Hotel Californian
A Moorish-Spanish design hotel by Martyn Lawrence Bullard — 121 rooms on the Funk Zone.
Hotel Californian is a 121-room independent at the foot of State Street in Santa Barbara — Moorish-Spanish architecture by R. Mitchell Wilkinson, interiors by Martyn Lawrence Bullard, opened 2017 on the site of the original 1925 Californian that burned a year after it was built. The hotel sits between the Funk Zone — Santa Barbara's old industrial district turned wine-and-art district — and the harbor, which is an unusually useful combination.
The aesthetic is committed Moorish revival with bohemian-theatrical interior overlays, which works in Santa Barbara because the city's broader architectural code is Mission and Spanish. Bullard's design choices read confident rather than overworked.
The setting
At the foot of State Street, where the city's main pedestrian-shopping spine meets the waterfront. The Funk Zone — wine-tasting rooms, galleries, the Public Market — is across the street. The harbor and the working pier are five minutes' walk. State Street's restaurant strip runs north for half a mile. Stearns Wharf, the Maritime Museum, and the city's beach loop are immediately accessible.
The drive in from LA is ninety minutes; from San Francisco, five hours. Santa Barbara airport (SBA) is fifteen minutes away.
The building
Three Moorish-Spanish-architecture buildings — white stucco, red tile roofs, arched windows, ornamental tilework, a central courtyard — running through a city block. The interior work by Martyn Lawrence Bullard pushes saturation: deep colors, layered textiles, brass and velvet, vintage globes and curiosities. Public spaces include the Goat Tree restaurant, Blackbird Bar, and a rooftop pool with views across to the Pacific and the Riviera hills.
It photographs theatrical because it is theatrical.
The rooms
A hundred and twenty-one rooms across the three connected buildings. Categories climb from compact rooms (around $545 in shoulder) up through suites with private terraces, fireplaces, and harbor or mountain views. Beds are kings, linens are heavy, bathrooms are marble in the upper categories. The aesthetic carries from public spaces into the rooms — patterned tile, brass hardware, layered upholstery — without going into pastiche.
The Riviera-side rooms get morning light and the foothill views; the harbor-side rooms get the working-pier shape.
Food & drink
Goat Tree is the all-day Moroccan-Mediterranean dining room. Blackbird Bar runs the cocktail and small-plates program. Majorelle is the rooftop bar. All three are open to non-guests.
On the property
The amenity stack is full for an urban property of this scale.
- Rooftop pool and bar (Majorelle)
- Spa (Majorelle Spa) with full menu
- Goat Tree restaurant and Blackbird Bar
- Bicycles for the harbor and Funk Zone
- Open year-round
Who it's for
- Couples doing a Santa Barbara weekend who want the design-anchor property
- Travelers who'd rather be at the foot of State Street than in the Riviera hills
- Wine travelers using Santa Barbara as a base for the Santa Ynez Valley
- Repeat Santa Barbara visitors looking for the post-Belmond, post-San-Ysidro answer
Who it's not for
- Travelers who want a small intimate inn
- Anyone looking for hilltop ocean views (the hotel is at street level)
- Families with very young kids — the urban setting and adult-leaning aesthetic don't match
Nearby
The Funk Zone is across the street — Riverbench, Margerum, AVA Santa Barbara, Municipal Winemakers all within walking distance. State Street runs north for shops, restaurants, and the Santa Barbara Mission (a longer walk or a five-minute drive). Stearns Wharf and the harbor are immediately south. Drive twenty minutes north to the Riviera and the Botanic Garden; an hour north to the Santa Ynez Valley wine region (Los Olivos, Solvang, Foxen Canyon). For dinner off-property: Loquita, La Paloma, Bouchon, the Lark in the Funk Zone.
