The Mesa…so hot right now!

When I was a little girl growing up in Santa Barbara, my Dad lived on the Mesa on a street called Los Alamos. The house was not large; 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom 1200 +/- square foot original condition single level home. Back then the Mesa was not the hot spot that it is today, it was more thought of as a super foggy part of town that was filled with fisherman and a lot of surfers. The image below is from a 4th of July celebration at Ledbetter Beach back when you could dig pits and really celebrate!

My favorite parts of living part time on the Mesa was going to Shoreline Park, even though the eucalyptus trees there caught many of my kites. This was where I I learned to ride my 1st bike which was a lavender Huffy complete with a banana seat and streamers! I would go to Foster Freeze, the ice skating rink on Cliff Drive. The Mesa community was, and still is a great place to grow up!

I loved the walks to the breakwater and remember vividly the year that the dredge stopped working and we could walk all the way across the sandbar to West Beach. When the fair was at the SBCC parking lot, my Dad would take a different route home, avoiding the area completely in order to not be begged all weekend to go although he was always game to attend Earth Day there!

These days, the Mesa is one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in Santa Barbara to live. A starter home costs upwards of $1,200,000 for something that needs to be completely redone. There are $6,000,000+ bluff top listings. The elementary school, Washington is considered to be one of the best in our community. The fisherman and the surfers are still here, most of them in longer shorts. The grocery stores are fancier, the restaurants hipper, the fog is less and the vibe is still laid back and sandy!

Here are a few of the recently offered properties on the Mesa. This is the neighborhood where I live and love the location, the bike and walking ability, the school, the access to shopping and the vibe. Please let me know if this is an area in Santa Barbara that you would consider living.