Ethan Stewart, Author at The Santa Barbara Independent

News By Ethan Stewart | Thu Nov 29, 2007 | 6:00am

Naples Revised Draft EIR Released; Hearings Ahead

Battle stations are being readied this week as the war over the future of Naples-that 485-acre slice of coastal California that sits at the southern gateway to Gaviota-is once again set to resume. After a nearly 15-month wait for the recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) to be released for public consumption, the massive document hit the streets just before Thanksgiving week, setting the stage for what promises to be a passionate public hearing on the subject in early December.

Visual Arts By Ethan Stewart | Thu Nov 29, 2007 | 6:00am

New Photographs of Paintings by David Florimbi and SurfLand by Joni Sternbach.

As varied and expressive as the moods of the ocean are the personalities and purposes of the men and women who ride her waves. In a fabulous and occasionally brilliant rendering of this variety, Edward Cella Art + Architecture offers up two separate collections of anything but traditional photographs.

Business By Ethan Stewart | Wed Nov 21, 2007 | 6:00am

Brown Pelican Set to Fly Away

An era will come to a close this week-end, as the Brown Pelican Restaurant-nestled sandside at Arroyo Burro Beach for the past 25 years-is set to serve its final meal on Sunday, November 25. A purveyor of beachfront breakfasts, sunset cocktails, and classic California dinner cuisine, the Pelican’s long-term lease with the County of Santa Barbara-which was not renewed this past fall-is set to expire at the end of the year, forcing the family-run business to close its doors.

Business By Ethan Stewart | Thu Nov 15, 2007 | 6:00am

J7 Surfboards Goes Downtown

For a town steeped in homegrown surf culture, something funny has been happening recently in Santa Barbara proper. The classic surf shop-a simple affair offering the basics of custom boards, bikinis, leashes, wetsuits, and the occasional T-shirt-has become an endangered species.

News By Ethan Stewart | Sat Nov 10, 2007 | 4:11pm

Dying Species, Shrinking Habitats

A new UCSB study sheds light on the ongoing biodiversity debate.

News By Ethan Stewart | Thu Nov 08, 2007 | 6:00am

Coast Guard Suspends Approval Process for New LNG Project

With eyes on more than 400 environmental and safety concerns, the U.S. Coast Guard officially stopped the clock last week on the approval process for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project planned for the southern stretches of the Santa Barbara Channel.

News By Ethan Stewart | Thu Nov 01, 2007 | 6:00am

Budget Guru Resigns Amid School District Money Woes

The fallout from the Santa Barbara School District’s ongoing money mystery continued last week as Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Ed Diaz unexpectedly stepped down from his post. Diaz’s decision to quit after only 11 months on the job is an eyebrow-raising development in a district that is struggling to explain how the board went from making more than $2 million in supposedly necessary program cuts this past spring to having an apparent multimillion-dollar surplus just a few months later.

Cover Story By Ethan Stewart | Thu Nov 01, 2007 | 6:00am

Valley Grown and City Pressed, Jaffurs Wine Cellars Harvests Its ’07s

With the hustle and bustle of midday Milpas Street traffic providing an unexpected backdrop, 14 tons of syrah grapes arrived on Santa Barbara’s Eastside last week, their sweet, intoxicating aroma detectable from several blocks away. Grown in the sun-kissed climate of the Santa Ynez Valley and plucked fat from the vine just hours before, crate after crate of the deeply hued purple delights were being forklifted off a flat-bed truck parked on Montecito Street just outside Jaffurs Wine Cellars, which received the delivery into its state-of-the-art production facility for the next step in the fruit’s seasonal journey.

News By Ethan Stewart | Thu Oct 25, 2007 | 6:00am

Sierra Club’s Executive Director Carl Pope on Global Warming, Water, and Al Gore

Ethan Stewart speaks with head greenie and Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope.

Visual Arts By Ethan Stewart | Thu Oct 25, 2007 | 6:00am

Glass Love Honors the Art of Surf

There is a famous quote from the annals of surf history in which former world champion Nat Young, addressing the derogatory stereotypes of wave riding and the people who pursue it, comments, “We went wrong when we told everyone it was a sport.” Since the wave of surfing mania first broke across the landscape of pop culture-blasting a Beach Boys soundtrack and carrying a cute California girl named Gidget all the way from the Pacific Ocean to Ohio and back-it has been gobbled up by the masses like some sort of sweet but hollow brain candy: ideal fodder for commercials, crappy movies, and short-lived, neon-infused fashion movements that viciously betray the true underpinnings of the original Sport of Kings.

Author: Ethan Stewart