Subscriber Comments for
Urban Hike: Holy Adventure

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 158065	2011-03-26 10:05 AM
Wow, Double wow. Triple wow. There is a spiritual home for just about everyone in Santa Barbara and this report showcases their beauty, respite and substance in the fabric of our Santa Barbara lives. Thank you - enlivening and uplifting.
PJG	2011-03-26 10:26 AM
Wonderful!
MTNDRIVER	2011-03-26 11:24 AM
That tile mural at the Poor Clares monastery was created by Judy Sutcliffe. There are many plaques and tile murals around town by her. And the prayer is commonly known as the prayer of St. Francis, though whether he actually wrote it is doubtful. (St. Clare was Francis's sister.) Thanks for the engaging piece. Interesting to learn that so many of these congregations date back to the 19th century.
EL BARBARENO	2011-03-26 11:51 AM
An excellent spiritual tour - Thank you!
SMARTYPANTS	2011-03-26 12:10 PM
Home run! Fantastic research and reporting!
AUNTIE S.	2011-03-26 01:27 PM
A wonderful and well-researched tour of what used to be my home neighborhood (along with the past two weeks' tours). I echo several past posters in hoping that you will turn these reports into a book when you've completed all your walks. It would rank right up there alongside Walker Tompkins and Neal Graffy.
KDEF	2011-03-26 04:32 PM
Thank you for fro Edhat's intrepid urban hikers. Another valuable source is "Santa Barbara A Guide to El Pueblo Viejo" by Rebecca Conrad and Christopher H. Nelson, Capra Press, 1986. This source confirms my memory that what is now the Spirtualist Church at 1028 Garden Street was from 1932 to 1950 was home to the B'Nai B'Rith synagogue, the first Jewish house of worship in Santa Barbara. The buiidling was built in 1921 a a local grocery. It was much altered when it was converted into a house of worship in 1932. The building on the corner of Chapala and Victoria now Christ Presbyterian Church was formerly the home of Karvarno Motors, the home of the local Chrysler Plymouth dealer. In 1940 automobile row moved from lower State Street uptown to Victoria Street. The Ford dealer was across the street.
HATTIE	2011-03-26 05:49 PM
thank you for another fascinating & informative article! also loved your reference to "edheads"--i like that better than "edhatters". :-)
EL BARBARENO	2011-03-26 08:09 PM
KDEF - I believe you mean Anacapa and Victoria, not Chapala and Victoria. Now I hate to disagree with you, but Victoria was not automobile row. Until 1944, the only auto dealership on East Victoria was the Ford dealership at 17 East Victoria operated in succession by E.M Fillmore, Joe Stubbs, Victoria Motors, Homer C. Thompson, and Thompson-Fauskee (Donald Fauskee) I do note that Fillmore and I think Stubbs did sell Lincolns at 36 East Victoria. The only other auto activity on Victoria was limited to taxi services including at times Tanner, Yellow, Black & White, Bluebird and Gray Line Tours along with the Santa Barbara Retreading Shop. Almost all by the way were at 20 East Victoria. As for Kavarno Motors, in the early 1930s Isak Kavarno had taken over the Chrysler/Plymouth dealership at 25 W. Montecito Street from Charles and Albert Johnson. At the same time Durkee Motors sold DeSotos, Plymouths, Auburns and Cords at 302-306 State Street and the Beard Motor Co. sold Plymouths and Dodges at 222 East Carrillo. Durkee soon faded away leaving Kavarno and Beard juggling Plymouth sales. That is until 1945 when Russell Boner(pronounced “Bonner”) opened Boner Motors selling DeSotos and Plymouths at Anacapa and Victoria. He dubbed his location “Plymouth Corners” perhaps as a competitive statement to “Petersen’s Corners”at State and Mason where Thomas I. Petersen sold Packards at the SE corner and Studebakers at the NW corner. At the NE corner was the used car lot, the body and paint shop and his “Hertz Drive Ur-Self “business. The remaining corner was the California Hotel. By this time Kavarno Motors had moved to 302 State. So now there were three dealers selling Plymouths in the city of Santa Barbara! Kavarno died in 1949 and his widow apparently partnered with one Paul Danielson as Danielson-Kavarno Motors. They continued to sell Plymouths at 630 Chapala Street for another decade until they disappeared from the pages of Santa Barbara Auto History. Boner added a partner, Charles Haley, and the name was changed to Boner & Haley. They remained at the SW corner of Anacapa and Victoria until around 1959 when they moved to 523 Chapala. 36 E. Victoria then became the Modern Home (Furniture) Annex and then other businesses including Korb’s etc. But h... [ more ]
KDEF	2011-03-26 10:19 PM
El Barareno, thank you for setting me straight on the history of the auto dealership business in Santa Barbara and for typing Chapla instead of Anacapa. I guess I am still concerned about the condo development that is replacing the old Vons. I was a friend of Isak's son, Norm Karvano. I thought I remembered his telling me how pleased his parent's were to moving "uptown". Maybe there was some kind of arrangement between the two Chrysler product dealers or maybe it was a deal that never came to pass. I, too, remember the milk delivery trucks at that location. Hopefully some other Edhat reader's can confirm our memories.
