The Seepage Problem at the Castillo Street Underpass

|by

••• “Over the years, the city has made multiple attempts to remove the Castillo Street water seepage under the 101 overpass, which can remain wet for months after a significant rainstorm,” emailed D. “I’m sure the car wash at Castillo and Montecito Street loves it! The similar and nearby Garden Street underpass does not appear to have the moisture problem. My understanding is the city and Caltrans argue about who is responsible for the water intrusion. Is there a final solution the the problem?” A rep for Caltrans said that its “storm water crew will be in Santa Barbara next week to do some maintenance in this area,” but I got no response when I asked whether there’s hope the problem will be permanently fixed as a result. Let’s see what happens after next week.

••• Four more Santa Barbara Bowl concerts have been announced: the Chemical Brothers on April 16; FKJ (a.k.a. French Kiwi Juice. or Vincent Fenton) on April 19; Garbage with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds on June 7; and Jason Mraz and His Superband on July 21.

••• I was invited to a screening of This Is Not a House, the half-hour documentary about the otherworldly home Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman built on Pepper Hill. The visuals are gorgeous, and while I’m not a huge fan of talking head–style documentaries, the commentary in this one was astute and often laugh-out-loud funny. Which brings us to the house itself. Between the pre-screening slideshow of images of the property and the film itself, I’ve seen enough to be totally enraptured. It’s ravishing. I hope I’ll get to see it in person someday; judging from the glimpses of the Heavin/Weinman art collection, I wouldn’t be surprised if the house is eventually turned into a museum.

••• Vintage and consignment store Faitell Attractions found a new home at 127 W. Canon Perdido Street.

••• The Santa Barbara location of The Pad climbing gym—in Magnolia Center on Hollister Avenue—is now expecting to open as soon as April.

••• No one guessed last week’s Where in Santa Barbara…?, so I added the answer: the sign is on the Santa Barbara Street side of the county courthouse.

················

Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter and you’ll never miss a post.

Comment:

7 Comments

Kieran

Whatever happened to redoing the pedestrian walkway under the freeway on state street? It desperately needs it.

Reply
Elle

FWIW, from what I understand, there’s a natural hot spring/seepage near the Castillo underpass which is what causes the constant moisture there.

Reply
Derek

The only way to keep the underpass dry is a bridge over the 101, or raising the 101 bridge so the underpass would be at a higher point. That’s been the case since the underpass was built. Of course, the people who could have made that decision way back when wouldn’t think of putting a bridge over the 101, or raising the 101 bridge. This is the result.

Reply
ES Corchero

Exactly! It boggles my mind how anyone in the city/state would have thought building this road below sea level would not constantly need to be re-done. Someone, some where is thrilled by the constant source of revenue this road creates.

Reply