East Beach Harbors a City’s Past

It’s the postcard view of Santa Barbara: sandy beach, Chase Palm Park, white walls and red roofs, the Santa Ynez Mountains.

By the 1870s, wealthy health-seekers were flocking to Santa Barbara. And East Beach is where they flocked. Horse-drawn streetcars (electrified in 1896) traveled the length of East Beach, bringing bathers from the bathhouses to the beach.

Historians credit architect Peter Barber with the idea for a palm-lined shoreline drive along East Beach. As mayor of Santa Barbara in 1891, he helped win voter approval for the bond measure that beautified the beach area and made Cabrillo Boulevard (then East Beach Boulevard) the scenic drive it is today.

Another visionary, perhaps the quintessential Santa Barbara citizen of her era, Pearl Chase, also crusaded to preserve the coastline. Chase and her brother Harold were honored when the city renamed Palm Park, created in 1931, Chase Palm Park.

A walker has three ways to explore East Beach: the sidewalk along Cabrillo Boulevard (the best option on Sundays when the weekly art sale takes place), along the beach itself, or my favorite, a stroll through Chase Palm Park. The park is a bit more than a mile long. Near its east end is Cabrillo Pavilion where you can break for refreshments, see an art show or rent a boogie board.

Stearns Wharf, trail head for an East Beach hike, is itself worth a stroll. Along with shops and seafood eateries, the wharf boasts the Sea Center, which has excellent exhibits of the marine life of Channel Islands National Park.

Directions to trail head: From U.S. 101 in Santa Barbara, exit on Cabrillo Boulevard (note that it’s an unusual left lane exit). Follow Cabrillo Boulevard 1 1/2 miles to Stearns Wharf. Park along Cabrillo Boulevard for free or in a beach-side lot (fee $5 to $7). This hike begins at the foot of Stearns Wharf where Santa Barbara’s main attraction, State Street, meets Cabrillo Boulevard.

The hike: Your path through Washingtonia robusta palms soon takes you over the mouth of Mission Creek.

At the foot of Santa Barbara Street, you’ll find a plaque commemorating Pearl and Harold Chase for their civic and conservation efforts. At the corner of Santa Barbara Street and Cabrillo Boulevard is the Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center, one of the tiniest buildings in town. Maps and brochures are available at the center, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

After a bit more meandering through the palms, you’ll see Fess Parker’s Red Lion Resort on the north side of Cabrillo Boulevard. The large, round building is a re-creation of a Southern Pacific Railway Roundhouse, which was used to handle steam locomotives from 1926 to 1961. The roundhouse was razed in 1982 and the structure you see today is part of the hotel and convention center.

The Red Lion Hotel successfully pushed through many layers of government regulation by actor-turned-developer Fess Parker (of “Davy Crockett” and “Daniel Boone” fame). It was a controversial project in the mid 1980s because of its size and scale. The Mission Revival buildings take the historic Spanish motif and offer beach and mountain views. You can’t miss the Chromatic Gate, the geometric rainbow situated on the corner.

Another Santa Barbara luxury hotel in Spanish style, located a little farther along Cabrillo Boulevard, is the Santa Barbara Radisson Hotel. Formerly the Vista Mar Monte, the hotel was completed in 1930 at a then-astronomical cost of $5 million. It attracted film industry executives and Hollywood stars in the 1930s and is still popular with celebrities today.

A block inland from the Radisson Hotel is the Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens, a family-friendly zoo with more than 500 animals. At the end of Palm Park, skirt a small parking lot and proceed to Cabrillo Pavilion, where there’s a cafe, as well as a bathhouse with dressing rooms and beach equipment rentals.

Beyond Cabrillo Pavilion is another half a mile of East Beach, and has a picnic area and very popular beach volleyball courts. Those in the mood for beach-walking should head down to the shore; it’s a bit more than a mile down-coast to the famed Biltmore Hotel and its narrow beach.

Otherwise, walk to the end of the picnic area and (carefully) cross Cabrillo Boulevard to Andree Clark Bird Refuge, where cormorants, egrets, herons and many species of ducks reside. Bird-watchers have sighted nearly 200 species in the 42-acre wildlife refuge.

You can follow the grass perimeter between the bike path and the lake shore about halfway around the lake. The path ends near a big bend in Cabrillo Boulevard.

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East Beach Trail

WHERE: Santa Barbara

DISTANCE: From Stearns Wharf to Cabrillo Pavillion is 2 1/2 miles round trip; to Andree Clark Bird Refuge is 4 miles round trip.

TERRAIN: Sandy beach

HIGHLIGHTS: SANTA Barbara waterfront history

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Easy

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau; tel. (805)966-9222.