Santa Barbara Historical Museum

05/25/2026

Remembering the heroes whose sacrifice shaped our history this Memorial Day. 🇺🇸

📷️:
"Two Vietnam veterans stand guard near a half-staff U.S. flag during Memorial Day activities at Lompoc's Vietnam Veterans Memorial", May 31, 1993
Photo by Elaine Thompson
From the Museum's recently acquired Santa Barbara News-Press archive.

05/23/2026

In honor of Santa Barbara's I Madonnari Street Painting Festival this weekend, we're sharing this memory of the annual festival, photographed from atop Old Mission Santa Barbara by Mike Eliason in 1989!

Were you at I Madonnari when this photo was taken? Share your memories below and tag a friend! 👇

Image from the Museum's recently acquired Santa Barbara News-Press collection.⁠ Follow us as we share more local stories, photographs, and records documenting our community’s civic and cultural life.

05/22/2026

: The late 1800s were the heyday of the olive industry in Santa Barbara.

Prior to the arrival of Ellwood Cooper in 1870, Mission Santa Barbara was the center of a rather modest olive industry in Santa Barbara. However, by the late 19th century, Cooper would become one of the major commercial olive growers in California, and one of the top olive oil producers in the nation. His olive orchards in the Goleta Valley contained more than 12,000 trees, and he enjoyed a reputation for the purity of his product.

Learn more about the South Coast's olive industry here: https://www.independent.com/2010/05/19/los-olivos/

📸⁠:⁠
Group of olive pickers on Ellwood Cooper's ranch, c. 1890
Photo by Norman H. Reed (1848-1917)
Collection Santa Barbara Historical Museum⁠
1965.232.1157

Ellwood Cooper Olive Oil Mill Interior Workshop, Goleta, California, c. 1900⁠
Collection Santa Barbara Historical Museum⁠
1965.232.147

05/18/2026

05/12/2026

Did you know?🔍️ Since its opening in 1937, one of the jewels of Santa Barbara’s social scene has been the Coral Casino. Set next to the Biltmore Hotel, the casino has been the venue for magnificent parties and events attended by local luminaries, European dignitaries, and Hollywood stars. 🌟⁠
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You can learn more about the history of this Santa Barbara County landmark in the History 101 article here, written by Museum Historian Michael Redmon and originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent in 2014: https://www.independent.com/2014/10/14/coral-casino/⁠
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Images from the Museum's Gledhill Library collection.

Ps: If you visit Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club, make sure to check out the many historic images on their walls from our collection.

05/09/2026

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary celebration this summer, join the Museum on July 1 for a chance to relive the sights and sounds of summers past, featuring a special concert by the Doublewide Kings, and pop-up photo exhibition of treasured Independence Day memories from our recently preserved Santa Barbara News-Press Collection.⁠
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Santa Barbara has long celebrated Independence Day with a style all its own, and throughout the 20th century, the Santa Barbara News-Press documented these local traditions through the lens of its photographers. Now, moments many remember experiencing firsthand—or following through the pages of the local paper—are brought to life once again through this special selection of historic photographs, celebrating the traditions, nostalgia, and unmistakable spirit of summer on the South Coast.⁠
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Celebrate the music that has shaped generations with the Doublewide Kings, whose electrifying performances and a signature twist on songs by The Allman Brothers Band, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Rolling Stones, and Grateful Dead, capture the enduring spirit of rock and roll.⁠
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Join us as stand for community, history and great music! Click the link here to purchase tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stars-stripes-santa-barbara-doublewide-kings-concert-tickets-1988816511724?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios&sg=f94aee89f0530678591c0b100e015c0ce551b8b0bb8131d3eb349856cd4773334867efe229e1b2ace261a1fddb2ac12a57b6cfbc8eb61c519af69b4e1de252512b85051cce5bf2184490bebd50

05/06/2026

Join us 1st Thursday and enjoy Tony Ybarra’s Jazz Duende Trio, wine and our exhibitions!

05/05/2026

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Sharing a to Sylvester Rodriguez and Beatriz Moran performing at City College's 1985 Cinco de Mayo celebration!🎇

Photo by Raphael Maldonado, from the Museum's recently acquired Santa Barbara News-Press collection.📷️🗞️ Follow us as we share more stories from this collection!

05/03/2026

Every Sunday morning on KMGQ-FM Goleta from 1983 to 1986, local radio and media personality Bayard Stockton interviewed local celebrities, authors, scientists, and artists about a diverse range of topics. ⁠While Stockton passed away in 2006, his decades-long commitment to promoting the local community and the people who call it home lives on through Good Companions. ⁠
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The Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s Gledhill Library recently digitized over 100 episodes of Stockton's show, Good Companions, and is thrilled to announce a new podcast, Catching up with Good Companions, in which host Emma Holm-Olsen revisits select episodes of the historical broadcast.⁠

Listen to Bayard Stockton’s April 3, 1983 interview with writer and environmentalist Robert Easton here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1SnP1JlYHLCOAuGK8suw60

📸:
Robert Easton, 1990
Photo by Steve Malone
Image from the Museum’s Santa Barbara News-Press Collection

04/28/2026

Prom season is right around the corner...💃🕺✨️

Enjoy this image of a Santa Barbara High School dance, taken in 1955 by Tomlinson Studio, from the Museum's recently acquired Santa Barbara News-Press Collection.

Share with us in the comments your favorite school dance memory!💭