The Narrative Loft

Went here for a wedding. Great staff and a fantastic venue. Really enjoyed myself. Would love to come back to this location for my own event, just don’t tell my girlfriend it would ruin the surprise.

I threw myself a 60^th birthday party and my event planner, Dalina of Once in a Lifetime, recommended The Narrative Loft. It was the perfect setting. Very urban and cool with so many features already there that I didn’t have to do too much extra. My friends were super impressed! The evening was just right with the lighting, and the set up for places for my guests to talk, visit, or eat, and yet plenty of room for dancing and the DJ.
Hats off to a great location and attention to detail.
Katina Etsell

What a great venue!!! The Narrative Loft is a new space in Santa Barbara. As a coordinator– I love having a wide open floor plan that allows the hosts to create whatever «feel» they want!
If you are looking for a change of pace– and are hosting a birthday party, office mixer, or intimate wedding reception– this is your place!

What an amazing place, amazing crew, amazing night! Fantastic place to host ANY event! Sarah and Michelle were great to work with; easy and helpful. Thank you for your graciousness, thank you for this space!

My husband and I recently had our wedding reception at the Narrative Loft. We booked it about 9 months in advance and never had any issues. Sarah responded timely to all of my questions and the event went smoothly. She went above and beyond! It was pretty hot inside the Loft, but with close to 130 people on an already hot day I’m not sure if anything could have been done. I would recommend the Narrative Loft to anyone looking for a beautiful venue for an event!

We hosted our annual company offsite at the Narrative Loft last week and it was a huge success! The space is awesome — We used it for both the daytime strategy session and then transformed it for dinner & drinks in the evening. The space perfectly fit a group our size (120 people) and the location surprisingly had a ton of street parking.
The staff is wonderful! I worked closely with Sarah and she was incredibly helpful & patient throughout the planning process since I am a not an event planner.
We’re looking forward to having another reason to work with them again and visit the Narrative Loft soon :)

Our nonprofit, C.A.R.E.4Paws, recently hosted a Pawsitive Thinking event at the Narrative Loft, and we LOVE this venue! Its designed beautifully and has a great vibe. The amazing dog and cat portraits by owner and pet photographer Michelle Lee add to the fun ambiance. We loved working with Michelle and her staff on coordinating the event and will definitely rent this space again in the future. It’s ideal for anything from casual meetings to cocktail gatherings to weddings. Thank you, Michelle and the Narrative Loft, for taking such good care of us!

Sarah, Michelle and Alisa went above and beyond to make On The Verge an amazing theatrical event. They were clear and careful in the rental process, keep a gorgeous space, and are the kind of personable team a director would dream of working with at a space. We’d come back here again in a heartbeat!

The Narrative Loft was the venue for a joint 50^th Birthday party for myself and my husband on July 25^th. We could not have been more pleased with the entire experience. Michelle and Sarah were fantastic in helping us plan and orchestrate our big night. They were always accessible when we had further questions or just needed to set up a time to stop by for planning purposes. We found the site perfect for a dance party. Many of our guests commented on what a unique and special venue The Narrative Loft is. We would love to have another party there!

The Narrative Loft is an amazing space with a terrific support staff! Michelle and Sarah worked with our timeline and were very accommodating. We produced a theatrical performance in the space and were able to set up where we needed to and arrange aspects of the space to fit our needs. We fit an audience of 30, with a set, and took up ¾ of the room. The space is up a set of stairs and does not have elevator access, though. There is A/​C and a good Sonos sound system. I highly recommend The Narrative Loft for future events!

The Narrative Loft is such a great venue for just about any event! I am a DJ and run a small DJ company in Santa Barbara and we have been at this chic and hip urban oasis numerous times — for birthday parties, graduations, weddings, and more. I’ve heard most guests say that they didn’t know this amazing place existed — it’s a refreshing out-​of-​the-​ordinary venue! Sarah and her team are so welcoming and accommodating to their clients, and to us. Power/​electrical is plenty, so we can do crazy lighting (string lights, uplights, video projections for our video DJs) and crank it up (yes, we can party loud and hard because this venue is indoors in an industrial area — parties have gone to 2am!). We love the Narrative Loft — thank you guys for keeping it edgy and artsy!

