I miss Santa Barbara

[AsahinaKimi]

Lived here for 5 years. What a lovely place it was.. its too bad the rents jump up so high each year. Some say its the rich community trying to rid itself of the poor, but after all, where will the servants live if they can't live here?
I love this community, its just too damn expensive for me.. to live there.

Its also.. Very Republican.. but that is changing..



There was a place here that, I swear, sold the largest Chicken Burritos I ever saw.
It was so large, that you couldn't eat it all in one sitting. You had to put the rest
in the fridge and hope it would last 2 days!









There is a story I heard while living there, how Santa Barbara once had a thriving Chinatown, however
there was a civilian revolt and they chased out everyone from the Asian community. Santa Barbara had
its beauty but also some small pockets of ugliness in its history.





Fiesta was the Best. The city closed down for a few days, and there was entertainment, two parades, lots of eggs
with confetti inside, Hot Tamales, Tacos, Buritos and all the cervezas you could drink!

[Tikki]

1. Hey, it's little cousin to the South...

Ventura....is keeping a watchful eye out for beautiful Santa Barbara...



Proud to be a Gaucho
UCSB Class of '95

Tikki

[Lindsey]

3. A good friend and I spent our Christimas in Santa Barbara this

year. Every Holiday we take a road trip to some cool little California get-away (Pismo Beach, Big Sur, etc.) This year we chose Santa Barbara and it was Awesome! We had an absolutely wonderful time. I also would love to live there. I think it may be getting more liberal.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. So did we!

And we also had a wonderful time - mostly just walking on the beach. Afterwards we went to Pismo Beach for a couple of days.

[Capn Sunshine]

13. Santa Barbara is wonderful at Christmastime

and we have an active, very active group in SB County dedicated to turning it blue. Lois Capps !

[david13]

2. Santa Barbara is nice, fer shur. But too expensive, and crowded,

and kind of a bad traffic problem. And no open spaces, and, well, you can get out of town, but again the traffic can be very crowded.
Nice place to live if you don't have to go anywhere, just sit around the house, and meditate.
dc

[AsahinaKimi]

8. No open spaces?

You obviously have never trekked though the mountains there.. you can drive up and hike if you want to. I remember going there one year to see the Hale-Bopp comet, at night. The only place I could see all the stars and the comet was fantastic.

[david13]

16. That's not Santa Barbara. That's down the road a piece. Or

actually up the road, toward the north. And many times I have ridden motorcycles thru' the hills, mountains etc., but the whole idea is to get around, or away from Santa Barbara. I never hiked but, motorcycle, yes. But not in Santa Barbara. Past Santa Barbara.
dc

[AsahinaKimi]

17. No the image is not Santa Barbara however

I did see Hale-Bopp as well as you can see in that image. There are plenty of spaces that are open in Santa Barbara and you just have to look for them.

[david13]

18. Nah, thenks enyway. It is a nice riding area, but just to go up, and

around, and beyond. The riding is more outside of the town. Santa Barbara is just too big city for me.
A very nice ride is take the Amtrak train thru' there. From Los Angeles to any point north, Oakland, Seattle. San Jose.
Take the Amtrak from Oakland, down to Santa Barbara.
Spend a day or a week, and go back.
Very scenic.
dc

[AsahinaKimi]

19. Too big a city?

Where do you live now, Solvang? I live in San Francisco now. Santa Barbara is very small compared to here. You mentioned there were too many people on the sidewalk. Its a tourist town. Its not that big...I guess you would hate living in SF. Its so different from SB. But I love it, I grew up here.

[david13]

20. So did I. But I only very partially miss San Francisco. Due to the

weather. It's so much nicer here, warm, sunny, ah, I love it. Sometimes I do miss the crowded streets, and so I go into downtown Los Angeles. And there are more open areas just a short drive away.
Just before xmas the jewelry district here was crowded with shoppers buying jewelry. And an ice skating rink at Pershing Square. A nice walk around the big city. But then back out.
Go back and visit Santa Barbara. You need it.
Many years ago I lived on the beach in Manhattan Beach. This year I had to go back many times. I was just ready for it, ready to see and feel it again.
I have been back to San Francisco many times as well. Michael Tilson Thomas. Etc.
I don't ever need to ride a cable car again. I have done it enough, so.
I do have to go back and visit Scuderia West, and bicycle on the new bridge (Oakland Bay) when it is in place, with the bike path.
dc

[mix]

4. Carpas in the house.

My hometown is just down the way...Carpinteria. But I grew up really in SB. I deeply love that town. :)

[Capn Sunshine]

6. Hey, Carp!

I grew up in Carpenteria; my family had a beach house on Sandyland for years. I spent every summer June- Sept there as home base in the 50s and 60s. Great Aunt had a home in the hedgerows of Montecito, and another Great Aunt had a place in Hope Ranch.

I had an office on Anacapa throughout the 90's. I visit regularly; Santa Barbara is wonderful in the downtown area, and the Mission and the Riviera neighborhoods, but you should avoid rush hours because as another poster mentioned, they suck.

Was just there last week. I live close enough that we go to dinner there instead of going to the West side of LA; it's the same time in the car. Daughter spent New Years at the Marmonte. It's like a backyard to me. Carp is wonderful; it reminds me of my childhood. Linden Ave hasn't really changed in all those years except the buildings have already had a facelift and I haven't.
This view look familiar?

[mix]

7. That looks like the beach at the end of Linden...

looking north toward the Sandyland Point? I used to surf Tar Pits and Rincon mostly...I lived in the foothills, back by Shepard's Mesa, an idyllic rural childhood...avocados, lemons, horses...still have friends and family in Carp, but do not get out there enough!

You are lucky you get to visit so often! Maybe I'll retire there down the line...

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

9. S.B. has the most spectacularly beautiful coastal scenery in the U.S. in my opinion,

and some of the best anywhere.

Well worth a visit for anyone who's never been there.

[mix]

11. utterly true...the beaches, the mountains, the ocean, the islands, and

the OIL DERRICKS!!!

Despite them, the coast is still gorgeous.

[AsahinaKimi]

10. The only thing about Santa Barbara ...

is that it was so far away to go to a Sports event. Dodger Stadium and the Staples Center was so far away! Even further to go see my Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.I would go see the Kings and the Mighty Ducks.. and the Lakers, but it was a hell of a drive to get there.


At least here in San Francisco, AT&T Park and Monster Park are not far away.

[mix]

12. In the 1970s, when I was a youngin', SB had a professional sports team...

The Santa Barbara Spikers...there was a short lived pro volleyball league...I can't remember if they were good or not!

[AsahinaKimi]

14. There is a ball team there now...

Who as it happens are a farm team of the ANGELS. They are the Foresters...I used to go watch them play



I even got a cap of theirs around here somewhere...Its not exactly like going to see the Dodgers or the Angels, but
its better then nothing.

[mix]

15. Foresters? Funny name for SB...

that's cool though that there is a farm team there :hi: