Santa Barbara County
Cities and Towns
Source: Wikipedia
City of Santa Barbara
The city of Santa Barbara is situated
on an east-west trending section of coastline, the only such
section on the west coast, between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez
Mountains and the sea, and having a Mediterranean climate, it is
called California's "South Coast", and is also
sometimes referred to casually as the "American
Riviera." As of the census of 2000, the city had a
population of 92,325 while the contiguous urban area, which
includes the cities of Goleta and Carpinteria, along with the
unincorporated regions of Isla Vista, Montecito, Mission Canyon,
Hope Ranch, Summerland, and others, had an approximate population
of 200,000.
In addition to being a popular tourist and resort destination,
the city has a robust economy which includes a large service
sector, education, technology, health care, finance, agriculture,
manufacturing, and local government. In 2004, the service sector
accounted for fully 35% of local employment.[2] Education in
particular is well-represented, with five institutions of higher
learning on the south coast (the University of California, Santa
Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont College, Antioch
University, and the Brooks Institute of Photography.) The Santa
Barbara Airport services the city, as does Amtrak. U.S. Highway
101 connects the Santa Barbara area with Los Angeles to the south
and San Francisco to the north. Behind the city, in and beyond
the Santa Ynez Mountains, is the Los Padres National Forest,
which contains several remote wilderness areas.
History
The history of the city begins at least
13,000 years ago with the ancestors of the present-day Chumash.
Evidence for a Paleoindian presence includes a fluted Clovis-like
point found in the 1980s along the western Santa Barbara County
coast, as well as the remains of Arlington Springs Man, found on
Santa Rosa Island in the 1960s. Approximately 8,000 to 10,000
Chumash lived on the south coast of Santa Barbara County when
Portuguese explorer João Cabrilho sailed through the Santa
Barbara Channel in 1542, anchoring briefly in the area. In 1602
Sebastian Vizcaino gave the name "Santa Barbara" to the
region, in gratitude for having survived a violent storm in the
Channel on December 3, the eve of the feast day of that saint.
Spanish period
Mission Santa Barbara, known as "the
Queen of the Missions," was founded in 1786.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Barbara_mission_CA1.jpg
A land expedition led by Gaspar de
Portolá and accompanied by missionary Padre Junipero Serra
visited in 1769, but did not stay. The first permanent European
residents were Spanish missionaries and soldiers under Felipe de
Neve and again accompanied by Serra, who came in 1782 to build
the Presidio and Mission. They were sent both to fortify the
region against expansion by other powers such as England and
Russia, and to convert the natives to Christianity. Many of the
Spanish brought their families with them, and those formed the
nucleus of the small town – at first just a cluster of
adobes – that surrounded the Presidio. Mission Santa Barbara
was dedicated December 4, 1786, the feast day of Saint
Barbara.[3] The Mission fathers began the slow work of converting
the native Chumash to Christianity, building a village for them
on the Mission grounds. Many of the natives died in the following
decades of diseases such as smallpox to which they had no natural
immunity.
The most dramatic event of the Spanish period was the powerful
1812 earthquake and tsunami, one of the strongest in California
history, which destroyed the Mission as well as the rest of the
town; water reached as high as present-day Anapamu street, and
carried a ship half a mile up Refugio Canyon. Following the
earthquake, the Mission fathers chose to rebuild in a grander
manner, and it is this construction that survives to the present
day, the best-preserved of the California Missions.
The Spanish period ended in 1822 with the end of the Mexican War
of Independence which terminated three hundred years of colonial
rule. The flag of Mexico went up the flagpole at the Presidio,
but only for 24 years.
Mexican and Rancho Period
After the secularization of the
Missions in 1833, immense amounts of land formerly held by the
Church were distributed by the Mexican governors of California to
various families in order to reward service or build alliances.
These land grants commenced the "Rancho Period" in
California and Santa Barbara history. The population remained
sparse, with enormous cattle operations run by wealthy families.
It was during this period that Richard Henry Dana, Jr. first
visited Santa Barbara and wrote about it in Two Years Before the
Mast.
Santa Barbara fell bloodlessly to a battalion of American
soldiers under John C. Frémont on December 27, 1846, during the
Mexican-American War, and after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
it became part of the expanding United States.
