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Running With the Big Boys
updated: Sep 27, 2012, 9:01 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

Ones that come to mind are Sambos, Carl's Jr., Decker Shoes, ......

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

COMMENT 325113P	2012-09-27 09:06 PM
Kinko's, Big Dogs.
COMMENT 325115P	2012-09-27 09:32 PM
Motel 6
PJG	2012-09-27 09:49 PM
Magellans, QAD, Yardi, Sambo's became big time but then not so much.
COMMENT 325117P	2012-09-27 09:49 PM
Lockheed? Northrop?
COMMENT 325118P	2012-09-27 09:50 PM
balance bar from Carp
COMMENT 325125P	2012-09-27 11:08 PM
Citrix
REXOFSB	2012-09-27 11:33 PM
Moss Motors, probably the world's largest supplier of British car parts. That is, if they're still in business. I no longer own an MG (thank Dog), so I no longer have to deal with them and their attitude. Moss Motors started in Goleta. Another local company that made good is Inogen, which makes portable oxygen breathing systems for sale worldwide. Also Carrow's Restaurants.
GILBERT	2012-09-28 03:08 AM
Software.com started by UCSB alums . Made millionaires out of quite a few local folk through their stock options. That is , if they timed their exits properly, before tech took the big dive.
COMMENT 325132	2012-09-28 03:16 AM
Elephant Bar Restaurants
COMMENT 325136	2012-09-28 06:15 AM
Teva sandals in Carp
COMMENT 325138	2012-09-28 06:27 AM
Digital Instruments by Dr. Elings
COMMENT 325139	2012-09-28 06:31 AM
Granite Construction?
COMMENT 325140	2012-09-28 06:40 AM
325117P - While both Lockheed and Northrop have ties to SB, neither current company (Lockheed-Martin or Northrop Grumman) started here. The Loughead's (pronounced Lockheed) original SB business venture tanked, their next venture was sold before it got swallowed up by the Depression, and the current Lockheed company can be traced back to Burbank. Jack Northrop lived in Santa Barbara and got his start working for the Lougheads, but he never started a business here.
ROGER DODGER	2012-09-28 06:51 AM
Sambos restraunts..
COMMENT 325146	2012-09-28 07:06 AM
Hamburger habit started in Goleta.
FRESHPAVEMENT	2012-09-28 07:08 AM
Hamburger Habit. All those other companies pale in comparison.
TIBBLY	2012-09-28 07:15 AM
Powell Peralta Skateboards.
FLICKA	2012-09-28 07:24 AM
Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. The Hidden Valley Guest Ranch was on San Marcos Pass, down in a canyon, a family run business. It was a club, my brother was a member. They had a nice swimming pool, resturant and such. No overnight accomodations, as far as I know. People raved about the salad dressing, the rest is history.
COMMENT 325154	2012-09-28 07:26 AM
Actually, Deckers flip flops started in Carp. Then Deckers bought Teva. :-)
REXOFSB	2012-09-28 07:27 AM
Presto Pasta also has restaurants in Ventura County, if that counts. Rusty's Pizza has stores in many SoCal locations.
BURNTTHISTLE	2012-09-28 07:32 AM
Applied magnetics General research Heyer schulte
COMMENT 325162P	2012-09-28 07:38 AM
how about Blender's?
COMMENT 325165	2012-09-28 07:47 AM
Sims Skate boards, snow boards / Powell / Yater Surfboards / Radon boats / Barfoot
EZ2	2012-09-28 07:58 AM
EDHAT!
COMMENT 325173	2012-09-28 07:58 AM
Not a company, but the very successful Big Mac got it's start here.
COMMENT 325176	2012-09-28 08:00 AM
Seymour Duncan - guitar pickups.
COMMENT 325178	2012-09-28 08:09 AM
Lynda-dot-com
COMMENT 325179	2012-09-28 08:09 AM
173 - So did the Egg McMuffin. Herb Peterson concocted it himself. Also, The "W" in TRW lived here, Dean Wooldridge.
COMMENT 325180	2012-09-28 08:13 AM
PS Medical before being bought by Medtronic (still here).
