Odds & Ends

May 19, 2020

Mountain Lions Spotted on Frontcountry Trails

Plus: Polo Club condo with impressive decor; church seeks lost ducks; vertical-kilometer challenge; Hope Ranch price cut; Los Padres campground closure extended; four recent sales of note.

May 14, 2020

A Stretching Studio Is Opening on Coast Village Road

Plus: Santa Barbara Airport now requires everyone to wear face masks; slacklining in Los Padres National Forest; new book of Hank Pitcher's paintings; Salty Brothers Soap Co. sets up shop on State Street.

May 13, 2020

Did Ellen and Portia Get Cold Feet?

Plus: Channel Islands reopening strategy in the works; house asking for twice the rent it asked for three years ago; new fire restrictions in Los Padres National Forest; Highway 101 median trees cut down; free rocks.

May 9, 2020

Updates on Two Other Big Funk Zone Projects

Plus: Lotusland reopens to the public soon; food drive today will exchange toilet paper for non-perishable food; Mate Gallery photography is on sale; marketing real estate during a pandemic.

May 6, 2020

The County Seeks Volunteers for Covid-19 Response Team

Plus: "For lease" sign at Treat skincare in Arlington Plaza; cleaner trailheads thanks to Montecito Trails Foundation and MarBorg; changes proposed to the city's Historic Resources Ordinance; grants to arts non-profits; SBIFF interview with the writer-director of "The Half of It."

May 1, 2020

The Municipal Tennis Center Has Reopened

Plus: Intruder spending the night at vacant houses; Ortega Park is getting a renovation; Showers of Blessing lets homeless people shower in its trailer; the grunion were running.

April 23, 2020

The Rental Market Is Really Heating Up

Plus: George Washington Smith's first house is available for rent again; checking in on the giant bunker under construction in Pepper Hill; the Montecito Association wants to close trailhead parking to non-locals; San Ysidro Road correction; ham hock.

April 21, 2020

The Butterfly Lane Underpass Is Getting an Upgrade

Plus: The auction of the 1930s Lutah Maria Riggs estate didn't pan out; coolly renovated house on a golf course sold; Valley Club Trail got fixed up; tree graffiti; owlets.

April 17, 2020

The 93108 Fund Has Handed Out $40,000 to Hourly Workers

Plus: Little Free Libraries stocked with toilet paper and other items; new Channel Islands T-shirt; Summerland Oriental Rugs moved across the street; Studio William Hefner house coming to San Ysidro Road; time-lapse street painting; three recent sales of note.

April 13, 2020

Change in Plans for the Fess Parker Hotel Coming to Cabrillo

Plus: Upper San Ysidro Trail is closed for repairs; big house on Picacho Lane sells for $5.4 million; memento from the old Miramar resort; midcentury Palm Springs–style house in Birnam Wood available for rent.