Tag Archives: LeslieDinaberg.com

Elements surprise is really good service

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A la carte advice for restaurant owners: Staff must remember who’s serving whom

Arigato in Santa Barbara

Arigato in Santa Barbara

I recently spent a wonderful evening dining out with friends. We started with dinner at Arigato, which is my favorite sushi place. The sushi is consistently divine, but the appetizers are really my favorite. I especially recommend trying the “Locals Only” and “Rincon Magic.”

After dinner we ambled over to Elements — in the old Cafe Figaro space across from the courthouse lawn — for wonderful desserts. We actually had enough people in our group to order the entire dessert menu, a fantasy come true for me. If I could just win the lottery so I could pick up the tab for the entire room, my restaurant fantasies would be complete.

Although it pains me to say it, my favorite thing at Elements was the Cool Blue Hawaiian Granita, a cross between a pina colada, a slurpee and a Popsicle. It wasn’t chocolate, which legally disqualifies it from the dessert category, but it was still yummy.

While my loved ones can always be counted on for good company, and most of our restaurant excursions result in pretty good food, one thing made this evening unique in Santa Barbara dining experiences — we had really good service.

Not “really good for Santa Barbara service,” but really good service. Period.

Dear Santa Barbara restaurant owner:

You’ve lowered our expectations enough. Unless 100 percent of your proceeds are going to charity or you’re trying to lose money in some kind of tax shelter scheme I don’t want to be part of, it’s time to get with the program on your service.

Not to get all uppity about things, but I came to your establishment to be served. If I want fries with that, I’ll drive through In and Out Burger, but when I come to your restaurant I expect a little more pampering.

I shouldn’t have to flap my arms like a dodo bird to get your hostess’s attention when I walk in the door. She should be waiting to greet me, and seat me, whether or not my entire party has arrived.

And while we’re on the subject of seating, unless the restaurant is full, would you kindly not seat me on top of the other patrons. Spare me my neighbor’s discussion of her affair with her boss and her gynecologist appointment (both of whom I probably know) and let the waiter walk the extra five steps that separate our tables.

And if I’ve got kids with me, let the waiter walk an extra ten steps. Your patrons will thank you, I promise. While we’re on the subject of dining with small children, remember, they’ve got short attention spans. Smart waitresses, like Isabel at Petrini’s, know that crayons won’t keep them as quiet as crackers, and that parents with kids under five are fast with the tips when you’re fast with the food.

I have never felt rushed when a waiter left the bill right after dinner, but I have been late to movies (or settled for my second choice at the multiplex) when the waiter apparently decided to go wax his car before deigning to let us know what our meal cost.

Speaking of speed, as laid back as Santa Barbara is, I only have an hour for lunch. Going to a restaurant should not be the equivalent of shopping at Ross Dress For Less, where you can find really great bargains if you’re willing to invest 57 minutes to find a pair of matching shoes and 23 minutes to wait in line to find out how much they cost.

I’ve already spent 17 minutes trying to park. I’d like to spend less than that waiting to order. After all, I’ve got a column to write and I get a little bit cranky when I’m hungry.

For comments about Santa Barbara’s renowned service economy, Leslie Dinaberg can be contacted at email

Originally published in South Coast Beacon

Schools share in afternoon recreation programs

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“I find myself in a position to share good news, good news, good news,” said Nancy Rapp, the acting Parks and Recreation Director, addressing a joint session of the Santa Barbara City Council and the Board of Education. “This is probably the strongest relationship that we have had in years.”

The Parks and Recreation Department shares facilities with the school districts and does the after-school scheduling for the fields. Among the projects Rapp said are planned: improved lighting at La Colina and Santa Barbara Junior High Schools, renovations at Ortega Park which will include easier pickup and drop off for Santa Barbara Junior High students, and the exploration of synthetic turf use at various facilities.

