Six Facts About The 1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake

STATE STREET AND CABRILLO BOULEVARD IN SANTA BARBARA - Standing at the foot of Stearns Wharf looking northward turning your head left-to-right on a clear day you get a fantastic view of one of California's most famous places. The jagged rocks sticking out of the dark green mountains of the Los Padres National Forest against the bright blue sky makes for one of the best scenic backdrops in the world. Turning around behind you is the vast blue Pacific Ocean with sailboats making for a beautiful picture, but the picture perfect ocean right off Santa Barbara has a fault, or two. That is to say, there are earthquake faults off the shore of the famed city, and at least one of them were responsible for the 1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake.


Those asking for a room with a view of the Pacific Ocean at the Hotel Californian perhaps got a little more than what they asked for. This is State Street looking north from Cabrillo Bl. In the almost upper middle-left is the Southern Pacific Depot, which still stands today. Photograph in public domain.

June 29, 2015, will be the 90th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Earthquake, which is one of California's (in)famous earthquakes. Here are six interesting facts about this earthquake.

1- Turns Out The Earthquake Was Much Stronger Than Previous Thought


Given the shock and anxiety following the earthquake there probably was not much of a run for the product being advertised on this damaged Rexall Store on State St. Photograph in public domain.

For many decades following the Santa Barbara Earthquake it was believed this earthquake registered magnitude (M) 6.3 on the Richter Scale, which was developed by Doctor Charles Richter about ten years later at The California Institution of Technology, or, as we all know it and look to it after the earth shakes, Cal-Tech in Pasadena. The 1970s brought new developments in better understanding measuring earthquakes. One of those developments was the Moment Magnitude Scale, which is what we used to measure earthquake strength in most California earthquakes today. The Moment Magnitude Scale put the 1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake at M6.8.

2 - The 1925 Earthquake Resulted In The Only Dam Failure In The United States During an Earthquake


The earthquake damaged Sheffield Dam. Photograph in public domain.

While the Lower Van Norman Dam had severe damage following the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake and came very close to failure (according to the California Geological Survey, had the earth shook for two more seconds in 1971 the dam would have failed flooding a large portion of the San Fernando Valley) the 1925 earthquake resulted in the only dam (so far) to fail as a result of an earthquake in the U.S. The Sheffield Dam, located at the base of the Santa Ynez Mountains at the north-northeast end of Santa Barbara, failed and flooded a good portion of the then sparsely populated eastside of Santa Barbara. According to the University of California-Santa Barbara, "a wall of water rushed between Voluntario and Alisos Streets, carrying trees, automobiles, and three houses with it, and leaving behind it a muddy, debris-strewn mess. The water filled the lower part of town up to two feet deep, until it gradually drained away into the sea." Santa Barbara was still bit of a farm town, and the water swept a lot of cows out to sea. One of the main reasons The Sheffield Dam failed was due to the fact the dam, which held 30 million gallons of water, was built on sandy soil, and sandy soil amplifies ground shaking during a moderate-to-large earthquake with typically devastating results for anything built upon it (see the aftermath of the San Francisco Marina District following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake).

3 - Learning From 1906 Santa Barbara Avoided San Francisco's Fiery Fate


The badly earthquake damaged Santa Barbara Mission. Photograph in public domain. 

There was a lot of significant structural damage in this 1925 earthquake, but one thing the aftermath of this earthquake lacked was fires. Many people aware of San Francisco's calamity just less than 20 years earlier realized Santa Barbara could face a similar fate. Thankfully, the overnight operators for Southern California Edison and The Southern California Gas Company immediately shut off their respective utilities to Santa Barbara to help prevent such a catastrophic disaster. Both the Santa Barbara Edison and Gas Company buildings were very badly damaged in the earthquake, but despite the damage William Engle of Edison and Henry Ketz of the Gas Company likely saved Santa Barbara from burning, and were recognized by the city for saving the city by quickly shutting the utilities down.

4 - The Way Santa Barbara Looks Today Is Due To The 1925 Earthquake


Damage to the Grand Hotel on State St. Photograph in public domain.

Santa Barbara is often rated as one of California's, and even the world's, most beautiful places with its unique architectural style, and that is because of the 1925 earthquake. How so? Well, much of downtown Santa Barbara was destroyed in the earthquake. The Santa Barbara Community Arts Association, which was formed in the early 1920s, was commissioned to rebuild the city, and the association decided upon the Spanish Colonial Revival style, and that decision would soon make the city famous. This in turn resulted in a strict architecture city code that remains in effect to this day. Prior to the earthquake much of downtown Santa Barbara was designed in Neo-Moorish style.

5 - The Epicenter Was In The Ocean

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake occurred in the Santa Barbara Channel at 6:44 a.m., but the USGS is not too certain just what fault caused the earthquake. What the USGS does believe is this earthquake was the result of slippage on an extension of either the Mesa Fault or the Santa Ynez Fault system. Even though this earthquake had its epicenter in the ocean there was no earthquake generated tsunami (however, some landslides into the ocean caused minor tsunamis).

