We Love The Funk Zone
The Funk Zone has a story and we want to tell it.
As you walk down State Street towards the ocean it’s apparent that you are in Santa Barbara. The Spanish style, stecco buildings with views of the mountains and oceans keep that postcard style American Riviera alive.
When you turn onto Yanonali from State Street you enter a different postcard frame. A place that edges the train tracks and the 101 highway tucked away. A perfect place for fishermen and artists to dive into their work. This is also a place where the painting of murals and hanging art on telephone poles is welcomed and admired. The businesses that have slowly moved into this area have supported art and artists.
In the mid 1900s this location was an industrial area buzzing with fisherman and marine focused work. Fast forward to the start of the 90s and artists started consuming the area. The term The Funk Zone caught traction as people recognized the funky buildings that were once grain and feed stores, quonset huts and warehouses with odd shapes and artists starting to flood the area. Santa Barbara’s rent was rising forcing creative folks to move elsewhere so Patrick Davis, the arts commissioner at this time, worked with the city to support this artist movement in the funk zone through zoning rules of the area.
Artists flooded to The Funk Zone consuming the mason street art studios, upper levels of wineries and warehouses, shacks behind chained fences and hole in the wall spaces. Murals and art were placed anywhere and everywhere and the local businesses that continued to move into this area seemed in support of keeping this art alive.
On any given night you could walk into Red’s Bar (now Test Pilot) and find a pile of artists dancing, unwinding from their day and sharing the creations they're venturing into. Then when you exit Red’s, turn left on Helena and face the Red’s wall you’d find a mix of murals and painted wooden art pieces drilled into the wall. If you brought your drill you’d have a local piece of The Funk Zone forever. The art taken was always replaced.
The fisherman still reside in areas of The Funk Zone as well and it would be unfair to claim this area as an artist’s nook only. The fishermen were here first and with the uprising of tourist hot spots and buzzing businesses it has forced them to adapt as well.
Change is inevitable. We know this place will change with time. A city is nothing without a thriving art scene and in order to have a thriving art scene, a community supporting it is necessary. Fishing will always be a part of this community as well. This town greatly benefits from local fishing and art.
