Santa Barbara may look like its red-tiled roofs and white stucco walls and buildings have been here forever... but who knows what secrets lurk beneath those facades? Santa Barbara historian Neal Graffy does!

And through the images and text of Santa Barbara Then and Now, layers of time are peeled back to reveal an earlier Santa Barbara of many different designs and uses. The side-by-side comparison of Then & Now images present a fascinating journey through Santa Barbara as it was and as it currently is. Along the way it's easy to see that every generation gains and loses something they treasure. This is the only book that dares to pose the question "Has every building in Santa Barbara been a restaurant at least once?"

So you want more creative thinking from yourself and those around you. Here’s the bible for building innovative individuals and teams. It should be read by any manager wanting to bring out the best in themselves and their people.

This fun-to-read guide introduces the fundamental behaviors and specific attitudes necessary to function in a team environment – and then shows you how to actually live them/make them happen. It's designed to help you work more effectively with others to create innovative results and bottom-line improvements. Over and over again.

Mere tools and techniques are not enough to change the way people and organizations work together. Innovation demands that individuals adopt specific behaviors and attitudes in order to flourish within teams.

Even more powerful is the strategy of reading as a group, using the available self-directed discussion guide to bring these high value behaviors to life in a permanent way for your team or organization.

This Santa Barbara waterfront history takes the reader back to the 19th century, to trace the inception and history of the second oldest yacht club on the Pacific.

The changes along the Santa Barbara waterfront — from the creation of Stearns Wharf, the arrival of the railroad, tourism, the campaign and creation of the breakwater harbor through to Prohibition, World War II and numerous natural disasters — are all seen through the eyes of a sailor.

Additionally, the Santa Barbara Yacht Club has a distinct community story to present, contributing national and international acclaim to Santa Barbara, bringing the town a new breakwater, and more. This is a interesting narrative and perspective on the seaside community.

The world-class facilitators at New & Improved were asked “What are the creative and critical thinking tools you most often use when running meetings?” This set of tool cards will become your “go-to” for planning meetings where a problem needs solving or a creative outcome is required.

Whether you are identifying a goal, defining a strategy, exploring a market dynamic, generating ideas or evaluating a proposal, we have you covered. The simple legend on the inside fold will guide you to apply the right tool at the right time. There are tools to help you generate options, and methods to help you select wisely among them. Meeting agendas are great, but meeting process plans separate the wise from the time wasters. Unpack these tools as you process-plan your next meeting. You’ll deliver better results more rapidly.

It seems that in our quest to please everyone else and make a living, many of us have forgotten to listen to ourselves. Compass Cards invite you to go in and listen. Spirituality and nature will accompany you as you answer the questions designed to help you cultivate the capacity of your inner wisdom. People often notice that as their inner wisdom grows so does their capacity to be compassionate and caring towards loved ones and our larger culture (the Earth too!).

As adults, at times we forget about the friend we have within ourselves. These cards help kids pay attention to that Inner Buddy and recognize the messages they hear when they take time to really listen. They’re asked to notice how they feel inside their bodies-when they eat healthy food and get enough sleep and to take time with the emotions they feel and ways to talk about them. They’ll notice what it’s like to be on the earth with the animals and plants and how they can help take care of our planet. They’re invited to notice the people the in their lives- how are we the same, different and what’s it like to love and help each other. It’s my hope that these cards will help children stay connected to their Inner Buddy and have a friend for life!

Sunshine Cards: As adults, at times we forget about the friend we have within ourselves. These cards help kids pay attention to that Inner Buddy and recognize the messages they hear when they take time to really listen. They’re asked to notice how they feel inside their bodies-when they eat healthy food and get enough sleep and to take time with the emotions they feel and ways to talk about them. They’ll notice what it’s like to be on the earth with the animals and plants and how they can help take care of our planet. They’re invited to notice the people the in their lives- how are we the same, different and what’s it like to love and help each other. It’s my hope that these cards will help children stay connected to their Inner Buddy and have a friend for life!

Compass Cards: It seems that in our quest to please everyone else and make a living, many of us have forgotten to listen to ourselves. Compass Cards invite you to go in and listen. Spirituality and nature will accompany you as you answer the questions designed to help you cultivate the capacity of your inner wisdom. People often notice that as their inner wisdom grows so does their capacity to be compassionate and caring towards loved ones and our larger culture (the Earth too!).