She also reviewed the status of 14 different joint-funded elementary school and junior high after school programs. The elementary programs include A-OK! Afterschool Opportunities for Kids, which costs parents $25 per month and targets underachieving students at Franklin, Harding, McKinley, Adams and Cleveland Schools; and the Recreation Afterschool Program (RAP), which is open to all students at Caesar Chavez, Open Alternative, Washington, Roosevelt and Monroe Schools, and costs $74 per month. While the A-OK! Program is only open to qualified students, the RAP program is open to all, and Rapp emphasized how inexpensive that program is compared to fees between $200 and $315 per month at the YMCA and other similar programs.

The city also administers junior high afterschool sports and arts programs at all four junior high schools, which cost participants $36 per semester.

All of the publicly funded programs at the elementary and junior high schools have scholarships available as well, said Rapp. For more information call 564-5495.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on October 14, 2004.

Girls get out the vote at Girls Inc.

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If girls ruled the world, John Kerry would be our next president, at least according to the mock elections that took place Tuesday as part of the Girls Inc. “She Votes” campaign, an initiative to educate and empower girls and their communities in the 2004 elections.

Along with learning about the political process and the presidential candidates, the girls also helped register voters for the Nov. 2 election in which all 63 women in the House of Representatives are up for reelection, as are five out of 14 women in the Senate.

“You may be used to seeing young people at your door or in the mall asking you to buy candy or wrapping paper to invest in their future. Our girls will be asking something much greater, that you invest in their future by going to the polls on Election Day and casting a vote,” said Monica Spear, Executive Director of Girls Inc. “Participation in our democracy is the greatest gift we can give to the next generation. The choices that we make will shape the future that they will inherit.”

“Research shows that one of the strongest indicators that a young adult will vote is exposure to the polls as a child,” said Spear. “… We want to use our influence to change future trends and get girls and young women to the polls.”

Over 200 girls had a chance to experience the voting process first hand at Girls Inc’s Santa Barbara and Goleta sites.

Peabody Charter School fifth graders Grace Reynolds and Nicole Fernandez both said they planned to register to vote “for real” as soon as they turn 18.

When queried about whether they had talked about the election in school, Nicole said, “Yes, in a magazine. They have John Kerry riding an elephant and George Bush riding a donkey.”

In the election at the Santa Barbara facility, Monroe 1st grader Celena Rose had only 37 of the other girls join her in casting a vote for Bush. Harding School 4th grader Mercedes Padilla went with the 76-vote majority, because, “Kerry wants the world to be respectful.”

“He’s going to be a good president,” added Grace.

We’ll find out on Nov. 2 how in sync the girls are with the rest of the country. Nine of them voted for Ralph Nader.

For a chance to talk politics with some of the girls, why not join in the first annual Girls Inc. 5K Family Fun Run/Walk at the Lemon Festival on Saturday at Girsh Park. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. with all proceeds going toward the final $1.25 million needed of the $7 million Capital Campaign to build a Girls Inc. facility in Goleta. For more information visit www.girlsincsb.org, call 963.4757 x14 or email edarby@girlsincsb.org.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on October 14, 2004.

Ellwood teacher gets an A+ for Energy

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While most teachers were kicking up their heels with joy at the end of the last school year, Ellwood’s Deborah Gans was digging hers in … to submit a last minute grant application. The effort paid off: last week global energy provider BP awarded Gans $10,000 to help teach her sixth grade students about energy and how it affects their lives.

The end of the school year is crazy for teachers, especially those with graduating sixth graders. “It’s total chaos,” said Gans, who didn’t even think about the “A+ for Energy” application until about June 22. It was due the end of that month. Gans said she just started dreaming about what she would do with her class if she had that $10,000, an unheard of program budget in these tight economic times.

Among the wish list projects Gans and her class will now get to see happen: the creation of solar cars and a solar car raceway; field trips to oil rigs, a sanitation plant and a landfill; creation of an electronics circuitry lab; and water wheels and wind energy demonstrations.

The other Ellwood sixth graders will also benefit from Gans’ grant. Each class will get its own electronics lab, digital camera and other specialized equipment. Sixth grade students will also design an online scavenger hunt and a coloring book for the primary students, to help share what they’ve learned about energy use and conservation.

Gans also plans to get the other Goleta Schools in the act by challenging them to a competition to cut the most electrical and water usage and recycle the largest percentage of reusable material. “The winning school gets a prize … it’s going to be an ice cream feed,” she said.

