Charles Fletcher Lummis: ‘Stand Fast, Santa Barbara’

Pearl Chase referred to Charles Fletcher Lummis as “good-looking and considerate, and he knew how to arouse interest in public affairs.” She noted that, “He had the gift of gab and writing, and one of the things which Santa Barbara has cherished has been a speech he made here.”

Lummis, who lived from 1859 to 1928, gained national attention when he walked across the country, from Cincinnati, to take a job as city editor at the Los Angeles Times. He documented his journey in columns he later turned into a book, A Tramp Across the Continent, one of 20 books he wrote. The Los Angeles Conservancy notes, “Lummis is considered by many to be the father of historic preservation in Southern California, having founded the Landmarks Club in 1895 to promote restoration of the badly deteriorated 18th-century missions.”

Like Chase, he was a transplant from Massachusetts; she from Boston, he from Lynn. Lummis had attended Harvard University with Theodore Roosevelt and had the privilege of joining his former classmate on a trip to the Grand Canyon in 1903. The president gave an impassioned speech to the Arizona residents who had gathered to witness his presence.

Standing at the rim of the magnificent canyon, Roosevelt exhorted the assembled to stand up for the natural wonders, natural resources, history, and romance of their country. Lummis was moved by Roosevelt’s powerful speech and reworked it into his own.

As a friend of Santa Barbara painter Edward Borein, Lummis first visited the town in 1888, the year of Pearl’s birth. He was a fierce admirer of Santa Barbara: its history, traditions, and cultural heritage. Lummis saw Santa Barbara as the best example of the best of California and delivered his classic speech, “Stand Fast, Santa Barbara!” at scenic Gaviota Pass in 1923.

As he described it, “It is a sermon for all who love Santa Barbara, for all who love California, for all who love the West, and Beauty, and History, and Romance — which is as much to say, for all who really have souls. Not a gospel of Sissies and sentimentalism, but the two-fisted gospel of the men who have made the world nobler by their words. And my text may very well be from TR.”

Thanks to Pearl, his speech immediately became a rallying cry for the protection and preservation of Santa Barbara. She knew the value of his “picturesque phraseology and his knowledge of and interest in the West,” and quickly sought his permission to reprint and distribute the work widely.

Under the auspices of the Plans and Planting Committee of the Community Arts Association, Pearl commissioned a brochure featuring a portion of his address and sent it out all over the country. She also arranged with local publisher Thomas Storke to have the entire speech printed in the local newspaper once a year, and he did so for decades. Here’s an excerpt:

“Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin Santa Barbara of her Romance! They are sure to do it, unless you watch and stand fast. This is essentially the Vandal Age. Romance is the greatest asset California has. It has been, for more than 350 years. To all this centuried romance Santa Barbara is the legitimate and favorite heiress — about the only town left that has yet to trade away her birthright.

Beauty and sane sentiment are Good Business as well as good ethics. Carelessness, ugliness, blind materialism are Bad Business. The worst curse that could befall Santa Barbara would be the craze of GET BIG! Why big? Run down to Los Angeles for a few days — see that madhouse! You’d hate to live there!

By all that is fine and reverent and high — Faith to Patriotism — get together! The honor of Santa Barbara is in your hands — and do not fancy for a moment that her Good Name will stand if you let the materialists strip her of her Romance and leave her nakedly Common.

It is up to you to save Santa Barbara’s romance and save California’s romance for Santa Barbara. I would like to see Santa Barbara set her mark as the most beautiful, the most artistic, the most distinguished and the most famous little city on our Pacific Coast. It can be, if it will, for it has all the makings.“

Lummis, known as a well-traveled, adventurous Renaissance man, founded the Southwest Museum and built a distinctive home, “El Alisal,” in Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco. He frequently hosted gatherings of local artists, writers and other Bohemian spirits. The remarkable historic stone structure, known as the Lummis Home and Gardens, is now a part of the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department and can be toured on weekends only. See laparks.org/historic/lummis-home-and-gardens.

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Cheri Rae is a longtime neighborhood advocate and the author of A String of Pearls: Pearl Chase of Santa Barbara. She is a boardmember of the Pearl Chase Society, and the longtime editor of the society’s newsletter “The Capital,” where this article first appeared. Email Cheri at pcs@pearchasesociety.org or visit pearlchasesociety.org.