A Home on a Country Lane

This home is on the corner of Alamar Avenue and a tiny street without a name. Walking down the lane is like walking back into the past of Santa Barbara. Lined with several barns — formerly used to stable horses, now used for storage or vehicles — this lane is just steps from Oak Park, where former residents could ride their horses on Sunday afternoons. In fact, owner Teresa Weston calls her home “Bonnie’s Barn” in honor of her late aunt. Weston, who has been the homeowner since 2017, says that it was the home’s charm that captivated her.

Weston’s home did begin its life as a barn. Martin Luther Stover was a carpenter in his sixties when he lived in this building in 1917. I presume that he built it himself. There was an outhouse in the backyard, according to a 1930s map. Stover lived upstairs in what a 1950s ad called “a nifty penthouse.” His horse and wagon probably occupied the first floor. In 1985, the first floor was converted to a stylish living area containing a modern kitchen, dining room, living room, and extra bedroom.

Oak Park Becomes a Park

Before Oak Park became an official park in 1904, it was simply a large piece of rural property that was subdivided in 1888. There were 82 tiny lots along Mission Creek. The subdividers probably had hopes that future owners would build homes all along the creek that flows through the area. 

In 1888, there was even a jousting tournament that was held in the area for residents of the Arlington Hotel, located where the Arlington Theatre is today. Jousting events also took place on the Mesa at about the same time. It was obviously a “thing” back then.

In the late 1800s, Alamar Avenue was the edge of the city. There was even a dairy with 12 cows that roamed along the creek side of the road until the 1920s. The dairy supplied milk to the El Encanto Hotel.

By 1891, as the city grew, the first Cottage Hospital was built in this area, and the streetcar line that ran up Bath Street from downtown was extended up here. However, some residents objected to riding a streetcar marked with “Hospital” as the destination, so the streetcar line was renamed “Oak Park.” Then, the problem was that visitors would ride to the end of the line and ask residents of the area where the park was. There was no park yet. Fortunately, that happened in 1904, thanks to the encouragement from a man named Henry Tallant, whose name is on the street that crosses the park’s north end.

Please do not disturb the residents of this home.

Betsy J. Green is a Santa Barbara historian and author of Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood, Santa Monica Press, 2002. Her website is betsyjgreen.com.