The Kilchoers of Costa Mesa — Santa Barbara, 2000

The Kilchoers

Treyvaux / Costa Mesa

Where we go on vacation

Santa Barbara, 2000

History of S.B.

In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sails up the channel and meets the Chumash tribe. On 4 December 1602 (feast day of Santa Barbara) Sebastián Vizcáino enters the channel and calls it Santa Barbara. In 1772, Commandante Pedro Fages and Father Junipero Serra visit the area and in 1782 found the Santa Barbara Royal Presidio. Father Fermín de Lasuén founds the mission in December 1786 (Father Serra had died in 1784).

In November 1793, British Naval Captain George Vancouver visits Santa Barbara.

On 16 September 1810 Mexico started its war of independence against Spain.

Major damage to the mission happened during the big earthquake of 21 December 1812. In 1818, French naval commander Hippolyte de Bouchard, fighting for Argentina against Spain, invaded Alta California but declared a local truce with Captain José de la Guerra, Comandante of Santa Barbara Presidio.

In 1821 the Treaty of Cordóva was signed and Mexico became independent from Spain. At Santa Barbara, the Spanish flag was lowered. In 1824, both Alta and Baja California constituted a territory ruled by Mexico. In this year the Chumash neophytes revolted against the priests and soldiers, and the revolt quickly spread to other missions. A truce eventually stopped the revolt and most neophytes returned to the mission.

In 1826 the Santa Barbara Presidio was changed from military to civil government. In 1833-1834, the Mexican National Congress passed the Law of Secularization, and a decree of secularization was presented to the Alta California territorial assembly.

Richard Henry Dana, author of Two Years Before the Mast, visited Santa Barbara in 1835 and described it in his book.

In 1846, war was declared between the United States and Mexico and Commodore Robert Stockton, commander of American forces in California, captured the town of Santa Barbara in August. After several skirmishes the American flag was raised over Santa Barbara in December. In 1848 the treaty of Guadalupe was signed making California American territory.

The 1849 California gold rush was triggered by the discovery (on 24 January 1848) of gold at Sutter’s Mill on the south fork of the American river, by James Marshall. (John Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who had founded New Helvetia in California in 1841 — his land was overrun by prospectors and he lost everything.) As a result of the gold rush the American population increased dramatically and California bypassed territorial status becoming the 31st state on 9 September 1850.

In 1870 English replaced Spanish as the official language of all public documents in Santa Barbara.

Trip to Santa Barbara

28—30 December 2000

The mission of Santa Barbara

The mission of Santa Barbara, the “Queen of the Missions”
Photo © S. Greg Panosian

During the week after Christmas, Elizabeth and Jacques decided to take a short trip to Santa Barbara. The trip was delayed for a day since Jacques wasn't feeling too well on the planned day of departure, but on Thursday morning he declared himself ready to go. We drove up the beautiful California coastline and reached the quaint Upham hotel in the early evening. After admiring our beautiful little room we adjourned to the hotel lobby for wine, cheese and crackers, and then favoured Louieís, the hotel restaurant, with our patronage, enjoying a fine dinner with lamb chops and seafood gumbo. We ended the evening with milk and cookies in the hotel lobby for dessert.

The following day we walked to the Santa Barbara courthouse bright and early to get there in time for the 10:30 Friday morning guided tour. The courthouse is a beautiful building that was built in 1926-1929 after the 1925 earthquake damaged the old courthouse. The San Francisco architect designed a large, spacious building that is well worth visiting.

Following that, we started on a short walking tour of the downtown area of Santa Barbara, where we got to see several old adobe houses and the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. The Historical Museum is small but has an impressive collection of artefacts from the early history of the city.

Elizabeth in courtyard of Historical Museum

Lounging in the courtyard of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum

At the courthouse, one of the volunteer guides had informed us that it should not take that long to walk to the famous Santa Barbara Mission, so that’s what we decided to do. We arrived there at 16:30, just in time to be able to visit it before the closing time of 17:00. Mission Santa Barbara was founded in 1786 and several adobe churches were built, with the present church dating from 1820 after the previous had been destroyed by earthquake. The fountain in front of the mission was built in 1808, and the friary residence was finished in 1870. After the 1925 earthquake the mission was restored.

Jacques in courtyard of Mission

In the courtyard of the Queen of the Missions

Originally the garden was used as a working area where many of the Indians learned the trade, but nowadays is purely ornamental. During our self guided tour of the mission garden, Jacques took a little time to stop and smell the succulents. Jacques is constantly promoting the presence of more succulents in our own garden. There can be some very beautiful succulents to complement any garden setting and much to Jacques’ liking they are very low on maintenance.

After our tour of the Queen of Missions, we took a lovely walk back for some wine and cheese in the lobby by the fireplace. Once we had our fill we enjoyed a picnic dinner in our cottage style room and back to the lobby for milk and cookies. As we relaxed by the fire we enjoyed a fun loving game of “Pass the Pigs.” This game consists of two dice in the shape of rubber pigs. You receive certain point values depending on how the pigs land. For example, on all fours — “trotter”, on its back — “razorback”, on its snout — “snouter”. It certainly got the attention of the other hotel guests as Jacques and I would be calling out the different positions of the pigs.

Gazebo at the Upham Hotel

Elizabeth and Jacques in the gazebo at the Upham hotel

We stayed at the Upham hotel in downtown Santa Barbara. They describe themselves as a combination Hotel/Bed and Breakfast. The Upham hotel was built in 1871 by Amasa Lincoln, a Boston banker who set sail for California to build himself a New England style inn. It is said that Richard Nixon and Agatha Christie have enjoyed a pleasant vacation at this Victorian paradise. It had a beautiful garden courtyard complete with their own white gazebo. This reminded Elizabeth of our wedding day and Jacques reluctantly agreed to pose for one last picture at our Santa Barbara getaway. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to stay over another night.

Moreton Bay Fig Tree

The Moreton Bay Fig Tree

On the way out of town Jacques wanted to visit what was considered to be the nation’s largest fig tree. According to the guide book “…this Australian native is large enough (they say) to shelter 10,000 people from the noonday sun.” If you look closely at the picture, you may be able to spot Jacques to the right of the tree trunk! Of course he happen to be wearing green pants which, I’m sure much to his delight, acted as a camouflage against the trunk of the tree.

Then off towards home to get ready for the New Year and enjoy the last couple of days before Jacques started his new job at Quest software.