Way back when in 1965, a parked car with a handbrake problem rolled down Laurel Canyon Road, smashed into another parked car, and accidentally started the story of Hubba Hubba Lane. The neighbors used that nickname for the little alley where the accident occurred, so that’s what police wrote in their accident report. But this tiny dead-end street above Foothill Road did not have a formal name — yet.
Local journalists were quick to notice the story, and they rushed to their typewriters (remember typewriters?) to pound out articles about one of the quirkiest street names in our fair city. Just a few days later, reporters started the move to make Hubba Hubba Lane official. “It is fitting that among the roadways named for old settlers, heroes, historical incidents, natural landmarks, trees, watercourses, and politicians, there be one named for a dog.
“Come on, City Council — make it official and get it on the maps. It’s ring-a-ding” (Santa Barbara News-Press, August 6, 1965). I’m guessing “ring-a-ding” was ’60s slang for “wildly exciting.”
‘Hubba Hubba’ & World War II
“Hubba hubba” also means “wildly exciting.” The venerable Wikipedia explains, “‘Hubba hubba’ is an exclamation used to express intense approval, excitement, or enthusiasm. Most commonly shouted upon seeing someone physically attractive, it is a playful, slightly dated slang term that traces its roots back to American soldiers during World War II.” Indeed, when Bob Hope was entertaining troops overseas back then, he used the term when introducing attractive women on stage. There was also a popular song in the 1940s titled “Hubba Hubba.”
Anyway, back to the dog. “Hubba Hubba was a familiar figure hobbling down the street … one of this loveable pooch’s idiosyncrasies was to carry around an empty dog food can in his mouth … when he growled into his dog food can ‘he sure was ferocious’” (Santa Barbara News-Press, August 11, 1965).
More stories about the canine appeared in the papers in 1965, along with a photo showing him with a missing leg. “Hubba Hubba lost that leg by amputation after some unknown with a gun winged him…. Nobody who knew him will ever forget him’” (Santa Barbara News-Press, August 11, 1965).
Next, with a speed that is difficult to believe in Santa Barbara today, just weeks after the first chapter in the Hubba Hubba legend hit the papers, a city councilman made the decision to make the name official and put up a real street sign on the corner of Hubba Hubba Lane and Laurel Canyon Road.
Don’t Forget the Kids
It was actually the neighborhood kids who invented the name for the alley. “One day in about 1955, when they were up in a fort they’d built in the fields [that area was not developed yet], the four kids dreamed up the idea of dubbing their unnamed lane in honor of Hubba” (Santa Barbara News-Press, April 14, 1986).
(Thanks to the late John Dell who mentioned this street name to me years ago.)
Please do not disturb the residents of this area.
Any ideas for future Santa Barbara streets for this column? Anyone have any interesting Santa Barbara street stories to share? Contact Betsy through her website: betsyjgreen.com.
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.
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