by Jeff mIller

We’ve all heard the drill on what to do if you encounter a bear . Make yourself bigger . Wave your arms . Make plans to open a restaurant .

Wait, that last part is exclusive to Brass Bear Brewing located in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone . But it’s true .

The story’s right there on the restaurant’s website . It seems Seth and Lindsay Anderson were camping in Glacier National Park, armed only with bear spray and a safety video provided at the ranger station . “As luck would have it, after six hours of hiking and seeing no one, we came face to face with a family of three black bears,” they wrote .

“The late afternoon sun hit the bears just perfectly and turned them to a beautiful brass color,” the website continues . “They glanced our way and with a decisive grunt carried on . We agreed over dinner that night that this would be the perfect name for our own business one day, to remind us to face our fears and keep on trekking!”

And it all happened because of encounters with a smaller creature: the rat race . The Andersons were in Manhattan working 12 to 15 hours a day, he in finance for Goldman Sachs, she in marketing for apparel companies Quicksilver and Massimo Dutti .

“We were 28,” Lindsay said . “The next step was getting married .” To them that meant kids, a backyard, and a barbecue . “We knew we’d never have that in the city . We kept waiting for the golden opportunity but it never came .” So they forced the issue, quitting their jobs and taking six months to travel and serve as volunteer labor in wineries, breweries, and dude ranches in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and London . They liked it so much the six months became a year . Along the way a conversation happened . They would settle in California .

“And I told my husband, not just California, but Santa Barbara,” Lindsay recalled . “And not just Santa Barbara, but the Mesa . That’s where I want to live our lives, raising our kids hiking and paddleboarding and fishing .” It was an obvious choice because she grew up here, working for Channel Islands Surfboards for eight years before New

Brass Bear founders Lindsey and Seth Anderson (left).