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FRONT AND BACK OF RIVIERA TOUR

Park in front of Orpet Park on Alameda Padre Serra or at the El Encanto Resort (we will end your tour at the resort).  Start your walking tour of the Riviera by meandering through the park.  Former Park Superintendent E. O. Orpet established this 4-acre, two parcel (both sides of the street) park as a horticultural showplace in 1921. He made an extremely active park superintendent. He supervised plantings along Cabrillo Boulevard as well as the islands in the AndrÃĐe Clark Bird Refuge. The planting of olive trees along Olive Street was largely his work, as were the cork oaks in the Samarkand neighborhood and the magnolias on San Andres Street. He also was instrumental urging the use of ice plants along California highways. The park itself features distant ocean views, rare plants and trees, picnic tables, and walking paths.  Cross at corner of Alameda Padre Serra and Lasuen Road.  Note the reproduction of the original streetcar stop at the corner which is now a historical landmark.   Now walk up the walkway and stairs to Riviera Park.  Check out the fountains, the theatre and the early 20th century buildings.  In 1909, the State of California selected Santa Barbara as the site of a new Normal School of Manual Arts and Home Economics which would later become the Santa Barbara College.  As part of the terms to establish the school, the state required the city to provide land for the campus and transportation for students and faculty. Local banker Charles A. Edwards responded by donating 14 acres of his Upper Riviera tract. To which the city extended its streetcar line from the Santa Barbara Mission up to the Normal School site, later adding a short extension to Moreno Road; both of which would be removed in 1930.

Walk by the lotus pond and fountain to the Quad Building and turn left.  When you get to the street turn right and walk up to Mission Ridge. (Total distance approximately .15 miles)  Turn right on Mission Ridge.  Continue up Mission Ridge Road past Las Tunas Road for approximately .5 miles.  During this portion of the walk, take in the view to your right of Santa Barbara High School and it’s football field,  the Granada theatre and downtown State Street, the pier and on a clear Day the Mesa in the distance.  5 houses past Las Tunas Road just past 1704 Mission Ridge Road look high up on the cliff to your left and you will see a bust of Mr Franceschi overlooking Santa Barbara.  Emanuele Orazio Fenzi, better known as Francesco Franceschi (1843–1924), was an Italian horticulturist responsible for vastly increasing the botanical variety of Santa Barbara (introducing more than 900 species). He was also for awhile the primary landowner on the Riviera, our loaf-shaped hill overlooking the city’s downtown.  Continue on Mission Ridge for approximately .3 miles and turn left onto Franceschi Road and you can enter Franceschi Park on your left.  Franceschi Park is a 15-acre urban park on Santa Barbara’s Riviera, offering spectacular, panoramic views of the City. This park was once the home of famed botanist Francesco Franceschi and still provides a tranquil horticultural resource for the community. The park includes exotic plant varieties and celebrates the aesthetics of Mediterranean-climate landscaping. Spend 15-30 minutes or so here taking in the view from the benches and seeing what remains of his house and the botanic gardens that once were here.  Walk back out to Franceschi Road and turn left.  Note view of the top of Santa Ynez Mountain from Franceschi Road.  Continue on Franceschi Road to Hillcrest Road (approximately .45 miles)  Turn left and take in the views of the backside of the Riviera.  Continue on Hillcrest Road for approximately .4 miles and once again cross Mission Ridge Road, enter the Sheffield Reservoir and do a loop around. (Approximately .5 miles) The original open air reservoir was built in 1917 on what was at the time a remote 20-acre parcel in the foothills of Santa Barbara. The reservoir was named for Eugene S. Sheffield, one of the city’s first water commissioners, who in 1896 proposed the construction of Cold Spring Tunnel. The tunnel which can still be found today along the west fork of Cold Spring Creek was built as a solution to the city’s water needs. The tunnel was dug straight into the Santa Ynez Mountains to gather, as Mr. Sheffield had speculated, the water that naturally seeps in the mountains.

During the earthquake of 1925, which also damaged the Santa Barbara Mission, the original reservoir dam was destroyed sending 30 million gallons of water rushing down Sycamore Canyon and flooding parts of what is now the East Side.  In 1936 the reservoir was rebuilt under the Public Works Administration with a water capacity of 40 million gallons. In addition to the new 800 foot dam, a filtration plant was also constructed. The plant, which is still standing, was designed by local architect E. Keith Lockard. 

