Santa Barbara’s Hotel Californian Opens

There are pivotal moments in the life of a city. Historically, Santa Barbara has had many: the Chumash revolt of 1824; the development of the silent film industry; the 1925 earthquake; Pearl Chase’s drive to recast the city in the uniform architectural style we know today; the Union Oil spill that led to Earth Day and the cessation of offshore drilling; the fight to build the tunnel beneath the highway, allowing State Street to run continuously through the city; and the emergence of the Funk Zone. These were all defining moments in the tapestry of Santa Barbara.

Now we are living through another pivotal time. Santa Barbara’s most recent moment has been percolating for the last six years, and even decades earlier, along the waterfront in what is known as El Pueblo Viejo District. Much of the history of Santa Barbara old and new is embodied there ​— ​from surfboard shapers to the channel fisheries, cheap hotels, and dive bars. It’s remarkable to realize that the oceanfront was not cherished in the early 1800s. Southern Pacific Railroad laid tracks along the beachside because it was considered the least buildable, least valuable property. That is most certainly no longer true.

Changes began early this century, when artists started moving into the industrial rough-and-tumble area that we now call the Funk Zone and a new urbanism developed.