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UNITED STATES | Santa Barbara, California Travel Guide
Saturday, December 21, 2024
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Santa Barbara's Downtown
Santa Barbara's Downtown
A walk through Santa Barbara’s downtown is akin to an exploration of Old Spain, with scores of ancient adobes and reconstructed buildings from that era to be encountered throughout. There’s also a prescribed Red Tile tour of the city core, with good maps pinpointing places of interest along it, available from the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce or its visitors center.
Santa Barbara’s main street is State Street, the only street with a non-Spanish name in the city’s downtown. It’s a vibrant avenue with festive malls and plazas, sidewalks bustling with cheerful vacationers, and a colorful parade of restaurants, cafés, shops, boutiques and galleries.
But to get a bird’s-eye view of Santa Barbara, go to the Santa Barbara Courthouse on Anacapa Street, a magnificent Spanish-Moorish building, reconstructed in 1929 on the site of the original courthouse dating from 1786. It has a 4-story, 70-foot tower that affords expansive views of the city and its sea of red-tiled roofs sweeping down to the ocean. The courthouse’s Spanish-style courtroom is still partly in use, featuring 19th century furnishings, wrought-iron chandeliers and a hand-painted ceiling mural depicting the history of Santa Barbara.
Among others, search out El Paseo on Anacapa and De La Guerra streets, dating from 1826 and now housing a collection of novelty shops and a couple of cafes; the original, 18th century El Cuartel beside the reconstructed Presidio Chapel on Canon Perdido Street; the Orena Adobes (1848-1858) on East De La Guerra, formerly the home of a California Don; the Hill-Carrillo Adobe (1826) on East Carrillo Street and the Rochin Adobe (1855) on Santa Barbara Street. And there are others yet: Fernald House, Trussell-Winchester Adobe (1854), Casa de Covarrubias (1817) and Historic Adobe (1836).
Santa Barbara's Downtown Museums
Santa Barbara’s Historical Society Museum on De La Guerra Museum perhaps holds the greatest interest, housing a wealth of mementos and artifacts from all four eras of the city’s history - Indian, Spanish, Mexican and American. Another, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, located on State Street, is regarded as one of the finest small museums in America. It houses a remarkable collection of contemporary art, as well as ancient sculptures from Egypt, Rome, Greece and the Orient, rare African art, and award-winning photography.
Last updated February 12, 2012
Posted in United States | Santa Barbara
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