Since the days of Spanish settlement in California in the late 1700s, a universal desire for unique, beautiful clothing and adornment was perceivable. Recently, a new museum has arisen in town that celebrates that artistic desire. Couture Pattern Museum, founded by Cara Austine-Rademaker and staffed by a group of fashion industry experts, has taken on […]
Designed by George Washington Smith and Carleton Monroe Winslow in 1922-23 and 1925 respectively, the Meridian Studios campus on De la Guerra Street has seen more than its share of renowned artists. It is no wonder that artists were drawn to the complex. Not only was the architecture and concept appealing (north facing studios combined […]
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In the early 1850s, the dusty, crooked streets of Santa Barbara came alive with the cries “Vienen los maromeros! Vienen los maromeros!” Excited citizens lined the streets as a colorful satin-clad troupe of spangled jugglers, acrobats, and tightrope walkers paraded to the tent ground. The Circus from Mexico had come to town, and the night […]
Looking neat upon the seats of a bicycle built for two, a duo of Italian wheelmen rolled into Santa Barbara on May 10, 1901. Carlo Reiter and Mino Galvini had left Florence, Italy, on July 5, 1899, after members of their biking club wagered 50,000 lire that they couldn’t ride 75,000 miles by Christmas Day […]
Once upon a time, a lovely clapboard cottage graced the southwest corner of San Ysidro and East Valley roads. Built in 1914, it was the home of the Montecito Home Club, which was founded in 1908 in an old adobe building across the street. The purpose of the club was to provide a center for […]
Two roads and a lake are named for him, but few remember John Alexander Jameson or the details behind his tremendous efforts to benefit and protect his adopted hometown of Montecito. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1868, where his father, John Alexander Jameson Sr., served as a judge of the Superior Court, Jameson Jr. followed […]
Ludmilla Pilat Welch married her artist husband, Thaddeus Welch, in Ossining, New York, in 1883 when she was 16 and he was 39. Thad’s adventure-filled journey to become an artist had eventually led him to study in Munich and Paris for six years before returning to the United States in 1881. He settled for a […]
In the past 35 years, the eucalyptus tree has become one of the most controversial species in California. Some writers sing its praises, both for its beneficial properties and its beauty. Its image has been celebrated in California landscape painting for over one hundred years. California writer Lawrence Clark Powell wrote, “… no tree is […]
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 […]
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Santa Barbara has drawn photographers to its sunny climate, beautiful landscape, and charming architecture for over 150 years. Starting in the early 1870s with its first resident photographers, E. J. Hayward and Henry Muzzall, at least 11 photographers had set up shop by 1900. They documented the Mission and the adobes and the views from […]
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 […]
In early 1910, the local newspapers were abuzz and the paparazzi were sharpening their pencils in anticipation of the arrival of the great philanthropist and Steel King, Andrew Carnegie, in Santa Barbara. Carnegie had left Pittsburgh on February 15 in the company of his wife Louise, daughter Margaret, his associate Charles Lewis Taylor, and four […]
During the California Gold Rush, eggs cost a whopping $3 dollars each, which translates as $120 per egg today. The high price of eggs, however, did not lead to a thriving poultry business. Chickens couldn’t be herded across the plains and were difficult and expensive to transport in great numbers around the Horn. Besides, wild […]
