••• Three items of note in Radius Commercial Real Estate’s third-quarter report: 132 Santa Barbara Street (at Yanonali) was purchased for $6.875 million by “a well-known local operator for their production facility with a likely visitor-serving retail component.” Any guesses? Also, group fitness studio FS8 (“Pilates, tone, and yoga redefined,” in its own words) is coming to the Mesa Shopping Center, a.k.a. the one with Vons. Finally, two leases have been signed at 1014 State Street (Carrillo/Figueroa), one of which is for international eyewear brand Polette. UPDATE: “Not sure on the accuracy but ChatGPT says that the owners of Rusty’s Pizza bought the property in the Funk Zone,” commented Derek.
••• From Santa Barbara Airport: “Alaska Airlines is returning nonstop service to San Diego on April 22, 2026! With two flights a day, you’ll be just a quick trip away from San Diego, and just one stop away from destinations like Hawaii, Mexico, and Europe. Plus, Alaska’s adding a second daily flight to Portland in May.” Also, “United Airlines is bringing back daily nonstop service from SBA to Chicago O’Hare beginning April 6, 2026.”
••• Press release: “Starting October 27, Visit Santa Barbara is bringing back its Locals Lodging Promotion, offering 30% discounts for residents from Goleta to Carpinteria who book overnight trips within the Santa Barbara South Coast. The deals apply to stays between October 2025 and early 2026 at a dozen South Coast properties. [….] Area residents can extend the offer to their visiting friends and relatives.”
••• Cashy’s Playpen pet boutique on Coast Village Road closed, and it must’ve been a while ago, because the space is now Blanco Smile Studio.
••• I’ve been thinking of writing a visitor’s guide to Santa Barbara, but I’m wrestling with the format. Print is out of the question; updating an app sounds like a pain and Apple takes too large of a cut; and I do not need another website. I’ve been leaning toward a PDF download, something simple and even samizdat in style, that looks like a friend-of-a-friend’s advice more than a traditional guidebook. I could update it all the time, and I’d charge $5 or something. Any thoughts? How do people source travel info these days? I’m not even sure how I do it.
••• This is my annual plea not to put fake spider webs on plants because birds and other animals can get caught in them and die.
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E-books are pretty common nowadays… sometimes a pain on the small phone screen … but good start…
I’ve looked at travel ebooks on amazon and kindle quite a bit; especially useful to get
A locals perspective that is more authentic than lonely planet.
not sure on the accuracy but ChatGPT says that the owners of Rusty’s Pizza bought the property in the Funk zone.
Oy vey.
Don’t think that makes sense.
Corporate headquarters is the word around the funk-zone
My humble opinion as a 40-something DINK traveler: I Google blog posts for travel advice, ie “The Top 10 Desserts to Try in San Francisco” or “What to Do on a Day Trip to Nara” Wouldn’t have to be a separate site unless you think it would be off-brand to have a separate section dedicated to travel advice. The fact that it would be on a site for locals is a draw for many. Hope this helps. 😀
Agree! I link to a guide on your site would lend legitimacy to the guide, since it’s on a site that is already known for having great local info.
I agree with Tamara and Chris. Having an additional section of this website for travel sounds nice. I would also try to distribute a one page brochure to airbbnb owners and hotel front desks with a QR code to the website page. Your credibility stemming from your vast coverage would go pretty far. Siteline could be news for locals and recommendations for visitors
I go to Trip Advisor when researching travel since it covers a wide range of topics and includes user feedback (so is constantly being ‘updated’). Even though creating another website isn’t your first choice, I would think it would be the most popular since it’s free, searchable and doesn’t require a PDF download. Perhaps it could be an extension of this site since you already have a following and advertisers. Whatever you decide, local boots on the ground is always best since so many national publications covering Santa Barbara fall short with outdated or ill-informed advice.
Erik, hello
What company do you use to prepare and release Siteline??? Please? Thanks
Bill
The website is WordPress; the email newsletter is MailChimp, which I would not recommend.
