Two Nights in Santa Barbara, California

Published July 3rd, 2024

Photography by Jennifer Bain

Santa Barbara, you have the coolest street signs.

That may seem like a strange thing to celebrate in a city that bills itself as the American Riviera, but it really is far more exciting than the Highway Gothic and Clearview typeface that dominates most North American road signs.

Santa Barbara says the typeface is called Mission but strangely doesn’t have much else to share, saying there doesn’t seem to be any documentation about its development “many decades” ago. All I know is that the jagged and jaunty white lettering pops off tasteful brown signs that have subtle white borders and small street name suffixes and block numbers. 

I loved wandering Santa Barbara Street — just behind the architectural marvel that is the Santa Barbara County Courthouse — photographing various intersections and looking for the perfect palm tree backdrop. Then I got mildly obsessed with shooting unusual (to me) street names like Anacapa, Anapamu, Chapala, Cabrillo and Gota.

I suspect the particular shade of brown on the signage resonated because it reminded me of all the California sea lions and California brown pelicans that I saw while visiting this coastal California city.

Those charismatic creatures were the stars of a cruise with the Santa Barbara Sailing Center on the Double Dolphin, a 50-foot catamaran. We sailed just off shore through the recently designated Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area and admired the rich biodiversity and thriving marine ecosystem.

We wished hard for Pacific gray whales — or any whale, dolphin or porpoise — but graciously made do with sea lions, seals, pelicans, cormorants and the coupons you get for a free future cruise if you strike out on the whale/dolphin front like we did.

Back on shore, I walked over to Stearns Wharf and consoled myself by admiring orange garibaldi at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center. The official marine state fish is bright orange with a heart-shaped tail.

Yes, I heart Santa Barbara which, as mentioned, is billed as the American Riviera because its climate is similar to that of the real Riviera along the Mediterranean Sea in France and Italy. 

Remember the film Sideways about two middle-age Americans (Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church) on a wine-tasting road trip? It’s somehow turning 20 this year, but more importantly was filmed across Santa Barbara County so this is the place for wine lovers.

The county also includes Montecito, home base for celebs like Oprah, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who is poised to launch her American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand.

While I didn’t get my hands on the small-batch strawberry jam Markle shared recently with fellow A-listers, I was gifted a package of Clevr Golden SuperLatte. 

Markle is a proud investor in the female-founded, mission-driven wellness company that makes “plant-powered magic.” I love how you just add water (hot or cold) to the powder blend, shake or stir, and have an instant caffeine-free turmeric and black pepper beverage that’s boosted with mushrooms and probiotics and enriched with oat and coconut vegan creamers.

Speaking of my current favourite drink with a confusing array of names, I had one (a golden milk latte) from the delightful Helena Avenue Bakery, and another (a golden milk) from Considered, a coffee bus that was parked outside the Old Mission Santa Barbara when I stopped there on a Santa Barbara Trolley Co. tour.

My Santa Barbara getaway came between a Lindblad Expeditions cruise through Channel Islands National Park — on clear days you can see these incredible islands from here — and a Los Angeles travel conference. 

Instead of renting a car, I took an effortless 2.5-hour train ride between the two cities on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner (a business class splurge raised the one-way price from $31 U.S. to $47). When you get off in Santa Barbara, look for the famous Moreton Bay Fig Tree that’s said to be the largest Ficus macrophylla in the United States. 

As the story goes, a visiting seaman gave a fig tree seedling from Moreton Bay, Australia to a local girl who planted it on State Street in 1876. When she left town a year later, her girlfriend, Adeline Crabb, transplanted the sapling to the corner of Montecito and Chapala on what’s now city property. Be sure to get a shot of the protected tree behind the Montecito Street sign. 

And if nature is your thing, there are two spots you shouldn’t miss. The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is home to two pygmy mammoth skeletons discovered on one of the Channel Islands. The museum is a five-minute drive from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, a peaceful spot that celebrates native California plants and envisions “a world where society understands the interdependency between people and plants, and acts to preserve the natural world.”

On that trolley tour, I learned that Santa Barbara is home to the original Motel 6, an iconic economy chain that cost just $6 a night when it opened in 1962. But my two nights were spent in a king suite in the Brisas del Mar, Inn at the Beach. The Mediterranean-style hotel, two blocks from the beach, is popular with Canadian snowbirds who adore the full kitchens.

Admittedly, I didn’t cook, not when there were golden milk lattes to drink and fancy avocado toast with Persian cucumbers to eat at Helena Avenue Bakery in the Funk Zone, and contemporary Oaxacan cuisine to enjoy at Flor de Maiz on the waterfront.

Then there were two California-inspired dinners. 

Determined to eat as many local avocados as possible, I had one grilled at Barbareño and served with black garlic ponzu and yuzu mousse. That’s where I had a fun take on steak and beans, and tried “Eggamuffins,” the cornmeal blinis with whipped cheese, cured eggs and country ham that pay homage to the fact that Egg McMuffins were invented here by McDonald’s franchise owner Herb Peterson.

I never pass up a chance to eat grits in America, and can see why the Petaluma free-range buttermilk fried chicken with Anson Mills heirloom grits is a staple at the Lark. 

But the two dishes that stood out at this Funk Zone hotspot were absurdly simple — the free lemon-poppyseed popcorn that came instead of bread to launch the meal, and the pink peppercorn ice cream (from Rori’s Artisanal Creamery) that topped my warm Ventura strawberry crisp.

As I prepared for the train ride back to Los Angeles, I returned to the Helena Avenue Bakery, this time for takeout sourdough toast with butter and a strawberry pink peppercorn jam that I will forever associate with Santa Barbara. 

I have just one regret about my quick trip to Santa Barbara. In my haste to catch the Surfliner, I neglected to find and photograph the Helena Avenue street sign.

Jennifer Bain

After a career at daily newspapers, Jennifer began travelling the world in search of quirk in 2018. She goes wherever the story is, but has a soft spot for Canada and has been to all 10 provinces and all three territories. Jennifer has won multiple awards and written two cookbooks and three travel books. She lives in Toronto but has a vacation house on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, which some cheekily say is one of the four corners of the supposedly flat earth.