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Santa Barbara Real Estate and Neighborhoods
Downtown
Santa Barbara's main thoroughfare, State Street, which divides the city of Santa Barbara between East and West, begins at Stearn's Wharf and continues for miles throughout the city. State Street itself is a microcosm of the entire city: filled with architectural beauty, performing arts and cultural centers (including the stately Arlington and Granada Theaters and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art), numerous fine restaurants and cafes, and world class shopping from chic boutiques to modern malls (including the historic El Paseo, California's first shopping center built in the 1920's).
The Mesa
Mesa, a Spanish word meaning "table", has been applied to the flat bench of elevated land fronting the ocean along Santa Barbara's southwestern border since the mission days. Stretching from the Santa Barbara City College on the east and extending two and one-half miles to Arroyo Burro County Beach (or "Hendry's/The Pit" to locals), the Mesa is an extremely desirable neighborhood and has often been voted the "Best Neighborhood" in a local paper's poll.
Residents of the Mesa cherish their accessibility to the beach and to two of Santa Barbara's most wonderful open spaces. Shoreline Park, a magnificent 15-acre blufftop strip of lawn, bike and pedestrian trails, picnic tables and jungle gyms, is regarded by many as the finest park in Santa Barbara. At the southwestern tip of the Mesa, the Douglas Family Preserve (known to locals as the "Wilcox property") is a stunning 70-acre recreation area left in its natural state, conserved as a peaceful retreat for all to enjoy forever.
Please call me if you have any questions with real estate in the Santa Barbara area. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Hope Ranch California - Real Estate and Neighborhood
Hope Ranch
As you pass through the gate and under the infamous sign suspended across Las Palmas Drive, you enter another world - Hope Ranch. Towering palms, planted in the early 1900s, line the main boulevard. Wearing jodhpurs and shiny black boots, young girls on horseback gallop along a tree-lined trail. An early morning jogger circles serene Laguna Blanca Lake.
A golfing foursome takes turns putting on a manicured green at the La Cumbre Country Club. Incorporated in 1924, the Hope Ranch Park Homes Association watches over this elite residential area. Membership in the association is automatic upon purchasing a home and brings many privileges: the private beach, bridle paths, tennis courts, and the advantages of the Hope Ranch Riding Trails Association.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Real Estate in Santa Barbara, Montecito or Hope Ranch areas. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Goleta California - Real Estate and Neighborhoods
Goleta
Goleta is a nicely established residential area of tract homes. Many of the engineers and employees of the aerospace companies and larger companies live in this area. Above Cathedral Oaks Road you move into an area of rolling hills and views of the ocean and mountains. There are many fine residences and citrus and avocado ranches. There is an abundance of condominiums and housing developments offering a variety of affordable living. Some of Santa Barbara area's most admired schools are located in Goleta. Within Goleta you will also find the Cathedral Oak Tennis and Athletic Club, Sandpiper Golf Course, Hidden Oaks Golf Course, Twin Lakes Golf Course and Glenn Annie Golf Course.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Real Estate in Santa Barbara, Montecito or Goleta areas. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Summerland California - Real Estate and Neighborhood
Summerland
Summerland is a rather relaxed, tiny, hillside community snuggled on the coast between Carpinteria and Montecito with breathtaking ocean and island views. There are large and small homes, condominiums and ranches to choose from. Summerland is served by its own elementary school and is one of the areas wealthier neighborhoods.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Real Estate in Santa Barbara, Montecito or Summerland areas. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Carpinteria California - Real Estate and Neighborhood
Carpinteria
About 12 minutes to the east (The 101 Freeway south) of downtown Santa Barbara lies the Carpinteria Valley, located in the southeast corner of Santa Barbara County. Carpinteria is a little piece of coastal paradise with a splendid natural setting and still possesses a very small town charm that is very desirable. Dozens of antique stores, small shops and cafes are clustered along the main street of Carpinteria, which ends right on one of the safest beaches in all of California.
Carpinteria is home to a world destination surfing area off Rincon Point and has more than its share of beautiful beaches such as Carpinteria State Beach, Sandyland Cove, Sand Point Road, Santa Claus Beach and Padaro Lane. It also boasts wonderful parks, popular schools and many year round recreational activities. Carpinteria is also home to many nurseries, some of which are open to the public and offer a tremendous variety of lovely fresh flowers and plants to discriminating buyers.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Real Estate in Santa Barbara, Montecito or Carpinteria areas. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Montecito Real Estate - Neighborhood
Montecito
Full of beauty, history and grandeur, Montecito, approximately eight square miles of hidden neighborhoods and expansive estates, has been the destination of choice for celebrities and millionaires for over one hundred years. Montecito offers an unhurried pace of life, breathtaking scenery and two very quaint shopping and dining "villages" that make one feel that even the trip a few miles east to Santa Barbara is a mighty and unnecessary burden.
