Santa Barbara Named in 30 Most Charming Small US Cities

Well deserved

South Lake Tahoe? A bunch of strip malls and cheesy over-development. An odd choice.

Ashland is almost too quintessential perfect....except for the brutal fact there us zero vacancy there. It has a delightful, charming co-op downtown too, and a lovely park...plus a strong sense of community. Bellingham has been a draw for SoCal people for years..and a SB man has been actively buying property there for years. Best of all, it's an hour , or less,to Vancouver, B.C. and 1 & a half hour drive to Seattle....or take your sailboat ....many boats & yachts the in the harbor. Also about zero vacancy...homes are now really , really hard to find.

Bravo to Santa Barbara. Now every area resident needs to contact a senator or assembly person and tell them to reject SB 9 and 10 which will take away any charm in any California community. And do it today! Sacramento is ramming this through legislation....thanks to big $$$$$ from developers and building trades people. It will NOT solve the affordable housing crisis......it will only line the pockets of developers and building trades.

Think about it. People throw red paint to represent blood and scrawl violent graffiti across the Old Mission doors and charge the Fathers with indigenous genocide and worse. The Botanic Garden nearly burned to a crisp due to local mountain bike zealot who wanted to clear nearby trails for his own benefit. And a local cabal of new arrivals is braying for view-blocking high rises and edgy modern minimalist architecture to replace what they thinks is our stodgy Islamo-Spanish heritage look. It would be nice if the current crop of new transplants protected the inherent charms of this place, the very reasons they were attracted to come and live here of this place, instead immediately of demanding we destroy everything that has long been protected by those before them. Polish the jewel; don't wholesale destroy it as is happening with much of the new "development"..

It's a beautiful place. I've always loved it here. The aggressive homeless issue is out of control though. It has gotten dangerous and seems to be coming to a head. The addicts and mentally in need are not the ones easily housed in overnight parking lots or free housing.

I don't find downtown SB charming at all, but I guess it is relative, if these 'raters' are accustomed to being threatened and harassed by crazy people wherever they come from.

Who takes these 'ratings' seriously? They are just generated to get publicity for the issuer or are bought by the recipient in some fashion. Every see the slick publications rating "best eye doctor" or "best trial lawyer" or "best cancer center"? Would you really trust these things to direct you in a serious matter?

Yes, well-deserved indeed.
After reading the list of other cities and seeing the photos, I have to remark that the photo here on Edhat is much better than the one in the article, even though it's the same subject.

Oh how charming Santa Barbara is. So, so charming. I know that the article is about charming small cities in the US, but I'd say with a true population of around 150K (plus another 150-200K in the surrounding areas), we're hardly small. Of all the charming places I've been in the world, several stand out, and one of them is tiny Dingle, Ireland. Maybe 2,000ish people live there, but much like Santa Barbara, it relies on it's natural beauty and proximity to the ocean to attract tourists. And SB drops them as a sister city because some sensitive poets (I think all related to UCSB) felt that they got "dissed" and were unwelcome by the folks of Dingle. How charming of Santa Barbara. How progressive. How Disgraceful. One last item: when do we get our parks back? Nearly every one of our parks is overrun by those known to the police on a first-hand basis. I'd like to have our charming parks back. No wonder the Mission lawn is packed by kids, families, and those who want to enjoy being outside without fear of stepping on needles, attacked by dirtbags, or gangbangers.

One of our most charming places is between the Mission to Rocky Nook Park, the whole area has many Historically Landmarked features from the Mission Creek Bridge built in 1891, also eligable for the National Bridge registry, to the Stegosaurus wall including Rocky Nook park that has been nominated as a Historic Landscape going back to the early California and Chumash era. Please protect this area that is in jeapordy of changes, loosing oak and sycamore trees, some over 100 yrs old . Help us keep the special rural feel of this transition area into Mission Canyon for our community as well as visitors to the area.
https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/help-us-save-the-historic

There must not be any criteria consideration for the homeless encampments along the train tracks and about town