Stearns Wharf and West Beach

John Peck Stearns came to Santa Barbara in the late 1860s and opened a lumberyard at the foot of State Street. He could see the town's problem plainly: without a pier long enough to reach past the shallows, no ship could tie up at low tide, and a coastal town cut off from the sea traffic of its day could not grow. With financial backing from Colonel William Welles Hollister, Stearns built his wharf out into deep water and finished it in 1872.

The effect was immediate. Cargo and passengers that had once been ferried in through the surf could now come straight ashore, and within a few years a rail spur was run out onto the wharf so freight could roll right off the ships. For decades the pier was Santa Barbara's doorstep to the wider world, the place where lumber, goods, and travelers arrived, before highways and a modern harbor changed how the coast moved.

A working pier over open water leads a hard life, and Stearns Wharf has led a dramatic one. A storm in 1878 tore away more than a thousand feet of decking, the 1925 earthquake that shook Santa Barbara left its mark, and fire has twice nearly taken the wharf: a spectacular pre-dawn blaze in 1973 closed the pier for years, and a 1998 fire fed by the creosote-soaked timbers burned away a long outer stretch before it was brought under control. Each time the town rebuilt.

There was a Hollywood chapter, too. In 1945 a syndicate that included the actor James Cagney and his brothers bought the wharf's franchise, meaning to lean it toward tourism and recreation rather than shipping. The partnership did not last long, but it marked the turn from a working freight pier to the beloved public landmark the wharf is today, a place people come simply to walk out over the sea.

The wharf is a place to arrive slowly and look around. From the deck you get the whole postcard at once: the forest of masts in the small-boat harbor to the west, the red-tile roofs and church towers of the town, and behind everything the Santa Ynez Mountains rising steeply green or gold with the season. Pelicans loaf on the rails, sea lions bark from the pilings, and on a clear day the Channel Islands sit low on the horizon out to sea.

Near the end of the pier is the Ty Warner Sea Center, a small hands-on marine museum run by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Its touch tanks and exhibits sit right out over the water and let you meet the creatures of the Santa Barbara Channel up close, which makes it a favorite stop with families. Around it the wharf keeps the friendly, salt-worn feel of an old California pier, a public place to stroll, fish, and watch the light change on the water.

Step down off the wharf and you are on West Beach, the wide, calm crescent of sand between the pier and the harbor. Sheltered by the shape of the coast, its water is gentler than the open surf beaches nearby, which makes it a fine place for an unhurried walk, a game of beach volleyball on the courts, or simply sitting to watch the sailboats come and go from the harbor mouth.

Behind the sand runs Cabrillo Boulevard and its palm-lined promenade, one of the most pleasant strolls or bike rides on the coast, leading from the wharf toward the harbor and the breakwater. Every Sunday of the year, and on some holiday Saturdays, the beach side of Cabrillo comes alive with the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, a long open-air line of local painters, potters, photographers, and makers that has set up beside the water since 1965. It is free to wander, and between the show, the beach, and the wharf you can spend a whole easy afternoon on foot without ever moving the car.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.