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Business | Beanie Babies airlifted from Chinese factories…

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Business | Beanie Babies airlifted from Chinese factories to O’Hare to circumvent shipping backlogs in time for the holidays

Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune

A worker uses a forklift to unload Ty Beanie Babies, flown in by chartered flights from China and delivered by the truckloads to the Ty Inc. warehouse in Bolingbrook on Nov. 15, 2021.

Beanie Babies' "Buckley the Deer" at the Ty Inc. warehouse in Bolingbrook on Nov. 15, 2021. Chicago billionaire Ty Warner has charted more than 150 cargo flights from China to avoid the shipping backlog at sea and get his Beanie Babies in stores for holiday shopping.

If only Buckley the Deer and Lola the Llama could earn air miles.

Warner, whose Westmont-based Ty Inc. has been manufacturing Beanie Babies in China for decades, has chartered more than 150 flights from airports in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong since October, airlifting the Beanie Babies more than 6,000 miles to O’Hare International Airport.

From there, the Beanie Babies are sent to the company’s Bolingbrook warehouse for distribution to retailers around the country.

“The widely-reported problems with global supply chains have cast a pall over the coming Christmas. There’s too much doom-and-gloom out there,” Warner said in a news release. “I’m here to tell our customers that, despite what they might have read or heard, Christmas is not canceled.”

Surging demand and a shortage of workers has led to a pandemic-fueled backlog this fall of cargo ships anchored off the California coast, waiting to unload products. Beanie Babies, which are normally shipped by sea from China, were among the many products cast adrift by supply chain issues that continue to disrupt worldwide commerce.

While the cargo planes cost $1.5 million or more per charter flight, Warner said the company will hold the line on its $5 to $10 price point on Beanie Babies.

“We have brought in millions of Beanie Babies over the course of the last month and a half,” Tania Lundeen, vice president of global sales for Ty Inc., told the Tribune. “This is really improving the time of getting the product to our retailer shelves.”

Ty isn’t the only company putting key holiday merchandise on planes to avoid shipping logjams ahead of the holidays.

Global demand for air cargo was up 9.1% in September compared with the same month in 2019, the International Air Transport Association said in a news release earlier this month.

Hasbro, Nike, Levi Strauss & Co., Lululemon, Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, Adidas, Deckers Outdoor Corp. — owner of UGG and Hoka shoe and apparel brands — are all using pricier airfreight to get around congested ports or make up for production delays, at least when it comes to key products, according to recent earnings calls and investor conferences.

Under Armour has used a lot of airfreight this year, “which we’re not excited about, but it’s a necessary thing with the challenges that we’re all faced with,” Chief Financial Officer David Bergman said during an earnings call earlier this month.

While flying goods is more expensive than shipping them, supply chain bottlenecks are driving costs up and closing the gap, according to the International Air Transport Association. Before the pandemic, moving cargo by air cost more than 12 times as much as sea shipping, but as of September, it was only three times more expensive, according to the trade association.

Introduced in 1993, Beanie Babies quickly became a collectible fad, with annual sales topping a reported $1.4 billion by 1998 and rare versions of the plush toys fetching thousands of dollars on the secondary market. In 1997, Ty partnered with McDonald’s, offering Teenie Beanies as Happy Meal freebies that became hot collectibles on their own.

By the new millennium, the Beanie Babies frenzy was over, but Ty Inc. continues to churn out new products every year, adding Beanie Boos, purses and most recently, animal masks to the menagerie of offerings.

The private company does not disclose annual sales, but Beanie Babies made Warner one of the richest entrepreneurs in Illinois, with a net worth currently estimated at $4.2 billion, according to Forbes. Warner has diversified his investments, building a high-end hotel portfolio that includes the Four Seasons in New York, which he bought for $275 million in 1999.

In 2014, Warner received two years’ probation in a tax evasion case after agreeing to pay a $53 million civil penalty and at least $27 million in back taxes. Warner pleaded guilty to tax evasion after failing to report $24 million in income from undeclared Swiss bank accounts he held from 1996 to 2008.

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Ty Warner Mansion, Ventanas Al Paraiso Los Cabos

• July 26, 2020

The #1 most outrageous Villa in Los Cabos is the Ty Warner Mansion at Rosewood’s Las Ventanas al Paraíso.Come explore the inside of the Ty Warner Mansion where we show

Los Cabos is home to some of the most amazing high-end resorts and private villas in the world. The expansion of this category continues with many prominent brands jumping into the fray with the New Auberge at Chileno Bay Resort & Residences, The Montage at Santa Maria Bay, Zadun a Ritz Carlton Reserve, Four Seasons at Costa Palmas, The Waldorf Astoria at the Pedregal and the soon to open Amanvari and the new Four Seasons at the Cove Club. But none can compare to the Ty Warner Mansion at Rosewood’s Las Ventanas al Paraíso.

The Ty Warner Mansion is the ultimate hideaway at Latin America’s most lauded resort. The exclusive beachfront mansion is poised directly on the water’s edge with panoramic views over the Sea of Cortez.  Encompassing 28,000 square feet the exceptionally private sanctuary was created by the renowned architect Jorge Torres with interiors by Robert Couturier. Upon arriving at the living wall entry you are swept up in the exceptional lushness and modern styling as you stroll thru the high ceiling foyer with a view to the roof pool. The bright blueness of Sea of Cortez is prominent in every nook.

As huge as this mansion is there are only two twin master suites. This assures the four lucky guests will be personally pampered. The dual oceanfront master suites feature 20’ high ceilings, Indian Silk Sari upholstery, and 30’ wide sliding glass doors opening directly onto the expansive pool deck. The wrap-around infinity pool creates seamless indoor-outdoor living complete with dual spas and a sunken in pool living room.

The Hacienda style kitchen with in house private chef features a custom wood-burning pizza oven and antique Talavera tiles. The tequila library is fully stocked with rare and aged spirits, furnished with carved wooden pieces and silk sari. The cinema room has a 14’ widescreen with surround sound along with an arcade. The game room sets the stage for a relaxed evening gathering.

