State & A Bar & Grill first opened its doors in February of 1983. It has evolved into a favorite locals meeting place, just as its predecessor Pelch and Sons was in the 1920s. Pelch and SOns sold everthing from newspapers and magazines out front to fishing bait, cigars, root beer and soda pop inside the shop.

State & A has carried on the tradition of Pelch and Sons by using the oritinal stones on our back patio at the same corner of State & Anapamu Streets. We have also adorned the walls inside the restaurant with old photographs of the same location during the 1920s.

This street name ANAPAMU meaning "rising place", referred to a prominent hill upon which was situated a shrine where local Chumash Indian people gathered to worship powerful supernatural beings.

The shrine was considered Holy and a place where concentrated supernatural power was located. At the time of winter solstice when prayers were offered to the sun Santa Barbara's Indian people placed poles decorated with feathers on the summit of anapamu. These poles were to remain for an entire yeat to be renewed by village chiefs in and about Santa Barbara. Prayers for food, good health, protection from bears and rattlesnakes, and a host of other human needs and desires were conducted on the summit of such shrines.
Just as the descendants fo the Chumash today hold and respect the traditional beliefs of their ancestors it is hoped that htrough and understanding of their culture you will acquire and appreciation for the meaning of ANAPAMU.