Middle and late 19th century
Change came quickly after Santa Barbara's acquisition by the
United States. The population doubled between 1850 and 1860. In
1851, land surveyor Salisbury Haley designed the street grid,
famously botching the block measurements, misaligning the
streets; wood construction replaced adobe, as American settlers
moved in; and during the Gold Rush years and following, the town
became a haven for bandits and gamblers, and a dangerous and
lawless place. Charismatic gambler and highwayman Jack Powers had
virtual control of the town in the early 1850s, until driven out
by a posse organized in San Luis Obispo. English gradually
supplanted Spanish as the language of daily life, becoming the
language of official record in 1870. The first newspaper, the
Santa Barbara Gazette, was founded in 1855.
While the Civil War had little effect on Santa Barbara, the
disastrous drought of 1863 ended the Rancho Period, as most of
the cattle died and ranchos were broken up and sold. The building
of Stearns Wharf in 1872 enhanced Santa Barbara's commercial and
tourist accessibility; previously goods and visitors had to
transfer from steamboats to smaller craft to row ashore. During
the 1870s, writer Charles Nordhoff promoted the town as a health
resort and destination for well-to-do travelers from other parts
of the U.S.; many of them came, and many stayed. The luxurious
Arlington Hotel dated from this period. In 1887 the railroad
finally went through to Los Angeles, and in 1901 to San
Francisco: Santa Barbara was now easily accessible by land and by
sea, and development was brisk.
Early 20th century to World War II
Just before the turn of the century, oil was discovered at the
Summerland Oil Field, and the region along the beach east of
Santa Barbara sprouted numerous oil derricks and piers for
drilling offshore. This was the first offshore oil development in
the world; oil drilling offshore would become a contentious
practice in the Santa Barbara area to the present day.
Santa Barbara housed the world's largest movie studio during the
era of silent film. Flying A Studios, a division of the American
Film Company, operated on two city blocks centered at State and
Mission between 1910 and 1922, with the industry shutting down
locally and moving to Hollywood once it outgrew the area, needing
the resources of a larger city. Flying A and the other smaller
local studios produced approximately 1,200 films during their
tenure in Santa Barbara, of which approximately 100 survive.
The earthquake of June 29, 1925, the first destructive earthquake
in California since the 1906 San Francisco quake, destroyed much
of Santa Barbara and killed 13 or 14 people. The low death toll
is attributed to the early hour (6:23 a.m., before most people
were out on the streets, vulnerable to falling masonry). While
this quake, like the one in 1812, was centered in the Santa
Barbara Channel, it caused no tsunami, and most of the damage was
caused by two onshore aftershocks. It came at an opportune time
for rebuilding, since a movement for architectural reform and
unification around a Spanish Colonial style was already underway.
Under the leadership of Pearl Chase, many of the city's famous
buildings rose as part of the rebuilding process, including the
Santa Barbara County Courthouse, sometimes praised as the
"most beautiful public building in the United States."
During World War II Santa Barbara was home to a Marine base, at
the site of present-day UCSB; a Navy installation at the harbor;
was near to the Army's Camp Cook, present-day Vandenberg Air
Force Base; and contained a hospital for treating servicemen
wounded in the Pacific Theatre. On February 23, 1942, not long
after the outbreak of war in the Pacific, a Japanese submarine
emerged from the ocean and lobbed 16 shells at the Elwood Oil
Field, about 10 miles west of Santa Barbara, the only direct
attack on the U.S. mainland during the entire war, and the first
wartime attack by an enemy power on U.S. soil since the War of
1812. Although the gunners were terrible marksmen, and only
caused about $500 damage to a catwalk, panic was immediate. Many
Santa Barbara residents fled, and land values plummeted to
historic lows. Numerous dud shells have been retained by
memorabilia-seeking locals.
After World War II
After the war many of the servicemen who had seen Santa Barbara
returned to stay. The population surged by 10,000 people between
the end of the war and 1950. This burst of growth had dramatic
consequences for the local economy and infrastructure. Highway
101 was built through town during this period, and newly built
Lake Cachuma began supplying water via a tunnel dug through the
mountains between 1950 and 1956.
