Local History

An edhat reader shares historic postcards of the old Miramar Hotel and Beach Resort.

In June of 1919, a visitor from Riverside was the first person to fly to Santa Barbara just for a weekend social visit.​

In the spring of 1919, Theodore Payne of Los Angeles had visited Santa Barbara and encouraged folks here to plant wildflowers.

The largest sign in Santa Barbara was painted 100 years ago on the roof of the Flying A Studio.

Tom Modugno​ expands on the lives of school children from the Goleta School in 1925.

100 years ago Memorial Day was the time to remember the war contributions of both men and women, and – seals.

Most people in Santa Barbara knew him as the part owner of a jewelry store at 1009 State Street, but Roy P. Churchill was also a writer in 1919.

100 years ago Cecil B. DeMille was making the movie "Male and Female" on Santa Cruz Island.

The old-timey bandshell on the south end of present-day Pershing Park near the intersection of Castillo St. and Cabrillo Blvd. is 100 years old!

100 years ago, folks were remembering that April 21 marks the founding of Santa Barbara’s Presidio back in 1782.

100 years ago, the Santa Barbara Central Library gathered flowers for the Shakespeare Celebration to honor the Bard on the anniversary of his birth.

An edhat reader remembers what used to be near the Alice Keck Memorial Gardens, what do other readers remember?

In April 1919, several celebrations were held in Santa Barbara to welcome and honor the soldiers returning from the war in Europe. 

100 years ago, folks didn’t have radios in their homes yet, but you could make your own music with a mechanical piano.

100 years ago, advertisements in the Santa Barbara newspaper introduced a new invention, electrical outlets in the wall.

In 1919, "The Geisha" opera performed at the Potter Theatre in Santa Barbara, which was the first played by a Japanese woman instead of a white woman.

Santa Barbara’s Nature Study Club was fortunate enough to be allowed to wander around one of Montecito’s grandest estates in March 1919.

In March 1919, after the Great War was over people in Santa Barbara had time to notice the little things, and it filled the daily newspaper.

Happy International Women's Day! Let's honor some fascinating women in Santa Barbara's history.

Last week was the anniversary of the 1824 Chumash Revolt that began at the Santa Ines Mission.

In March 1919, Santa Barbara’s “Flying A” studio released their latest production called “Where the West Begins” starring the company’s hottest hunk Bill Russell. 

This week in local history, the Ellwood Oil Field was fired on by a Japanese submarine on February 23, 1942 during World War II.

The Santa Barbara City of Public Works shares a video inspecting the historic 3.7 miles of the Mission Tunnel.

Was it my imagination or did many years ago the Arlington Theater have the letters “FOX” on the steeple?

100 years ago, Santa Barbara started to outgrow the small size of our former courthouse located where the Sunken Garden is today.

El Capitan built the Santa Barbara Presidio, discovered San Francisco Bay and mapped out El Camino Real.

100 years ago in Santa Barbara, taxi drivers could be as young as 16-years-old.

Way back when, in February 1919, the big news hit the paper – “Sale of Potter Hotel Now Announced.” 

In February 1919, a group of Hollywood actors was sailing to a filming location on Santa Cruz Island when a winter storm hit.

Before Bogart's Cafe in the La Arcada Plaza, what used to be housed there?