexander Francis
Harmer hosted a well-known artist colony in the
venerable Yorba-Abadie Adobe.
Among the people Smith likely encountered there was
Harmer’s eldest son, 18-year-old Alexander Bertrand Harmer,
known as Bert. Like Smith, Bert Harmer was a future architect. In
fact, Bert already had created his first Mission-style design, a proposed
renovation of the family adobe, drawn up in 1911 when he was only 15.
Above – Well-known high goal polo players Juan Reynal, Tomás Oswin “Tommy” Nelson
and Daniel Kearny pose on the field with Bert Harmer, far right.
Right – The Harmer-designed Montecito Inn on Coast Village Road was dedicated in 1928
with a gala opening attended by many Hollywood luminaries and local dignitaries.
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Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
MontecitoMag.com
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PHOTO COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
The adobe belonged to the family of
Bert’s mother, Felicidad Abadie, who had
grown up in the world her husband was
trying to preserve on canvas. She and her
friends and her children, including Bert,
served as models for Harmer’s paintings,
which—according to historian
Kevin Starr in his book
Material Dreams: Southern California
Through the 1920s—created the template
for Santa Barbara’s future
Old Spanish Days pageantry.
“Felicidad’s friends and relatives—Del Valles, De
la Guerras, Don Antonio Coronel, whose rancho
had helped inspire Ramona—assisted Harmer
by emptying family trunks and modeling halfcentury or older costumes,” Starr wrote. “Joyous,
colorful, well-researched, action-packed, Harmer’s canvases of old California filled out in visual
terms the Santa Barbara legend.”
In the decades that followed, an unusually talented group of architects, including Smith and Bert
Harmer, would use the Spanish Colonial Revival
style to reinvent Santa Barbara as the physical embodiment of that legend.
And yet, in a town that cherishes the legacy of
Smith and other local architectural heroes, Bert
Harmer is mostly forgotten. This seems odd,
because he was one of the few designers in this
group who was born and raised in Santa Barbara—and the only one who was born and raised in
a historic adobe as a member of an old Californio
family. In a way, Harmer was himself the physical
embodiment of the Santa Barbara legend. And his
story begins, appropriately enough, at the same
place where the Ramona story begins.
Ever since Helen Hunt Jackson’s massively popular novel Ramona was published in 1884, Rancho
Camulos, near Piru in Ventura County, has drawn
visitors eager to see the place that served as a model
for the heroine’s home. Among those visitors, in the
early 1890s, was Alexander Harmer, newly arrived
in California and eager to paint its romantic Mission-era relics. At Rancho Camulos, the artist met
the celebrated beauty Felicidad Abadie, and life
imitated art. Th y fell in love, married in 1893 and
moved in with her mother in the Yorba-Abadie
Adobe, which dated back to 1826. Alexander and
Felicidad Harmer raised all seven of their children
there at De la Guerra Plaza—including Bert, their
second child and first son, born in 1896 and baptized in the Mission like his mother before him.
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Bert’s older sister, Inez Harmer Northrop, once
told an interviewer about the many nights at the
adobe when their mother played the piano and the
neighbors came in to listen.
“Bert and I knew what was expected of us,”
Inez recalled. “Th se occasions characteristically
ended with Bert and me doing the cakewalk with
everyone singing and dear Mama at the piano.”
According to family lore, after high school,
young Bert had an opportunity to study architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. But his
father insisted that he dispense with formal education at that point and strike out on his own. Bert
did so with gusto, signing on with Santa Barbara’s
own American Film Manufacturing Co., better
known as Flying A Studios. He is listed in the casts
of at least two Flying A films, although apparently
most of his work there was performed off-camera
as an assistant director.
When America went to war in 1917, Harmer
joined the Army, but the war ended before he was
sent overseas. After mustering out, he went into the
real estate business. At some point in the early ’20s,
he segued from selling homes to designing them.
Harmer was professionally associated with the
young architect Wallace Neff in some way, although
that did not last long. Harmer also forged some sort
of connection with G.W. Smith, who by this point
had given up painting for architecture. In December 1922, Harmer and his Pasadena architect friend
Garrett Van Pelt met up with Smith and his associate Lutah Maria Riggs in Mexico City, while on a
mission to trace Spanish colonial style to its source.
“I’m sure Harmer soaked up the various influences that were floating around Santa Barbara
during the early 20th century, from the interest in
Mission Revival to the different manifestations of
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
PHOTO COURTESY JOHN WOODWARD.
Two Harmer-designed buildings continue to grace today’s Coast Village Road in Montecito.
Top – The Montecito Shopping Center opened in 1954 across from the Montecito Inn.
Bottom – Montecito Inn soon after it opened in 1928. It originally stood on the Coast Highway,
before the current freeway was built.
Left – A dapper Bert Harmer was always well dressed and wore a mustache throughout his adult life.
MontecitoMag.com
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COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
Top – In 1931 Harmer’s design of the Montecito Fire Department’s Fire House on East Valley Road won first prize
from the local Community Arts Association as a “Distinctive Example of Civic Architecture.” Today it houses
Union Bank offices rather than fire trucks, but otherwise reflects most of the original character.
Bottom – Harmer’s original drawing.
Top, right – Montecito Fire House in 1937.
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Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
PHOTO COURTESY JOHN WOODWARD.
Spanish Colonial/Mediterranean styles,” says Michael Redmon, director of research at the Santa Barbara Historical Society. “I would think his parents’
interest in early California themes had an effect, as
well as his working with Wallace Neff and, perhaps
most importantly, his 1922 trip to Mexico where he
studied and took photographs of the architecture.”
After returning from Mexico, Harmer set up
shop as an architect. (Lacking an architecture degree, he billed himself as “A.B. Harmer, designer
of homes.”) Perhaps his earliest known commission, executed circa 1924, was a cluster of Spanish
Colonial Revival cottages at San Ysidro Ranch.
Harmer’s career switch was well timed. The
1925 earthquake boosted demand for new building designs, especially from designers like Harmer
who had mastered the Spanish Colonial Revival
vernacular. By the late ’20s, he was a busy man indeed, with commissions to design the Montecito
Inn and numerous homes in the newly established
Hope Ranch development.
Harmer also designed the original quad for
the Crane Country Day School, and in 1931 he
designed the first Montecito Fire Station, on
East Valley Road. (It now houses a Union Bank
branch.) Nor was his practice confined to Santa
Barbara County; he designed houses for clients all
over Southern California.
Architectural historian Alexandra C. Cole
says that Harmer’s approach to Spanish Colonial
Revival design employed the “spare Andalusian
farmhouse” style associated with George Washington Smith and James Osborne Craig. Harmer’s
work was “consistently high caliber,” she says: “He
was really good. More than good.”
Harmer cut quite a swath through the Central
Coast, and not just as an architect. He was known
for driving high-powered convertibles at disturbingly high speeds. Handsome, dapper, dashing
and a confirmed bachelor until relatively late in
life, he was popular with society hostesses who
needed an extra man to fill out the table.
MontecitoMag.com
Live every day
golden
Oliver and Espig
Gallery of Fine Arts
1482 East Valley Road #50
Montecito, CA 93108
805.962.8111
oliverandespig.com
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PHOTO COURTESY CRANE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL.
Above – Crane Country Day School on San Leandro Lane
opened in 1928. Harmer designed the school’s original quad
buildings, which appear much the same today.
Right – In 1963 Harmer designed the chapel wing addition at
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on the corner of
East Valley and Hot Springs roads.
A requiem mass was held here after Harmer’s death in 1967.
“He used to spend a lot of time going to parties at
Hearst Castle,” says his daughter, Gabrielle Harmer of San
Francisco.
Harmer finally married in 1945, to Beatrice Lidia Stepowron-Krowkoska, a Polish aristocrat. (Naturally, the ceremony took place at Mission Santa Barbara.) The Harmers lived
for a number of years in Pasadena, where Bert had formed
a partnership with his old friend, Garrett Van Pelt. But in
the early ’50s, the family returned to Montecito, where they
settled, appropriately enough, on Ramona Lane.
Harmer’s regular clients now included Avery Brundage,
who hired him and Van Pelt to design additions and renovations to the Montecito Country Club, the Montecito Inn
and El Paseo. Projects for other clients included redesigning
the “La Sala” lounge in the Biltmore and designing the small
shopping center on Coast Village Road that currently houses
the Los Arroyos restaurant and other businesses.
Harmer had taken a nephew, Harry Gesner, under his
wing and helped to launch Gesner’s architectural career.
Gesner went on to notable success as a Mid-Century Modern specialist, a style Bert Harmer frowned upon.
“He liked to keep things authentic,” says Gabrielle
Harmer. “He was very much into preserving the traditional
style. …He wanted to design homes that were livable and
substantial and that would last.”
One home that did not last, alas, was the Yorba-Abadie
Adobe. Damaged by the 1925 earthquake, it was later demolished. But Harmer effectively perpetuated his beloved
childhood home by designing many one-story haciendastyle houses and planting them all over the county. (He and
his youngest brother, Douglas, also preserved their father’s
art studio, a separate structure that Bert used for awhile as
his design studio. In 1944 it was moved from De la Guerra
Plaza to Cheltenham Road, where it remains today.)
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Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
&
M C G U I R E
WESTLOTORN
Fine Homes • Estates
Ranches • Land
CalBRE# 01061042
Maurie McGuire 805.403.8816
Scott Westlotorn 805.403.4313
www.MontecitoLand.com
MontecitoMag.com
27
PHOTO COURTESY JOHN WOODWARD.
Early view of the La Sala lounge at the Santa Barbara Biltmore, designed by Reginald Johnson in 1926. Harmer
was commissioned to redesign the historic lounge, and “La Sala Nueva” celebrated its grand opening in 1961.
Bert’s interest in preserving traditions was not
confined to architecture. He and Douglas were the
family historians, and they were big on celebrating
the Harmer-Abadie legacy.
“As a child, I remember having to ride in the
Fiesta Parade,” his daughter recalls. “We’d do the
whole Old Spanish Days, Daughters of the Golden
West thing.”