Local relations with the oil industry gradually soured through
the period. Production at Summerland had ended, Elwood was
winding down, and to find new fields oil companies carried out
seismic exploration of the Channel using explosives, a
controversial practice that local fishermen claimed harmed their
catch. The culminating disaster, and one of the formative events
in the modern environmental movement, was the blowout at Union
Oil's Platform A on January 28, 1969. Approximately 100,000
barrels of oil surged out of a huge undersea break, fouling
hundreds of square miles of ocean and all the coastline from
Ventura to Goleta, as well north facing beaches on the Channel
Islands. Two legislative consequences of the spill in the next
year were the passages of the California Envirnomental Quality
Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA);
locally, outraged citizens formed GOO (Get Oil Out).
Santa Barbara's business community strove to attract development
until the surge in the anti-growth movement in the 1970s. Many
"clean" industries, especially aerospace firms such as
Raytheon and Delco Electronics, moved to town in the 1950s and
1960s, bringing employees from other parts of the U.S. UCSB
itself became a major employer. In 1975, the city passed an
ordinance restricting growth to a maximum of 85,000 residents,
through zoning. Growth in the adjacent Goleta Valley could be
shut down by denying water meters to developers seeking permits.
As a result of these changes, growth slowed down, but prices rose
sharply.
Four destructive fires affected Santa Barbara during this time:
the 1964 Coyote Fire, which burned 67,000 acres of backcountry
along with 150 homes; the smaller but quickly moving Sycamore
Fire in 1977, which burned 200 homes; the disastrous 1990 Painted
Cave Fire, which incinerated over 500 homes in only several
hours, during an intense Sundowner wind event; and the November
2008 Tea Fire, which destroyed 210 homes in the foothills of
Santa Barbara and Montecito before being put out.
When voters approved connection to State water supplies in 1991,
parts of the city, especially outlying areas, resumed growth, but
more slowly than during the boom period of the 1950s and 1960s.
While the slower growth preserved the quality of life for most
residents and prevented the urban sprawl notorious in the Los
Angeles basin, housing in the Santa Barbara area was in short
supply, and prices soared: in 2006, only six percent of residents
could afford a median-value house. As a result, many people who
work in Santa Barbara commute from adjacent, more affordable
areas, such as Santa Maria, Lompoc, and Ventura. The resultant
traffic on incoming arteries, particularly the stretch of Highway
101 between Ventura and Santa Barbara, is another problem being
addressed by long-range planners.
In 2006, in a controversial move, the city's major news daily,
the Santa Barbara News-Press, fired, or accepted the resignations
of, a large portion of their newsroom staff. The departing
reporters and editors claimed that the ethical standards of the
newspaper had slipped, in particular that owner Wendy McCaw
inappropriately inserted herself into content decisions. Some of
the staff, including columnist Barney Brantingham, joined the
competing Independent. News-Press management described the
departures as having occurred over "differences of opinion
as to direction, goals and vision."
Geography and Climate
Street scene in Santa Barbara
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santabarbarastreetscene.jpg
Santa Barbara is located about 90 miles
WNW of Los Angeles, along the Pacific coast. This stretch of
coast along southern Santa Barbara County is often referred to as
the "American Riviera" because its geography and
Mediterranean climate are reminiscent of the French and Italian
Riviera coastline along the Mediterranean. The Santa Ynez
Mountains, an east-west trending range, rise dramatically behind
the city, with several peaks exceeding 4,000 feet. Covered with
chaparral and with sandstone outcrops, they make a famously
scenic backdrop to the town. Sometimes, perhaps once every three
years, snow falls on the mountains, but it rarely stays for more
than a few days. Nearer to town, and directly east and adjacent
to Mission Santa Barbara, is a hill known locally as the
"Riviera," traversed by "Alameda Padre Serra"
(shortened APS), "Father Serra's pathway." The
hillside, made accessible by the advent of the automobile early
in the 20th century, is now built with relatively expensive
homes. A spectacularly beautiful area looking south toward the
Pacific and the Channel Islands and having sunrise to sunset
views, Santa Barbara became the winter destination for the titans
of post-Civil War America. Private railroad cars clustered on the
sidings at Santa Barbara. The Potter Hotel overlooking Santa
Barbara's West Beach was a world renowned resort. Owners of
industry visited Santa Barbara and chose Santa Barbara hillside
locations for their grand estates. Others preferred the beach and
built palatially there, from Sandyland Cove, Padaro Lane, the
city beaches, and west to what is now Goleta.
