Five years ago Ross Bagdasarian Jr. had no idea renovations on his East Mountain Drive estate would stir up a controversy that would engulf Montecito’s most influential community group, county planning, and ultimately the Board of Supervisors.
But in February of 2009, the driving force behind the Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon and movie franchise, found himself on the wrong end of some of Montecito’s most influential residents.
But just like the clever and cagey Alvin Seville, the optimistic and good-natured Bagdasarian found a way out of his tangled, largely self-induced predicament, and he learned a valuable lesson along the way.
Bagdasarian, son of Ross Bagdasarian Sr. the original creator of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, has been credited with keeping the Chipmunks brand alive with an 80s TV show, several animated movies and three hit live-action films, with names such as “The Squeakquel” and last December’s “Chipwrecked.”
The singing, dancing rodents have also created dozens of albums featuring the falsetto-voiced trio covering songs ranging from Led Zepplin’s heavy metal “Rock and Roll” to the traditional holiday carol “Over the River and Through The Woods.”
But it was river and woods that landed the producer in hot water with the most influential neighborhood group, the Montecito Association. The Association is a staunch proponent of enforcing the Montecito Community Plan and maintaining Montecito’s signature semi-rural character.
Read the rest of this story by Nick C. Tonkin at The Daily Sound’s Montecito Edition, the Montecito Messenger.
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