Game On
Summer blacks + whites score high on goal
Summer blacks + whites score high on goal
Photographs by Michael Haber
Produced and styled by Gina Tolleson
Models: Natalia Bonifacci/Ford L.A. and Sebastian Tkacik. Hair by Paul DesMarre/Opus Beauty using Pacifica products. Make-up by Debbie Gallagher/Opus Beauty using Pacifica beauty products. Assisting stylist: Jennie Stierwalt/Your Best Self Stylist. Production assistant: Charlotte Bryant. Interns: Taylor Johnson, Laura Lewis, and Kara Pearson.Polo players : Michael Esparza and Tony Uretz.
Field of Dreams
Every Sunday afternoon from April through October, just inland from Highway 101 in Carpinteria, you can see eight riders wearing white breeches and colorful jerseys, helmets and polished riding boots.
A historical look back at the sport of kings and the legendary lawns of the Santa Barbara Polo Club
Spectators enjoying polo in the 1930s.
By Joan Tapper
Photographs courtesy of the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club
Every Sunday afternoon from April through October, just inland from Highway 101 in Carpinteria, you can see eight riders wearing white breeches and colorful jerseys, helmets and polished riding boots. They gallop across a manicured field in a dazzling display of horsemanship, athletic skill, and hard-driving competition while family and friends watch from the grandstands and grooms tend horses on the sidelines. It’s a festive scene: tailgate picnics beforehand, mid-game interludes when spectators stamp down divots in the grass, and postmatch socializing.
This summer, the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club—the third oldest in the United States—celebrates 104 years of larger-than-life characters, triumphs and losses, family ties, desperate times, and new heights of achievement.
A team stands ready to play.
Inside the vintage clubhouse, the hunter-green walls are lined with decades’ worth of photos of teams accepting the silver cups, bowls, and trophies locked in glass-fronted cases. The club’s story, however, predates the building,
the trophies, and even the adjacent fields. It begins on April 18, 1894, when Santa Barbara’s first exhibition polo match took place at the foot of a Garden Street racetrack as part of a spring flower festival.
Gradually, a local contingent managed to learn the game, which had its roots in Central Asia. Polo owes its modern form and popularity, though, to mid-19th-century British Army officers who learned to play in India and subsequently brought their skills home to England. By 1902, Santa Barbara had its own club with 40 members who played for hundreds of spectators. In those early days, there were enough serious riders—including the town’s mayor, Dr. Elmer Boeseke—to have the group recognized by the United States Polo Association in 1911, marking the official birth of the Santa Barbara Polo Club.
The years between World War I and World War II were Santa Barbara’s golden age for the sport. The mayor’s son, Elmer “Long Legs” Boeseke Jr., was emerging as a nationally known player, and as teams arrived by train, grooms walked their horses through town to fields from the Mesa and Hope Ranch to Montecito. Max Fleischmann, heir to a Cincinnati yeast company fortune and an avid player, moved to Santa Barbara, where he’d visited while in California during World War I. In 1923, he bought a burnt-out eucalyptus grove and began to put in a polo field. After three years of nurturing the turf, the first chukker was played. In 1928, Fleischmann added an adjoining 40 acres with two partly developed polo fields. Though games were played elsewhere on occasion, the SBPC had found its home.
And what a home it was—backed by mountains and near a beach where horses could be exercised, Fleischmann’s fields were blessed by unparalleled weather. The club’s fashionable social scene drew players from Hollywood and beyond. Will Rogers, Spencer Tracy, Walt Disney, Darryl Zanuck, and Jack Warner all took to the field for Sunday games, as did banker Averell Harriman, who owned an East Coast stable.
Changes were underway, though, by 1939, when a British team—including future Polo Hall of Famer Robert Skene—played a practice match in Santa Barbara en route to the celebrated Westchester Cup tournament in New York. Fleischmann had already sold off the fields, and after the United States declared war, the club was transferred
to the Jackson family, who would own it for almost two decades. A year later, all play was suspended as soldiers
were stationed on the grounds.
