Santa Barbara may be a little overrated but it's a very quaint little place. It's a great place to escape to if you want a peace of mind. Downtown SB is very picturesque and you'll find plenty of hippies; I mean the real hippies from the 60's! The shopping is more on the "upscale" side with big department stores like Saks, Nordstrom etc. Along with little stylish boutiques. That said, there's a good variety of shopping for everyone. They have great restaurents and trendy stores like Juicy Couture and Betsey Johnson. There's a huge three story Borders as well as a B&N. Just don't bother going there on Saturday and Sunday evenings, as it's pretty much dead with hardly any stores open. State st. isn't as large as most downtown areas but it's clean and pretty.