Tag archives: history
Santa Barbara’s world changed in one mighty crack when a ferocious earthquake shook the town on the morning of September 29, 1925. As false fronts of the business district tumbled to the street and roofs gave way and chimneys toppled in the immediate vicinity, 30 million gallons of water from a collapsed Sheffield Reservoir rushed […]
Santa Barbara pioneer Isaac Sparks would have fit right in with the cast of The Revenant. He was a mountain man through and through, with the morals of an alley cat and the demeanor of a grizzly bear, whom he bested in a fight (though he lost an eye). Nevertheless, he was at the vanguard […]
Montecito’s Trish Davis is being featured in my column for her contributions to preserve the history of Montecito. Davis was recommended to me by the Montecito Fire Protection District Fire Chief David Neels in response to my community request for Montecito women to be featured in my news column for Women’s History Month.Neels stated in […]
For Week Three of Black History Month we are blessed with a healing poem by Dr. Leonie H Mattison, EdD, MBA, President and CEO of Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria. I asked her how and when her poem came about. She said she wrote it this year, and shared, “This season has been very thick with […]
No popping champagne corks announced the arrival of the new year in 1925. Prohibition still ruled the land. Nevertheless, Santa Barbarans could look back with pride to 1924 along with enthusiasm and hope toward 1925. The Morning Press headline blared, “Santa Barbara Greets the New Year with Noise and Church Services.” The dance floors were […]
Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870-1942) became America’s first female news photographer when The Buffalo Inquirer and Courier of New York hired her as a staff photographer in 1902. The road to a career in photography, however, began in 1888 when she won a camera for selling magazine subscriptions. At the time, she was living with her […]
Back in 1924, when Edward A. Johnson celebrated the opening of his spectacular Granada Theatre, he arranged for a program that highlighted the flexibility of the new venue. In addition to one of the first-ever 3-D movies, cartoons, a ballet performance, and the world premiere of Mae Murray’s Mademoiselle Midnight, he hired Antonio P. Sarli […]
Lucy Firestone, Gregory Fuss, and Greg Giloth have been appointed to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Board of Trustees for a three-year term. Firestone is a producer, transformation coach and co-founder of Firestone Sisters’ natural perfume line, with more than 20 years’ experience creating content that inspires healing and growth. A Princeton graduate, […]
In a press conference on Monday, September 9, David Bolton, Executive Director of The California Missions Foundation, presented a prestigious $750,000 matching grant award to Board of Trustees President Heather Biles and Executive Director of Casa del Herrero Rose Rafferty for preservation work at Casa del Herrero. The grant is awarded from the Department of […]
Synchronized swimmers, Shakespearean actors, and trespassing skateboarders have all felt the magic of Mar y Cel, although many of those who live below the singular arched wall that still stands today have yet to hear the stories of the land between the sky and the sea. Henry Bothin, the original owner of Mar y Cel, […]
Old Spanish Days Fiesta is rooted in the dozens of short-lived attempts to establish an annual festival in Santa Barbara, starting, perhaps, with the 1886 Mission Centennial celebration. In 1924, the fiesta that was created to celebrate the opening of the new Lobero Theatre succeeded spectacularly. This year marks its 100th year anniversary. Months of […]
By 1880, Montecito’s Hot Springs were so ancient that the Morning Press felt compelled to write their history. The hot springs, the article said, had been used by the Chumash since time immemorial. After the coming of the Europeans, the springs, though belonging first to the Pueblo and then to the City of Santa Barbara, […]
Though the ancients relied on oral tradition to pass along the history and culture of their societies, today a community’s history exists in written forms. Civic, personal, and business records provide accurate facts about past events and issues. Often, however, news articles are the best starting point for uncovering the past. In fact, newspapers are […]
Administered by the National Park Service, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was updated effective January 12, 2024. The act was first established in 1990. The NAGPRA requires all Federal agencies and all museums, institutions, universities, colleges, state agencies, and local agencies that receive Federal funds, to identify all Native American human […]
In July 1909, much to the alarm of the Santa Barbara populace, the Morning Press announced that the venerable Covarrubias Adobe was to be razed and replaced by a modern apartment building. Without notice, Nicolas Covarrubias had sold it out from under his aging siblings, Camillo and Amelia. The first they heard of the sale […]
Montecito! (excuse me) While our fairly liquid little village has never been known as the “Home of the Mink Stole,” neither has it ever sported the tagline “Central Coast Epicenter of Tweens Helling around on BMX Bikes.” That branding would likely have been discouraged by the Montecito Association. The descriptor, though, would not have been […]
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History announced the newest members to its Board of Trustees: our town’s Hiroko Benko and Amanda Lee. Both women have long histories as professional businesswomen and philanthropists. Benko is renowned for her historic ocean exploring vessel, The Condor Express, founded by her late husband Fred, for which she is the […]
Few have had a grander international presence while living in Montecito than a wealthy Chicago businessman named Avery Brundage. His story is a quintessentially American one – a rags-to-riches, Horatio Alger tale, though not without its twists. Brundage grew up in the Teddy Roosevelt era of bold, rugged achievers. Born to modest circumstances in Detroit […]
In January 1904, the Santa Barbara Independent informed the public that a “very notable art exhibit” had opened at 1212 State St. in the building that recently housed the Chamber of Commerce. For 25 cents, visitors could see the much-lauded oil paintings of the 21 missions of California by Edwin Deakin. “Each of the 21 […]
Upon the death of beloved local artist Dudley Saltonstall Carpenter in 1955, the newspaper expressed the esteem in which he was held and commented that he had continued to paint to the end of his full and creative life. And what a life that was. Born into a military family in 1870 in Nashville, Tennessee, […]
