Forty Years of
Santa Barbara Independent
Cover Stories
Public Library Hosting Exhibit to
Celebrate Our Anniversary Year
By Indy Staff | April 2, 2026
Forty years ago, Thursdays in Santa Barbara started looking a bit different.
The first issue of the Santa Barbara Independent hit newsstands on November 26, 1986, and we haven’t missed a week since. More than 2,000 editions later, the Independent’s cover stories are still the highlight of many readers’ Thursday mornings, when they discover which topic we felt was the most important of the week.
Much is different today, of course. We’re no longer beholden to black-and-white ink or reels of film. Email servers replaced fax machines long ago, and no longer does someone have to physically drive the week’s layout to the printer in a Wednesday-night rush. In fact, since we launched Independent.com in 2007, readers haven’t even needed to grab a copy of the paper to know what’s happening in Santa Barbara.
But much, proudly, remains the same. Our editor-in-chief is still the paper’s cofounder Marianne Partridge, and our Executive Editor Nick Welsh still pounds away at his keyboard, turning out articles on every subject, plus the Angry Poodle. Even Tanya Spears Guiliacci still rules over our front desk, ever since she graduated from Santa Barbara High more than 30 years ago. Many other staffers have been with the paper for more than a decade, and quite a few — including our reliable roster of contributors — have logged more than a quarter-century of service.
Altogether, the Independent functions as Santa Barbara’s memory bank, the community’s collective conscience, and the region’s most experienced eyes and ears. We are forever on the lookout for stories you need to know.
To celebrate our 40th anniversary we couldn’t think of a better way to kick off this year than by gathering some of our favorite, most impactful, or otherwise intriguing covers from throughout the years. We’ll be showcasing more than 50 of them throughout April and May at the Faulkner Gallery inside the Santa Barbara Public Library.
The show, which is called Covering 40 Years, begins with an opening party during the 1st Thursday art walk on Thursday, April 2, 5-7 p.m. It’s a visual, even visceral testament to the collective efforts of photographers, illustrators, designers, and reporters who worked together to compose the images, headlines, and articles that earned the top attention for each issue.
For this week’s issue, we have selected a fraction of those covers and asked people who were involved in creating those stories to share their remembrances of how each came to be. We hope that these will stir your own memories of yesteryear, and remind you how integral local journalism is to living an engaging, informed life in Santa Barbara.
We’re excited to be celebrating our 40th anniversary, and we can’t help but believe that the best is yet to come. The Santa Barbara Independent is truly stronger than ever before, so you can bet on more covers coming your way, every single Thursday, and every day online at Independent.com. —Matt Kettmann
The First Issue |
November 26, 1986:
Local Heroes
George Delmerico designed the first issue, working with the combined staff of two rival papers (the News & Review and The Weekly) that had just merged into becoming the Independent. Executive Editor Audrey Berman suggested “The Local Heroes of Santa Barbara” as the cover, hoping the topic would distract the staff from constantly snarling at one another. It worked when everyone agreed on who the true Santa Barbara heroes were.
The issue had to be designed from scratch: writing and editing all the stories, creating the logo, developing the photographs, selling and designing the advertisements, and pasting up the articles word by word. All this was being done by a team that barely knew one another and didn’t think they liked what they did know.
We worked at two different locations across town, where two young women typeset the articles on a machine at one building and rushed the copy to the other building on mopeds. There it was pasted up on flats to be driven by car to the printer in Los Angeles.
Deciding on the first cover was probably the toughest decision we had to make that week, and it came down to the last minute. The image was supposed to suggest a birthday candle and a rocket. As far as we all were concerned, it did neither, but we didn’t have time to change it, so off it went to the printer.
—Marianne Partridge, Editor-in-Chief (1986-present)
In some ways, this first issue remains my favorite. Two news teams from rival newspapers that only just discovered that they’d merged were forced to get over their mutual disdain in a big fat hurry, work together, and put out our first Local Heroes issue. That’s the issue where we get to shine a light on people who make Santa Barbara not just another beautiful place but a spectacular community.
—Nick Welsh, Executive Editor (1986-present)
Endless Bummer:
March 17, 1994
We had been doing more and more color on the covers back then, even though it was expensive. It might have been the writer Andrew Rice himself inside the hazmat suit. I think I got the suit from my firefighter landlord. Whoever was inside was very hot. The plastic viewing area was fogged up.
I was trying to balance the daylight with a flash and dealing with the reflection of the face covering. I used a color gel over the flash. My equipment was pretty rudimental — low budget to no budget back then.
Of course, it was actual film — slide film, as we needed a positive to send to the printer. This was before the Indy invested in a scanner.
Getting the cover photo each week was an honor, but it also became the norm. Seeing my first cover lying in a gutter on the street humbled me. It snapped me out of thinking I was “all that.”
