Sun Potion’s Guide to Santa Barbara

What to do, see and eat in Santa Barbara, according to Sun Potion founder Scott Linde…

This post comes from beauty writer, Katheryn Erickson.

With his sun-bleached hair, happy aura, and laid-back attitude, Scott Linde gives off major Southern California vibes. Which is why it might surprise you that he didn’t grow up in the Golden State, but next to a lake in Minnesota. Still, after living on the west coast for the past 15 years—first Ojai and now Santa Barbara, where he founded herbal tonic line Sun Potion—it’s clear he’s pretty smitten with his home. “Santa Barbara has a really optimistic, positive energy,” he says. “It has a South-facing coastline, mountains to the North, and there are protective islands about 20 miles off the coast that block the deep ocean waves from coming to the shore. The feng shui of the geography is empowering, and you’re exposed to this whole spectrum of esoteric things like herbalism. It’s the absolute hub of all progress around food and wellness.” In other words: It’s well worth making a weekend trip to the coastal town this summer. “Some days I’ll just drive around the hills in Montecito. There are these beautiful winding neighborhood streets with low hanging trees and you just kind of meander. It’s vacation paradise.” Here, Scott shares his Santa Barbara musts.

The Best Green Juice

There’s a juice bar called Ah Juice one block from our warehouse. I think it’s the only 100% organic café and juice bar in town. That means that everything—all the spices, all the oils—is organic, which is pretty cool. One of the owners, Alfred, is a Chinese medicine and acupuncture master, so the juice is formulated from that perspective. It’s powerful stuff. I get Super Greens or the turmeric lemonade. We often order staff lunch from there if we’re having a meeting.

The Best Beach

Mesa Lane, which is around the corner from another great, plant-based restaurant, Mesa Verde. You walk down these steep steps and it’s the most unregulated beach on the Southern California coastline. It’s full of dogs. You can have bonfires there. It’s a fun spot.

The Best Lazy Sunday Morning Activity

Lately I’m into the yoga of cars, and there’s a huge car culture in Santa Barbara—racecars, vintage cars. Cars and Coffee is a car show every Sunday morning in Montecito. 100 cars line up on this little street. You’re walking up and down and there’s hundreds of millions of dollars worth of vintage Ferraris and Jaguars—it’s museum-grade. And then you can go for a little jog afterwards in the Montecito hills.

The Best Place to Stock Up On Veggies

I go to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. I think it’s the third-largest-grossing farmer’s market in California. A lot of the produce in LA comes from farms in Goleta and on the Central Coast. There’s a stand from Ojai that has an endless array of fresh-cut herbs, and I always stop by Roots Farm’s booth. Also, Santa Barbara has the best avocados in the US—they grow on the pass over to Ojai. It’s the gold coast for avocados.

The Best Live Music

On Friday and Saturday nights, there’s a singer that looks and sings like Frank Sinatra at the El Encanto hotel. You sit on the patio surrounded by trees and there’s a beautiful view. It’s a classic.

The Best Views

The sunset from the Douglas Preserve is amazing. It’s 70 acres of open land that used to belong the Douglas family (Kirk Douglas and that tribe of actors) and they donated it to Santa Barbara city as a park. It has huge beautiful trees and you look down over Hendry’s beach. It’s really nice to walk around.

The Best Day Trip

Ojai is a must. Go to Farmer and the Cook and the Meditation Mount.

 

+ Travel on the mind? Be sure to check out more adventure guides!! 

Photos by Casi O’Dierno, visit her website

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Ah, loving the ourdoorsy travel posts today. The sunset from Douglas Preserve really does look amazing – and that’s only on camera. It’d probably be a million times better in person!

Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com

6 years ago

Beautiful photos!

6 years ago

So beautiful, love Santa Barbara!

x
StephC

http://sstephcc.blogspot.com/

6 years ago

I loved this guide! I’ve visited Santa Barbara a few times and hadn’t heard about many of these places. I’ll have to check out Douglas Preserve on my next trip there.

-Helen
http://www.sweethelengrace.com

6 years ago

Santa Barbara is one of my favorite spots in California. These photos are a great representation : )

6 years ago

Juice Ranch is also 100% organic!