White stucco storefronts run under red tile roofs and arcaded sidewalks the length of the street.
What State Street looks like
State Street runs in a long, straight line from through the middle of downtown Santa Barbara. Storefronts along it are white stucco under red tile roofs, mostly one to three storeys, with a few taller buildings breaking the skyline.
The stands at 1317 State Street. A Mission Revival steeple with an art deco finial tops its red tile roof, and a covered courtyard with a fountain sits behind the arched entrance. A few blocks down, the rises eight storeys at 1214. It is an office, retail and theatre block in Spanish Moorish style, the tallest building on the street.
Two arcades branch off the sidewalk partway down. sits at 814, a 1920s courtyard arcade with wood framed balconies and a fountain. The complex was built around the older Casa de la Guerra. , between Ortega and Canon Perdido Streets, is a pedestrianized mall with potted plants and palm trees under a tiled clock tower at its own entrance.
Red brick paves the sidewalk under both arcades. Decorative wrought iron shows up on window grilles, balconies and stair rails along the open blocks between them. Most of the storefronts date from the late 1920s. Toward the lower end, older buildings survive too. The 1889 building at 409 keeps its Italianate facade.
Shot in State Street
Both credited productions use State Street as itself rather than dressing it as somewhere else. El Paseo stood in for a fictional medical building, and the street's own Summer Solstice Parade appears at the end of a different film.
State Street itself
Both credits use the real street rather than a stand in. El Paseo plays a fictional medical building, and the street itself holds both the parade and the dance.
It's Complicated, 2009
El Paseo
Played the Santa Barbara Medical Building, present day
Jane Adler's therapist has his office inside El Paseo, the courtyard arcade that opens onto State Street at number 814. The production used the real arcade rather than a set, so the wood framed balconies and the courtyard fountain on screen are the actual ones. Street View
Steal Big, Steal Little, 1995
State Street
Steal Big, Steal Little opens on the actual Summer Solstice Parade down State Street. After the credits, Andy Garcia dances alone on the street in front of parade goers. The production does not name a specific block, so this is the street itself rather than one address. Street View
What State Street can double for
Ojai Avenue in Ojai, California
The Ojai Arcade on Ojai Avenue is a Spanish Colonial Revival shopping arcade built in 1917, white stucco under a red tile roof with the same covered walkways and arched openings as State Street's own paseos. Beef and Easy A have both used Ojai Avenue as a filming location, so the block is already crew tested. The arcade runs for one block rather than a mile, so a wide shot in either direction shows open hills instead of more storefronts. Ojai's own clock tower is locally recognizable and needs to stay out of frame. Try searching Ojai Arcade now.
Avenida Del Mar in San Clemente, California
Avenida Del Mar in San Clemente has the same white stucco walls and red tile roofs as State Street, laid out as one block of connected storefronts under arched walkways. Ole Hanson's 1920s buildings still line the street with iron balconies and palm trees out front. The street runs one block against State Street's near mile, so a drone or a long lens flattens that scale difference in a single shot. The ocean sits two blocks south and shows up as a bright gap at the end of almost every frame. Try searching Avenida Del Mar now.
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