300 Mountain Dr, Santa Barbara, CA 93103

This bohemian Santa Barbara neighborhood started as place for post-war beatniks to live and create in a rustic, non-judgemental community. “This sleepy-looking corner of Santa Barbara was once the epicenter of one of California’s most spirited utopian communities,” reporter Katherine Stewart writes, “where naked nymphs danced on grapes harvested from the Santa Ynez Valley, then rinsed off in the radical innovation we now know as the hot tub.”

Centered along winding Mountain Drive, this unofficial commune was the home of architects, artists, painters and writers. Lovingly called the “chicken yard of Monticito,” it was famous for its annual Wine Stomp, and weekly community get-togethers. These included the men’s only Sunset Club, and the women’s only Stitch and Bitch. Many residents were committed nudists and believed in free love and experimental drug use.

“It was a utopia if you were an ‘alpha male’,” recalled Judy Young, a frequent visitor. “These men spawned dynasties, made their houses by hand and worked whatever their art was. They wanted to have interesting, aesthetic lives, and they did. They all drank heavily and smoked. They thought they could get away with it forever. But like all dreams, it didn’t last.”

According to Stewart, Mountain Drive is still a close-knit-, if more traditional and family-friendly- community. “Back in the 1960s, parents were off doing their own thing and weren’t paying very close attention to us kids,” one resident told her. “Today, however, the kids are the focus. There are 30 or 40 kids at every event. And they’re well cared for.”