Fun Facts About Santa Barbara

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Clik here to view.*Santa Barbara is known as "The American Riviera" because it's dry, temperate climate, beautiful hills sloping down to the ocean, and stucco buildings with red-tiled roofs make it look like the European Riviera.

*Santa Barbara was the original "Hollywood".  In 1912, the Flying A Film Studio opened it's doors.  It was the largest film studio in the country and produced hundreds of movies before it's closing in 1920, including "The Perils of Pauline", the Bronco Billy westerns, and "Purity", which featured the first cinematic nude scene.

*Many movies have been filmed in Santa Barbara, including Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments", W.C. Fields "The Bank Dick",  "The Spririt of St. Louis", "The Graduate", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Seabiscuit" and "It's Complicated", just to name a few.

*Santa Barbara faces due South, not West as you might assume, and her beaches boast sunrise to sunset views.

*Santa Barbara has more open space per capita than any other city in the country - with 53 parks of all kinds, from formal and manicured to wild and Image may be NSFW.
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*Santa Barbara's community college, City College, is the top rated community college in the nation - Occupying the buildings that were once home to UCSB, before it's move to Isla Vista, it's nick-name is "Harvard on the Hill".

*Santa Barbara ranks in the top 20 counties in the country for number of bicycle commuters with over 5,000 people communting to work by bike.

*Santa Barbara's Metro Transit District operates the nation's largest fleet of battery electric vehicles.

*McDonald's Egg McMuffin was invented in Santa Barbara by franchise owner, Herb Peterson.

*During Old Spanish Days, or Fiesta, Santa Barbara hosts one of the largest equestrian parades in the country.

*The original Motel 6 opened in Santa Barbara in 1962, and is still in operation today.

*Santa Barbara is home to over 600 non-profits and 900 social and cultural programs and is unofficially considered home to more non-profits per capita than any other locale in the country. The Santa Barbara Foundation is one of the fifty oldest community foundations in the United States.

*The Santa Barbara Channel is one of the nation's richest sources of bountiful, sustainable and high-quality seafood in the country.  Santa Barbara Channel is the world's top source for sea urchin (90% of which is exported to Asia).

*Santa Barbara produces more orchids than any other region in the United States.

*Santa Barbara was the birthplace of the environmental movement in the United States.  Santa Barbara Channel was also the site of the world's first offshore oil platform.  Following a catastrophic oil spill in 1969, several grass roots organizations, including GOD (Get Oil Out), formed here with objectives to protect the environment and prevent future spills.  Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) came upon the idea of Earth Day while here surveying the damage caused by the spill.  He went on to establish the national "teach-in" about the environment that became Earth Day.

*We have celebrities!  These people live or have lived in Santa Barbara:

• Douglas Adams, author
• Tim Allen, actor
• Dame Judith Anderson, actressImage may be NSFW.
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• Jennifer Aniston, actress
• Marc Anthony, singer
• Edward Asner, actor
• Rona Barrett, columnist
• Thomas Blatt, Holocaust survivor and author
• T. Coraghessan Boyle, writer
• Henry Brant, composer
• Jeff Bridges, actor
• Ashleigh Brilliant, writer, cartoonist, columnist
• Major Frederick Russell Burnham, DSO, father of Scouting
• Charles Champlin, columnist
• Charlie Chaplin, actor, film-maker
• Julia Child, chef, television personality
• Thor Nis Christiansen, serial killer
• Warren Christopher, statesman
• Gary Collins, actor
• Kevin Costner, Actor
• Fred Couples, golfer
• David Crosby, musician
• Tom Cruise, actor
• Natalie D-Napoleon, musician
• Doug Davidson, actor
• Leonardo De Lorenzo, flautist and music educator
• Ellen DeGeneres, talk show host
• Bo Derek, actress
• Kirk Douglas, actor
• Robert Duvall, actor
• Danny Elfman, musician
• Craig Fairbrass, actor
• Fannie Flagg, actress/author of Fried Green TomatoesImage may be NSFW.
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• Jane Fonda, actress (1977 to 1991)
• John Forsythe, actor
• Anne Francis, actress
• Dennis Franz, actor
• Peter Racine Fricker, composer
• Lynette Fromme, attempted assassin, Manson Family member
• Whoopi Goldberg, comedienne, actress
• Andy Granatelli, race car owner
• Martha Graham, dancer
• Martin Gore, musician Depeche Mode
• Maggie Grace, actress
• Sue Grafton, novelist (whose Kinsey Millhone "alphabet series" books are set in a fictionalized version of Santa Barbara)
• Geri Halliwell, singer
• Lena Horne, actress, singer
• Jack Johnson, surfer, musician, filmmaker
• Bruce Johnston, musician
• Carole King, singer-songwriter
• Cheryl Ladd, actress
• Avril Lavigne, singer
• Lotte Lehmann, singer
• Charles Lloyd, jazz saxophonist
• Christopher Lloyd, actor, producer
• Kenny Loggins, musician
• Jennifer Lopez, singer, actressImage may be NSFW.
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• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress
• Mike Love, musician, The Beach Boys
• Ross Macdonald, author
• Karl Malden, actor
• Charles Manson, leader of murder cult
• Dennis Miller, talk-show host
• Harriet Miller, former Mayor of Santa BarbaraImage may be NSFW.
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• Robert Mitchum, actor
• Mary Ann Mobley, actress
• Stevie Nicks, musician, singer
• Peter Noone, singer (Herman's Hermits)
• Jack Palance, actor
• Alan Parsons, audio engineer, musician, record producer
• Glen Phillips, singer-songwriter and lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket
• Brad Pitt, actor
• Ronald Reagan, actor, politician
• Ivan Reitman, director
• Jason Reitman, director
• Ryan Reynolds, actor
• Selma Rubin, environmental activist
• Jane Russell, actress
• Laura Schlessinger, radio talk show host, author
• Charles R. Schwab
• Elizabeth Short, posthumously known as the Black Dahlia
• Joshua Seth, voice actor and comedy hypnotist
• Kelly Slater, surfer
• George Washington Smith, architect
• Steven Spielberg, director
• Diane Stevenett, actress
• Ernest Thayer author of Casey at the Bat
• Alan Thicke, actor
• Jay Thomas, actor, comedian, radio host
• Cheryl Tiegs, model
• Eddie Vedder, musician
• Paul Walker, actor
• Joe Walsh, musician, singer, songwriter, member of the Eagles
• Ty Warner, entrepreneur, real estate tycoon
• Stuart Whitman, actor
• Brian Wilson, member of the Beach Boys
• Jonathan Winters, comedian
• Dick Wolf, producer
• Robert Zemeckis, directorImage may be NSFW.
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• Warren Zevon, singer-songwriter
• Jordan Maron, Youtuber under the name of CaptainSparklez

But, let's face it, the most important fun fact about Santa Barbara is...WE HAVE OPRAH!!!