Because the 25-foot deep reservoir was open air it was susceptible to wind-blown contaminates and required the use of chlorine. However the chlorine itself could react with sunlight and water and create for example algae blooms as happened in 1996. In 2002 the Environmental Protection Agency reduced the allowable limit for such disinfection byproducts in drinking water. This change prompted the City to seek an alternative design for the reservoir.

In 2004, having secured funding, the City replaced the open air reservoir with two buried 6.5 million gallon concrete reservoirs. The City worked with neighbors and other local stakeholders to create the design you see that was both functional and would provide an open space environment. 

Continue back to the intersection of Hillcrest Road/Mission Ridge Road/Mountain Drive.  Walk carefully down Mountain Drive for approximately .3 miles past Foothill Road. Go past Foothill Road and continue down Mountain Drive under the oaks with great views of the Mission Canyon hills.  Turn left on Tremont Road. (approximately .4 miles past Foothill Road) Walk on Tremont and go past Riviera Ridge School on your right (approximately .2 miles) HISTORY. Cross Las Tunas Road on your left and Tremont Road turns into Mission Ridge.  Walk approximately .3 miles to Alvarado Place and turn right.  The El Encanto Resort entrance is on your left.  Finish your walk here with a bite or a libation. 

 

TOTAL DISTANCE APPROXIMATELY 3.7 MILES

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BRIEF FRONT OF RIVIERA TOUR

Park in front of Orpet Park on Alameda Padre Serra or at the El Encanto Resort (we will end your tour at the resort).  Start your walking tour of the Riviera by meandering through the park.  Former Park Superintendent E. O. Orpet established this 4-acre, two parcel (both sides of the street) park as a horticultural showplace in 1921. He made an extremely active park superintendent. He supervised plantings along Cabrillo Boulevard as well as the islands in the AndrÃĐe Clark Bird Refuge. The planting of olive trees along Olive Street was largely his work, as were the cork oaks in the Samarkand neighborhood and the magnolias on San Andres Street. He also was instrumental urging the use of ice plants along California highways. The park itself features distant ocean views, rare plants and trees, picnic tables, and walking paths.  Cross at corner of Alameda Padre Serra and Lasuen Road.  Note the reproduction of the original streetcar stop at the corner which is now a historical landmark.   Now walk up the walkway and stairs to Riviera Park.  Check out the fountains, the theatre and the early 20th century buildings.  In 1909, the State of California selected Santa Barbara as the site of a new Normal School of Manual Arts and Home Economics which would later become the Santa Barbara College.  As part of the terms to establish the school, the state required the city to provide land for the campus and transportation for students and faculty. Local banker Charles A. Edwards responded by donating 14 acres of his Upper Riviera tract. To which the city extended its streetcar line from the Santa Barbara Mission up to the Normal School site, later adding a short extension to Moreno Road; both of which would be removed in 1930.

Walk by the lotus pond and fountain to the Quad Building and turn left.  When you get to the street turn right and walk up to Mission Ridge. (Total distance approximately .15 miles)  Turn right on Mission Ridge.  Continue up Mission Ridge Road past Las Tunas Road for approximately .5 miles.  During this portion of the walk, take in the view to your right of Santa Barbara High School and it’s football field,  the Granada theatre and downtown State Street, the pier and on a clear Day the Mesa in the distance.  5 houses past Las Tunas Road just past 1704 Mission Ridge Road look high up on the cliff to your left and you will see a bust of Mr Franceschi overlooking Santa Barbara.  Emanuele Orazio Fenzi, better known as Francesco Franceschi (1843–1924), was an Italian horticulturist responsible for vastly increasing the botanical variety of Santa Barbara (introducing more than 900 species). He was also for awhile the primary landowner on the Riviera, our loaf-shaped hill overlooking the city’s downtown.  Approximately 350 feet/175 steps past the bust take the foot path on your right (opening between the guardrail) and follow it down for approximately 375 steps/.15 mile to Dover Road.  This path was established so that students from the top of the Riviera neighborhood could easily get down to Jefferson Middle School located on Alameda Padre Serra.  Turn right when you get to Dover Road.  Stay on Dover for a short 500 feet and at fork in road veer left onto Paterna Road.  The interesting turnaround area was once a trolley turn.  Most of the homes here on Paterna were built in the 1930s.  The frog wall will appear on your right between 1600-1700 Paterna.  According to local history, a plastic frog appeared in 1989 at this location, and over the following 30 years, neighbors and visitors to the area added their own frogs to the wall.  Please be respectful when visiting. Making your own froggy offering is an excellent way to contribute to the specialness of the shrine. 