Top of the Waves terrace is awaiting from the private elevator with an expansive 9,000 sq ft rooftop resort above the villa. Featuring sundeck, glass-bottom lap pool, clear sided whirlpool spa, inlaid Indian bed, nicely stocked bar, pool table, and a massage pavilion.

Mansion guests enjoy the services of a round-the-clock dedicated team, including a personal assistant and butler, with extensive training in many areas, from language and culinary arts to housekeeping. Throughout a guest’s stay, the butler remains discreetly on hand to orchestrate the most personalized, private, and luxurious experiences possible as well as to manage the full staff dedicated solely to the Mansion.

You get all of this and more for a cool $35,000 per day plus tax and resort fees. This video is brought to you by CabosFinest your insider’s guide to Los Cabos. Be sure to click subscribe on our YouTube channel, Facebook page, and please subscribe to our website. Thank you for watching it.

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The Story of Ty Warner, the salesman who made a billion dollars selling stuffed toys

March 21, 2022

The name Ty Warner may be familiar to anyone who grew up in the 90s, as it's the name that graced the tag of every Beanie Baby they ever snuggled with (or placed on their shelf to gather value). It may also be familiar to anyone who was alive in 2014, when he pled guilty to stashing over $100 million in a Swiss Bank account, though (as expected), he spent zero time in jail. ‍

At his trial, Warner’s lawyer insisted that he is a completely self-made man, but that’s not exactly the full story. Warner secured a job as a salesman at the toy seller Dakin through his father, who also worked there at the time. Warner was a natural salesman (it probably helped that he studied drama in college), making six figures in his first year. He reportedly drove a Rolls Royce to all of his sales calls, sporting a fur coat and top hat, while carrying a cane. “I figured if I was eccentric looking in Indiana, people would think, What is he selling? Let’s look in his case,” Warner told People Magazine correspondent Joni Blackman in 1996. “Then it was easy to sell.”  ‍

Warner cultivated a mysterious persona that made people want to know more about him–those who worked with him said it was born of his overinflated ego, but it seemed to work.  ‍

Warner’s career at Dakin came to an unceremonious end when he started selling his own toys to customers. For this, he was immediately fired. In response, he jetted off to Italy for a few years, where, fatefully, he saw a plush toy cat that piqued his interest. He decided he wanted to make his own toy cat–a lifelike one.  ‍

Warner came back to the states and launched Ty Inc. in 1986, thanks to a generous bequest from his father, who had passed away three years prior. He started making toy cats that, due to being stuffed with PVC pellets, looked exceedingly lifelike. When he carried the toy under his arm in public, people thought he had a real cat. In 1993, he released the first set of nine beanie babies. He priced them at $5 a piece, seemingly a play on the “why not, it’s so cheap” mentality. ‍

The lifelike quality of the toys was Warner’s first stroke of genius. The second was creating deliberate scarcity (he was, after all, a salesman) by selling each type of animal for a short period of time, usually only about six months. Additionally, Warner would only allow each store to have 36 of each animal, creating a frenzy around snagging the last one at your neighborhood toy shop. The rise of eBay created a second market for the toys, where $5 Beanie Babies were suddenly pulling in five figures. In 1997, eBay sold over $500 million worth of Beanie Babies, accounting for 6% of their total sales. People even started creating counterfeits.  ‍

The deliberate scarcity tactics combined with the collectible nature of the toy made Beanie Babies even more desirable. By now they were less of a toy for kids and more of a collector’s item for adults. By 1998, Ty Inc brought in $1.4 billion. And how did Ty celebrate? By creating a limited edition Beanie Baby for his employees, of course. A USA Weekend poll estimated that at least 64% of Americans had at least one Beanie Baby in their house.  ‍

By 1999, Warner made the Forbes 400, and his net worth was estimated to be $5 billion. But the market for his toys was waning, as new crazes like Furbies and Pokemon captured kids’ attention.  So he decided to pull one last stunt and tease the retirement of the entire Beanie Baby collection on Millennium Eve. But this time, the public was skeptical, and the move didn’t inflate values on the secondary market. As sales declined by more than 90% in the early 2000s, Warner was forced to infuse the company with his own cash.  ‍

Leon Schlossberg, who is determined to open the first Beanie Baby museum with his daughter Sandra, speculates that it wasn’t Beanie Babies themselves that lost popularity, but the traders who lost mojo. “The speculative craze just bottomed out and crashed,” Schlossberg told Business Insider. “We’ve coined a new phrase: it’s the rise and fall of the Beanie Gamblers.” ‍

Although Beanie Babies have begun to recede into the collective memory of America, there are still some schoolchildren who are receiving the toys as thoughtful gifts–the Chicago schools that Ty Warner has been mandated to assist as part of his court-mandated community service. Once a brilliant salesman, Ty Warner is now forever enshrined in business and pop-culture history. 

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Inside the rise and fall of the Beanie Babies billionaire: How Ty Warner went from college dropout to toy-maker extraordinaire behind 90s collectable craze before his secret Swiss account left him a disgraced tax fraud

• Ty Warner introduced Beanie Babies to the world at a toy trade fair in 1993 
• His pretax salary hit $700 million, with over $1.3 billion in sales in 1998
• But in 2007, he admitted evading tax saying he felt 'shame and embarrassment'

By Fiona Connor, Senior Reporter For Dailmail.Com

Published: 14:08 EDT, 19 August 2023 | Updated: 13:43 EDT, 22 August 2023

View comments

He's the billionaire behind Beanie Babies, the plush soft toys that triggered a whirlwind craze throughout America - and the world. 

But Ty Warner, who made a fortune from the collectables, was once an unlikely business icon, dropping out of college and failing to qualify for the Army.

He took odd jobs as a young man, working as a busboy, bellboy and even an encyclopedia salesman before he landed at toymaker Dakin.

It was there he started secretly making his own line of products, beanbag-like animals, distinct from the traditional, rigid stuffed toys that filled shelves at the time.

