If you want Santa Barbara to have wonderful independent shops, you need to support them. So this holiday season—and year-round, really—make an effort to spend your money here. I’ve done some advance work, picking out possible gift items at Gear (inside the Kim’s Service Department complex, along with Shaker Mill, Cubaneo, and Modern Times), and The Blue Door in the Funk Zone. First up, Gear, which is most likely to be open during happiest hours, a.k.a. 4 p.m. to 8 p.m:
TACOS cap ($28): it’s an invitation, an order, a way of life….
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Four-in-one stainless steel bar tool ($21).
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Tinder Nightmares ($11), because the second-best part of dating is the stories.
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Lying on the sand is boring. Beach paddle set ($12).
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Air plants inside silver-dipped urchins (set of three, $28).
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And now, The Blue Door:
Puka shell necklaces ($14), familiar to all of us who went to Hawaii in the 70s and 80s.
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Set of four vintage Busch beer coozies ($28). Looks best with a porn-star mustache.
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Melancholy mermaid hook ($49).
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Santa Barbara Apothecary Co.’s Montecito Money candle ($28) “captures the scent of the woodsy coastal town,” so I assume it’s a combination of eucalyptus and Crème de la Mer.
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Vintage leather stud box ($25). That’s studs like in a tuxedo shirt, obviously.
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