Lance Reventlow (right)
Polo revived after the war, and in 1948, Santa Barbara became home to the prestigious Pacific Coast Open tournament and its coveted five-foot-high silver and gold trophy. In the years that followed, a new set of personalities entered the scene: team sponsor Vic Graber, future Polo Hall of Famer Billy Linfoot, and the Walkers of Long Beach.
“My whole family was involved in polo,” remembers Daniel Walker, now a club trustee. “Grandfather started
playing after World War II. Father came to Santa Barbara in 1958 specifically to play polo.” There’s a picture on the clubhouse wall, he adds, showing four generations of his family on the field decades later: his grandfather still playing at 90; his father, Kenneth; his brother, Henry, who subbed a few chukkers for their grandfather; himself; and son Matthew.
At the time, Santa Barbara was the place to play in the winter. Robert Skene, an admired 10-goal player, took over as manager in 1960, and his athleticism, knowledge of horses, and strategic acumen inspired and attracted top teams. A year later, there was a new owner, too, when Aloha Airlines founder Ruddy Tongg acquired the club. He was determined to bring the country’s top tournament westward, notes his son Ronnie, who played as a student at UC Santa Barbara and later in 1962 won the U.S. Open with teammate Bob Skene. “The politics in those days were really something,” adds Ronnie Tongg. But somehow his father “was able to swing it and brought the Open to Santa Barbara, not only in 1963 but in 1966.”
Charging the field in the ’20s.
Yes, Santa Barbara polo was glamorous again, with movie stars like Jayne Mansfield and Zsa Zsa Gabor driving up the coast to hand out the trophies. Fess Parker played. So did actress Stefanie Powers. “One of the real characters was Barbara Hutton’s son, Lance Reventlow,” says Joel Baker, who remembers playing as a teenager.
This being the 1960s, there were wild parties in the clubhouse, too, where the dancing would spill out onto the fields. As the decade ended, though, the music stopped, and the silence was deafening. Ruddy Tongg sold the club to the Azusa Citrus Company, which was eyeing the green fields for a supermarket site. It wasn’t the first time the club had been threatened. Carpinteria High School had almost moved to the grounds, but in 1969, with memberships dwindling, the situation looked dire. Bob Skene, who’d been away for a few years, was called back to manage the club. Though Azusa owned the polo fields, it couldn’t get permission from the county to develop them and couldn’t sell as long as the club kept up rent payments on its month-to-month lease—something Skene made certain. “Father said, ‘We have to save the club,’” recalls Skene’s son, Curtis. “He drove around and got checks for dues to pay the rent.”
The Skene’s arriving in Los Angeles from a match in Argentina, 1949.
“Bob Skene kept the club alive,” says Baker. “He and his wife, Elizabeth, put their own money and time into it.” The world-famous polo player attended county supervisors’ meetings to convince them of the club’s value to Santa Barbara. The supervisors had little interest in polo but even less in a supermarket development. Finally, in the early 1970s, club members devised a plan that won county approval: A polo-playing builder named Harry Hicks would put up condominiums on eight acres of the property, generating money for the club to buy the remaining 60 acres from Azusa. Cheers all around…until a real estate downturn sent Hicks into bankruptcy.
Heroically, Ambassador Glen Holden, Dr. Norman Ringer, and Kenneth Walker picked up the flag. Working with the bank that was foreclosing on the condos, in December 1975, the three established a trusteeship in perpetuity, as long as the field is used for polo activities. Holden, a polo player since the mid-1950s and former ambassador to Jamaica, was in charge of operations, essentially paying the bills until the club began to break even. Walker, a banker, supervised the development of tennis courts and 350-stall stables. “Dr. Ringer was president,” Daniel Walker says, adding that even his mother was involved in improving the grounds. “If it’s not a eucalyptus, my mother planted it.”