After he was fired, he started producing Beanie Babies and masterminded an ingenious marketing strategy by making the toys scarce - creating limited editions and restricting how many could be sold in stores.

Business boomed and Beanie Babies captured the zeitgeist of the 1990s.

But the dizzying rise precipitated a fall from grace, as Warner's greed ultimately led him to stash millions in Swiss bank accounts and he was ordered to pay back more than $53 million. 

Ty Warner in a rare appearance to celebrate the 10th anniversary

Characters, such as the special commemorative Princess Diana (pictured), became highly-sought after and could be resold for more than their original price

Warner's success enabled him to purchase a sprawling 6.58-acre Montecito estate off Butterfly Beach 

Born in Chicago in 1944, Warner had a tough upbringing in an unhappy family, claiming later in life to have been 'a youth devoid of educational advantages'. 

He was packed off to military school aged 15 and then began college at Kalamazoo in 1962 but was forced to leave because he couldn't afford his tuition. 

Attempts to enroll in the military were unsuccessful after being deemed unfit to serve due to hearing loss. 

Warner's mother was diagnosed as a paranoid-schizophrenic, and he helped take care of her.

To make ends meet, he worked random odd jobs, including as a busboy, bellboy, and encyclopedia salesman.

His job with toy-maker Dakin was his first up-close look inside a company that produced stuffed animals and figurines. 

The enterprise was the market leader at the time, selling almost 70 million toys a year. 

Warner was the best person they had at getting their products out the door, but he wanted a bigger slice of the action and began creating his own line on the side. His 15-year tenure ground to a halt when bosses found out. 

He was prompted to form his own company, Ty Inc., where he launched Beanie Babies, first introducing prototypes at the World Toy Fair in 1993 before manufacturing began in 1994. 

The range began with nine original Beanie Babies including Splash the Whale, Patti the Platypus, Chocolate the Moose, Squealer the Pig, Spot the Dog, Flash the Dolphin. 

Warner said until then toys were 'stiff and hard'. He credits part of Beanie Babies' success to the design and flexibility to 'wave, dance, and cuddle' at the will of their owner. The adorable little toys were small enough to be carried around. 

With a $5 price tag, Beanie Babies were also affordable enough for kids to be able to buy them with pocket money.

But the key to their unrivalled success was in creating scarcity.

While sales were slow initially, Warner made the inspired decision to pull back the quantities of toys on sale. 

A five-year-old with arms full of Beanie Babies in 1999

Warner came up with a strategy to limit the number of Beanie Babies at each store 

By restricting stores to 36 of each character people became obsessed with getting their hands on one while they could. 

More than this, carefully electing which characters to retire, created a market for reselling the toys for more than what was initially paid. 

One collector, who started buying Beanie Babies direct from the company's German distributor, spent $2,000 on toys.

Within months, their worth had shot up to $300,000, author  Zac Bissonnette wrote in his book 'The Great Beanie Baby Bubble'.

Sales hit more than $280 million by the end of 1996. Warner's personal income for that year, pretax, was a whopping $90 million. 

The next year, a collaboration with McDonald's continued to amplify the Beanie Babies mania. The fast food chain manufactured 100 million Teenie Beanie Babies for their Happy Meals. 

It was expected the promotion would run for five weeks, instead, it lasted only two. 

By 1998, more than half of America owned at least one of his creations. His pretax salary skyrocketed to $700 million, with over $1.3 billion in sales. 

He had shaken off the shackles of the humble beginnings of his home office and eventually operations included a 370,000-sqaure-foot warehouse.

But within another year, the novelty appeared to be waning. When a series of retirements were announced, resale prices stayed about the same.

Another collection of 24 new Beanie Babies was announced, flooding the market which put collectors off. 

In 2000, Beanies were being flogged in three for $10 bargains and began to appear in dollar stores. 

Beanie Babies were affordable enough for kids to be able to buy them with pocket money 

Their adorable designs pulled in a legion of fans 

Sales dropped substantially at the start of the new millennium, and in 2004 Warner's tax return claimed losses of more than $39 million. 

He'd made investments in the four years prior, purchasing hotels, and property including the Four Seasons Hotel  in New York, the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, the Montecito Country Club and the Sandpiper Golf Course in Santa Barbara. 

Warner's success enabled him to purchase a sprawling 6.58-acre Montecito estate off Butterfly Beach where he lived from 2010 to 2020 with his former long-term partner. 

By 2007, he moved onto Ty Girlz, a series of dolls with unique patterns which were connected to a website, but both were discontinued in 2013. 

That year on September 18, Warner distinguished reputation was challenged when he was charged with one count of tax evasion for failing to report more than $24.4 million in income, and evading nearly $5.6 million in federal taxes from millions hid for more than a decade in a secret account at a Swiss bank. 

The toymaker pleaded guilty, admitting that between 1996 and 2008 he opened and maintained undeclared foreign bank accounts.

He said he felt 'shame and embarrassment' for what he had done. 

Warner could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison, with prosecutor Michelle Petersen asking U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras to give Warner at least a year behind bars. 

He was handed two years' probation and complete 500 hours of community service for at least three Chicago high schools as well as pay a $100,000 fine.

Warner also paid more than $53 million in a civil penalty, representing 50 percent of the highest balance of his unreported foreign bank accounts. 

His well-known philanthropic efforts, which exceed donating over $300 million to charities since launching Ty Inc, were considered in the judge's decision. 

This year, his endeavors were have been reimagined in the new Apple TV+ film ' The Beanie Bubble '. 

A fan holds an armload of special beanie babies from the Disneyland gift shop 

Warner entered a guilty plea for tax evasion, apologizing in a choked-up voice and telling a federal judge he had known his tax forms weren't accurate

The toymaker's career has been reimagined and retold in the new Apple TV+ film The Beanie Bubble 

The movie was adapted from Bissonnette's 2016 book and is said to, 'pull back the curtain on the absurdities and injustices of the American Dream — particularly the female relationship to it.' 

Of the flick, Warner said he appreciates the creativity used to the story of the Beanie Babies boom. 

