SYV Stories

Manuel is easy to talk to. He’s humble, interested in learning, and has one of the kindest faces you’ll ever see.  His smile is quick and genuine, and it always reaches his eyes.  Within five minutes of getting to know him you’ll understand how proud he is of his family. And he has good reason to be.  Both he and his wife grew up in the same small village in Jalisco, Mexico. Before they married, Manuel ventured to the Santa Ynez Valley with two humble goals: 1) to buy a pair of blue jeans, and 2) to buy his father a truck.  Two decades later, Manuel has accomplished every goal he’s dared to dream for his family.  

In the next couple of years, he will have raised two college graduates.  Empty nesters, Manual and his wife Martha live in the caretakers’ house on 250 acres of beautiful Los Alamos land.  He lovingly tends to the landscaping and the horses and is at present pondering what the next 20 years of his life looks like.

In our conversation, we discuss leaving his ancestral village to venture to the SYV, the challenges he faced when he arrived, his path to citizenship, and how he’s raised two happy and successful (almost) college graduates.

Home Connection is featured in Small Business Spotlight

While not technically a resident of the Santa Ynez Valley, this week’s guest was introduced to me by a listener who does live here and the stories my guest tells are closely connected to our way of life.  Russ Collins, a 90-year-old retired boat captain, has two interesting stories to tell about our beloved Santa Barbara coastline.  In January 1969, Collins was working as a boat captain ferrying crew members and supplies, when Platform A blew up, spilling 100,000 barrels of crude oil into the channel in what was at the time, the worst oil spill in history.  The aftermath of that spill and its catastrophic effect on marine life, later led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the California Coastal Commission, and the passage of CEQA, California Environmental Quality Act. Collins tells his first-person account of that cleanup effort. 
And, over two decades later, Collins captained the Vaquero II, a beautiful wooden 65 foot cattle boat, that ferried 100 head of cattle each trip between Port Hueneme and Santa Rosa island.  We reminisce about his time working alongside cowboys for Vail & Vickers, the owners of the island.  Photographs of the Vaquero II and Santa Rosa island may be found on the website.
Aly's Restaurant is featured in Small Business Spotlight.

Robbie Kaye is the consummate artist: photographer, painter, musician, vocalist, and documentarian. Her photographs of three beautiful oak trees captured my attention on Instagram, but her support of female owned businesses gained my respect and admiration.  

Week after week, Ladies of the Valley features inspiring women who are bosses at what they do.  It gives these women a platform to showcase their businesses and reveal and their unique origin story.

In our conversation, we discuss trees, art, finding inspiration and your artistic voice, and of course, women supporting women. 

More information about Robbie’s work can be found at robbiekaye.com. Robbie’s photographs are on display at Crawford Family Wine tasting room in Solvang.  Her resin work is on display at Helen’s Hair Studio in The Salon in Santa Ynez.  And to get a dose of daily inspiration from the women of this amazing community, check out Instagram.com/ladiesofthevalley.

Also mentioned in this episode are Crawford Family Wines, Gypsy Studios, Maverick Saloon, The Salon in Santa Ynez, Helen’s Hair Salon, Brittany Davis Gallery, Valley Wellness Collective, Kelly Fiore, and Deb Davis.

Global Gardens is featured in Small Business Spotlight.

When my friend Abigail mentioned that her father-in-law, real estate broker William Etling, wrote a book about the Valley, I quickly downloaded a copy for my own research. Published in 2005, Sideways in Neverland is a collection from over 300 bi-weekly columns Etling wrote for the Santa Barbara News Press.

Loosely grouped by topic, his columns cover everything from the best surf spots, to the history of the Mission, to jaunts at Neverland Ranch, and his adventures serving as an extra for three days on the set of the movie Sideways. As I immersed myself in these brief vignettes, I discovered Mr. Etling’s deep love for the Valley, its people, and topography, which shines through in his beautifully written prose.  He also has an irreverent fondness for some of the characters that make up our community and details their adventures and misadventures alike with flair.

In our conversation, we discuss Mr. Etling’s childhood as a transplant from North Carolina, his experience writing columns for the Santa Barbara News Press, his adventures in Neverland and Sideways, his business as a real estate agent with Los Olivos Real Estate Co., and his love for the Santa Ynez Valley and its endless natural beauty.

Mr. Etling’s book, Sideways in Neverland, may be downloaded or purchased here or here.

Solvang Children’s Shop, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in business, is featured in Small Business Spotlight. 

Most parents who’ve been lucky enough to have their children taught by Mrs. Carlson will agree that she’s magical.  The children fancy her the Tooth Fairy, and they’re not wrong.  Mrs. Carlson has pulled dozens if not hundreds of wiggly teeth over the years, and she appears in full Tooth Fairy costume each Halloween for the Ballard Halloween parade.  

