What was once a small agricultural town has grown to become the largest city in Santa Barbara County. Now peppered with big box stores and skirted by a multi-lane highway, Santa Maria’s past is evident in the traditions it’s kept and the names of the streets and landmarks. How the city got that way is a long and storied history that was recently captured in the book Images of America, Santa Maria Valley.
Carina Monica Montoya examines Santa Maria’s growth from the mid-1800s to the present. She traces the early Mexican roots of the ranchos to what the city has become today. The book includes more than 300 photos from the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society, as well as other collections.
Montoya is a California native and was a resident of the Santa Maria Valley for several years. She now lives in Los Angeles, but she lived in Santa Maria for five years during the 1980s. Returning to the area, she said it was surprising to see how much it has changed.
“It’s just so awesome; it’s like a small city with all the big city stores,” she said. “It has this beauty and charm. I call it country hospitality.”
Montoya has authored several books on California communities, focusing on the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities. Images of America, Santa Maria Valley includes information on the development of the petroleum industry, produce and farming, early sports teams and personalities, the downtown area, teen hang-outs from the 1950s, and the famous Santa Maria-style barbecue. It also details the backgrounds of such long-time local businesses as Orcutt Old Town Market, Shaw’s, and the Williams Bros. local market chain, which was later sold to Vons.
“Santa Maria embraces new technology and growth, but they are very proud of their past, so that really inspired me to do this,” Montoya said.
The book boasts plenty of pictures of the Santa Maria Valley through the years. Montoya said most of the pictorial accounts that have been published have concentrated on the early years of the valley. This one, however, goes straight to the present.
“I learned a lot about farming—which I knew nothing about—and I didn’t know Santa Maria Valley was considered a desolate wasteland because of water and untapped water sources,” she said.
But Montoya wasn’t the only one surprised by her finds. She said a lot of her friends who are native to Santa Maria were surprised to learn about the city’s Four Corners or how many streets, like Thornburg or Miller, got their names.
“There were so many treasures that I was able to uncover with this,” she said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone likes to learn about the town. Contact her at scone@santamariasun
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2011.