The Way It Was – Santa Barbara Comes of Age

The Way It Was – Santa Barbara Comes of Age
Talk & Book Release by Hattie Beresford

Free for Members/ $5 Guests
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During the fifty years between 1880 and 1930, Santa Barbara threw off its Victorian cloak and donned the mantilla of a thoroughly modern town. Wrapping herself in romanticized Spanish tradition, she nevertheless bobbed her hair to create the institutions that prepared the way for the Santa Barbara of today.

The Way It Was ~ Santa Barbara Comes of Age offers a journey into the past that explores the mountain trails, joins elaborate celebrations for famous visitors, and revels in the mania created by the town’s first horseless carriages. Readers will also meet a quintet of colorful characters whose enthusiasm, vision, and work created the underpinnings of today’s town and contributed greatly to Santa Barbara’s coming of age.

About the Author/ Speaker
For the past 12 years, Hattie Beresford has written a local history column for the Montecito Journal called “The Way It Was,” where she has been able to indulge her long-standing interest in the people and events of Santa Barbara’s past which determined its present. In addition, together with the Historical Museum, she co-edited and produced the memoir of local artist Elizabeth Eaton Burton entitled My Santa Barbara Scrap Book and wrote two Noticias, their historical journal. She is also a regular contributor to the Montecito Journal Magazine writing the column entitled “Mansions and Moguls.”

Eclectic in her interests, Hattie’s articles run the gamut from ranches to mansions, murder to delinquency, and elegant hotels to auto camps. Stories behind transportation, entertainment, philanthropy, and celebrations have all found expression through her pen. This volume contains a small collection of the fascinating stories of Santa Barbara’s yesteryears.