Re: travel guide I’d love to read that as always enjoy your recommendations. Make it available for download with a Siteline Plus subscription with the ability to disable comments/block commenters and it’ll be a must-buy.
Might be worth looking at micro-distribution sites like Gumroad, I think they only take a 10% cut.
I’d consider a Substack with a paywall
I looked into Substack, but it’s all based on a recurring fee (and the minimum is $5 per month), which doesn’t work for someone only planning on visiting here once.
I saw on Instagram The Scout Guide Santa Barbara
Thank you posting a reminder about fake spider webs as Halloween decorations.
regarding the guide for visitors (that would certainly be something I would be interested in) but wondering if the Visit Santa Barbara website already captures this kind of thing. Or were you hoping that your guide would be more organic; like where locals eat,etc?
It would certainly be more opinionated.
Hey Erik –
Must be hard to be the smartest guy in the room so often – and yet I don’t think you’re in the wrong room.
Just opining – although stuff like travel information that’s up to date and interesting has largely migrated online, consider one other thing: when you go to far-flung places (am thinking of my Alaska road trip this summer), you may not have a connection – and it’s crucial to have printed things such as maps and… possibly, a handy pocket guide? Because it’s not as wired in a lot of places as we are in California… Best of luck with the project —
My go-to when traveling in new cities is Eater, Yelp, and TripAdvisor, among others. I can’t remember the last time I printed something or used a “PDF” resource when traveling. Outside of an APP, it seems a web-based blog interface would be the best forum for a hyperlocal travel resource.
Hi, Erik. Responding to your “how do people source travel info?” question, we cast about on Duck-Duck-Go. Your idea of having SB info in one place is appealing. The only thing we’ve found close to an all-in-one source is the site we use when traveling with a dog–Bringfido.com. We usually end up doing separate searches for food, hikes, tours, nature preserves, roadside attractions, and weird museums. (That last is a passion of ours. Our collection includes the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, the Vibrator Museum in San Fransisco, and the Creation in Museum in Kentucky–yes, that 6,000-year-old earth “museum.”)
is not the now vacant Michael Kate showroom on the 200 block of East Yanonali?
across the street is Metropulos, that sold and has been sitting for quite a while. It was at like 216 East.
I was told by staff at Folded Hills (next to Cashy’s) that Cashy’s was moving to a new storefront at the Rosewood, but I haven’t seen it pop up there yet!
Re Cashy’s Playpen, I was informed when Lewis & Clark was booted out of that space it was so the property owner’s daughter could move her jewelry business in. Of course we knew that was not going to be sustainable, and then Cashy’s moved in, and now a cosmetic dentistry place. Sad. It’s an unfortunate fate because it is such a beautiful space. It’s a shame that we lost Lewis & Clark in the first place to such mundane businesses taking up such a charming space. Oh well, progress?
As a local I find myself coming here first whenever we’re in the mood to try something new! I think you would put together a great guide.
As a traveler, my preference is something I can download and refer to without wifi. Digging through blogs and reddit threads with spotty service can be a pain. E-Reader or PDF makes the most sense to me, and something you could easily incorporate here.
I know Air BnB has experiences… I wonder if there’s a way to sell self guided food/attraction tours?
Love the idea of an SB guidebook!
Before a trip, I do a hodgepodge of Google searches e.g. “Best dining with a view”, Tripadvisor “Top 10 attractions” YouTube videos to get a visual of where I’m headed & learn a little about the geography, terrain, culture … sadly, some YouTube travel videos have been overrun with drones & A.I. not real humans.
Next, I create a “Note” in my phone with links. I guess I create my own guidebook -?? Then as I move through my trip, I update my “Note” and add new discoveries, tips/tricks, etc. for my own records and in case a friend asks, “Hey, what can you recommend for a trip to _______?”
Having said all that, would Wikitravel be a good option? But maybe Erik you couldn’t be as opinionated as you would like :)