my santa barbara + montecito guide
here is my comprehensive and updated guide to my little hometown! plus links on what to wear with shopping looks for lunches, dinners, outings, etc.
I’m writing this guide while booking the Airbnb for my sister’s bachelorette in Montecito — which finally pushed me to finish it. SB peak season runs now through October, so the timing feels right.
There truly is no place like Santa Barbara. It really earns the name “the American Riviera.” Every time I’m home, I think: Why did I ever leave? It’s where the Pacific Ocean meets the mountains, and there’s nothing else like it.
Growing up, Santa Barbara was so different from what it is now — though that seems to be the case everywhere I’ve lived, from Coconut Grove to, more recently, the Upper East Side.
Santa Barbara was always a sleepy beach town — an insanely beautiful one that I took completely for granted. I went to tiny Catholic schools my whole life, graduating high school with a class of 60-something. SB felt like a bubble I couldn’t wait to escape. So I left, and landed in Miami, Connecticut, and eventually New York.
Now, having lived through very different seasons of life and starting to settle down and grow my own family, I find myself missing that little bubble — especially during cold winter months. The grass is always greener they say.
