“This town used to be much cuter…” confessed Bill Martin, sole proprietor of Martin’s Used Books in Solvang, California. He’s probably right, but in truth, I thought the town was plenty cute. A Danish town, just 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara in the middle of Southern California wine country, the town was founded back in 1911 as a Danish colony, far from their Denmark’s harsh winters. Danish architecture, windmills, bakeries and restaurants cover the town including a copy of the famous Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen, as well as a Hans Christian Andersen Museum. And though Martin did complain a bit about the how the town wasn’t nearly as cute as it used to be as no one really dressed up as much and some of the older more traditional businesses have closed down, (Martin even confessed that he didn’t wear his traditional Danish vest anymore) I had nothing to compare it to and found Solvang to be charming and downright adorable.
You can check a little bit more of the Solvang town charm with images from a previous photo essay on Solvang’s 3rd Annual Scarecrow Festival.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Ebelskivers and Sarah Bernhardts in the bakeries. Oh the bakeries. Tell me the bakeries are still great!
Ebelskivers and Hans Christian Andersen Museum are definitely the reason why I visit Solvang. It’s my weekend getaway when I lived in SoCal.
This town looks great!
Love these pics! Looks amazing. Miss you and hope all is well. Happy Holidays!
I love your posts and love how your photography tells a story! Just gorgeous!
That’s in SC? It’s oddly…awesome.
Solvang is a darling little town, definitely worth exploring–we stopped there on our way back from SB a few months ago… lots of yummy food choices too, but we eventually settled on Paula’s Pancake House … the Danish pancakes with warm apples were pretty amazing!
We’ve stayed in Solvang before, but didn’t get to see half of what you saw since we had three kids in tow. We did visit a winery nearby and of course, the playground at Solvang is adorable – all the structures have the same Danish architecture!