From leprechaun traps, to runaway gingerbread men, to cities made of blocks and papier mâché animal wonderlands, Mrs. Carlson has done her very best to make kindergarten a magical time for hundreds of children over her nearly 40 years of teaching.

The children also learn responsibility, problem solving, and independence in their brief time with her, skills they will carry with them throughout their lives.  

As this year marks her very last at Ballard Elementary, I sat down with Linda Carlson inside the historic Little Red School house, where she has taught for the last 27 years, to reflect on her career and her deep love, respect, and endless fascination for our littlest scholars.  

Also included in this episode are a few surprise special guests.

Finally, the Giving Ink in Solvang is the first local business featured in Small Business Spotlight.

Every episode I ask my guests to name people who they have come to respect or admire in this community. In Episode 1, Allan Jones mentioned that Boyd Bettencourt played a significant role in the planning commission several decades ago, which shaped our community through its zoning laws.  And while Boyd is no longer with us, Allan recommended I speak with his wife Claire.  

Claire Bettencourt was born on the Old College Ranch, which her family purchased in 1923. At 95 years old, she’s seen this community grow from mostly dairy farms and cattle ranches to vineyards and thriving towns.  With tremendous foresight and a touch of boldness, the Bettencourts planted the first commercial vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley.    

Since the 50’s, the Bettencourts helped shape the community through their work with the Farm Bureau, 4H, and the Planning Commission.  Claire and I look back on her life in the Santa Ynez Valley in our wide-ranging conversation.

When we moved here I sought out a deeper connection with my community, and that feeling progressed into exploring a deeper connection with faith.  While grappling with the question about the role faith should play in my life and that of my family, a while back a friend recommended that I go see Pastor Chris Brown.

Rather than run to church, a place I’ve never felt comfortable, I decided to go with the safer route of friending and following him on Facebook.  Several months later, however, I finally took the plunge and checked out his worship service at Bethania.  When I walked through the door he greeted me by name, never having met me before.  As I listened to his sermon, what became clear is that Chris deeply cares about his congregation, this community, and anybody who is exploring tough questions about God and faith. 

His approach is a little unorthodox: he encourages you to challenge any dogma or assumption you may have learned before about Christianity, and to place these assumptions, dogmas, and tenets in their historical context.  He also welcomes people of all faiths and no faith with equal fervor.  

In our conversation we discuss how he became a pastor, his role in the church and our community, and his views on how Christianity can remain relevant in our lives.

Allan Jones, President of the Santa Ynez Valley Real Estate Company, has been a distinguished resident of the valley since 1965.  The youngest of 4 brothers, the Jones family moved to the Santa Ynez Valley when Allan was just a few weeks old.  In 1977, after their 4H pig  project turned into a pig farm, the family bought and started the Pork Palace, which grew to 800 pigs.  Allan recalls how working daily at the pig farm kept these brothers out of trouble and taught them the value of hard work.  

As a real estate broker for several decades, Allan has a unique knowledge and love of the Valley.  We discussed how in the early days when the founders wanted to create a European style community where smaller towns were surrounded by agricultural farms and ranches, they created zoning regulations to ensure properties outside of the towns remained larger parcels.  These zoning rules naturally control our community’s growth and preserve our rural way of life, as well as the natural beauty of our Valley.

Allan’s commitment to serving the community is second to none.  He’s served as the Solvang July 4th parade announcer for twenty years, and even sits on the board of the Oak Hill Cemetery, among his other community service pursuits.  For his long record of service, he was honored by the Santa Ynez Valley Foundation as the 2018 Man of the Year. 

I met Raiza Giorgi when our children attended preschool together shortly after we moved to the Valley.  We became friends at our bi-monthly MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meetings.  I grew to admire and respect her when I freelanced for a short time as a contributing reporter at the Santa Ynez Valley Star, which she publishes along with Santa Barbara Family & Life Magazine.  

During those early encounters, she expressed her interest in starting a local newspaper.  I watched her take that humble idea and turn it into the Santa Ynez Valley Star, the Valley’s local paper that you can pick up for free at any grocery store or coffee house.  The Star has become the Valley’s trusted source of news and events, public safety information, politics, along with heart warming stories about the people who make a difference serving this community.

Raiza’s passion for reporting the events that matter to this community and her dedication to getting the story right earned her recognition for her tireless coverage of 2017’s Thomas fire and the tragic mudslides that followed in Montecito.  

In our conversation, we discuss her childhood growing up here, her early days as a reporter at the Santa Ynez Valley News, and how she came to publish the Star. We also talk about her toughest experiences reporting on tragic murder-suicides.  Incidentally, our interview took place just a few days before the unspeakably tragic passing of Vanessa Bley and her two babies at Cold Springs Bridge on 154, where Raiza once again put aside her feelings to report the story despite her broken heart for the loss of a valued community member, acquaintance, and fellow mom.

Raiza’s love for and dedication to this Valley comes through in every issue she publishes.