They set up the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club to manage the property, renovated the clubhouse, refurbished the Pacific Coast Open trophy, and laid the groundwork for the renaissance of the sport.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend a July 9, 2011, event benefitting the American Friends of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
“You can’t beat Southern California, the ocean and mountains, and the weather. People love to come here, and the fields are the best in the world,” insists Holden. “Professionals promote it to their patrons, and the best polo players in the United States play here.”
“Polo is about the intersection of passion for horses, speed, danger, strategy, teamwork, and a life built around one of the most complicated sports in the world,” says Montecito resident Tom Barrack, who has brought his Piocho team to club tournaments for the last 20 years. He adds that the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club “is a sanctuary for horses, players, and fans.”
“It’s a meeting place for the world’s most prestigious men to compete at a sport that they love,” agrees Daniel Walker. “At the end, they’ll shake hands and share a drink at the bar.”
“I have to give credit to God for giving us this place,” says Glen Holden. “But we’re keeping it up. It’s one of the best clubs in the world…a jewel of polo.”
Immortal Glamour
The Four Seasons Resort Biltmore Santa Barbara celebrates 90 years of style, luxury, and fortuitous escapades
The Four Seasons Resort Biltmore Santa Barbara celebrates 90 years of style, luxury, and fortuitous escapades
Guests meandering through 22 acres of lush “jungle gardens.”
Vintage sign off Highway 101 and Coast Village Road.
Written by Katherine Stewart | Photographs by Santa Barbara Vintage Photography, Courtesy of The Four Seasons Biltmore, Beverley Jackson
“In the 1950s, the resort hosted the most glamorous parties of the season, including a fashion show by Louis Vuitton. ”
In the early days, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Bing Crosby, and Lana Turner could be seen lounging by the pool at the Santa Barbara Biltmore. That was in the roaring ’20s and dapper ’30s, around the time the Odell family added the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club to its stable of properties, which included the Clift Hotel in San Francisco.
In the 1950s, the resort hosted the most glamorous parties of the season, including a fashion show by Louis Vuitton, where ladies in white gloves and Jacques Fath evening gowns consorted with the kinds of people who wanted to keep their names out of the papers.
“There was a rumor that Jack Lemmon was having an affair in Santa Barbara,” recalls Beverley Jackson, the longtime guardian and chronicler of Santa Barbara society. “He was a big star at the time. So one day at the hotel I ran into him and said, ‘I have to ask you, Jack, is this rumor true?’ He said, “It is true, I am having a love affair. I love my Rolls Royce more than anything in the world! And the only person I allow to touch it is a mechanic in Santa Barbara. So that’s why I’m here once a month!’”
Jackson smiles at the memory. “Of course,” she adds, “Red Skelton was having an affair in Santa Barbara. I ran into them at the Biltmore, too.”
But there were rules, after all, and they were not to be flouted. Men with hair longer than an inch above the collar were refused entry into the restaurant. “One day Grace Dreyfus, who was the wife of Louis Dreyfus, the ambassador to Afghanistan, happened to have the heir apparent to the throne of Afghanistan with her,” says Jackson. “He was the son of the king, and she wanted to take him to lunch. And he wasn’t allowed in because his hair fell a half inch afoul of the rule.”
The resort continued to play a vital role in the ceremonial life of the city. The parties here have always produced stories retold long after the guests go home.
“The night before Christmas, they organized a posada, where you do a procession and knock on the doors and ask for room at the inn,” Jackson says. “Back then, the dining room kind of looked like Maxim’s in Paris in the old days: beaux arts decor with red velvet banquettes. The dinner guests were given candles, and a man who worked at the hotel led the procession. We ended in the lobby, where we were entertained by professional flamenco dancers, and there was a giant piñata with long sticks for the kids. It was great fun, and they did it every year.”
The big names have all stayed here, but the hotel will never tell you who they are. Here, at least, they take security seriously. Still, we know that Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges have graced the property’s 22 acres of landscaped pathways. And when Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen stayed at the resort in anticipation of a joint appearance at the Arlington Theatre, they crashed a wedding party, posing for poolside photos with the bride and groomsmen.
