••• “Rosewood Miramar Resort owner Rick Caruso pulled the trigger this week on the planned expansion of [the] hotel, filing a formal application with the county planning department to construct 26 units of employee housing, eight luxury apartments, and a collection of [as many as 12] boutique shops on the property’s existing parking lots. […] The project application with its detailed site plan will be available for public viewing next week.” —Independent
••• Now the city wants to tweak the block of State Street between Sola and Victoria, says John Palminteri: “Smaller parklets and two-way traffic will be part of the city’s updated plan,” starting June 15. It’s like death by a thousand cuts.
••• Southwest Airlines is expected to pause weekday flights between Santa Barbara and Denver from August through September. —Noozhawk
••• “Four underground storage tanks [were] unearthed by city work crews three feet underground during a routine sidewalk inspection by Chapala and Carrillo streets,” the remediation of which could affect the September move of the Saturday farmers’ market. —Independent
••• A creepy story about folks with cameras harassing patrons at Chase Restaurant. —KEYT UPDATE 5/24: “The masked antagonizers are ‘first amendment auditors,'” says KF. “They film people in public places and try to get a rise out of them. They are hoping for people to confront them and for the police to intervene and make a mistake so they can sue for free speech violations. The best thing you can do is ignore them, but if you are feeling bold you can stand near them and play Taylor Swift songs (loudly) while they are filming. As the songs are copyright protected, this will prevent them from being able to post the video to their social media.”
••• Another take (with new photos) on Hill House Montecito on Pepper Hill, designed by co-owner Bruce Heavin and Robin Donaldson of Donaldson + Partners. Love how the floor plan includes areas called the “worm hole” and “Canyonlands.” —The Architect’s Newspaper
••• “Local screen printers and UCSB/Isla Vista focused retail shop, Island View Outfitters, opened a new location […] at 3040 State St., next to BevMo.” It offers “a variety of shirts, hats, and other merch while also serving as office space for the company’s print division, High Desert Print Co.” —Edhat
••• The county courthouse’s viewing deck is closed till late July. —John Palminteri
••• Master Yun’s Studio, which offers kung fu and tai chi classes, is opening at 921 State Street (Canon Perdido/Carrillo). —Noozhawk
••• From a Noozhawk article about possible parking changes in Isla Vista: State law “AB 413 will go into effect in January and will prohibit cars from parking along a curb within 20 feet of a marked crosswalk. The regulation applies to cars parked on the side of the road approaching the crosswalk.”
••• “Pink to headline One805Live! Fall Fundraiser at Kevin Costner’s estate.” She’ll be performing with Dallas Green; here’s a vote for “Glitter in the Air.” —KEYT
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Super disappointing on the State Street news. It seems like the tactic is just to creep along, block by block, going back to what it was. Because they’re all convinced that somehow this will stimulate retail businesses. To be clear – there is no data to back this up – and Randy Rouse admits as much in his March 29th op-ed:
https://www.noozhawk.com/randy-rowse-santa-barbaras-downtown-cant-afford-to-languish-in-limbo/
“No data or studies are needed to confirm the obvious.”
What the data ACTULLY shows is that the vacancy rate downtown has remained the same since 2019, before the State Street closure. The fact that other portions of town are recovering better speaks to the shift away from State Street as the hub for night life, and towards other parts of town. Bringing back cars to State Street will not change this dynamic one iota.
“The fact that other portions of town are recovering better speaks to the shift away from State Street as the hub for night life, and towards other parts of town. ” ….. you’re almost there…. what big change happened on State St. but NOT in the other places that are recovering?
