The Courthouse Clock Tower

Welcome to a new column, one that will take you out on the water, up into the mountains, and all around the town to explore the bounty of opportunities on land, sea, air (and otherwise) that make Santa Barbara a mecca for visitors, but that so many locals have never actually visited – or least not when we’re hosting out-of-towners. Yes, we’re talking about the places pointed out by hotels concierges, the Visitors Center and tourist guides – the obvious and the not so visible, the kitschy and the unique. 

For those who might think we locals are above all that, we thought we’d start with a place which actually is above all that – meaning the one location downtown from whose lofty perch you can ogle many of the locations whose praises we’ll eventually be singing. I’m referring, of course, to the Courthouse Clock Tower.

New York waxes eloquent about the Empire State Building, Chicago crows over the Sears Tower, and San Francisco sings the praises of the Top of the Mark and Coit Tower. Our sightseeing attraction is a lot more modest, with the “El Mirador” clock tower rising just 85 feet above the ground. But what a magnificent and yet almost intimate spot from which to take in the majesty of our verdant little burg.

The Courthouse itself is a pretty popular spot in town. Most residents have spent time in the Sunken Gardens on the corner of Anapamu and Santa Barbara streets, whether at Noches do Rondes during Fiesta or taking in a summertime film screening from UCSB Arts & Lectures on balmy Friday evenings. People have likely gazed up at the clock tower when the clock itself chimes to mark the passage of time from their vantage in the location’s lowest elevation. But only a small percentage have ever ventured up to the top of the tower itself. Maybe you didn’t even know you could. 

Here’s the good news: It’s easy and it’s free. 

You simply catch the elevator at the main entrance up to the fourth “floor,” take a short jaunt up a small flight of steps, and you will find yourself right in the middle of a 360 degree vista offering unparalleled views of the city and its variety of buildings, the Riviera, the mountains, the blue Pacific ocean, the Channel Islands, leafy local neighborhoods and much more, including East Beach, Chase Park, Stearns Wharf, the Arlington Theatre and the Mission. Handy photographic displays clearly point out exactly what you are seeing from this sun-kissed aerie, and in each of the four directions. 

Gazing at the tiled roofs from above offers an entirely different perspective on one of Santa Barbara’s architectural design quirks. 

A Sunday afternoon sojourn in early December confirmed the suspicion that only visitors take the courthouse elevator up to this surprising vista point. While a couple of dozen people gazed out at the views over the 45 minutes I was up there, none of them actually lived in town, save for one couple showing their three visitors from Massachusetts around. There were well-dressed families and friends from Idaho, Washington State and elsewhere who’d just attended a destination wedding in the Sunken Gardens, as well as several convention attendees, and a few couples eager to take selfies with our implausibly beautiful hometown as backdrop.

There were never more than 15 people up there at any time, so crowds weren’t an issue, and at one point I was actually alone, as there isn’t even a security guard or other employee to tell you to move along, or to stop using the handy outlet to recharge a phone, as one visitor did. 

Visitors can even see the cranes erecting new buildings in town. Which also suggests you might want to stop by relatively soon; which is to say, before they actually build one of the mega-story housing complexes downtown or up by the Mission–unless obstructed views and watching construction from up above is your thing. 

Once you’re done with viewing the vistas, you can add to the experience by taking the stairs back down – some 148, I’m told, which is only about 70 less than at the Statue of Liberty. Just one floor down from the tower deck you can gaze through a wall of glass and admire the working guts of one of the last remaining fully operational Seth Thomas Tower Clocks in America. This outsized historical timepiece has been ticking since its installation in the late summer of 1929, when the rebuilt courthouse opened four years after the famous earthquake that leveled its predecessor. It’s a fascinating machine, energized by gravity, controlled by a swinging pendulum driving two hands on each of four large
outside dials. 

Aside from the opportunity to view the clockworks through glass throughout the day, the Bisno-Schall Clock Gallery itself is open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10:45 to 12:05, in the company of a docent. To reserve a group Clock Room visit (limited to 15 people at a time), email [email protected] at least two weeks in advance of the desired date.

Curiously, it seems that the top of the tower wasn’t originally supposed to be open to the public at all. Rather, the original design called for the top to house actual bells, which would have been too loud and dangerous for proximal visitors. Apparently budget cuts scotched that idea, thankfully, and now it’s the best 360° view in town of Santa Barbara’s demure majesty.

And if you fall in love with all of it, it turns out that while tour guides don’t actually bring visitors up to the tower, the Courthouse itself is once again courting docents. Applications are being accepted through the end of the month. 

Visit https://sbcourthouse.org and www.bisnoschallgallery.org/tower-clock