Ethel Barrymore, the late empress of stage and screen, once told a friend, “Fortunate indeed is the person who can live in Santa Barbara, and doubly blessed if his home is located in Mission Canyon.” Containing the Old Mission Complex, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and reaching miles into the foothills, Mission Canyon boasts the richest historical background in the city and offers more relics and landmarks of the old Spanish days than any other neighborhood in town.
Mission Canyon is forested with sycamores and live oak trees and strewn with boulders along its meandering creeks and streams. The area has long attracted artists and writers, musicians and educators. Hiking in the foothills of Mission Canyon is phenomenal, with the cascading Seven Falls a hidden gem just down the trail from the aptly named Inspiration Point overlooking the entire city, ocean and islands.
The pride of Mission Canyon is undoubtedly the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens in upper Mission Canyon: a 26 acre botanical preserve, confined to native flora of California. The Botanic Garden contains every plant indigenous to California, from the rare Santa Cruz Island Ironwood to redwoods and even a meadow of wild strawberries and golden poppies. The Cactus Garden is one of the most extensive on the West Coast. The Botanic Garden is a magnet for artists and photographers, hikers and strollers alike.
Architecture in Mission Canyon tends to lean to contemporary wood and glass with an occasional Monterey Colonial or Spanish Revival mixed in. The splendid Glendessary, on the shady lane of the same name, is a magnificent estate built before the turn of the century by Christoph Tornoe, a gifted Danish artisan.
