The Home Page | Viva la Santa Barbara Summer!

Some Applaud More Free Parking and Wide Bike Lanes While Others Up in Arms over Severe Gridlock

Credit: Sarah Sinclair

This edition of The Home Page was originally emailed to subscribers on July 28, 2024. To receive Sarah Sinclair’s real estate newsletter in your inbox each Sunday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

I have a friend who says that Fiesta marks the true beginning of summer in Santa Barbara. At first, I balked at that idea, thinking I didn’t want anything to delay the start of my favorite season. But upon reflection, he may be onto something. We all know that summer in Santa Barbara keeps going well into October. So I’ll change my tune and say: Let summer begin!

What better way to start the season than a Fiesta kickoff party with the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors? Tomorrow evening, Monday, July 29, 5-8 p.m., will be a delicious gathering featuring food from El Zarape, dancing to high-energy tunes from local favorites Area 51, churros, mariachis, and sweet paletas sponsored by — drumroll, please — the Santa Barbara Independent. Get more info and pre-purchase tickets here; no tickets will be sold at the door. If you’re lucky, you can snap a selfie with a local celebrity like City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez — or me! Ha! — as seen at last year’s party.

My friend Kelly Knight shared a bit of Goleta history about the home for sale at 259 Vereda Leyenda — including the creek shown above — and its Rancho Embarcadero neighborhood. The Tecolote Canyon area of Western Goleta was purchased in the late 1920s by Silsby Spalding, who raised cattle and horses and planted walnuts, avocados, and citrus on the land. Spalding also built a large hacienda designed by William Mooser Jr., the architect responsible for the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. The area later became Rancho Embarcadero — a community that is today made up of 155 homes, each on a one-acre lot.

The property at 259 Vereda Leyenda is a four-bedroom, two-bath home in a parklike setting with mature redwood, spruce, jacaranda, sycamore, avocado, and citrus trees, ready to be enjoyed from the back deck shown above. The home is open today from 1-4 p.m. Visit Gabe Grandcolas and experience its natural vibe yourself.

A few weeks ago I wrote about this house at 967 Garcia Road. We all know there are fewer than six degrees of separation here in Santa Barbara, and I had an example of that from my friend Charlie Clouse, who sent me a note after reading my entry about the Garcia Road home. See if you can follow this story:

Charlie and his wife Jan – both teachers at Dos Pueblos High School for over 35 years until their retirement in 2004 – purchased their house on Prospect Avenue in 1972 from a lovely couple named Hilda and Adrian who had outgrown the house on Prospect, and had their eye on a new home on the eastside – complete with a large backyard to fulfill Adrian’s passion for gardening – at 967 Garcia Road.

The two couples arranged the purchase themselves. As Charlie reminisces, “We looked at the house one day after school, loved it, sat down in the living room with Hilda and Adrian and negotiated a deal. No realtors or inspectors involved – just two couples with trust in each other.”

So Jan and Charlie moved into the house on Prospect, and Hilda and Adrian moved their family across town into the house on Garcia. Both families have stayed put since.

Charlie notes that the couples remained friends and got together at both houses over the years. “Besides the strawberries, Adrian did a tidy business selling homegrown avocados and bulb plants at the farmers market. Our garden is well populated by his gifts of Naked Ladies and their descendants.” Hilda and Adrian are now gone, and the Garcia Road house is ready for its next chapter.

Visit Ken Switzer and Arrianne Sandera from 12-3 today at 967 Garcia Road. Make sure to sample the strawberries!

Thanks to everyone who commented on last week’s “Postcards from Charleston” newsletter. I had fun writing it and sharing my photos, so I’m glad you enjoyed it, too. If you missed it, you’re in luck. Here ya go, and here’s one more postcard of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge and those South Carolina clouds I couldn’t get enough of. I’m heading out of town again this weekend — to Paso Robles with the girls this time. Let’s see if I can find a thing or two to share here next week. I’ll be home in time for the Fiesta kickoff party with my Realtor pals on Monday.

In the meantime, here’s this week’s issue, front and back. Enjoy your weekend, and Viva la Summer!