Rancho Santa Fe Stories

Former Union-Tribune cartoonist Steve Kelley goes to Pittsburgh

Paul McCartney venue in Rancho Santa Fe for sale

Kelley’s next stand Former Union-Tribune political cartoonist Steve Kelley, who departed the paper in the aftermath of a 2001 dispute over “butt cracks” he allegedly snuck into print, is back behind the inkwell, this time ...

Matchmaker Irene Valenti is just a humble person

She evicts her son and family from Rancho Santa Fe home

Rancho Santa Fe’s Irene Valenti runs a matchmaking service claiming to tie rich and/or talented women with rich and/or talented men. However, as revealed a year ago, she herself wouldn’t qualify for a match. She ...

Money doesn't buy love

Blood in Rancho Santa Fe

“I was working in my vegetable garden.” Kim Dorey remembered the day she got an unexpected visitor, almost a year earlier. It was a Friday morning, May 26, 2017, overcast and cool, perfect for working ...

Publication takes fun jabs at posh exurbs

Rancho Santa Fe gets a roast

The publication Business Insider currently features snarky jabs at the nation's richest exurbs and suburbs such as Wellesley, Massachusetts; Kenilworth, Illinois, and Los Altos Hills, and Atherton, California. Rancho Santa Fe comes in for a ...

County neurosurgeon Lokesh Tantuwaya

Indicted for taking $3.2 million in kickbacks

The United States Attorney’s office in Santa Ana announced June 14 that several Southern California doctors have been indicted for taking kickbacks in a scheme centered around Pacific Hospital in Long Beach. Thousand of patients ...

Douglass Jennings, disbarred tax lawyer, gets 34 months

His wife Peggy, real estate operator, gets 4 months

In the packed federal courtroom of Judge Gonzalo Curiel yesterday (April 5), attorney John Douglass Jennings Jr. was sentenced to 34 months in prison, while his wife Peggy, who worked in real estate, got four ...

Radio and newspaper man and vultures

John Lynch in money troubles again

John Lynch, former chief executive officer of the Union-Tribune and previously a local radio executive, is in financial trouble again. He defaulted on his mortgage in December of 2016, and then woes cascaded in 2017 ...

Ray Lucia goes to Washington

Supreme Court accepts case of embattled investor

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the complaint of San Diego radio host Ray Lucia, who was slapped by the Securities and Exchange Commission, lost his appeal to that body, and then lost at the ...

Do you really aspire to live in Rancho Santa Fe?

Director and wife said they were told to leave

Timothy Chey, a Harvard business school grad, lawyer, and film producer, writer, and director of faith-based productions (David and Goliath, Suing the Devil) is suing the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation, its executive director Christy Wilson, ...

Owned by philanthropists and racehorse owners

This one used to have the highest asking price in San Diego County

“Del Dios Ranch presents an outstanding opportunity to acquire one of the most expansive tracts in coveted Rancho Santa Fe,” listing materials boast of the sprawling 61-acre estate. Beds: 4 Baths: 9 Current Owner: Sahm ...

Another surfer-turned-manufacturer

Asymmetry in 1999, finless boards now

Carl Ekstrom began surfing in 1948, four years after his brother, Woody, had mastered the sport at Windansea, from where the family was nearly forced to move after their rent was raised from $12 to ...

Heaven's Gate still has website

But suicide now a no-no

The 919 Gang, a daily online newsletter mainly for former and current Union-Tribune employees, reports today (July 2) that Heaven's Gate, the group that entered into a mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe in 1997, ...

Rancho La Costa Preserve was full of mines

Between Batiquitos Lagoon and Lake Hodges

The Rancho La Costa Preserve, located in the cities of Carlsbad and San Marcos, is a popular destination for both hikers and mountain bikers. Situated between Batiquitos Lagoon and Lake Hodges, the preserve serves as ...

This Rancho Santa Fe house doesn’t need you

Twenty-eight completely automated audio zones, HVAC, lighting, pool systems, surveillance...

Current Owner: unclear Beds: 6 Baths: 7 List Price: $24,995,000 The technological marvel that comprises the estate at 6424 La Valle Plateada in Rancho Santa Fe “excites the senses immediately as one enters the grand ...

