Barney’s Weekend Picks
STAY HOT PLEASE: If the Indian Summer weather
holds, it should be a great weekend to get outdoors. (That’s what
we used to do before TV and All Things Bright and Electronic.)
Here’s some easy stuff: Stroll Alice Keck Park Memorial
Gardens. Once the site of a mansion, then El
Mirasol Hotel, and then proposed as a medium-rise condo
(the courts rejected that), it was a gift to the city from the late
Alice Keck Park.
Lotusland is magnificent, the former Montecito
estate of Madame Ganna Walska, a great beauty and
mediocre opera singer who had an eye for wealthy men and the beauty
of nature. But I have a feeling that many Santa Barbarans have
never heard of the gardens or if they have, never thought of
visiting. You need reservations. To schedule a visit, call visitor
services at 969-9990, between 9 a.m. and noon, Monday through
Friday.
BOO AT THE ZOO: The Santa Barbara
Zoo is open to Halloween kicks Friday through Sunday,
5:30-8:30 p.m., offering ghoulish thrills for little pirates and
princesses. There’ll be a trick or treat trail, a Boo-Choo train
ride, spooky storytelling, nightly costume parade, and goblin
games. Info at 962-5339.
REMEMBER BOOKS? The good folks at
Chaucer’s are opening the pages to their 32nd book
sale Friday through Sunday. Twenty percent off most stuff. At
Loreto Plaza.
EVENING FOR PEACE: The Nuclear Age
Peace Foundation will honor Bianca Jagger
and Blasé Bonpane at its 23rd annual Evening for
Peace, this Saturday at Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort. She’ll
receive the 2006 World Citizenship Award and he will get the 2006
Distinguished Peace Leadership Award.
WITCH IT UP: Start working on your Halloween
outfit, making it crazy as possible and laying in teeth-rotting
candy for the sweet kids that will come knocking at your door. Make
a Jack-o-Lantern. (Where did that name come from, anyway?)
WEEKEND DINING: For fun, drop in at
Dargan’s Irish Pub on Ortega Street just off State
Street, order a Guinness and bowl of Irish stew.
For another quality dining experience, have dinner at Mollie
Ahlstrand’s La Trattoria Mollie on Coast Village
Road. Fine Italian dishes in a beautiful room, but pricey. (This is
not Chef-Boy-R-Dee country.) The delightful Mollie
is liable to stop by your table for a chat. My late father-in-law,
Pete De Lapa, whomped up huge Italian dinners
every single night. “Almost as good as Chef-Boy-R-Dee,” I’d remark.
He laughed.
Back when the kids were small and we were on a tight budget
while camping at Yosemite, we’d build a fire, open a tall can of
you-know-what, and heat it up. After a day romping in the valley,
the hot spaghetti tasted great to the kids.
CATCH A FLICK: Reviews are good for the family
movie Flicka, at the Fiesta Five. A girl, a horse, and a
family farm.
I am not big on the Brit royalty scene, but with Helen
Mirren as the latest Queen Elizabeth,
The Queen sounds watchable at the Riviera, if you really
care about Liz’s relationship with PM Tony Blair after the death of
Princess Di. Check out Roger Durling’s interview with Mirren in
this week’s Indy.
WOODY ALLEN: Tickets for his Dec. 17
New Orleans Jazz Band concert at the Lobero go on
sale Saturday at noon. $125 a pop.
HEEBIE JEEBIE HALLOWEEN: The Santa Barbara
Museum of Natural History will put on a contest,
pumpkin pie-eating contest, live bat show, and more on Saturday, 10
a.m.-4 p.m.
ART SEEN: If you’re tired of looking at the
quirky but fun public art on the sidewalk on State Street, check
out Barnaby Conrad’s work at
Neuvie, 132 Santa Barbara St.
JON STEWART’S COMING: You don’t know who he is?
Stewart is the host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” where he
interviews and satirizes politicians. Tickets go on sale Sunday at
10 a.m. at the Arlington theater for the Nov. 18 appearance at
UCSB’s Events Center at 8 p.m. Gold Circle tickets available to the
public and promising best seats, go for $200. Regular admission is
$70-$90. UCSB students get in for $35.
LAW & MURDER: On Sunday, 5-9 p.m., the
Legal Aid Foundation will present a Law &
Murder Halloween Bash, a mystery dinner theater benefit at Fess
Parker’s Doubletree Resort. Wear costumes. Info at 963-6754.