BP’s A+ for Energy program awarded $2 million in cash grants to 1,075 California K-12 teachers who use innovative ideas to teach kids about energy and energy conservation. The winning teachers and their principals, including Gans and Ellwood School Principal JoAnne Meade Young, attended a celebratory awards event Oct. 5 at Universal Studios’ Globe Theatre.

“The party was really nice and they even paid for our substitutes,” said Gans, showing off fun pictures of herself and Young starring with Marilyn Monroe, the Nutty Professor and Doc Brown from Back to the Future. “My favorite picture is actually this one,” she said. “They had a red carpet for us.”

“The program is all about enhancing teachers’ efforts to create a spark in a child’s mind, encouraging them to reach further, be creative and excel,” said Irene A. Brown, BP’s Director, California Community Relations.

Gans was the only South Coast teacher selected from more than 5,000 applications from all over California. Each grant recipient will also get a scholarship to attend a five-day energy training conference hosted by the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project in Long Beach in the summer of 2005.

“BP (probably best known to Californians probably through ARCO, its West Coast gasoline brand) knows that teachers set the standard for excellence in education,” said Brown.

Sounds like an A+ to us.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on October 14, 2004.

From the Single Files

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What did Vieja Valley’s Ashley Scatena learn on The Bachelor? The reality of life is preferable to TV.

A kindergarten teacher straight out of central casting, Vieja Valley School’s Ashley Scatena is sweet, petite and charming. So what was she doing starring on ABC’s comical catfight “reality show,” The Bachelor?

It wasn’t to meet the man of her dreams.

It wasn’t the money; the women aren’t paid to participate. They even have to supply their own clothes.

It wasn’t the potential stardom; unlike many bachelorettes, Scatena has no ambitions to become an actress or a model.

Scatena was simply motivated by the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at a reality TV show. She said the whole process was fascinating.

“I can’t watch a show the same way again,” she said.

She was particularly struck by how long it took to film a single scene. For example, the rose ceremonies — during which the women find out if they’ve been chosen by the bachelor to go on to the next round — took about nine hours to film and resulted in only about nine minutes of airtime.

Last week’s rose ceremony was the last one for Scatena, since Byron the bachelor did not choose her to continue.

While Scatena felt badly about not staying on longer, she was hardly heartbroken. She said she knew right away that the Las Vegas fisherman wasn’t the man for her, but figured she might as well enjoy the experience.

With 25 women sharing three small bedrooms and two bathrooms, and completely cut off from the outside world — no phones, no Internet, no television, no books, no magazines — it’s no wonder they became close friends.

“We spent 23 hours a day talking and getting to know each other. It was just a great way to bond with women my age,” said the 31-year-old. “And I realized that we’ve all had the same dating experience all over the country.”

Scatena’s looking forward to November, when the women will film a “Girls Tell All” episode and give the inside scoop on their experiences on the show. Right now they are not supposed to be talking among themselves, to help keep up the suspense — as well as the secrecy — of the show.

As for the over-the-top drama of some of the women, Scatena said they were mostly just playing to the camera and giving the producers what they wanted.

But being dramatic was the last thing Scatena wanted. Ever aware of her role model status — especially among her previous students — she was very careful not to do anything she would regret.

“These kids are my biggest fans, and they don’t even care that I was on TV,” she said, as two little girls shyly presented her with some yellow leaves. “Yesterday I got a marble and a paper clip.”

It’s hard to be a diva in a class full of 5-year-olds.

“My students are my saving grace right now,” she said. “When everything else is crazy you can come in here and tie 10 pairs of shoes and blow someone’s nose and open their string cheese, and you forget all about The Bachelor.”

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on October 7, 2004.

Taking a trip down memory aisle

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© Lissdoc | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

© Lissdoc | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

For better or for worse, the pictures of our past only tell part of our stories.

Weddings and high school dances — certain life events feel more like scrapbook pages in the making than actual experiences. The excitement builds with the planning, like a movie score playing in the background leading up to these special days.

