#santa-barbara-and-montecito

#santa-barbara-and-montecito

"There was so much beauty, so much more than enough for everyone, that it did appear to be a vain activity to try and make a corner in it." This quote captures the essence of Villa Beatrice, where beauty and luxury converge in a breathtaking setting.

"I think Marbella is a little misunderstood and is often viewed as simply an ostentatious resort destination. It is still an authentic coastal town, and it's one of few places on the Spanish peninsula where you can experience so much diversity and vibrancy year-round."

Healdsburg's wine cred is matched only by its culinary one, with an influx of new energy from big names and cult favorites enhancing the local scene.

George Washington Smith, widely regarded as the founder of the Spanish Colonial Revival style, designed scores of houses in and around Santa Barbara during an architectural career that lasted only a dozen years before his death in 1930. Today those houses, with their signature mix of whitewashed walls, red-tiled roofs, balconies, courtyards, fountains, elaborate carved woodwork and wrought iron, are keenly sought after, according to area real estate agents.

The water bubbles up hot from the earth and sunlight filters down through the branches of mighty oaks. But before you can soak in Santa Barbara County's highly popular Montecito Hot Springs, you'll need to hike a little over a mile uphill, threading your way among boulders, oaks and a meandering creek. And before the hike, there are two other crucial steps: getting to the trailhead and knowing what to expect.

A house that sold for $4.5 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Saratoga in the past week. In total, six residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $3.2 million. The average price per square foot was $1,300. The prices in the list below include real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of Dec. 29 even if the property may have been sold earlier.

I may be a bit biased, but I consider the California coastline to be the most scenic and diverse route in the U.S. As a native to the state, I've taken more than 20 road trips over the years, traversing desert terrain, budding vineyards, and cliff-hugging highways that tower above the Pacific Ocean. And though I love the colossal redwood forests in northern California and the gleaming coastline that cradles the state's southern end, there's one road trip I always return to for its access to some of the state's best wineries, restaurants, and charismatic hotels.

For travelers looking to get to know the many-varied charms of the Golden State, discovering it through the best beaches in California is never a bad idea. The state's coastline spans a vast 3,427 miles after all. Among its 420 public beautiful beaches are plentiful opportunities to swim, lay out, look at tide pools, surf to your heart's content, or watch the sunset.

Situated on the southern border of Orange County and easily accessible to travelers by Amtrak train or car, San Clemente has all the charm of a close-knit community and all the liveliness of a surfer's paradise. Plus, it's one of the most beautiful towns in the area, with the rolling San Joaquin Hills on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

In a widely cited (and likely apocryphal) exchange the bewildered conductor cried, 'But there's nothing here!' Alighting the stopped train, one of the Standard Oil men is said to have replied: 'No, but there will be.' Nothing is precisely what they were looking for. They needed a blank space along the coast on which to build a refinery to complement the company's existing facility nearly 400 miles to the north in Richmond.

Spyglass Hill was the first of the planned communities that emerged in Newport Beach. Originally owned by the Irvine family, the land was developed under the auspices of the Irvine Co. Spyglass Hill was built in the early 1970s by the Lusk Co., and the last tract was completed in 1972.

In 2021, during the peak of the pandemic housing market that saw L.A. home prices skyrocket, The Times compiled a list of the newest neighborhoods to join the proverbial "million-dollar club," where the typical single-family home value is above $1 million. Five years later, plenty more have made the cut. Whereas the previous group featured trendy L.A. neighborhoods (Echo Park, Highland Park), South L.A. enclaves (Crenshaw, Leimert Park) and slices of the San Fernando Valley (Porter Ranch, Woodland Hills),