Thanks to a $100,000 gift from David Gray to the City of Santa Barbara, we have the wonderful building on East Beach called the Cabrillo Pavilion. On May 18, 1926, “David Gray, donor of the building, turned the first shovelful of dirt.” – Santa Barbara Daily News, May 19, 1926.
(Gray owned the Grayholm estate in Montecito and had been an early investor in the Ford Motor Company.)
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Thank you, David Gray. When I was in my early teens, we used to play ping pong there, listen to the 45s on the Juke Box (for free), and just enjoy messing around and sharing stories. It was in The Pavilion that I first played (for all of my friends there) “Are You Experienced” — Jimi Hendrix — on the turntable. Such a great time to be a teenager. The dances held there were absolutely awesome. Soul, Inc was the name of the band and we’d all dance until we dropped. Dance contests and everything. Thank you for the music, Taco and Jesus and Isidore. Thank you to whomever it was who was responsible for coordinating and holding those dances.