An afternoon in the Funk Zone: Santa Barbara's tasting rooms on foot

The Funk Zone is the few blocks of lower Santa Barbara between downtown and the beach. See Santa Barbara's guide draws it roughly between State Street, Garden Street, Cabrillo Boulevard and Highway 101, describes it as blocks of former warehouses and auto shops, and notes that the city's Urban Wine Trail runs through it. You can taste here for an afternoon without getting in a car.

We list 13 tasting rooms inside that area. To decide who is in, we draw a box on our map that follows those streets and count the listings whose coordinates fall inside it, so a room right on the edge may sit on either side of our line. The current list is always on the Funk Zone page.

This plan is built from the facts we keep on each listing: address, posted hours and whether a room takes walk-ins or asks you to book. Hours change, so check the listing (and the tasting room) on the day.

Street by street

On and near lower State Street:

• Melville Winery Santa Barbara Tasting Lounge, 120 State St.: Sunday to Thursday 12pm–7pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm–8pm.
• Paradise Springs Winery, 210 State St.: daily 12pm–9pm. Walk-ins welcome.
• The Society: State & Mason, 36 State St.: Monday to Wednesday 2pm–7pm, Thursday to Sunday 12pm–8pm. Walk-ins welcome.
• Margerum Santa Barbara Tasting Room, 19 E. Mason St.: daily 12pm–8pm. Walk-ins welcome.

On Anacapa Street:

• Santa Barbara Winery, 28 Anacapa St.: daily 12pm–6pm. Walk-ins welcome.
• Orgullo Wine, 137 Anacapa St., Suite B: 12pm–7pm, Friday and Saturday to 8pm. Closed Tuesday.
• Riverbench Santa Barbara Tasting Room, 137 Anacapa St., Suite C: daily 12pm–7pm. A reservation is recommended.
• Pali Wine Co., 137 Anacapa St., Suite D: Monday to Thursday 2pm–7pm, Friday 2pm–9pm, Saturday 12pm–9pm, Sunday 12pm–7pm. Walk-ins welcome.

On E. Yanonali Street, two rooms share number 116:

• Fess Parker Funk Zone: Monday to Thursday 12pm–7pm, Friday 12pm–8pm, Saturday 11am–8pm, Sunday 11am–7pm. Walk-ins welcome.
• The Valley Project: daily 12pm–7pm.

And on the side streets:

• Skyenna Wines, 12 Helena Ave.: weekdays 1pm–8pm, weekends 12pm–8pm.
• La Lieff Winery, 210 Gray Ave.: Monday 1pm–4pm, Wednesday and Thursday 1pm–6pm, Friday and Saturday 1pm–8pm, Sunday 1pm–6pm. Closed Tuesday. A reservation is recommended.
• Fox Wine Co., 120 Santa Barbara St.: Thursday 12pm–9pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm–10pm, Sunday 12pm–8pm. Closed Monday to Wednesday. Walk-ins welcome.

Walk in, or book

Seven of the 13 tell us walk-ins are welcome: Paradise Springs, The Society, Margerum, Santa Barbara Winery, Pali Wine Co., Fess Parker Funk Zone and Fox Wine Co. Riverbench and La Lieff recommend a reservation. For Melville, Orgullo, The Valley Project and Skyenna we do not yet have a stated policy, and their listings say so rather than guessing.

Six of the seven walk-in rooms are also open every day by their posted hours. Fox Wine Co. is the exception, open Thursday to Sunday. If you want an afternoon with no bookings at all, Paradise Springs, The Society, Margerum, Santa Barbara Winery, Pali Wine Co. and Fess Parker Funk Zone are the core of it.

Start after lunch, stay into the evening

Nobody here opens early. Most rooms open at noon; Fess Parker Funk Zone opens at 11am on weekends, and Skyenna, La Lieff, Pali Wine Co. (Monday to Friday) and The Society (Monday to Wednesday) open later in the afternoon.

The evenings are the other side of that. Every one of the 13 posts a closing time after 5pm on at least one day, and ten stay open until 8pm or later on at least one day. Four post 8pm or later on every day they open: Margerum and Skyenna (8pm), Paradise Springs (9pm) and Fox Wine Co. (8pm to 10pm). Fox is the latest on our list here, open until 10pm on Friday and Saturday.

For the whole city's late list, see open after 5pm in Santa Barbara.

Which day to go

Ten of the 13 open every day by their posted hours. Early in the week, check the three that do not:

• On a Monday, 12 are open. Fox Wine Co. is closed, and La Lieff opens 1pm–4pm.
• On a Tuesday, ten are open. Fox Wine Co., La Lieff and Orgullo are closed.
• From Thursday to Sunday all 13 post hours.

The Santa Barbara Tuesday list covers the rest of the city on the slowest day.

Arriving by train

Our piece on wine tasting by train measures how far the Funk Zone rooms sit from Santa Barbara's Amtrak station. Coming by train also settles the question of who drives home.

Before you go

• Add a few rooms to My day and set the date. The planner checks each stop against its posted hours for that day and can route the walk in Google Maps.
• La Lieff is the one room here that says dogs are welcome. The county list is at dog-friendly wineries.
• For walk-in rooms across the rest of the city, see walk-ins welcome in Santa Barbara.

The neighbourhood's outline comes from See Santa Barbara's guide; the box on our map is our own approximation of it. Every address, hour and policy above comes from the source linked on each listing.