Ca’Dario, where the menu features Italian-style roasts of lamb, quail, chicken, beef and veal, is a great place to grab dinner before or after a UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lecture series event. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
Travel writer Susan Spano shares her favorite places around town.
Arnoldi’s Cafe is a homey place situated in what used to be Santa Barbara’s Little Italy. The restaurant boasts the obligatory mural of Lake Como, vintage wood booths, a maple dance floor, the head of an elk over the bar and two beautiful boccie courts. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
Love to do laps? When in Santa Barbara, put on your goggles and take your mark at Los Banos del Mar, fringed by tall palm trees on the ocean at West Beach. Los Banos is 50 meters long with seven lanes, so it never feels crowded. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
Santa Barbara Harbor, near Los Banos del Mar, is a popular destination. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
Carpenteria is the cut flower capital of California, especially along Foothill Drive, where dozens of flower nurseries cluster. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
Santa Barbara’s landmark county courthouse has a clock tower that visitors can climb for views of the coast and town. (Susan Spano / For The Times )
The Spanish hacienda style of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse carries over to the El Mirador clock tower, from which the views are glorious. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
Storke Tower, a 175-foot campanile on the Isla Vista campus of UC Santa Barbara, is famous for its 61-bell carillon, which can sometimes be heard from the plaza below. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
