Southern California Close-Ups: Santa Barbara and environs

Farmer & the Cook is a café, market and farm that uses homegrown organic produce. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

July 13, 2012 11:13 AM PT

The Ojai Retreat, a 12-unit B&B and conference center in the Meiners Oaks area of the Ojai Valley. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The actual Air Force One used by President Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A large piece of the Berlin Wall at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Mission San Buenaventura on Main Street. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

At 21 S. California St., you’ll see the office building where author and attorney Erle Stanley Gardner created the beloved lawyer Perry Mason. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Carpinteria State Beach is claimed as the safest beach on the California Coast, with campgrounds and motels nearby and in peak season very full. (Richard Derk / Los Angeles Times)

Stores along walkable Linden Avenue. (Richard Derk / Los Angeles Times)

Get burgers for lunch ($3.65 and up) at the Spot, a much-beloved shack that looks as though it was built in the middle of the night in 1974. (Richard Derk / Los Angeles Times)

Built in 1927, the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore (1260 Channel Drive, Santa Barbara) is a wonderland of Spanish colonial arches and colored tiles, shaded by fig trees, swaddled by ferns. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Coral Casino, a ritzy private club with a bigger-than-Olympic pool and two restaurants. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Old Mission Santa Barbara sits next to a big lawn at the foot of a spectacular hillside neighborhood. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Chalk art at Old Mission Santa Barbara . (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Don’t miss the mural room or the 85-foot-tall clock tower, which you can climb for free. It’s hard to imagine, as you stand up top, that all those red-tile roofs are a consequence of disaster. But in a way they are: It was just after a 1925 earthquake that Santa Barbara¿s leaders resolved to rebuild in Spanish Colonial Revival style. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times, xx)

The Simpson House (121 E. Arellaga St., Santa Barbara) is anniversary insurance. You can get a lot of things wrong, but if you mark that big date by bringing your mate to this 1874 Victorian B&B, which sits on a verdant acre, much will be forgiven. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Arcada shopping area along State Street. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Guests at the Presidio Motel on State Street have access to free bikes. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara has views, shops and restaurants. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A room at Hotel Oceana. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Franciscan Inn is an easy walk from the shore (or the marina), but three long blocks west of the tumult of lower State Street. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)