George Yatchisin

Santa Barbara

Writer and Editor at Santa Barbara Independent

Writer, eater, drinker, maker, promoter, dj, etc.

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Articles

Book Review | ‘Nobody’s Empire’ by Stuart Murdoch

2 weeks ago | independent.com | George Yatchisin

It would be easy to spend a ton of time teasing out where writer/musician Stuart Murdoch ends from where the main character of his debut novel Nobody’s Empire, Stephen Rutherford, begins.
Book Review | ‘Our Beautiful Boys’ by Sameer Pandya

4 weeks ago | independent.com | George Yatchisin

It’s no coincidence that the two main subjects of Sameer Pandya’s second novel Our Beautiful Boys are family and violence. Set in a vaguely Santa Barbara–ish fictional Chilesworth, CA (Pandya is an associate professor of Asian American Studies at UCSB), the book focuses on three high school football players and a vicious attack of a fourth student at a post-game party in a spot called the Cave House.
Lodestar Whiskey Launches in Santa Barbara

1 month ago | independent.com | George Yatchisin

Lodestar Whiskey Launches in Santa Barbara Have an Old-Fashioned with Your Men’s Fashions at The Optimist By George Yatchisin Thu Mar 06, 2025 | 3:30pm Add to Favorites Lodestar Whiskey founders (and cousins) Anna Axster and Wendelin von Schroder | Photo: Courtesy Lodestar Whiskey | Photo: Courtesy Whiskey could sort of use a de-stuffy-cation, no? Images of it harken to Western movies (which nobody makes anymore) and hardboiled writers or actors like Dashiell Hammett and Humphrey Bogart....
The County’s Finest One-Off Food Night | Clean Slate’s Just 8

1 month ago | independent.com | George Yatchisin

The County’s Finest One-Off Food Night | Clean Slate’s Just 8 Solvang’s Clean Slate Wine Bar Offers Intimate Pairings from the Cellar of Matt Kettmann By George Yatchisin Tue Mar 04, 2025 | 1:48pm Add to Favorites Matt Kettmann pours at Clean Slate Just 8 Super Club | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc. Melissa and Jason Scrymgeour | Photo: Wine Club Marketing Inc. No one who has attended a Just 8 Supper Club at Solvang’s Clean Slate Wine Bar would ever, ever say that they just ate. For these...
Book Review | ‘99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life’ by Adam Chandler

2 months ago | independent.com | George Yatchisin

Book Review | ‘99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life’ by Adam Chandler An Exploration of the Myth of Hard Work as a Way to Meet Your Destiny By George Yatchisin Fri Feb 21, 2025 | 1:48pm Add to Favorites Credit: Courtesy A few weeks into the oligarchical hell of “Trump II: This Time We Leave the Country Stripped on Blocks,” Adam Chandler’s 99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life can seem downright roseate in its desire to consider what...
Mission City Serving Sandwiches by the Santa Barbara Seashore

2 months ago | independent.com | George Yatchisin

Mission City Serving Sandwiches by the Santa Barbara Seashore The Mesa’s Newest Hangout Features Simandle’s Signature Sandos By George Yatchisin Fri Feb 14, 2025 | 4:27pm Add to Favorites Looks good enough to eat! | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom Nate and Paige Simandle | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom It sounds like the setup for a joke: a pizzaman walks into an ice cream parlor and exits as a sandwich shop owner. That’s the story behind the new Mission City Sandwich Shop, a charming new addition to the Mesa...
Book Review | ‘The Harder I Fight the More I Love You’ by Neko Case

2 months ago | independent.com | George Yatchisin

Credit: Courtesy Given she’s enchanted by fairy tales, it’s only fitting that Neko Case’s memoir The Harder I Fight the More I Love You leaves its readers following breadcrumbs tossed in a dark forest.
Book Review | ‘Rental House’ by Weike Wang

Jan 9, 2025 | independent.com | George Yatchisin

Credit: Courtesy You’re a mere five pages into Weike Wang’s masterful novel Rental House when she does this to you, as her married couple main characters, one a first-gen Chinese immigrant, the other a striving son of Appalachia, contest a name for their sheepdog puppy, possibly considering Mantou (steamed bun):“Nate brought up the propensity of yuppie couples to name their expensive dogs after basic starch items….
Etty’s To-Die-For Deli Opens at Santa Barbara’s Jewish Federation

Dec 13, 2024 | independent.com | George Yatchisin

Cyndi Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara, had a vision. “People just didn’t come into the building,” she says about the community center on lower Chapala. Unfortunately, the location lacks the gym and/or pool that’s the heart of many other Jewish community centers. So, Silverman says, she figured, “If you feed them, they will come.”This August, the center opened Etty’s Jewish Deli & Bakery.
Book Review | ‘Dorothy Parker in Hollywood’ by Gail Crowther

Nov 27, 2024 | independent.com | George Yatchisin

Book Review | ‘Dorothy Parker in Hollywood’ by Gail Crowther Exploring the Entertainment Industry Exploits of a Leading Literary Light By George Yatchisin Wed Nov 27, 2024 | 1:32pm Add to Favorites Late in her life, Dorothy Parker claimed during an interview that if she wrote a memoir — which she was loath to do (and never did) — she would title it Mongrel. That’s the kind of telling, troubling nugget that writer, researcher, academic Gail Crowther unearths in her fascinating Dorothy Parker...