The San Francisco call., 1896-04-21
Masked Pirates of the Festal
Main Will Gain for Her
a Stronghold.
A CAGE FOR THEIR cApT1vEs.
The Rich and the Beautiful to Be
Thrown Into Dungeons and Held
for Ransom.

LOS ANGELES, CAL, April 20.-From
Santa Barbara to Los Angeles is stretch
| of 130 miles. From the festival of flowers
| in the quaint old seaside town to the fiesta
of the angels in this Southern California
metropolis is the span of hundred years.
| Santa Barbara retains the characters.
tics of the first Spanish settlement. 1t is
secluced, dreamy, poetic, quiet. Its festi.
val was quiet, vision-like and without the
harsh features that are common in the
displays intended to represent and foster
commerce and trade.
The people of Santa Barbara decorated
their streets and their homes as the Span
iards of the earlier days might have deco.
| rated their shrines.
Los Angeles has all the rush and the en-.
thusiasm, the reckless and reckoniess bril-
liancy that characterize the rapidly pro.
crossing American cities. 1t is modern
| up-to-date railroad center, the metropoli
tan embodiment of the enterprise and
success of the glorious southern portion Of
rich and marvellous California. 1t is not
secluded; it is not dreamy nor poetic; it is
not quiet.
Tonight there is not quiet man within
the recently extended city limits. The
city's fiesta is not visIon-like. There is as
much trade and business about it, proper
tionately, as in an international exposition
at Chicago.
The festival at Santa Barbara was 6
memory of the past-full of romantic in
splratlon and beauty. This fiesta goe!
even ahead of the present and is a gloriou.
prediction of the future. The word car
niyal was too harsh for the gentle Bar
barenos. Fiesta was not modest and sim
pie enough, and SO the fete was the festi
val of flowers.
Here the sentiment is different. Th,
modesty in the choice of words gives way
| to the sense of business. Not merely
festival of flowers will the southern
metropolis have, but far and wide over the
broad, admiring earth is advertised the
Fiesta of the Angels.
The effort of the Angeleno is not tx
hide his place of business behind wealth
of palms and flowers, but TO aid in givin,
an artistic effect to the city streets. Th,
flowers are made in garlands, the deco
rators put up whole acres of gorgeous
colors, but the commercial names and an
nouncements are seen through all.
All the streets of the city are in the car
nival colors-red, yellow and green. Every
structure has bloomed into gorgeousness
as if by law like that which compels the
| trees to send out their spring time verdure
! Visitors might have been counted TO-DAY
In arriving thousands. Trainloads of peo
pie came from the scene of the Santa Bar
bara festivities, and in the coming they
looked upon the Camulos rancho of Ra
mona. Excursion parties of tourists came
from the arbutus land of the East to what
would have been their June month al
home, SO far as the weather conditions
were concerned.
Californians came. too, and large pro
| portion of the names on the hotel regis
ters are of San Francisco residents. A
bustling, busily moving throng marks
every block of the city center, but yet
there is no appearance of any thought
more serious than that of the idler on
| happy holiday in summer. The fiests
programme has not been reached, but al
the city is in fiesta mood, and there will bt
no cessation of the merriment until fiesta
week is ended.
AT 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon thu
fiesta will be officially inaugurated. Th,
opening will be of a lively, stirring nature
| very different from a quiet production o
Shakespeare comedy under the old live
oaks at Santa Barbara, Two thousane