Drift Santa Barbara

For decades the Church of Scientology kept 524 State Street to itself, and the street walked past its white stucco and arched windows without being asked in. It had been a hotel until the 1980s, long enough to come through the 1925 earthquake that destroyed much of Santa Barbara. Anacapa Architecture has made it one again and handed the ground floor back to the pavement: Dawn for coffee and pastries by day, Dusk for the evening, both open to anyone. The clay tiles and iron balconies stay outside; inside are reused redwood and floors of raw concrete. Space is the one thing a restoration cannot add. The Cozy Rooms are 129 to 162 square feet, and the Bunk Room deals with the shortage by building upwards, one full-size bed on top of another. The Penthouse is the exception: 485 square feet, a kitchen, and a terrace under the tiled roof where a fire pit sits among potted agaves.

Recommended for a couple, since no room sleeps more than two, and for anyone who means to spend the day out of the room, which in a Cozy is the sensible plan. The hotel lends beach cruisers and surfboards without charge, and Stearns Wharf and the beach are ten minutes' walk down State Street, with the Funk Zone's tasting rooms and breweries a few streets toward the water. Dusk takes the evening, under red woven lamps against rough concrete, with a mezcal and agave list and a raw bar that leans to Baja. After all those years with its door shut, the building lets the whole of State Street into its bar, and the guests have the shortest walk home.