While the vision of perfection varies widely from bride to bride, almost every woman I’ve ever known (myself included) has a dream of the perfect wedding. There’s the cake, the flowers, the bridesmaids, the groom (a mere supporting player), and then there’s the dress.

To my knowledge, I am the only person in the universe ever to have bought the very first wedding dress I tried on.

I had to try on another 3,781 dresses to verify that the first one was perfect, but that’s beside the point. I knew exactly how I wanted to look on my wedding day (like myself, only perfect) and would have gone to the ends of the Earth to find the dress that would magically play up my assets while hiding my imperfections. My mom, my sister and I went to all 347 bridal salons between Santa Barbara and Orange County before buying that very first dress back at Rumours right here in town. I recently re-experienced some of that “finding-the-perfect-wedding-dress frenzy” with our art director, Andrea Harbour, who is getting married in the Bahamas this weekend. After staking out every bridal boutique between San Diego and San Francisco (and a few in her hometown of Dallas), Andrea finally found the Monique Lhuillier gown of her dreams and was able to order it from Rumours.

I think all of us at the Beacon got a lump in our throats when she had her final fitting last Wednesday. The fitting occurred in our conference room. On deadline.

By the way, if you found her garter belt in your paper, could you please return it? Thanks.

I know Andrea will remember the dress, and the fact that her original destination was taken out by Hurricane Ivan. I hope she’ll also remember the way the skirt felt swirling around her feet, the sound of the ocean in the background, the pink sand in her toes, and the way her soon-to-be husband Rich looks the first time he sees her in that once-in-a-lifetime white confection.

Shopping for the perfect dress is part of the buildup to those big days, the ones we take all the pictures of. Pictures that we stuff into boxes and swear we’ll put into albums real soon.

While Andrea’s walking down the aisle a continent away, the San Marcos High homecoming princesses will be showing off their own dresses as they’re escorted onto the field Friday night. My first homecoming dress was a horror in dusty rose taffeta, but still a step up from the emerald green Quiana number in my junior year.

Have you seen what high school girls wear to homecoming lately? It’s appalling. Classic black cocktail dresses. Tasteful designer sheathes. What kind of embarrassment-free memories are these poor girls creating for themselves?

If they can’t share my tortured fashion memories of crimped hair and day-glow eye shadow, then hopefully Carmel Aguirre-Kolb, Kaitland Ely, Alma Flores, Katie Levien and Sarah McGinnis will remember the sounds of their classmates cheering, the October nip in the air, and those looks of awe and pride on their fathers’ faces as they escort them to the 50-yard line.

And when they get to the homecoming dance, I hope they remember the details. The music, the room decorations, how beautiful their friends look in their too-grown-up dresses and the look in mom’s eyes when you introduce her to your date. In short, all the stuff you can’t see in the cheesy photos in front of the fireplace and the even cheesier photos in front of that fake sunset background at the dance.

It’s the story behind the pictures that make the real memories.

And I promise to get it all in my album tomorrow. No, really.

———————————————————-

Having caught nostalgia fever, loyal Royal Leslie Dinaberg will be spending time with her yearbooks this homecoming weekend.

She can be contacted at email

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on October 7, 2004.

St. Vincent’s project digs into future for housing

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170 affordable units will be ready in 2006

The largest affordable housing project in Santa Barbara’s history broke ground Wednesday. When completed in early 2006, the St. Vincent’s affordable housing project will provide 170 new low-cost rental units to the community, 95 of which will be reserved for low-income seniors, and 75 of which will be for low-income families.

The project, located at 4200 Calle Real near Highway 154, has taken more than seven years of planning, fund raising, negotiating and coordinating between St. Vincent’s Daughters of Charity, Mercy Housing, the city, the county, the Hope and Santa Barbara school districts, builders Melchiori Construction and Walton Construction, and various other government and nonprofit entities.

“Although they say it takes a village to raise a child, apparently it takes a universe to raise a house,” Sister Amy Bayley of Mercy Housing said as she thanked the many people who worked to bring the project to fruition.

The total combined cost of the housing development, improvements ments to existing administrative buildings, creation of an adult day health center, and establishment of an operating endowment is estimated at $57 million.

