Browse the walls of Harry’s Plaza Cafe, where over 1,500 vintage photographs tell ancestral stories. Just ask, and you'll learn that many locals have gathered various memorabilia from Fiesta pins to vintage postcards.
Peter Jordano of Jordano’s Foodservice is an avid collector of vintage Santa Barbara postcards. He's preserved them in large old-school photo albums, amounting to about 6,000 pre-1950 images. From Cabrillo Boulevard, dotted with vintage cars, to El Paseo restaurant, where locals in suits and hats watch a Fiesta flamenco show, flipping through the photos transports you to a simpler time in sepia tones. These places are familiar, yet distant.
Peppering the walls of restaurants and homes locally and beyond, Fiesta’s colorful posters are collector’s items. Traditionally, Fiesta’s El Presidente works with an artist, explaining their vision for the poster. El Presidente 2024 Brian Schwabecher and local artist Holli Harmon created this year’s centennial poster.
Titled “Four Nations, One Spirit” with the Mission and the mountains in the background, a flamenco dancer poses on a patch of fire, four figures circling her, dancing and vibrating. The four nations are Santa Barbara’s inhabitants: the first Chumash, followed by the earliest colonizers from Spain, then Mexico and the US.
On Old Spanish Days Fiesta's website, Harmon explains, “I chose a traditional painting style to portray our collective memoirs, inviting us to partake in the joy of a shared heritage. Between the layers of nostalgia lies the true strength of Fiesta. It is a testament to our cultural vibrancy."