New Whale Overlook at Hendry's in Santa Barbara

When I lived in Santa Barbara from 2005 - 2009, I served on the Board of Santa Barbara Beautiful; a local non-profit doing the good work of tree-planting, landscaping, education and art in public locations. We had a long-running project that just never seemed to get the correct amount of assistance or funding and was still incomplete when I left for Singapore in mid-2009.

Looking for birds at the creekmouth, I found that the Overlook is done. And well-done, too! Located at Hendry's Beach, now a Santa Barbara County park, Arroyo Burro Beach, the overlook sits behind the Boathouse Restaurant.

This is the top landing, about 25' above the beach.

Right away you notice the elaborate arrangement of hand-set stones.

The view from the top is quite grand, although no whales, darnitall. The Boathouse Restaurant is on the extreme left.

 

The handrail mimicks the waves - in my opinion. I can no longer recall the name of the artist and will post when I can sort it out.

You can see the meticulous detail with individual attention to each mounting bracket to support the handrail among the surreal placement of stones.

The steps to the top - with a very wavy handrail.

 

Good work Santa Barbara Beautiful, I must say it was worth the wait.

 

Click on any photo to view enlargements of all photos in this post.