State Street cruising - Santa Barbara News-Press

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Here’s what we have for you today:

The Santa Barbara Unified School District sees an increase in literacy among K-2 students.
A new app at Santa Barbara City College seeks to unite students through campus events.
Gabe Escobedo opens up about his bid for a seat on the Santa Barbara City Council.
We’re all sold out for Thursday’s mayoral forum featuring Eric Friedman, Wendy Sims-Moten and Kristen Sneddon. Jerry Roberts and I will moderate the exciting event. Jerry and I are coming back with forums in September with all the candidates in Districts 4, 5 and 6.
TV Santa Barbara is filming and producing the mayor and council forums, and they will be streamed on their channels a few days after the event. Jerry and I will air all of the events on our YouTube channels, Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina and Newsmakers with JR.
Jerry and I have more than 60 years of combined political reporting experience and we are happy to bring you our comprehensive coverage.

Joshua Molina

News-Press Editor

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Polymarket reportedly raises $300 million from Donald Trump Jr.’s investment fund. (Tech Crunch)

Good 4 her: Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields is a $10 million roar for abortion rights and women’s health. (Los Angeles Times)

Cruising on State Street

The Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday will likely approve the State Street Master Plan, which effectively means the end of cars on State Street in the downtown. The opinions are all over the place on this issue. Cars or no cars. E-bikes or no bikes. Promenade vs. Paseo.

One thing I miss since the closure of the street in 2020 is the ability to cruise on State Street. Yes, I know it’s not exactly environmentally friendly, but it was fun and culturally significant.

We all live in different places. Class and wealth separate us. Growing up as a poor Mexican-American kid in Santa Barbara, it was a family event to hop in the car and cruise downtown to see people you know. It was an inexpensive outing, with a high reward.

You see, we all share the roads and they belong to all of us. It’s a neutral place to be seen, and show off your ride. Culturally it was a way to assert your presence, and remind people that even in this land of super-wealth, we were here, we mattered and we were also important. It wasn’t always super-safe to walk around on State Street at night as a kid or teen. In the car you could experience it, and it was a show.

It’s like the beach—the water doesn’t just belong to the surfers—dude. It belongs to everyone, whether you are in or out of the water. We all love the beach in different ways. The streets are the same way. They belong to all of us, whether we are walking, driving, biking or cruising.

In most of my interviews with City Council and mayoral candidates, the idea that people used to cruise on State Street seems like some foreign concept to them. It shouldn’t be. I dug into the News-Press archives to find some stories about how cruising on weekend nights was part of our Santa Barbara culture.

“Welcome to lower State Street on a weekend night,” a story from 1990 states. “Cars crawl bumper to bumper. Music pulsates from nightclubs. Car stereos throb bass. Hundreds of girls and boys—both young and old—roll down the windows and lean out.”

I am fine with whatever the result is on Tuesday. I realize that there’s a new culture of E-bikers that cruise on State Street and that’s important. But there was, and still can be, something special about families, friends, cousins, couples, small groups—people gathering together on Friday or Saturday night blasting oldies, hip hop music, or whatever music they wanted. That can’t happen now and likely won’t ever happen again. None of the council members or activists is talking about this important part of our history and culture.

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