[3] The beachside community of Isla Vista lies on a flat plateau about 30 feet (9 m) in elevation, separated from the beach by a bluff.

[citation needed] Recent erosion has exposed foundation supports in several of the properties closest to the university campus, UCSB.

Since Isla Vista has not been annexed by either Goleta or Santa Barbara, remaining unincorporated, only county funds are available for civic projects.

[5][6] While the main campus is to the east, the community is surrounded on three sides by university property governed by the state Board of Regents.

The Isla Vista mesa was part of the Mexican land grant Rancho Dos Pueblos made in 1842 to Nicolas A. