• This tiny SoCal neighborhood offers up quaint, low-key vibes, and it’s easy to access off the 101 North.
• The new Godmothers Bookstore and Cafe in downtown Summerland is attracting celebs and book lovers alike for thoughtful gatherings and culinary delicacies.
• A plethora of home decor shops, a winery, a cozy inn and even a bird sanctuary also make their home in Summerland.
Like me, you may associate Summerland with the Big Yellow House restaurant, where the chunky 1970s-styled lettering and quaint illustration was the we’re-almost-in-Santa-Barbara landmark on our family road trips from L.A. Though the restaurant closed during the aughts, the sign remains, a nudge to Southern Californians to give Summerland — more than just a little sibling to its better-known neighbor Montecito — a fresh look.
Take the new bookstore/cafe Godmothers, which opened in early September with a three-day-long series of events that attracted celebs ranging from Oprah to Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, and Harry and Meghan. On a recent Friday, co-owner Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, former global head of literature, lectures and events at William Morris Endeavor, hosted New York Times bestselling author Dani Shapiro for a lively conversation. Guests filled the main ground-floor room facing the impeccably styled corner stage area adorned with vintage lamps, first-edition collectible titles and shearling-covered bulbous wingback chairs that approximate the experience of sitting in a metaphorical hug. Makeup mogul Victoria Jackson, Godmothers’ co-owner and 32-year Summerland resident, sees the store’s mission as “providing something that didn’t exist in a beautiful place and making it more of a destination spot — and putting Summerland on the map.”
Now home to some 1,500 residents, Summerland was born in 1883 when Henry L. Williams, a Union Army veteran, real estate speculator and adherent of the Spiritualist movement, bought over a thousand acres of what had been Rancho Ortega. The name was selected to invoke the occult-oriented group’s concept of an idyllic afterlife destination. Williams aspired to create a colony by the end of the decade, selling $25 land parcels to lure fellow Spiritualists and developing infrastructure and institutions (including the no longer extant Liberty Hall for activities like seances) before a tangle of circumstances, including an oil boom in the 1890s, brought the experiment to a halt. Talk of paranormal experiences still circulates in Summerland, especially regarding spirits who inhabit the Big Yellow House, which Williams built as his home in 1884.
Today, Summerland is continuing the momentum it found during the pandemic, attracting new businesses while proudly acknowledging its SoCal historical bona fides. A mural in the post office parking lot depicts early significant civic moments, such as the arrival of the railway and the discovery of oil offshore. Meanwhile, shops and restaurants make Lillie Avenue’s mix of century-plus-old structures and a handful of new modern farmhouses more than just a quick Santa Barbara-adjacent pit stop.
Despite the proximity to one of the state’s most heavily trafficked roads, Summerland, which is easily accessed off of the 101 North, still feels like a low-key getaway, proof that quaint need not mean inconvenient or remote.
Pro tip: Instead of taking Exit 90 or 91, detour farther south in Carpinteria to cruise along South Padaro Lane. A canopy composed of Southern California’s greatest arboreal hits such as olive, eucalyptus and cypress shelters the road lined with enviable oceanfront real estate. Follow the road to cross northward back over the 101 and ease into Summerland. The scenic diversion is well worth the extra mileage.