'I applaud the filmmakers for capturing the unprecedented energy and excitement — though not the facts - surrounding the original release of Beanie Babies 30 years ago,' he said. 

'The movie is, by its own admission, partly fiction. But, like the filmmakers, I am in the business of dreams, and I admire their creative spirit.'

Last week, Warner announced plans to introduce a limited edition gold Beanie Baby teddy bear, 'Aloha', to raise money for Maui relief efforts. Ty Inc. will donate 100 percent of the profits from the sale of Aloha to the American Red Cross to support its efforts helping local residents who have been affected. 

The Hawaiian island has been devastated by wildfires which have killed at least 115 people, while an estimated 850 are missing. 

'Loss can strike at any time. The speed and savagery of the Maui wildfires are an especially horrific, heartbreaking reminder of that,' Warner said. 

'While I can't undo what has happened, I can try to help those who are suffering in the aftermath.' 

The poem inside the bear's tag states: 'Helping each other all day long / We forever will stay Maui strong.' 

As of August 2023, Warner's net worth is $5.7 billion. He is ranked 469 on Forbes' Billionaires list. 

The 78-year-old lives in Oak Brook, Illinois. He has never married or had children.  

Share or comment on this article: Inside the rise and fall of the Beanie Babies billionaire: How Ty Warner went from college dropout to toy-maker extraordinaire behind 90s collectable craze before his secret Swiss account left him a disgraced tax fraud

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A Sense of Belonging: Private Clubs Add to Santa Barbara’s Residential Appeal

Among the unexpected silver linings of the pandemic? The fact that the appeal of living in Santa Barbara’s South Coast has surged, and surged in a big way. An enclave like Montecito is not all that far from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, where a pandemic-inspired exodus continues. But, as so many residents and visitors know, it is a world away. Indeed, the real estate gods – as inventory shrinks and prices balloon – are smiling.

But living in this treasured corner of the world is more than whether you can afford it, or the way it pretty much guarantees that your investment will grow. It’s about the way that it offers so much more than you thought you needed, the way it never ceases to delight and the way it manages to enhance everyday life, every day.

The private clubs that call communities like Montecito and Santa Barbara home, it can be argued, have a lot to do with that appeal. At their core, they are havens for socialization, that all-important tenet of human interaction that, as another truth revealed by the pandemic, a community both needs and craves. They also aim to elevate their members’ experience, to expand their horizons, through a bevy of innovative programs and curated experiences that range from the culinary and athletic to the creative and intellectual.

“For the majority of our clients, private clubs are definitely an amenity that they’re looking for,” says Natalie Grubb , a realtor with Village Properties’ Grubb Campbell Group, and a resident of Santa Barbara for pretty much her entire life. “We’ll ask them, ‘What do you like? Tennis? Golf? Sailing?’ And we can tell them, ‘Yes, that exists here.’

“That’s why we’ve seen such a huge influx of people wanting to move here full-time, not just part-time anymore,” she adds. “They want to be part of a community, which has always been part of living in this area. But now there’s even more than before.”

Clubs tend not to make dues and fees public. For serious prospects, though, it’s fair to say that membership is more an investment than an expense.

Up first, a spotlight on some of Santa Barbara’s top social clubs.

The Santa Barbara Club

The oldest social club in Santa Barbara is probably the oldest private hangout of its kind between L.A. and San Francisco. Founded in 1892, the Santa Barbara Club features a clubhouse that holds both state and local historic landmark status and that has hosted distinguished community members and guests for decades. 

“Our members are not trust-funders, but academics,” says club manager Linda Spann , who adds that the waiting list for membership, which is by invitation only, has grown so big that the club’s initiation fee recently went up.

There are three tiers of membership here, based on age: Regular (45+), Intermediate (31-44), and Junior (21-30). The foodie offerings have long been a calling card of the Santa Barbara Club; Chef Humberto Perez has helmed the kitchen for more than 20 years and makes everything from pastas to pastries in-house.

“We can serve more than a hundred meals on a Friday night,” adds Spann, which are served either in the elegant Dining Room or the sprawling outdoor lawn.

Members have access to various interest groups, including a Breakfast Club, an Investors Club, and a Wine Group. The Club’s Preservation Foundation allows members to make tax deductible donations to preserve the Clubhouse and other landmark buildings in town. The Club’s Art Foundation aims to support contemporary artists by featuring their work through displays and exhibits. There are dozens of reciprocal clubs across the U.S., as well as globally, in countries like England, Mexico, and Thailand. santabarbaraclub.org . 

The University Club of Santa Barbara

This has been a premier social club in the heart of Santa Barbara since 1919. Networking reigns supreme here, via an ongoing schedule of themed parties, mixers, and lectures, including large affairs during major community events like Fiesta. The club hosts various social clubs, too, like the Book Club and regular wine tastings. The property offers members free prime downtown parking, and the manicured gardens feature secluded patios and a firepit. There’s a pool table in the game room, and the club regularly puts works by local artists on exhibit. The club’s executive chef and culinary team have received high marks from discerning foodies for decades. 

The University Club is one of the few clubs in town that’s transparent about its fees. There are four membership categories, including the Junior category, for members ages 21 to 39, with a $1,500 initiation fee and $100 monthly dues. The Resident category for those living within 25 miles of the club, has a $3,000 initiation fee and monthly dues of $175. Members get access to more than 200 reciprocal clubs around the U.S. and the world. uclubsb.org .

Miramar Club

This is the members-only extension of the luxurious and elegant Rosewood Miramar Resort, offering members an oceanfront haven with myriad exclusive amenities. 

“We like to think of it as laid-back luxury,” says Hannah Rock , the hotel’s social activities director. “You are getting that five-star experience, but it’s more like a beach club than a formal private club.”

Launched in May 2019, it’s the newest social club in the area. Located next to the resort’s signature Caruso’s restaurant, the Club also enjoys a right-on-the-sand location and exclusive seasonal and regional menus crafted by the same Caruso’s team, led by executive chef Massimo Falsini . The dining room touts airy, Art-Deco décor, an extensive private wine cellar, and an adjacent wood-panel piano bar that doles out myriad signature cocktails. Members have access to top-line athletic and spa facilities, as well as personalized concierge services.