COMMENT 325182	2012-09-28 08:14 AM
Moss Motors is still here, but it wasn't started here. E. Alan Moss, the founder died earlier this week.
COMMENT 325184	2012-09-28 08:16 AM
how about Kinkos
COMMENT 325194	2012-09-28 08:31 AM
Granite Construction is based out of Watsonville...
COMMENT 325195	2012-09-28 08:32 AM
Rusty's pizza? Lynda_com? Citrix? Lynda started in Ojai, that's not SB or even SB county... Rustys is a small chain and not really noteworthy... as is the Habit. Software_com had a great domain name but no real business which is why they died... Citrix wasnt started here - GotoMyPC was and was acquired by Citrix. Sonos is and was founded here as a number of other tech players that are large companies but not well known - RightScale, CommisionJunction, Fastclick(now a a part of valueclick), GreenHills, Kinkos is probably the biggest natl company to emerge from SB and of course Motel6 and Deckers and Powell & Peralta and Montecito Picture Company and a few others that sprouted from the money men... Its a remarkable list considering the size of our town. Here's to many more!
COMMENT 325196P	2012-09-28 08:33 AM
McConnell's ice cream?
COMMENT 325197P	2012-09-28 08:34 AM
R. P. Richards construction company was huge in it's day.
COMMENT 325199	2012-09-28 08:39 AM
Oceaneering International, Helix and Cal Dive International, offshore diving construction companies, are all on the New York Stock Exchange and were started here on the wharf. The founder, Lad Handelman, still lives on TV hill in Santa Barbara.
COMMENT 325203	2012-09-28 08:40 AM
in the surfing world, Channel Islands Surfboards is pretty big. Al Merrick started in a little shop on Helena.
COMMENT 325207	2012-09-28 08:52 AM
Direct Relief international, Mighty Bright
COMMENT 325211	2012-09-28 08:55 AM
Computer Motion which started in Goleta was bought out by Intuitive Surgical. Now trading at $492.57 a share. ISRG wouldn't be where it is without the brains behind Computer Motion. Goleta and SB is blessed to have a bunch of very bright entrepreneurs coming from UCSB. I believe FLIR Systems started here too? We have a lot of niche companies located here that the big companies need to thrive.
COMMENT 325224	2012-09-28 09:25 AM
"It Works Global" I hear is a great MLM to work for.
COMMENT 325227P	2012-09-28 09:33 AM
Wasn't Raytheon started here?
COMMENT 325236	2012-09-28 09:36 AM
Mentor Corp, TC Boyle, Sue Grafton, Todd Rogers, Sinjin Smith, Karch Kiraly, prolly many other athletes which someone else can chime in on.
COMMENT 325238P	2012-09-28 09:42 AM
Mr. Zog's Sex Wax (for surfboards)
COMMENT 325243	2012-09-28 09:47 AM
Citrix Online was started in Santa Barbara, originally named expert city, the makers of gotomypc and gotomeeting and gototraining and gotoassist as well as other software. It was acquired by Citrix, but the Citrix online headquarters started in a garage here and now makes millions and millions of dollars.
COMMENT 325249	2012-09-28 09:53 AM
Mission Laundry was a SB company and I now see its trucks all over California. If you look carefully at the sides of some of the trucks I've seen you'll recognize the SB Mission. And how about some of the motion picture companies that started in SB? I don't remember the details well enough to name names...
COMMENT 325265	2012-09-28 10:07 AM
Yardi
COMMENT 325266	2012-09-28 10:07 AM
227P - No, Raytheon did not start here. Massachusetts.
COMMENT 325283	2012-09-28 10:22 AM
The Big Mac is from Pennsylvania, but yes the Egg McMuffin was first served in SB! I didn't know that.
COMMENT 325287	2012-09-28 10:26 AM
Santa Barbara Research Center in the 1950s into the 1960s was in barracks next to the original SB Airport buildings. It was bought out and became part of Hughes in 1960 I think it was when I had a summer job there and I don't know the history of it since then. It seems to be perhaps connected with Raytheon which I gather is now a Hughes owned company. I think it's fair to say that SBRC started in SB became a large company.