When Harmer died in 1967 at the age of 71, the
funeral was held in Montecito’s Our Lady of Mount
Carmel Catholic Church, in the new chapel wing
Bert himself had designed. This was an appropriate send-off for a prominent and highly successful
designer, who through four decades had played a
prominent role in transforming Santa Barbara into
an idealized version of its romantic past.
Over time, many of Harmer’s designer peers became posthumous celebrities in Santa Barbara,
lionized in particular by real estate agents, who
deploy their names to add luster (and equity value) to buildings that carry their imprimatur. But
Harmer’s contributions went largely uncelebrated.
“He’s never really gotten the credit he deserves,” Gabrielle Harmer says.
28
That began to change in 2002, when Frederick
R. Sidón published an article about Harmer in
Noticias, the quarterly magazine of the Santa Barbara Historical Society. (For more on Sidón and
Harmer, see the accompanying story, The Case of
the Unknown Architect, on page 60.) Nevertheless,
architect Peter Becker had never heard of Harmer
when he was hired in 2004 to renovate a Harmer
house on Vieja Drive in Hope Ranch.
Becker was struck by the quality of the original
design.
“I mean, look at that—that’s as good as you get,”
he says, pointing to the image of the house on his
computer screen. “You would think it was a George
Washington Smith house, or a Reginald Johnson.”
Becker points to how the massing complements
the terrain, which is characteristic of Harmer:
“He’s going with the forms of the earth.”
(Coincidentally, Becker’s offices are housed in
a building that once was part of Flying A Studios,
Harmer’s old stomping grounds.)
That Vieja Drive house was the first of three
Harmer homes in Hope Ranch that Becker has
worked on. The second was on Via Trepadora, a
hacienda to which Becker’s firm added a guestMontecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
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PHOTO COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
Harmer’s drawing of the Canyon Cottages at San Ysidro Ranch circa 1924. The cluster of
Spanish Colonial Revival bungalows was one of his earliest commissions.
house “in the manner of Bert.” The third, on Mariposa Drive, was a major renovation. But Becker
took care to preserve as much of the original house
as possible and to make sure that the additions
complemented Harmer’s design.
After working on these three houses, Becker
qualifies as a Harmer expert—yet even he was unaware of the extent of this designer’s legacy. Becker
was surprised, for example, to learn from a visitor
that Harmer had designed the Montecito Inn.
“I just had dinner at the Montecito Inn,” he
says. “I had no idea.”
The Harmer name is still one to conjure with in
Santa Barbara, due to the enduring reputation
of Bert’s father. Case in point: the Santa Barbara
Historical Museum’s recent exhibit Alexander
F. Harmer: Gatherings and Celebrations, which
highlighted Harmer paintings for which members
of his family had served as models. The exhibit
identified Felicidad Harmer in one painting, and
her daughters Inez, Helen and Ethel in several
others. Th re was no mention of Bert whatsoever.
The Harmer exhibit shared the museum’s space
with a concurrent exhibit about James Osborne
Craig and Mary McLaughlin Craig, the husbandand-wife design team who loom large in the history of Santa Barbara architecture. (See Montecito
Magazine, Spring 2009, “La Casa de Maria’s Stone
House.”)
Merge the concepts of those two exhibits,
and you have Bert Harmer: a native son of De la
30
Guerra Plaza who grew up to design buildings
that helped transform Santa Barbara into a Spanish Colonial Revival showplace. Alone among his
designer peer group, Harmer was to the manner
born. That doesn’t necessarily make his designs
more authentic, but it lends a unique authenticity
to his story. Yet Bert Harmer still awaits his turn
in the spotlight.
“He has not had the same amount of write-ups
as the others,” Alexandra Cole says. “He just has
not had the same kind of attention.”
As Cole points out, it takes more than talent to
win posterity’s favor. Forgotten architects require
latter-day champions to go to bat for them.
“G.W. Smith wasn’t G.W. Smith until the Gebhards got ahold of him,” she notes. (See Montecito
Magazine, Spring 2015, “Florestal to Isla Mar.”)
Now it is the Craigs’ turn: The recent museum
exhibit was inspired by a new book about the couple by Pamela Skewes-Cox and Robert Sweeney,
who make the case that the Craigs’ work has been
underappreciated.
When will anyone make a similar case for Bert
Harmer? Cole says he is ripe for rediscovery, both
for the quality of his designs and for his personal
connection to the lost world of Mission-era Santa
Barbara, that romantic epoch that has fired the
imaginations of Smith and the Craigs and so many
other notable architects over the years.
“He’s the only Californio among them with
that heritage,” Cole says, “and I think that’s a great
thing to put forward.” u
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Tomasz Glinski performing at the White Eagle
Cabaret in London, 1947. Glinski and his family
had fled Poland in 1939 and were living in London
at the time. They moved to Montecito in 1949.
34
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
Tomasz Glinski at the Plow & Angel
Black and White Memories
Story by Adele Menichella • Art by Chris Flannery
I
magine a typical Saturday night in the late ’50s at the Plow & Angel lounge.
Stone walls, low-light ambience, cigarette smoke and circular stained glass
paintings comprise a perfect movie set tableau for the ostinato of conversations,
flourishes of laughter and tinkle of ice cubes beneath lighthearted music. Men
in sports jackets and their dates in full-skirted cocktail dresses gather around a
grand piano, singing show tunes. The pianist, in black tie, attends his instrument
with a formal posture, like a horseman in epaulets leading a parade. Upon
request, he swings into “Shall We Dance?” with a smile glinting in his eyes. His
fingers skate over the keys with balletic grace, the swagger all in the sound.
MontecitoMag.com
35
“R
onald Colman [who was co-owner, with
Al Weingand, a state senator from 1962–
1966] opened the Plow & Angel as a venue
for my father in 1954,” says Teresa McWilliams,
longtime Montecito realtor and former owner of
Santana Properties. The Plow & Angel occupied
a downstairs space in a historic citrus packing
plant, later transformed into a swank restaurant.
Colman, a Hollywood actor who ascended to stardom in silent films, knew well the transformative
36
PHOTO COURTESY SAN YSIDRO RANCH.
PHOTO COURTESY SAN YSIDRO RANCH.
If only those ivories could speak, they’d tell stories from the eight sublime
years Tomasz Glinski reigned as piano player at the San Ysidro Ranch.
He presided over a scene at once intimate and dazzlingly social.
effect of piano music in a darkened room.
But it was Glinski who brought the grand piano
to the Plow & Angel. Exactly how and from whom
he’d managed to acquire the piano (Steinway &
Sons 1906) is unclear, as the details have been lost
over time. But there is a story, and it goes something like this: The baby grand piano was gathering dust in a widow’s Montecito drawing room,
decades removed from sporadic duty. The venerable Steinway had given way to decorative silence;
down-cycled to a display table for photographs, a
plant stand-cum-curio shelf, a visible echo of what
might have been.
A European gentleman of talent, a composerpianist in need of an instrument, learned of the
piano’s existence but couldn’t afford to buy it. A
titled Polish refugee who’d come to California
from London with his wife and three daughters,
Tomasz Glinski had little money. Just weeks before emigrating, he’d suffered a heart attack. His
wife, Krystyna, hoped that the sea air in Santa
Barbara would restore her husband’s health. Glinski had continued his musical career in London,
while serving in the exiled Polish government’s
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
diplomatic corps. Polish friends from London,
now living in Montecito, opened their homes to
the Glinskis, and Marymount (School for Girls) offered scholarships to their daughters, Teresa, Ania
and Lily.
Tomasz may have initially heard of the neglected
piano from a mutual acquaintance he’d met at a gig
he’d played at the Santa Barbara Biltmore lounge.
Hal Boucher, staff photographer at The Biltmore
since 1947, remembers, “Tomasz was brilliant at
working the room. Impeccably dressed, with perfect Old World manners, he went from table to
table, charming everyone.”
Perhaps Tomasz recounted his family’s forced
exile from Poland with the piano owner over an
impromptu glass of claret. Having survived the
Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 by fleeing his
country estate on the outskirts of Warsaw just
ahead of the advancing troops, Glinski, with his
wife and daughters bundled into the family’s car,
drove with headlights off through treacherous
mountain switchbacks. Th y left behind all traces
of their well-heeled lives, including several members of household staff.
Teresa was just two years old when the family
emigrated. “It was awful timing,” she says. “We
had to leave Poland just as my father’s musical
career was taking off.” In a wartime escape rivaling anything Hollywood has produced, Glinski’s
PHOTO COURTESY TERESA MCWILLIAMS.
Stunning Craftsman Home
Left – Today the Plow & Angel retains much of its
original character. Los Angeles artist John Chapman—a
friend of former owner and silent film star Ronald
Colman—created the circular stained glass pieces, each
designed to represent one of the four seasons.
Above – Tomasz Glinski entertained guests for eight
years at the Plow & Angel in the 1950s.
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37
PHOTOS COURTESY TERESA MCWILLIAMS.
Above – In 1948 and 1949 the Glinski family lived in
Scotland on the Critchley estate, where horseback
riding was a regular activity. Left to right: Krystyna,
Ania, Tomasz, Teresa, Lily.
Right – From left to right: sisters Ania, Lily and Teresa
Glinski at a party at the Coral Casino beach club in
Montecito, 1962.
little DKW family car careened into the night.
Teresa recalls, “My father had just won the two
highest awards—for performing and for composition—that the Warsaw Musical Conservatory
could grant. Over the car radio, we listened to a
broadcast of the Prelude my father had composed,
the piece that won the prize.”
In any event, so the story goes, the Montecito
widow made a magnanimous gift to Tomasz of
the baby grand. Here at last was someone with
the classical background, the musical ability and
the personal charisma to bring the Steinway, and
whatever room it graced, to life.
And so he did. Tomasz went to work as impresario, a role he seemed born for. “My father loved
being with people,” says Teresa. “He was at home
with gypsies or royalty, was passionate about racehorses and polo, and people adored him.” Glinski
had indeed played for royalty, in London, “at a
party given by the Duchess of Kent for Princess
Elizabeth on her 18th birthday,” explains Teresa.
“Princess Elizabeth asked him to play ‘Stardust,’
but my father was unfamiliar with the popular
tune. Prince Philip came along and softly whistled
38
the tune to my father and he proceeded to perform
it—fl wlessly.”
