Image: gopher snake (Wikimedia)
Grab That Snake!
Dateline: March 1925
If you run across any snakes, pick them up please – the Museum of Natural History wants them. "Our aim is to make casts of all the game fish and snakes of this vicinity," said a museum employee. "But we are busily engaged in casting [wax models] and can't get out to hunt or fish … A number of wax casts naturally colored already have been finished for the fish section of the museum."
NIMBY in 1925
Dateline: March 1925
A notice in the Santa Barbara newspaper detailed the restrictions on life in one of the newest neighborhoods called Samarkand Hills. "No living in garages; no chickens, horses, or goats allowed – "we don't want manure … we do want peace and quiet unbroken by the crowing and cackling of poultry"; no poles for electric wires or telephone lines (all wires underground), private residences only – no boarding houses, hotels, apartments, or bungalow courts; home must cost $5,000 or more; no eucalyptus or pepper trees; no drilling for oil."
Samarkand Hills is roughly east of Las Positas Road, West of Mission Creek, south of Stanley Drive, and north of Tallant Road. Basically, it is the northern part of what is called the Samarkand neighborhood today.
The Circus on Chapala & Cota
Dateline: March 1925
In the past, visiting circuses would often pitch their tents in the area known today as the Funk Zone. Since in 1925, that area was used for airplanes to land and take off, this circus set up on the west side at Cota and Chapala. As expected, the kids of Santa Barbara were majorly excited to watch the unloading of the circus train.
"Who has not been tempted to carry water for the elephants? Who is not entranced by the huge curtained wagons, wondering what they contain." The circus would offer performances all week.
Remember "Dead-Man's Curve"?
Dateline: March 1925
There was one on the Mesa before the mid-1950s. Cliff Drive used to have a big bend in it across the street from the present-day Santa Barbara City College (see map). The road curved around a canyon. This month, residents of the Mesa were petitioning the city to remove the curve.
"The new route will be a safer drive than the present route … where the pavement is narrow, and in wet weather is very slippery and often dangerous. Elimination of 'Dead Man's Curve' would take a great hazard out of the present road to the Mesa and would not only make it safer, but easier to drive."
Older Mesa residents – "Mesa Rats" – that I interviewed years ago, referred to this part of the road as "the horseshoe." Anyone remember this?
[Spoiler alert – Cliff Drive was eventually straightened, but not until the mid-1950s. When the road was straightened, the "horseshoe" became Weldon Road.]
The Black Falcons Arrive in Santa Barbara
Dateline: February 1925
Seven airplanes were scheduled to fly here from Clover Field in Santa Monica and land at the Casa Loma Airfield on Las Positas Road in Santa Barbara. The municipal field downtown (the Funk Zone) was flooded this time of year, so the planes had to make do with an out-of-town location. The planes were part of the 476th Pursuit Squadron, nicknamed the Black Falcons.
It wasn't clear what the purpose of this trip was, other than to attend a dance at the Arlington Hotel. "It was announced yesterday that they would attend the dance in the grill room Saturday night to decide for themselves whether or not Santa Barbara girls are better looking than those of Los Angeles."
A Beach Pavilion with a Tunnel?
Dateline: February 1925
Santa Barbara architects Roland F. Sauter and E. Keith Lockard, were on a roll. They had recently designed the City Hall building and the Santa Barbara High School. Now they had designed a bathhouse and more for our East Beach, sort of.
The location for the building was a bit unusual. "The building will be situated on the landward side of East Boulevard [Cabrillo Boulevard], and connected with the beach by a tunnel under the pavement." (Not sure how that was supposed to work during high tides.)
"The hope was expressed through the architects that the pavilion would prove the nucleus of a number of recreation buildings on the oceanfront, which 'eventually would make one of the most attractive beaches in the world for the use and entertainment of the people of Santa Barbara.'"
A Jazz King Returns to SB
Dateline: February 1925
One of the masters of jazz came to Santa Barbara this month to present a concert at the Granada Theatre. Paul Whiteman, known as "the king of jazz," had been here in 1919 as head of the house band at the Ambassador Hotel (Potter Hotel).
At the Granada, Whiteman and his orchestra did a repeat performance of their program at New York's Carnegie Hall, which was the first jazz performance at that venue.
Channel Islands Movies on Youtube:
Man's Genesis (1912)
Neptune's Daughter (1914)
Civilization (1915)
A Submarine Pirate (1915)
Young Romance (1915)
Betty and the Buccaneers (1917)
Male and Female (1919)
Victory (1919)
Below the Surface (1920)
Terror Island (1920)
Down to the Sea in Ships (1922)
Foolish Wives (1922)
The Primitive Lover (1922)
Anna Christie (1923)
The Covered Wagon (1923)
Captain Blood (1924)
The Last Man on Earth (1924)
The Navigator (1924)
The Sea Hawk (1924)
Peter Pan (1924)
Ben Hur (1925)
The Black Pirate (1926)
The Cruise of the Jasper B (1926)
Old Ironsides (1926)
The Sea Beast (1926)
Shipwrecked (1926)
The Kid Brother (1927)
The King of Kings (1927)
The Yankee Clipper (1927)
It (1927)
Want a talk or a slideshow (live or zoom) about island movies for your club or organization? Email me via the Contact page of this website. (No fee)
Books available for purchase at local bookstores, SB Historical Museum, and Amazon.com ($25)
The Zoo in Montecito?
Dateline: January 1925
I know what you're thinking but no, this article refers to a real zoo called the Feather Hill Poultry Ranch in Romero Canyon, and not the social scene in Montecito. "An aggregation that is attracting crowds of visitors ... Grown people and children vied in their enthusiasm over gaudy-hued pheasants, parrots, parakeets, love birds, turkeys, guineas, peacocks, and even ostriches.
"Animals – from the large elephant down to the white-faced monkeys, whole families of bears, wildcats, mountain lions, hyenas and the like ... A honey bear divided honors with the monkeys in furnishing amusement for children."
This private zoo, sometimes called Feather Hill Zoo, was in Montecito from 1924 to 1930, when the animals were moved to the San Francisco Zoo.
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?)