Highway 101 to Remain Clogged with Traffic Because of I-5 Closure

••• A sale worth noting: Everything at Botanik in Summerland is 50% off.

••• The Grapevine section of I-5 is still closed because of snow, which is why the traffic on the 101 and the streets of Montecito is insane. (Jim Shivers is the public information officer for Caltrans District 5.) UPDATE 12/28: I-5 reopened, but as Noozhawk notes, “Another storm may bring more snow to the same roadways Sunday evening through Tuesday morning [and] up to 6 inches could accumulate in areas, including on I-5 through the Grapevine where wind gusts could reach 40 mph.”

••• The beautiful 1937 Chester Carjola house at 1270 Pepper Lane—once owned by Drew Barrymore and recently extensively refurbished—sold for $8.6 million. It was first listed at $9.95 million and subsequently reduced to $8.95 million.

••• On January 12, Victoria Lautman will give a talk about Indian stepwells at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. From the Amazon page for her book, The Vanishing Stepwells of India: “Stepwells are unique to India and from around the 3rd century CE were built throughout the country, particularly in the arid western regions. Excavated several stories underground in order to reach the water table, these cavernous spaces not only provided water all year long but also fulfilled other functions; they offered pilgrims and other travelers a respite from the heat, and became places in which villagers could socialize. Stepwell construction evolved so that, by the 11th century, the wells were amazingly complex feats of architecture and engineering.