We hosted our wedding after-​party at the Narrative Loft this past Memorial Day Weekend. The event went perfectly and we couldn’t have asked for a better evening. About a month prior to the event, our original venue (The Art Foundry in Santa Barbara) went bankrupt and we were thrown for a loop without a venue to host our after-​party. With a busy weekend approaching, we panicked… but the Narrative Loft answered our prayers. Within a few days, we booked the space and they took incredible care of us. They were super flexible and easy to work with. Their policies on renting the space are very fair and their team is extremely helpful and quick to respond to any questions you may have.
I would highly recommend this space for any events you have coming up. It was the perfect location for our party, and we’re so glad it got to be a part of our special day! We’ll have fond memories of it for a very long time. :)

Such a hidden gem. Recently visited the Narrative Loft and the staff was more than accommodating. Whether you want to fill the space up with tables and chairs or a vast open space for people to dance the night away… The space itself is very unique and gives room to lots of different layout opportunities. It’s also filled with lots of decorative and unique pieces that give it a special look and feel. I’ll definitely be looking into the Narrative Loft for my own event or as a photo studio sometime in the future.

An excellent value for any party or event! This space is not only unique to the Santa Barbara area but offers a spectacular atmosphere for a wedding, after party or workshop. We recently planned an after party for a wedding here and the staff was incredible helpful and our clients were thrilled with the way the event turned out!

We rented The Narrative Loft for our annual Indy theater awards. The event was a huge success. The space is very flexible and we were able to seat 100+ people comfortably. We used their family style table as an appetizer table, set up a petite beverage bar, and still had plenty of workable space to take event pictures and for mingling.
Sarah and Michelle were great to work with. They made setting up the event a breeze. They were also there during the presentation, making sure everything ran smoothly. We cannot thank them enough for their help in such a short amount of planning time. Thank You! and our staff is already racking our brains to find the next event we can host there!
–Santa Barbara Independent

We used the Narrative Loft for a recent TEDxLive event (
) and the space contributed so much to the success of the day.
Specifically, working Michelle to set things up was a breeze and her onsite staff, Sarah, was extremely helpful through setup — day of and cleaning up. The space itself is extremely flexible and we were able to create several areas for viewing the livestream (using the included Mac, Wireless and Projector was a big help). Sarah has added value right away by setting up a nice area with a couch and some nice, comfortable chairs, this created yet another conversation area.
Little things like easy access to air conditioning, electrical plugs, a house audio system (SONOS) made the day go very smoothly.
People commented all day long about how cool the space was, how open and airy it felt and how ‘TEDlike’ the atmosphere was. Nearly everyone had never been in the space, as it’s off the beaten track. Yet everyone said, «We’d come back in a minute to an event here.»
We’re looking forward to doing more here at the Narrative Loft and working with Michelle and her team.

I am a local clothing designer, and I rented The Narrative Loft for a look book fashion shoot in fall 2014. Both Rachel and Michelle were more than accommodating, and they made us feel comfortable the entire day.
The space is amazing and is multi-​functional as it can be used for photography shoots, receptions, performance space, conference space etc. It is a creative’s dream!
My photographer, models and I loved working with them, and I know I chose the absolute right place in Santa Barbara. The rates are fair, and everything was effortless. I highly recommend The Narrative Loft for anyone looking for a fabulous space in Santa Barbara.

Studio 240 (Now formerly named The Narrative Loft) – is hands down an AMAZING SPACE to hold a party or wedding reception. First off, this review is long overdue! My husband and I had our wedding reception there this past November. Michelle and Rachel are amazing individuals to work with. They are prompt when responding to emails and calls. They have recommendations in the area for venues. Amazingly thoughtful, accommodating and highly supportive for whatever vision you may have for your party or wedding reception.
The space itself is quaint and gorgeous with woods floors, high ceilings, huge windows toward the front, wood pillars – a beautiful space to work with. They also have a huge kitchen that is always useful. They have PARKING as well. As much as Santa Barbara is a beautiful location to hold a party or reception, parking has proven to be difficult. The Narrative Loft has a huge parking lot we were able to utilize. I would definitely use this space again. They are reasonable too – which is hard to find in that city. Important: don’t let the surrounding area throw you off. If you head there from the freeway, it looks more industrial than other areas in SB, however, you can give your guests directions coming from the ocean – heading East on S Calle Cesar Chavez coming from E Cabillo Blvd (toward the ocean) is what we had our guests do. Simply put, it was just a prettier drive that way.
Side note: As far as venues we worked with for our reception – Tom from Wendee’s Occasions was great for lights and Just-​4-​Fun Party Rentals was great for chairs and tables. Nate from Wild Onion did our catering! All amazing.
Cheers!

At the time 240 Studio but now The Narrative Loft was where my company held our launch party and the event was phenomenal!
I don’t have enough good things to say about Rachel and all the help she was for setting up our event.
Her recommendations were phenomenal and the venue was absolutely gorgeous. The party was a huge success and we look forward to doing more events here soon.

Working for 240 STUDIO and Michelle Lee has been such a fantastic experience. Michelle and the studio have given me a great amount of knowledge in the industry. The studio is absolutely gorgeous, there is nothing like it in Santa Barbara. Come stop by and say hello :)
We have all types of events, its a great space for receptions, workshops, corporate meetings and shoots!