S.B. Historical Museum

The Senior Center of Santa Barbara (pictured is the center’s brochure circa 1956) became the Laguna Cottages for Seniors, carrying on “Edith Kelly’s Dream.”

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The Laguna Cottages for Seniors, formerly the Senior Center of Santa Barbara, with offices at 803 Laguna Street, accepted its first occupants in 1952. This nonprofit, private enterprise provides low-cost housing to older people with limited financial means. It grew out of the efforts of the local unit of the American Women’s Voluntary Services (AWVS), which was founded in 1941.

Doris Nixon, impressed by women’s volunteer efforts she observed in wartime Britain, called a meeting in August 1941 to start a program here to invite service members from Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Air Force Base) to citizens’ homes for dinner. Even though the U.S. had yet to enter the war, the military was undergoing a rapid expansion. After Pearl Harbor, the activities of the AWVS here expanded greatly and included its highly popular snack bar at 413 State Street. A year after its opening in February 1942, more than 150,000 military personnel had been served free sandwiches and snacks by some 200 women volunteers. Much of the fresh fruit and dairy products that made up part of the menu came from area farms. The AWVS also organized dances and tours of the city for visiting service members.

The group remained active after the war and began to focus on housing needs. One member of the group, Edith Kelly, became especially concerned about the housing situation of the low-income elderly. Out of “Edith Kelly’s Dream” would develop the Senior Center of Santa Barbara. A trained nurse, Kelly had arrived here in 1910. As a young woman she had been involved in the suffragette movement in New York City and was involved in social justice and welfare issues the rest of her life. The president of the local AWVS, Marjory Whittemore, also was instrumental in the drive to find decent, affordable housing for the elderly. Like Kelly, she was active in a number of community agencies; she served on the first board of the Music Academy of the West.

Beginning in 1947, the group purchased property in the block bounded by Canon Perdido, Laguna, De la Guerra, and Garden streets from Anna Louise Vhay. An artist and amateur architect, Vhay had designed a number of buildings in the neighborhood, including a portion of the artists’ complex, El Caserío, at 924 Garden Street. Vhay was asked to design the first complex of 14 “Rainbow Cottages” for the Senior Center. Plaques may still be seen on the walls of the cottages along De la Guerra Street, installed in memory of family or friends of those who contributed toward the construction, which would total some $90,000. Funding was also received from the Santa Barbara Foundation and the Fleischmann Foundation of Nevada, among others. Landscape architect Elizabeth Kellam de Forest, who later designed the city’s Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, designed the beautiful gardens and served as chair of the garden committee for more than 25 years. A clubhouse for a variety of activities and social events was completed in 1953.

In December 1952, the first residents arrived. Monthly rent for a single unit came to $32.50 and included utilities. In 1977, a single cost $50 a month, while a double unit went for $100. By 1990, residents were paying $105 for a single and $175 for a double, still quite a bargain in Santa Barbara’s housing market. Today, fees are based upon 27 percent of a resident’s income and include utilities, laundry, and cable television.

In 1953, Senior Center of Santa Barbara Inc. formed, and in 1959, all affiliation with the AWVS dropped. During the ensuing decades, more units were added, additional property purchased, and today Laguna Cottages encompasses 55 units—“Edith Kelley’s Dream” became a reality.

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