Local History

Neal Graffy shares a historical reenactment video of Santa Barbara's el canon perdido, the lost canon. 

Everything changed here on October 14, 1918, with the large headline, “‘Flu’ Invades Santa Barbara; Schools, Movies, Other Public Gathering Places May Close.”

While we are all currently under quarantine and thinking this is a historic first for our community, the street named Quarantina tells the story of a quarantine in Santa Barbara over 200 years ago.

A steam locomotive in a sugar shaker factory and vintage sports cars all under one roof, thanks to one creative family in the heart of Goleta.

The women of Santa Barbara started the Santa Barbara branch of the Red Cross in March 1917 during World War I.

An edhat reader shares a photo of Goleta's "Witness Tree" after it just lost a limb.

Although recent historians think that the 1918 flu pandemic started in the United States, back in 1918 it was blamed on the Europeans – Spain in particular, and also Germany.

The “Flying A” was not the only movie studio making movies in our area 100 years ago.

In August 1918, there were no cases of the Spanish Flu in Santa Barbara yet, but articles in the local paper recommended that people start wearing masks if they became sick.

This was one of two movies released by Santa Barbara’s “Flying A” movie studio in February 1919.

During World War I, a local man wrote the lyrics to a patriotic song titled, "Uncle Sam is a Grand Old Man." 

Herbert Earlscliffe of Montecito was cranking the starter on his car in 1914 when something went horribly wrong and he ended up with a broken arm.

A mention of a Santa Barbara landscape artist named Oscar Reagan Coast in a 1917 art magazine caught my eye.

We didn’t have the app-based taxi company called Uber back in Santa Barbara in 1915, but we did have a similar alternative transport system called the jitney.

Experience Santa Barbara's history with photos from the past overlaid on current videos of local landmarks.

The City of Santa Barbara’s Gibraltar Reservoir is 100 years old!

Over 100 years ago a famous landscape painter settled in Santa Barbara.

The big news on the restaurant scene here in January 1916 was the world premiere of the newly invented “Abadie Cuisine Roulante.”

In January of 1919, Santa Barbara County selected women for their grand jury for the first time in history.

In 1914, the tango was all the rage that it even offended the pope.

The First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara celebrated its 150th Anniversary in 2019.

An actual Great Dane named Hamlet enamored locals 100 years ago.

Betsy finds a building on State Street that's over 100 years old.

Suddenly, leather was in fashion on the streets of Santa Barbara in December 1919.

In December 1919, a shootout with a fugitive took place at the Santa Barbara Police Office.

The fighting in Europe was over, but the work of caring for the wounded and helping the people recover from the long years of conflict continued.

Betsy shares 5 things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving compared to 100 years ago in Santa Barbara.

Did you know there were wineries on Santa Cruz Island over 100 years ago?

Nineteen-nineteen was the year of the airplane in Santa Barbara. But perhaps some expectations were just a bit too high.

Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Museum presented the Silver Star Medal of Honor to the Goleta family of a World War II hero killed in action.