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This Date in Santa Barbara History: Jesusita Fire

By on May 5, 2012 in News, SB History

firehillsThree years ago today, the Jesusita Fire broke out. First word of a fire in the hills came around 1:45 pm in the afternoon, a breaking report followed… “there is a very visible fire in the hills above Santa Barbara.” Preliminary reports had the fire near Tunnel Road… the first picture of the blaze was sent in from La Cumbre Mall (left).

For the next two weeks, the Jesusita Fire had Santa Barbara residents on edge. The skies around Santa Barbara filled with smoke and power went out throughout the city. 1,200 homes were immediately put under a mandatory evacuation order and a proclamation of local emergency was declared by Santa Barbara County. Flames, fueled by 84 degree temperatures and sun-downer winds, were no match for brave helicopter pilots. The blaze swelled from 150 acres to 8,700+ acres burned. Continue Reading →

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Tour the Little Neighborhood that Could: Bungalow Haven

By on May 2, 2012 in Cheri Rae, SB History

By Cheri Rae

A decade ago, there was no such thing as Bungalow Haven. Located roughly between Victoria and Micheltorena, Laguna and Alta Vista, the area was known officially to the city as a part of the Lower Riviera, to local residents as a great place to live. Just six blocks from State Street, this small section of well-kept, modest-sized homes built nearly a hundred years ago; most with front porches, nice yards and distinctive features that make them enjoyable to live in: built-in cabinets and bookcases, stained-glass windows and window seats.

It is the embodiment of the sustainable, “not-so-big-house” in a walkable neighborhood—an important kind of housing in this community long before those now-green terms were coined and applied to so-called “smart growth.”

It’s where my husband and I scraped together every bit of cash we could to purchase our 1912 Craftsman-style bungalow way back in 1993. It was so tough to buy a home back in those days, we even made the real estate section of the News-Press, a profile of a happy couple with a toddler who were thrilled to have Made Good by qualifying for a mortgage for a nice, old house in a nice, old neighborhood.

The place is even nicer now—with a fine group of caring neighbors who have become great stewards of a special place to live. In the past decade, alarmed by the possibility of losing the intact historic neighborhood to development interests, we began to meet regularly; we identified—and communicated—what makes it worth saving. We educated ourselves, learned the language of bureaucracy and transformed ourselves from residents into neighborhood activists.

In the process, we’ve gotten a lot accomplished: We’ve worked with the city to develop official architectural design guidelines, we worked with the Planning Commission to save three fine bungalows on Laguna Street that were scheduled for demolition—and incorporated into the new condo development instead—and we’re working now with the venerable Pearl Chase Society as the location for its upcoming Historic Homes Tour.

The Pearl Chase Society, which has often featured huge, grand homes in its annual tours, has recognized and embraced the enduring appeal of the humble bungalow—and has created a unique opportunity for Santa Barbara to celebrate the Craftsman ideals of simplicity, natural materials and fine design. The tour, scheduled for May 20, 11-4, includes eight homes, among them several small bungalows, an English Farmhouse, a Queen Anne Victorian cottage and the unique, Asian-inspired Pagoda House.

The tour allows for a glimpse into the daily lives, hobbies, collections and good taste of a diverse group of residents—including an architect, a teacher, a nurse, a craftsman, a doctor, a couple of artists and several small business owners—reflecting much of the same demographic that has always lived in, and appreciated, this neighborhood built to last.

The purchase of a ticket for the tour supports the efforts of the Pearl Chase Society, as its primary fund-raiser of the year. The organization regularly donates to multiple local preservation efforts, including the Courthouse; the restoration of the Douglass Parshall mural at Santa Barbara Jr. High and the portrait of Pearl Chase at the Carrillo Recreation Center, and even the Land Trust of Santa Barbara County for the purchase of Hot Springs Canyon.

For more information about the Pearl Chase Society or to sign up for the upcoming Historic Homes Tour: http://www.pearlchasesociety.org/.

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Spanish Street Names of Santa Barbara, California

By on April 29, 2012 in SB History

PORTOLA (por-to-lah‘) honors Gaspar de Portola, first Spanish Governor of California, the man who led Padre Junipero Serra and his first settlers (1789) to San Diego, the diplomat whom the padre wept to leave. Portola’s men were soldaldos distinguidos, distinguished soldiers, some even entitled to the prefix of “don” to their names. Notwithstanding his successful governorship, he was a homesick Spaniard (pictured right) whom the Western Hemisphere neither pleased nor satisfied. Continue Reading →

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People Who Shaped Santa Barbara: Robert F. Winchester, Ranchero and Physician

By on April 27, 2012 in News, SB History, SB Photos

On this date in 1845, Robert F. Winchester was born in Brewer, Maine. Winchester would become the second practicing physician in Santa Barbara.

