Way back in the early sixties I was lucky enough to be born in Hollywood California!

My parents looked for a wonderful bedroom community to raise their three kids and stumbled upon Lake View Terrace. Where? You know..the place that Rodney King was beaten! Thank god they got us out of there and moved us to Studio City where I flourished with wonderful schools and spent my young teenage years. 

While I was in 6th grade I was given a Three Stooges Darkroom Kit (hover over to show the pic) and that was the start of my photography career! At the ripe young age of 15 I was photographing weddings and Sweet 16s. I had my first taste of entrepreneurship!

Now it was time to figure out where to go to college and the choice was obvious! I had to go to UC Berkeley. Why?? Well my two best friends were going there, but the most important reason was my favorite place www.fonduefred.com was there! When I was attending summer camp at Swig in Saratoga, on our weekend breaks we would head to Fondue Fred with other counselors and enjoy the fondue!

Luck would have it that I did NOT get into UC Berkeley! Instead, I got a letter that stated that if I went to UC Santa Barbara for two years I would then be able to go to Berkeley. Well I only applied to one school so I didn’t really have a choice!

So, I went to UCSB sight unseen and lived at Tropicana Gardens (sign in front says Best Food in Island Vista, NOT). I stayed there a year studying drama and came to the realization that the big college life was not my thing.

Meantime, at a party for the Jewish organization there, I met Juli Newhoff. She had hot red nails and was a fantastic artist. We hit it off right away….I asked her if she wanted to go to a wedding, and of course she had no idea she would be working it! We were a great team. We started Santa Barbara Wedding Works and had a great run photographing beautiful weddings and many celebrities that came to Santa Barbara to get married. 

Meantime we were blessed with two children, Jessica and Spencer. Both were born at home and were a handful! I was getting a bit annoyed that we were working weekends and evenings for our brides. I was trying to think of something else to do for a career that would allow Juli and I to get our lives back.

I have always had a passion for travel and was getting excited about the prospect of planning our brides honeymoons. The mom of one of my clients owned a travel agency and she wanted a large wall portrait, so I asked if she would train me to be a travel agent and I would in exchange give her the wall portrait. 

Well the rest is history, as they say. I started doing the honeymoons of my brides and doing less and less photography. In 1989, I opened up Strictly Vacations focusing on upscale travel and cruises. 

Fast forward and I have been know as the guy who knows the best of the best! Hotels, cruises, restaurants, and destinations. I am the travel agent of many of my travel agent friends. I get calls from New York and Los Angeles asking me where they should eat! 

For six years straight I was honored on Conde´Nast Top Agents List. Oh yea…I was on the travel and Leisure list too. I have been featured in cover stories of many travel publications and interviewed many times for relevant stories. 

In 2014 I broke the internet….read about it here!

When I am not traveling I love to hike, do yoga, see a broadway show or check out the latest restaurant that has just opened up.

Zac Tracker

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