“Rejoice with us. The dream of providing a safe haven for families and seniors is finally becoming a reality. We are thrilled that we are able to respond to this need for the Santa Barbara community,” said Sister Alicia Martin of St. Vincent’s.

Part of the reason the project took so long to break ground was its 19-acre site, which has a creek running through it. The property also had to be annexed from into the city from the county in order to make it eligible for redevelopment agency funds, said city housing and redevelopment manager Dave Gustafson.

Mitigations to the school districts were another factor that had to be negotiated. Because the property feeds into the Hope Elementary School District and the Santa Barbara High School District, they will share the $400,000 development fee to help offset the cost of providing additional classrooms, teachers and other support for the students the project is expected to bring.

The Hope district only has three schools, so the impact of the estimated 60 additional students is much more significant than it will be on the high school district. In recognition of this, the St. Francis Hospital Foundation generously pledged an additional $150,000 to help the district, said school board member Michael Underwood

Even though St. Francis Medical Center closed before the St. Vincent’s project got off the ground, its owner, Catholic Healthcare West, still met the financial obligation to the schools, said Bayley.

The site is currently zoned as part of the Vieja Valley School District, although that might change.

“The board is always looking to make sure that the socioeconomic balance is spread as equally as possible within the district … so that will be something that we be re-evaluating … in addition to our enrollment that we have, and the availability at each of our three school sites,” Underwood said.

Mercy Housing will act as landlord for both the senior and the family units, and expects to begin taking applications late next year. Households with incomes at or below 60 percent of area median income ($38,820 for a family of four) will be eligible for the two-, three-, and four-bedroom family units. The one-bedroom senior apartments will be available to seniors with a head of household 62 years or older, with incomes at or below 50 percent of area median income ($22,650 for a one-person household or $25,900 per year for a two-person household).

Originally published in South Coast Beacon

What Do They Mean?

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Decoding the language of housing

Are you confused by the bureaucrat-speak often used to describe various housing elements and policies? We were, too, so we put together a glossary to help you understand the language.

Affordable Housing

In the city of Santa Barbara the term means households should not be required to pay more than 30 percent of their gross monthly income on rent and utilities, or 35 percent on house payments, homeowners’ association dues, insurance and property taxes, and that the unit should remain affordable to subsequent residents or owners throughout the term of the affordability controls. Specific affordability requirements vary depending upon whether the housing is for rental or sale.

Area Median Income (AMI)

The Housing and Urban Development Department determines the “Area Median Income” for areas throughout the nation, and updates the figure approximately yearly. Municipalities use this figure as a basis for calculating the maximum rents and maximum sale prices permitted under various affordable housing programs. The current annual AMI for a family of four in this area is $64,7000.

The city of Santa Barbara uses the following guidelines to define income:

Income Percentage of Category/Area Median Income

Very low Income 50% or below

Low Income +50% – 80%

Moderate Income +80% – 120%

Middle Income +120% – 160%

Upper-Middle Income +160% – 200%

Density Bonus

When a municipality allows development of a greater number of units than would normally be allowed under the existing zoning. In general, as a trade-off, some of the units on the site are then subject to rent restrictions or resale controls.

Inclusionary Housing Programs

Designed to increase the availability of housing opportunities for middle-income and upper-middle income households. Programs, which vary throughout the South Coast, include requirements for larger projects to provide a specified number of inclusionary units within the project or pay in-lieu fees to be used toward producing more housing at an alternate site.

Sweat Equity

A term used by Habitat for Humanity in which recipients of low-cost housing are required to put in a certain number of hours of labor to build the house.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on October 7, 2004.

Bridging the divide on the fields of play

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Youth soccer in small town USA. Photo shot by Derek Jensen (Tysto), 2005-September-17, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Youth soccer in small town USA.
Photo shot by Derek Jensen (Tysto), 2005-September-17, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

When you get right down to the divots, polo and soccer have a lot of similarities.

I recently had a weekend that truly exemplified what life is like in Santa Barbara: I spent Saturday on the soccer field and Sunday on the polo field.

