Greatest housing post ever??? (and from my home town!)

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
[quote author="cdm" date=1208992476]http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/hillside-whore.html



(no offense, IR and Graphrix)</blockquote>


Why the hell did you leave such a beautiful place? CDM is no way near the same aesthetic!

A very creative post and thank you for posting the link.
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1209001001][quote author="cdm" date=1208992476]http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/hillside-whore.html



(no offense, IR and Graphrix)</blockquote>


Why the hell did you leave such a beautiful place? CDM is no way near the same aesthetic!</blockquote>


I'll take a shot at that one. Santa Barbara isn't as liveable as, say, Fresno. In fact, I'd rather live in Bakersfield or Oxnard or Ventura because there is so little to do in SB.



I know a couple who own a home in Newport. The husband took a job with a publisher in SB so they moved there since they liked to vacation there. After about three weeks they had it with the odd mix of 70+ retirees, and the underclass that served them and the tourists. There's nobody in the middle and nothing for anybody in the middle to do. They was that little to do.



Apparently you can only hit up state street and go to the movies so many times before it gets old.
 
[quote author="cdm" date=1208992476]http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/hillside-whore.html



(no offense, IR and Graphrix)</blockquote>


No offense taken whatsoever. That blog post is awesome! My favorite part...



<em>The pimp talked a good game. She said 970 grand was the going rate. And the swabbie signed?on the dotted line. A real sap. He figured the lender for a chump, but the loan said otherwise. And what a doozy it was. It was the kind of loan you'd expect from an Italian suit with bad, orange skin, a greasy rolodex, and one eye on the door out; the kind of loan that would make a payday lender blush and a shark say he's sorry; the kind of loan that only a two-bit pension fund or a small town in Norway could appreciate. But none of that mattered. The banker got his cut?he always does. And the bluejacket with the round eyes got his itch scratched. He also got a mean-looking wart on his fico that won't be going away anytime soon.</em>
 
[quote author="caycifish" date=1209012391]Isn't there a wine country and casino up there?



Anyway, that was a really entertaining blog post. Thanks for sharing!</blockquote>


It's another 45 minutes north of SB on the 101.



Have you seen 'Sideways'? You got it Toyota. The Chumash casino is okay with an okay poker game. If I had to live in Santa Barbara county I'd move in with the ugly sister Santa Maria in a heartbeat.
 
Why did I leave?



As they say in the old country "Santa Barbara is for newly weds and nearly deads.". Not a lot of economic activity - although it would be a pretty good place to raise kids, eventhough the dynamic has changed a bit. When I was growing up, one next door neighbor was a baker, the other was an engineer, the man across the street was a mailman (bought his place after WWII with a VA loan - monthly mortgage = $32.00).



Santa Maria would put you closer to Jocko's (as well as the Elks for Saturday Tri Tip), although if I was going to live in that area, I would live in SLO (Baywood Park), only 20 minutes further north.



Graph: When I read that paragraph, I almost lost my coffee on my keyboard, and immediately thought of the roundel.
 
I lived in Hope Ranch for years, and wouldn't move back unless I was independently wealthy and did not have to work, and could travel AWAY from Santa Barbara frequently. It is breathtakingly beautiful. The demographic mix is bizarre - students, service workers, a small professional class (lawyers, doctors, architects, investment bankers, technology executives, college professors), a hardened gang culture, and a vast retiree population make for limited social opportunities for the 30-40 set. If you are an outdoorsy type, Santa Barbara is a wonderland, but it is a VERY slow-paced lifestyle.
 
I was at the SB this weekend. <strong>http://www.fourseasons.com/santabarbara/photo_gallery/</strong> The place is indeed what you have described slow paced. I needed that in my life. This is definitely the place of old money and understated elegance. RE prices are much higher there than San Marino and Beverly Hills.



There is a strip mall in Hope Ranch with a Sears called La Cumbre. It is one of the ugliest 1950's malls. What is amazing is that the entrance drive into this center is adjacent to the trash and loading dock of Vons. I was able to see the mess driving in and out of the center.



Louis Vuitton and Tiffany both will be opening stores there next to Sears the only anchor store and a drug store. Both are the toughest tenants who demand the best curb appeal from the landlord. I guess the money in Hope Ranch is the motivation. I will be case studying this project as a "mutation" deviation from the traditional retail formula.



Louis Vuitton has locations in Beverly Hills, San Francisco, South Coast Plaza, and Hope Ranch.





















[quote author="CM_Dude" date=1209018169]I lived in Hope Ranch for years, and wouldn't move back unless I was independently wealthy and did not have to work, and could travel AWAY from Santa Barbara frequently. It is breathtakingly beautiful. The demographic mix is bizarre - students, service workers, a small professional class (lawyers, doctors, architects, investment bankers, technology executives, college professors), a hardened gang culture, and a vast retiree population make for limited social opportunities for the 30-40 set. If you are an outdoorsy type, Santa Barbara is a wonderland, but it is a VERY slow-paced lifestyle.[/quo
 
bk,



Check out this blurb from La Cumbre's website, regarding their "redevelopment":



"Positioned in the highly desirable coastal city of Santa Barbara, La Cumbre Plaza?s enhancement project will bring new and exciting shopping to Santa Barbara while still retaining the heritage of this wonderful property. Under the direction of the center?s parent company, Macerich, La Cumbre Plaza will elevate both its retailer mix and architectural appearance. The end result will be a relaxed and sophisticated setting that brings La Cumbre Plaza to life.