$45 mil gets you in Rancho Santa Fe

Third-highest asking price in San Diego County

Current Owner: Sunranch LLC Listing Price: $45,000,000 Beds: 6 Baths: 10 House Size: 20,408 square feet The 22-acre estate at 17111 El Vuelo in Rancho Santa Fe “is located on one of the most coveted ...

Trust her, she’s been to Paris

Fancy Ponsaty’s doesn’t intimidate this writer

My husband and I experienced an extravagant dinner more than a decade ago in a tiny village in the French countryside. We are still talking about how delicious and entertaining the food was, and we ...

Yo-yo price on Rancho Santa Fe estate

A property so special that it gets its own name

Beds: 7 Baths: 10 Current Owners: Hugh III and Joy Bancroft List Price: $10,800,000 Marketing materials describe the Rancho Santa Fe estate at 6605 La Valle Plateada using the name Il Incanto, Italian for “the ...

Warning: annual tax bill of $86,679

But, hey, it has a bocce court

Beds: 6 Baths: 11 Current Owner: Edward J Wald List Price: $8,750,000 “Set behind gates on a long and private drive in Rancho Del Lago, one of Rancho Santa Fe’s most coveted addresses,” boasts listing ...

A house that biotech built

Asian-inspired beauty

Beds: 5 Baths: 6 Current Owner: Howard Birndorf List Price: $8,900,000 The estate home situated at 5979 Rancho Digueno in the southern hills of Rancho Santa Fe is described in listing materials as an “Asian ...

Too close to Rancho Santa Fe

What kind of business can you run on Artesian Road?

Depending on who is telling the story, Darryl L. Hronek is either building storage for the business on his property or being harassed by a vindictive neighbor who is using the county's code enforcement unit ...

Over 15,000 square feet of living space

This Rancho Santa Fe estate has been sitting for a while

Beds: 8 Baths: 14 Current Owner: Thomas Powell List Price: $15,999,000 The 9.3-acre estate at 18181 Vis Roswitha, situated in Rancho Santa Fe, has spent years looking for its ideal buyer. That buyer would have ...

Encinitas before yuppies, the proposal to divide Fairbanks Ranch

Oceanside's secret French village and the University City bridge fight

The Most ideal of Provinces Rancho Santa Fe proposed an alternative plan, which called for preserving Del Dios as a two-lane road and, instead, extending and expanding San Dieguito Road (Route 728) such that it ...

Relaxed livability for the discerning buyer

$9.2 million gets you in the door

Classic elegance sprawls out in Rancho Santa Fe

Rancho Santa Fe’s devilish covenant with John Moores

Enclave for the super-rich embroiled in battle over McMansions and high-speed internet

As California prepares to vote in next week’s presidential primary, one of America's richest residential enclaves is embroiled in a big-money political fight that some fear may finally mark the death of its genteel, semi-rural ...

Phil Mickelson faces gambling-related charges

Did pro golfer profit from inside information?

Top pro golfer Phil Mickelson was charged with insider trading today (May 19) in a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint that will be tried in federal court in the Southern District of New York. The ...

Four all-usable acres

Prepare to be stunned in Rancho Del Lago

Current Owners: Gregorio & Vanessa Reyes Beds: 7 Baths: 11 List Price: $8,995,000 The “magnificient” Summerhill Estate is a 15,000-square-foot estate “sited on four all-usable acres atop a private knoll” in the “high end luxury ...

Still intimate under 12,000 square feet of roof in Roxbury Terrace

East Coast flair + West Coast ambience

Current Owner: Sunwest Builders Development Beds: 7 Baths: 11 List Price: $9,800,000 This week, a visit to “the newest home at Rancho Santa Fe’s intimate gated enclave of Roxbury Estates.” The residence at 14771 Roxbury ...

Sequester yourself in the Secret Ranch

This one is worth the $23 million asking price

Current Owner: El Secreto LLC (William & Kathryn Scripps) Bedrooms: 8 Baths: 13 Price: $23,000,000 Welcome to “The Secret Ranch,” a 12-acre estate with more than 12,400 square feet of living space under roof located ...

Fee for a dead man

Gerald Parsky's group pays Villalobos estate

Rancho Santa Fe's Gerald Parsky heads a Los Angeles private equity fund, Aurora Capital Group, which got more than $400 million in investment commitments from the giant California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). Aurora had ...

