Tag archives: courthouse

Sun, Surf, Cinema and… Bruce
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 9, 2024

It was almost half a century ago, but I can still remember driving home after seeing Jaws in the movie theater on a rainy night in New Jersey – so much so that when we came to a freeway underpass that had flooded with several feet of water, I was happy that the police were […]

Courthouse Legacy Foundation Soirée
By Lynda Millner   |   August 23, 2022

Many folks don’t realize there is a group that looks after the preservation of our Santa Barbara Courthouse called the Courthouse Legacy Foundation. During Fiesta they gave their annual party in the Mural Room and adjoining balcony where guests could look over into the Sunken Garden to view the Noches de Ronda show going on […]

Film Threads: ‘Scilla and Savings on SBIFF
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 2, 2022

UCSB Arts & Lectures’ Hot Fun in the Summertime free film screening series presents The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the 1994 Australian road comedy that became a certified cult classic about two drag queens and a transgender woman (Terence Stamp!) journeying across the Australian Outback in an old tour bus. Showtime is […]

Focus on Film
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 12, 2022

Hot Fun in the Summertime, UCSB Arts & Lectures’ return to its weekly series of classic movies projected onto a huge inflatable screen at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden, returns for the first time in three years. Monster hits and cult favorites are among the summer-inspired buddy and adventure films that range from […]

Presented by Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation with Santa Barbara’s beloved Prime Time Band
By Montecito Journal   |   July 2, 2022

Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation (PCVF) will be joined by Santa Barbara’s beloved Prime Time Band on 4th of July for a free festive concert at 5:00 PM at Santa Barbara County Courthouse Gardens. Enjoy pops tunes, family favorites and patriotic classics, plus a special guest performance by the Prime Time Band. Attendees are encouraged to […]

Santa Barbara Courthouse Reopens Docent Tours
By Montecito Journal   |   June 21, 2022

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse Docent Council reopened the courthouse for tours this past Monday, June 13. The courthouse, constructed in 1929 following the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake, is a landmark popular among both locals and visitors.  Free one-hour tours are offered Monday through Friday at 10:30 am and 2:00 pm, with no reservation required. […]

Christmas Get Together
By Lynda Millner   |   January 25, 2022

The Glen Annie Golf Club was the venue for the Santa Barbara Courthouse docents’ annual holiday luncheon. This was one of the first times they have met together since the pandemic when all the courthouse doors were locked. I had just completed a docent training course and passed the final when eight other students and […]

Self-Guided Tours
By Lynda Millner   |   September 10, 2020

The Santa Barbara Courthouse docents just announced a self-guided walking tour of the courthouse exterior starting Labor Day weekend using your cell phone or tablet or to view the tour on a computer anywhere with wifi. The courthouse interior remains closed except for official court business and docent-led tours are suspended due to COVID-19. Docents […]

Courthouse Docent Tour (Part III)
By Lynda Millner   |   August 6, 2020

My docent tour of the Santa Barbara Courthouse began in the Mural Room and proceeded through the second floor and out the back by the old jail. We crossed the grounds to the Hall of Records and ended up in front of the courthouse. As we walk along the path you see three plaques. The […]

Santa Barbara Courthouse: Part II
By Lynda Millner   |   July 23, 2020

As my docent Courthouse tour continues, we have exited the Mural Room and walked into the Lobby just outside the door on the second floor. We see the nine-by-twelve-foot painting of the landing of Juan Cabrillo which Dan Groesbeck had painted in 1924 for County National Bank. It was influential in his being chosen to […]

A National Historic Landmark
By Lynda Millner   |   May 14, 2020

Santa Barbara has five National Historic Landmarks – the Courthouse, the Mission, the Raphael Gonzales Adobe, the Santa Barbara Club, and Casa del Herrero. The Casa is a great tourist attraction and I have been lucky enough to be a docent there for twenty years. I would like to tell you about the origins of […]

Alcatraz
By Lynda Millner   |   April 2, 2020

I’ve been studying to be a docent at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse and learning historical facts. I never knew that the building at the back part of the Courthouse with the turret on top was once our jail. The first floor held the sheriff’s offices (it still does), the second floor was for the […]

Courthouse Docents
By Lynda Millner   |   January 9, 2020

The Santa Barbara Courthouse docents are beginning a new training class in January 2020. They need many to keep up with a busy schedule – Monday through Friday at 10:30 am and 2 pm and Saturday and Sundays at 2 pm. Meantime we all gathered at the La Cumbre Country Club for a festive holiday […]

Courthouse Legacy Foundation
By Lynda Millner   |   August 15, 2019

The Courthouse Legacy Foundation (CLF) gives one of my favorite Fiesta parties of the week. It’s held on the 2nd floor of the Santa Barbara Courthouse overlooking the Sunken Garden and Las Noches de Ronda. There were tables in the Mural Room for sitting and eating the taco buffet or you could be on the […]

Fun After the Sun: Fifties Flicks al Fresco
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 11, 2019

What could be more fun than spending a Friday evening with your friends watching a free classic film outdoors in a gorgeous garden setting? That’s basically the premise behind UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture’s annual summer film series at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens downtown – a […]

Summer Cinema
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 5, 2018

Get ready to sink into a lawn chair at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Gardens – UCSB Arts & Lectures’s free Summer Film Series starts up again on Friday night, July 6. If you’ve been buoyed by Bond movies, stirred by silent film classics, or moved by dancing scenes in classic movie musicals in […]

Courthouse Legacy Foundation
By Lynda Millner   |   June 21, 2018

Our Courthouse is a City, State, and National landmark. There are only four National Historic landmarks in Santa Barbara: the Courthouse, the Mission, Casa del Herrero, and the Rafael Gonzalez adobe. Yet, surprisingly there are no funds in the budget to maintain and or restore the Courthouse. If it weren’t for the Courthouse Legacy Foundation […]