Santa Barbara Hotels
Hotels in the city of Santa Barbara are often required for tourists who need short term accommodation in the city. Some tourists might want to see the culture, the landmarks, the scenery the wildlife, the tourist attractions, architecture of the city. Some may want to get a hotel that is luxury or cheap. Some may want a hotel that has good prices and good reputation. Some may want a hotel that have good access parking.
Santa Barbara is located about 90 miles ( WNW of Los Angeles, along the Pacific coast. This stretch of coast along southern Santa Barbara County is often referred to as the "American Riviera" because its geography and Mediterranean climate are reminscent of the French and Italian Riviera coastline along the Mediterranean. The Santa Ynez Mountains, an east-west trending range, rise dramatically behind the city, with several peaks exceeding 4,000 feet. Covered with chaparral and with sandstone outcrops, they make a famously scenic backdrop to the town. Nearer to town, and directly east and adjacent to Mission Santa Barbara, is a hill known locally as the "Riviera," traversed by "Alameda Padre Serra" (shortened APS), "Father Serra's pathway." The hillside, made accessible by the advent of the automobile early in the 20th century, is now built with relatively expensive homes. A spectacularly beautiful area looking south toward the Pacific and the Channel Islands and having sunrise to sunset views, Santa Barbara became the winter destination for the titans of post-Civil War America. Private railroad cars clustered on the sidings at Santa Barbara. The Potter Hotel overlooking Santa Barbara's West Beach was a world renowned resort. Owners of industry visited Santa Barbara and chose Santa Barbara hillside locations for their grand estates. Others preferred the beach and built palatially there, from Sandyland Cove, Padaro Lane, the city beaches, and west to what is now Goleta.
The architectural image of Santa Barbara is the Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture adopted by city leaders after the 1925 earthquake destroyed much of the downtown commercial district. The domestic architecture of Santa Barbara is predominantly California bungalows built in the early decades of the 20th century, with many Victorian homes adorning the "Upper East" and Spanish style homes designed by well known California architects in Santa Barbara and on estates in Montecito and Hope Ranch. The city has passed ordinances against billboards and regulates outdoor advertising, so the city is relatively free of advertising clutter.
The History of Santa Barbara, California begins approximately 13,000 years ago with the arrival of the first Native Americans. The Spanish came in the 18th century to occupy and Christianize the area, which became part of Mexico following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, the expanding United States acquired the town along with the rest of California as a result of defeating Mexico in the Mexican-American War. Santa Barbara transformed then from a dusty cluster of adobes into successively a rowdy, lawless Gold Rush era town; a Victorian-era health resort; a center of silent film production; an oil boom town; a town supporting a military base and hospital during World War II; and finally it became the economically diverse resort destination it remains in the present day. Twice destroyed by earthquakes, in 1812 and 1925, it most recently has rebuilt itself in a Spanish Colonial style.
The first European to see the area was the Portuguese explorer Juan Cabrillo, who sailed through the Channel in 1542, and anchored briefly in the vicinity of Goleta. He injured himself on the trip, dying of his injury in January 1543, and was buried either on San Miguel Island or Mescalitan Island – the exact burial place of Cabrillo has long been a mystery. Sir Francis Drake also sailed past the area in 1579, but is not known to have made anchorage. In 1602, Sebastian Vizcaino gave the name "Santa Barbara" to the region, in gratitude for having survived a violent storm in the Channel on December 3, the eve of the feast day of Saint Barbara. However it was not until 1769 that Europeans established a land presence, with the arrival of Gaspar de Portolá and Franciscan missionary Junipero Serra. This team was sent by Carlos III to occupy the region, convert the natives to Christianity, and fortify it against perceived threats of other encroaching colonial powers – principally England and Russia.
