Share This: 
It's Complicated - Santa Barbara Experience
| It’s Complicated… The Santa Barbara Experience Most of the It’s Complicated story takes place in Santa Barbara. From actual filming locations to intricate production design details, Santa Barbara style—and lifestyle—are omnipresent. Establishing shots of Santa Barbara create an authentic sense of place during the opening credits. In addition to scenes filmed in residential areas of Montecito, shots were taken in front of numerous downtown landmarks, including the Santa Barbara County Courthouse and historic El Paseo. Customize your own It’s Complicated-inspired Santa Barbara experience with these suggested stops: |
 |
 Red Tile Walking TourSanta Barbara’s distinctive architectural style inspired the production design, perhaps nothing more so than the city’s signature red tile roofs. Writer/Director Nancy Meyers felt it was important to have the color orange play a prominent part in the color scheme, “because is seems to be the dominant color you see in Santa Barbara,” she explains. “All of those red tile roofs that create a rich orange glow against the sky.” Take a self-guided Red Tile Walking Tour through downtown to see historic adobes and more recently constructed buildings that embody the best of the seaside city’s Spanish-style architecture, with its wrought-iron details, white walls of adobe or smooth stucco and memorable red tile roofs. While on the tour, don’t miss the County Courthouse clock tower view, where you can capture the picture-perfect sweeping red tile roof vista seen in the opening credits. You can also take a virtual Red Tile tour with the help of the “Beyond the Rooftops” video podcast. |
 MontecitoJane’s house is set in this lush, upscale residential enclave, just south of downtown Santa Barbara. In one scene, Adam drives by Jane while she is out jogging on a Montecito lane, recognizable for the charming wooden street signs. While we can’t guide you to the estates used in the film, we highly recommend touring Casa Del Herrero and Lotusland estates and gardens to experience the magic of Montecito firsthand. Montecito is also home to luxurious, iconic resorts like San Ysidro Ranch and the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore—the latter is very likely inspiration for “The Stanhope” hotel where Jake and Jane have a rendezvous. Montecito’s Coast Village Road and the Upper Village are dotted with boutiques and eateries, and scenic backroads like East Valley Road are lined by stunning estates and architectural gems including Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. |
 El PaseoJane pays a visit to her therapist at the “Santa Barbara Medical Center”, which is actually El Paseo, a historic shopping arcade. Completed in 1924, the collection of shops, linked by intimate passageways and surrounding a courtyard, exudes the spirit and charm of an old-world plaza. While here, stop by the Wine Cask Wine Shop to buy a bottle of Melville or Kunin wine—both local wines were briefly spotted in the film as part of Jane’s fabulous table top spreads of gorgeous food and drink. |
 Farmers’ MarketThe farmers’ market in It’s Complicated was staged on Anapamu Street between Anacapa and Santa Barbara Streets across from the stunning County Courthouse, but farmers’ market is a quintessential Santa Barbara experience. There is a market everyday of the week somewhere in the region. Jane would have frequented the downtown farmers’ market on Tuesdays and Saturdays for produce and other local ingredients like fresh seafood, grass-fed beef, honey and gourmet oils. And she’d visit the Friday morning market in Montecito to buy fresh cut flowers. |
“Village Bakery” Jane’s bakery in the film wasn’t an actual bakery in Santa Barbara—it was a set in Brooklyn. But we think Jane (and Adam) would approve of the mouth-watering pain au chocolat and flaky croissants at Montecito bakeries Xanadu and Jeannine’s as well as Renaud’s in downtown SB. |
