[Noozhawk’s note: Eighth in a series. Click here for previous columns.]
Santa Barbara underwent an architectural rebirth after the destructive 1925 earthquake. The town was rebuilt in the Spanish colonial Mediterranean architecture that distinguishes its downtown landscape to this day.
One of the models for its rebirth was El Paseo, a complex of shops, restaurants, offices and apartments built in the early 1920s, prior to the quake.
Occupying most of the first block on the north side of East De la Guerra Street between State and Anacapa streets, it was constructed around the historic Casa de la Guerra, at 15 E. De la Guerra St., and incorporated the adobe into the complex.
El Paseo had come through the earthquake with only minor damage but, from the 1920s to 1970, it had had a series of owners, none of whom had done any major renovation since its opening.
That is a key point to remember as this story of the complex fast-forwards to the year 1971, when Irene Suski Fendon donated the property to the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation on the Feast Day of Saint Barbara — Dec. 4 — and in honor of SBTHP founder Pearl Chase.
In a recent conversation with Ron Fendon, the widower of Irene Suski Fendon, he related to me that Jerry Hass, representing SBTHP, spent many sessions with his wife discussing the idea of donating the property to the trust.
As with so much in the early history of SBTHP, Hass played a key role in this donation, one of the major conditions of which was that any surplus income that resulted from the operation of El Paseo would go toward the reconstruction of El Presidio de Santa Bárbara. To his last days, Hass remained a fervent supporter of the presidio reconstruction.
The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation would have to accept the gift with a mortgage, and it was aware that the buildings had not had any major renovation work in nearly 50 years.
It caused a stir among some on the SBTHP board; I was told by Hass that several board members resigned, especially the bankers, who felt it was too huge a challenge and distraction from rebuilding the presidio.
Nevertheless, the board accepted the donation, and at the time it was touted as the greatest philanthropic gift in Santa Barbara’s history. An important inducement to accept that gift was that it included the adobe house of the last Spanish comandante, Don José de la Guerra.
From 1971 into the 1980s, the trust tried to make a go of El Paseo, even receiving a favorable exemption from the IRS and thus not having to pay federal or state taxes on the income generated. The problem was that not enough income was being generated to do the much needed repairs.
Then around 1982, Restaurante del Paseo, a key tenant, was replaced by another tenant that went out of business in less than a year — this all taking place during a significant national recession that didn’t help matters.
For the next five years, at least two-thirds of trust board meetings were taken up trying to come up with solutions to El Paseo’s financial problems, including SBTHP having to pay for the restaurant equipment of the last tenant.
At the same time that SBTHP was at City Hall across from El Paseo, dealing with the Presidio General Plan meetings, the organization was trying to resolve its internal financial challenges. It was really something to experience as, until 1985, I was more or less in the dress circle observing the goings-on at El Paseo.
But then a major turn took place when the trust board decided to consider the option of selling the property with protective easements to ensure that SBTHP would maintain control of the renovation of the historic buildings.
Just as the Presidio General Plan denouement was taking place in 1987, SBTHP jumped from the frying pan into the fire, going public with its plans to sell El Paseo.
The trust began negotiations with Peter Kaufman, who represented a partnership interested in purchasing the property. Fendon, the former owner, had to approve any conveyance and she was on board.
The deal that two board members put together included selling the property for cash, and SBTHP receiving in exchange a parking lot that included the foundations of the presidio’s front gate — a key acquisition for El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park.
In addition, the trust retained an easement over all of the exterior of the complex, and some interior spaces that included the Saint Francis Room (the entrance to the main restaurant), the restaurant’s courtyard, the wall paintings in the Ranchero Room upstairs, and the ceiling of the Gold Room of the then-main restaurant. It was at this point that I became more actively involved with the El Paseo transaction, developing the historic easement document.
SBTHP felt it had met its fiduciary responsibility by protecting the building’s main architectural features, but that was not how it was perceived in some quarters in the public and among some of the trust’s own membership.
In fact, the agreement had to be redone in part to satisfy member objections, and the key element was SBTHP retaining complete ownership of Casa de la Guerra.
In reviewing the agreement, the state Attorney General’s Office determined that SBTHP could proceed with the transaction but the membership must approve the sale, and all proceeds from the sale were limited to restoration of the presidio and Casa de la Guerra.
At a November 1987 meeting at the Lobero Theatre, both sides made their cases. When all the votes — including proxies — were counted by a certified public accountant, the sale was approved by more than two-thirds of the membership.
Board members and staff had spent hours meeting with members to explain the transaction. One person in particular I would like to recognize is Cathy Rudolph, the then-director of the Presidio Research Center, who single-handedly converted dozens of prospective no votes to yes votes for the sale.
The membership vote, however, was not the end of the story. Details of the façade easement had to be negotiated (I remember at least two dozen meetings I attended); a lot split separating Casa de la Guerra from El Paseo had to be approved by the City of Santa Barbara and finally was; and an opponent even sued SBTHP in the hope of blocking the sale, but that effort failed.
In fact, the trust and Kaufman opened escrow in November 1987, and it did not close until February 1989 — nearly 15 months later!
I was very much involved in the negotiations, and there were moments of touch and go, but we finally buttoned down the final agreement. SBTHP had excellent legal representation, and the board held firm in its commitment to make it happen.
Looking back, between all the meetings regarding the Presidio General Plan and the sale of El Paseo, I wasn’t sure at the time — but I am now — that it was worth all the struggles.
El Paseo has been completely restored, and while offices replaced shops, in recent years various wine tasting stores now call El Paseo home, and there are still two restaurants in operation (at least until the coronavirus pandemic hit). In addition, SBTHP was able to take on restoration of Casa de la Guerra, a subject a future column will explore.
Finally, the proceeds from the sale have provided a quasi-endowment for the Presidio State Park and made available funds used to acquire properties needed to secure the Presidio footprint; in addition, proceeds from the sale provided seed funding form presidio reconstruction projects. As the Bard put it: “All’s well, that Ends Well.”
Next up: The reconstruction of the Presidio Chapel.
— Jarrell Jackman is the former executive director of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. After receiving his Ph.D. in history from UC Santa Barbara, he taught for six years in Europe and Washington, D.C. In 2015, he was honored as a knight of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica by Spain’s King Felipe VI and was named an honorary state park ranger by the California State Park Rangers Association in 2016. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.