The city of Santa Barbara, California, is a magical place. I lived there from 1984 until 1986, when I moved to Los Angeles and began my career as a Graphic Designer. I go back there as often as I can, and even more often in my imagination. If you've been there, you know why. If you haven't yet, you will.

By ten a.m. every day the morning mist "burns off" and the city of Santa Barbara wakes up slowly. My little place just east of Milpas Street was close enough to the ocean that you could smell the sea air and hear the seagulls. In this photo, my T-shirt says, "goodbye, minnesota, hello california". I don't remember who gave it to me.

Santa Barbara is so timeless. It amused me that, while I lived there in the 1980s, the postcards had images from the 1950s and 1960s, and no one seemed to notice. I thought that it would be nice to post some here.

Brad Hall For corrections and comments please contact Brad. All copyrights reserved. This page was updated on March 12, 2012

This page is done just for fun.

I worked for a little over a year at Dave Bean Engineering, the Lotus dealership. Not as ritzy as it sounds, it was in an old military-style building just up the beach on Punta Gorda Street, east of Milpas. Punta Gorda, by the way, means "Fat Point", which wasn't glamorous enough for Fess Parker when he built his resort down the street in the 1980s. The name was changed to Calle Puerto Vallarta. If you're familiar with Santa Barbara, it's just down from the Tri-County Produce, where I used to walk over and get an apple just about every day.

After leaving Dave Bean Engineering, I did freelance Graphic Design in Santa Barbara for a few months, using the name Brad Hall Advertising Art, which is now just Brad Hall Art. I became the Lead Designer at Blue Cross of California headquarters in Los Angeles after that, and didn't do much freelancing for a while, but now I'm back at it, and doing personal training in Computer Graphics, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver.

I miss Santa Barbara. If you are there, have an Omaha at Joe's for me!

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Santa Barbara - the riviera of southern california

Old photos of Santa Barbara from postcards

The Santa Barbara Pier. I think this postcard is from the early 1960s, but I'm not sure. Does anyone recognize any of the cars? The Santa Barbara pier extends out from State Street. When I lived there, the restaurant on the pier was Moby Dicks. I'm not a big fan of seafood, so it's wasted on me. I've had a gin-and-tonic there. Mostly I just like walking out on the pier. I know it may sound selfish, but let me breathe the air!

Santa Barbara, Cabrillo Boulevard at Milpas Street, looking east. East Beach is just behind the big palm trees on the right. The hotel in the center of this image is still there, although I'm sure it had a different name then. Note that there wasn't a traffic light there, where the car is turning, which is Milpas.

The Santa Barbara Courthouse. Of all the things that make you feel like you are living on a movie set in Santa Barbara, California, the courthouse is the top one. It is beyond spectacular in real life, more beautiful than any public building should ever be. I used to go out to the top of the tower to admire the view of the city and the ocean, I wonder if you can still do that?

The Santa Barbara Harbor. The postcard describes this as "an old Spanish Fiesta Day with a colorful parade." I do remember parades in Santa Barbara, but they were on State Street then. Doesn't seem like much of a crowd way back in the 1950s, unless people are watching from their cars, or from the boats. Maybe this is just where it started.

Looking down Cabrillo Boulevard at Castillo Street. From this angle you can see into the pool. I never used the pool. I guess it made sense to some people, not to me. I swam in the ocean. This photo is from the 1960s or early 1970s. Note the lack of any traffic lights at the intersections. By the time Iived there in the eighties, all of these intersections had traffic lights. That's a 1968 Ford Torino Fastback making the left turn.