David Starkey is a professor of English at Santa Barbara City College, where he directs the creative writing program. In February, back before the coronavirus took hold of the country, he pitched the idea of walking the entire length of State Street and writing about the experience. He did so on March 6, but before the piece could be published, California went on lockdown. Starkey took another trip down State on March 28, and this is what he saw.
March 6
A little before 9:30 on Friday morning, my Uber driver drops me off at the corner of Modoc and Hollister, next to the U-Haul place and across from Santa Barbara Cryotherapy. This summer I will have lived in Santa Barbara for 20 years, but I’ve only ever walked bits and pieces of State Street. Today, I plan to walk it all.