Presidio Motel

While in Santa Barbara, my friend Jenny and I stayed at the Presidio Motel located centrally on State Street. Basically, it's a small (16 room) typically American 1950s motel complex that has been given an artsy makeover. Each room is different, there are free bikes available, internet is weak but free and there is a complimentary continental breakfast with tea, coffee, fruit, hard boiled eggs and yummy sweet breads, muffins and scones. There's also a fridge in each room which is great for people staying longer and not going to wedding-related events. There's also the best gift shop ever (save the Opening Ceremony shop at the Ace Hotel), which I'll blog about later.

We were in room 15 which looks like this (from the motel's website):

Here are some of the photos I took:

And here's the view from our window--there is a little sun deck which we didn't have the time to use--this was an early morning photo before the sun burned through the clouds. As visitors on Eastern Time, we were early risers:

It was great staying somewhere that wasn't part of a chain and had its own charm and style. Plus the guest store sold Rachel Comey, striped t-shirts, letterpress cards and artisan jewelry and leather goods, amongst other items, so it was all pretty much to my taste. I highly recommend the hotel if you are in the area--the owners are great and it is all very reasonably priced for the area. It was nice to call it our temporary home in the area.