santa barbara, ca

we have to go there next weekend for a wedding, hope we get time to check out what there is to check out (i've stopped by before, did the dead ass state st. thing at night, there's got to be more)

nope, that's it.

I go regularly because it is a quiet and pleasant place -- ideal for hotel, food, beer. It's also an easy jaunt from Pasadena. I regularly stay in an old redone motor court motel off the harbor beach. From there it's a nice backstreet walk to the State St. restaurants. There is also a very nice park on the mesa above the marina. You can relax there or walk down the cliff-side staircase to a narrow strip of beach. The zoo is another place to spend a couple hours. And the people I travel with often take an afternoon out to hit the local wineries, although it's not my bag.

Montecito is also there if you want to rub elbows with those who look down upon Santa Barbarians (HELLO AUNT SANDRA!).

I once caught a barracuda on the Santa Barbara pier.

what's the area where state street and de la vina merge together (near mackenzie park)? i like it -- it's understated, a little older/worn, with the sense that there's some money around but people aren't ostentatious about it. lots of independent businesses but there's a gelson's and a coffee bean and a trader joe's too if that's yer thing.

San Roque. I'm pretty sure people there are only wealthy due to property values...it's pretty suburban in character.

Xpost on the local wineries. Take the 154 over the mountains into the Solvang/Santa Ynez/Los Olivos area - the drive itself is GORGEOUS - and enjoy some tastings at some of the many winery tasting rooms. Personal favorites: Bridlewood, Zaca Mesa, and Cambria. Lots of good restaurants, too, and not just those featured in Sideways. It gets crowded on the weekends, because its a lot nicer than LA and a ton of people come up there for wine tours - lots of stretch limos, etc., trekking from one winery to another.

We just got back from a day up there yesterday, it was a good time. As for living in the area, I have no idea.

i still have never been to solvang. it's an itch i someday hope to scratch.

I found Solvang pretty boring, it takes about an hour to see everything there is to see.

SB would be a good place to retire if I had enough money, but even at my age I wouldn't want to live there.

(Go Gauchos!)

I had awesome Sushi in Santa Barbara.

Otherwise, I found it kind of like every other five-coffeeshop upscale town. But, you know, beach on one side, mountains on the other = hard to complain about.

Oh yeah, and skip Solvang. Totally pointless town.

Sushi place was called Arigato.

right south of santa babs is goleta home of legendary punk venue/ studios the living room!

Has anyone ever been to Ojai? That was one of the towns I wanted to hit but didn't have time. Sounded like it could either be awesome or just ridiculous.

goleta is west of SB

i went to SB for the 4th of july last year. it was fine. underwhelming.

sorry jimmy i was thinkin 101 directions

Sounds like you need directions 101.

OH!

can we ban hurting from ile too?

I've only been to Ojai once, to visit some family friends, but it is even more a place to live when you want a nothing-ever-happens life than SB. I think there is a "downtown" shopping / cafe area but I can't imagine it being worth the trip unless you lived in Ventura. Probably a good area to drive through, though.

x-post: It's "North" by 101 directions anyway.

i'd rather take the high road on this one xpost

alot of the high grade marijuana we get in so cal is grown in ojai

Has anyone ever been to Ojai? That was one of the towns I wanted to hit but didn't have time. Sounded like it could either be awesome or just ridiculous

Somewhat expensive tourist trap and celebrity hideaway along the lines of Julian only without the good apple pie. Back in the 1970s they used to advertise that they were the home of "TV's Six Million Dollar Man - Steve Austin"

The video for Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" was filmed there, which is about all you need to know

second trip to santa babs we returned to LA via Ojai, scenic winding drive through the hills to get there but sheesh what a boring town, kinda like nowheresville and a tourist trap at the same time. we had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall mexican place that looked promising yet the food resembled tacos you'd get in the midwest ca. 1970s.

good to know. what about santa paula/fillmore?

tell me about the dunes.

i am deeming this a central coast thread

theres a great board game shop in santa barbara run by a really enthusiastic austrian(?) dude, talking like $60-$80 games, expansion packs, you name it, but the guy is a mensch and will cut you a deal, i bought risk 2210 there and ive unpacked it a lot and it looks real pretty but ive never actually played it

yeah i bought my bro some crazy version of axis and allies there

re upthread, i love ojai but you don't go there for the town. i had a really nice time at the ojai retreat a few months ago, just staring out the window at the mountains, wandering the grounds, taking photos, "meditating" (if you like).

also suzanne's is quite good. we also tried feast bistro -- thumbs up on the food, thumbs down (in my one experience) on the flaky service.

but no, there's not much to "do" in ojai, and that's rather the point.

my photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/stockholm_cindy/sets/72157607455131904/

hey, the retreat looks nice, thanks

(btw, that's technically a Scrub-Jay - you don't get Blue Jays in CA)

SB's also where Jimmy Connors can get arrested.

the scrub jay is very cute:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Western_Scrub_Jay_holding_an_Acorn_at_Waterfront_Park_in_Portland,_OR.JPG

(btw, that's technically a Scrub-Jay - you don't get Blue Jays in CA)

Steller Jays represent!

http://www.birdsamore.com/_images/jay-stellers_350.jpg

cheap rooms taking sides: hotel state street private room with a shared bath (http://www.hotelstatestreet.net/) or a private en suite at http://www.sbhostel.com/ ? anyone stayed in the hostel?

I had a friend who did said it was one of the nicer hostels he's been in.

did, said

likely true

thankig u again for retreat, jody; have reserved

Was in a bar on state street tonight wondering to myself which students I hate more, Oxford or UCSB, and then I saw a guy wearing an Oxford 2006 Ski Trip hoodie. What a town.

