Ambassador Park on Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara soon could get renamed to Syuxtun Park as the city works to develop the open space into a park that celebrates Chumash culture.

The Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Commission and the Historic Landmarks Commission recently approved recommending the name change to the City Council.

Syuxtun is the Chumash word for “it splits” or “where the two trials run,” which refers to a fork in a trail along the coast, according to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

“It would just really commemorate the significance of this site, the history of the land, be in alignment with the landmark designation, and just really highlight this project as a whole and showcase how wonderful it is for the community,” project planner Holly Garcin said about the name change.

Cass Ensberg, a member of the Historic Landmarks Commission, said she was excited about the name change. 

“I think it is really fantastic and it makes total sense,” Ensberg said. “This is what it should be, and we should all learn how to say these words and maybe a few more words, too.”

The park, across the street from West Beach, was dedicated as a city landmark in 1990 because of its significance to the Chumash people and history. It is located on Cabrillo Boulevard across from West Beach, in between Hotel Milo and the Sandy Beach Inn.

For thousands of years, the land belonged to the native Chumash people. This particular site was home to Syuxtun village, which was the largest known Chumash village in the region.

It’s estimated that hundreds of residents lived in this area and relied on the natural habitat to survive, according to Garcin.

In the early 20th century, the land was developed into the Potter Hotel, which was destroyed in a fire in 1921. The land was then dedicated as a city park in 1924.

The city started developing the idea for this park in 2017 with the California State Coastal Conservancy and Chumash community members. In 2020, the city received a $50,000 grant from the Coastal Conservancy to explore turning Ambassador Park into a space that celebrates Chumash history and culture.

“We actually feel really fortunate to have the kind of collaboration and communication that we’ve had and worked through a lot of discussion points to arrive at the design that we have today,” said Jill Zachary, Parks and Recreation director.

The Coastal Conservancy gave the city another grant of $250,000 in 2025 to move the project out of the concept phase and into preliminary planning.

The total cost of the project is still being determined, but Zachary told the Parks and Recreation Commission that they expect the Coastal Conservancy to contribute $750,000 to the project. 

The palm trees that line the park will remain, but the rest of the park will be reimagined with new pathways.

“The main goal of this design is just, again, to really celebrate the Chumash culture but through natural landscape,” Garcin said.

The center will include a constellation mosaic, signage will be throughout the park highlighting the different plants, and there will be open grass areas.

There will be different habitat planting throughout the park. Starting with ocean bluff-type plantings at the Cabrillo Boulevard entrance, moving along to creek and marsh plants, mountain chaparral, and to oak woodland vegetation on the mountain side. 

“This sort of mimics the experience as you go from the sea, across the land to the mountains,” Garson said.

There also will be animal signage and detailing, to represent the animals living in those habitats that have significance to Chumash oral history, according to Garcin.

“I just think it looks really exciting,” said Kathy McGill, chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission, after the commission voted to recommend the name change. “I hope the rest of it goes well.”

The next step will be to take the name recommendation to the City Council for approval, and then the project is set to go back to the Historical Landmarks Commission on Nov. 18 for preliminary design feedback.

The Parks and Recreation Department hopes to start construction on the project in 2028.