Life in the Santa Ynez Valley hums along happily, decade after decade, fueled by glorious weather, steady commerce, and equally steady people who call this paradise home. Among those who have helped to make the Valley special, Gary and Judeen Esau exemplify the concept that a person’s first duty is to forge a positive relationship [...]
Close-knit and delightfully outgoing, the Saarloos family arrived in the Valley in 1997 intending to build a country life among new friends. Linda and Larry Saarloos promptly put down deep roots in the community by buying the Roasted Bean, a popular coffee shop-cum-art gallery located in Santa Ynez. “The Roasted Bean has always been a [...]
Famed for its open spaces and agricultural output, the Santa Ynez Valley still manages to keep one civic foot firmly planted in the arts. While many of its young people become ranchers, vintners, and business owners, others follow the scent of greasepaint straight into the theater. Thanks to the Solvang Festival Theater and its Santa [...]
Nostalgia was the order of the day when European motorcycle racing legends Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read, traveling with an entourage of journalists, filmmakers, friends and family, stopped in for a visit to Virgil Elings’s Vintage Motorcycle Museum in Solvang. Elings’ is well known in the academic and financial world as a maverick physicist and [...]
Railroads built the West and water made it bloom. A happy blending of the two is found just outside Solvang where, along a worn gravel driveway shaded by mature pepper trees, Caboose Number 3 stands on rusted rails, a carefully restored relic from the bygone Pacific Coast Railway. Looking sharp in her cream paint and [...]
As this is the first spring after the Zaca fire and I live on Figueroa Mountain near the fire zone, I have made a point of traveling the roads in and near the burn area along the backcountry, searching for new species of wildflowers. But it turned out something closer to home caught my attention. [...]
Anyone who has ever spent a noisy night in a stark hotel room appreciates the comforts of home, especially when staying in an unfamiliar place. Thanks to Kelsey Burnett and Leanne Schlinger, owners of Santa Ynez Vacation Rentals, visitors to the Santa Ynez Valley can now lounge in lush backyards and sleep in residential peace. [...]
Tucked into one of the oldest buildings in Solvang, Bit O’Denmark has been dishing up savory Old World fare for well over 40 years. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the cozy restaurant boasts a tempting menu of Danish favorites, as well as classic American treats. “There are only three or four places in Solvang [...]
Since she was a little girl, Blake Colvin has dreamed of owning and living above a cupcake shop. The diminutive treats have figured so prominently in her life, she even named her toy poodle “Cupcake,” and when inspired to take a bold course of action, she found a way to incorporate them into her plans. [...]