Colman and Weingand invited denizens of the
political, business and entertainment worlds to
mix and mingle at the ranch. The legendary guest
list reads like a digest of mid-century luminaries:
Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, newlyweds John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline, Hubert
Humphrey, et al. Stories of high jinks abound,
such as the time, Teresa recalls, “when Arthur
Fiedler, longtime conductor of the Boston Pops,
made a great show of pretending to conduct my
father in a Viennese waltz.” Sonja, the widow of
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
longtime Plow & Angel bartender Bobby Dacayana, remembers when “Bobby, who couldn’t have
looked much older than 21 himself, asked Robert
F. Kennedy for his I.D.”
Other stories hint of storm clouds in paradise,
as Teresa recalls one evening when, “a self-important looking German man strode over to my father and asked, ‘Do you know this song?’ Th man
started humming and said, ‘We were playing this
while we occupied Poland.’ My father just nodded
his head ‘no’ and said nothing. Yet the man persisted in goading him, ‘You’re just pretending you
don’t know it.’ By this point, my father, who’d lost
two brothers, one beaten by Nazis, the other in a
German prison, had had enough. ‘I couldn’t do anything then, but I can now,’ my father said calmly. He
turned to the bartender and said, ‘Bobby, see this
man out.’ Th German took some bills from his
wallet and threw them on the floor.” Teresa adds,
“Bobby was mostly known as a singer, but he also
had a black belt in judo. I was thinking, ‘Wait till
he gets you!’ but the German left in a hurry.”
Glinski set a harmonious tone with “polkas,
waltzes, etudes and show tunes, which he’d perform expertly from memory,” says Gil Rosas, pianist-band leader and former co-owner of the Olive
Mill Bistro in the Montecito Inn on Coast Village
Road. UCSB professor emeritus and author Frank
Frost, also a pianist who’s performed at the Plow &
Angel, says that even when an “audience of culturefree rich people asked him for pianistic clichés like
Warsaw Concerto or ‘Slaughter on 10th Avenue,’ he
played with such gusto and brio that you would
think it was the first time.” Not only would Glinski give every tune his best effort, says Rosas, “he
was a wonderful mixer. He had quite a following.
He greeted everyone and kissed all the ladies’
hands.” Edith Clark of Santa Barbara, whose husband Jerry was a longtime friend of Mr. Glinski,
says, “Tomasz welcomed everyone and made sure
people met and formed new friendships. He was a
joyous soul.”
Whether through force of his virtuosity or
personality, Glinski had a particular talent for
attracting talent, and the grand piano sweetened
the draw. “He asked the best musicians to sit in,
and word got around,” says Teresa. Robin Frost,
Frank’s brother, an accomplished pianist and recording artist whom Glinski “encouraged to play
from the time I was a young man,” says, “Every
other musician brings his own instrument with
him, but the piano player has to make do with
whatever piece of junk spinet a place has.” Robin
says he “certainly appreciated sitting in for Tomasz
on the Steinway.” Teresa attests to hearing “numerous students from the Music Academy of the
West—vocalists, violinists and trumpet players”
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PHOTO COURTESY TERESA MCWILLIAMS.
perform to her father’s accompaniment. Steve Allen, the original host of The Tonight Show, who also
happened to be a prolific composer, helmed the ivories, too. “Steve would ask my father if he could sit
in, and he’d stay there all night,” says Teresa. “My
father was happy to have a break and someone to
hold the room from midnight to two.”
A discreet and elite gathering place for travelers, the nightspot was also immensely popular
with locals. Owen Guitteau, a lifelong resident of
Montecito who frequented the Plow & Angel after
his return from military service in the mid-fifties,
recalls, “Tomasz was the main act, a great pianist
and the nicest guy. We’d impress our dates, usually
university students, by taking them for gin and tonics at the Plow & Angel after dinner at the Somerset [a popular restaurant on Coast Village Road,
located where the Bank of America is now]. Tomasz
would play soothing music you could listen to, or
talk to, classical, anything with a soft ouch.”
Rosas, the Frosts and Glinski were members of
a musical coterie that played gigs all around Santa Barbara in the ’50s and ’60s, during the area’s
“golden era” of nightclubs. (See related story in
Montecito Magazine Spring 2002.) “We played the
El Paseo together in downtown Santa Barbara,”
40
Tomasz Glinski performed on the piano at several local
venues where he attracted many celebrities. Here he
plays for friends including composer/conductor Leonard
Bernstein (far right) in 1961.
says Rosas. “Tomasz was in the Tico Tico lounge,
while I played dining and dancing in the garden.”
On many occasions, according to Rosas, “Tomasz
would ask me to sit in at the Plow & Angel, and
then he’d bring a crowd and join me after midnight at the Somerset.” Teresa says, “Gil Rosas
would play one of my father’s songs every time I
walked into the [Olive Mill] Bistro or the Somerset. It was either “Good Night Baby Goodnight” or
“I Never Get Enough of You.”
When Glinski retired from the Plow & Angel,
he moved to San Francisco and played for several
years at the historic St. Francis Hotel. “It was quite
formal,” says Sonja Dacayana, “a more toneddown scene. Bobby and I would stop in every time
we were in the area.”
The Steinway that once held center stage at San
Ysidro Ranch is now in Tomasz’s daughter Teresa’s
Montecito home and is decorated with framed
photographs of family members and dear friends.
It reposes in her foyer in silent majesty, on maple
legs, awaiting its next act. u
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
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…Gone But Not Forgotten…
Miramar
Beach & Tennis Club
Story by Leslie Dinaberg • Art by Ruth Ellen Hoag
The Miramar Hotel, perched on the sand above Miramar Beach, reigned
as a Montecito landmark for more than a century until it shuttered its
doors in September 2000. The same day marked the closure of another
icon—the Miramar Beach & Tennis Club, a small private membership
that included a converted cottage clubhouse, use of the hotel pools
and tennis courts, and access to one of California’s most prestigious
beaches. While many Montecitans remember the hotel and its iconic
blue roofs like a dear old friend, members and employees of the club
describe the enclave as a close-knit family and lament its absence.
48
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
MontecitoMag.com
49
M
arion Freitag worked as an assistant manager at the
club from January 1980 until the day the club closed.
She says, “It was a wonderful place for kids to grow up. Mothers
and fathers would go down to the beach, and the kids would run
around and parents didn’t worry about them because it was safe.”
Cars weren’t allowed on the paths that crisscrossed the property—
people had to walk or ride in electric carts. Marion adds that the
club was a social place, and the clubhouse (left) was the epicenter. “It was just a funky, comfy, ramshackle cottage, but it was
like home. People loved to just sit on the deck and talk,” Marion
recalls. “We had super parties there, almost always potlucks, all
year ’round. Members rarely missed any parties, because they
were so much fun.”
Britt Beauvioux and her family were hotel guests who enjoyed
themselves so much that they went house hunting in Montecito.
“I just fell in love with it,” she says. “I don’t know whether we were
the first…but we were part of the original five people who joined
the club.”
“It was a family, a warm place to go,” says Beauvioux. “The
tennis crowd, the swimming crowd, the beach crowd, everybody
knew everybody, and that was the beauty of it.”
She was in good company. The club was popular with both hotel guests and many well-known Montecito residents such as Don
Murray, Eva-Marie Saint and her husband Jeffrey Hayden, Michael
Douglas, Fannie Flagg, Brad Hall and his wife Julia Louis-Dreyfus,
Jane Russell, and John Cleese and his former-wife Alyce Faye.
Other longtime club members included Byron and Judy Ishkanian, who joined about a year after the club opened. “We had
this wonderful experience with my kids growing up there and
us going down there to the beach,” says Byron. “I was an ocean
swimmer, I swam almost every day for years and years. The club
members were fantastic. All of the people running the club were
good; it was a great experience.” Judy describes it as “just a whole
community of happy people.”
“It was a real institution,” says Byron. “When we first moved
here, we bought right across the freeway from the Miramar, and
the kids would ride their bikes to the beach, and I would walk
down there almost every day. Our kids all grew up on that beach,
and we had a great time. You know it’s not going to last forever,
but it lasted for quite a while for us.”
The family aspect of the Miramar dates back to 1876, when
Josiah and Emmeline Doulton purchased the 20-acre oceanfront
property. Josiah’s father, John Doulton, founded Doulton Potteries of Lambeth, London, which eventually became known for
its stoneware and ceramics. The property started out as farmland,
then Emmeline took on guests to supplement the farming income.
The Doultons sold the property, as a casualty of the Great Depression, to Paul Gawzner in 1939.
Because patrons often arrived by car, Gawzner oriented the hotel toward the adjacent highway. In 1941, he added a neon Miramar
sign, moved cabanas and added 16 small cottages to the beachfront. In the 1950s, he built the Miramar Convention Center. In
1962, two-story motel-style units replaced the beachfront cottages.
Public beach access was limited, as non-guests were not allowed
to cross the hotel grounds to reach the steps that led to the sand.
MontecitoMag.com
51
In the 1970s, the public was invited to join the
newly formed Miramar Beach & Tennis Club.
Members had access to the Miramar Hotel facilities, including two heated swimming pools, spa,
four tennis courts, shuffleboard, paddle tennis,
gym, saunas, locker rooms, clubhouse and deck,
and, of course, the coveted beach access.
“Loads of kids grew up around there,” says Rich
Payne, who managed the club from 1988 until it
closed in 2000. “Th se were fun times. I spent all
of my time at the Miramar. We were either playing
tennis or down at the beach. Th re was really no
reason to go anywhere else.”
Members love to tell stories about the antics
of Jacques Renon, a prickly Frenchman who was
a lifeguard and security guard for 35 years. “He
used to kick people off [the beach],” recalls Joan
Wells, a member since the early 1970s, when the
club began. “But if you were a good-looking young
52
woman in a bikini, he might not be so harsh. He
was quite a character.” Marion Freitag laughs,
“Jacques had a strong affinity for brunettes. If you
were blonde, you were safe.”
