I have talked about Isla Vista a couple of times here before. IV is basically famous for being a party college town super duper famous for its annual Halloween party where people from all over the country come dressed in their finest costumes to be drunk and walk up and down Del Playa.

I thought I would share some of the history of IV- surprisingly there is some good stuff

  • Isla Vista is an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 18,344. The majority of residents are college students at nearby UC Santa Barbara or at Santa Barbara City College.
  • The earliest human occupants of Isla Vista were the Chumash Indians or their forbearers.
  • On February 23, 1942 a Japanese submarine attacked the Ellwood oil field to the west of Isla Vista, and in response the U.S. Marine Corps took over both the land immediately to the east of Isla Vista (now the UCSB campus) and the land that now forms the Santa Barbara Airport.
  • Clark Kuebler was a prominent leader in the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) and helped establish Isla Vista's first church, St. Michael and All Angel's at Camino Pescadero and Picasso. Isla Vista has always had a vibrant religious community, and includes 7 religious institutions and a variety of religious study groups. One church, St. Athanasius, evolved out of the devotion of Isla Vista residents.
  • In the 1950s UCSB Professor Douwe Stuurman hosted the famed writer Aldous Huxley, at Stuurman's home on Del Playa. Huxley delivered a series of lectures at UCSB and in the Santa Barbara area.
  • By the early 1960s, older students became frustrated with the curfews and entry restrictions in the dormitories, and drove demand for unregulated apartments in Isla Vista. Very aggressive developers built apartments to meet the demand
  • It is local folklore that Jim Morrison of the Doors wrote the song `Crystal Ship' one night while on an acid trip on Sands Beach, watching the bright lights on the oil Platform Holly a few miles off the southwest tip of Isla Vista.
  • n 1969, Edie Sedgwick, the famed companion to Andy Warhol, lived in Isla Vista, in part because of a community of methamphetamine users in Isla Vista at that time. Sedgwick's brother lived on Fortuna Road; her family lived on a ranch near Santa Ynez, which is now part of the University of California Natural Reserve System. She met Lance Loud, the young gay man who was depicted in the PBS series An American Family on the beach at the foot of El Embarcadero. Loud, already a correspondent of Warhol's, was ogling fraternity boys playing volleyball when he saw Sedgwick walking her dog and recognized her. Two years later, Edie Sedgwick attended a fashion show at the Santa Barbara Art Museum filmed by An American Family, then returned home and accidentally overdosed on barbiturates
  • The local branch building of the Bank of America was burned to the ground by students in IV I on February 25, 1970, after a charge of rock-throwing students drove law enforcement officers out of town. A student, Kevin Moran, who put out a fire in the temporary Bank of America during IV II in April of 1970 was accidentally killed by police fire, and during IV III in June of 1970 Los Angeles County Sheriffs Deputies ran amok, prompting criticism from no less than noted conservative William F. Buckley, Jr..
  • Isla Vista has been an incubator for youth culture, and has always had a number of local bands. Since 1980, many of these bands use storage garages in the 6500 block of Seville Road owned by Sid Goren, as rehearsal space. In the late 1980s, Toad the Wet Sprocket rehearsed there, and although their origin is Goleta, they often performed in Isla Vista. Other local bands that went on to enjoy notoriety include Animal Liberation Orchestra, Ugly Kid Joe and Lagwagon.

  • Heavy partying, outdoor festivals, and a generally enthusiastic environment have come to be synonymous with Isla Vista. Although the town's reputation has been tarnished by perceived debauchery, lawlessness and alcohol-related problems, it is a unique community in which a positive and energetic atmosphere prevails
  • the principal mode of transportation to and from class and around town in Isla Vista is the bicycle, rather than the car
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