Discover the
La Arcada Plaza
Treasures

ART + SCULPTURE

22 Treasures Are Hiding in Plain Sight.
Can You Find Them All?

La Arcada Plaza has never been just a place to shop or dine. Since 1926, it has been a living collection — a curated world of art, history, and wonder woven into every courtyard, corridor, and corner. Most visitors walk right past treasures that took decades to assemble from London auction houses, German studios, Utah metalworkers, and the hands of Santa Barbara's most beloved sculptors.

Go on the La Arcada Plaza
Treasure Hunt!
This is your invitation to look closer.
Ready to explore?

Title 01
The clock on State Street has a story worth knowing. Its designer? Former master clocksmith at Tiffany's. Its inspiration? A Chicago landmark that's kept time since 1880. Its home? Right here on State Street, cast in Mexico and placed exactly where it belongs.

Can you find it?
Before there was a plaza, there was a church. Our Lady of Sorrows stood on this very ground from 1868 until the earthquake of 1925 brought it down. Architect Myron Hunt reimagined what could rise in its place — and La Arcada was born. The full story is etched in tile, waiting for those curious enough to seek it. Can you find the plaque?
Three gateway signs welcome you into La Arcada — and each one tells the same story in metal. The lion and castle motif gracing every sign was drawn directly from original frescoes found on the building dating back to 1927, then rendered by Historical Arts & Casting of Utah — regarded as the finest metalwork studio in America. The building's original soul, preserved in cast metal at every entrance.

☐ State Street entryway sign

☐ Figueroa Street entryway sign

☐ Museum of Art & Library passage sign

Can you find all three?
At the heart of La Arcada lives its most beloved resident. AMELIA — the flying turtle — was named for Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She is the work of the late James "Bud" Bottoms, Santa Barbara's Sculptor Laureate, and she soars above a fountain where real Red Ear Slider turtles sun themselves on the rocks below. Generations of children have grown up knowing this fountain. Can you find Amelia?
No single artist has left a more joyful — or more mischievous — mark on La Arcada than James "Bud" Bottoms, Santa Barbara's Sculptor Laureate. He didn't just make art — he made invitations. To climb, to sit, to laugh, to look closer. Hunt them all down.

☐ Bronze Dolphins

☐ Sea Lion Fountain

☐ Dolphin Head & the Unamused Sea Turtle

☐ Bronze Whale Tail Bench

☐ Indigenous Animals of the Channel Islands

Look carefully. Can you find them all?
In 1993, Hugh Petersen traveled — in spirit, at least — to a Christie's auction in London to bring home something extraordinary: a bell cast in Zacatecas in 1761. Originally carried out of Baja California by an English collector, it found its way across an ocean and back to the land it once called home. Can you find it?
Step inside and step back. Not every barbershop has a carousel horse chair. The Barber Shop at La Arcada is where skilled grooming meets a century of collected character — antique chairs built by E.J. Kochs of Chicago, a stove dated 1905, and a penny scale that still stands even though it no longer weighs anything but nostalgia.

☐ The antique Barber Chairs

☐ The restored Barber Poles

☐ The Carousel Horse child's chair

☐ The 1905 Stove

☐ The Penny Scale

Can you find them all?
It arrived here from a Spanish galleon.

It was cast in 1741.

It has outlasted empires.

Can you find it?
George Lundeen's bronze likeness of one of America's founding fathers stands in quiet contemplation at La Arcada. He appears to be reading something.

Can you find Ben Franklin — and discover what holds his attention?
When Bonifatius Stirnberg's interactive sculpture arrived at La Arcada, it marked the first time an American audience had ever encountered his work. The German artist's Mozart Trio Fountain invites you not just to look, but to listen — even in silence.

Can you find the Trio and imagine what they might be playing?
Facing the courtyard shared by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Public Library stands a lacquered steel sculpture by Sir Anthony Caro — one of Britain's greatest artists. Intermezzo, created in 1967 and installed here in 1988, asks nothing of you except your attention.

Can you find it?
The iconic red phone booth at La Arcada — as British as Big Ben, as recognizable as the Crown — stands as a reminder that good design deserves defending. The color red was chosen simply to make it easy to spot. Which is ironic, because in 1980 British Telecom announced plans to repaint every single one of them yellow. The public revolted. The Daily Mail launched a campaign. BT backed down. Some battles are worth fighting. Can you find it?
Johnson made a career of catching people mid-moment — ordinary life elevated to art. At La Arcada, three of his trompe l'oeil painted bronze figures have made themselves at home. Look closely. Each one has a secret.

NICE TO SEE YOU — a window washer named Bob, with a book tucked into his back pocket. What is he reading?

WHO'S IN CHARGE — a father and son, mid-adventure, sharing exactly the kind of afternoon worth remembering.

THE GENERATION BRIDGE — a grandfather, a chocolate bar, a forgotten doll on a bench. Some moments are timeless.

Can you find all three sculptures?
The Carousel Mural is the backdrop to Johnson's sculptural figures was painted by Donn Byrne, whose carousel animal images were drawn from the famous woodcarvings of the golden age of merry-go-rounds and whirligigs — a tradition that ended with the start of World War II.