In June 1925, an earthquake hit Santa Barbara and State Street. Civic leaders like Pearl Chase and Bernhard and Irene Hoffmann used this disaster as an opportunity to promote and establish Spanish Colonial Revival–style architecture throughout the city. I’m sure they encountered nay-sayers who told them “why can’t we just have our old Victorian brick and wood structures like we used to have?” Within years, however, Santa Barbara became charming enough with its post-earthquake mandated architecture to become a tourist mecca and be called “the American Riviera.”
By 2017-2020, the decline of State Street hit its nadir with the rise of Amazon purchasing, the loss of Macy’s and Nordstrom, and the arrival of the COVID epidemic.
Like Chase and the Hoffmanns, civic minded individuals like Tristen Miller, Ian Baucke, Sullivan Israel, and Joanna Kaufman formed an urban advocacy group called Strong Towns Santa Barbara. City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez attended meetings.
Several doom and gloom letters were published from residents and our mayor about a car-free State Street. I beg to differ. Businesses are returning. Yardi is relocating its headquarters to Macy’s. Housing will be built at Nordstrom. UCSB is buying faculty and staff housing downtown. The S.B. film festival has a new five-theater McHurley Film Center. The Music Academy of the West is transforming a vacant State Street building into a new year-round music education and performance hub. This renaissance has happened with State Street remaining car-free.
Last Saturday, my wife went to the Farmer’s Market on State Street. Later, we rode our bikes to the Public Market and had lunch. We walked and rode down State Street, along Cabrillo Boulevard, up Shoreline Drive, and home along the new Modoc bike path. We encountered multiple groups of Cool Breeze bike riders wearing jerseys from Santa Clarita, Ventura, and elsewhere. We saw State Street bustling on a summer day with shoppers, pedestrians, musicians, visitors, and citizens like us.
Thank you to the Strong Towns Santa Barbara initiative and the Santa Barbara City Council for reauthorizing Title 31 in June 2026 to keep State Street car free on seven blocks. State Street is pedestrian and bike friendly with outdoor dining at cafés and restaurants. With our beautiful Mediterranean climate, it’s alive.
One hundred years after their efforts, Chase and the Hoffmanns would be proud of your initiative and stewardship of State Street and Santa Barbara. I urge civic leaders to continue to put people first, not cars.