Portola's expedition reached Santa Barbara on August 14, 1769, encountering exceptionally friendly natives, many of whom lived in Syuxtun,[5] a village just in back of the beach between present-day Chapala and Bath streets. Indeed the natives – which the Spaniards dubbed the Canaliños for the "canoes" (actually tomols) they used so skillfully – so irritated their guests with gifts and boisterous music that Portola changed the location of his camp so his soldiers and missionaries could get some rest.[6] Portola, however, did not stay, and it was not until 1782 that a force of soldiers, led by Don Felipe de Neve and again accompanied by Junipero Serra, came to build the Presidio, one of several military outposts meant to protect the area against foreign interests. While the Presidio was not completed until 1792, Padre Lasuén dedicated the new Mission Santa Barbara on the feast day of Santa Barbara (December 4, 1786). He chose for his building site the location of a Chumash village on Mission Creek named Tay-nay-án.
In 1822 the Spanish flag came down forever, and Santa Barbara, along with the rest of California, became part of Mexico. One of the earliest notable events in the Mexican period in Santa Barbara was the February 1824 Indian rebellion. The natives especially resented the poor treatment given them by the soldiers stationed at the Presidio. The rebellion, incited by the more warlike Tulares, inland cousins of the Chumash, began at Santa Inés Mission (modern-day Santa Ynez) on the other side of the mountains, and quickly spread to adjacent missions. In Santa Barbara, the Indians seized control of the buildings of the Mission complex, but immediately the buildings were surrounded by Presidio soldiers, since the Presidio was little more than a mile away. Overnight the Indians were able to make a getaway north into Mission Canyon, and then over the mountains, where they eventually linked up with other unsubdued groups of Native Americans in the southern San Joaquin Valley. After a battle near San Emigdio Creek in March, and a subsequent three month pursuit and negotiation, the Indians were all recaptured near Buena Vista Lake, and brought back to Santa Barbara.
After the secularization of the Missions in 1833, immense amounts of land formerly held by the Church were distributed by the Mexican governors of California to various families in order to reward service or build alliances. These land grants commenced the "Rancho Period" in California and Santa Barbara history. The population remained sparse, with enormous cattle operations run by wealthy families. It was during this period that Richard Henry Dana first visited Santa Barbara and wrote about it in Two Years Before the Mast.
Santa Barbara fell bloodlessly to a battalion of American soldiers under John C. Frémont on December 27, 1846, during the Mexican-American War, and after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo it became part of the expanding United States.
The following is a list of neighborhoods with descriptions and comments on each.
The Mesa stretches from the Santa Barbara City College on the east and extending 2.5 miles to Arroyo Burro County Beach (or “Hendry’s/The Pit” to locals), the Mesa is a desirable neighborhood.
The Riviera bridges the two mile (3 km) span which separates Mission and Sycamore Canyons, has for the past 65 years been known as “the Riviera” due to its resemblance to slopes along the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy. Most of the area has curving streets with mature trees and foliage, the topography of the Riviera is relatively steep.
The Westside
The Eastside
The Waterfront
Lower State Street
Upper State Street
San Roque located north of the downtown area. A good spot for families within the Hope School District. This area is said to be a constant 5 degrees warmer than the coastal areas, due to its location just below Foothill Road or Route 142. This is also the most popular hot spot for Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween.
Samarkand : The name Samarkand comes from an Old Persian word meaning “the land of heart’s desire.” It was first applied to a deluxe Persian-style hotel that was converted from a boy’s school in 1920. Samarkand later became identified as its own neighborhood located around Las Positas, State Street, De La Vina, Oak Park and the Freeway. Earle Ovington built the first home here in 1920 at 3030 Samarkand Drive. As a pilot, Ovington established the Casa Loma Air Field with a 1,500-foot runway that was used by legendary pilots, Lindbergh and Earheart.
Hope Ranch is an unincorporated suburb of Santa Barbara. The neighborhood occupies a hilly area immediately adjacent to the coast; the highest elevation is 691 feet . Hope Ranch is one of the wealthiest areas in California.
Noleta is an informal name for the unincorporated suburban area west of Santa Barbara. It is bounded on the east by Santa Barbara and Hope Ranch, on the west by Goleta, on the north by the Santa Ynez Mountains and on the south by the Pacific Ocean.
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