San Roque & Samarkand

These delightful neighborhood areas are adjacent to each other and are located northwest of downtown. Charming tree-lined streets, white picket fences, blooming gardens, homes with a lot of curb appeal, and pride of ownership is apparent. Both neighborhoods have great “walking scores” with access to the Upper State Street business district with great restaurants, Gelson’s market, Whole Foods Market, pubs, coffee shops, banking, post office, and many local small businesses. Santa Barbara Municipal Golf Course is in this area.

Homes in San Roque can feature mountain views. Samarkand area homes can have great mountain views and some peaks of the ocean and downtown Santa Barbara.

For planning purposes, the City of Santa Barbara uses two designations for these areas, San Roque and East San Roque. The area takes its name from San Roque creek, which was named by early Spanish settlers.

A rural farming area until the 20th century, San Roque's first residential subdivision was developed in 1917 by Stephen Rutherford, and called Rutherford Park. The streets were laid out in an irregular grid transected by spokes from a central circular hub, a street named Argonne Circle in memory of Rutherford's son, Lawrie, who died in the WWI battle of the Argonne forest.

 

In 1926, plans were approved for the San Roque Country Club and golf course to occupy much of the area adjacent to Rutherford Park, but development stalled due to the Great Depression and in 1939 portions of the unbuilt golf course land were donated to the city of Santa Barbara to become San Roque Park and Stevens Park. In 1928, Peabody Elementary School was built in San Roque in response to population growth, and in 1937 the parochial San Roque School was established. Between 1945 and 1970, residential development filled in the remaining unbuilt lots, and commercial development spread along State Street.