The Mesa: From Chumash Times to Now
A Brief History of the Ocean-Side Neighborhood
The Mesa is the Santa Barbara neighborhood that stretches from the harbor along the coast to Arroyo Burro Beach, flanked on the south by the Pacific and on the north by small hills. For decades the Mesa was sparsely settled, with only a few farmers tilling its soil.
Mesa, the Spanish word for table or plateau, aptly describes this area. The Chumash apparently had villages at both ends of the Mesa, at Arroyo Burro and the heights overlooking today’s harbor. The stretch of land in between remained uninhabited.
The Spanish upon their arrival in 1782 also forsook the Mesa as a site for any settlement. They did apparently establish a lookout or outpost on the bluffs overlooking the harbor area. Where the Naval Reserve building now sits, the bluffs used to come down to the water’s edge, capped off by a large outcropping called Castle Rock. The demolition of Castle Rock, the construction of the harbor, and the extension of Cabrillo Boulevard up onto the Mesa transformed this area.