Payne says that for the kids “the whole game
was to sneak in and then have Jacques chase you
out. He’d shout, ‘you are not a member!’ Part of
growing up in Montecito was getting chased out of
the Miramar by Jacques. We all remember that.”
Another beloved staff member was Hilbert
Lee, the tennis pro, who gave lessons to members
and guests for more than two decades and who
“seemed to know anyone and everyone who ever
hoisted a racket south of San Luis Obispo,” according to a Los Angeles Times story.
The tennis courts were also the place for a lot
of fun times. Th re was a one-point club championship tournament where, Payne says, “You
played one point, the winner advanced, the loser
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
Railcar Diner
and utilities—it took about half a day.” Judy Ishkanian recalls, “It had this coffee shop with a big
deck built out on it; you could get sodas and malts
and hamburgers from the side of the train.”
She continues, “One of the characteristics of
the old Miramar was that it was so casual, you
didn’t have to worry that the children were going
to wreck anything! It was just for people of normal
income to enjoy the environment and enjoy that
hotel.”
“The float,” a large raft anchored off Miramar
Beach every summer, is another fond memory
shared by club members. “It was a big day—our first
official day of summer,” says Marion Freitag. “Th
raft was kept down at the harbor under wraps, and
the week before Memorial Day, somebody from the
harbor would tow it out to the Miramar and then it
had to be anchored. Tim, the head gardener, was an
absolute master craftsman in getting it placed. He
54
knew exactly where it should go. Th re was a massive rope tied to a rock, and it took a whole crew
of gardeners to dig the trench on the beach to hide
the rope so people wouldn’t trip on it. After Labor
Day, the same thing would happen in reverse and
marked the end of summer.”
“Our kids loved it—all of the kids loved it,” says
Judy Ishkanian. “Th se summers going out to the
float, eating out there, joking around, having fun,
there wasn’t anything about it that wasn’t good.”
“Everybody who worked there and everybody
who was a member there really looked back at it as
the most fun times of their lives, which was true for
me and for everybody,” says Payne. “I don’t know
what it was that created that. If I knew how to bottle
that up and do it at other clubs I would.…It was really a mixture of blue blood and blue collar…it was
an eclectic mix that just worked.”
Th n there was the New Year’s Day Polar Bear
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
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Swim. Th y called it a one-mile ocean swim, Payne
recalls, “but you were lucky if you made it ten seconds. If you got your feet off the sand, you got a
shirt that said you made the one-mile swim.”
Payne says, “It’s hard to explain how much fun
you can have when you’re down at the beach all
day. For me, although I worked there, the whole
day was so much fun that I felt guilty.”
He continues, “It was the un-club. Money didn’t
get you in. It was very vague as to how you got into
the club.”
Th Gawzner family owned it for decades. William “Bill” Gawzner ran the Miramar after his father
Paul died in 1963. June Gawzner Outhwaite—Paul
Gawzner’s daughter and Bill’s sister—worked at the
hotel since childhood. In later years, even when she
became president of the Miramar in 1983 (after Bill’s
death), she was a very hands-on owner. She oversaw
reservations and housekeeping and continued to
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tend exotic plants around the grounds.
“Even when she owned the hotel, she would be
hurrying around turning off lights,” laughs Rich
Payne.
“June felt most comfortable in housekeeping,”
recalls Marion Freitag, “probably because of all
the years she had worked there. She mended bedspreads and sheets and worked at the front desk
at night.”
“She made sure that, every day, she counted the
towels, and you had to be careful that you put your
towel back. If you accidentally took it home, you
were in deep trouble,” says Joan Wells.
Miramar ownership has changed several
times in recent years. Ian Schrager purchased the
hotel from the Gawzner family in September 1998
and announced it was “closed for renovations” in
2000. Th title then passed to Beanie Baby mogul
Ty Warner’s hotel corporation and finally to Rick
Caruso, the current owner. While his approved
plans for the new resort hotel (set to open in 2018)
include 122 guestrooms, 48 suites, two restaurants, an oceanside bar, two swimming pools, a
spa and fitness center, they do not include tennis
courts or any details regarding a beach club.
Caruso has said, however, that he wants to recreate the casual family atmosphere of old—and that
yearning to maintain the family feeling still runs
deep among club members. There’s still a bond
between club members. “We all kind of shake
hands with each other, and you hug each other
and say ‘man, wasn’t that great.’ We’re still reveling in how nice it was,” says Byron Ishkanian.
“It was magical. After they tore the hotel down,
our daughter walked the dog down there, and she
turned her head away and said, ‘I’m not ever going
to look at it.’…That’s how meaningful it was,” says
Judy Ishkanian. “It’s not often that something is a
plus and not a minus in your life, and that was one
great plus. When we greet people from the club,
we don’t even have to say anything, because we
know we all shared the magic of that time.” u
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
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57
The Case of
The Unknown
Architect
Story by Mark Lewis
•
Art by Tom G. Carey
M
any Hope Ranch houses boast impressive
pedigrees, having been designed by this
or that famous architect. But when Frederick R.
Sidón purchased his gracious Spanish Colonial
Revival home on Las Palmas Drive, he found that its
history was a mystery. No one could tell him who
had designed it. All he knew was that it dated back
to 1927, which made it one of the oldest homes in
Hope Ranch.
PHOTO COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
Fred relishes this sort of research challenge, so
he set out to solve the puzzle, and he soon turned
up some intriguing clues that pointed toward an
exciting possibility.
Above – After house-hunting for a year and a half, Fred and Diane Sidón
were attracted to the Spanish Colonial charm of Harmer’s design.
Right – A graceful arch marks the entry to the garage, tucked
behind the main house.
60
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
PHOTO COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
“I thought it would be a Reginald Johnson house,” he says.
Johnson was very active in Hope Ranch in 1927, and any homebuyer today
would be thrilled to discover that his house had originated on the drawing
board of that eminent master of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. But instead,
the designer of the Las Palmas house turned out to be someone whom Fred had
never heard of: Bert Harmer.
Books about Santa Barbara’s rich architectural history devote entire chapters
to the likes of Johnson and George Washington Smith. Bert Harmer gets little
more than a footnote, if he is mentioned at all. Even within his own family, Bert
was overshadowed by his father, the famous painter Alexander F. Harmer. Yet Bert
was a very successful architect in his day. He designed such familiar structures as
the Montecito Inn and the historic Montecito Fire House on East Valley Road that
currently houses Union Bank offices. Harmer also designed at least 14 houses in
Hope Ranch, far more than Johnson or Smith (or anybody else, for that matter).
Many of these Harmer houses have been considerably altered over the years, but
Fred Sidón’s is mostly original, and it’s clearly the work of a gifted designer.
“This guy is a lot more of an architect than some of the people you hear
about,” Fred says. “He did one hell of a lot more than he’s given credit for. He’s
hardly given credit at all.”
That will change, if Fred Sidón gets his way.
Fred and Diane Sidón were married in Beverly Hills in 1959. Th y roamed the
world together and raised three sons. Th n in 1992, when Fred retired as an
international corporate-strategy consultant based in Princeton, NJ, the couple
decided to return to their roots.
“We finally decided to come back to California to die,” Fred explains, with a
twinkle in his eye. “But we’re in no rush.”
Th y were in no rush to buy a home, either. Th y house-hunted for a year and
a half, all along the coast from Malibu to Santa Barbara. Finally in 1995, they
decided on the Las Palmas house, across the street from the lake.
“It was an extremely well-built house,” Fred says. “The basics were really
solid. And it had Spanish Colonial charm. I lived in South America. I like this
kind of look.”
Another factor in the house’s favor was that it matched up well with the
furnishings Fred and Diane had accumulated over the years, which include a
heavy wood Tudor-style chest, a Tiffany lamp and a snakeskin drum that the
Sidóns picked up on a trip to New Guinea.
“Our décor is called eclectic accumulata,” Fred says. “Everything here has a
history.”
Above – Fred and Diane Sidón.
Right – Harmer skillfully combined hallmark characteristics of the Spanish Colonial
Revival style, including red roof tiles, arched entrances, awnings, wrought iron
embellishments, tiled steps and terraces .
62
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
PHOTO COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
Take for instance the paintings by the noted
Argentine artists Carlos Cañas and Manuel Claro
Bettinelli (Fred’s mother was from Argentina). Or
the Art Deco lamp that once graced a stateroom
on the S.S. Ile de France. (Fred used to work for
the C.G.T. steamship company, a.k.a. The French
Line.) Or the many Art Nouveau objects, mostly
French, that Fred collected while he was working
in Europe. Each one suggests a story to him as he
leads guests on a tour of the house.
“This is Ukrainian Nouveau,” he says of a vase
the sits atop the Tudor-style chest in the living
room. “I found it in Helsinki, actually.”
Diane’s version of the tour reflects her interest in genealogy and family history. A look into a
spare bedroom reveals “my aunt’s pillows that she
made in 1917.”
Many of these items had clashed with the design
of the Sidóns’ previous house, back in Princeton,
which was done in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright.
But their self-curated decor looks right at home inside the Las Palmas house.
“Finally it fits,” Fred says.
“No, we made it match,” Diane says. “It’s all in
how you do it.”
Making it match also describes Fred’s approach
to the modest extension he designed for the house’s
south side to allow for a larger and more modern
kitchen, plus office space for Diane. He wanted to
make sure that the extension complemented the
home’s original design.
“I went to a lot of trouble to make sure that it was
as authentic as I could possibly make it,” he says.
When he bought the house, he went to the Hope
Ranch Park Homes Association office to research
the property. He found nothing there that identified the original architect, but he did find the blueprint for an elaborate front yard garden. It was
dated 1927 and signed by the legendary landscape
architect Ralph Stevens, who also designed garden
plans for Lotusland and the Biltmore hotel in Santa
Barbara and the Royal Hawaiian hotel in Honolulu.
This was a fascinating find, but also puzzling,
given that the front yard in 1995 consisted of an
unimaginative expanse of Kikuyu grass stretching
from the house down to Las Palmas Drive. Th re
was no sign of Stevens’s handiwork.
“He designed it, but I don’t know if it was ever
put in,” Fred says. “So we put it in.”
Diane, who is the gardener in the family, adjusted Stevens’s 1927 blueprint to match modern
sensibilities.
