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Ancient SB Photos
updated: Oct 12, 2012, 4:58 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

A subscriber sent in more photos of Santa Barbara in the old times. Can you guess where they were taken and when?

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

NATURE BOY	2012-10-12 05:13 PM
Is #1 the Montecito Country Club looking from the Bird Refuge? The others, i dunno.
COMMENT 330826	2012-10-12 05:40 PM
101 south to Ventura?
COMMENT 330828	2012-10-12 05:42 PM
# Rincon ?
COMMENT 330829P	2012-10-12 05:43 PM
The ones by the coast look like the section of freeway south of Carp before you get to La Conchita. I remember taking a history class in High School about our area and it said that before they used dynamite to blow out parts of the cliffs and built up a road that they would have to wait for low tide to be able to drive along certain sections of the highway. SCARY! Also the train used to go along the coast down by the SB pier for some reason but the ocean dampness was too damaging to the tracks so they moved it up a few blocks to protect the tracks.
COMMENT 330833	2012-10-12 05:57 PM
Pictures 4 & 5 are of The Rincon wooden road. Early 1900's.
NATURE BOY	2012-10-12 06:03 PM
Anyone know when the 101 was installed thru this area?
COMMENT 330844P	2012-10-12 06:29 PM
101 was low like that until the 50's..then they moved it up. Can remember being on 101 and having the drivers door open so you could watch the line when it was foggy. You could also be going along and have wave spray on you. pic 1 is the Montecito CC. 101 went up state street/Hollister up to Gaviota. It was an afternoon drive out to Elwood. The hill by El Sueno came down to Hollister at Modoc. ahhhh...those were the days. Walked to school From Sherwood Dr. to La Colina...only time we got a ride is when it was raining.
COMMENT 330849	2012-10-12 06:34 PM
Do you remember Stanley's Steak house? I think it was near the refinery on the way to Ventura.
COMMENT 330866	2012-10-12 07:54 PM
Not sure if it is true or not, but my father told me that the person who owned Stanley's Steak house was the grandson of the person who invented the "Stanley Steamer." Maybe Neil "the local history man" Graffers knows the facts.
SBWATCHER	2012-10-12 07:56 PM
Nos. 1 and 2 are of the Montecito Country Club. Nos. 3,4 and 5 are of Hwy. 1 (later 101) at the Rincon. Nos. 4 and 5 show the wooden Rincon Causeway built in 1914.
MIELEMAI	2012-10-12 08:03 PM
844P: Great story. Perfect example of why I love Edhat.
LALALALA	2012-10-13 05:45 AM
Keep the old pics coming!
RONNIEB	2012-10-13 07:32 AM
Love those cool old photos! Highway 101 used to be three lanes, with the center lane for passing, no matter which direction you were going. It should come as no surprise that it was referred to as the "suicide lane." I have a photo taken around 1917 of my grandparents in an open car on that wooden trestle along Rincon. Closer to Ventura the oil processing plant that is still there emitted a strong odor. Back in the 40's and 50's my father delighted in being the first to ask "who cut the cheese?" when we would pass by. In the late 50s it was OK to park along 101 at Rincon. I took the back seat out of the 1947 DeSoto that had belonged to my great-grandfather so that a mattress and my surfboard fit in through the trunk. I'd sleep in the car and at first light get my wetsuit on and be the first one in the water. Those were the days!
SBJULES	2012-10-13 07:44 AM
I remember Stanley's Steak house. My family lived in Ventura before I was born and there is a similar picture in the old family albums. I think an actual road was built in the 1930s as a wpa project.
COMMENT 330916	2012-10-13 08:08 AM
sbwatcher has nailed them all with one minor correction - the first trip along the Rincon Causeway was October 1912. The Auto Club sponsored several caravans to SB the following month (think of 150 cars on Stearns Wharf to get an idea of how noisy it was to drive on the three wooden sections!) though the road was "officially" opened on July 4, 1913. How many of you would have picked #2 as a church? When the Montecito Country Club was finished the joke was the plans got mixed up and somewhere there was a congregation with a golf clubhouse. The architect for the Country Club, Bertram G. Goodhue did a number of churches, chapels and cathedrals and it sure seems to have had an influence of his design for the Montecito Country Club. Guess he heard how religious golfers are about their game. - Neal Graffy
FLICKA	2012-10-13 11:03 AM
When my mom was little (b. 1912) she said they'd drive on the wooden causeway and if the tide was high, waves would roll under the road and splash back over tthe cars from the other side. I've heard the nails would work their way up from the wood and puncture tires.
COMMENT 330953	2012-10-13 12:02 PM
I remember my father saying to always turn on the headlights when in the "passing" (suicide?) lane on 101 at the Rincon.
AUNTIE S.	2012-10-13 07:14 PM
Oh yes, I remember the old "Suicide (3rd) lane" Of course, we were only going about 35 mph on the old 101 so we had plenty of time to avoid oncoming cars. And photos #1 and 2 are views of Montecito Country Club from, different angles.
TOTCH	2012-10-15 08:49 AM
Flicka, my dad told me the same thing about the wooden causeway. Sounded scary to me.

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