“The club offers curated events and programming on a weekly basis that focus on culinary, retail, and family events,” adds Rock.

The beach experience is exclusive, too, with private lounges and members-only food-and-beverage services. clubmiramar.com . 

Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club

The famous private club right on Butterfly Beach is part of Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts. Built in 1937, it was purchased by Ty Warner in 2000, in conjunction with his buy of the historic Biltmore hotel across the street. Both properties, shuttered in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, remain closed.

The club’s Signature membership includes access to an elegant waterfront location, complete with a pool complex that has a heated Olympic-size swimming pool, a whirlpool and a kids’ wading pool, all surrounded by more than 200 chaise lounges and chair-side amenities that change hourly. Cabana rentals are available. The fitness center features state-of-the-art equipment, and a private gate gives members their own beach access. The sundeck on the third floor and the Living Room is for members only. Food and beverages are available at three locations, with Tydes Restaurant & Bar setting the bar for prime dining at the club. coralcasinoclub.com .  

The Club & Guest House at UC Santa Barbara

The COVID-19 pandemic is keeping this unique club closed through the rest of 2021, with most of the staff reassigned to on-campus pandemic efforts. This iconic destination club, though, which was established in 1968, remains known as the “living room” of the UCSB campus. The Guest House, which was renovated in 2014 and features ocean views, emulates a 34-room boutique hotel. Stays are reserved for visiting scholars, families of students, and those on university business, as well as members. Continental breakfast is included. The dining room features gourmet lunch service, with a focus on locally and sustainably sourced food, and it’s open to the public. The facility is governed by a Board of Directors. theclub.ucsb.edu . 

Sports and an active, outdoor lifestyle are also inspirations for some of Santa Barbara’s most sought-after clubs, most of them with an emphasis on golf, tennis, polo, swimming, and sailing.

The Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club

Polo pros from all over the world, including the royal variety, trot to this destination club, one of the oldest of its kind in the U.S. It features the country’s longest polo season, too, with games hosted seasonally from May through mid-October. Games are free to the general public on Fridays, while Sunday games require tickets. Polo memberships come with exclusive dibs on mid-level and upper boxes, for prime viewing.

The club also operates its own polo school, the Santa Barbara Polo Training Center.

The social membership option comes with complimentary attendance at weekend polo matches, as well as invitations to special events throughout the year. Tennis memberships, which come with access to the club’s eight courts, six of which are lit, and swim-and-fitness memberships feature use of the heated pool, jacuzzi, and fitness center, which features yoga and fitness classes. 

Dining has received new focus, with the recent opening of the Fieldside Grill, which is open to the public every Wednesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.

“We felt that because of our members and the condos on the grounds and the community around us, establishing a full-scale restaurant would be a welcome addition,” says general manager David Sigman . “And the food is as awesome as the views.”

Folded Hills, owned by former polo pro Andy Busch , is the eatery’s wine sponsor. sbpolo.com .

The Montecito Club

One of the premier golf clubs in the area recently reopened, following the 100-year-old Spanish-style property’s three-year, $75 million renovation and subsequent COVID closure. The property is part of Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts, which means members get exclusive access and discounts at luxe sister resorts like the San Ysidro Ranch, the Four Seasons New York, and Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos.

The par-71 Jack Nicklaus Signature Course was designed around the property’s natural undulating elevation and boasts sweeping views of the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. There’s a bowling alley in the all-ages clubhouse known as The Hideout, as well as a 21-seat Dolby Atmos movie theater with a 16-foot CinemaScope screen and concession area. The state-of-the-art fitness facility features Peloton machines and private training. The 25,000-square-foot pool complex has two lap pools, a kids’ pool, a whirlpool, and bar service.

Members can host special events, like weddings, in the ballroom, the Great Room, with its 12 Baccarat crystal chandeliers, or the sprawling 20,000 square foot lawn. Fine dining is available in the clubhouse, which also features a library and wine rooms, and is helmed by new chef Alex Bollinger , a Montecito native whose three decades of experience includes collaborations with names like Tyler Florence and Charlie Palmer . The Signature Membership comes with full club access, while the Connoisseur Membership also includes privileges at the Coral Casino. montecitoclub1918.com .

The Valley Club of Montecito

Opened in 1929, the Valley Club features a deluxe 18-hole, par-72 golf course. Designed like an hourglass, the course, along with bunkers, have undergone extensive renovation after the 2018 mudslides. Other amenities include tennis courts and prime onsite dining. The clubhouse features a living room and inner courtyard. Elegance and privacy rank high here, as well as a strict dress code for anyone ages 12 and up. valleyclub.org .

Birnam Wood

There are more than 140 private homes inside this exclusive, gated property along East Valley Road, the oldest ones dating back to the early 1970s. Membership to the Birnam Wood Golf Club gives access to the par-70 course, which was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., opened in 1968 and features Bermuda grass. The clubhouse hosts rotating members-only social events as well as daily gourmet dining options. There are six tennis courts here, too. bwgc.net . 

La Cumbre Country Club

Set on the outer edges of Hope Ranch, La Cumbre Country Club dates back to 1916. It would go on to close for 10 years after World War II, due to waning membership, but it has remained an exclusive haven ever since its reopening in 1957. The 150 shady acres feature a celebrated 18-hole golf course, with various uphill and downhill targets, as well as six championship tennis courts. The social offerings range from card games and tournaments to seasonal parties. Lunch and dinner are offered, with an emphasis on to-go menus during COVID; Sunday champagne buffets have long been popular. The club features multiple membership options. lacumbrecc.org . 

