My partner and I were completely blown away by Sully and his presentation. This tour is a must for anyone interested in Santa Barbara history and the origins of the current community. Sully has a wealth of knowledge and can’t wait to share it. Sully was overly generous with his time and energy. The tour was chock full of fascinating information and details. Very highly recommended.

Walking in the footsteps of the founding fathers of Santa Barbara! He makes the world of the past live in the present!

Sully is a very knowledgeable historian of Santa Barbara and California in general. We had a great time, he told us some really amazing stories. Would definitely recommend to anyone who visits Santa barbara. We have been here many times but didn't know the history. It's obvious that he loves what he does and I felt like he would have stayed with us all evening telling us the history if given the opportunity. 10 out of 10, highly recommend! He also suggested a place for dinner that was fantastic.

We took Sullivan Israel’s private walking tour of El Pueblo Viejo in Santa Barbara and were blown away! Sullivan loves Santa Barbara and really knows its history. He answered all of our questions and more. He even brought old maps and pictures to highlight his presentation. Sullivan was very generous with his time. He also provided information about other sites to visit. This tour was so awesome due to Sullivan’s knowledge, enthusiasm, and love for his community. Sullivan is an excellent guide: friendly, informative, and engaging. If you are a history and/or architecture fan, we highly recommend this tour. It was outstanding! Thank you, Sullivan!

Sullivan's rich detailed accounts of early Santa Barbaran & early Californian history come with short geography & carpentry explainers, are packed with wit, dense, logical. He uses the houses, streets and mountain vistas around presidio to illustrate stories about soldiers, bandits, priests, explorers, famous names. Sullivan is extremely well read in the local history & brings you into fascinating stories including the origin of the Bear Flag Republic. If you like history, even a little, you will want to see if he's available & book his tour.

Great experience overall. Our tour guide Sullivan was very knowledgeable. We visited historical sites in Santa Barbara filled with so much rich history and places we never even knew were still part of this wonderful city of Santa Barbara. Sullivan gave us an insight on how this beautiful and historic city began, the culture, the backgrounds and most importantly stories he told that made this experience all worthwhile. Much recommended!

We stay in Santa Barbara quite frequently and stumbled on a private tour. We did not know what to expect but we do love history and checked it out. This 2 hour tour did not disappoint, Sullivan’s knowledge was very interesting, informative and kept us engaged. This walk through Santa Barbara history told to us in detail was a great way to spend our afternoon. I highly recommend

The depth of knowledge and interest Sullivan Israel had in leading the tour made it feel like you were a part of history. I am a Santa Barbara native but have never heard such detailed information about this town’s past. And Sullivan made it very relevant to today as well. Montecito Mom

We had a wonderful experience. Sullivan was very organized in bringing us around the historical sites of Santa Barbara and telling us the background stories of the buildings there, and the history during that time. He even spent extra time with us at the end answering our questions. He is very knowledgeable about Santa Barbara’s history.

Wow! What a good experience. Sullivan is knowledgeable, helpful, and funny. This tour is perfect for anyone who wants a fun and informative tour of Santa Barbara. My family and I loved this tour, and I would highly recommend for anyone else!

What a tour! The guide is one of the most knowable people about Santa Barbra lore I've heard. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone. Sullivan is such a well-learned person, anyone that needs to have fun and learn something along the way while in Santa Barbra needs to take this ASAP.

I am a lifelong local of Santa Barbara with great appreciation for this town’s architecture and history. I took this tour at the fervent recommendation of visiting friends, expecting to hear the same few stories half the out-of-towners already know when they get here. I was amazed by the depth of Sully’s knowledge and story-telling ability. Walking through the Presidio district (the oldest part of town) with a binder of old photographs, he showed how the town was built, layer upon layer, first the Spanish colonial outpost, then the anarchic capital of a far-flung, forgotten Mexican territory, then the standard, street-gridded Gilded age American city, and finally the Spanish-inspired Mediterranean city from the 1925 earthquake to the present day. Sully is a student of architecture, but he also brings to life the social and economic dynamics that determined how the city’s image and character changed over time. He has a great appreciation for the people who changed Santa Barbara and built the beautiful city it is today. He has evidently read almost every book on Santa Barbara history ever published, including several first person accounts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He does not overlook the darker sides of our history, especially the abominable treatment of the Chumash by the mission fathers, nor does he focus on that to the exclusion of nuance. For example, he started the tour at the Presidio pointing to the rafters made of reeds. He explained that before irrigation, Santa Barbara had no trees except in creek beds, and those were Live Oaks, which twist too much to make beams with. In later examples of adobe buildings, he explained, pine beams were found in the roofs, because Chumash would be forced to collect pine from the taller Los Padres mountains many miles north. For the whole hour, I was entertained and enthralled by Sully’s stories, and I came away with a new and deeper appreciation for the buildings and streets I see every day. Thank you, Sully!

I learned so much about this town that I never new before! Sullivan is a well of information, and has so much knowledge about hidden historical locations and little-known stories. I couldn't have appreciated some of Santa Barbara's history without this fun tour and great guide. I would recommend to anyone in town--local or tourist!

Wonderful and engaging tour guide. Knew the history of Santa Barbra so well, and was highly interesting. A must-do if you are visiting Santa Barbara. What a bang for your buck!!!

Wow! What a good experience. Sullivan is knowledgable, helpful, and funny. This tour is perfect for anyone who wants a fun and informative tour of Santa Barbara. My family and I loved this tour, and I would highly recommend for anyone else!

I learned so much about this town that I never knew before! Sullivan is a well of information, and has so much knowledge about hidden historical locations and little-known stories. I couldn't have appreciated some of Santa Barbara's history without this fun tour and great guide. I would recommend to anyone in town - local or tourist!