La Cumbre Plaza is committed to providing more than just a shopping experience. The enhancement project will enable us to create a place for family and friends to gather and enjoy while surrounded by classic California Spanish architecture. Simple, elegant touches will place an emphasis on lush landscaping, a children?s activity area and family restrooms, creating a timeless design that will embrace the area?s architectural heritage.



We invite you to join us throughout the enhancement process to shop, celebrate, and explore the exciting changes happening at La Cumbre Plaza."



La Cumbre was one of our favorite places to hang out in the late high school, early college days. Many friends/girlfriends worked there, and the "strip mall" feel was ideal for hanging out and socializing. There are many entrances, most with much higher curb appeal than the one you describe. I think they hope you come in off Hope or State Street, but you are right - the location of that Vons is odd. That may be duue to the limited availability of land up there.



It looks like they have finally realized that the 1980s standard won't work if they want to attract the kind of tenants that will attract the truly wealthy that live in Hope Ranch. There are a lot of vacancies there now, and they replaced the Red Robin with a Marmalade Cafe. the retailer mix there now is much more upscale than when I lived there...
 
La Cumbre Plaza is right between Hope Ranch and where I grew up (other side of State). When I was a kid, Five Points (the other side of La Cumbre) was the prototypical atomic era strip mall, anchored by a Thrifty's with a lunch counter, where the ice cream was $.05 per scoop. It got it's upgrade to Moorish when I was in junior high school.



Until Paseo Nuevo opened in 1991, La Cumbre Plaza was the place to shop in Santa Barbara. My mom bought "Toughskins" for me at the Sears, my dad bought tools at Sears, a treat was going to Kayser's for a Kayser's Krush (that will take you back, CM). I did all the youth programs at the YMCA next door (swim lessons, YBA, Youth and Government) - my mom would give me a two dollars and I would walk to the Y, and on the way back I would stop at Char West and get a taco and a 7-up slush. Many high school friends worked at the mall (I did two summer tours there myself). La Sumida was the nursery across the street where my parents bought all the plants for the yard (on an aside - Pat Sumida's family was interred during WWII, had all their land taken away, and had to work to buy it all back after the war - Sumida is now one of the largest individual land owners in Santa Barbara - good things happen to good people in the end). Christmas season was 70 degree days, and the sound of the Carillon at Robinson's playing Christmas carols on the hour.



When the mall originally opened, Robinson's (a So. Cal. department store that was eventually bought by Macy's - the Macy's at Fashion Island was a Robinson's originally) and Sears were the anchors. This was when Sears was "the" American retailer (if you grew up in the seventies or earlier, you remember the "big book" at Christmas). There were a few other chains in the mall, but most of the stores were local. During the eighties, more chains pushed into the mall (Pottery Barn; Gap; Banana Republic - during their early Indiana Jones, surplus, jungle themed retail days; Eddie Bauer; some lame outfit called AKA Joe; Red Robin, etc.). Most of the locally owned business' could not compete, and left as the economy soured in the late eighties and early nineties. The opening of Paseo Nuevo downtown with it's Nordstrom's (oh the excitement - a true high end department store - my mom was a twitter! And they bussed in patrons from Bakersfield!) put a serious hurt on La Cumbre Plaza - until then, there was not any major shopping downtown to compete with La Cumbre Plaza. The major chains tried having two locations, but there was not enough traffic to justify it for most of them. The mall has tried to remake its self as upscale for about 15 years now, and in the process has bastardized the look of the mall. If you go to the north end parking lot, you can see the original design elements at the Macy's - a clean, somewhat modern take on Mission influences (you can see the same look at Fashion Island from the south parking lot looking at the Macy's). They have added all sorts of architectural elements that do not fit the scale, or other features. They are so out of place that when I see them, I envision workers using a hot glue gun to paste them on - like they are some type of Hollywood foam.



I think that Sear's owns it's location, which probably explains why it is still there. I also understand that certain departments still do good business for them.



The entrance you talk about (off the north bound 101) isn't original. The original entrance was from State St. over a planned bridge towards Robinson's (I do not believe the bridge was ever built - but the entrance is at that location). In fact, there was no through road on the east side of the mall - I had never thought about how that looked to a first time visitor until you mentioned it - I guess that is something for the planners to consider.



