Mall Alternatives

Discovering Gifts for Everyone on Your List

By Victoria W. Harvey

For those visiting Santa Barbara, and even for those who call it
home, looking for the perfect gift can be an opportunity to see
some of the city’s best offerings. Cultural, scenic, and
educational destinations are unexpected sources for imaginative
gifts due to the vast choice of well-stocked gift stores.

The gift shop at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art is among the
best. Reproductions from the museum’s art collection of Degas,
Renoir, and Ansel Adams are available in the form of postcards,
jigsaw puzzles, umbrellas and tote bags, as are stunning glass
pieces, games and craft sets for children, and of course, fine art
books featuring subjects as diverse as Greta Garbo, ancient Asia,
and California ranch paintings. On the waterfront, the Maritime
Museum provides a learning experience, and its gift store offers
channel maps and treasures of an oceanic theme. Over the glistening
water at Stearns Wharf, the Ty Warner Sea Center has a small but
charming gift shop, and while the sea stars and shark eggs are best
left in the touch tanks, one can come away with a gift to evoke the
sea breezes.