Santa Barbara California was once the film capital of the world! In l919, before the motion picture industry centralized in Hollywood, the American Film Company opened the Flying A Studio on the corner of State and Mission Streets. The studio was the largest of its kind in the world for many years. More than 1200 movies (mostly westerns) were made in the studio’s ten-year life span. In 1928, Charlie Chaplin built the Montecito Inn to cater to the Hollywood crowd of the roaring twenties. Actor Ronald Coleman and Alvin Weingand bought the stylish San Ysidro Ranch resort in 1935, operating it as an exclusive hideaway for friends and guests such as Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Audrey Hepburn and Groucho Marx.

Today, the city of Santa Barbara has done a magnificent job of preserving its heritage. Here you will find a city built of colorful Santa Barbara hotels, restaurants, shops and nightlife of State Street, the Arlington Center for the Performing Arts, the Santa Barbara Mission, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Stearns Wharf, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the area vineyards and much, much more. Santa Barbara is now one of the most desirable places to live in California.

Early Santa Barbara History: The Chumash Indians thrived in the Santa Barbara area until just over 200 years ago. They lived in clusters of small villages along the Santa Barbara coast and Channel Islands. For thousands of years, protected by the rugged mountains and ocean, they enjoyed a comfortable, easy lifestyle afforded by an abundance of wildlife and natural resources. In 1542 the first Europeans arrived when Portuguese explorer Juan Cabrillo entered the Channel and claimed the land for Spain. The Spanish did not come back for another century. In 1602, after weathering a severe storm, Sebastian Vizcaino’s ships entered the Santa Barbara Channel. Thankful to God for answering their prayers to guide the ships through the storm, one of the Carmelite friars on board named the bay and nearby shore after Saint Barbara. In 1782, the Spaniards came to stay. The Spaniards governed the area until 1822, when California became a Mexican territory. In 1846, Colonel John Fremont and his soldiers took Santa Barbara for the United States.