The real thrill was having what felt like a license to snoop, a backstage, all-access pass to the world. I got to move through the circles of the famous, the wealthy, the artistic, the brilliant, the downtrodden, the homeless, the desperate, the working class, the hopeful, and the hopeless. I was among them but not part of them.
—Christopher Gardner, staff photographer (1986-1995)
June 23, 1994:
Batter Up!
This article was the first pitch in what has become a 32-year-long relationship. After writing this cover story — and winning a 1994 California Newspaper Publishers Association sportswriting award — I began volunteering for the Foresters and have since enjoyed being part of 10 National Championships. I have watched 70 Foresters reach the majors, made lifelong friends such as Bill Pintard and many others, and been able to experience so much joy (and occasional heartache) while keeping baseball a part of my life in ways I had only dreamed of.
But it also kicked off (pardon the football pun) a relationship between the ballclub and the city that came to love it as much as I have. It started at the Independent, and like a baseball game, according to George Carlin, “We don’t know when it’s going to end!” —Jim Buckley, sportswriter (1994-present)
September 13, 2001:
9/11 Flag at Half-Mast
That day was a scramble. I had been all over trying to cover different things, but with that day’s tragedy happening back east and not directly here, any meaningful photos were scarce. As I was headed back to our offices, I did notice the flag in front of City Hall at half-mast and decided to grab a quick shot because I didn’t have anything that was cover-worthy. I had recently purchased an early digital camera — Canon PowerShot G1, I believe, with a whopping 3.2 megapixels! — and took a few shots with that to cover my bases in case we needed a cover.
This shot is a good example of me trying to make something out of nothing. I didn’t really love the shot. We needed something at the last minute, and visually, it was working on a certain graphic level. I was surprised by how many people approached me after to say how poignant it was and how much they liked the photograph.
My dad had it framed, and it hung in their hallway until they moved out. I would have never imagined that what I considered a throwaway shot at the time to have the effect that it did.
Fun fact: I think that may have been the first digital shot we used at the paper.
—Matt Straka, photo editor (1999-2001)
Save Ellwood Mesa:
May 29, 2003
Writing a 4,000-word cover story for the Independent is a marvelous adventure of researching, interviewing people, writing, then going through the editing process. Tossed into the crucible are text, photographs, and graphic design — the result hits the streets on Thursday mornings. It was always an honor to help produce that small miracle.
—Cathy Murillo, news reporter (1998-2005); later, Mayor of Santa Barbara
January 13, 2005: Massive Floods
This was the storm that caused the cliffs above La Conchita to slide, crashing into more than 30 homes and killing 10 people.
I drove down to find the highway closed and covered in debris. I tried to walk, but the mud was like more foam, so my foot sunk right in. Then I hitched a ride with the KEYT news truck, and made it on scene as the disaster’s impact became known, with residents running around asking about missing people.
More than 20 years later, that mud is still on my boots. Little did I know it would just be the first of many weather-related catastrophes that I’d be covering in the years to come.
—Matt Kettmann, Senior Writer (1999-present)
April 26, 2007:
Have You No Shame, Mrs. McCaw?
The crumpling of the News-Press was agonizing. The community lost its daily paper. So many lost their jobs. And it was demoralizing watching our publisher flagrantly dismiss the journalistic ethics that dedicated reporters and editors revere like a religion.
So, I cried when I saw this Indy cover. It was the press doing what it’s supposed to: speak truth to power. And it was proof right there in newsprint that integrity was alive and well in our town, and our trade.
—Starshine Roshell, columnist (2007-present)
UCSBigger: September 10, 2010
Tamara Weaver, the art director before me, asked me to draw an octopus in blue and gold stretching out over UCSB and taking up a lot of space. I said, “How about a hippo dancing on everything and breaking some stuff?” I thought the hippo was a funnier animal.
“Just draw a stinkin’ octopus,” she said.
“Like it just sat next to you on a flight and orders a drink, hogs the armrest, and snores?” I replied.
“Yes!”
I heard someone call it “an irresponsible cartoon,’” which is not the first time I have heard that.
—Ben Ciccati, illustrator/designer (2006-present)
January 20, 2011:
No More ‘Mrs. Nice Guy’
For several years in a row, Washingtonian, a D.C. journal, named me the “Nicest Member of Congress.” This cover was the Independent’s response.
The story listed some of my accomplishments signaling that I was no pushover. It meant a lot to me!
Now, as you celebrate 40 years, I have the opportunity to say “Thank you, Indy!” You always keep your finger on the pulse of the community! You are appreciated!
—Lois Capps, U.S. Congressmember (1998-2017)
I had that cover framed for my mom, and we hung it in the house we shared together in D.C. It meant a lot — and still does! And will for her grandkids long after she’s gone, I imagine.