Winchester served in the Civil War as a surgeon for the Union Army. After the war, he was drawn by the wanderlust of the West coast and moved to San Francisco. He began his practice when the smallpox epidemic drew him to San Juan Bautista and his fateful meeting with Colonel Hollister.  According to Walker A. Tomkins, “when Colonel Hollister was preparing to move his family to Santa Barbara, a devastating epidemic of smallpox broke out in the San Juan Bautista area near his sheep ranch. A young doctor, Robert Fulton Winchester, volunteered to leave his practice near San Francisco to come to the aid of the stricken community… Hollister was so impressed that he hired him to serve as the family’s personal physician and eventually set him up for business in Santa Barbara.” Continue Reading →

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History of Earth Day… a Santa Barbara Story

By on April 22, 2012 in Green & Garden, News, SB History

Earth Day was conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson following a trip he took to the Central Coast where he witnessed the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. The Senator was so outraged by what he saw that he went back to Washington and helped pass a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the earth. An estimated one in 10 Americans took part in the first Earth Day, observed across the country on April 22, 1970. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. “It was a gamble,” Gaylord recalled, “but it worked.”

Continue Reading →

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Fire Razed Potter Hotel on April 13, 1921

By on April 13, 2012 in News, SB History, SB Photos

On this date in Santa Barbara history the magnificent Potter Hotel was destroyed by a fire. Crowds watched as flames destroyed the Potter Hotel on April 13, 1921.

100+ guests were safely evacuated, but with winds gusting from fifty to eighty miles per hour, the fire spread quickly and burnt the hotel to the ground within three hours. Flying debris even set fire to Stearns Wharf and to the tall palms that line the boulevard along West Beach. Only few chimneys were left of what had been one of the finest hotels on the West Coast.

Continue Reading →

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No Place Like Home: Snapshots of Santa Barbara’s Baseball Legacy

By on April 4, 2012 in News, SB History, SB Photos

By Cheri Rae

Here’s a look back in time, when Santa Barbara was a baseball town, indeed a destination for the old-time superstars of America’s game.

The game was invented in New York before California became a state. And it arrived in Santa Barbara before then, too. In 1847, members of New York’s Company F Volunteer Army Regiment made their way from the east coast via Cape Horn. They were assigned to occupy and colonize California—and many of them were baseball fans. They set up a makeshift baseball diamond, with home plate situated approximately the corner of State and Ortega streets, and enjoyed their leisure time.

The game quickly gained popularity locally; there’s a published report of an 1887 baseball game between two teams of realtors, the Boomerangs and the Corner-Lots, who played at the corner of Micheltorena and Garden streets. The Corner-Lots won 22-11.

Few baseball fans—or poetry buffs—know that Ernest Lawrence Thayer, author of the timeless baseball poem “Casey at the Bat,” had a Santa Barbara connection. He wrote about the mighty Casey and the Mudville nine in 1888 for the San Francisco Examiner under the pseudonym Phin, He moved to town in 1912, married Rosalind Buel Hammett, and lived here until his death in 1940 (he is interred at the Santa Barbara Cemetery).

Babe Ruth played in Santa Barbara twice: in 1925 at Pershing Park, and famously, in October, 1927 for an exhibition game at the then-new Peabody Stadium (the football stadium at Santa Barbara High School). The opposing team was led by Lou Gehrig. Ruth’s team, the Bustin’ Babes, defeated Gehrig’s Larrupin’ Lous, 7-6; both superstars hit home runs out of the stadium that day, delighting the 2,000 fans in attendance.

The WPA-built Laguna Park on Cota Street was designed by architect Winsor Soule.  For 30 years the full-sized ballpark hosted an array of teams—from youth Pee-Wee to the big-league farm teams run by the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets. In 1947, the Santa Barbara team set the California League attendance record of 93,000. The ballpark was leveled to make way for a parking lot for buses in 1970.

The field of dreams at Santa Barbara High School is named Eddie Mathews Field. Mathews graduated in the class on 1949; the home-run slugging third baseman with a near-perfect swing played for the Braves (in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta). He was featured on the cover of the first edition of Sports Illustrated in 1954, and was a key factor in the Braves’ World Series wins in 1957 and 1958. The Santa Barbara Don was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1978.

All photos courtesy Michael Redmon, Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

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Opening Day: Santa Barbara’s Baseball Legacy

By on April 4, 2012 in Cheri Rae, News, SB History, SB Photos

It’s opening day for Major League Baseball… to celebrate, and for all the new readers, here is an article from the Vintage Vault. Originally published in 2011 by Cheri Rae.

cheriSanta Barbara has a long and colorful past as a baseball town, dating back more than one hundred years. Some of the greatest of all baseball legends appeared here—including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Satchel Paige and Willie Mays. Ted Williams regularly visited his Hispanic relatives who lived here; and Santa Barbara was the hometown of the great Hall of Famer, Eddie Mathews, whose name graces the Santa Barbara High School Dons’ baseball field.