My take is this – SB has created a downtown on State Street that has evolved primarily – not exclusively, but primarily – into “the place that tourists go.” Baja Sharkeez. The Salt Cave. Cali-Forno Pizza. I’m under 50 and a local. I can tell you that for that folks like me and my friends, downtown State Street is basically the last place we think to go if we want to go out. There’s a certain stink of tourist trap to it currently. A sense of inauthenticity. This has nothing to do with the ability to drive or not drive on State Street. This has nothing to do with parking or the lack or cost thereof. State Street has evolved into a place that is simply not very desirable to a large portion of the local population. It’s hitched its wagon to tourism, and we know that from hotel tax income, tourism is down. Other portions of town are recovering better – in my opinion – because they do a better job of catering to both locals and tourists. Take the Funk Zone as exhibit one for that. Sure, there’s a lot of tourists there, but it’s also the most common destination for everyone I know when they want to go out and eat or get a drink. And it feels cool and authentic, in a way that State Street does not right now. But also notice what’s happening on Upper State Street. The Brass Bear opened an outpost, and you can barely get in the parking lot it’s such a huge hit. It’s primarily locals. Lama Dog and Sama Sama are opening an outpost on Upper State this year – I expect it to do exceedingly well. If the La Cumbre mall gets redeveloped under the current plan, where there’s supposed to be a very fancy food hall, I expect that to do very well, in the same way that Public Market does good business, despite not being on State Street. In the absence of meaningful population growth (see – lack of significant new house for decades) all of this becomes a zero sum game. Areas of town that were not retail/dining hubs 10-20 years ago have become those now. There are a finite amount of dining and shopping dollars out there – simply filling empty storefronts on State with whoever is willing to sign the lease does not change this fact. The success of the Funk Zone and Upper State currently comes at the expense of State Street proper. If we want to change that dynamic, then we need to put more people – not tourists but residents – back in the downtown core. If we do that, I fully expect that State Street will be reborn into something even better than it currently is, but that will take many years. None of this, none of it at all, has anything to do with vehicle traffic on State Street, in my opinion. If you just want to drive down State Street, that’s fine, that’s honestly an understandable position. But it’s not going to change the dynamics of what’s happening. It’s just going to put cars on State Street.
SkyG, this is the best analysis of the situation that I’ve read.
I agree with this take. The heated and endless debate around opening up state street to cars is a frustrating false binary. The State Street storefronts face a multitude of headwinds that are not resolved by vehicle more traffic.
Well put.
Agreed! Let go of more cars, better State St. Such silliness ????
SkyG, this is an excellent analysis. No data, but it makes so much sense to me.
This is why I think putting housing above retail on State St would rejuvenate the corridor.
And I think State near the pier is doing a nice job or serving tourists these days with beautiful architecture, well maintained infra and landscaping, and good quality restaurants and stores.
There isn’t enough tourism to sustain a corridor this long.
The challenge with that is current building codes make it nearly impossible to build housing over retail, you’d need to tear down the building and start fresh. With the extremely onerous city requirements, insanely long approval timelines, and high construction and land costs, you’d need to create a very large complex to get the right economies of scale. With so many small parcels downtown, each with different owners and different mid to long-term leases in place, it will be extremely difficult to accomplish and take a very very long time. We’re looking 10+ years out minimum. The Paseo Nuevo concept is great, but nothing is happening for a decade or more.
So well said. Spot on about downtown. I have no desire or need to really go downtown as a local. And even when friends come to visit/vacation here… I only think of State Street as sort of a lame tourist trap.
SkyG, you need to take this on the road, it’s such a perfect take on how State Street has evolved (devolved?). I hope more folks take this to heart and figure out an actual sustainable way to revive it that isn’t cars or no cars because like has been said, it’s an oversimplification of the problem.
Many thanks!! I was actually thinking of touching it up a bit and submitting it to the Independent/Noozhawk. May as well, it’s 90% there in current form.
I completely agree. There needs to be a fresh new and cohesive approach to State Street. At this point, I really don’t care if there are cars or not. Cars are not going to suddenly make the street vibrant again, and a complete closure won’t work because it relies on a booming economy. The only way to revive the street is by moving housing into it and opening stores that cater to locals and the people living there. And what’s standing in the way of that is City Planning and sky high rents. We need visionaries instead of bureaucrats and fresh, enthusiastic planning. Tourists will continue to come for the climate in SB, but that doesn’t mean we have to build for them. The diminishing numbers of bed tax are a warning sign that the city needs to stop building hotels and create more housing. Quit reminiscing about the past and create the future.
There are some bright spots on State that do cater to locals – Arigato, Bibi Ji, Sama Sama, The Daisy – generally higher quality higher price point destination restaurants – how do we get more of these and less Baja Sharkeez? The market should gradually steer us in that direction.
Well spoken. I agree.
Well said and completely agree.
The hill house is similar to the land & design sold for an home out by El Cap. Love the interior design.
https://www.coastalranch.com/featured-properties/15000-calle-real
The masked antagonizers are “first amendment auditors”, they film people in public places and try to get a rise out of them. They are hoping for people to confront them and for the police to intervene and make a mistake so they can sue for free speech violations. The best thing you can do is ignore them, but if you are feeling bold you can stand near them and play Taylor Swift songs (LOUDLY) while they are filming. As the songs are copyright protected, this will prevent them from being able to post the video to their social media.