—Laura Capps, County Supervisor (2022-present)
June 1, 2017:
Nukes of Hazard
After 15-plus years, it’s still a thrill to be on the cover. It’s validation of your hard work, a stamp of pride, and, for more controversial topics, a badge of courage that affirms you stand behind the reporting you did without fear or favor.
—Tyler Hayden, Senior Editor (2009-present)
July 13, 2017:
Whittier Fire
Getting a photo on the cover is always the best and not as easy to come by for the staff photographer as one might think.
A weekly’s cover story is often focused on upcoming events rather than what developed the week before. Seasonal guides, events such as Solstice, Fiesta, Bowl shows, and visiting dignitaries meant that images were frequently pulled from file or more likely, media kits. Also, illustrators were regularly and rightly enlisted for cover art to convey the subject.
So, when one of my photos made the cover, there was always a sense of pride and accomplishment. Whether the image itself was strong or made great by the art directors’ touches, come Thursday, seeing people reading the paper always gave a sense of belonging to something big. Then I only had to contain myself from not-so-nonchalantly slipping it into conversation that my photo was on the cover.
—Paul Wellman, staff photographer (2001-2020)
January 11, 2018:
Mudslides
Reporting from Montecito on the morning of the disaster was a heady mix of breaking news, intermittent communication channels, and stunned disbelief. First responders searching through waist-deep mud and rock. Thousands of survivors in active evacuation. An undercurrent of mounting grief. Eight years on, the memories remain vivid.
—Keith Hamm, news reporter (1995-2000; 2015-2019), contributor (1998-present)
March 19, 2020:
COVID
Work changed so much with the onset of the pandemic! In just a couple of days, and in the middle of production, we moved our entire operation, which was quite analog at the time, from being in an office together to producing the paper from home. Systems had to be redeveloped.
I’m proud to say that the issue of March 12, 2020, went out on time, but that couldn’t have been done without the amazing production team we had at that time. Big cheers to Ava Talehakimi and Ricky Barajas! It was a huge effort, but we all banded together to make it happen. I remember visiting the office a few months after, and it was apocalyptic — papers just hangin’ off the walls, empty desks, etc.
For the first few weeks of the pandemic, the cover concepts were developed sort of out of response to the collective experience. I just wanted people to see our experience reflected on the cover of the free paper each week. Together but apart.
—Caitlin Fitch, designer/Creative Director (2013-2022)
July 29, 2022:
Sex and Violence and the Supremes
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, an emotionally charged protest unfolded. The woman captured — Daisy — was screaming and striking her sign against the ground, a powerful reflection of the collective anger and urgency among attendees.
—Ingrid Bostrom, photographer (2017-present)
April 4, 2024:
Smell the Roses
My process always starts with reading the cover story to get an understanding of what the exact subject matter is. I’ll then take a look at photos. I’m looking for vertically oriented photos, but it can always depend on what photo could be the most clear while on newsstands. Then I gather any visual elements that can be extracted into either a color palette or design pattern/texture.
Once I have a sense of a color or a pattern, I’ll start looking at fonts that feel appropriate with the main coverlines the writer has decided on. If it’s something like a news story, fonts are usually bold and heavy. While a cover that’s focused on the arts, will usually have either a funky or modern typeface.
I make a couple variations of the composition to see what works best. One thing I always do is to take a few steps back from the screen and make sure spacing and any other details are ironed out. Come Thursday morning, 25,000 copies are distributed around Santa Barbara for the community to pick up. We make sure to keep an eye on pickup rates, and depending how well the paper is being grabbed off of newsstands is how I can make sure I’m doing my job correctly!
—Xavier Pereyra, Art Director (2022-present)
July 17, 2025:
Smoke and Mirrors
What stands out most to me about this cover is that my identity — and that of the protesters — is more visible in the reflection of the agent’s glasses than in the subject itself. This contrast emphasizes how those being observed are, in some ways, more clearly defined than the one in power. The agent’s concealed identity, paired with the presence of deadly weapons, evokes a sense of both anonymity and force, reinforcing themes of aggression and cowardice in ongoing federal actions.
—Ingrid Bostrom, photographer (2017-present)
That photo did an amazing job of showing the intimidating nature of these masked agents from a face-to-face POV. That cover carried the emotional weight of what was happening in our community and the fear of the unknown of what ICE agents were capable of.
—Xavier Pereyra, Art Director (2022-present)
February 5, 2026:
SBIFF
As someone who grew up in Santa Barbara dreaming of being a journalist and reading the Independent — not to mention working for many of its mostly long-gone competitors — I have to say I still get a little thrill when I walk by the news racks and see my name on the cover.
—Leslie Dinaberg, Arts and Culture Editor (2022-present)
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