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Born May 7, 1919 at Cottage Hospital, Jayne Kelsey Wickman grew up in the Presidio neighborhood and has become a true humanitarian of Santa Barbara. She met Swede Wickman, who she would eventually marry, while vacationing in Los Prietos (Santa Ynez)…

Raised in El Paso, Texas, Elvira moved to Santa Barbara in 1975, where she started teaching a Spanish language course for native Spanish speakers at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC). In teaching the course, she discovered that the amount of readily…

Today, tents and booths line De La Guerra Street and De La Guerra Plaza; in the 1920s and 1930s, an open air market welcomed visitors and residents alike to De La Guerra Plaza and El Paseo.

At Casa de la Guerra, two costumed dancers are surrounded by musicians

Man wearing sombrero and serape riding a donkey

Woman in embroidered shawl.

Woman in Fiesta costume standing in front of archway

Professor John Kemble's history class from Pomona College in the rear of the Canedo Adobe, 1956. The class was on its way north on a spring break trip with a Gold Rush theme, and stopped by the home of Elmer and Barbara Whittaker, good friends of Dr.…

Russell C. Ruiz (left) helped lead tours of the Presidio on Saturday mornings dressed in the uniform of the soldado de cuera, along with other members of the Presidio Volunteers, including Pete Aguilar, Lottie McFarland, and Julio Cruz, among others.…

The above is an interview between two longtime Santa Barbara residents Julia Forbes and Louise Ardohain. Born in Pasadena, Julia Forbes moved to Santa Barbara as a five year old in 1919. She graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1931 and went…

A graduate in civil engineering from UC Berkeley, Norman Caldwell went on to earn his Master’s Degree at Cal Tech and joined the US Army Corps of Engineers following America’s entrance into World War II. Shortly after his service, he enlisted in the…

Emilio Tabacci came to Santa Barbara in 1926 after immigrating to the US with his Swiss-Italian parents. His family owned a bakery on the 100 block of East Canon Perdido Street, near the site of what is now Jimmy' Oriental Gardens. He spent much of…