Solvang (/ˈsɒlvæŋ/;[8] Danish for "sunny field") is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States.

A small community grew up around the mission called "Santa Inés" during the Mexican period, but it was largely abandoned after the American Conquest of California.

[12] The community attracts tourists from Nordic countries, and has been the subject of several Danish royal visits including Prince Henrik in 2011.

[13] The Santa Ynez Valley, in which Solvang lies, was originally inhabited by the Chumash, identified by Father Pedro Font, chaplain of the 1776 Anza Expedition, and were described as an ingenious and industrious people who are good fishermen and hunters, with an excellent astronomical system.

With secularization, Mission Santa Inés began to decline and the Chumash Indian population in the area along with it.

The school taught Danish-speaking students in their late teens a curriculum that emphasized lectures, singing, gymnastics, folk dancing and fellowship.

In the mid-1940s, after returning to Solvang from a trip to Denmark, he first completed Møllebakken, his Danish-styled home, and then went on to build the first of the village's four windmills.

A little later, Earl Petersen, a local architect, gave the older buildings a new look, adding façades in so-called "Danish Provincial" style.

[24] During the 1920s, the proportion of non-Danish residents rose substantially and local businesses and churches began providing services in English, in addition to traditional Danish.

[21] In the 1930s, Solvang became the largest town in the Santa Ynez Valley and a commercial hub for the local region.

[21] By the late 1940s, Solvang's growth stagnated as the town's economic activity focused predominately on agriculture, prompting younger residents to leave in search of more diverse job opportunities.

[21] In 1947, the town was featured in an article in The Saturday Evening Post entitled "Little Denmark", which praised Solvang's quaint rural charms and sparked a tourism boom prompting residents of Los Angeles and San Francisco to take weekend trips to Solvang.

[25][26] Solvang subsequently developed a tourism industry focused on emphasizing the town's Danish heritage.

[21] The 2004 film Sideways brought attention to the vineyards in the surrounding Santa Ynez Valley and tasting rooms have opened.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km2), 99.95% of it land and 0.05% of it water.

[8] A replica of a 19th-century Danish streetcar, the horse-drawn Hønen ("the hen"), takes visitors on sightseeing tours around downtown Solvang.

[38] Partly as a result of the 2004 film Sideways, which was set in the surrounding Santa Ynez Valley,[39] the number of wine-related businesses in Solvang has increased, attracting oenophiles to the downtown area.

The crown prince spoke of their reception favorably: "To find out traditions in our fatherland in new surroundings makes them only more beloved to us.

We have been bathed in sunlight ever since we began this memorable day and now we have driven into a bit of Denmark tucked into this beautiful California.

"[citation needed] On June 5, 1960, Princess Margrethe of Denmark paid a visit which included a reception at Palacio del Rio, lunch at Bethania Church and a tour of downtown Solvang.

After a formal luncheon in the Parish Hall, the couple visited Bethania Church and the Solvang Lutheran Home before greeting residents on Copenhagen Drive.

Shortly after her visit, the queen awarded Solvang developer Ferdinand Sorensen the Order of the Dannebrog for strengthening ties between the United States and Denmark.

[50][51] During Solvang's centennial celebrations in 2011, the city was visited by Friis Arne Petersen, the Danish ambassador to the United States, and by Prince Henrik of Denmark.