 Continue on Paterna until Lasuen Road (approximately .35 miles).  Turn left.  On your right used to be student housing which is now the back side of the El Encanto Resort.  Continue straight on Lasuen at the stone light above Orpet Park to Alvarado Place.  (approximately .12 miles) Turn right and the El Encanto Resort entrance will be shortly on your right.  With the opening across the street of the Normal School campus in 1914, an immediate shortage of housing developed on the hillside. To help fill that need, James M. Warren built a two-story dormitory, two 10-room houses, and three cottages on his property adjacent to the Normal School along Lasuen Road. These buildings would prove unpopular with students and would go on to house Santa Barbara’s tourists as the El Encanto Hotel.   Also spurred by activity of the Normal School, developer George Batchelder and a group of investors formed the Riviera Company in 1913. Mr. Batchelder sought to promote the southern slope of the Mission Ridge as the Pacific equivalent of the Mediterranean Riviera and thus appropriated the name “Riviera” to create a new image for what was once little more than a barren and undesirable hillside.

Finish your walk here at the 5 star resort with a delicious bite or a libation. 

TOTAL DISTANCE APPROXIMATELY 1.5 MILES

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Join Your Neighbors at the Riviera Association Spring Gathering!

Sunday, May 7th

4:00-6:00 PM

Riviera Ridge Campus

Upper Campus > Access @ 911 Tremont Road

Celebrate Spring with other Riviera families while enjoying live music, delicious local wines, gourmet appetizers by Omni Catering, an art display by local artist Laurie MacMillan, plus a chance to win a Spring Bouquet by Hogue & Co. or a Complimentary Spa treatment at The El Encanto.

 Ray Ford, Keynote Speaker

Ray is the author of several guides to Santa Barbara foothill trails and a contributor to Noozhawk.

RA Spring Meeting 2023 – Save the Date Invitation – Final with RA Letterhead

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About the Riviera Association

About the Riviera Association

Founded in 1930, the Association is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) organization that works to maintain and enhance the distinctive character of the Riviera and quality of life of its members. We educate and engage with our members on ways we can collectively improve our neighborhoods and increase public safety, focusing on areas such as zoning, density, policing, roadways, utilities, traffic safety, fire protection and land use.

The Association is primarily focused on addressing Riviera-specific needs and issues, but in some cases, we also work to educate our elected officials and advocate for Riviera interests at the City level. Following are examples of some of our recent accomplishments:

  • Worked with SB City Parks and Public Works to arrange for clean-up at Franceschi Park and for clean-up and beautification of the medians on APS.
  • With the help of our District 4 councilmember Kristen Sneddon, educated SB City Council and City Fire on the need for increased fire mitigation efforts on the Riviera, which led to decisions and additional resource commitments that were adopted and formalized in the updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
  • Gathered and disseminated to our members important information on home hardening and other opportunities to reduce wildfire risks, including the benefits of forming Firewise Communities to better protect our neighborhoods.
  • Along with Councilmember Sneddon, worked to educate City leadership about the wildfire-related risks of allowing State Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) lot splits and duplexes on the Riviera, which helped to influence the Council to prohibit SB 9 in our district.
  • Organized and moderated a City Council District 4 candidates forum.
  • Host in-person Spring and Fall meetings each year, and held virtual meetings during the pandemic. Recent speakers have included Jill Zachary of SB Parks and SBIFF executive director Roger Durling.
  • Surveyed association members on key issues facing the Riviera and our city, drawing on the 140+ responses in our discussion with City leaders to advocate for improved fire safety, more affordable workforce housing, and preservation of our downtown character and aesthetic.
  • Continue to monitor Riviera parks and other public spaces for graffiti, and follow up with the City as needed to effect removal (usually within 1-2 days).
  • Recruited 8 members to serve 3-6 year terms on the Association’s Board. If you are interested in serving on the Board or its associated committees, please contact our president Shelley Bookspan at shelley@rivieraassociation.org.

 

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Interesting news from around the neighborhood….

The annual Palm Springs sculpture display (Desert X) opened this week and includes  “Sleeping Figure”  a work by Matt Johnson the son of long time Riviera Association member Bob Johnson.  The photo is of the work being assembled.   More information can be found at https://desertx.org/dx/dx-23/matt-johnson

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February 2023 Winter Storm Photos

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” — John Muir

If you have any great photos of the Riviera from the recent storms worth sharing on our website please send them to me at merickson@rivieraassociation.org

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