Sure, montecito is Spanish for “little mountain” – but there’s more to the story. Montecito Heights was born in 1906 as Montecito Park, a 240 acre subdivision run by realtor Martin E. Johnson. 107 of those acres had been purchased from Edwin Holbrook Sawyer (1862-1938), who lived in – guess where? – Montecito, that pricy community east of Santa Barbara. And that’s how the name came to these little mountains. Edwin Sawyer hailed from Somerville, MA; after spending a couple of winters in Santa Barbara with his mother and brothers, he picked up substantial acreage in Montecito in 1886 and lived there with his wife Nathalie and son Brooke until 1916, when they resettled in SB. As for Martin Johnson, see Berenice Avenue (named for his own wife) for some background. Montecito Drive was carved out in April 1908.
Find it on the map:
