Mr. Reagan's Neighborhood

Santa Barbara

If your idea of bliss is proximity to the president, without the fuss and formality of his winter palace on the Potomac, then Santa Barbara, with its surfers, equestrians, and power ranches, is the place for you.

There's an old saying in the movie business: You work in Hollywood, retire to Santa Barbara, and end up at Forest Lawn. Don't believe it. Santa Barbara's cast of Tinseltown transplants swear they're never leaving. From Mel Ferrer's hacienda to Rancho del Cielo, there are enough ex-actors around for a Ross Hunter movie. Then there's Montecito, the posh enclave that makes Beverly Hills look like a housing project.

There are two ways to go in Montecito: first-class and w/?/?er-first-class. The pecking order has nothing to do with box office. Jonathan Winters could show up at a celebrity polo match with Dame Judith Anderson and nobody would bat an eye. But if Fess Parker drops by, expect heads to turn. Parker was Walt Disney's Davy Crockett, a role that made him one of TV's first superstars. Following his acting career, he made a fortune in California real estate. He's also dabbling in politics, although if he ever runs for mayor of Santa Barbara, he could have a fight on his hands. As a local preservationist once wrote, Santa Barbarans have a deep fear that "materialists" will strip their city "of her Romance and leave her nakedly Common."

So what does Parker do? He builds a convention center right off the downtown beach. Naturally, that's made a lot of people mad. And in a town where even street directions have been Hollywoodized ("Take a right at Richard Widmark's house"), some very big p former names in the business are saying ol' Fess just pulled a Dino De Laurentiis.

Bill Thomas