Free · Every Thursday
The weekend's best plans, the places that just opened, the homes that changed hands and the local news worth knowing. One quick read, from a local.
One short email every Thursday: the weekend's picks by day, what just opened, the local news worth knowing, and the sunset and beach outlook.
This weekend · Oct 30 to Nov 1
Halloween falls on Saturday, so my picks this weekend run from a kids' planetarium show to two gothic dance programs, and Lyle Lovett wraps things up Sunday at Campbell Hall.
All 12 picks and 93 listingsIn one night at the Granada you get a brand-new State Street Ballet production plus Kronos Quartet playing Philip Glass live.
State Street Ballet stages a newly commissioned Dracula choreographed by Nicolas Blanc, with Kronos Quartet playing Philip Glass's score live onstage alongside the dancers.
Also Sat 2 PMPaint a pumpkin or a wine bottle with fairy lights. The $25 covers all materials plus a glass of wine or Halloween orange punch. Costumes are welcome and families are invited.
The brewery becomes a haunted Renaissance Faire. Joystix plays live from 7 to 9, DJ Frew takes over after, and Zapp Thai serves until 8. Free, with costumes optional and non-alcoholic drinks on hand.
Salty Strings, a Santa Barbara five-piece, plays fast-picking bluegrass on banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar, with folk and Americana mixed in, among the winery's barrels.
Three-time Grammy winner Tom Scott, whose sax is on records by Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and Paul McCartney, plays jazz with Grammy-winning pianist Laurence Hobgood, longtime partner of Kurt Elling.
Selah Dance Collective and Novus Contemporary Ballet pair Chloé Roberts' witch piece Sorcière with Carmilla, a new ballet from Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 vampire novella. General admission, and late seating is limited.
Also Sat 2 PM, Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2 PMAn all-80s Halloween party with The Molly Ringwald Project. It's 21+ and standing room in the stage room; doors open at 7:30, and dinner is served in the back bar beforehand.
Next launch from Vandenberg
Mon Nov 25:42 PM
Jellyfish odds: good Heads south-southeast, passing about 40 miles off the coast.
Thu Nov 56:21 PM
Jellyfish possible Heads south-southeast, passing about 40 miles off the coast.
Mon Nov 97:03 PM
Night launch Heads south-southeast, passing about 40 miles off the coast.
Inside the issue
Short enough to read with your coffee. Specific enough to plan your weekend from.
A handpicked list of plans with the time, the place and why it's worth going, plus a full calendar online.
New restaurants, bars and shops, often spotted in public filings before the sign goes up.
Three notable home sales a week, from the big one to the old soul, with what made each stand out.
Closures, road work, weather and the news that changes your week. Politics and crime stay out unless they change your weekend.
Here is this week's, cut down. The full one runs 12 picks with a few lines on each.
SB Savvy · Thursday
This Weekend in SB: Oct 30 to Nov 1
This weekend: 12 picks
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
See you out there, Zach
New this December
Santa Barbara's holiday lights, pinned by the people who hung them. Add your house, plan a drive, then vote for the best on the South Coast.
From the editor
I'm Zach. I've lived here since 2010, first in Carpinteria and now in Santa Barbara.
Every Thursday I send the short list I'd want myself: what's on this weekend, what just opened, which homes sold and the news that changes your plans.
Hit reply anytime. I read every note, and the best local tips come from readers.
Zach
Editor, SB Savvy
Free, every Thursday
Join your neighbors for one quick read a week about the place we live.