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SANTA BARBARA |
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The six-lane coastal freeway that races past oil wells and offshore
drilling platforms slows to a leisurely pace a hundred miles north of
Los Angeles at SANTA BARBARA . Beautifully sited on gently sloping hills
above the Pacific, the town's ubiquitous red-tiled roofs and white
stucco walls of its low-rise buildings form a backdrop to some fine
Spanish Revival architecture, while the golden beaches are wide and
clean, lined by palm trees along a curving bay. Although a large portion
of downtown has been replaced by a vast, upscale shopping mall, Santa
Barbara has managed to retain its quaintly upscale yet relaxed character.
The mission-era feel of Santa Barbara is no accident. Following a
devastating earthquake in 1925, the entire town was rebuilt in the image
of an apocryphal Spanish Colonial past, with numerous arcades linking
shops, cafés and restaurants, and a pedestrian-friendly layout that
serves visitors well - a far cry from LA's all-consuming auto-worship.
State Street , the main drag, is home to an appealing assortment of
diners, bookshops, coffee bars and nightclubs. The few remaining genuine
mission structures are preserved as El Presidio de Santa Barbara (daily
10.30am-4.30pm; suggested donation). At its center, the 200-year-old
barracks, El Cuartel , stands two blocks off State Street on Perdido
Street; the second-oldest building in California, it now houses
historical exhibits and a scale model of the small Spanish colony. The
more recent past is recounted in the nearby Santa Barbara Historical
Museum , 136 E de la Guerra St (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm;
suggested donation), full of Spanish and Victorian memorabilia.
State Street leads half a mile down from the town center to wooden
Stearns Wharf . Built in 1872, it was nearly destroyed in November 1998,
when a third of the pier was engulfed in flames; restoration efforts
have now made it home to an array of shopping stalls and food vendors,
with magnificent beaches stretching in either direction.
In the hills above the town is the beautiful Mission Santa Barbara
(daily 9am-5pm; $4), with a colorful twin-towered facade, the so-called
"Queen of the Missions," though it was one of the later ones constructed
in California. A small museum displays artifacts from the mission
archives. Other missions in the area are Santa Inés, just outside the
kitsch Danish town of Solvang heading north on US-101, and La Purísima,
the most completely restructured of all the missions, about twenty miles
northwest of Solvang on Hwy-1.
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