The Ranch

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The Ranch actually refers to two ranches, Bixby and Hollister, along a lengthy stretch of private coastline between Gaviota and Jalama in Santa Barbara County, California. Home and landowners here paid beau coup bucks to dwell along one of the last pristine stretches of coastline in development-heavy Southern California. Their dollars also ensure access to the numerous reefs and points on the coast here, several of which, when on, can rightfully be called world class.

Colonel William Welles Hollister acquired his land circa the Civil War though Spanish land grants. The Bixby acquisition happened sometime around 1855 when that family, seeking a home for some newly purchased sheep, bought up a massive parcel and hunkered down. Since then, both families (and a small armada of real estate investors) have taken great steps to keep the area as they found it. Now divided into sprawling parcels, the land remains a place out of time -- winding dirt roads along brightly colored cliffs and pastures connect the dots behind a 24-hour security gate. Surf aside, the place is downright gorgeous, as anyone lucky enough to have visited (you gotta know the right people) will attest to. For a glimpse (and some purchase quotes), visit www.hollister-ranch.com.

At one point, the Hollisters intended for the area to be used for recreational purposes and, as such, granted a pass to the regional Sportsman Hunting Club in the late '50s. That club was subsequently subdivided into smaller clubs, one of which, a surf club, was fronted by legendary area surfer/shaper Reynolds Yater, later best known for shaping the progressive "Yater Spoon" in the mid-'60s. The Santa Barbara Surf Club, as they were called, was the first to taste The Ranch's waters, and they ruled the place for a decade or so.

What Yater and his lucky pals discovered was a coastline absurdly abundant with quality points and reefs: Razor Blades, Drake's, Little Drake's, Utah, Rights and Lefts, St. Augustine, Lefts and Rights, Cojo Reef, Cojo Point, Perko's and others. It wasn't long before word was out on The Ranch's gems, and enterprising surfers have ever since been scheming ways to access the area.

As California coastal law dictates that everything along the coast is public below the "mean high tide line," boating onto The Ranch and anchoring offshore is the standard method for getting to the breaks. A fanatical crew of Santa Barbarans routinely launch from Gaviota and motor northward with boards strapped down on the bow and lunches packed away. There is a winch on the pier for larger boats, though it's subject to frequent sabotage and often out of commission. Couple these militant day-trippers with the numerous landowners who surf, and you've got a healthy crew of fiercely protective locals to contend with whenever a quality swell -- the area picks up both summer souths and winter norths -- hits. First timers boating or, arms willing, kayaking in, will almost certainly be met with scowls and frowns of disapproval, if not outright shouting and physical hostility. Forget about trying to sneak onto the area via land. Security is tight, and they will punish you to the fullest extent of the law.

The Ranch remains a hot bed of controversy among surfers and coastal activists. Many are of the mind-set that access to every nook of this coastline should be made available and see no difference between the pristine Ranch and the multitude of gaudy gated communities that dot Orange and Los Angeles counties. Rarely does a day pass when some new offensive isn't launched to keep the area off limits, open it entirely or instigate some kind of coastal conservancy plan to secure a blend of the two. At any rate, The Ranch remains a place of legends and a retreat from commotion for the wealthy and resourceful. -- Greg Heller, November 2000