“We are entering our 90th year with a whole new perspective—keeping luxury at the forefront, sharing anecdotes from our past, and welcoming the future with new and exciting endeavors.”
The property’s grand ballrooms, lido decks, and moonlight-filled courtyards have long served as settings for Santa Barbara’s most important social events and celebrations. Merryl Brown, creative director of the Montecito-based Merryl Brown Events, chose the resort as the site for the Pacific Pride Foundation’s Royal Ball and United Way Red Feather Ball. “It is my absolute favorite venue for event design and production in Santa Barbara,” she says. “It is consistently excellent. Their service and catering are top-notch. It is a beautiful representation of all that our city has to offer.”
The Biltmore has always taken its position in the community seriously. After the Thomas Fire and subsequent debris slide, it played a key role in the recovery efforts, providing a staging area for fire fighters and other first responders. More than 45 employees within the Four Seasons company volunteered to serve as members of a task force, participating in cleanup efforts and fund-raising and working with the United Way of Santa Barbara and The American Red Cross Central California.
The property, which reopens this summer, is commemorating its 90th anniversary with some unique partnerships, including Sunstone Vineyards & Winery, which is producing two varietals blended by the resort team; the award-winning photographer Gray Malin, who created a series of photographs at the Coral Casino with a 1960s resort vibe (a portion of which is being donated to the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade); and OPI Nail Polish, which is creating a resort-themed collection of colors.
“We are so proud and excited to celebrate our 90th year,” says general manager Karen Earp. “We are keeping luxury at the forefront, sharing anecdotes from our past, and welcoming the future with new and exciting endeavors.”
See the story in our digital edition
Happy Kids, Happy Wife, Happy Life
Kevin and Christine Costner cruising through their years together
Kevin Costner Sails Into A Milestone Year—Three Movies, Seven Children, and Six Decades Of Living True
Written by Gina Tolleson | Photographs by Dewey Nicks
“I was at your 40th birthday party, you know...” I reminded him recently at his 60th.
“Wanna go back?” he chuckled. We both thought about it for a second, and both shook our heads no, laughing in relief. He immediately asked, “You alright?”
And that’s the moment. The moment when you feel like you are the only one in the room, and he connects and listens. That’s Kevin’s real talent. You aren’t star struck, and he isn’t acting. Be prepared for a blunt yet thoughtful, straightforward response or advice. You won’t get patronized or an “everything will be okay.” But, somehow, just his authentic intent of looking out for you makes everything okay.
It’s a story that runs through most of the toasts and conversations from friends and family that evening, an intimate circle of an unexpected familial entourage. There are no other celebrities, actors, high-octane entertainment executives (his lawyer and agent did make the cut), or up-and-comers in the room, instead, it’s his three younger ones—Cayden, 7, Hayes, 5, and Grace, 4—gallivanting freely through a maze of balloons with people gathered from all stages of his life, including his high school baseball coach, elementary buddies, former assistants, his three oldest—Annie, 30, Lily, 28, and Joe, 27—and his wife of 10 years, Christine. He genuinely seems happiest and more interested in hanging out with this gang more than anyone else in Hollywood.
“I want my kids to see
that sometimes, you
have to put what you have
on the line when you
really believe in something.”
Fatherhood the second time around for Kevin isn’t much different than the first. The kids have always been a priority while he was making his career in film, whether it be coming directly off set and serenading Annie in an Elvis costume for her 16th birthday to showing up to every game, championship or performance for Lily and Joe, teaching Cayden and Hayes how to fish in the streams at their Aspen home or making coffee every morning and watching Frozen a hundred times over with Grace. “It’s not about if I have more or less time to spend with them at this phase in my life,” he says, “it’s more about can I still get on the ground and play just as hard and take them to do the fun stuff. It’s my children that are the ones who sacrifice when I go away to make movies. I’m proud and respect them for that.”
