Stearns Wharf

Stearns Wharf is the wooden pier that runs 600 metres into the harbour at the foot of State Street. Cars can drive most of the way out; pedestrians have the railings, the seafood restaurants, and the small Sea Center — a satellite of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History — at the far end.

The view back to land is the city's best self-portrait: white-walled buildings, red roofs, and the green Santa Ynez Mountains rising directly behind. Time a visit for sunset and stay for fish tacos. Free to walk; small charge for parking near the entrance.

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A story
Stearns Wharf was built in 1872 by lumberman John P. Stearns and is the oldest working wharf in California. It was almost destroyed by a tanker fire in 1973, rebuilt and reopened, then partly burned again in 1998 — the locals keep rebuilding it because the view of the city framed by mountains, taken from the end of the wharf, is the picture that put Santa Barbara on the postcard rack.

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