The architectural image of Santa Barbara is the Spanish Colonial
Revival style of architecture adopted by city leaders after the
1925 earthquake destroyed much of the downtown commercial
district. The domestic architecture of Santa Barbara is
predominantly California bungalows built in the early decades of
the 20th century, with many Victorian homes adorning the
"Upper East" and Spanish style homes designed by well
known California architects in Santa Barbara and on estates in
Montecito and Hope Ranch. The city has passed ordinances against
billboards and regulates outdoor advertising, so the city is
relatively free of advertising clutter.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a
total area of 41.4 square miles, of which, 19.0 square miles of
it is land and 22.4 square miles of it (54.17%) is water. The
high official figures for water is due to the city limit
extending into the ocean, including a strip of city reaching out
into the sea and inland again to keep the Santa Barbara Airport
(SBA) within the city boundary.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 92,325 people*, 35,605
households, and 18,941 families residing in the city. The
population density was 4,865.3 people per square mile. There were
37,076 housing units at an average density of 1,953.8/sq mi. The
racial makeup of the city was 74.04% White, 1.77% African
American, 1.07% Native American, 2.77% Asian, 0.14% Pacific
Islander, 16.37% from other races, and 3.85% from two or more
races. People of Hispanic or Latino background, of any race, were
35.02% of the population. (*This number was revised to 89,600
when it was discovered that a dormitory population outside the
city was erroneously included in the 92,325 figure.
There were 35,605 households out of which 24.3% had children
under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples
living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband
present, and 46.8% were non-families. 32.9% of all households
were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone
who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was
2.47 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.8% under the
age of 18, 13.8% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from
45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median
age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.0 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $47,498, and
the median income for a family was $57,880. Males had a median
income of $37,116 versus $31,911 for females. The per capita
income for the city was $26,466. About 7.7% of families and 13.4%
of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.8% of
those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over. If one
compares the per capita income to the actual cost of living, the
number of people living below the poverty line is considerably
higher.
In 2006, according to the California State Department of Finance,
the population of Santa Barbara (now 89,548) had been surpassed
by that of Santa Maria, which had thus become the most populous
city in Santa Barbara County. Santa Maria's growth can be
attributed to its cost of living, Santa Barbara's limited growth
policies, and more available land area for Santa Maria.
Neighborhoods
As with most cities, Santa Barbara has
a range of neighborhoods with distinctive histories,
architectures, and cultures. While considerable consensus exists
as to the identification of neighborhood names and boundaries,
variations exist between observers. For example, real estate
agents may use different names than those used by public
utilities or municipal service providers, such as police, fire,
or water services. The following is a list of neighborhoods with
descriptions and comments on each.
The Mesa stretches 2.5 miles from Santa Barbara City College on
the east to Arroyo Burro County Beach (or "Hendry’s/The
Pit" to locals) on the west. This is considered to be a
desirable neighborhood due to its proximity to the ocean as well
as the college.
The Riviera encompasses an ocean-facing hillside extending approximately two miles span between Mission and Sycamore Canyons. For the past 65 years it has been known as "the Riviera" due to its resemblance to slopes along the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy. Most of the area has curving streets with mature trees and foliage, and most of the topography of the Riviera is relatively steep.
The Westside ("west of State Street") lies predominantly in the lowlands between State Street and the Mesa, including Highway 101, and also reaches down to Cliff Drive, incorporating Santa Barbara City College.
The Eastside ("east of State Street") is generally the area east of State to the base of the Riviera, and includes Santa Barbara Junior High School, Santa Barbara High School, and the Santa Barbara Bowl.
The Waterfront
Lower State Street is the most "touristy" part of town, usually defined as Anapamu to either the intersection with 101 or Stearn's Wharf. It features primarily commercial properties, as well as a thriving nightlife.
Upper State Street is a residential and commercial district which includes numerous professional offices, and much of the medical infrastructure of the city.
San Roque is located northwest of the downtown area and north of Samarkand. It is a good spot for families within the Hope School District. This area is said to be a constant 5 degrees warmer than the coastal areas, due to its greater distance from the ocean than other Santa Barbara neighborhoods, and being separated from the sea by a low range of hills to the south, occupied by the Mesa and Hope Ranch. San Roque is also the most popular spot for Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween.
Samarkand currently has approximately 630 homes on 184 acres with a population of about 2000 people. The name Samarkand comes from an Old Persian word meaning "the land of heart’s desire." It was first applied to a deluxe Persian-style hotel that was converted from a boy’s school in 1920. Samarkand later became identified as its own neighborhood located between Las Positas, State Street, De La Vina, Oak Park and the Freeway. Earle Ovington built the first home here in 1920 at 3030 Samarkand Drive. As a pilot, Ovington established the Casa Loma Air Field with a 1,500-foot (460 m) runway that was used by legendary pilots, Lindbergh and Earhart.
