I think you may be confusing Santa Barbara, which is close to Los Angeles and approximately 5 hours drive from the Valley, with the closer Santa Clara, which is in the Valley, or Santa Cruz, which is about an hour south of the Valley.
That said, I wasn't sure if your comment was saying they were just confused at to where Santa Barbara is located, or if there was only labs in Santa Clara, not in Santa Barbara. That said, I find it very strange to close the SV MSR office. Lot's of California-only folks who don't want to move to the tourist-city of SB/don't fit into the MSR-StationQ at UCSB now are off the market.
Though it's interesting to note that both locales have exceptionally high costs of living.
For general amenity, I might prefer Santa Barbara to Mountain View, but you're sacrificing some cultural access in the process. Los Angeles isn't too far away, but the traffic is absolute murder.