In the spring of 1926, the Garden Club of America held its annual meeting in Santa Barbara. Affluent garden-lovers from the East Coast boarded a special train at Grand Central Station, for the cross-country trip. Many of the delegates to the meeting stayed at the luxurious El Mirasol hotel for the four-day event — and they visited spectacular gardens of the great estates of Santa Barbara and Montecito.
An editorial in the Morning Press welcomed the Garden Club delegates to the convention: “While our gardens may be said to be ‘at their best’ they are just as beautiful most of the year and as a matter of fact, we seldom have ‘a best’ time in Santa Barbara for showing beauty.”
It continued, “We love Santa Barbara because to us of Santa Barbara it is the most loveable city in America. Founded in the long ago by the self-sacrificing Franciscan Friars, the growth of Santa Barbara has been gradual, but the city has been builded in love by those who came here and settled because they found it a delightful place to live. There has been harmony, generally, and always a united loyalty of the place that we call our home.”…