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Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days 2009 - Images of Fiesta

 Just living in a place is not enough. You can live in a community and not understand it. Just looking at it won't do....Look into the history of the area – why it started, how it developed. The more research you can do about the place, the more you may realize that you don’t know it as well as you thought you did.

Let the subject speak for itself. Be true to the subject. Pretty pictures are only an escape from the subject. Don’t photograph a good-looking branch just because it looks nice; the branch should mean something about the community. Photography is statement; it has to tell us things about a place.

- Berenice Abbott, The Best of Popular Photography, by Harvey V. Fondiller, p. 280

Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days 2009 - ¡Viva la Fiesta!

Beginning with the August full moon and continuing for four days, the Old Spanish Days Fiesta is celebrated by the entire community.  Newspapers, newsreels, and national radio broadcasts publicize the event and attract thousands of visitors who join wholeheartedly in the festivities.  It is the city's most democratic festival - men, women, and children from all walks of life donning Spanish costumes and participating in the gaiety.   It had its inception on the occasion of the opening of the tradition-surrounded new Lobero Theater in 1924 and, except in 1925,  when the earthquake intervened, has been an annual affair ever since....This achievement and the restoration of the near-by Casa de la Guerra constituted an initial civic accent on the pagentry and charm of the pueblo of remembered yesterdays. 

Certainly no other California community could provide a more beautiful or more atmospheric setting, more gaily caparisoned steeds nor more inherent love of the traditional fiesta spirit.

Santa Barbara, American Guide Series, Works Project Administration, 1941 (p 103)

And again in 2009, during the full moon of August, all of Santa Barbara joins to welcome the Spirit of Fiesta - a spirit that was born at the Casa de la Guerra, built in 1828.  This was the home of the fifth comandante of the Santa Barbara Presidio, Don Jose de la Guerra, and his family. 

It was at the Casa de la Guerra that the sound of castanets, cante flamenco and Spanish guitar first accompanied the dancers who entertained  residents and visitors during special events and celebrations.  The De la Guerra family always extended a gracious and elegant Spanish welcome, lavish meals and warm hospitality to their visitors - despite their remote location on the Pacific Coast. 

It is this spirit of gracious welcome, of sharing and entertaining that inspired the first official Old Spanish Days  celebration in Santa Barbara in 1924, described above. 

This year, our  "Tribute to Tradition" celebrates the city's beautiful multi-cultural heritage, the blend of sights, sounds, customs, histories, colors and flavors that create the real Spirit of Fiesta.  

The Casa de la Guerra is the perfect place to begin your Old Spanish Days holiday - on the oldest street - and at the very heart - of our original city. 

Throughout the Fiesta celebration, the  courtyard of the  Casa de la Guerra will be filled with people and laughter and music.  This is the  site of  La Casa Cantina, open from noon to midnight each day.

Here, visitors discover a lively venue offering a bit of shade, a cold drink, and the opportunity to relax -  surrounded by the adobe walls that echo with mariachi music and  modern tunes - as well as the whisper of history that clings to the shadows and walkways.  

Be sure you take a little time to tour the adobe casa.  Acting as your hosts are the staff and volunteers from the  Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, caretakers of La Casa de la Guerra.

The Casa is open daily during Fiesta, and visitors are welcomed to walk the wide plank floors, to view the furnishings and decor passed down through family and friends of the De la Guerras.  Also,  you will  meet docents who can provide insight into daily life throughout the timeline of Santa Barbara.   They will share stories and legends about the local Chumash, various lovely ladies, savvy merchants, tough sailors, brave soldiers and hearty cowboys and other characters, as well as tales of Indian uprisings, marauding pirates, bandits and badmen, and even bear wrestling  - a popular pastime in the early days.

The Trust has recently unveiled an exhibit of  old "magic lantern" slides.  The slides were used with the early "magic lantern" projector, and featured exotic scenes from around the world.   Included in the exhibit are scenes from the early Fiesta celebrations that were held in Santa Barbara in the 1920s.

Inspired by these colorful and romantic scenes,  you might purchase a lacy fan, and practice the art and language of fans that was used long ago - when the De la Guerra girls were known throughout California for their poise and beauty.   (Carrying the fan in your left hand lets your admirer know that you are "desirous of making his acquaintance", while drawing the fan across your forehead means, "we are watched".) 

It is now, during Fiesta, that the veils separating the past and present seem thinnest, a time when you are aided in your quest to learn more about the rich history of this place.  From your beginning at the Casa de la Guerra,  you can take a passageway through  to the El Paseo - another historic courtyard.  This is also the home of the El Paseo Restaurant, site of many Old Spanish Days parties through the decades.  Even now, dozens of dancers perform and beautiful music is played long into the night....There are fabulous old murals, and black and white pictures of long-ago Fiesta celebrations on the walls.  The atmosphere is enchanting.

From there, you can walk east along De la Guerra Street, toward the mountains.  On the south side of the street, you will see the historic Meridian Studios, built by the famous architect, George Washington Smith in 1923.  The quiet studio gardens are cloistered behind iron gates, with flowered vines spilling down pink stucco walls.  At the back of the property you will find the Lugo Adobe, built in 1830 - another of Santa Barbara's  oldest buildings from the Pueblo Viejo.

