My neighbor’s property on the north side of East Valley Road between Parra Grande Lane and Hot Springs Road has old stone stairs with “Weeping Willow Inn” carved into them. Can you tell me more about it? —A.
Archivist Chris S. Ervin at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum dug up an excerpt from David Myrick’s two-volume Montecito and Santa Barbara from 1988. It describes how the area that Myrick calls Spanishtown—but others call Spanish Town, Old Spanish Town, or Old Spanishtown—came to be.
The earliest residents of Montecito of European descent were Spanish families who settled in the most desirable locations in the valley. After the father of the family had been mustered out of military service at the Presidio, as part payment for his time as a soldier, he received a small parcel of land, in some cases as early as the 1780s. One group nestled in a cozy nook along Montecito Creek with its dependable water supply and the settlement, known as Spanishtown, extended along the present East Valley Road around Parra Grande Lane.
The area turned into a community with all manner of businesses, including a grocery, a laundry, a print shop, saloons, clubs, and dance halls—and even a jail—which leads us to this:
There were three Sanchez sisters in Montecito, all of whom were married around 1868-1872 when they were quite young. Viviana Romero ran the small grocery store opposite the end of Parra Grande Lane. (This building, along with the former Alameda Saloon to the west, still stands.) Her sister, Guadalupe Cota, operated the Weeping Willow Inn across the street. Primarily a restaurant, her famous cuisine drew patrons from far and wide but she also operated a regular boarding house during World War I. […]
The Weeping Willow Inn, together with the tree, has long been gone and the building simply deteriorated after Mrs. Cota died in 1933. However, the location can be identified by the carving of the name in the stone steps visible from the road.
By all accounts, Spanishtown was a rowdy place. “Small boys could earn a dollar watching horses of prostitutes who rode out from town to extend their trade,” wrote Myrick. And a 1994 Santa Barbara News-Press article by Barney Brantingham, which lifts from Myrick as well as other sources (and was sent to me by archivist Ervin), had this to say:
In 1782, Father Junipero Serra, patron saint of the 21 California missions, chose Montecito’s scenic East Valley for his 10th mission. The site: by an Indian trail now known as Hot Springs Road. But after Serra died, Father Fermin Lasuen, shocked by the untamed nature of Montecito […] favored a location closer to the Presidio fort located in what is now downtown Santa Barbara.
According to Myrick, a flood in January 1914 “devastated Spanishtown, obliterating the jail, print shop and four small houses along the west side of Montecito Creek. Most were never replaced.” As we know too well, it was not the last time. From a Noozhawk article five months after the January 2018 debris flow:
The debris flow destroyed or badly damaged some of the last remaining remnants of Spanishtown on both sides of the creek. One of the structures that was swept away was an old saloon near the southeastern end of the bridge that had been refurbished as housing by the Montecito Fire Protection District. […] Two other old homes on district property were damaged.
UPDATE: “Here is the original sign for the Alameda Saloon that my father obtained from a Mr. Joe Lopez back in the early 60s,” emailed P. “Mr. Lopez lived in the former Alameda Saloon and used to let my father and his buddies dig for old bottles around the saloon. As I recall, my father bartered an old washing machine for the sign. Note the spelling of the word “liqours” on the bottom right side of photo.”
Got a question you’d like investigated? Email [email protected] or text 917-209-6473.
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Previous Burning Questions:
••• What does the “S” on certain chimneys stand for?
••• What’s the status of the decommissioning of Rincon Island?
••• What happened to the gas flame on Highway 101?
••• What do we know about the proposed apartment complex at 1 Hot Springs Road?
••• What’s the history of this tower on Ortega Ridge?
••• What’s up with these sculptures on a hillside in Summerland?
••• Is there a master plan for the new walking paths in Montecito?
••• Why are the Thousand Steps still wet?
••• What’s happening with Sola Street?
••• Why are trees being cut down above the San Ysidro Ranch?
••• Why is this lot on Milpas Street still vacant?
••• Where else do cruise ships that visit here go?
••• What is this large memorial in Ennisbrook?
••• What’s the large building under construction next to Highway 101?
••• Who bought the former St. Mary’s seminary—and why?
••• What will happen to the SBPD building when the new building is completed?
••• How does the city decide to mark bike lanes?
••• What’s the story with this house on W. Cota Street?
••• What are those little houses on Santa Barbara Street?
••• Which Highway 101 exits are getting renamed?
••• Is the Music Academy of the West adding pedestrian gates?
••• Why does the Coast Village Road median look so bad?
••• What’s the point of this light pole near the freeway?
••• Why are the city’s parking lots scanning license plates?
••• What’s inside Paseo Nuevo’s State Street tower?
↓↓↓ What’s the point of these markings on Laguna Street?
••• Why is there a giant red shoe off Highway 101?
••• Are we no longer allowed on the SBHS baseball field?
••• What does “SBTP” on this post mean?
••• What’s up with the “no e-bike” signs on local trails?
••• Why is Franceschi House in a holding pattern?
••• What’s happening with this derelict house in Summerland?
••• Why is there wood on some power lines?
••• Can you explain how sundowner winds work?
••• Why is there a pressure cooker attached to this utility pole?
••• What’s this concrete ramp thing on East Beach?
••• Why does “USA” get written on the street?
••• What are those poles in the ocean near the Ritz-Carlton Bacara?
••• Are people really allowed to set fires in the middle of Montecito?
••• What’s the story with the half-finished lot next to the Montecito Country Mart?
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Interesting. Thank you!