Chapter 5 - The North American Manufacturing Core

Santa Barbara is widely known for its wonderful wineries and wine trails. Spanish missionaries planted the first wine grapes in the 1800's on the grounds of the Santa Barbara Mission. Many know Santa Barbara as Wine Country, which also extends up north to include places such as Sonoma, CA. Santa Barbara has become a prominent viticultural region (viticulture meaning the study and harvest of grapes). The grapes in this county are are now among the highest priced wines in the state. Santa Barbara is known as an American Viticultural Area (AVA).

Rancho Sisquoc - one of the first wineries in Santa Barbara County.

Santa Barbara county now has more than 115 wineries. Included in the Santa Barbara Central Coast AVA is the Santa Maria Valley AVA, Santa Ynez Valley AVA, Sta. Rita Hills AVA, Los Olivos AVA, Ballard Canyon AVA, and the Happy Canyon AVA.

One of the most widely known wine trails is the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail which includes Foxen Winery and Rancho Sisquoc, among others.

[Sources]

http://www.ranchosisquoc.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara_County,_California

http://www.foxencanyonwinetrail.com/

http://www.santabarbara.com/winecountry/trails/foxenvalleytrail.asp

Chapter 4 - Megalopolis

Located in the California megalopolis, Santa Barbara is 13th in rank in urban agglomeration. The largest being the Los Angeles area. Santa Barbara is located off the 101 freeway which links the city along the coastal regions of California. Santa Barbara also has its own airport and access to an Amtrak service. The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District provides bus services across the city. There are also numerous amounts of biking trails. Santa Barbara boasts being a car free area with its project Santa Barbara Car Free. It does not mean there are no cars, it just means anybody can get around Santa Barbara without the use of a car!

Santa Barbara is known for its many tourist attractions and big hospitality industry which has had a major impact on its regional economy. The motel chain, Motel 6, was actually started in Santa Barbara in the 60's. Firms like Alliant Techsystems and Raytheon have major operations in the city. Science and technology form the basis of the city's private employment.


According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report the top employers in South Santa Barbara County are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	University of California, Santa Barbara	6,200
2	County of Santa Barbara	4,000
3	Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital	2,500
4	Santa Barbara City College	2,000
5	Santa Barbara School Districts	1,800
6	Raytheon	1,500
7	Sansum Clinic	1,500
8	City of Santa Barbara	1,000
9	United States Postal Service	1,000
10	Santa Barbara Bank & Trust	950

Tourist attractions not only include Santa Barbara's beautiful beaches, but the Santa Barbara Mission, the Presidio, the Santa Barbara Courthouse, and Stearns Wharf. On top of these attractions, SB is home to many performing arts venues like the Arlington Theatre, the Lobero Theatre, and the Santa Barbara Bowl. SB also has festivals including the annual Fiesta, the French Festival, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and the Summer Solstice Parade. Santa Barbara also has an abundance of seafood restaurants and wineries. Santa Barbara also is home to many schools and universities including a research university, liberal arts colleges, a community college, trade schools, a conservatory, and many high, middle, and elementary schools.



[Sources]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara,_California#Geography

http://www.santabarbaracarfree.org/

http://www.lkjh.org/bike/california/santa_barbara

Chapter 3 - Foundations of Human Activity

The earliest settlers of Santa Barbara were the Chumash Indians. It is approximated that about 8,000 to 10,000 Chumash inhabited the area in 1500's. During that time, explorer Sebastian Vizcaino gave the area it's name. The first permanent immigrants were Spanish missionaries and soldiers. In the 1700's they built the Presidio of Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Mission.

 

 The Spanish missionaries built the Santa Barbara mission, along with others, in attempts to convert the Chumash to Christianity. However, the settlers brought over diseases such as smallpox and many of the Chumash died as a result. 

The population in 2010 was recorded at 423,895 with the largest demographic being Whites and the second largest being Hispanics. The population density per square mile is 2106.6 people.

 

 According to the Department of Conservation, urbanization of Santa Barbara increased from 1998-2000. A significant amount of vineyards and crops were created. 1,491 acres of land were urbanized which included an expanded water treatment plant. Currently, there are 1,039,816 acres of land in the Santa Barbara area; 13% are farmlands, 56% are grazing lands, 6% are urban lands, and the last 24% consist of wetlands, low density ranchettes, and brush or timberlands which are considered unsuitable for grazing. The rest is water. 