HALIENS	2011-03-27 06:53 AM
Thank you! Perfect reading for my Sunday morning. Well done.
COMMENT 158204P	2011-03-27 06:54 AM
Thanks for the thorough tour! When I drive visitors around the Upper Eastside, I like to use the phrase "this neighborhood is lousy with churches", paraphrasing a line from an old Bogart movie.
COMMENT 158215P	2011-03-27 08:39 AM
Thanks for a Great and informative article! Everytime I drive by the "Spiritualist Church of the Comforter", I always think I want to check that out some day. Thanks for checking it out for me. :-) It's interesting to me, all of these different churches, singing the same song. We are all more alike than we are different.
GRANNYFRANNY	2011-03-27 09:09 AM
MTNDRIVER, I have to correct your assertion that St. Clare of Assisi was a blood sister to St. Francis; they were not related. But she admired the aspirations of his order -- poverty, chastity and holy obedience -- and as a consequence she established a women's version of the Order of Friars Minor that Francis started. Her convent that she set up in Assisi, in Umbria, grew to become what we now refer to as the Poor Clares. (By the way, Francis did not set his order up to be a group of ordained priests -- as a matter of fact, he was in conflict with some of the practices of medieval Christian priests. Later it did begin to include ordained men, but even today it has a strong and vibrant arm consisting of both men and women, called the Third Order of St. Francis.)
SBBOOKWORM	2011-03-27 09:24 AM
Thank you again, Urban Hikers! I almost feel like I've gone to church this morning and in the very best way. I agree with 215P. We are more alike than different. What a nice thought....
COMMENT 158247	2011-03-27 10:18 AM
Really great article, but there's a major howler re: the Mormon church. The LDS did NOT start in the west. Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon through visions (or something similar) in New York state. Due to persecution, the LDS eventually moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, until members of their church were massacred (plural marriage and good economic management being prime causes). Joseph Smith was murdered and Brigham Young led the remaining members west to found Salt Lake City - the only city in North America originally established to be a seat of religion. I'm not LDS, but have an interest in the history of the west & the Mormans are an important part of that history.
FLICKA	2011-03-27 10:23 AM
My mother was baptized at Our Lady of Sorrows in 1912. My graduation from Santa Barbara Catholic High (corner of Anacapa and Micheltorena) was held in the church. Enjoyed the information of all the places of worship. You should, indeed, publish a book of your wanderings.
MTNDRIVER	2011-03-27 10:44 AM
Thanks for the correction, Grannyfranny. I think I got the idea they were siblings from an old movie--Brother Sun, Sister Moon--from the 60s or early 70s. Took the title literally and never questioned it. (I'm not Catholic.)
COMMENT 158328	2011-03-27 03:07 PM
I know it's Upper West, not Upper East, but it's so close I thought I'd mention one of my favorite religious sites in SB, the meeting house of the Church of Christ at 2310 Chapala. I believe the Church of Christ, or at least this congregation (like the Society of Friends, and others), opposes the term "church" as worldly... therefore the low-profile, un-ornamented building explicitly states "Church of Christ Meets Here," i.e. Church is the name of the congregation, not the building.
COMMENT 158662	2011-03-28 05:45 PM
Boy, you have really outdone yourselves...again. I miss SB, and really enjoy all the information and photos. Bravo.

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