Local History

An edhat reader shares photos of La Arcada Plaza from 1926 and now.

Betsy shares a 100-year-old cartoon from the local newspaper.

The national organization Camp Fire Girls opened its first local chapter 100 years ago in Carpinteria.

Several prominent Hollywood personalities were seen in and around our fair city this time 100 years ago.

The first annual dog show was held this month 100 years ago at the Belvedere (formerly Potter) Hotel, sponsored by the Santa Barbara Kennel Club.

Tom explores the history of Kate Bell's nearly 100-year-old cactus patch underneath the Sandpiper Golf Course a new video.

Dancing on the beach was a popular pastime 100 years ago in Santa Barbara.

Did you know there was a Hawaiian themed dairy in Santa Barbara 100 years ago?

100 years ago this month, the City of Santa Barbara revealed the winning sketch for the new (current) courthouse.

A century ago, we had the first July 4th since World War I had ended and the City of Santa Barbara celebrated with four days of parades and festivals.

A number of the original adobes that had been built here in the Spanish or Mexican era were being adopted by artists in 1919. 

Betsy shares an article in the paper she read about from 1904.

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.