Santa Barbara History

SB Through the Years

A brief saunter through Santa Barbara is all you need to get the feeling there's an illustrious, rich history behind this town and all it's wonders. From the pristinely intact Mission Church and Rose Garden to the curtailed fonts painted on downtown signs and the creamy facades of Spanish-style buildings adorned with red tile roofs.

Before we dive into real estate goodness, we'd like to offer a short reflection of Santa Barbara's history. And, after all, it was Confucius who said "study the past if you would define the future." And we really love that.

Turns out, Santa Barbara has exchanged hands a few times. It began 13,000 years ago with the arrival of Native Americans. Soon, in the 18th century, the Spanish barged in eager to spread Christianity and occupy this breathtaking land.

In 1602, a Spanish maritime explorer named Sebastián Vizcaíno gave the name "Santa Barbara" to the entire channel of water and one of the Channel Islands after he survived a brutal storm in our Pacific waters.

You've probably popped over to Handlebar Coffee on East Canon Perdido Street and seen the humble white-washed building across the way. Well, it's much more than a humble little building...

While the Santa Barbara Presidio might look unassuming in its current state, it's been around since 1782 and was the very last military outpost built by Spain anywhere in the Western Hemisphere! So next time you're sipping a latte across the street, give this little historical chunk of Spain a friendly salute. In normal operation, it's a popular tourist attraction, museum, and archaeological site.

Okay, class is ending soon so we're going to wrap this up. In 1848, The United States acquired Santa Barbara along with the rest of California as a result of winning the Mexican-American War. After this, here are all the different transformations Santa Barbara undertook along the way, according to Wikipedia:

From a grouping of small adobes into a reckless, wild West Gold-era wasteland. From there, it turned into a Victorian-era spa retreat, a hot spot for silent film production, an oil boom city, a military base and hospital during World War II, and finally...the quaint, eclectic, charming community it is today.

Pretty fascinating stuff and layers upon layers of rich history! Class is over, but please submit your homework neatly typed and double-spaced for the next time.