3 ms·

I lived in Santa Barbara for 10 years. There's a thriving counterculture and a vibrant art and music community. The richie riches have their Montecito/Hope Ra

I lived in Santa Barbara for 10 years. There's a thriving counterculture and a vibrant art and music community. The richie riches have their Montecito/Hope Ranch/etc supermansions, but the spirit of the place is bohemian. As for transit, I can tell you from personal experience that it's a biking city. Busses have front and back bike racks and since the whole city is on a slope you can coast from uptown to downtown easily with the expectation that you'll be able to ride a bus back up.

sillyfluke 2y ago
The vibe is uber rich bohemian, sure. Everything is relative -- to most outsiders SB proper is itself richie riches, it is literally 20-30 min walk fron SB coastal road to Montecito. I don't mind taking advantage of the nice "bohemenian" shops when I'm there but have you noticed how many emptied out shops there were on state street the past year? It definately gives me "Let me open my dream antique/clothing store using my family/partner's money and ride it out as far as our budget allows" vibes. Also, compared to Europe the ocean is objectively garbage for swimming (no shade for the surfing or what not). But there is little alternative in the entire US I guess so there's that. (not the one that downvoted you by the way)