Talk:Solvang, California

Preceding "I agree" below
I think that maybe the bit about architecture ought to be changed? It's after after all much closer to German architecture. /Zxmaster — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zxmaster (talk • contribs) 10:56, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

Solvang was founded by Danish immigrants in 1911, Solvang boasts authentic architecture, thatched roofs, old-world craftsmanship and traditional windmills. Over 1 million visitors come each year to experience the northern European culture, cuisine and unique boutique shopping. The pedestrian-friendly village hosts three museums, 15 inns and hotels, a full-service guest ranch, meeting facilities, 30+ restaurants and bakeries, 150 retail shops and the Solvang Theaterfest, an alfresco 700-seat theatre. Plus, a Chumash casino is only three miles away. Info brenda (talk) 05:35, 12 March 2008 (UTC)bkb

I agree
I agree with you, because i saw a danish program about a danish biker, who travel through USA on a Harley Davidson, he meant that Solvang did´nt look very danish. He also though that it more looked like the southern part of Germany.

The biker asked a local dane about Solvang and said that Solvang, to him did´nt look like Denmark! The local dane said that Solvang isnt much danish anymore! The dane tolded that is because that the first people of Solvang: the danes. Isnt here anymore, that they are extinct and that there successors has moved to other parts of America and have moved over to the american lifestyle and culture.

After that, Solvang has been invaded by Americans and some few other nationalities who meant how the city should look out and what should be danish. Very wrong work! Because i am danish and Solvang doesnt look danish. Solvang seems more like a alpine village in Germany, Switzerland or Austria instead.

Beside the architecture, in Solvang, there has been planted foreign flags instead of dannebrog, there has come more restaurants serving american food mostly and there are a rstaurant who name is: Heidelberg! As i know! Heidelberg is in Germany! We danes can not get enough of germans in Jutland!


 * Your word as a Dane does not mean much, because your opinion and evidence amounts entirely to NPOV which is against Wikipedia's standards. Of course there are Americans and American food in Solvang, Solvang is in America, is that a concept hard to grasp?  And I don't see how Americans could "invade" a town that was in America made by people who later on were defined as Americans.

Shogyou Mujou 15:39, 9 March 2007 (UTC)


 * You are clearly having some issues with language and logic. First of all, NPOV IS the standard to which Wikipedia articles are supposed to conform.  Secondly, why is it POV (as you seem to mean) to comment on one's own culture?  What interest does a Danish person have in declaring something to be or not be authentically Danish?  What is the extent of your interest in claiming Solvang's authenticity?  Do you have an interest in the commerce there?  Or does it represent some personal fantasy to you?  I have lived in Denmark as an American, and Solvang is quite unimpressive in its authenticity to real Danish culture.  I happen to love Denmark and live in LA, and if Solvang was a realistic facsimile, I'd go there.  But, I NEVER DO! Alvie3 (talk) 02:01, 25 February 2010 (UTC)


 * As a German who has also been to Denmark I must say that to me personally it looks more like a Disney-version of a bavarian village with a danish windmill in it. I'd rather not call it Danish or German at all, but try to find some category like "American-retro-middle-north-European-style" or something, because it in no way authentic European architecture, but an American interpretation of European architecture which stands for itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.56.6.139 (talk) 22:25, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I have to correct myself. As I have just seen more pictures of the town, this is clearly Danish style and not German. Maybe the idea of it beeing German came up because of the half-timbering, but that can be found in complete Europe and is not typical for Germany. But that kind of roof they got in Solvang is typical for Denmark and the very north of Germany. The windmill is typical for Denmark as well, you can see dozens of them when driving through the country. I can't see any "typical" German style of architecture at all. The impression of the Danish guy may come from the fact that this town is an image of the Denmark of the past. Of course Denmark today looks totally different, especially in town people won't be living like that. That's where my retro-tought came from. Tourists visiting Europe often want to see a Europe of the past which in that way does not exist anymore, which e.g. leads to the strange fact Bavarian style and culture of the past, which is conserved a little in some areas, is often set equal with German style and culture of the present. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.56.6.139 (talk) 22:38, 14 November 2007 (UTC)


 * With the pictures in the article as well as what I could find elsewhere, I (as a Dane) have to say that most of the roofs in particular are very distincly non-Danish. Traditional Danish roofs are almost exclusively composed of bright orange-red tiles of a distinct corrugated rectangular shape, with the only common exception (rare in cities, but very common rurally) being thatched roofs. The half-timbering does not appear specifically German to a Dane, but the roofs (eg. copper roofs with green patina) do, as well as the spires and all that stuff added to the roofs. Traditional Danish architecture can be seen here. Also the enclosed sidewalk with arches on the street side is very distincly non-Danish (but can be found further south in Europe, although it doesn't seem very German either), and the font used for storefronts is German. The streetlamps are also not very Danish, but do remind me of Disneyland. To a Dane, it looks like a mixture of Disneyland and traditional German (/Bavarian) architecture, but with a Danish windmill and a copy of rundetårn slapped on for kicks. Sakkura 03:24, 16 November 2007 (UTC)