It’s his children that he wants to know that their dad wasn’t afraid of anything. And his latest project might prove it more than others. Black or White is based on the experience writer/director Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger) had in helping raise his biracial nephew. It’s Kevin’s second collaboration with Binder, and even though early on Kevin recognized the quality of the script, it became obvious that the movie was not going forward unless he stepped up and paid for it himself. “My problem is I don’t fall out of love with something, and when it looked like the movie wasn’t going to get made, I went to Christine and we made a family decision to back this movie from our own pockets,” he says. “I want my kids to see that sometimes, you have to put what you have on the line when you really believe in something.” The movie takes contemporary racial divides head-on, and Kevin doesn’t play it safe in character or at the box office. “We aren’t having real discussions about race in real life or in our culture,” he says. “I’m not going to run away from it, I’m running right toward it. There are things that get said in this movie that a lot of us wish we could say. It was important to me and Christine for it to be an authentic look at where we are with race issues today, and I think we did that.”
See the story in our digital magazine
Fate & Fortune
Interiors guru Paul Fortune and husband Chris Brock create their well-designed destiny in the mountains of Ojai
Interiors guru Paul Fortune and husband Chris Brock create their well-designed destiny in the mountains of Ojai
written by GINA TOLLESON | photographs by DEWEY NICKS
Since moving to Ojai last October, Paul Fortune and Chris Brock have by all means gotten back to the basics. Albeit, basics for this interior design icon (Fortune has spruced up Marc Jacobs’s New York townhouse, Aileen Getty’s Los Angeles palatial home, art world It Girl Dasha Zhukova’s Saint Bart’s compound, not to mention reviving Hollywood’s deco landmark Sunset Tower Hotel) is a picturesque two-bedroom bungalow and a vintage Rolls-Royce up a dusty trail while drinking in the “Pink Moment” sunsets on the Topatopa Mountains. A far cry from the starlets and stimuli of Los Angeles, where the recently married couple of 14 years lived the luxe life in Laurel Canyon, and lead successful design, floral, and garden businesses. “After 30 years, we needed somewhere that felt restorative, not redundant,” says Fortune. “We found that Ojai fit the bill.” And did it ever. While both practice yoga and meditation daily, Brock is now exploring large ceramic forms with art deco influence, and Fortune continues consulting with clients and is considering opening a gallery for “really rare and beautiful art, ceramics, and antiquities,” he says. Herewith, we had the fortune (pun intended) to spend a day with the sartorial duo, indulging in opera, paying homage to David Hockney, and discovering that a Paul Fortune-decorated aluminum trailer might just be the chicest guesthouse ever.
What was the final or definitive push to leave Los Angeles? We found that the things we liked about L.A. were fast disappearing and we didn’t like what they were being replaced with. After Les Deux Cafes closed (where we met in fact, and which I designed and was a partner in), we didn’t really have a place to go. We like tablecloths and a place where the noise level doesn’t make your ears bleed. The Sunset Tower Hotel was a final try at restoring some of the old Hollywood glamour we loved, but it was overrun by the new Hollywood and that was that!
What’s a typical day for you both now that you’re off the beaten path? We do yoga and qigong classes with Ingrid Boulting at The Sacred Space, lunch at Farmer and the Cook, and gardening. I still work on projects and have an office in L.A. We tootle around in our 1967 Rolls-Royce and visit the amazing nurseries. We love going to the opera in Santa Barbara and Music Academy of the West concerts and visit mystics and sages for chakra cleaning. We have no television and catch up with tons of books and periodicals.
Your approach and aesthetic for your current cottage? Pared down and easy. Just the basics but with a touch of California glamour.
Any particular pieces that you will never get rid of? My Charlie Fine painting, which got a new lease of life here and some early Roy McMakin pieces that are very Ojai. Also, our giant staghorn ferns.
What is your design signature? The not-done no-particular-period look. Considered and comfortable. Refined. What’s wrong with a little refinement?