“His plan was much more formal,” she says.
Now the Sidóns had a Ralph Stevens garden to
go with their house. But who designed the house?
Perhaps because his father was an architect, Fred
Top – The ceiling beams in the Sidón’s living room are reportedly from remnant construction material left
over from the Biltmore Hotel which was built around the same time as the Las Palmas Drive home.
64
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
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PHOTO COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
has made a hobby of researching the histories of
the houses he lives in, including the Wright-style
house in Princeton and the old shingle house
on Nantucket that the Sidóns used as a summer
home, which turned out to have been a ship captain’s home built in 1789. (It now boasts a plaque to
that effect, thanks to Fred.) He set out to solve the
mystery of the Las Palmas house.
The previous owners, the Domz family, told
Fred that the house had been put up by a builder
named Alaric J. Roberts. The Domzes were not sure
about the architect, but they thought it was Reginald Johnson. Armed with those clues, Fred built
a persuasive case, based on strong circumstantial
evidence, that it was indeed a Johnson house.
The builder, Roberts, had worked with Johnson
on Harold Chase’s Hope Ranch house, Las Terrasas, completed in 1925; on the Biltmore hotel
in Montecito, which opened in 1927; and on the
Santa Barbara Riding and Hunt Club on Las Palmas Drive, built in 1929–30 (now a private home).
The fact that Ralph Stevens had designed a garden
for the Las Palmas house further boosted the case
for Johnson as the architect, given that Stevens and
Johnson were collaborating on the Biltmore project at about the same time.
Fred tracked down A.J. Roberts’s son Lester, a
Stanford University professor, who told him that
the Las Palmas residence had been a spec house
that Roberts senior funded with the profits from
his work on the Biltmore and built in part with
construction material scavenged from the hotel
project. (The ceiling beams in Fred’s living room
evidently are Biltmore cast-offs.)
When the souring late 1920s economy scared
away potential buyers, Roberts moved his own
family (including young Lester) into the newly built
house. A few years later, he traded houses with A.K.
Ferguson, a prominent furniture store owner. Th
Las Palmas house was eventually purchased by
Dr. Casimir Domz, a distinguished surgeon who
served as the chief of staff of Santa Barbara County
General Hospital on Calle Real and as president of
the board of the Sansum Medical Research Foundation. (He is credited with performing the first
successful bone marrow transplant in a patient
with an immune deficiency.) The Domz family sold
the house to Fred and Diane Sidón in 1995.
Lester Roberts did not recall who had designed
the house, although he agreed with the theory that
it probably was Reginald Johnson. But when he
went through his files looking for old photographs
of the house to share with Fred, he found a floor
plan that listed the designer as one A.B. Harmer.
Fred knew the Harmer name, of course. Everyone
who knows anything about Santa Barbara history
has heard of Alexander Harmer (1856–1925), generally considered California’s first distinguished
painter, whose canvases depicting picturesque adobes helped to kick off the Mission Revival craze in
the 1890s. But that was Alexander Francis Harmer.
The designer of the Las Palmas house was the
painter’s eldest son, Alexander Bertrand Harmer,
better known as Bert.
Born in 1896, Bert Harmer grew up in the
famous artists’ colony his father hosted in the
Yorba-Abadie Adobe on the southeast side of De
Above – Diane Sidón’s front garden with Laguna Blanca visable in the background. Early 1927 blueprints
for an elaborate front garden by legendary landscape architect Ralph Stevens were uncovered but it is
unknown whether these plans were ever used.
66
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PHOTOS COURTESY FRED SIDÓN.
la Guerra Plaza. Bert’s mother was Felicidad Abadie, whose family owned the adobe. (For more on
Bert’s colorful life and career, see the accompanying story on page 20.)
Bert Harmer did not formally train as an architect. Instead, he worked as an assistant director at
Santa Barbara’s Flying A movie studio, and later
he sold real estate. By the mid 1920s, however, he
was designing houses—especially in Hope Ranch,
where his specialty was the relatively modest onestory hacienda. Since Harmer’s death in 1967,
renovations have greatly expanded some of the
homes he designed. But the one on Las Palmas—
a two-story home with a Monterey-style balcony
overlooking Laguna Blanca—remains true to the
architect’s original vision for it.
“It’s probably the only one that people didn’t really monkey with,” Fred says. “The only thing that
we updated was the kitchen.”
Driven on by curiosity, Fred kept digging and
eventually turned up a phone number for Bert
Harmer’s only child, Gabrielle Harmer of San
Francisco. She was stunned when Fred called her.
“It was like a thunderbolt from the blue,” she says.
Delighted that someone was taking an interest
in her father’s work, Gabrielle sent Fred a box full of
Bert’s papers, which included many framed awards
for home design that he received over the years
from the Community Arts Association, signed by
the noted preservationist Pearl Chase herself. After
plumbing Bert’s papers, and interviewing people
who had known or worked with him, Fred wrote
an article about him for the Winter 2002 edition of
Noticias, the quarterly journal of the Santa Barbara
Historical Society.
Fourteen years have passed since that article appeared, and Fred has kept busy with other projects.
(He is a past president of Opera Santa Barbara and
the longtime president of the French Network of
Santa Barbara, and he has twice been knighted by
the French government—first as a chevalier of the
Order of Arts and Letters and more recently as a
chevalier of the National Order of Merit.) But Fred
hasn’t forgotten about Bert Harmer, who remains a
largely unsung figure among the group of extraordinary architects who remade Santa Barbara in the
Spanish Colonial Revival style.
“I might some day write a book about him,”
Fred says. “I owe it to him. He really does deserve
better.” u
Above – Bert Harmer’s designs were popular with many early residents of Hope Ranch. Two exterior photos of the
Harmer-designed home on Las Palmas Drive, shortly after contractor A.J. Roberts wrapped up construction in 1927.
68
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
PAINTING BY RUTH ELLEN HOAG
Festival Highlights
This summer’s Academy
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historic Granada Theatre.
Afternoon of a Faun & Pines of Rome
Larry Rachleff / June 25
Concerto Celebration & Firebird
Case Scaglione / Jul 9
Gilbert Conducts Beethoven
Alan Gilbert / Jul 16
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
James Gaffigan / Aug 6
Opera event of the summer:
A brand-new production of
Smetana’s comedic masterwork
The Bartered Bride
Matthew Aucoin / Jul 29 and 31
2016
Summer School
& Festival
Nearly 2,000 of the world’s most promising young classical musicians
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Admission to the Academy is based strictly on merit, and fellows
receive full tuition, room, and board while learning from internationally
renowned faculty artists, guest conductors, and soloists.
Only 140 of the most gifted artists were selected for the eightweek program. The Academy invites the public to join in more than
200 festival events, which include masterclasses, recitals, and concerts
at the Academy’s scenic Miraflores campus in Montecito and in venues
throughout Santa Barbara.
The Academy’s distinguished teaching artists roster has included
famed soprano Lotte Lehmann, composers Darius Milhaud and
Arnold Schoenberg, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, pianist Jeremy Denk,
and current Voice Program Director Marilyn Horne. Academy alumni
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PHOTO BY BOB FAULKNER.
Cover Artist…
Tom G. Carey
Karen & Tom Carey
Architect &
Avid Watercolorist
Story by Michel Miller • Art by Tom G. Carey
Tom G. Carey is no stranger to the secret life of buildings. The
retired architect and avid watercolorist has spent the better
part of his life rendering them in one form or another. From
the multicolored villages of Italy’s Cinque Terre (page 72) to
the city of Passau along the Danube River, the picturesque
man-made canals of Venice, California (above left) and the
historic Santa Barbara County Courthouse, Carey has painted
his way around the world and back again.
H
is most recent adventure, however, sent him
no farther than his own backyard, where
the work of the area’s most important unknown
architect continues to enhance the lives of Santa
Barbara residents and visitors.
A Hope Ranch resident since the 1980s, Carey
was, of course, familiar with the Montecito Inn on
Coast Village Road and The Old Fire House on East
Valley Road—structures inextricably linked to Montecito’s storied architectural heritage—but he had no
idea their origins were tied to a home just around the
corner from his, a lovingly preserved Spanish Colonial Revival owned by Fred and Diane Sidón.
Among local historians and architecture buffs,
it’s generally assumed that many if not most of the
70
area’s Spanish Colonial buildings were designed by
George Washington Smith, Reginald Johnson or
Winsor Soule. When Carey was asked by Montecito
Magazine to paint the buildings being featured in
the current issue, he was as surprised as anyone to
learn that the man responsible for such splendid
examples of a style that would come to define Santa
Barbara’s unique aesthetic was someone he’d never
heard of. “It was very interesting,” he says, “because I know a lot of the other historic architects of
Santa Barbara, but not him.”
As a high-school dropout who became an accomplished architect and real estate developer, Carey
was especially interested to learn that the man of the
hour, Bert Harmer, had no formal education. “I have
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
a lot of respect for that kind of ability,” he says, noting that such a career path would be nearly impossible today. “Most everything is done on computers
now. Not many people produce documents by hand
anymore.” His purist sensibility in regard to the
trade is a quality that Harmer would no doubt smile
upon. “I can tell the diffe ence between someone
who actually draws,” says Carey, compared to computer renderings, which he says are “too precise, too
accurate, no human touch to them.” He’s careful,
however, to point out that there’s still great architecture today, just the approach is diffe ent. What
struck Carey about the Harmer-designed home was
“the rhythm” of it. “Th house is broken up in really
nice proportions,” he says, “and the roof structure
is broken up so it’s not one long, boring house. He
was able to combine classic details from that period
in an artful way.”
Carey became aware of his aptitude for drawing as a teenager when he joined the United States
Navy and learned technical illustration. “I found
I adapted well to art and math; architecture was a
natural progression.” Carey, who is dyslexic (a cognitive disorder affecting language and/or visual
processing), learned to sketch while studying architecture at California Polytechnic State University
in San Luis Obispo and as an exchange student in
Florence, Italy. As is the case with many dyslexics,
he regards himself as a generalist, a tendency that
has helped shape him into a bit of a modern-day
Renaissance man.