Santa Barbara Yacht Club

It’s all about preserving maritime tradition at this club, which, founded in 1872, is the second oldest yacht club on the West Coast. This is a popular spot on Wet Wednesdays, when dozens of boats take part in several races. Kite boarding draws crowds on Fridays. Food and beverage services are available, including the popular Monday Luncheon Forum, which draws members and their invited guests. Club members are also stewards of the Breakwater Flag Project, which showcases the flags of many of Santa Barbara’s nonprofit groups. Prospective members do not need to own a boat, but they do need endorsement from multiple sponsors. sbyc.org . 

Knowlwood Tennis Club

Located in the heart of Montecito, this club for tennis lovers dates back to 1970. The programs are family oriented, with a bevy of private and group lessons for kids as young as four, and they’re open to non-members, too, though at higher pricing. The club features 10 courts, including two clay courts, as well as a swimming pool. www.knowlwood.club . 

Santa Barbara Tennis Club

Open since 1971, this sports club features 12 tennis courts and various training sessions for adults and juniors. There’s an aquatics program, too, with a 25-yard regulation pool that’s kept at 82 degrees, and a 10-person jacuzzi. The fitness center features yoga and Pilates studios, and the café offers a varied menu and caters various events throughout the year. Local artist receptions are presented the second Friday of every month. “At this point, we have a pretty long waitlist for membership,” says managing partner Amber Bottelsen . santabarbaratennisclub.com . 

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The Beanie Bubble: History vs. Hollywood

How much of the beanie bubble is based on the true story.

In researching The Beanie Bubble true story, we discovered that broadly speaking, Apple TV+'s Beanie Baby movie is significantly fictionalized in terms of both its story and characters. It even warns us after the opening credits by flashing up the statement, "There are parts of the truth you can't make up. The rest we did." This type of statement is becoming all too common in movies that claim to be fact-based but at the same time want to avoid being scrutinized for adding too much fiction. While the movie is technically based on Zac Bissonnette's book, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute , the filmmakers acknowledged that their story takes considerable liberties for comedic and dramatic effect. "I think he's standing in for the American dream," said co-director Damian Kulash of Zach Galifianakis' character, Beanie Baby inventor Ty Warner. "We should be clear that we didn't research Ty, and these are not the actual women. This is a composite story that we learned from that book, and we're careful to say in the beginning, we made up a bunch of this, but that's mostly because we don't particularly care about these stuffed animals. We don't particularly care that the first consumer website was created by a 19-year-old, [a college student named Lina Trivedi]. That's an amazing factoid, but most of these things, it's the idea that what looks so absurd on the outside, like a mistake none of us could make, is the mistake we're all making at the same time." -MovieWeb

Did a truck full of Beanie Babies crash and spill its contents all over the highway in real life?

In the title sequence of the movie, a truck carrying boxes of Beanie Babies overturns on the highway at the height of the stuffed toy's popularity, spilling them all over the asphalt in an explosion of colors. Drivers hurry from their cars in a frenzy and mob the spill, scooping up the potentially valuable "casualties." Our Beanie Bubble fact-check confirms that this is based on a real-life accident. "It's a real incident that happened," co-director Kristin Gore told MovieWeb , "and it felt like a perfect metaphor for the entire movie, for everything we're trying to say with it." It's true that people hung out of or ran from their cars to scoop up the small plush toys. Helicopter footage captured the frenzy that ensued after the Beanie Babies truck crashed. The Beanie Baby truck crash wasn't the only strange story surrounding the stuffed toy. In 1997, McDonald's was offering Teenie Beanie Babies in their Happy Meals. It was reported that at one McDonald's, someone ordered 100 Happy Meals and told the cashier to hold the food and just include the Teenie Beanie Babies. -Chicago Sun-Times

Does Zach Galifianakis' character, Ty Warner, resemble the real-life Beanie Baby mogul?

While researching The Beanie Bubble 's historical accuracy, we learned that most of the characters in the film are either fictional or heavily fictionalized. This even includes Zach Galifianakis' character, Ty Warner, who is the founder of the toy company Ty Inc. and the inventor of Beanie Babies. Dubbed "the Steve Jobs of plush," Warner came up with the innovative concept of understuffing his plush toys so that they were poseable and flopped around in your hand while you held them. While Warner's name hasn't been changed for the film and many have described him as being similar to the narcissistic manipulator we see in the movie, Zach Galifianakis admitted that he is depicting a fictionalized version of the Beanie Babies creator. "It's a fictionalized version of this man, it's important that I say that because I would never say, 'I studied him, and this is how he talked and walked and all that.' I didn't have those tools," Galifianakis told Marie Claire . The actor is alluding to the fact that due to his reclusive nature, little is known about the real Ty Warner, other than what you can read on his Wikipedia page. Galifianakis said he was unable to find any interviews or footage of Warner. This is somewhat similar to Matt Johnson's heavily fictionalized portrayal of Doug Fregin in Blackberry , one of this year's other movies to chronicle the origin story of a '90s product that became wildly popular.

Are Ty Warner's girlfriends in the movie (played by Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Snook) based on real people?

In the Beanie Bubble movie, Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) has two successive girlfriends, Robbie Jones (Elizabeth Banks) and Sheila Harper (Sarah Snook), who partially overlap. Robbie was inspired by Ty Warner's former real-life girlfriend Patricia Roche, who helped found Ty Inc. and made a fortune operating the company's UK distribution. However, Elizabeth Banks explained that while Patricia was the inspiration for her character, she was more of a jumping-off point than a blueprint for Banks to copy. "There were a lot of touch points, but I also, as an actor, felt really freed by this notion that we were dramatizing so much of it and that Patti was an inspiration and a jumping-off point but Robbie, I had to create a real character out of what Kristin Gore's script offered me." -Marie Claire It's true that Patricia Roche left the company after their breakup when Warner tracked her and a potential new boyfriend down in Cancun and unsuccessfully tried to win her back. Warner reached out to her three years later to try and convince her to come back and run Ty UK. In real life, Roche had barely been getting by selling insurance. In the movie, Elizabeth Banks' character tells him that she will never work for him again, and reveals that she's starting her own company that will be the exclusive wholesaler of Ty products in the UK. However, in reality, she did work for him again. She did not start her own company but rather accepted his offer to run Ty UK. She headed to England to handle Ty's distribution there. As the book notes, the Ty UK distributorship made her "richer than she ever could have imagined becoming." In fact, she became one of the highest-paid female executives in England. Ty Warner's girlfriend Patricia Roche (inset) was the inspiration for Elizabeth Bank's fictional character Robbie Jones. The Beanie Bubble true story reveals that Sarah Snook's character, Sheila Harper, was inspired by Ty Warner's longtime girlfriend Faith McGowan, who was involved in the operations of his company, Ty Inc., during the rise of the Beanie Babies craze. It's true that McGowan ended up moving into Warner's Oak Brook house with her two elementary-age daughters. The children saw him as a father figure ( Chicago Magazine ). Ty Warner's girlfriend Faith McGowan (inset) was the model for Sarah Snook's fictional character Sheila Harper.

