A little boy is standing on a wooden box, peering through a submarine periscope. But, this periscope isn’t in a sub. It’s in a museum at Santa Barbara Harbor.
"I see the harbor, I see flags, and I see palm trees," said the little boy. The periscope gives him a view of the harbor area.
We’re at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, an eight thousand square foot complex which celebrates the region’s maritime history.
"We wanted to cover everything that has human interaction with the Santa Barbara Channel," said Greg Gorga, who is Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. "We go from Point Conception to Port Hueneme, the Channel Islands, and anything in-between, and we wanted from the very beginning to be the most hands-on, interactive maritime museum on the West Coast. We have a sport fishing exhibit where you hold a rod in your hand, and when the fish bites. it shakes the rod and you have to hold on and reel it in. We have a working periscope, one of only five open to the public in the United States. Kids can jump up on a surfboard. So, it's really hands-on.
It’s a big summer for the museum, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
"The building we are in (at the Harbor) was a WPA Works project," said Gorga. "It was built, and then World War II broke out. The city gave it to the Navy, and it was a Navy training center., and then Navy Reserve building from World War II into the 90's. The city bought it back from the Navy, and there was a big discussion over what to do. A group of individuals including local fisherman, commercial divers, and Bob Keating, who owned a boat store, led an effort to bring people involved with the harbor together to open our doors."
One of the cornerstones of the museum is education. There’s a kids area, where some children are making paper hats. Other are coloring images of the iconic island fox, the once endangered species which has made a comeback in its native Channel Islands habitat. "I'm going to make one of the foxes," said a little boy. "I'm going to make it white, and orange."
"We started bringing a tall ship here to town," said Gorga. "Kids learned about being an 1830's sailor. Now, we've grown to 13 different education programs. We work with junior high school and high school girls, and put them on a NOAA research vessel, where they become hands-on scientists. We have great programs in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, and Oso Flaco Lake where we get kids to explore the coastal environment."
The museum also has an ongoing lecture series for adults which looks at everything from sea life to shipwrecks. There’s a gallery area, which showcases maritime related paintings and photographs. The current exhibition features the photography of Chuck Graham, chronicling the lives of the island fox.
Gorga there are a wide range of exhibits looking at Santa Barbara's deep maritime roots, telling stories even some local residents don’t know. "Santa Barbara has a rich, rich maritime history. You know, you could only get here originally by boat. Trains didn't come until the late 1800's. We had a pirate attack in 1818. at Ortaga Ranch up by Refugio Beach. We have the Chumash who have been mariners, and getting out to those islands for thousands, and thousands of years. We are the birthplace of deepwater commercial diving."
One of the museum’s prized exhibits is a two story high lighthouse lens built in the 1850’s to warn mariners that they were approaching Point Conception.
"Augustin-Jean Fresnel was a French physicist/engineer in the 1820's, and he revolutionized lighthouses. Before that, they had argand lamps, and just reflected a flame. He developed a series of glass prisms. So, we're looking at 624 glass prisms. 16 of them are called bullseyes. That's those round pieces of glass, very unique. And, that was five times strong than what was there before. This one we are looking out was designed to send light 25 miles out to sea."
Perhaps one the museum’s most fun new additions is a simulator which allows you to be the captain of a boat crossing the Santa Barbara Channel, while trying to avoid everything from cargo ships to whales. "I helped design this exhibit, but I've never made it across the Channel," he laughed. "I've run out of gas a few times."
The admission charge and memberships only cover a portion of running the museum. Donors, and foundation grants have helped keep it open, and growing over the years. It hosts some 40,000 visitors annually, and is nearing the millionth visitor in its history. On June 28th, it will host a 25th anniversary party at the museum featuring the Yacht Rock band Yachty By Nature. Tickets are still available for the fundraiser.
