Santa Barbara Cali
 

Passing through Santa Barbara to spend one night. Any suggestions for a very nice place to stay? Making our way up to San Fran.

San Ysidro Ranch where JFK and Jackie honeymooned..up in the hills.
Four Seasons,.by the water.
Fess Parker Resort, by the water.

BTW - remove the term "Cali" from your vocabulary before you arrive :)

The Canary Hotel, a newly refurbished hotel, is lovely, almost dreamy. My wife especially loved the place.

it's downtown, so within walking distance of a dozen or more restaurants.

Just personal pref, Fess Parker is you want to be near the beach and San Ysidro if the beach isn't importnat. OR an excelletn B&B - Inn on Summer Hill.

You'll love the drive up the Cali coast! :)

Since it's just one night, Harbor View Inn would be my suggestion. You can walk the wharf across the street, and also walk or take the trolley to downtown restaurants.

I'm a native Californian, of an age when there were not very many natives.

PLEASE DON'T CALL IT CALI. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard!! Before I read your post, I was going to say it's as bad as calling San Francisco, "San Fran", but I see you did that too!

Argh!

Or 'Frisco'!!!

Iroche, I hope your one night in SB isn't a Friday or Saturday because most hotels have a 2-night minimum on weekends.

Agree. Saying 'Cali' or 'Frisco' will identify you as a tourist immediately and silly or not will subject you to eye-rolling or smirks from the locals.

The hotel recommendations up above are all good, depending on what kind of experience you want.

http://www.sbcastilloinn.com/

This is a very nice little motel, right by the water.

It isn't so much that these terms will label you as a tourist - people will figure that out pretty quick when you are touring around when most people are working :) And being a tourist is not at all a bad thing. Tourism is a big part of our economy here and we love that tourists come. There are just come terms that grate on people's nerves - I think it is mostly because it seems that people from other places think that they are in-the-know by using the nicknames, but the nicknames are ones that only people from elsewhere use.

As a second generation Californian I should be laid back enough not to let such things bother me.
But please do not use that name for our state. It was coined by the idiot gangbangers in their "music" and should stay with them.

I am a big fan of hip hop and those who coined the term "Cali" were not gangbangers, nor were they idiots. I believe we have LLCoolJ to thank for the term, and while I love LL and think he is one of the finest male specimens ever to walk the planet, I do not thank him for introducing "Cali" to the vernacular.

I have the same reaction to logandog referring to "idiot gangbangers in their "music" " Puhleeze.

November moon please read the lyrics to ".357 Break It on Down" by Mr. CoolJ and tell me the theme is not violent murder by firearms.

People have been calling it Cali for many years and will continue to do so.

What's more annoying is that people who are annoyed by "Cali" can't get over it, and ruin travel threads with their nitpicky pet peeving.

Keep using Cali, San Fran (or Frisco is even better). Not that it matters, but it labels you as a tourist. Which of course you are, which explains why you use those terms.

Clark, I don't know anyone who calls it Cali, other than a few rock singers.

It matters only in that, if your name was Clarkgriswold and people called you Woldy and you didn't like that term it would annoy you - that is all this is about.

Clark, You've been around Fodors for a long time. You know this is how we roll :)

logan - I know the lyrics to that song, thanks. I never said that the man didn't rap about violence, just that he wasn't a gangbanger - big difference.

I'm also a second generation native Californian. In fact I've moved back to my home 'town', which is a city not a town, some 30 years ago.

It's called California, nothing else.

Personally speaking, I don't think people who try to shorten it are tourists or ignorant tourists...I think they're idiots.

Ok everyone, I didn't go onto Fodor's and post my question to get chewed out by everyone over the words " Cali" or " San Fran"! Quite petty if you ask me!
Being from Boston, we have nicknames for everything. And not to hurt your feelings, but.... those are the nicknames that people use on the East Coast for your state! Come to Boston and lighten up.

'Frisco' is making a comeback among the young and hip

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...14/DD67721.DTL

Humm, my dad was a native Californian, was in the Navy in WWII, shipping out of San Francisco etc. As kids, I remember him always referring to it as Frisco. Was it a WWII navy thing?

And geesh, leave Iroche alone. Not a good way to welcome her/him to our state.

Michelle,
I believe the 'dont call it Frisco' crowd didnt get going until after WW2. Long before the 'dont call it Frisco' crowd was born, natives called it Frisco. Frisco TX was so named because it was on the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway and chose the name to honor San Francisco.

Thanks Frank. Interesting history!

LoveItaly would know this history since she was a native. Miss her here :(

Around here if one is going to San Francisco they are going to "The City".

I (native Californian) and hubby (3rd generation Californian) have never been to Cali. Columbia is not on our bucket list.

Welcome to California, Iroche!

Boston Mass, doesn't that just grate like nails on a chalkboard!

Why it's almost as bad as "Vegas" and "L.A" and "Cabo" and
"Chi-town"


Damn tourists!

Iroche I'm sorry we hijacked your post.
We would just like to request that fellow fodorites please not use the term.
It may seem petty to you, but is has meaning for us.
Have a wonderful trip to California.

Speak for yourself, I love to hear the term "Cali" and I also like to hear tourists say "highway" instead of freeway, "The San Diego Freeway" instead of "the 5", and "Route 101" instead of "the 101".

And I just love it when they say "excuse me" instead of "my bad", and "I'm sorry" instead of "No worries".

Now does anybody have any more suggestions in Santa Barbara?

"Speak for yourself, I love to hear the term "Cali" and I also like to hear tourists say "highway" instead of freeway, "The San Diego Freeway" instead of "the 5", "
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Tracey
If tourists looked puzzled because you tell them that, its because those tourists know the 'San Diego Freeway' is the 405, not the 5

My point exactly, Frank! (and "No worries" doesn't mean "I'm sorry", either.) Tourists are all mixed up, give them a break!

Second generation Californian here. I started a thread a few months ago about my dislike of the term "Cali". Glad to see I'm not the Lone Ranger!

FrankS - Did you read the article you referenced?

First, it was a tattoo artist, and the next reference was a T shirt shop selling to tourists.

Then there is an interview with someone who said ""Most of the young people rockin' Frisco stuff are probably not from here".

The article further says that sailors back to the middle ages called any port where repairs to their boat to be made was called frisco.

It's The City, or San Francisco, nothing else.

It's California, nothing else.

Sounds stuffy, but I also try not to denigrate other cities or states. "Did you hear the one about the man from....?"

Yes, I read the article. Im understand the people, like the tattoo guy or t shirt vendor, that dont believe California and San Francisco are sacred names.

Its a name, get over it already

november moon, I don't think we can blame that on JJLcool whatever. I remember some newyorker back in the 70's saying, "Cali" and "Frisco" I bet he wondered why no one liked him.

The OP should note already "Cali" has already lessened her chances of getting some good information.

Its a name, get over it already...
really franco, would you like us to change your name? :)

I personally don't care what someone calls San Francisco or California - it merely says to me the person is uneducated or uninformed.

It's like when you come to San Diego and Americanize local Spanish city names. Love La Jolla (La Hoya) which becomes La Jol-la. Or El Cajon (El Cahon) which becomes El CaJOHN!!

It just makes you stand out as not the brightest bulb in the chandellier.

(My favorite is Jacumba)