Driving into Santa Barbara from Los Angeles, today, you see the Pacific Ocean with the Channel Islands on the left and the green hills of the Santa Ynez Mountains of the Los Padres National Forest on the right, as you navigate the two lane highway past the jewel of the area, Montecito, an enclave of multi-million dollar estates.
It is like a pacific paradise to see the tall palms and the sand beach fronting the ocean as you drive into Santa Barbara on Cabrillo Blvd. Resort hotels opposite the ocean, let you know that this is a special place filled with day and nighttime activities, shopping galore, gourmet restaurants, funky bars and nightspots down State Street, the main drag of Santa Barbara.
Above it all, sits the serene Mission named for Santa Barbara, and yes, the area was quite different when discovered and then first settled by the Canolinos who spoke Chumash, because this city has a long and colorful history. After the Canolinos, came the Spanish. The naming of Santa Barbara took place in 1602 by a Friar on board a vessel sailed by the Spanish explorer Vizcaino, whom upon reaching shore after stormy seas, gave blessings and named the area after Saint Barbara, whose feast date it was , Dec. 4,1602. It would be 180 years later, on April 21, 1782, the official date given of the city's establishment, as the Spanish Governor Felipe de Neva and Father Junipero Serra , a Franciscan friar, would enter the area and supervise the building of the Royal Presidio (Spanish fortress) and start building the mission. The " Queen of the Missions" was completed in 1786 by Father Fermin Lasuen, also a Franciscan friar who took over after Father Serra's death.
All this was witnessed by the native Canalino Tribe, mostly as the builders of the mission. Today, the Chumash decendents are mainly located in the Santa Ynez Valley, and decendents from everywhere else in the world make the Santa Barbara coast, home or a great holiday get-a-way. |
Santa Barbara
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