Even baseball writers have made Santa Barbara home—from Ernest Lawrence Thayer, the poet who wrote “Casey at the Bat,” to Ron Shelton, who penned the baseball-themed “Bull Durham” and “Cobb.” (Even Kevin Costner, who starred in “Bull Durham,” maintains a home in Santa Barbara.) The witty voice of the Foresters, Jim Buckley, is a prolific author of baseball books for children through his own Shoreline Publishing Group.
laguna park001

Longtime Santa Barbarans hold golden memories of their very own field of dreams, Laguna Park (pictured above). By all accounts, the big-league size ballpark, designed by legendary architect Winsor Soule, and built by the WPA in 1939, was a one-of-a-kind stadium. Over the years, it hosted an array of teams—from youth PeeWee and PONY League to big-league farm teams run by the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. The Santa Barbara team set the California League attendance record of 93,000 in 1947. Sadly, the magnificent ballpark was leveled by bureaucrats in 1970 to make way for a place to park the city’s buses. Its loss is truly part of Santa Barbara’s Hall of Shame—and it has yet to be replaced, although many promises were made to the citizens of Santa Barbara.

Enthusiasts of all ages congregate at East Beach Batting Cages; and kids are back to practicing on Cabrillo Ball Field, and playing Santa Barbara

Youth Baseball at good ol’ MacKenzie Park. Goleta Valley South and Dos Pueblos Little Leagues are going strong, and there’s even a Challenger League for children with disabilities at Girsh Park. A number of local all-star and club teams represent Santa Barbara at tournaments throughout California and far beyond, and the city’s high school rivalries are as strong as ever. Play Ball!
baseball team001

Historic Photos provided by Michael Redmon
Director of Research, Santa Barbara Historical Museum

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Six Years of the Santa Barbara Daily Sound

By on March 23, 2012 in News, SB History

Believe it or not, March 23rd marks the six-year anniversary of the Santa Barbara Daily Sound. Their launch narrowly preceded the meltdown at the Santa Barbara News-Press, but it also coincided with the decline of newspapers across the county.

Continue Reading →

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Vintage Views of Santa Barbara, California

By on March 9, 2012 in News, SB History, SB Photos

With the Miramar in the news this week, how about a look back to a happier time on the property. These vintage photographs come from the Thomas Schmidt treasure trove.
Continue Reading →

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Spanish Street Names of Santa Barbara

By on March 4, 2012 in News, SB History

VIZCAINO (vees-kah-ee’-no) carries the name of the famed Spanish merchant, Sebastian Vizcaino. He bestowed (1602) the name Canal de Santa Barbara on the passageway between the mainland and what are now the Channel Islands because he entered the channel on the eve of the feast of St. Barbara, December 4. The name little by little came to be applied to the whole region, the presidio, the mission, the islands, event the County. The real purpose behind the voyage of Vizcaino was the discover of a suitable way-station for the Manila galleons so that on their homeward journey they might have a port of refuge to repair ship, recover health, and be warned of pirates. Vizcaino recommended what he considered the superlative port of Monterey, which he neither discover nor was really superlative. – Rosario Curletti

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Demolition by Neglect

By on February 15, 2012 in News, SB History

Opinion by Kellam deForest

The legal definition of demolition by neglect described by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (PDF left) is the “process of allowing a building to deteriorate to the point where demolition is necessary to protect public health and safety.”

Sometimes an owner of an old historic building will let it deteriorate to the point of collapse in order to be rid of the responsibility of upkeep, or to facilitate development of the property.

Recent news has brought demolition by neglect examples to the forefront. One is the Chromatic Gate. As pointed out on Santa Barbara View, fading paint and lack of upkeep are reducing this 20th-century modern sculpture to an eyesore or worse. The City of Santa Barbara, who owns the sculpture, says it has no money for maintenance. There are those who object to its modernity and location on the beachfront who would be happy to see it demolished.

Continue Reading →

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Ronald Reagan Day in Santa Barbara

By on February 6, 2012 in News, SB History

The Reagan Ranch Center, at 217 State Street in Santa Barbara, has dubbed February 6th as Ronald Reagan Day. The Center is celebrating the 101st anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth and Andrew Coffin, Director of the Reagan Ranch, sent along this story…

“Unbeknownst to much of America, when Rancho del Cielo became the Western White House in the 1980s, the city of Santa Barbara became a Western version of Washington, D.C., albeit with a far superior climate year-round, especially during summers.

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View of Santa Barbara, and the Santa Barbara mountains from Santa Barbara City College overlooking Pershing Park

By on February 5, 2012 in News, SB History

Santa Barbara Photo of the Week by Bill Heller. (click on image for full view)

Santa Barbara City College has some amazing views. Most commonly, it’s the view toward the harbor and wharf that I think of and photograph. But this is looking over Pershing Park, toward the city. In my experience talking to people about my photos of our beautiful city, the tourists love the beach views, but the locals think of views like this when they think of home.

Click on the image to see all the interesting details!

-Bill Heller

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Spanish Street Names of Santa Barbara

By on February 2, 2012 in News, SB History

CHUPAROSA (choo-pah-roh’-sah) Chupar means to suck; rosa, rose. A sucker of roses is a hummingbird. Sometimes also called a chupaflor, a sucker of flowers.

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