A journalist from Mississippi and a photographer from Brooklyn spend four decades making a Santa Barbara tract house their home One block from the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, California, lies the tract of modest homes that make up the Marine Terrace neighborhood, built in 1954 for veterans of the Korean War. Originally, each structure was a two- or three-bedroom house with one bathroom and a single or double garage. At the time, they cost between $15,000 and $16,000, depending on the size of the garage.

Cissy, Richard, and Vito at home in their garden in Santa Barbara.

Since 1979, one such home has belonged to Richard and Cissy Ross. Richard, a photographer originally from Brooklyn, and Cissy, a former journalist and editor who hails from Mississippi, have made the house theirs over the last 40 years. In the past four decades, they?ve expanded the house, raised two kids, amassed an expansive art collection, and cultivated an ever-evolving garden. ?When we bought the house, my parents said, ?You?re crazy; you shouldn?t buy a house in Southern California. Prices are as high as they?ll ever be and you?re going to lose your shirt,?? Richard recalls. ?I was a young lecturer at [UC Santa Barbara] at the time. It cost me a year?s salary for a down payment and we were scared shitless.?
The smaller homes of Marine Terrace, all eclectic and mostly two stories, stand in stark contrast with those that line Shoreline Avenue, right along the beach.?It?s...