The State Street Parkway, built in 1917, stretches across the center medians on six blocks of State Street from Mission Street to Constance Avenue. The parkways, including the landscaping and iconic Pindo Palm trees, were designated as a Historic Landmark by the city council on Tuesday. | Credit: Ryan P. Cruz
The State Street Parkway, which spans the center median of downtown Santa Barbara’s main street from Mission Street to Constance Avenue, was designated as a historic landmark in a unanimous decision by the City Council on Tuesday.
The parkway, including its hardy landscaping and iconic stout-trunk pindo palm trees, was nominated to receive historic landmark designation by the Upper East Association last year and received support from neighbors and community organizations due to the location’s connection to the early-20th-century urban-planning era known as the “City Beautiful” movement.
Architectural Historian Nicole Hernandez presented a report to the council detailing the historical significance of the parkways. She began with an image showing the area in 1898, when the surrounding properties were almost all agricultural and State Street was “just a little street running through the orchards.”
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