A published author, Carey’s most recent book,
And Away We Go Italy, is a charming travel companion full of photographs, breezy sketches and
detailed expositions that betray his love aff ir
with art, architecture and the exquisite beauty of
a country that’s left an indelible impression on his
home turf. He and his wife try to include a visit to
Italy in every one of their annual excursions. As a
successful developer, he’s responsible for a number
of high-end condominium projects in the Beverly
Hills and Westside neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
Carey’s passion for architecture is perhaps nowhere more evident than in his paintings, all of
which are subtly impressionistic depictions of
buildings both at home and abroad. Watercolor,
his medium of choice, can be a cruel teacher, but he
finds it suits him just right. “I like to have an immediate response to the art and watercolor provides it,”
he explains. “I can sit down and do one painting in
one or two days. It’s either good or bad. It’s thrown
out or kept. Th medium fi s my personality.” What
many painters find frustrating about watercolors,
he finds helpful. “There is something about a feel of
a watercolor,” he says. “You don’t know what you’re
going to get. If you let the colors work together, they
come up with their own solution. Some of the most
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beautiful watercolors were probably completed because of mistakes.”
His form reflects a mosaic of influences, with
George Post’s California watercolor style being
most prominent. While his list of best-loved artists
isn’t atypical for his milieu—Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, Rex Brandt—one among them stands
apart: Norman Rockwell. “If you look at my stuff,”
he says, “it’s detailed but not detailed. Rockwell
was very detailed, and there are elements of that in
my paintings that I think draw references from his
work.” A member of both the Santa Barbara and
California art associations, the opening of his recent
watercolor exhibition at Gallery 113 in Santa Barbara drew upward of 300 art enthusiasts.
When he’s not busy traveling, writing, painting
and chasing after golf balls, Tom Carey spends considerable time toward preservation efforts, including 20 years served on the board of The Land Trust
for Santa Barbara County to maintain and sustain
open space. “This was a farming and ranching community and one that has always been encompassed
by open space. I don’t know how you keep the character or preserve the history without preserving the
open space,” he says. “Santa Barbara’s done a great
job maintaining its character.” u
To see more of Tom G. Carey’s paintings, visit
tomgcarey.com
72
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
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These Professional Artists Studios are
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Read more information about each artist on pages 78 & 79.
15th Annual Open Studio Tour
Saturday & Sunday, September 3 & 4, 2016
Labor Day Weekend • 10am to 5pm
santabarbarastudioartists.com
Pamela Benham
pamelabenham.com
Ruth Ellen Hoag ~ ruthellenhoag.com
Elizabeth Gallery Mosaics ~ elizabethgallery.com
Laurie MacMillan ~ lauriemacmillan.com
Karen Lehrer ~ KarenLehrer.com
Karin Aggeler ~ karinaggeler.com
Maria Repke ~ mariarepke.com
Art,
Wine
& Food
Story by Nancy Ransohoff
Art, Biltmore Chefs, by Tom Henderson
TomHendersonArt.com
Spring means renewal and a chance to
jump-start your energy, mind and mood.
G
rab your sunhat on the 4th of July and head to
the Old Mission Alternative Site Art Show,
10 to 5. Fifty local artists sell arts and crafts at this
free annual event in the garden of an Upper Eastside
Santa Barbara residence at the corner of Garden and
Pueblo streets.
Support a good cause—shop at the Antiques,
Decorative Arts & Vintage Show and Sale
(calmantiqueshows.com)—a benefit for CALM (Child
Abuse Listening Mediation) featuring 80 dealers
of fine antiques and vintage items—at Earl Warren
Showgrounds on May 13, 14 and 15. The popular
event supports CALM programs (calm4kids.org).
Get a glimpse behind the scenes at a local art
event. Join art aficionados from across the nation
76
in discovering fascinating studios at Santa Barbara
Studio Artists’ 15th Annual Open Studio Tour on
Labor Day weekend, September 3 and 4. Kick
off the weekend at the Open Studio Reception
on September 2 from 5 to 8 pm at Corridan
Gallery, 125 North Milpas Street in Santa Barbara
(santabarbarastudioartists.com).
It’s an exciting year for the world-renowned
Music Academy of the West (musicacademy.org)
as they celebrate their 2016 Summer School and
Festival from June 13 through August 6. Enjoy public
master classes, weekly chamber music concerts and
community concerts, some of which will take place in
the newly renovated Marilyn Horne Main House on
the Miraflores campus. An opening night gala
June 4th, will celebrate the beginning of the 2016
Summer Festival and honor Ms. Horne, the legendary
singer and director of the Academy’s voice program.
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
Montecito–Coast Village Road Area
Kathryne Designs
Interior Design, Art, Furniture & More
Design inspiration in a home-like
setting: home accessories, gifts
pillows, antiques, lamps, tabletop,
design books. Plein air and contemporary art by Colin C. Cooper,
Ellie Freudenstein, Dorene White
(right), Kathleen Elsey, Ruth Hoag,
Brigitte Curt, Susie Muise, Sherry
Bevan. Introducing realism artist
Tom Mielko. Nest and Archipelago
candles, Simon Pearce glassware.
Custom furniture and fabrics.
1225 Coast Village Road, Suite A ............ 565-4700
kathrynedesigns.com
Open daily 10 to 5
Portico Gallery Notable California and National Artists,
Art Classes, Custom Framing
A destination for art lovers;
longest established gallery on
Coast Village Road. Landscapes
by John Budicin, Jordan Pope,
Dennis Newell (right), Steven
Curry, Elizabeth Tolley, Paul
Panossian and Karl Dempwolf.
Monday and Tuesday art classes by Jordan Pope, voted “Best Art
Instructor” by Montecito community. New acquisitions weekly. Bella Vista at Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore
Beautiful Oceanfront Dining
Italian-inspired California coastal
cuisine, seasonal menu: fresh
house-made pasta, local organic
ingredients, some from the on-site
chef ’s garden. Extensive wine list.
Sumptuous breakfast buffet daily.
OpenTable Diners’ Choice Award.
Gluten-free options. Tuscan ambience, heated dining terrace. Pizza &
Prosecco Monday nights.
1260 Channel Drive..........................969-2261 or 565-8237
fourseasons.com/santabarbara / see ad page 87
Open daily: Breakfast from 7, Lunch (Mon–Sat) from 11:30,
Sunday Brunch 10 to 1:30, Dinner Thurs–Mon from 5,
High Tea Fri–Sat 2 to 4
Montecito – East Valley Road Area
Village Frame & Gallery
Antique & Contemporary Artwork;
Quality Frames
Museum-quality framing for 50
years. Works by California artists
Jannene Behl, Terry Chacon, Kathleen Elsey (right), Priscilla Fossek,
Jeremy Harper, Patrick Korch,
Grace Schlesier. Large selection
of antique prints, mirrors, unique
photo frames. See ad page 32.
1485 East Valley Road................................ 969-0524
Open Mon–Fri 9 to 5:30; Sat 11 to 4
The Easton Gallery
1235 Coast Village Road ........................... 695-8850
porticofi eart.com / see ad page 11
Contemporary Landscape Paintings
This hidden gem in the tranquil setting of a private home
has showcased the work of contemporary landscape artists for
25 years. Group show through
summer. Starting in September:
Joint show of paintings by Whitney Brooks Abbott and Whitney
Brooks Hansen.
The Treasure House & The Rack
Open Sat & Sun 1 to 5, or call for appointment
Open daily 11 to 5
Upscale Items for Resale
Proceeds from all sales benefit the
Music Academy. New merchandise daily. Antiques, tableware
and furniture at Th Treasure
House. Fine quality designer and
resale clothing and accessories at
Th Rack. Donations welcome;
consignment by appointment.
Music Academy of the West, 1070 Fairway Road
The Treasure House ................................... 969-1744
The Rack ....................................................... 969-0190
musicacademy.org / see ad page 39
Open Tues–Sat noon to 3
MontecitoMag.com
557 Hot Springs Road ................................ 969-5781
eastongallery.com
Montecito Executive Services
Personal Attention, Global Service
Professional vacation services:
luggage shipping, house watch,
home mail pickup, temporary
mailbox, mail forwarding. Owner
Mary Ortega has been packing
and shipping high-value artwork
and antiques for over 10 years.
Custom crating and boxing; fast,
easy shipping.
Painting by Chris Flannery.
Maintain your energy by recharging at Bella Vista
restaurant at the Four Seasons Biltmore, either in
the inviting dining room or on the heated al fresco
dining terrace, complete with spectacular ocean
views. Look for pick-me-up weekday specials such
as pizza and prosecco on Monday nights and the
Thursday night crudo bar with shucked oysters,
shrimp and scallops at sunset.
1482 East Valley Road........................... 969-7753
montecitoexecutive.com
77
Montecito Coff e Shop
Casual Breakfast and Lunch
Down-home food and friendly service keep this a local favorite since
the mid-1960s. Try the popular
California omelette with housemade salsa, fresh salads and hearty
house-made soups. Breakfast offered all day Sunday. Turkey is
roasted fresh daily for sandwiches,
wraps and salads. Wine and beer.
1498 East Valley Road................................ 969-6250
adjacent to San Ysidro Pharmacy / see ad page 71
Open daily: Sun 8 to 2; Breakfast Mon–Sat 7 to 11:30;
Lunch Mon–Sat 11:30 to 2:30
William Laman
Furniture · Garden · Antiques
An ever-changing selection of
antiques and accessories for the
home and garden. The distinctive mix of one-of-a-kind pieces
refl cts a sense of understated elegance and an exceptional eye for
detail. View the latest inspirations
for living with style. You’ll find not
what you need, but what you want.
1496 East Valley Road................................ 969-2840
williamlaman.com / see ad page 10
Open Mon–Sat 10 to 5; Sun 11 to 5
Studio Artists – Santa Barbara Area
Santa Barbara Studio Artists
Create Your Own Art Tour!
