The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation has proven itself adept at much that it undertook over its more than 50-year history. Not least was its commitment and ability to acquire properties that advanced its preservation goals.
Besides El Paseo, there were literally dozens of real estate transactions that SBTHP has been involved with. In this column, I will mention three as indicative of the expansion and fulfillment of the organization’s interests and goals.
The 1995 purchase of the Santa Inés Mission Mills properties, the acquisition and gift of the Castagnola parking lot in the area of El Presidio de Santa Bárbara in 2003, and the 2007 acquisition of Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens Restaurant and Bar represented multiple transactions, as each would eventually be conveyed to California State Parks.