Santa Barbara, East Beach, California, is located at 32 East Mason Street on the Pacific Coast. It is part of a long stretch of sandy beaches that run between the Stearns Wharf at Cabrillo Boulevard and State Street. State Street is the main strip in downtown Santa Barbara so shopping for anything one needs at the beach or dining choices at any one of a number of restaurants are available here for beachgoers.
From the Wharf, the beach spans more than a mile. The Mission Creek cuts across the East Beach sands coming down from Mission Canyon, which lies 4 miles to the west. The creek itself is a California Historic Landmark, although it is fairly insignificant where it crosses this beach. Monitoring of the creek shows it to be fairly clean and improving in past years at the placee it crosses here and empties into the Pacific.
A unique characteristic of East Beach and most of the Santa Barbara beaches is that they face southward onto the Pacific.
Boats can be seen moored off the coast from the beach at Santa Barbara Harbor.
Saturday afternoon it is not infrequent to stumble upon a drum circle here that appears to be fairly spontaneous.
A weekly show by local artists and artisans is held on East Beach selling work to local and beach visitors as well as crafts and souvenirs every Sunday.
A paved path along this beach is generally busy with rollerblade skaters, cyclists and runners. Surry carts are also available nearby for rental and use on the path.
Santa Barbara, East Beach, California has facilities for picnics on the beach and over a dozen volleyball courts installed here by the municipal government that maintains this public area. The Pavilion Bath House at 1119 E. Cabrillo has showers, a weight room and lockers as well as rentals of volleyballs and beach wheelchairs. This is at the east end of the beach.
There is a full restaurant on this beach, the East Beach Grille.
Picnic areas can be rented for parties near a snack stand and playground.
Pets are not permitted on this beach.
Alcohol is allowed on the beach however glass containers are prohibited.
At Santa Barbara, East Beach, California, balls of gooey black tar frequently wash up on this beach due to nearby offshore oil platforms. This makes walking barefoot hazardous as it is very difficult to clean this stuff off of exposed skin.
Numerous places for accommodations are available right off the beach for out of town visitors. If driving to the beach one should arrive early in order to find parking as it is limited due to being right in the downtown area.
More than 86,000 people live in the city where this beach is located.
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