Browse Items (249 total)

Not to scale. Things/ events I remember.

Principle sites that continue the nature of the Presidio as the center of the community to this day.

A June 17, 1919 edition of the Daily News proclaimed that "Spanish colors, hospitality, and traditions will predominate at Santa Barbara's summer fiesta.” Here, one of many traveling mariachi bands fill the downtown area with joyous music and…

It is a collection of images I think of when I look back on my time with the Presidio. There is my school, the entrance to Mike's office, the adobe kiln, gardening, a hummingbird (I always see them around here), a straw hat, etc.

A palm-reader wearing a traditional silk shawl engages audiences in Fiesta activities.

I've drawn what I consider to be the heart of the Presidio neighborhood, the area around the intersection of East Canon Perdido & Santa Barbara Streets.

The fashions of Old Spanish and the 1920's intermingle as children prepare for the parade down State Street.

Children prepare for the parade as they play in and around one of the featured carts.

Children look out at the State Street crowds at the Carillo intersection and welcome them to the festivities. In the background, the original County National Bank, today the Montecito Bank and Trust, can be seen.

Palomino horses, now a main feature in the Old Spanish Days Fiesta parade, are not native to Santa Barbara, but are the result of tireless work by Fiesta's first El Presidente, Dwight Murphy (above left). Golden Palomino horses, once known as…

The palomino horse was coined as "the living symbol of Old Spanish Days fiesta" in an August 3, 1941 News-Press article. These fair-maned horses were garbed in silver and paraded down State Street in the earliest Fiestas, and visitors still enjoy…

El Paseo was not only central to Fiesta, but to Santa Barbara's Spanish style as a whole. El Paseo opened in 1923 and, along with Casa de la Guerra, became the inspiration for reconstruction after the 1925 earthquake devastated the Santa Barbara…