Many of Santa Barbara’s professional visual artists keep their studios available for visits year-round
by appointment. Visit the website:
plan a great day of exploring great
art in interesting locations, get
information about the Annual
Open Studios Tour, Labor Day
Weekend, Sept 3 and 4, 10 to 5.
santabarbarastudioartists.com / see ad page 74
Call individual artists for appointments
Pamela Benham
Expressive Abstract Paintings
Vibrant acrylic and oil
paintings from subtle and
spiritual to lush and sensual. Benham’s technique
demonstrates untethered
play of brushstroke and
color. “Painting brings me to give
shape to those lingering, persistent
emotions that are sensed, yet unrecognized.” She has exhibited in museums and galleries internationally.
[email protected] ................... 968-4695
pamelabenham.com / see ad page 74
Studio visits by appointment
78
Karin Aggeler
Abstract Expressionist
Inspired by the textures and
colors of natural landscapes,
especially the Southwest.
Karin’s aim is to allow viewers to interpret her abstract,
vibrant paintings in their
own way. “While my art
comes from my own moods and
emotions, I aspire to create works
that evoke a personal response.”
[email protected] ...................................... 962-7425
karinaggeler.com / see ad page 75
Studio visits by appointment
Rick Garcia
Landscape & Botanical Oil Paintings
Quintessential elements of
California’s Central Coast,
from the shoreline to the
mountains, infused with the
beauty of the incredible California light and influenced by
the vision of early California
landscape artists. “Painting in
Santa Barbara! How lucky am I!”
Represented by Waterhouse Gallery in Santa Barbara and Tartaglia Fine Art in Ojai.
[email protected] ...................................... 284-3631
garciaarts.com / see ad page 74
Studio visits by appointment
Laurie MacMillan
Contemporary Fine Art
Abstract impressions of the
constant cycle in the natural
world. Laurie’s paintings depict impressions and memories of places and refl ct her
love of color, shape and texture in nature and the earth’s
geology. “I’m fascinated by our
world’s continuous changes.”
[email protected]................... 962-6556
lauriemacmillan.com / see ad page 75
Studio visits by appointment
Karen Lehrer
Contemporary Acrylic &
Mixed Media Painting
Karen finds inspiration in repeating patterns and shapes,
including those in design, architecture and nature. Her use
of color is directly influenced
by the unlimited spectrum of
hues found in nature. [email protected].......................... 967-0820
KarenLehrer.com / see ad page 75
Studio visits by appointment
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
Summerland
Maria Repke
California Impressionist
Oil Painter
Nature paintings ranging from intimate fl rals
to ocean scenes and portraits of trees. “I feel connected to nature, but I do
not impose myself upon it; there
is an energy that pulls me in, an
underlying wild beauty that I intend to convey through art.” Just Folk
[email protected] ................................. 770-7167
mariarepke.com / see ad page 75
Unique American Folk & Outsider Art
Whimsical Americana, furniture
and sculpture. Look for the tin
roof and pig weathervane atop
this unique gallery fil ed with
one-of-a-kind, soulful, handmade
art and antiques that bring a smile
to your face. Proprietors: former television producers Marcy
Carsey and Susan Baerwald. Artist: Bill Traylor, right.
Ruth Ellen Hoag
Open Wed–Sat 10 to 5, Sun 11 to 5
Studio visits by appointment
Figurative Painter
Ruth paints abstractions of
human relationships and vulnerabilities. “I love capturing
movement with interesting
surfaces to create an emotional
connection between the viewer
and the painting.” Year-round
studio tours, art classes and
workshops at her Whistle Stop
Art Studios. [email protected] ......................... 689-0858
ruthellenhoag.com / see ad page 74, story art begins page 48 Studio visits by appointment
Masha Keating
2346 Lillie Avenue ...................................... 969-7118
justfolk.com / see ad page 17
Pine Trader Antiques
French & Irish Country Antiques
and European Pine
Aft r 35 years in the antiques
business, owner Clive Markey
and his wife Sheila are retiring.
Don’t miss out! All existing inventory will be sold. Th retirement
sale is now in progress.
2345 Lillie Avenue ............. 805-245-1998 or 805-845-2618
pinetrader.com / see ad page 9
Los Olivos & Solvang
Gallery Los Olivos
[email protected]....................... 403-7324
mashakeating.com / see ad page 74
Fine Art by Regional Artists since 1992
An inviting fine art destination in
Santa Ynez Valley with works by
select artists from Santa Barbara,
San Luis Obispo and Ventura
counties. Artist on site daily at the
gallery. Noted for the quality and
wide range of its art in a relaxed
atmosphere. Paintings of various
media, photography, sculpture,
wood-turned objects, clay works,
jewelry and more.
Elizabeth Gallery Mosaics
Open daily 10 to 5
Contemporary Oil Painter
Paintings that capture the feelings and psychological states
that accompany life’s moments
of change and transformation.
“As I incorporate abstract elements like colorful undulating
shapes and lines, I think of the
weaving tapestry of life’s paths
that we encounter and navigate.”
Studio visits by appointment
Custom Contemporary and Antique Mosaics
Betsy designs or fabricates
your mosaics for installations using ancient tools,
materials and techniques,
and is inspired by nature, legends, traditions
and history. Public mural
installations and private
home décor. Smaller mosaics are
on view in Betsy’s showroom.
[email protected] ....................................... 963-2878
elizabethgallery.com / see ad page 75
Studio visits by appointment
MontecitoMag.com
2920 Grand Avenue ................................... 688-7517
gallerylosolivos.com
Solvang Antiques
Antiques and Fine Art
Antique and estate jewelry, 18th
and 19th C. furniture, restored
antique clocks, watches and music boxes, lighting and decorative
accessories. Judith Hale maintains a gallery within and presents
changing collections of a variety
of art. Artist: Joe Mancuso, right.
1693 Copenhagen Drive ........................... 686-2322
solvangantiques.com
Open Sun–Thurs 10 to 5, Fri & Sat 10 to 6
79
Stewart Fine Art
Antique Art & Antiques
Specializing in early California
plein air paintings since 1986,
along with a changing collection
of museum-quality American
and European fine art and antiques. Located in an inviting gallery setting, parking in the back.
Artist: Charlotte Morgan, right.
215 West Mission Street ............................ 845-0255
[email protected] / see ad page 4
Open Mon–Wed, Fri–Sat 11 to 5:30, closed Thurs and Sun
Marcia Burtt Gallery
Contemporary Landscape Paintings
Noted American artists featured in continuously changing exhibitions. Skylit gallery
in SoCo (South of Cota) design neighborhood with easy
parking. See more of Marcia’s work (right) at Santa Barbara Frame Shop & Gallery,
Arlington Plaza on State Street,
across from the Arlington Theatre.
517 Laguna Street ...................................... 962-5588
artlacuna.com / see ad page 32
Open Thurs–Sun 1 to 5
Antiques, Decorative Arts & Vintage Show and Sale
18th to Mid-Century Decorative Arts and Vintage Finds
One of Santa Barbara’s most prestigious shows takes place at Earl
Warren Showgrounds on May
13, 14 & 15 and October 14, 15 &
16. Th se popular events benefit
CALM (Child Abuse Listening
Mediation). Show manager April
Th de has 80 highly regarded
dealers selling. Admission at the
door. Plenty of free parking.
Earl Warren Showgrounds (Hwy 101 at Las Positas) ....898-9715
calmantiqueshows.com
Open Fri and Sat 11 to 6, Sun 11 to 4
Crocodile Restaurant & Bar
Hidden Gem in the Middle of Santa Barbara
Favorite locals “secret” spot at Lemon Tree Inn, indoor/outdoor seating, heated patio, garden views. Try
Parmesan-crusted salmon, lemon
chicken, fresh salads, pizzas, pastas
and house-made mud pie. Chef ’s
specials spotlight farmers market
ingredients. Local wine and beer.
2819 State Street ........................................ 687-6444
crocsb.com / see ad page 67
Open daily: Breakfast 7 to 11, Lunch 11 to 2:30,
Happy Hour 4 to 6, Dinner 4 to 9:30
80
July 4th Old Mission Alternative Site Art Show
Arts & Crafts by 50 Local Artists
This one-day-only annual
event, formerly held at the
Santa Barbara Mission,
offers paintings (Karen
McLean McGaw, right),
jewelry, clothing, weaving
and craft for sale. Enjoy strolling
through a beautiful residential
garden setting and browsing the
wide range of art. Free admission.
2227 Garden Street, at Pueblo Street .... 966-5104, ext.1
Open July 4 only, 10 to 5
Farmers Markets
Farm Fresh, Local Produce–Six Days A Week
Shop for all your ingredients for
spring/summer menus at colorful,
convenient and fun farmers markets brimming with local harvests.
Check website, follow on Facebook for summer hours, recipes,
market news, what’s in season.
New arrivals at the Saturday downtown market: luscious papayas and
Piedrasassi New Vineland wine.
This season you’ll find juicy berries, cherries, tomatoes, basil, artichokes, apricots, melons, almonds,
walnuts and much more. Locally
made breads, pies, preserves, olive oils, cheeses and honey. Fresh
seafood and meats, antibiotic-free
chicken, duck, Cornish game hens,
grass-fed/hormone-free beef and
pork; farm-fresh eggs. Live music.
Open rain or shine.
Paintings by Cathy Quiel.
Santa Barbara
Saturday, Santa Barbara–downtown
Sunday, Goleta–Camino Real Marketplace
Tuesday, Santa Barbara–Old Town
Wednesday, Solvang–Village
Thursday, Goleta–Camino Real Marketplace
and Carpinteria–Linden Avenue
Friday, Montecito Coast Village Road
sbfarmersmarket.org ................................ 962–5354
Historic La Arcada Courtyard
Shops, Restaurants, Galleries A Unique Architectural Jewel in
Downtown Santa Barbara
Interactive sculptures, fountains,
turtles and fl wers welcome visitors to 24 locally owned businesses–art galleries, clothing, specialty shops, distinctive restaurants
with outdoor patio seating, wine
tasting. Something for everyone. Public parking next door.
1114 State Street at Figueroa ................... 966-6634
laarcadasantabarbara.com
Montecito Magazine Spring/Summer 2016
Dorothy Churchill-Johnson Studio
Contemporary Realist Oils on Canvas
Meticulously rendered muralsize paintings focus on the tiny
details of ordinary things blown
up to visual extremes. Series
include fl rals and succulents,
surreal landscape, still life and
more. Artist’s work has been
collected by major corporations,
private collectors and museums
nationally and internationally.
