
Advertisement
View the most popular tags overall?
Located in the northern part of Santa Barbara County, but as distant from chic Santa Barbara as one can imagine, Santa Maria is a blue-collar town dotted with fast-food and barbecue joints. In recent years, its population, at least half of which is Latino, has mushroomed to 100,000, fueled by agribusiness — including vineyards and wineries — and the city’s other growing industries.