6 - Rumors Ran Crazy


Isoseismal map showing how far and strong the 1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake was felt. Photograph in public domain.

Today, in the immediate aftermath of disasters rumors run crazy, especially amplified in the social media age, and, well, even though there was no social media in 1925 not much has changed since then. Following the earthquake there were rumors in Santa Barbara that Los Angeles and San Francisco had been destroyed, and that this had been the earthquake to end all earthquakes. Once telephone and telegraph service was restored, along with military ships coming up the coast to assist in security of the city, the rumors were quelled as it was quickly noted by The Morning Press, "that the earthquake was purely local." Though the earthquake was "purely local" it was felt from Santa Ana, San Bernardino to Monterey County.

6.8 - Before and After

Before the 1925 earthquake in Santa Barbara the last damaging earthquake in California was in April 1918, in the San Jacinto area with a M6.8 earthquake on the fault that shares the town's name, the San Jacinto Fault (which, by the way, happens to be the most active fault in Southern California). The last notable, damaging earthquake in the Santa Barbara area was in 1978, and that is when a M5.1 shook off the coast of Goleta. That earthquake caused a few shattered windows, knocked a lot of items over and derailed a Southern Pacific freight train.

UPDATE: A Book Coming Out Soon

Turns out the above photographs were not quite in Public Domain as Internet research would suggest, but are apart of a detailed 2010 four-part series of the 1925 earthquake by Neal Graffy in EdHat Santa Barbara, which is a highly recommended read. Furthermore, Mr. Graffy is in the process of writing a book about the earthquake, and will feature how Santa Barbara rebuilt after the shock, and the earthquake faults in and around Santa Barbara.

Remember Santa's Village and Santa Claus Lane?

[May/June 2014 UPDATE: In May 15, 2014 the Lake Arrowhead based Mountain News reported that they, "confirmed the pending sale of the 154-acre property to an unidentified Lake Arrowhead resident who has big plans for the property." This has set off much speculation that Santa's Village is coming back. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but however, (please do not throw snowballs at the messenger!) whatever those "big plans for the property" may be it must be pointed out that as of now, based on all the information made available, no firm or clear plans have been made that Santa's Village is coming back for sure.]

[August 2015 UPDATE: According to the San Bernardino Sun, Santa's Village will NOT be opening up in 2015. The current owners of the site have, quite frankly, not made it entirely clear just what the plans will be.]

LAKE ARROWHEAD - There was a time not too long ago in Southern California when Christmas and Santa Claus hung around all year long. Even if you never saw Santa Claus in the middle of spring chances are you knew from a charming commercial where you could find the jolly man in Southern California.

Many people who grew up here in the land of sunshine, freeways and palm trees probably remember a time in Southern California television history when "the independents," KTLA-TV, KHJ-TV/KCAL-TV, KTTV-TV and KCOP-TV, seemingly filled their morning or afternoon programming with cartoons. For those just coming of age it may be hard to believe such channels that now fill our airwaves with pathetic paternity results with inane insults once gave us great vintage cartoons that can no longer be found on television, and not even on the Cartoon Network. It seemed KTLA and KHJ aired cartoons in the morning; most memorable was Tom Hatten hosting Popeye cartoons on KTLA every morning, while KTTV and KCOP had the afternoon for cartoons.

Between all these cartoons was a very memorable commercial that seemed to air during every commercial break, a jolly ad for Santa's Village.

Even up until the the tip of the mid-1990s as morning and afternoon cartoons were waning on local television you can be assured there was an advertisement for, "Santa's Village, in the colorful San Bernardino Mountains on Highway 18, just 30 minutes north of San Bernardino."

It seemed the very same advertisement was aired for many years, and the only change probably ever made in their timeless commercial was the removal of "714" and replacing it with "909" in their listed telephone number.

The park was just a bit older than Disneyland, opening six weeks before the new Anaheim theme park in late May 1955.


A 1960s era pamphlet for Santa's Village. No copyright infringement intended; shown for educational and historical purposes only.

The owners of Santa's Village have quite the story of their own.

J. "Putty" Putnam Henck, a graduate of University of California at Berkley with a degree in engineering, moved to Skyforest, just outside of Lake Arrowhead, in 1923 with his wife, Mary.

Mr. Henck made very good use of his degree when he devised a plan to bring water and electricity to the then very rural San Bernardino Mountain town in the 1920s. Subsequently, Mr. Henck helped open up the first sheriff's and fire station in town.

While Mr. Henck brought water and power to town Mary Henck brought education to the then rural outpost of Lake Arrowhead by opening the first schoolhouse in the mountain community. Today a middle school is named after Ms. Henck in Lake Arrowhead.

In 1954 the Hencks, along with developer H. Glenn Holland who developed other Santa' Villages in Santa Cruz and outside Chicago, began construction on the Christmastime theme park in Skyforest.

