Tucked between U.S. 101 and East Beach, a narrow band of warehouses has become an enclave of urban wine-tasting rooms, artist’s studios, surfboard-makers, and bohemian-cool restaurants like The Lark.
Start your sampling at AVA Santa Barbara Vintners with its dozen or so house wines, each made with grapes from a different corner of Santa Barbara County. Continue to sip your way east toward the beach, finishing with a pale pink rose from Municipal Winemakers, then stroll a block to the sand to dabble your toes in the surf. When you want to take a break from sipping and swirling, check out the Funk Zone’s galleries and studios, as well as its ever-changing murals on Mason Street, part of an ongoing project by AMASS (Artists Making A Street Scene). End in true California style, watching the sunset from the tip of 2,300-foot/701-meter-long Stearns Wharf, a wooden gem dating back to 1872. From here, it’s just you, the swirling gulls, the barking sea lions, and the twinkling lights of town against the soaring coastal mountains.
