Santa Barbara Library Towbes Plaza – Plaza Palooza

For many years the Santa Barbara community has met and discussed plans to redesign the area in front of the Santa Barbara Public Library. As with any design change in Santa Barbara, the process went on for many years.

When the design was finally agreed on, it seemed to take eons for it finally to be constructed. Happily, it is finally done and the Library celebrated with “Plaza Palooza” on Sunday November 3. Here are my photos of Plaza Palooza:

The plaza is named for the late philanthropist Michael Towbes. His wife Anne Towbes was on hand for the occasion. But there were many sponsors large and small and much credit goes to the non-profit Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation. They are a private organization that “supports the long-term health and sustainability of the Santa Barbara Public Library through public-private partnerships” according to their website.

Lauren Trujillo is the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation. She took over in December 2018 at a critical time to see the project through. Including through the challenging COVID era. The organization raised $5 million toward construction and another $1 million for an endowment for ongoing maintenance and programming for the plaza.

It seems like a lot of money to me for what is mostly a flat space mostly made out of concrete blocks. But there was a lot of work underneath that ran up the expenses. The plaza is quite simple in appearance. By contrast, here is a photo of what it looked like back at 1930. Quite elegant, with a series of pools.

This photo was taken by Edson Smith and I was happy to get a photo of it back in May when it was on display in the Library’s Faulkner Gallery.

Lauren very kindly gave me VIP access to the Plaza Palooza event and answered my many questions. She explained that it is not practical to have water features like these pools in our modern world of water shortages and other modern concerns that were not an issue in 1930. In the current design, the pools were replaced by hand crafted mosaic designs.

Lauren also explained that the point of the plaza was to be a large flat space that was versatile enough to be used for a variety of public events. A way to revitalize downtown as a public center.

Here is my video of Lauren speaking, along with Anne Towbes speaking and in through the ribbon cutting by Mayor Randy Rowse.

Here Lauren kindly posed with Downtown Organization Executive Director Robin Elander. Robin is the always cheerful organizer who works to make the downtown State Street corridor more inviting to locals and tourists alike.

Many other local officials were on hand.

Here were all of the South County members of the Board of Supervisors: Joan Hartmann, Laura Capps and Das Williams.

News Channel reporter Andie Lopez Bornet was standing next to me in the media zone.

Here Supervisor Das Williams posed with his family.

He also posed with Summer Solstice Executive Director Penny Little, embraced by Solstice artist Justine Pannier. You may recognize her as a long-time Solstice performer on skates.

Justine also posed with me and with two of Pali’s giant inflatable art pieces.

Solstice was just one of the organizations that provided artistic opportunities at the event for young people.

Many other organizations were on hand to raise public awareness on a range of issues. “Friends of State Street” has a mission to protect Santa Barbara’s treasures. This pirate was on hand to demonstrate this, along with Sharon Rich, who is president of the organization.

Javiera Barandiarán is an Associate Professor in the Global Studies program at UCSB and also is Director and co-founder of CREW – The Center for Restorative Environmental Work. She posed with Tristan Partridge and Maite Salazar, promoting books on their environmental restoration work.

The Library was promoting their Library on the Go program.

There was Congregation B’nai B’rith.

And Planned Parenthood.

There were performances by State Street Ballet, CAMA, the SB High School Jazz Band and more. Here is my video of the impressive performance by the young artists of Franklin Elementary Folklorico Academy.

And the Santa Barbara Bubble Guy was delighting these young people with his giant smoke filled soap bubbles.

Cycling Without Age is a worldwide program that matches seniors with bicyclists to get seniors out and about. I have known Brenda since the 1980s when she worked for Associated Students at UCSB and I was doing organizing for various student groups. She was a rare treasure in the bureaucracy who facilitated our work instead of impeding it. I often see her when I am riding the bus. Here she posed with her family. Including her son-in-law Graham Guess, who was pedaling the trishaw bicycle rig.

I asked Lauren if there is anything else my readers should know. Here was her reply:

“It would be wonderful if you could mention in your article the importance of supporting the Library and the role it plays in enriching our community. We’re thrilled to celebrate the Michael Towbes Library Plaza and the positive impact this new space will have. Attached are just some of the exciting programs that will go on outside.”

Here is the program she gave me of upcoming and ongoing activities at the Library. Something for everyone! https://swt.org/events/libraryplazaribboncut-2024-1103/programs/programs.pdf

– Robert Bernstein