About 54% of the population in Santa Barbara affiliate themselves with a religion. 42.06% are Catholic; 1.42% are LDS; 2.78% are another Christian faith; 1.54% in Santa Barbara, CA are Jewish; 0.06% are an eastern faith; 0.17% affilitates with Islam.

[Sources]

http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/el-presidio-de-santa-barbara-state-historic-park-santa-barbara-ca639.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/75/154373672_d4e8843c8f.jpg

http://www.sbchamber.org/relocation/demographics.html

http://consrv.ca.gov/index/news/2002%20News%20Releases/Pages/NR2002-27%20Santa%20Barbara%20FMMP.aspx

http://www.bestplaces.net/religion/city/california/santa_barbara

Chapter 2 - Geographic Patters of the Physical Environment

Santa Barbara is commonly known as the "American Riviera" because of its likeness to the French Riviera's climate and geography. Santa Barbara is situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains. These mountains are an east to west trending range with peaks as high as 4,864 feet. These mountains are covered with chaparral (a shrub plant) and sandstone. Snow falls on these mountains occasionally but never stays.

The climate of Santa Barbara is categorized as a Mediterranean climate which includes warm to hot, dry summers and mild to cold, wet winters. Much of the California coastline experiences this kind of climate. The onshore breezes from the ocean are often very inviting for Santa Barbara's inhabitants and visitors alike.

Santa Barbara has a wonderful, moderate climate.

Santa Barbara is located in Pacific Mountains and Valleys physiographic region as determined by Figure 2.1 in the textbook (page 19).

Another physiographic regional map.

A very unique feature of the Santa Barbara coastline is that it actually faces south and not west and because of this, the sun sets in the North.

Because of Santa Barbara's Mediterranean climate and its past attempts at farming have led to the degradation of its vegetation accompanied with gully and surface erosion.

Beach erosion.

The soils of Santa Barbara are vertisol, which is rich with clay, salinity, and sodium contents. The vegetation is categorized as ecotonal, which means it transitions between two ecological communities. The vegetation includes grasslands, shrubbery, and many other plants and flowers that can be seen at Santa Barbara's Botanical Gardens.

Santa Barbara has large deposits of sandstone, limestone, and petroleum. The world's largest natural oil seepage, called Coal Oil Point, is located in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Tar "patties".

[Sources]

http://www.usclimatedata.com/

http://www.geo.wvu.edu/~mfinkenbinder/Geol%20321/handouts.htm

http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/erosion

http://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ca/quarry_photo/ca-santa_barbara_photos.html

http://www.countyofsb.org/energy/information/naturalseepinventoryfinalreport.htm

Chaper 1 - Regions and Themes

The beautiful Santa Barbara is located along the Pacific coastline in central California. This area of coastline along the Santa Barbara County is often referred to as the "American Riviera" and is situated next to the Santa Ynez Mountains. Santa Barbara is located in the Central Coast Region of California

Santa Barbara is located in the Central Coast Region as specified by the orange area.

The Central Coast region is then divided into four distinct regions which are the Channel Islands Region, the Santa Barbara Region, the San Luis Obispo Region, and the Monterey Bay Region. These areas have miles of rocky shorelines, amazing beaches, and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. These regions also extend inland and include big mountains and rolling hills and some desert areas.

Specifically, Santa Barbara is a city with approximately 423,895 people. It's demographic is mostly white but hundreds of years ago was inhabited by the Chumash Indians, Spaniards, and Mexicans. The architecture of Santa Barbara is largely influenced by its Spanish period. Santa Barbara is 42 square miles; 19.5 being land and 22.5 being water. The large square mileage of water is due to the fact that the city limit stretches out into the ocean.

Santa Barbara has an abundance of resources including seafood, farming, and wine. Because of this, Santa Barbara is a big tourist spot not only because it's wonderfully mild weather and beautiful landscapes but because of these resources. Tourism alone gives Santa Barbara more than one billion dollars per year. It also has a large economic base built around high-tech, education, agriculture, medicine, and government on top of tourism. It is largely a residential area but there is some manufacturing.




[Sources]
http://cpr.ca.gov/images/ca_department/res11img.jpg

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06083.html