UCSB students like to think that they go to the 'Harvard of party schools' - for the most part, they're the smartest of the kids in California who wanted to go to a party school.

Breaking news: I just went for a quick walk to the pier and back before I go to bed and saw my first dead body. Police and ambulance stood around a body on the floor in the bushes. Didn't look like a crime scene. : ( Very weird first few hours here.

Turns out this is a v. nice town, corpses and Oxbridge undergrads notwithstanding.

If you want Banana Republic and tattoos then State Street is for you.

Yup, sounds about right. My cousin went there.

I saw another dead person. I was on this train : (((((

http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_11429916

when we are in santa barbara (or even just passing through between the bay and so cal) we stop at pierre lafond for breakfast.

http://www.pierrelafond.com/

I ate there. It was good!

p.s. http://lafd.blogspot.com/2009/01/woman-struck-by-amtrak-train-dies-in.html. What a trip.

that place looked nice but we went up the street to zia cafe

caek visits america, sees dead people

this is reminding me of when friend of mine had a french foreign exchange student in high school and after the semester was up he took a bus tour of the country - upon returning he told us abt how he witnessed a shooting like it was the most normal thing in the world because he was lol french and thought americans just shot each other all the time no big deal - of course none of us he was telling the story to had ever seen a shooting

my favourite eats over the weekend was whail tail deli: http://whale-tail-deli.com/default.aspx. cheap for sb, and hearty fare indeed.

xp, two dead people in four days has to be some kind of record, right. central california is perilous.

I was making a video on the train down from sb, planning to edit it into a sort of time lapse thing of socal, but i don't know if I will now, because it gets really weird with all the firemen and the not moving and the people crying on the edge of LA. I was in the one car outside the tunnel. I can see my window in those LAFD Flickr photos.

Gaviota looks great, but park is closed. If it reopens before Dec, I think that might work.

Contingency is driving the 101 around...

I see your Southern Californian dialect is already dialed in 🤣

Is that a Southern California-only thing? Blame it on Hollywood.

It's the only place I've ever heard it. The 101, the 405, the 5, the 10 . . .

The mother of a friend of mine applies it to every roadway when she visits. The Pico, the Wilshire, the Olympic . . .

Well, NY has the LIE, the Northern State, etc. We just ignore the numbers and give everything names.

~1 min:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt-tG6ufH90

ok, lol

Any recent updates on the tri-tip bbq place in the back of the gas station in Buellton? Will they be open with food on a Monday? Information on the web is spotty at best.

I forgot to track that place down! TBH tri tip is not much of a driver for me—it ain’t no TX brisket or St. Louis ribs—but I did have some really excellent tri tip tacos from a food truck outside Figueroa Brewery in Los Olivos recently. FYI Industrial Eats in Buellton has been closed since the owner’s death last month, not sure on reopening status.

Almost went there today for a day trip (coffee, museum, books, dinner, etc?) but decided to wait for a less windy commute up the coast

Santa Barbara had not lost any charm after 3 years of living here, btw. Makes having to go back east (more like Deep South, ugh) to visit parents a drag.

My son and I visited UCSB last year; he was considering applying for grad school there. My question was, Why wouldn't you want to go to school there?

Looking forward to seeing SB and around. Will be there in about two weeks!

We arrived yesterday afternoon. The sunset sky last evening was incredible - electric blue sky clashing with fuchsia and reflecting rosy pink glow off the mountains. Very nice.

Wind caves @ gaviota is a quick hike if ur looking for something off the highway. Either bishop’s peak or madonna mtns in SLO (madonna is easier, bishop is more interesting)

― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, April 25, 2023 12:43 PM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Shout out to Jimmy the Mod for the Gaviota recommendation. We had the best short hike up to the wind caves yesterday morning. We didn’t see another soul the entire time.

Also, tri-tip sandwiches at the Eagle 76 in Buellton are available during the week and were amazing. BBQ sauce and salsa worked beautifully with the smoky meat. Top 5 sandwich experience.

Reclumbed Bishop in august it was very very fun

Also, tri-tip sandwiches at the Eagle 76 in Buellton are available during the week and were amazing. BBQ sauce and salsa worked beautifully with the smoky meat. Top 5 sandwich experience.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Tuesday, December 5, 2023 7:28 AM (two hours ago)

Nice!

Is Pinnacles on your northward itinerary?

Pinnacles whips

PBKR should be the Dave Portnoy of gas station tri-tip sammies

We’re in Big Sur now so no Pinnacles, though we drove past the exit on 101 this morning. Also I wrenched my ankle at Partington Cove this afternoon. We will see how it feels tomorrow, but I’m like done hiking for the trip.

Pea Soup Andersen's closes for good on its 100th anniversary
https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/pea-soup-andersen-buellton-closed-18600570.php

never have I ever

Fucking bullshit

To be fair, it’s not any good.

"the signature pea soup quickly became a signature dish"

Itisamystery.jpeg

Some more info here: https://lompocrecord.com/news/local/pea-soup-andersens-in-buellton-shutters-doors-property-in-escrow-after-lengthy-buyer-process/article_fea28acc-0ce7-52f9-a9bf-acdf5c443d56.html

Looks like the building is a tear-down. Maintenance of a 100 year old building that sees heavy use is probably impossible to square on a restaurant budget.

"Guggia Jr., a Central Coast restaurateur, also purchased Pea Soup Andersen's Santa Nella in 2007, which is still operational. His company also owns AJ Spurs steakhouses, Shaw's Steakhouse in Santa Maria, Cracked Crab, The Pantry on Park, and Pappy's Diner."

Suppose serving bad soup and steaks of meat that are usually ground to the ancients is good busjness