Santa Barbara State Historic Park

Awesome historical sites to explore with family. Unique piece of California history. Only four Spanish presidios where built in California. Knowing all those who have walked it thru the ages is amazing. Paths, heirlooms and exhibits are well marked with great story boards. You can spends a couple hours reading California history, Spanish Colonial days to the impact of WWII Japanese resident. The exhibit Japanese American community pre WW2, covers forty years of life in Santa Barbara’s Nihonmachi, or Japan Town. Unique historic photographs donated by local families. Parking is tough to find. You find coffee shops and restaurants across the Presidio. Great place to stroll with family.

Wonderful part of California history. The tour is short and the structure is amazingly upkeeped well. Very inexpensive and suggest to donate to keep up this amazing piece of History.

This is a very interesting place. I didn't have time to tour the entire thing. There are 4 rooms, gift shop included that lay out in fair detail the history of the place. The entire tour cost $5 and gives you access to all the buildings. Its a decent size place. There is no parking so you will have to park off site and walk.

This is a must! This experience is by far one of the richest in history and culture! The visitor's center is the first place to stop and buy your admission to the self-guided tour. This is on the corner of Santa Barbara street and Canon Perdido right in Downtown Santa Barbara between Anacapa and Santa Barbara St. We found parking on Casa de la Guerra at. The visitor's center attendee was well-informed and calmly explained the tour to us. He pointed out all of the points of interest and have us a walking tour book. The booklet tells you everything you need to know. My kids got in free because they are under 16, and my admission was only $5! Well worth it! We also bought some souvenirs in the Visitor's Center. Park a couple blocks away and walk through, you will have memories to last a lifetime. I am so intrigued that I purchased several books on the Anza trail, the local Natives, and the Spanish, Mexican, and American history of this area! Enjoy!

Well preserved site giving a good idea of how Spanish soldiers and their families settled and lived. The adobe bricks, ovens, tiles, chapel and utensils are some of the things worth checking. You have to pay about $5 for full access to the site (which in my opinion is worth it), but there are sections you can check out for free as well. The lady at the front desk is very friendly and gives a great overview of the historical background and how to best explore the place. There are a few things which I found a bit problematic and would be good to keep context of while you are doing the tour. In how it glorifies the settlers and their intentions, this is practically a shrine to early settlers and their lives, and hence to colonialism. There is little mention of the native Chumash people, and whatever there is, seems to be a bit whitewashed (e.g. how the fort was built by Spanish soldiers with the 'help' of the native people). There is one display right at the end which talks a bit about native peoples (in pics), but barring that it would seem as if everything was hunky-dory and everyone co-existed peacefully, which, as history tells us, was certainly not the case. I would still recommend the tour, since it puts you in the same space and rooms occupied by people a century back, but take everything with a pinch of salt.