Montecito is certainly a desirable second home location for big city dwellers, but those who live in Montecito year round are truly fortunate. Two of the finest public schools in the country serve Montecito, and there are three golf courses, a tennis club, a luxury spa and several spectacular beaches within the immediate area.
Recognizing Montecito as a rustic, sylvan Eden which is unique in America, the owners of Montecito property have long waged battles with developers. In 1929, Montecito residents obtained a county ordinance, the first such in California history, to restrict lot sizes to the present average of eight acres, none being below one acre. Lot splits are rigidly controlled, utilities are kept underground and building permits are issued on a very strict basis. The Montecito Association was formed in 1948 to keep out sidewalks, concrete curbs and gutters, advertising signs, widening of streets and other threats to the unspoiled rural look of Montecito. To this day, the Association is considered to be one of the most powerful citizens bodies in the United States. While Montecito's growth has tripled in the 50 year period between the 3,000 inhabitants of 1928 and today's 9,500, Montecito residents feel that as long as they can control their own rate of growth, they can maintain Montecito as one of the most desirable and envied places to live in all the world.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Real Estate in the Santa Barbara or Montecito area. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Santa Barbara Neighborhoods- The upper east
The Upper East
It is generally believed the Upper East is one of Santa Barbara's most prestigious neighborhoods. The "Upper East" is defined by its location east of State Street and above Valerio Street, and then eventually merges into the Mission Canyon neighborhood and the Riviera foothills.
The Upper East is a wonderful walking neighborhood, though residents often do not get too far for the frequency with which they run into friends to chat with along their way. Because the topography is relatively flat to gently sloping, a healthy walk to downtown is very doable, as is a stroll through the nearby Mission rose gardens. Residents especially enjoy the convenience of being minutes from the city stores, museums, theaters and most of downtown. The newly reconstructed and very highly regarded Roosevelt School serves the Upper East and many of its students walk the few blocks to and from school each day.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Real Estate in the Santa Barbara or Montecito area. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Santa Barbara Neighborhoods - The Riviera
The Riviera
Bridging the two mile span which separates Mission and Sycamore Canyons, the sylvan uplift which the padres knew as the "mission ridge" has for the past 65 years been known as "the Riviera" due to its resemblance to slopes along the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy. Residents lucky enough to live on this ridge attach premium value to their homes because of their unsurpassed views of the city, mountains, sea and islands.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Real Estate in the Santa Barbara or Montecito area. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
Santa Barbara Real Estate and Neighborhoods
Downtown
Santa Barbara's main thoroughfare, State Street, which divides the city of Santa Barbara between East and West, begins at Stearn's Wharf and continues for miles throughout the city. State Street itself is a microcosm of the entire city: filled with architectural beauty, performing arts and cultural centers (including the stately Arlington and Granada Theaters and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art), numerous fine restaurants and cafes, and world class shopping from chic boutiques to modern malls (including the historic El Paseo, California's first shopping center built in the 1920's).
The Mesa
Mesa, a Spanish word meaning "table", has been applied to the flat bench of elevated land fronting the ocean along Santa Barbara's southwestern border since the mission days. Stretching from the Santa Barbara City College on the east and extending two and one-half miles to Arroyo Burro County Beach (or "Hendry's/The Pit" to locals), the Mesa is an extremely desirable neighborhood and has often been voted the "Best Neighborhood" in a local paper's poll.
San Roque
Few residential neighborhoods of Santa Barbara can boast the rich historical background of the San Roque and Rutherford Park areas. Ten thousand years ago the area, bounded by Ontare Road, Foothill Road, Alamar Avenue and State Street, was an open expanse of treeless grassland, sloping up to the knees of the foothills and bisected by the jungled course of San Roque Canyon. Now a built-up, economically stabilized suburb, it is admired for its sweeping curved streets, its luxuriant landscaping, and its harmonious blend of many architectural themes - Spanish Colonial, English Tudor, French Normandy, California Redwood, Italian and American Colonial, mostly built since 1925. San Roque features older, custom homes with charm.
Go to my site to learn more about our other neighborhoods. If you have any questions with real estate, please contact me at 805-689-6877. www.KevinSchmidtchen.com
November 26 2007
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