Montecito is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was approximately 10,000, although the boundaries are ill-defined. Montecito is among the wealthiest communities in the United States and is home to many celebrities. It is east of, and directly adjacent to the city of Santa Barbara, occupying the eastern portion of the coastal plain south of the Santa Ynez Mountains. Portions of the town are built on the lower foothills of the range. Notable roads spanning the length of Montecito include Mountain Drive, Sycamore Canyon Road, and East Valley Road. ==History== The site of present-day Montecito, along with the entire south coast of Santa Barbara County, was inhabited for over 10,000 years by the Chumash Indians. The Spanish arrived in the late 18th century, but left the region largely unsettled while they built the Presidio and Mission Santa Barbara farther west. In the middle of the 19th century the area was known as a haven for bandits and highway robbers, who hid in the oak groves and verdant canyons, preying on traffic on the coast route between the towns that developed around the missions. By the end of the 1860s the bandit gangs were gone, and Italian settlers arrived. Finding an area reminiscent of their homes in Italy, they built farms and gardens similar to those which they had left behind in Italy. Around the end of the 19th century, rich tourists from the eastern United States began to buy land in the area: it was near enough to Santa Barbara for essential services, but was beautiful, secluded, boasted perfect weather, had several nearby hot springs for health ailments – and at the time, land was cheap. Montecito has retained the character it acquired early in the 20th century, of an area of exclusive estates and second homes, to the present day.