For many years the quaint theme park was run by the couple and, according to Mr. Henck in a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times, at its height Santa's Village brought in 180,000 visitors a year.

The theme park was designed for children as perhaps the most thrilling ride offered was probably the Sled Ride, but nonetheless it was a charming, vividly colored theme park featuring a petting zoo and giving young visitors the chance to actually see and pet "Santa's reindeer." Best of all, you can go to Santa's Village, visit Santa Claus and have Christmas fun in the middle of July.

Santa's Village represented some of the last theme parks where imagination reined.

The place where Mr. Kris Kringle visited when he was away from the North Pole closed in early 1998.

Mr. Henck cited increased competition from newer rides at Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. The said increased competition came in the way of faster, "extreme" rides that the Hencks could neither afford, financially and logistically, nor did they want to add such attractions to their park and risk ruining what they originally envisioned.

After Santa's Village closed Mr. Henck remained active in the Lake Arrowhead community showing up at events and local political hearings.

In January of 2010 Mr. Henck past on at the age of 91.

Today remnants of Santa's Village still remains amid a construction company that has taken its place. Still intact are several colorful buildings and the Bumble Bee Monorail line.

If you ask nicely the owner of the construction company may let you walk about the premises and explore a piece of Southern California history "that isn't here anymore."

Of course, how could this story run without showing the commercial! For anybody who grew up in Southern California here is the commercial that seen to run during every afternoon commercial break.



Well, somebody was kind enough to share this found home video footage of Santa's Village.

Santa Claus in Santa Barbara 

Speaking of all things Santa Claus in Southern California, anybody remember Santa Claus Lane in Carpinteria near Santa Barbara? In particular, who remembers the big Santa atop of the building right off U.S. Route 101?

Santa Claus Lane was perhaps a condensed version of Santa's Village and was an Americana roadside attraction offering great date shakes and a miniature train ride through the premises. Of course the highlight of Santa Claus Lane for any child was the toy store.



Postcard of Santa Claus Lane in Capinteria. No copyright infringement intended; shown for educational and historical purposes only.

Created by the McKeon family as a roadside attraction in 1948 Santa Claus Lane started out with a Post Office and a juice shop, which served very popular date shakes, and of course, there was Jolly Santa Claus all 23 feet high to greet motorists along the 101. By 1956 there were two more businesses added, Toyland, which was always popular with children, and Santa's Kitchen. In its early years other attractions were added such as a merry-go-round, and perhaps the most memorable attraction, aside from Toyland, was the miniature train. 

Located just outside of Carpinteria the small area was soon given the named Santa Claus, California, as a play on the many city names in the Golden State that have "Santa" in their name. With a Post Office on site those sending letters to Santa's workshop in the North Pole, or to North Pole, Alaska, could have their letters postmarked with, "Santa Claus, California."

The best date shakes this side of the North Pole, a train ride, and a toy store, what more could a kid want!

Well, all things must change, and the 1970s seemed to mark the start of dark times for roadside attractions, and "Santa Claus, California" would prove no exception. By the 1980s the festive place off the 101 had become rundown with empty storefronts, and by 1984 even the popular miniature train was no longer running. There were a few modest efforts in the 1980s and 1990s, such as remodeling and repainting, to modernize the storefronts and businesses, and this as Toyland and the place to get great date shakes hung on into the late 1990s.

As the 1980s and 1990s wore on the Santa Barbara area further posed itself to be "The Hamptons of the West" and the 23-feet tall Santa Claus was becoming a tacky thorn in the side of city and county planners, along with wealthy developers. It was becoming clear in the 1990s that Santa's days overlooking drivers on the 101 would be coming to an end.

In 2002 Carpinteria city officials along with Santa Barbara County Supervisors, amid some debate to save Santa, decided to do away with the Jolly Old Saint Nick who greeting commuters along the 101 for many decades, deeming it, well, too tacky.

Of course it has been said that even Santa works in strange ways, and perhaps that is true as the big guy in the red suit still greets drivers along the 101, only this time a little bit south from a lot in Oxnard where he has been since 2003.


Here is Santa sitting in a lot in Oxnard. No copyright infringement intended; shown for educational and historical purposes only.




A date shake sounds good now. No copyright infringement intended; shown for educational and historical purposes only.

Today Santa Claus Lane remains as a street name, and it is really the only memory of what once stood there as "Santa Claus, California" is not even so much a shell of its former self, but rather all the stores have been repainted, remodeled and replaced with offerings reflecting the "Santa Barbara taste."

It would seem Santa Claus now stays in The North Pole all year long as Santa's Village and Santa Claus Lane are places in Southern California that are no longer here (as are afternoon cartoons on L.A. broadcast television), but they made for great memories for those who were lucky enough to experience it.

*Editor's Note: This article was originally published on July 24, 2010 on the editor's now defunct news-blog site, Southern California News Wire.