Betsy J. Green

Richard Henry Dana – SB's Best PR Guy

Dateline: January 1925

Our local paper looked back at Santa Barbara 90 years earlier to January 14, 1835, when future author Richard Henry Dana had arrived in Santa Barbara.

"Richard Henry Dana wrote so interestingly of ... Santa Barbara and its shoreline that his book is found in public and private libraries all over the world ... we probably never will succeed in putting out another piece of publicity that will prove as enduring as 'Two Years Before the Mast.'"

The article suggested that a memorial be placed in his honor on the wall of the Casa de la Guerra in the Street in Spain. (Interesting thought, eh?)

WAY BACK WHEN: A Strange Passenger

Dateline: January 1925

As a man was driving through Goleta, an owl flew into his windshield! The man stopped and picked up the bird, who then seemed content to travel along on the car's radiator cap.

Wandering with the Wanderwells

Dateline: January 1925

"Around the world in a Ford ... with Captain Walter Wanderwell and his sister, Aloha Wanderwell, who arrived in Santa Barbara yesterday on the last lap of their world tour."

They were part of a group that started in Detroit in 1921. Their car was "decorated from stem to stern – or should one say from crank to taillight – with emblems of each country ... Scores of persons stopped to gaze and to admire.

Small world! "The Wanderwells met another group of world tourists last year. The round-the-world fliers, headed by Captain Lowell Smith, Santa Barbara boy, met the Wanderwells in India."

Peter Pan is Coming

Dateline: December 1924
The silent movie Peter Pan had been filmed on Santa Cruz Island this year, and the movie was recently released. The movie reignited the popularity of this famous 1902 fairy tale.

Peter Pan was scheduled to play in theaters here in Santa Barbara in January 1925 (more about that in Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1925), and Peter Pan-related products were already being sold in local shops.

A Christmas Chuckle

Dateline: December 1924
I like to finish each month with a cartoon from Life magazine. Just in time for Christmas, here's an idea to keep the nights silent after the kids open their Christmas gifts.

A Fight with a Devilfish

Dateline: December 1924

"A two-hour fight on the open sea off Santa Cruz Island with a monster devilfish resulted in victory for three Long Beach men Saturday afternoon." The fish measured more than 17 feet and was caught with a hook and line in 90 feet of water.

When first snagged, the large fish almost pulled the fisherman overboard, but two companions came to his rescue. They struggled for two hours before finally pulling it aboard. "The devilfish is one of the largest ever taken in southern California waters, and the only one captured in the Santa Barbara Channel for many years, according to fishermen."

(There had been another of these monstrous fishes that was caught at Stearns Wharf back in 1915.)

The Last Laugh

Each month in my Way Back When – Santa Barbara in 1924 book, I end the month with a 100-year-old cartoon from Life magazine. Here's a cartoon that predicts what we would be eating in the future at Thanksgiving. 

(Thank goodness they were wrong!)

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Carrillo Hotel

While many SB families enjoyed a holiday dinner at home, there were a number of local eateries that offered traditional fare. The Carrillo Hotel promised a "Bountiful Holiday Dinner" – turkey with cranberry sauce, soup, salad, and pumpkin pie. All for $1.50.

A New Hotel in SB for Women Only

Margaret Baylor, a social worker from Cincinnati, had been the driving force in creating the Carrillo Recreation Center. She had also been pushing for a hotel for young working women in the city here. Although Baylor had passed away earlier in 1924, her dream of a hotel for women was finally taking shape in November.
It was decided to name the hotel the Margaret Baylor Inn. The organizers noted that she "understood the lack of congenial association and the lonely, uninteresting leisure hours of young women and girls living away from home. We all remember Miss Baylor's self-sacrificing life, and if for no other reason, we would want to build this Inn as a monument to her memory."

(Spoiler alert – the inn was built in 1927, and is still here at 924 Anacapa St., although it is now named "The Julia" in honor of its architect – Julia Morgan.)

The Zoo in Montecito

In November 1924, a writer from the local paper paid a visit to the Feather Hill Poultry Ranch in Montecito. "Housed snugly in a vacant chicken house were . . . Tango and One-Step, black bear cubs . . . In an adjoining yard, Jack and Susie, full-grown ostriches with their son Rudy, ruled over a mixed flock of peacocks, turkeys, and guinea hens.

"Scattered about the ranch were hundreds of other rare specimens of birds and wild animals." They included a coyote, badger, wildcat, New Guinea Crown Pigeon, a pheasant. In addition to the zoo animals, there were thousands of egg-laying chickens on this 59-acre ranch.