Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EL ENCANTO HOTEL
AND GARDEN VILLAS
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The Chumash Indians have been in the Santa Barbara area for thousands of years. Their territory
extended from Paso Robles to Malibu and included several settlements on the Channel Islands.
The Island Indians were considered the mint for their tribe, as they made bead money out of
shells from a marine snail called the Purple Olive. The currency they made was used by all of the
tribes. The Indians in the mainland villages referred to their Island neighbors as Chumash. A loose
translation of Chumash is “bead money makers.”
The Chumash should also be given the credit for building the first spas in the Western Hemi-
sphere. They built underground shelters known as sweathouses. Used primarily by the men, a
sweathouse was entered by a ladder descending through the roof. They built a fire inside and heated
stones to maintain a hot dry atmosphere. After spending time sweating, they would go and jump
into a cold river, then return for another round. They did this for health and cleanliness reasons;
they also burned aromatic plants to mask a man's scent when he went out hunting.
When the Spanish explorers arrived, they made a concerted effort to make Christians out of
all the inhabitants of the area. They built missions along the coast and introduced agriculture and
ranching. The Santa Barbara Mission was founded in 1785. California became a Mexican territory
in 1821 and remained under its control until 1846, when Colonel John Fremont captured the area
and claimed it for the United States.
Statehood in 1850 brought new settlers and development. In 1877, C. A. Storke bought 123 acres
up on the hillside for $1.25 per acre. Since there was a lack of water and trees, local folks referred
to his investment as Storke's Folly. But just ten years later, after the railroad had arrived, he sold
the land for more than $200 an acre to a San Francisco capitalist, Walter Hawley, for a considerable
profit. The area would eventually be named Hawley Heights.
Hawley's investment included all but two lots, which are the actual site of El Encanto Hotel.
The hillside area was greatly desired by locals due to its fabulous vistas of the Pacific Ocean. Trans-
portation up the hill was greatly improved when the state agreed to establish a normal college school
there, with the stipulation that the city would provide the land and rail service to the campus. In
1911, an electric trolley line was completed and, in 1914, the forerunner of the University of Cali-
fornia at Santa Barbara opened. Buses replaced the trolleys in 1930.