125 N. Milpas Street ................................... 966-6561
churchill-johnson.com
Open daily by appointment
Santa Barbara Frame Shop & Gallery
Custom Framing
Crafts anlike attention to detail
and friendly service make this a
local favorite. Fine custom framing and art for over 30 years; all
levels of residential and corporate
framing. Across from the Arlington Theatre. Gallery space features
works by local artists including
Marcia Burtt and Jake Early.
1324 State Street, Arlington Plaza .......... 963-2332
santabarbaraframeshop.com
Open Mon–Sat 10 to 6
Sly’s
Carpinteria
Seafood, Steaks, Cocktails
Chef James and Annie celebrate eight years at Sly’s. USDA
Prime steaks, fresh seafood, handshaken cocktails done “the way
you remember.” Happy hour, daily
“Blue Plate” specials, fixed price
French menu, organic local beef,
farmers market produce, awardwinning wine list.
686 Linden Avenue (corner Linden & 7th) ... 684–6666
slysonline.com / see ad page 67
Open daily: Sun–Thurs 11:30 to 9, Fri & Sat til 10,
Brunch Sat & Sun 9 to 2:30,
Lounge Menu 2:30 to 5, Happy Hour 4 to 6 daily
The Farm Cart
Local, Seasonal, Organic Produce
Stop by Katherine Shepherd’s produce stand—a hub for the farm’s
community supported agriculture
program (CSA), weekly fresh produce subscription and a handy spot
for the community to find justpicked produce. Find Shepherd
Farms produce at farmers markets.
5301 Carpinteria Avenue .......................... 698-9907
Open Fri–Wed 11:30 to 5:30 u
PURCHASE THE HOME
OF YOUR DREAMS.
Bank of the West offers a variety of loan options to fit your needs.
Ask about our Jumbo loans for up to $4,000,000 including fixed,
adjustable and interest only.
Contact Elizabeth to get started on purchasing your dream home today.
Elizabeth Winterhalter, Mortgage Banker, NMLS#237143
Cell (805) 904-7328 | [email protected]
Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
© 2015 Bank of the West. All loans subject to credit approval, standard mortgage qualifications,
and underwriting requirements. Additional fees, conditions, and restrictions may apply.
MontecitoMag.com
81
A Hidden Coastal Gem
Driving on the 101 south of Santa Barbara?
Take a break and turn off at exit 91 (between Carpinteria and Montecito) to
explore Summerland—a tiny, classic California village that parallels both sides of the freeway.
It’s a perfect place to stretch your legs, shop, grab a bite and
feast your eyes on the gorgeous ocean views.
Summerland is an artsy town with about 1,500 residents. Parking is plentiful along
Summerland’s main streets, Lillie Avenue and Ortega Hill Road, and it’s easy
to explore the village on foot. Scout for antiques and one-of-a-kind treasures at eclectic
shops and galleries, visit the bird sanctuary, taste local wines and
savor fresh local fare at casual cafés.
LILLIE
AVE
MARY SUDING
ANTIQUES
BEACH CLUB
ATHLETICS
BONITA SUMMERLAND
WINERY
SUMMERLAND
ANTIQUE
COLLECTIVE
ORTEGA HILL RD
SUMMERHILL
ANTIQUES
EVOLATION
YOGA
POST
OFFICE
THE
NUGGET
LILLIE AVENUE
BONITA
BEACH
BIKINI FACTORY TINKERS INDIAN SUMMERS
HWY 101
c
Designed by Kathleen Ousley & Christine Feldman
Explore Summerland
Beach Club Athletics . . . . . . . . . . 570-5665
Pine Trader Antiques . . . . . . . . . 845-2618
Bikini Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-2887
Platinum Fitness Summerland . . . 969-1570
Bonita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-3848
Salon Olivier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770-2300
Bonita Beach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-4848
SB Bird Sanctuary/Menagerie . . . 969-1944
Botanik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-3831
Summerhill Antiques . . . . . . . . . 969-3366
Cashmir Beauty Lounge. . . . . . . . 969-2322
Summerland Antique Collective . . 565-3189
Evolation Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770-3436
Summerland Winery/Tasting Room. . . 565-9463
Indian Summers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-1162
The Nugget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-6135
Just Folk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-7118
The Sacred Space . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-5535
Mary Suding Antiques . . . . . . . . . 969-4324
Tinker’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-1970
Personal Training, Memberships Available
2270 Lillie Ave • BeachClubAthletics.net
Swimwear & Beach Accessories
2275 Ortega Hill Rd • BikiniFactory.com
Distinctive Bohemian Boutique–Clothing, Accessories
2330 Lillie Ave • BonitaSummerland.com
Men, Women, Sol Style
2325 Lillie Ave • BonitaSummerland.com
Home & Garden Décor – Classic Casual Style
2329 Lillie Ave • BotanikInc.com
Hair, Body, Skin, Nails
2410 Lillie Ave • [email protected]
Yoga For Your Self
108 Pierpont Ave • EvolationYogaSB.com
Women’s Clothing, Jewelry, Handbags, Hats & more
2275 Ortega Hill Rd • IndianSummersBoutique.com
Unique American Folk & Outsider Art
2346 Lillie Ave • JustFolk.com
An Exceptional Antique & Design Shop
2240 Lillie Ave • MarySudingAntiques.com
French & Irish Country Antiques & European Pine
2345 Lillie Ave • PineTrader.com
Elite Personal Training For All Fitness Levels
2448 Lillie Ave • PlatinumFitnessSummerland.com
An Elegant Full-Service Day Spa & Salon
2500 Lillie Ave • SalonOlivier.com
Exotic Parrot Garden, Non-Profit Rescue Center
2430 Lillie Ave • SBBird.org
World-Class Fine Antiques
2280 Lillie Ave • Summerhill-Antiques.com
Antique Furniture, Garden, Architectural, Jewelry, Art
2192 Ortega Hill Rd • SummerlandAntiqueCollective.com
Boutique Winery–Fine Wines From The Central Coast
2330 Lillie Ave • SummerlandWine.com
Great Selection – Steaks, Salads, Burgers & more
2318 Lillie Ave • NuggetBarandGrill.com
Treasures From Heaven Available On Earth
2594 Lillie Ave • TheSacredSpace.com
Just Great Food
2275 Ortega Hill Rd • [email protected]
Waxing Poetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770-2847
JUST FOLK
COLVILLE STREET
Jewelry & Sentiments
2350 Lillie Ave • WaxingPoetic.com
WAXING
CASHMIR
POETIC BEAUTY
LOUNGE
BIRD
OLIVE STREET
SANCTUARY
PLATINUM FITNESS
BOTANIK
PINE
TRADER
HWY 10FIRE
1
DEPARTMENT
SALON OLIVIER
THE
SACRED
SPACE
Recognized by the Wall Street Journal as a Top Producing
Real Estate Agent in America for the Last 10 Years
DISTINCTIVE SANTA BARBARA PROPERTIES
w w w. S U Z A N N E P E R K I N S . c o m
Sotheby’s International Realty and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered (or unregistered) service marks used with
permission. Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. Real estate agentsaffiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. are
independent contractor sales associates and are not employees of Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. | CalBRE License # 01106512
Painting by Chris Flannery
Montecito Village
Charming Shops • Professional Services
Restaurants • Grocery
Fashion & Jewelry
Bryant & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-4411
Fine Jewelry, Time Pieces, Mikimoto, Cartier, Baccarat
Clare Swan Montecito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-1746
Accessories • Luggage • Apparel
Glamour House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-5285
GlamourHouseLingerie.com
Oliver and Espig Gallery of Fine Arts . . . 962-8111
Rare Gemstones, Unique Jewelry, Fine Art & Sculpture
Trésor Fine Jewelry & Collectibles . . . . . 969-0888
Estate Jewelry Specialist, Custom Design & Repair
Body & Hair Care
Dadiana Salon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-1414
Hair, Nails, Makeup, Gifts for Hair, Bath & Body
Health Care
Bissell Chiropractic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-5252
& Sports Medicine • bissellchiro.com
Peter Hartmann, DDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-6090
San Ysidro Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-2284
Compounding, Vitamins, Cosmetics, Gifts, Delivery
Galleries, Antiques & Gifts
Davis & Taft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-7987
Antiques & 20th-Century Modern
Imagine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695-0220
Gifts & Artful Things
The Stationery Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-3414
Fine Stationery & Useful Gifts
Village Frame & Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-0524
Classic Frames & Art
Dining & Groceries
Montecito Village Grocery . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-1112
MontecitoGrocery.com, Open 6am–8pm
Pane e Vino Trattoria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-9274
Open Lunch Mon–Sat 11:30–3, Dinner everyday 5–9
Via Vai Pizzeria Trattoria . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-9393
Open 7 Days a Week 11:30–9
Banking & Finance
HDP & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-5081
Phil Palmquist, Joan Green, Matt Dawson – CPAs
Montecito Financial Services . . . . . . . . . 565-7797
Donna L. Payne – Financial Advisor
Northern Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565-7861
Wealth Management • Private Banking
Union Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-7713
Lora Taylor, Branch Manager
Specialty
Home Services
ACI Jet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548-1305
Private Jet Charters & Private Aviation Management
Baroncelli Linens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-2617
Bed, Bath & Table ~ Celebrating over 46 years
Santa Barbara Travel Bureau . . . . . . . . . . 969-7746
Montecito‘s Exclusive Travel Agency
Tecolote Book Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-4977
Fulfilling Reader’s Needs for 90 Years
Montecito Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-2026
The Voice of Our Community
Montecito Executive Services . . . . . . . . . 969-7753
UPS • FedEx • Airbourne • Mailboxes
Montecito Village Hardware . . . . . . . . . . 969-4419
Sue Aldrich Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-7976
Commercial & Residential Interior Design
Coldwell Banker Previews . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-0900
Global Connection–Local Tradition . . . . . . 969-4755
Keith C. Berry, Realtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689-4240
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
Sotheby’s International Realty . . . . . . . . 969-9993
The Art of Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969-5005
Real Estate