Another Small Hotel Proposed for Downtown Santa Barbara

••• On today’s Historic Landmarks Commission agenda: the conversion of the office building at 16-20 W. Canon Perdido Street into a nine-room hotel.

••• This week, there will be alternating lane closures on Highway 101 from Carpinteria Avenue to Evans Avenue, as the rumble strips along the shoulders get converted to mumble strips—fabulous jargon!—in an effort to reduce noise. The difference between the two types of strips are explained here. (Bumble strips are presumably something entirely unrelated.)

••• In other freeway news, the start of the next phase of Highway 101 construction this spring will bring with it the end of the graceful, gorgeous southbound overpass at Hot Springs/Carrillo Boulevard. (The northbound one, in the third photo below, is less beautiful but I’ll still miss it.) I love the shape, but also the concrete, and even the patina. It has far more style than the design replacing it.

••• A reminder about charity muggers, a.k.a. chuggers, such as the ones outside the farmer’s market on Saturday: no matter how admirable the cause (in the case, the ACLU), you’re far better off giving money directly to the organization than to the middleman managing the chuggers.

••• A vintage shop called Antoine’s Gallery of Great Things—with antiques, art, fashion, furnishings, and jewelry—has opened at the Oreña Adobe (27 E. De La Guerra Street). It’s a pop-up while an adjacent permanent shop gets finalized.

••• The word on the street is that the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara is hoping to open in time for the summer 2026 season. But that’s not stopping owner Ty Warner from fiddling with the plan. On the Montecito Board of Architectural Review’s December 18 agenda: “changes to Cottages G and H to convert two rooms to garage space, plus six new gated driveways and parking areas, landscaping/lighting changes, and improvements to Hill Road.” UPDATE: Here are the specifics (which includes the removal of 12 trees from that part of the property)….

The project proposes to construct six new gated driveways on the south side of Hill Road to serve 16 new uncovered spaces and 4 covered spaces for use by hotel guests. The uncovered spaces will replace existing landscape areas adjacent to Buildings E, J, L, N, and P. The covered spaces will be in two-car garages created by converting existing space within Cottages G and H. Conversion of space in Cottage G and H will include new window and garage door locations. New lighting and landscape adjustments are proposed to accommodate new parking areas using light fixtures and a plant palette consistent with existing plant palette used in this area of the Biltmore. To accommodate the new driveways, two pine trees and a double-trunk ficus would be removed, and 9 palm trees would be relocated elsewhere on the property. Along with the above, the project proposes improvements to Hill Road, including the relocation of public parking spaces to the south side of the street resulting in improved circulation and an additional 4 new public parking spaces more than exist now, new curb, gutter, and sidewalk, and changes to existing fences and landscaping to accommodate the driveways and sight-distance requirements of Public Works.

••• Bellosguardo has begun accepting volunteers to help with gardening.

••• The 34-unit apartment building (with a commercial storefront) at 219 E. Haley Street, just east of Santa Barbara Street, is making progress. I was alarmed when I saw the west elevation, because it’s not the complex’s best side, but then remembered that the 48-unit 201 E. Haley next door will block views of it. The rendering for 219 E. Haley shows a white exterior, but if 201 is going to be white, perhaps the beige seen below is a better idea.

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