A Katy Perry Reality Tour of Santa Barbara

Summer isn't over until Katy Perry gets off tour. A native of Santa Barbara, the pop megastar is a human solar panel, powering her rainbow-colored aural gumdrops with all the sunlight and tacos and sea foam she absorbed growing up. So, sorry Portland: You're about to become California for a day. To understand what that means—and to understand Perry herself—we've put together this tour of the singer's hometown.

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Mountain Avenue

Santa Barbara

Begin on the street where Katy spent her formative years, when her teenage dreams were mostly about Jesus. Though the exact address of Perry's childhood home is undisclosed, she once gave a tour to MTV, revealing the room where she wrote her first song, which appeared on the 2001 gospel album released under her birth name, Katy Hudson.

Wildcat Lounge

15 W Ortega St., Santa Barbara

This nightspot is name-checked in Perry's new club jam, "This Is How We Do," via references to "day-drinking" and "Mariah Carey-oke" and, indirectly, the line about kids spending rent money on bottle service. Sounds pretty douchey, but remember: This is Santa Barbara. Imagine if Old Town merged with the Pearl, was redesigned with Spanish-style architecture and overrun by the broiest species of college student. By those standards, the Wildcat is no worse than, say, Holocene.

La Super-Rica

622 N Milpas St., Santa Barbara

For lunch, stop by Perry's favorite taqueria, which also receives a shout-out in "This Is How We Do." Also a fan? Julia Child, who presumably spent wild nights here, scarfing tacos and "checking out hotties."

Carrillo Recreation Center

100 E Carrillo St., Santa Barbara

A host of hometown locales appears in the video for deflowering anthem "Teenage Dream," including this historic gym, where Perry flashes her googly anime eyes at some dude sweatily pounding a punching bag.

Oasis Christian Center

4141 State St., Santa Barbara

Swing by the former site of the evangelical church founded by Perry's parents and pray for the devil to be delivered from their daughter. It's now a nonprofit health clinic for Native Americans.

Dos Pueblos High School

7266 Alameda Ave., Goleta

Next, head to Goleta—Santa Barbara's Beaverton—and visit Perry's alma mater, where she spent a whole half-year before dropping out to study opera up the road at the prestigious Music Academy of the West...which she soon left to record demos in Nashville.

Butterfly Beach

Montecito

End the tour at this extra-posh Santa Barbara suburb, where a night of streaking in the sand inspired the Teenage Dream hit "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)." The beach is a magnet for celebs, so if you don't see Katy, you're likely to spot, like, Dennis Franz.

GO: Katy Perry plays Moda Center, 1 N Center Court St., with Tegan and Sara, on Friday, Sept. 12. 7:30 pm. $29.50-$100.50. All ages.

WWeek 2015