Is Geraldine Viswanathan's character, Maya Kumar, based on an actual person?

In researching the question, "Is The Beanie Bubble accurate?" we learned that Geraldine Viswanathan's character, Maya Kumar, is based on Ty Inc. designer Lina Trivedi, a student at DePaul University. Not only did Trivedi come up with the idea of including a unique birthday and poem on each Beanie Baby tag (she wrote the first 136 poems), she also designed and managed the Beanie Baby website (Ty.com) so that the company could sell directly to consumers. Trivedi is noted as having created the "first Business to Consumer website that presented the world with the first Internet sensation." In his book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble , author Zac Bissonnette describes Lina Trivedi as "the $12-per-hour sociology major who made Ty Warner a billionaire." Though she was clearly inspired by Trivedi, Geraldine Viswanathan's character Maya is somewhat fictionalized as well. This explains the name change in the movie. For example, she did not come up with the idea of retiring certain Beanie Babies, which incited a global craze. It was actually the King brothers, distributors for Ty Inc. in several southern states, who came up with the idea of "retirements."  -Chicago Sun-Times Ty Inc. employee Lina Trivedi (inset) was the inspiration for Geraldine Viswanathan's character Maya.

Did the real Maya design the website with the help of her brother, who was still in high school?

Yes. It's true that Maya (Geraldine Viswanathan), whose actual name is Lina Trivedi, designed the Ty Inc. website with the help of her brother, Nikhil Trivedi, who was still in high school. Below is a screenshot of how the website looked shortly after it launched in 1996. This is how the Beanie Babies website (Ty.com) appeared in December 1996. Photo: Internet Archive

Did Sheila go to the hotel room where Ty was cheating on her with Robbie?

This was indeed inspired by a real-life event that happened on Christmas Eve 1998. By this time, Ty's ex Patricia Roche (the real-life Robbie) was running Ty UK and had returned to Chicago to visit her parents for the holiday. While in town, she was staying at an Embassy Suites Hotel not far from Ty's office. Faith McGowan (the real-life Sheila) had been planning a romantic evening for Ty when he got home from an afternoon meeting with a printer. She chilled a bottle of wine and prepared a filet, but Ty never came home. Knowing Patricia was in town, Faith went to her hotel to look for Ty. She saw his black Mercedes in the parking lot. Unlike the movie, she did not go to Patricia's hotel room and confront her. She called her room from the front desk and when Patricia answered, she asked to speak to Ty. "I know he's there," she said. Patricia replied, "Leave us alone! You have the house. You have the car. You have him. What more do you want?" Faith demanded to speak to Ty. He got on the phone and tried to lie and say he had just stopped by the hotel to show Patricia the new catalog. Patricia advised Ty to go out the side entrance and not make a scene at a hotel so close to the office. Ty didn't listen to her and went to the lobby. Similar to what's seen in The Beanie Bubble movie, when the elevator door opened, Faith punched Ty in the face. The hotel manager had predicted there might be a physical altercation and had already summoned the police. They grabbed Faith and wanted to file a report, but Ty dissuaded them and he and Faith went home. Contrary to the movie's depiction, Faith forgave him for his infidelity. Their relationship did eventually come to an end. However, Faith did not secure her future without Ty by selling her daughter's Spooky the Ghost Beanie Babies just before the bubble burst. In real life, Ty finally relented and gave her about $6 million, mostly in the form of a Santa Barbara mansion he signed over to her. -The Great Beanie Baby Bubble The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: The Amazing Story of How America Lost Its Mind Over a Plush Toy--and the Eccentric Genius Behind It

Why were Beanie Babies so popular?

Ty Inc. employee Lina Trivedi's idea of personalizing each toy by attributing to it a birthday and a poem helped them grow in popularity. Their low price tag of $5 was appealing to adult collectors, who turned around and sold Beanie Babies at higher prices on eBay. This worked especially well since the demand often outpaced the supply (sometimes intentionally), making them more desirable the rarer they seemed to consumers and retailers. Ty Inc., the company that produced the stuffed toy, also realized that if they did limited runs of certain Beanie Babies, and retired others, it would create a buying frenzy. These strategies were highly effective, but as with the Cabbage Patch Kids craze in the 1980s, the fad eventually started to wear off, and by the end of the 1990s, the Beanie Baby bubble burst and sales started to slip. A collector holds a pile of Beanie Babies in her arms during the craze. Photo: Apple TV+

How much did Beanie Babies resell for at the height of the craze?

A Beanie Bubble fact-check reveals that while they sold for only $5 on store shelves, their resale values on eBay were often much higher. For example, a mint condition Patti the Platypus once sold for $6,000. A Brownie the Bear in perfect condition raked in a whopping $20,000. What was the most expensive Beanie Baby? Princess Bear, created as a tribute to Princess Diana after her untimely passing, once sold for $500,000. Beanie Babies and the e-commerce site eBay were a match made in Heaven. The plush toys accounted for 10% of all sales on eBay in 1998. The average listed resale price was $30, six times the original ticket price. -Chicago Sun-Times

Did Ty Warner give his 250+ employees cash bonuses equal to their entire 1998 income?