 * The will is not Danish. This kind of mill is called "Dutch mill" it is true that some of the latest mills build in Denmark was Dutch mills e.g. Dybbøl Mølle, and that because of there better sustainability, more of these have survived than the original wooden type. It would thou properly be more correct to state in the article that the buildings are inspired by Danish architecture, then stating that is "traditionally Danish". You would be able to find all details somewhere in Denmark hence especially German and Dutch architects worked there. But in general the style is not Danish. The general style in Solvang is Neotudor, with an overflow of details, details found in Danish architecture but in an much lesser degree. Classic Danish architecture is a simplistic building, often (not always) timber framed. most often build in yellow, but white and red can be seen. The timber frame is often in black but red is also used. The roof, which doesn't change en slope, is covered by terracotta tiles or strafe roof. The gables are seldom facing the street, and does not often rise all the way to the ridge. The level of sophistication in brickwork and woodwork is low. Spires, turrets, led or copper roof can mostly be observed at public buildings such as churches, and in larger cities at buildings from the late 1800's inspires by French neorenaissance e.g. Magasin du Nord. 94.145.236.194 (talk) 16:25, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Solvang: pronounced - "Solve ang" y'all — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.6.51.213 (talk) 16:07, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Extremely belatedly: fixed. I used the pronunciation in the video embedded in a local news piece, at around 0:13 or so. Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 20:42, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Two million visitors
I am sceptical about the figure of "2 million visitors a year" which has been added to this article -- that's about 1 for every single second of daylight throughout the year -- and the references don't support it. The first reference supplied "2010 Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Guide Debuts" said that the figure of 2 million referred to the whole of the Santa Ynez area, which is much bigger than just the town of Solvang. The second reference Preben Hansen, "Solvang", Turen går til Californien og det vestlige USA does not mention Solvang at all at the page cited. The page for Solvang at that site appears to be http://www.highways-usa.com/highway1/solvang.php, and it does not mention the 2 million figure. I am not willing to accept any information in Wikipedia that cannot be verified by a reliable source. Groomtech (talk) 06:41, 5 September 2010 (UTC)
 * The reference is to the article on Solvang in "Turen går til Californien og det vestlige USA". I perhaps should not have given an internet link to the book. I am no longer in Denmark where I consulted a library copy of the guide - so cannot give a page reference. The Politiken guides are however viewed as a reliable source. - Ipigott (talk) 16:50, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Really good sourcing is needed here. A credible website  states that San Francisco, Orlando, Miami, Honolulu and Las Vegas all have less than 2 million visitors per year.  At 2 million, Solvang would be the 37th most popular tourist destination in the world, and the 3rd in the USA after New York and Los Angeles.  It would have an average of over 5 thousand visitors each day, perpetually outnumbering the inhabitants, and the equivalent of one jumbo jet landing each hour of daylight.  Is this really credible?  Groomtech (talk) 21:54, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, I suppose one of the problems is how you define and measure visitors. The article in the Politken guide actually referred to 2 million American visitors a year, i.e. not including all the Danes and other foreigners who go there. Your source may well be based literally on a "destination", apparently using figures for airport arrivals. In the case of Solvang, it seems more than likely that most of the visitors are from LA, Santa Barbara and San Francisco, usually arriving there by car for a few hours. As you seem interested in the mathematics, you will perhaps be surprised that the small Sistine Chapel in the Vatican has some 4 million visitors a year while the Eifel Tower has 6 million. And if you're interested in theme parks, you'll see that the top 10 have between 6 million and 17 million visitors every year. Disneyland in California (not too far from Solvang) has 13.6 million a year. And if you want to calculate the ratios of visitors to the resident population of a town, then Lourdes with over 5 million visitors a year and a population of some 15,000 is comparable to Solvang. You will note that Lourdes, like Solvang, does not appear on your list of top 150 destinations either. There are, by the way, quite a number of sites quoting up to 2 million visitors to Solvang each year, as here. Even 3 million is given here. - Ipigott (talk) 10:10, 7 September 2010 (UTC)


 * On advice from a contact in the area, I have been able at least to obtain reliable figures for the Chumash Casino, five miles east of Solvang. I am still trying to obtain more accurate info specifically for Solvang from the local authorities. See the article for the references on the casino. - Ipigott (talk) 17:30, 8 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that reference (although it should be noted that it quotes the figure as coming from the Casino). So this is consistent with the reference above about visitors to the valley as a whole.  We agree that the number of visitors to Solvang itself is quite a different matter.  Groomtech (talk) 21:37, 8 September 2010 (UTC)


 * If I am not mistaken, the casino has to keep records of all registrations. The figure given in the report is therefore almost certainly correct. I'm not sure I agree that Solvang is "quite a different matter". Solvang already had huge numbers of visitors before the casino opened and now benefits from most of its patrons too. But measuring the number of people who come in by car and park in the local streets and car parks is certainly not as easy as counting those who register to play at the casino. In any case, I'll keep trying to get better references for Solvang itself too. But those 49 downtown shops, 16 restaurants, 15 hotels, 13 wine outlets and 16 massage salons - not to mention several museums and galleries - must be catering to someone! See here This is indeed proving to be an interesting exercise in WP referencing. - Ipigott (talk) 08:03, 9 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I have finally settled on "over a million visitors a year" based mainly on this. Hope this completes the discussion and that the estimate can remain in the article. - Ipigott (talk) 09:20, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Royal Musings
Royal Musings appears to be a blog, and as such not a reliable source: see WP:SPS. Groomtech (talk) 06:29, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

External links modified
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