Hotel California

The rooftop garden-pool-fireplace area at Santa Barbara’s new Hotel Andalucia will be the highest of any downtown hotel--not high given the local four-story limit. But the five-floor Andalucia’s mere existence is an event: The last full-service hotel built from the ground up in the area was Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort in 1986. “We don’t do that often around here,” says Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum. And the project wasn’t controversy-free. Some favored restoration of the site’s old 1920s Carrillo Hotel, a down-at-heel residence hotel razed in 1998.

On the other hand, the proprieties are being observed. The Andalucia, set to open Dec. 17, has an exterior reminiscent of southern Spain, honoring the local imperative that buildings conform to Spanish Colonial Revival, Monterey Revival or California Adobe styles. Inside, the 77 guest rooms (which start at $325) and 20 suites feature Moorish-inspired fabrics and hand-painted tiles.

As for those dizzying heights, the Andalucia squeaked by only because the Carrillo had five floors. “From our point of view, five stories is pretty tall,” Blum says.

Hotel Andalucia, 31 W. Carrillo St., Santa Barbara; (877) 468-3515 or (805) 884-0300.