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The Santa Ynez valley is the hand that holds the five fingers of the towns and cities that make up the valley. Los Olivos is known for its small hometown community that inspired the movies "Mayberry" and "Sideways to be filmed here. Known for its art galleries and 19 wine tasting shops in a town that boasts a residential poplation of 1000 people. Ballard is a town of 300 people known for the Ballard Inn and wine tasting and the Loper Chapel and quaint Ballard school house. Santa Ynez is the western town with many restaurants, the feed store and the Maverick Saloon where outside a sign states that "Ladies (are) welcome" Solvang was founded by the Danish and means "Sunny fields" The fields are still there next to the original mission of Santa Inez. It sports five Danish bakeries and many tourist attractions including a horse drawn carriage and bicycles built for the whole family. Buellton is the second city in the valley second to Solvang and is a bedroom community for Santa Barbara with the convenience of Pea Soup Andersons and Hwy 101 as a cornerstone of the city.
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Santa Ynez Valley Culture
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Horses, horses and more beautiful horse country and the 119 vineyards combine to provide a venue of entertainment and nature in the perfect environment. Each town has its attractions, from the Los Olivos Days and the Quick draw art contest in the park, to the Solvang parade and Mission Fiesta, Old days in Santa Ynez with a western fling and many other community events including the Theaterfest in Solvang that runs in an outdoor theater all summer.
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Santa Ynez Valley Education
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Known for it's gifted programs Los olivos sports a Charter school and an elementary and middle school. The Christian academy, Dunn School and Midland School are sought after both by residents and boarding students. Having a very small local population keeps the schools safe and as they say, if it takes a village to raise a child, here you have the whole valley helping you. We are basically crime free and the sheriffs have very little to do other than look after your kids.
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Santa Ynez Valley Employment
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Forget it, go somewhere else for a job. Here the major employers are not worth it and the rest are service positions.
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Santa Ynez Valley History
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First came the missionaries in the 1700's and determined what a rich and fertile valley is here. With the particular East West orientation to the ocean the breezes keep this as one of the only two Mediterrenean climates of the US. In the 1800's the Danes came and saw and stayed in the valley. Then the train came to Los Olivos and stopped so that all of the passengers had to be off loaded and taken by stage coach across the pass to Santa Barbara.
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Santa Ynez Valley Housing
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Most of the houses were built in the late seventies and early eighties. Because of zoning the population can not get any bigger than 28,000 people. Fifteen years ago it was 20,000 now it is 24,000. that keeps the prices high with the law of supply and demand. It is like beach front property, they aren't making any more of it. Houses can be found from $500,000 and up. On an average for the house of your dreams, expect to pay $700,000 to $1,000,000 or more depending on the amount of land. but wherever you live in the valley it is OK, because you can live in this pristine, pastoral, spot of beauty.
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Santa Ynez Valley Lifestyle
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Los Olivos sports four extraordinary restaurants including the historical Matties Tavern, run by Brothers Restaurant and world famous chef Patrick at Patricks Side Street Cafe. Petros just moved up from Newport Beach to bring fine Greek food to Fess Parker's Wine Country Inn and Spa. Solvang hads restaurants galore and Santa Ynex has many good ones, especially The Vineyard House, and Grappolo's. For breakfast the Longhorn Cafe is a classic that opens at 6:00 AM and serves good cowboy food until 1:00 PM.
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Santa Ynez Valley Nature
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With 1.8 million acres of wildland on one side and the ocean on the other over population is not a problem here. Equestrian facilities abound as well as trails and corrals in Paradise. Nohoqui Falls is always wet in the summer, a beautiful park and waterfall. Alisal Guest Ranch can give you the dude ranch experience and the ranches and vineyards are all over the side of the road.
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Santa Ynez Valley Recreation
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 Golf? anyone say golf? A masterpiece golf course is for public use at Live oak on 154. Alisal is famous, and all of the surrounding areas have wonderful facilities on the Central Coast of California.
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Santa Ynez Valley Transportation
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The Santa Ynez airport can take little planes, but commercial traffic is easy to hook up on from Santa Barbara 40 minutes away and in Santa Maria any private craft can land with ease and low gas prices and fees.
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Santa Ynez Valley Weather
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The Santa Ynez Valley has one of the finest climates in the state of California. Prevailing west-north westerly breezes keep the temperature mild and the air smog free. Winter highs average in the 60's with night time lows in the 30's. Summer daytime temperatures usually range in the 70's and 80's. Average seasonal rainfall is 16 inches with most of it occurring between November and April.
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