A note on Paseo Nuevo - it was built in a part of town that was in pretty bad shape - in fact, when I was in high school, it was the "dangerous" part of town after dark. Bars such as the Off Ice (now O'Malleys) were notorious for their hard core clientele (back then UCSB students stayed in IV to party - that is a topic for another post: "UCSB glory days during the late eighties and early nineties :)"). The area had been in decline for some time, with Ott's hardware store finding tough times. Ironically, the tough times began with the opening of La Cumbre Plaza and Five Points. A massive redevelopment project was undertaken in the late eighties, in conjunction with removal of stoplights on the 101 (you read that right). The mall is considered one of the greatest redevelopment projects in California history, for the economic, preservation, and aesthetic rejuvenation it brought to the area. One of the anchor tenants is a major bookstore. Another major bookstore moved in kitty korner to capitalize on the traffic (and provide a forum for Mason B. Mason ;)). These two placements wiped out the Earthling Bookstore, a local favorite. The new mall also put the hurt on mid State locations such as La Arcada (goodbye WA King and Andersen's), and the area next to the Arlington, as well as the afore mentioned La Cumbre Plaza. I guess the whole thing can be filed under "Best Intentions and Unintended Consequences" and "Watch Out What You Wish For".
 
<blockquote>(back then UCSB students stayed in IV to party - that is a topic for another post: ?UCSB glory days during the late eighties and early nineties ").</blockquote>


Some of us drove down by the carload from Fresno State for the privilege. The parties there during Halloween were like going to Disneyland on a capacity day, except there were double the people, cops on horseback, and all the frat houses (full of suburban white kids who'd never seen a ghetto or a gang member or a hard days' work for that matter) playing NWA and EasyE cd's at 130 decibels while pouring beers down two story beer bong.



I was there in 1990 and a week early before all hell broke loose in 1991. Good times. Frankly college sucked bad for me, but the partying was great. And this was some of the best.
 
I did a year in grad school at UCSB in the early 90s. I remember the Earthling closing. That was when the glitter of SB paled for me and the dirty, urine-stained underbelly really made itself clear. Then Alex's Cantina (both in Goleta and on lower State) shut down so there went my free happy hour yummies. (I was so poor back then, I would order water at the bar and pig out at the free buffet, sometimes that would be my main meal for the day!).



However, as long as the SB RoCo keeps brewing the best coffee south of the Bay Area, I'll keep going back on occasion for a Sunday morning brew and a stroll along the tourist-trap arts show.
 
To me, the really great years were in the early 1980's. Jeff Tedford and Henry Ellard. Boyd Grant coaching Fresno State basketball against Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV (we made the NCAA Tourney in 1982, won the NIT in 1983, and again in 1984). Playing the PCAA against Irvine and Peperdine and UCSB and New Mexico State and Long Beach. High school ruined athletics for me for some reason.



I think that bowl game was the California Bowl. There are no avocados in Fresno outside of the supermarket. There are lots of avacados in the Santa Barbara area.



I had Trent in a class together in the fall of 1992. Unlike most atheletes, he went to class and pulled his own. I don't know him outside of that. I doubt he would remember me, once class was over he was GONE. He was a busy guy.



College for me was working two part time jobsFriSatSunMon, taking 15+ units TuTh, studing like a madman on Wed. Game days were a pain in the ass because it would slow down my commute between shit jobs. Events like Vintage Days were to be avoided like the plauge because it brought out all the amatuer drinkers and thier assorted amatuer drinker drama/problems. Monster pressure to graduate ASAP because I was almost literally starving. If I had to do an extra load of laundry I would have to figure out what meal I was going to skip.



Now that I think about it, the partying was just okay in Fresno. It wasn't stellar, but I'm a fun guy and try to always make the best of it. The partying at UCSB was the best. I went to SLO a couple of times and it wasn't even close. UCSB in the late 1980's/early 1990s was partying the way college should be - SB warts and all.
 
Irvine Single Mom:



If you were hanging out at the Alex's in Goleta for happy hour, then I know: that you were a lot of fun; and a little bit dangerous! I remember being there one night right after happy hour, and the worst bar fight I have ever seen broke out. I saw one of the security gaurds get knocked down and kicked in the face - hard!



For my 21st birthday, I began at brunch at the Cattleman's (another upper State landmark gone) with a hangover from the night before. The waitress was a friend of a friend, and sent over a bottle of Champagne. We ended up strolling into Alex's downtown some hours later, and I don't really remember it from there! Funny how that worked.
 
cdm,



I was there 1984-1991, epic times in SB. The Graduate was THE place to be in IV, and I can't tell you how many nights I ended up in some strange place the next morning, with no idea how I got there! Alex's was amazing - I'm not sure if I was at the same fight you were, but the one I was at started with a guy who was ejected throwing a table through a window. His buddies who were still inside then started an epic brawl that took 20 cops to break up and lasted a solid ten minutes. I was a young jarhead, so it was fun wading in and helping out the bouncers. If you remember, a brawl like that brought down the law from everywhere - Bike Patrol, Airport Police, SB County Sheriff, SB City cops, and Highway Patrol.



ISM, we lived on happy hour food, gas station fast food (parent's foolishly gave me a gas card) and Sizzler on Hollister, with Taco Bell runs and other diversions as well.



Santa Barbara is a fantastic place to be a high school or college student, but too expensive and socially limiting for people our age - in my opinion!
 
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