Hope Ranch is an unincorporated suburb
of Santa Barbara, west of downtown. As of the 2000 census, the
area had an approximate population of 2,200. The neighborhood
occupies a hilly area immediately adjacent to the coast; the
highest elevation is 691 feet. Hope Ranch is one of the
wealthiest areas in California; the median price home was $2.61
million in 2006.
Noleta is an informal name for the unincorporated suburban area
west of Santa Barbara. It is bounded on the east by Santa Barbara
and Hope Ranch, on the west by Goleta, on the north by the Santa
Ynez Mountains and on the south by the Pacific Ocean, and largely
includes the zip codes 93105, 93110, and 93111. Approximately
30,000 people live in the area. The area is called Noleta because
of its history of voting "no" on incorporation with the
City of Goleta (i.e. "no" to "Goleta"), and
as a pun on the more famous neighborhood "North of Little
Italy" in New York City. Residents have the address of Santa
Barbara.
Culture
Performing arts
Santa Barbara contains numerous performing art venues, including
the 2,000 seat Arlington Theatre, the largest indoor performance
venue in Santa Barbara; the Lobero Theatre, a historic building
and favorite venue for small concerts; the Granada Theater, the
tallest building downtown, originally built by contractor C.M.
Urton in 1920, but with the theatre remodeled and reopened in
March 2008; and the Santa Barbara Bowl, a 4,562 seat amphitheatre
used for outdoor concerts, nestled in a picturesque canyon
northwest of Santa Barbara at the base of the Riviera.
The city is considered a haven for classical music lovers with a
symphony orchestra and many non-profit classical music groups
(such as CAMA). The Music Academy of the West, located in
Montecito, hosts an annual music festival in the summer, drawing
renowned students and professionals.
Tourist attractions
A view of a Santa Barbara sunset looking over the ocean.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SantaBarbara-sunset.jpg
Santa Barbara is a year-round tourist
destination renowned for its fair weather, downtown beaches, and
Spanish architecture. Tourism brings more than one billion
dollars per year into the local economy, including $80 million in
tax revenue. In addition to the city's cultural assets, several
iconic destinations lie within the city's limits. Mission Santa
Barbara, "The Queen of the Missions," is located on a
rise about two miles inland from the harbor, and is maintained as
an active place of worship, sightseeing stop, and national
historic landmark. The Santa Barbara County Courthouse, a red
tiled Spanish-Moorish structure, provides a sweeping view of the
downtown area from its open air tower. The Presidio of Santa
Barbara, a Spanish military installation built in 1782, was
central to the town's early development and remains an icon of
the city's colonial roots.
Also famous is the annual Fiesta (originally called "Old
Spanish Days"), which is celebrated every year in August.
The Fiesta is hosted by the Native Daughters of the Golden West
and the Native Sons of the Golden West in a joint committee
called the Fiesta Board. Fiesta was originally started as a
tourist attraction, like the Rose Bowl, to draw business into the
town in the 1920s.
Flower Girls and Las Señoritas are another attraction of Fiesta,
as they march and participate in both Fiesta Pequeña (the
kickoff of Fiesta) and the various parades. Flower Girls is for
girls under 13. They throw roses and other flowers into the
crowds. Las Señoritas are their older escorts. Many Señoritas
join the Native Daughters at the age of 16.
For over 40 years the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show has been
held on Cabrillo Blvd., east of Stearns Wharf and along the
beach, attracting thousands of people to see artwork made by
artists and crafts people that live in Santa Barbara county. By
the rules of the show, all the works displayed must have been
made by the artists and craftspeople themselves, who must sell
their own goods. The show started in the early 1960s, and now has
over 200 booths varying in size and style on any Sunday of the
year. The show is also held on some Saturdays that are national
holidays, but not during inclement weather.
In recent years, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
(SBIFF), another local non-profit, has also become a major draw
bringing over 50,000 attendees during what is usually Santa
Barbara's slow season in late January. SBIFF hosts a wide variety
of celebrities, premieres, panels and movies from around the
world and runs for 10 days.
