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Seussian spin, pulling and tugging to renew and refresh an enduring aesthetic. The hotel engages in a long tradition of exploring and stretching the Santa Barbara Architectural idiom, from Smith and Riggs to Jeff Shelton’s unique Dr. Known more accurately as “Santa Barbara Architecture,” the style includes threads of Andalusian, Mediterranean, and Mexican Churrigueresque, adapted with the Native American materials of stucco and tile. The hotel is built, naturally, in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, but it takes advantage of a mixture of influences within those standards established by early 20th-century architects George Washington Smith and Lutah Maria Riggs. Everyone can judge for themselves how, after such a long struggle, the artists, architects, and hoteliers have succeeded. The Hotel Californian is both a celebration and a curated vision of Santa Barbara - a hotel that will introduce more than 100,000 guests a year to the city, offer employment to hundreds, and become a place where visitors and locals alike can gather to enjoy Santa Barbara. It’s as much a fulfillment of a promise as it is a unique and stunning architectural accomplishment. But now, after six years of planning and building, the hotel opened this week. The history of Hotel Californian’s development has been a drama filled with political battles, economic disasters, and civic controversy. This month marks another significant development: the long-awaited opening of Hotel Californian at the gateway - “La Entrada” - to the city, between the beach and State Street. Over the years, art galleries, restaurants, curated-cocktail bars, and the cutting-edge MOXI museum opened. That is most certainly no longer true.Ĭhanges began early this century, when artists started moving into the industrial rough-and-tumble area that we now call the Funk Zone and a new urbanism developed. Southern Pacific Railroad laid tracks along the beachside because it was considered the least buildable, least valuable property. It’s remarkable to realize that the oceanfront was not cherished in the early 1800s. Much of the history of Santa Barbara old and new is embodied there - from surfboard shapers to the channel fisheries, cheap hotels, and dive bars. Santa Barbara’s most recent moment has been percolating for the last six years, and even decades earlier, along the waterfront in what is known as El Pueblo Viejo District. Now we are living through another pivotal time. These were all defining moments in the tapestry of Santa Barbara. Historically, Santa Barbara has had many: the Chumash revolt of 1824 the development of the silent film industry the 1925 earthquake Pearl Chase’s drive to recast the city in the uniform architectural style we know today the Union Oil spill that led to Earth Day and the cessation of offshore drilling the fight to build the tunnel beneath the highway, allowing State Street to run continuously through the city and the emergence of the Funk Zone. There are pivotal moments in the life of a city. Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window).Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window).Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window).