COMMENT 325291	2012-09-28 10:30 AM
My bad, not the Big Mac, the Egg McMuffin
COMMENT 325292P	2012-09-28 10:30 AM
ABC-Clio is a pretty large publishing company founded locally. The Dream Foundation is a national nonprofit founded locally.
COMMENT 325301	2012-09-28 10:58 AM
Santa Barbara Salsa Co...YUM!
NEIGHBOR	2012-09-28 11:12 AM
How about Prototype Source Inc? They are the ones who do concept car designs like the redesigned VW beetle, and commercial vehicle designs like the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, & the Hersey's Kissmobile. Great designs.
COMMENT 325309	2012-09-28 11:13 AM
Star Telecom / Star Retail - RIP Chris Edgecomb
COMMENT 325327	2012-09-28 11:43 AM
FLICKA...Thank you! I knew Hidden Valley Ranch was up there, and had visited it when I was young! I have quit telling people about it being there, because they were skeptical about what I was telling them! I am glad someone else remembers!
COMMENT 325333P	2012-09-28 11:50 AM
Clenet Motors?
COMMENT 325342	2012-09-28 12:03 PM
la tolteca
SHAKEY	2012-09-28 12:19 PM
I think Jonny Cat started in Goleta.
COMMENT 325372P	2012-09-28 12:37 PM
@287. There is no Hughes anymore. SBRC is now Raytheon Vision Systems.
COMMENT 325377	2012-09-28 12:44 PM
Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.... RIP.
AUNTIE S.	2012-09-28 12:53 PM
Sambo's, Deckers, Big Dogs, Mentor. Thanks, Flicka, for remembering Hidden Valley. We (a big group of us) used to go up there for special dinners. Good food but what a wonderful view looking fown the valley to the ocean. Makes me laugh to see the cozy little valley they portray in the TV ads.
COMMENT 325388	2012-09-28 01:00 PM
North American Weather Consultants 1950 to 1980 in Santa Barbara, moved to Sandy, Utah and in 1992 became a publicly traded company. They are "recognized internationally as a leader in the weather modification field, in research and operations."
COMMENT 325413	2012-09-28 01:38 PM
SBRC was part of Hughes Aircraft before being purchased by General Motors. Vetronix--now part of Bosch--was founded by the former chief engineer at Delco. QAD is another success story--still going strong. Don't forget Cottage Hospital--speaking of industries.
COMMENT 325420	2012-09-28 02:01 PM
Katy Perry?
COMMENT 325424P	2012-09-28 02:09 PM
Tenet Healthcare? Not sure. There's also a company selling maps in Santa Barbara as I recall.
AQUAHOLIC	2012-09-28 02:09 PM
Just drove by Citrix this morning...boy, they take up a ton of real estate on the outer end of Hollister Ave., I have often wondered where they got their start...now I know!
COMMENT 325428P	2012-09-28 02:10 PM
Firestone beer
COMMENT 325448	2012-09-28 02:40 PM
Citrix did not start here - they are a large enterprise software company based in the bay area that bought a smaller company called GoToMyPC and changed the name on the building...
COMMENT 325460	2012-09-28 02:49 PM
The Territory Ahead
TIBBLY	2012-09-28 05:13 PM
Nexxus hair products? Not sure if they started here...but I remember they had a building in Goleta in the early 80s.
COMMENT 325607	2012-09-28 07:18 PM
This is a good topic but it needs to be more clearly defined because the responses are all over the map. The question should read "what nationally publicly listed companies started in santa barbara county?" The answer as I know is, "QAD, Mentor, Deckers, Big Dogs,SB bank and trust, Kinkos(FEDex)" local stockbroker (with a goleta heart)
COMMENT 325621P	2012-09-28 07:41 PM
Redkin hair, beauty supplies?
COMMENT 325667P	2012-09-28 09:22 PM
I thought Redken started in Van Nuys. I learned to drive in their parking lot (which was at the end of my street) in 1972.
COMMENT 325990	2012-09-29 04:15 PM
Pea Soup Andersons started up in Buellton many years ago, has been distributed nationally, and sold in all the major supermarkets, across North America.
HAROLDM	2012-09-29 09:36 PM
Earth Day & Environmental movement

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