The annual Summer Solstice Parade draws up to 100,000 people. It
is a colorful themed parade put on by local residents, and
follows a route along State Street for approximately one mile,
ending at Alameda Park. Floats and costumes vary from the
whimsical to the outrageous; parties and street events take place
throughout the weekend of the parade, which is invariably the
first weekend after the solstice.
Surfing is a much a part of Santa Barbara culture as Art. 3 time
world champion Tom Curren, 10 time world champion Kelly Slater,
and other popular surf icons such as Jack Johnson call Santa
Barbara home.
Other tourist-centered attractions include:
Stearns Wharf – Adjacent to Santa Barbara Harbor, features
shops, several restaurants, and the newly rebuilt Ty Warner Sea
Center.
Rafael Gonzalez House – Adobe residence of the alcaldé of
Santa Barbara in the 1820s, and a National Historic Landmark.
Moreton Bay Fig – a giant Moreton Bay Fig, 80 feet tall,
which has one of the largest total shaded areas of any tree in
North America
Burton Mound – on Mason Street at Burton Circle, this mound
is thought to be the Chumash village of Syujton, recorded by Juan
Cabrillo in 1542, and again by Fr. Crespí and Portolá in 1769.
(California Historical Landmark No. 306)
De La Guerra Plaza (Casa de la Guerra) – Site of the first
City Hall, and still the center of the city's administration.
(California Historical Landmark No. 307) Also the location of the
Santa Barbara News Press.
Covarrubias Adobe – Built in 1817; adjacent to the Santa
Barbara Historical Society Museum on Santa Barbara Street.
(California Historical Landmark No. 308)
Hastings Adobe – Built in 1854, partially from material
recovered from the wreck of the S.S. Winfield Scott. (California
Historical Landmark No. 559)
Carrillo Adobe – Built in 1825 by Daniel Hill for his wife
Rafaela L. Ortega y Olivera; currently at 11 E. Carrillo St.
Cold Spring Tavern
El Paseo Shopping Mall – California's first shopping center.
Santa Barbara Zoo
Restaurants
With its abundance of fresh seafood, awareness of responsible
farming methods, and nearby well-known wineries, Santa Barbara
has many restaurants. In 2008, the Santa Barbara Dining Guide
listed 674 separate restaurants in the region
Museums
Many artists make Santa Barbara their home, and the Santa Barbara
Museum of Art is home to a significant permanent collection.
Other art venues include the University Art Museum on the UC
Santa Barbara Campus, various private galleries, and a wide
variety of art and photography shows. The Santa Barbara Museum of
Natural History is located immediately behind the Santa Barbara
Mission in a complex of Mission-style buildings set in a
park-like campus. The Museum offers indoor and outdoor exhibits
and a state-of-the-art planetarium. The Santa Barbara Maritime
Museum is located at 113 Harbor Way (the former Naval Reserve
Center Santa Barbara) on the waterfront. The Contemporary Arts
Forum, located on the top floor of Paseo Nuevo shopping mall,
contains exhibits of new works in all media. The Karpeles
Manuscript Library Museum (free admission) houses a collection of
historical documents and manuscripts.
Media
Santa Barbara has two newspapers: the daily Santa Barbara
News-Press, with a circulation of about 39,000 and the Santa
Barbara Daily Sound, published six days a week. The New York
Times Company sold the News-Press in 2000 to local resident Wendy
P. McCaw. Other media available include Edhat Online Magazine
Edhat, an aggregation of citizen news and links to other media
websites, the Santa Barbara Independent, an arts and
entertainment newsweekly with a circulation of 40,000, audited
readership of 120,000-plus, Pacific Coast Business Times, a
weekly business journal covering Santa Barbara, Ventura and San
Luis Obispo counties; Santa Barbara Life; Builder/Architect Gold
& Central Coast Edition; and Shape of Voice, a non-profit
youth created publication which focuses on social justice and
youth issues. Local television stations include KEYT 3, an ABC
television affiliate; KPMR 38, a Univision affiliate; Santa
Barbara Internet TV, and Santa Barbara Channels; and 17
(Community Access) and 21 Arts & Education [(formerly owned
by Cox cable)]. Although Santa Barbara has radio stations
including KJEE (92.9 mhz), The Vibe:Hip Hop y Mas 103.3, KTYD
(99.9 mhz) and KLITE 101.7 owned by Rincon Broadcasing, some Los
Angeles radio stations can be heard, although somewhat faintly
due to the 85-mile distance. Santa Monica-based NPR station KCRW
can be heard in Santa Barbara at 106.9 mhz, and San Luis
Obispo-based NPR station KCBX at 89.5 mhz and 90.9 mhz.
