About Montecito

Montecito is a highly affluent unincorporated census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, California.

As a census-designated place, Montecito had a population of 8,965 in 2010. Many celebrities and wealthy business people including Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe, Ellen DeGeneres, Drew Barrymore and Eric Schmidt own Montecito homes and large estates. It boasts some of the most spectacular and expensive real estate in the United States, particularly along the coast and above East Valley Road for its perfect micro-climate.

According to the Montecito Community Plan, Montecito is bounded on the north by East Camino Cielo Road; on the east by Ortega Ridge Road and Ladera Lane; on the South by the Pacific Ocean. Montecito does not include areas such as Coast Village Road, which while usually considered part of Montecito, are actually within the city limits of Santa Barbara, located directly to the west. Montecito occupies the eastern portion of the coastal plain south of the Santa Ynez Mountains. Parts of the town are built on the lower foothills of the range. Notable roads spanning Montecito include East Valley Road, Mountain Drive, and Sycamore Canyon Road, all of which form part of State Route 192. In addition, the U.S. 101 freeway runs along the south end of town, connecting it with other cities in Santa Barbara County and the rest of Southern California.

The site of present-day Montecito, along with the entire south coast of Santa Barbara County, was inhabited for over 10,000 years by the Chumash Indians. The Spanish arrived in the 18th century, but left the region largely unsettled while they built the Presidio and Mission Santa Barbara farther west.

In the middle of the 19th century the area was known as a haven for bandits and highway robbers, who hid in the oak groves and canyons, preying on traffic on the coastal route between the towns that developed around the missions. By the end of the 1860s the bandit gangs were gone, and Italian settlers arrived. Finding an area reminiscent of Italy, they built farms and gardens similar to those they had left behind in Italy. Around the end of the 19th century, wealthy tourists from the eastern and midwestern United States began to buy land in the area. It was near enough to Santa Barbara for essential services while still being secluded. Desirable weather and several nearby hot springs offered the promise of comfortable, healthy living, in addition to the availability of affordable land.