Just stumbled upon this fountain our first visit to State Street and absolutely fell in love with it! It took a second to realize that some of the turtles were real and then I didn’t want leave, so peaceful watching them stretch out and bask in the sun. Upon return and reading up on this and surrounding areas, I came across some reviews here complaining about the unhealthy environment for the turtles and I wanted to post an update. I can only speak for the time I was here but there were no coins in the fountain and it was very clean and the sun was shining down on them delightfully. No kids playing in the fountain either, or bothering the turtles in anyway. It seemed to me that they are very well taken care of :)

I would now call Santa Barbara the GARDEN OF EATEN plus the Landscaping is 5 star - just getting to walk around was like a SPA Day!

Really sad to see turtles stuck here - in a cold FOUNTAIN. They need to be in SUNLIGHT where they can bask (like Alice Keck Park), and NOT in a fountain of water where people are throwing in MONEY. Ugh. The courtyard is very shady, and it really saddened us to see kids playing in the water the turtles were in, and the turtles looked miserable. I am an animal lover, and it really sickened me to see these poor turtles mistreated in this manner. Move the turtles to Alice Keck! Go ahead and collect your coins in your fountain, and gather your money. Not healthy for the turtles and definitely not healthy for children to be playing in that water.

This little street and courtyard has a few places to eat and some shops. It’s a nice stroll and looks like it is from the past.

We ate by the fountain, and at first thought the turtles were sculptures, but they weren't. It's a cool place to stop in.