The multi-award winning Old Spanish Days: Santa Barbara History Through Public Art uncovers the history behind California’s Rancho Period with fascinating details and lavish illustration. Tapping into primary resources through extensive research, historian Erin Graffy de García provides a vivid portrait of this exceptional era in California, one of the largest non-nomadic pastoral societies in history. The “old Spanish days” recalls the time when most of the population lived out on the great ranchos, before the Yankees came and forever changed this gentle culture of dolce far niente. The Spanish arcadia of early California was the inspiration for Santa Barbara, California’s “Old Spanish Days Fiesta” and was distinguished by expert horsemen, extraordinary hospitality, and an exhilarating love of music and dancing. (The beautiful illustrations come from the renowned artists responsible for most of Santa Barbaras public art over the century, and their descriptive biographies are included). A great book for fourth graders studying California history and a must for those who want a clearer understanding of the Rancho Period.

After serving as a guide to the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels, journalist Dana Matthaei Kent joined three other young woman on an adventure through Europe to India and Indonesia. From car to camel to cargo plane, they visited 26 countries to experience the war-torn Middle East, civil unrest in Iraq, and the colorful customs of Java. Her youth and candid observations provide us a fascinating glimpse of these exotic locales in a more innocent and isolated world.

In 1908 the Potter Hotel dominated the oceanfront along Santa Barbara's West Beach. Thirty-six acres of lush gardens and pathways surrounded the luxurious six-story hotel with more than four hundred magnificent guest rooms. April of that year saw the arrival of the Great White Fleet as it stopped in various seaports around the glove, sent on a mission of good-will by President Theodore Roosevelt. How fortunate for the tiny town to be selected as one of the stopping points. It was a time for celebration. A time for community. A time for murder...

ANIMALIA is an extraordinary collection of fabulously detailed portraits of wild animals paired with rollicking verse reminiscent of Ogden Nash and Edward Lear. The book has earned high praise and recognition, including the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Bronze Medal, Benjamin Franklin Book Award, International Book Award, and the Silver Medal for Poetry from National Indie Excellence Book Awards. Much of the poetry portrays the biology and natural history of the species described but imbedded in verse that is a delight for a child to follow and learn. They are equally fascinated by the stunningly detailed portraits which convey movement and demeanor. Critics have noted, “Children will be totally captivated with Mielko’s drawings that blend perfectly with Graffy’s charming poetry. ....The drawings are visually arresting....the humor of the poetry is a delight, and playfulness of language (repetition, onomatopoeia) is engaging."

Santa Barbara in 1914: This was the year of “Flying A” shooting movies all over town, stunt pilots flying around, visits from Buffalo Bill, Charlie Chaplin, Rattlesnake Jim, and the Mule Man, knee-length bathing suits, glowing fish swimming by, and a German warship stealthily cruised past!

Santa Barbara in 1915 (2nd in the series): “Flying A” was still shooting movies here, and we also had the peacock tamale scandal, TNT and torpedoes on July 4, a devilfish threatened Stearns Wharf, and kids had a rare New Year’s Eve snowball fight!

The path to a sustained innovation culture is one that requires steady effort, big and small. Make a statement to yourself and others by carrying this journal with you, gradually filling it with the insights that take you from where you are to where you want to be.

Innovation is a messy-minded business, and that mess is best clarified and productively untangled by reflection, incubation and playfulness. For all of its advances, technology still often limits creative mindfulness. The Leading Innovation Journal is designed to make an impression, to feel good in your hands and to inspire you to transform the blank pages (70 of them) into a unique record of your process and thinking. And, what’s more, simply having the journal visible in your workspace or within a meeting sends a message. A message that innovation is important to you. It’s a simple message that has an exact-right influence for forming culture. Simple move, don’t cha think?

This thrilling book reads more like an adventure novel than a community history. It begins in 1542, when Cabrillo became the first white man to visit the Goleta Valley region, and ends in 1966 when Goleta was emerging as a research center of the Space Age. Told in the dramatic, narrative style which has made Walker A. Tompkins the most-read historian of the Santa Barbara region, the story begins with a Canaliño Indian legend which hits that Cabrillo may have been buried on Mescalitán Island.

This thrilling book reads more like an adventure novel than a community history. It begins in 1542, when Cabrillo became the first white man to visit the Goleta Valley region, and ends in 1966 when Goleta was emerging as a research center of the Space Age. Told in the dramatic, narrative style which has made Walker A. Tompkins the most-read historian of the Santa Barbara region, the story begins with a Canaliño Indian legend which hits that Cabrillo may have been buried on Mescalitán Island.

The Greeks had a word for it: polis, meaning a compact, democratically governed urban center surrounded by a bucolic valley of orchards, vineyards, and rural neighborhoods. If such a latter-day Athens exists in twenty-first century Southern California, it surely can be found here in the Ojai Valley, and its Pericles was Edward Drummond Libbey. Libbey was not an architect, but he used fine architecture to shape Ojai. Like Pericles, who drafted the foremost architects in Greece to create the Acropolis, Libbey higher master designers Frank Mead and Richard Requa to create the Spanish-style civic center that still defines Ojai's image today.