Yes. This comes straight from what is reported in Zac Bissonnette's book . At the company Christmas party on December 12, 1998, Warner announced that all of Ty's employees would be receiving cash bonuses equal to their entire 1998 income. A month later, the Wall Street Journal reported on his act of generosity, casting him in a positive light. Ty's general manager at the time, Sharon Altier, says that "he did it for ego." At the same Christmas party, he also gave the employees a special red Beanie Baby called #1 Bear, which had the number 1 stitched on its chest. The tag let them know that only 253 #1 Bears had been produced, making them extremely valuable to collectors. A few weeks later, they were being resold online for $5,000 or more.

Is the real Maya bitter over her experience working for Ty Warner?

No. In real life, Maya's name is Lina Trivedi. After watching The Beanie Bubble , Trivedi took to Instagram to share her thoughts on the movie. "Reporters ask me if I am bitter, and my response has always been no," says Trivedi. "I am beyond grateful for having this insane experience that has shaped my professional skill sets and my life. And I still love #BeanieBabies and I still have an emotional connection to the ones that I helped shape." Trivedi said it's odd seeing the movie depict so many facts from her story "but from a different point of view." The movie depicts her as being used by Ty Warner, who never compensates her for her significant contributions. She grows bitter and quits in disgust, but at the same time feels liberated for doing so. However, the real Trivedi doesn't seem to agree with the movie's fictionalized perspective.

Did Ty Warner buy hotels with his profits from selling Beanie Babies?

Yes. Unlike many of the collectors who hoped to get rich off their Beanie Babies, Ty Warner wasn't affected too badly when the Beanie Bubble burst around the turn of the millennium. He had amassed enough wealth from his company's success that he had become one of the richest people alive. He broadened his focus into investing in hotels. Warner bought the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City. He also purchased a number of other hotels and resorts over the years, including Santa Barbara's Sandpiper Golf Club; the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California; the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara; the Kona Village resort on Hawaii's Big Island; the Montecito Country Club; and Mexico's Las Ventanas al Paraiso Resort in Los Cabos.

Was Ty Warner convicted of tax fraud?

Yes. The Beanie Bubble true story confirms that Warner was sentenced to two years of probation and hit with a $53 million fine for concealing over $100 million of his income in an offshore bank account. However, the fine only amounted to two percent of his net worth. Arguably, his reputation was damaged more than his fortune. -Mental Floss

Did Al Gore's daughter direct The Beanie Bubble ?

Yes. While exploring The Beanie Bubble fact vs. fiction, we discovered that author and screenwriter Kristin Gore, the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, wrote and co-directed the Apple TV+ Beanie Babies movie. Her co-director was her husband, OK Go frontman Damian Kulash. Kristin is the author of three novels, as well as a former writer for the animated series Futurama and the long-running sketch comedy TV show Saturday Night Live . Kristin's father, Al Gore, is also known for his climate crisis book An Inconvenient Truth and the corresponding documentary of the same name. Writer and co-director Kristin Gore has a cameo in The Beanie Bubble as a TV news anchor reporting on the craze. Photo: Apple TV+

Overall, how accurate is The Beanie Bubble ?

In telling their Beanie Babies story, the filmmakers opted not to heavily focus on the rags-to-riches tale of a man who gets ridiculously wealthy off selling small poseable stuffed toys, or how this seemingly insignificant product became a cultural phenomenon. While those two elements are present, the focus of The Beanie Bubble is instead largely on the mostly unheard-of women in Ty Warner's life, who the film emphasizes were vital to the toy's success. However, writer and co-director Kristin Gore said that in order for the women "to feel universal," they created characters that were sometimes composites rather than directly based on real people. This is one reason why the three women's names in the movie are made up. They used three real-life women as jumping-off points to create fictionalized characters. -Marie Claire This Beanie Babies movie is by no means a love letter to the little stuffed toys that might currently be jammed into a plastic bin in the corner of your attic. Instead, the filmmakers use the Beanie Babies craze and the story of toy mogul Ty Warner and the women around him as a starting point to create a fictionalized commentary that expresses their own views on capitalism, gender inequality, and the patriarchy. At the end of the film, Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) is extremely wealthy and successful, but he's unhappy and alone in his tower. The women who helped him achieve his American dream have all abandoned him, apparently realizing that they were being used in a system that was rigged toward Warner, a man, and that the "dream" they were chasing wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The movie suggests they're better off for having jumped ship. "We've talked a lot about how there's this myth of a lone male genius coming up with things. You see it over and over again, benefiting from a system that's rigged for him and against everyone else," co-director Kristin Gore told MovieWeb . "And we wanted to peel back those layers and look at that myth and really show what everyone knows, which is that there's always so much more to that story. There are always so many more people involved." To some degree, it can be argued that Gore hijacked the story of Ty Warner and fictionalized the characters where necessary to drive her commentary on capitalism home. In any case, the movie works best where it sticks to the facts.

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Santa Barbara Life

Ty warner sea center.

The Ty Warner Sea Center is a great place to go to see, feel, and learn about marine life. The sea center is located on Santa Barbara’s historic Stearns Wharf, an ideal location for studying marine life since they are literally on the water. The museum reopened in 2005 with the help of Ty Warner, the facilities major donor. Ty Warner is a billionaire business man who is the CEO and owner of the company Ty which manufactures and sells beanie babies.

There are so many things to do and learn at the sea center. You can work like scientists, sampling and testing ocean water, studying animal behavior, and examining microscopic marine life. There are live tidepool animal encounters, a theater showcasing the wonders of the Santa Barbara Channel. You can crawl through a tunnel inside a 1,500 gallon surge tank to see the life of the ocean. Observe sea stars, urchins, limpets, and much more. Be an oceanographer for a day. Take ocean samples and view sea life close up through video magnifiers. Test your ocean samples to determine water quality. Learn about ongoing scientific research and get an update on marine mammal sightings. There are also multiple touch tanks which consist of sandsharks and much more.

The first time I went to the Sea Center was in 2nd grade on a field trip and it opened my eyes to how cool the ocean is and how great the marine life within it is.

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