Greater Carpinteria:: Summerland and La Conchita (Images of America)

Carpinteria once featured a racetrack at one end of town and a gargantuan statue of Santa Claus at the other--"anchor" operations highlighting this unique southern corner of coastal Santa Barbara County. A few miles south, in the northern corner of Ventura County, nestles La Conchita, where an early seaside stagecoach route and a famous banana plantation helped shape the local flavor. The historical characteristics of Summerland, on the coast north of "Carp," as Carpinteria is known, have included a J. Paul Getty oil operation and youth baseball played on fields lighted by piped-in natural gas. The three distinct communities of Greater Carpinteria are tied together by both the spectacular coastal landscapes-- beautiful beaches and majestic mountain ranges--as well as the area's intrinsically linked schools and businesses. It is an eclectic paradise between Ventura and Santa Barbara that draws a million visitors a year.