Parks
A view of Santa Barbara from the Santa Ynez Mountain Range
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santabarbaraview.jpg
Santa Barbara has many parks, ranging
from small spaces within the urban environment to large,
semi-wilderness areas which remain within the city limits. Some
notable parks within the city limits are as follows:
Alameda Park
Elings Park
Butterfly Beach
Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens
De La Guerra Plaza
Skofield Park
Parma Park
Shoreline Park
Douglas Family Preserve
East Beach
Leadbetter Beach
West Beach
Hendry's Beach (Arroyo Burro)
Andree Clark Bird Refuge
Some notable parks and open spaces just
outside of the city limits include:
The central meadow region of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, which contains a diverse collection
of plants from around California; it is in Mission Canyon,
directly north of the city.
Gould Park
Rattlesnake Canyon, a favorite local hiking area.
Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park
Santa Barbara's many tourist attractions have made the
hospitality industry into a major player in the regional economy.
For example, Motel 6 was started in Santa Barbara in 1962.
Education
Santa Barbara Public Library
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Barbara_library.jpg
Colleges and universities
Santa Barbara and the immediately
adjacent area is home to several colleges and universities:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara City College
Westmont College
Brooks Institute of Photography
Music Academy of the West
Santa Barbara Business College
Antioch University
Pacifica Graduate Institute
Fielding Graduate University
Santa Barbara Graduate Institute
Paul Mitchell the School
High schools
Secondary and Primary School students
go to the Santa Barbara and Hope district schools. There are also
a variety of private schools in the area. The following schools
are on the south coast of Santa Barbara County, including the
cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpinteria, and contiguous
unincorporated areas.
The Anacapa School, 7-12
San Marcos High School, 9-12
Dos Pueblos High School, 9-12
Dos Pueblos Continuation High School, 9-12
Las Alturas Continuation High School, 9-12
La Cuesta/Pathfinders Continuation High School, 9-12
San Marcos Continuation High School, 9-12
Santa Barbara High School, 9-12
Laguna Blanca School K-12
Bishop Garcia Diego High School, 9-12
Cate School, 9-12
Carpinteria High School, 9-12
Junior high/middle schools
Community Day School, 7-8
Crane Country Day School, K-8
Goleta Valley Junior High School, 7-8
La Colina Junior High School, 7-8
La Cumbre Junior High School, 7-8
Santa Barbara Junior High School, 7-8
Elementary schools
Adams Elementary School, K-6
Cesar Estrada Chavez Dual Language Immersion Charter School, K-6
Cleveland Elementary School, K-6
Cold Spring Elementary School, K-6
Crane Country Day School, K-8
El Camino Elementary School, K-6
Foothill Elementary School, K-6
Franklin Elementary School, K-6
Harding Elementary School, K-6
Hollister Elementary School, K-6
Hope Elementary School, K-6
La Patera Elementary School, K-6
Marymount School, K-8
McKinley Elementary School, K-6
Monroe Elementary School, K-6
Monte Vista Elementary School, K-6
Montecito Union Elementary School, K-6
Mountain View Elementary School, K-6
Open Alternative School, K-8
Peabody Charter School, K-6
Roosevelt Elementary School, K-6
Santa Barbara Charter School, K-8
Santa Barbara Christian School, K-8
Santa Barbara Community Academy, K-6
Vieja Valley Elementary School, K-6
Washington Elementary School, K-6
Private schools
Crane Country Day School, K-8
St. John of Damascus Academy, K-8
Notre Dame School K-8
Laguna Blanca School, K-12
Santa Barbara Middle School, 6-9
Transportation
Santa Barbara is bisected by U.S. Route 101, a primary
transportation corridor that links the city to the rest of the
Central Coast region. The Santa Barbara Airport offers commercial
air service. Amtrak offers rail service through the Coast
Starlight and Pacific Surfliner trains at the train station on
State Street. The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District
(MTD) provides local bus service across the city, and Greyhound
bus stations are located downtown and in nearby Goleta. Electric
shuttles operated by MTD ferry tourists and shoppers up and down
lower State Street and to the wharf.
This page was last updated July 19, 2009.