That Democrat-Republican split may help

Ray Lucia taking SEC's decision to DC appeals court

National radio personality Ray Lucia Sr. is taking his banishment from the securities industry to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, according to the publication Investment News. On September 3, the board of ...

La Osita, the teddy bear of Rancho Santa Fe

This is what L.A. car dealership money will buy

Beds: 6 Baths: 7 Current Owner: Coberly Family Asking Price: $10,495,000 This week we visit “La Osita,” a property billed as having “one of the most magnificent hilltop ocean view locations in all of Rancho ...

SEC kicks Ray Lucia's "Buckets of Money" ploy

Business talk-radio personality banned from investment industry

San Diego radio host Ray Lucia Sr. has lost his appeal of the action by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ban him from the investment business. The appeal was heard August 6 by the ...

Divorce of a billionaire (cont'd)

Charles Brandes goes back to court, contests $450K per month for ex-wife

In a decision that was issued August 31, the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, has sent the well-publicized divorce of Charles and Linda Brandes, who separated in 2004, back to the trial court. In ...

An irreplaceable French Chateau

Rancho Santa Fe estate comes with two caves

Beds: 7 Baths: 10 Current Owner: James Kidrick Asking Price: $11,880,000 This week, an “irreplaceable French Chateau offering every amenity you could imagine.” The 2002-built Rancho Santa Fe estate located at 6397 Clubhouse Drive, within ...

The onetime estate of Pete Rozelle

Beds: 5 Baths: 9 Current Owner: Duyane and Michelle Weinger Asking Price: $14,995,000 This week we visit the onetime estate of Pete Rozelle, credited by the property’s listing agent as being “the Commissioner known for ...

Golfers left, nature right

Golfers provide the surreality on the Santa Fe Valley Trail.

A hike along a river and golf course for an overview of the San Dieguito River.

Desert rats got a thing for Rancho Santa Fe

Gas station one of the few in county that sells 100-octane racing fuel

The highest priced regular gas in San Diego County on June17 was found at the 76 station in Coronado, at $4.59 a gallon — wait, one station in Rancho Santa Fe posts a much higher ...

Asking $15,900,000 (we did renovations)

A virtually hidden horse pasture, lagoon, and vineyard

Beds: 6 Baths: 8 Current Owners: James & Melanie Burkhart List Price: $15,900,000 The tony enclave of Rancho Santa Fe is well established as one of San Diego’s priciest neighborhoods. Homes in the area sold ...

Eh, keep the brass knuckles

Parents of Jack Henry Doshay ask for their computers back

An attorney for Glenn and Karen Doshay is asking a judge to order return of certain items that were seized by deputies while investigating their son as a suspect in a kidnapping case. The property ...

Rancho Santa Fe lawyer suspended from practice

Donald William McVay left hanging last year and in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2008, and 2006

The State Bar of California has suspended Donald William McVay of Rancho Santa Fe Law Group from the practice of law. McVay accepted a client when he was not eligible to practice law, collected an ...

House poor, data rich

Numbers indicate San Diegans pay more for shelter than all metro areas

In the fourth quarter of last year, the median home price in San Diego hit $430,000 — 59 percent higher than the 2009 bottom but still below the $500,000 peak of 2005. Kelly Cunningham, economist ...

Big-idea Todd

Rancho Santa Fe attorney admits forgery, put up clients' cases as collateral

Todd Macaluso, a Rancho Santa Fe attorney, pleaded guilty today (April 14) to forging signatures of clients and notaries as part of a scheme to put personal-injury clients' cases up as collateral to investors without ...

Hey, Doshay, they got your DNA

Alleged would-be kidnapper's father is not cooperating, says prosecutor

Jack Henry Doshay, 22, is accused of kidnapping a child at a Solana Beach elementary school two weeks ago. “The sheriff’s crime lab was able to confirm that the defendant’s DNA was in fact on ...

Mainly Mozart starts its engine

Two chamber concerts and a big ol' symphony this weekend.

Mainly Mozart is giving two Spotlight Series concerts this weekend in two enticing locations. The music is a transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations for string trio. The concert is at the Scripps Research Institute on ...

Wake the f*** up. We’re in a drought.

Rancho Santa Fe residents among biggest water users

A new study on water consumption in the San Diego region has conservationists renewing a call for mandatory restrictions on residential water use, including ramping up enforcement efforts and considering implementation of currently temporary measures ...

Rancho Santa Fe Stories

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