At first glance, these two fields seemed to have nothing in common beyond their sneeze-inducing allergens that battle hopelessly with my Claratin prescription (now available over the counter). However, as a trained UCLA sociology major, I am qualified to speculate on sociocultural connections where they exist and to invent them where they don’t.

Both sports involve opportunities for off-roading — you get to park on a beautifully manicured lawn at the polo fields and what could easily be a BMX course at the UCSB soccer fields.

High-density housing tastefully abuts the mountains overlooking the polo fields, while graduate student housing will soon replace the soccer fields, if the university’s plans are ever approved.

Also, there were members of the Firestone family at both venues, which certainly bodes well for the next Board of Supervisors. If Brooks and his offspring can bridge the gap between soccer and polo, surely there’s hope for the battle between north and south Santa Barbara County.

Both sports involve opportunities for mayhem — men charging on horses trying to hit a ball at a goal, and 5-year-old boys and girls running full out trying to kick anything they can, including their teammates.

Both sports apparently also involve cartwheels; although at soccer they take place on the field and at polo they were strictly on the sidelines. Polo is more kid-friendly than you’d think. My son and his buddy ran up and down the grandstand between chukkers, while little girls exhibited spontaneous bursts of gymnastic skill.

Little boys are likely to burst into spontaneous bouts of wrestling and possibly even multiple rounds of jokes, but I have yet to see my son or his teammates do even one cartwheel on the field when the game is going on.

The boys also could care less what color their uniforms are, let alone whether their hair’s brushed, while one adorably pink-clad girls team (the Rainbow Princess Sparkle Dolphins or something) had matching French braids, which were great for keeping their hair out of their faces during cartwheels.

A visit to the soccer field offers opportunities to say hi to everyone you’ve ever met in Santa Barbara, without the conversational expectations of a cocktail party. If Marty Blum and Lois Capps were smart, they’d hold their office hours during AYSO games and get a tan at the same time.

The polo match was more about people watching than people talking. If you’ve ever lusted after a straight-out-of “My Fair Lady” hat at Nordstrom’s and decided you had nowhere to wear it, attending a polo match gives you the perfect excuse. It’s also a great place to bring out that wedding gift picnic basket you thought only people in Town and Country Magazine ever used.

At the soccer field I looked anything but fashionable trying to juggle enormous folding chairs, soccer balls, juice boxes and a small, rowdy boy.

Did I mention that my sociology training qualifies me to speculate on sociocultural connections that may or may not exist?

While snack time is one of the highlights of the soccer game for both boys and girls, the polo matches put on a halftime show that’s a big favorite with bigger boys and girls — the stomping of the divots. Similar to the stomping of the grapes, spectators are invited onto the field to stomp on the grass on their way to a complimentary glass of champagne.

No wonder they call polo the “sport of kings.” Anything that involves sunshine, mountain views and cocktails is OK by me. I hope our soccer team understands that when it’s my turn to bring snacks.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on September 30, 2004.

Polo club hosts president’s cup this weekend

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Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, courtesy photo.

Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, courtesy photo.

There’s still time to check out the “sport of kings” at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club. Continuing its 94th season, this Sunday is the United States Polo Association President’s Cup. The Wickenden Cup, held in honor of Ernest Wickenden, the very first local “star” polo player, will be on Oct. 10 and Oct. 17. All games take place at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. at the 3300 Via Real in Carpinteria. General admission is $10 and kids under 12 are always admitted free.

Fans are also encouraged to come out on Saturdays for the next three weekends to see the teams in competition between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Although the announcer isn’t there to give viewers a blow-by-blow account, it’s still an exhilarating sport to watch.

Polo is one of the oldest sports in the world, with its beginnings in either China or Persia nearly 6,000 years ago. Each team is made up of four players, who each have six horses for just one game, so they have a fresh horse for each seven-minute “chukker.”

While watching the horses perform is exciting, the highlight for many is the Sunday half-time “Champagne Divot Stomp” where patrons are welcomed onto the field for a complimentary glass of champagne, or sparkling cider, while helping to push the divots from the horses hooves back in place on the field.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on September 30, 2004.