The Santa Barbara Historical Society Museum is located next door to the Studios.  The museum has exhibits and artifacts that paint a detailed portrait of the confluence of people and events that created Santa Barbara. 

Also on the property is the Casa Covarrubias - the adobe home that was built in 1817 by Don Dominguez Carrillo, an early resident.   The buildings and garden offer a quiet corner away from the revelry, an opportunity to feel the "bones" of the place - the foundation of a city whose residents have insisted on incorporating beauty, history, and tradition into every day life.  

There are cool corners,  carved benches,  curved arches draped with vines,  and shaded fountains located throughout the downtown area.   It is not hard to find a place to take  a quiet moment in the midst of chaos and celebration. 

Tomorrow, there will be mercados, rodeos, music, and dancing.  Confetti will rain down from gold and silver cascarones.  Sidewalks will crowd with visitors and locals.  Bars will be noisy and full. 

And yet, if you look around,  you will be able to find a path back to the past - a glimmer of history that better illuminates the beautiful pageant all around you.

Flor de Fiesta - Preparing for Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days

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Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days  is right around the corner.   The theme of our Fiesta this year is "A Tribute to Tradition."    Santa Barbarans love to welcome visitors and friends who arrive to celebrate with us to enjoy four days of dancing and music, parades and rodeos, mercados, art shows,  fabulous food, beautiful weather, and the diverse mix of cultures that together, make this one of the world's most beautiful cities.

I see the preparations all over town.  Fiesta posters have appeared in store windows, invitations to special events have been sent, the City is clean and blooming and warm with summer sun.  When I walk to town, I often pass the Linda Vega Dance Studio on West Victoria Street.  The studio is set back from the shady street, down a long driveway.  I can hear the mournful Spanish guitars, and the sharp staccato steps of the young dancers.  The quiet neighborhood rings with the sound of their practice, long into the night.

I'm getting ready for Fiesta, too.  I'm inviting family and friends to stop by after the Children's Parade, and planning itineraries and menus in my mind.   And, every year, I search the town to find a "flor de Fiesta", a silk flower for my hair.   I wear fresh flowers, too, but this is my charm, my token, my remembrance flower that will hang on my wall after August has passed.  It will carry the fragrance of the Old Spanish Days, so that even in December, and April, I still have some Fiesta at home. 

This year, I found my flower at the Unity Shoppe. 

The Unity Shoppe is a unique thrift store on State Street, across the street from the Granada Theater.   They receive donations of beautiful clothing, shoes, home fashions, books, dishes, jewelry, and always, fabulous surprises.   The Unity Shoppe uses proceeds gained from their thrift store and other fundraising events, to support their food bank, clothing drive, and emergency fund that helps local residents in need. 

The Unity Shoppe is widely supported because they dispense generosity with dignity.  They are a home-town treasure, much beloved by Santa Barbarans. 

AND - they are known for their  fabulous Fiesta clothing.  First, just  a rack or two will appear in June.  But soon, the selection  grows, and as the summer passes, they become a bazaar full of  lace skirts and painted shawls, maracas, hats, shoes, and yes, flowers for your hair.  The Unity Shoppe carries Fiesta items for people of all ages - everything from  dresses for tiny toddlers to boots and fancy shirts for the old vaquero.

There are costumes to be had for a song - as well as some exotic imports and handmade  items intricate with embroidery and lace - that cost a bit more.. 

This year, I found my pink flower on this table amid the other blossoms, with the lace and glittery fans.

This weekend was also the first official event of the Fiesta 2009 season, the Old Spanish Days Annual Costume Sale held at the Santa Barbara Carriage and Western Arts Museum .  Vendors set up booths around the property, and  offer new, vintage, and handmade Fiesta costumes for sale.   There are the dramatic Spanish dresses, tight and slim and flared at the hem.  They are made of bright fabrics, satin and cotton and many yards of  lace.  Polka dots feature prominently.

The Mexican costumes are of a folklorico style, with yards and yards of fabric in their tiered skirts, with rows of ribbon trim and cotton dresses embroidered with bright floral panels.  The men can find cool guayabera shirts, and wide brimmed sombreros.

And for those of you who want the style of the Old West, I suggest you visit Jedlika's, where Santa Barbara County's real cowboys and cowgirls go for their Justin's, Stetsons, Wranglers, and Levis (you can't miss it - the big plastic horse is out front on the 2200 block of De la Vina).  They'll even show you how to wear the hat and cowboy up.

So, no matter who you will be at Fiesta -  a ship's captain, a pirate, an Aztec princess,

a cowboy fresh off the ranch,

a Spanish beauty,

or, like me, just a yourself with maybe a flower in your hair and big earrings, or a nice pair of boots and some Wranglers.... Fiesta is almost here.   Come to Santa Barbara, August 5 - 9, 2009, and enjoy our annual Old Spanish Days with us -it's  one of the highlights of our year.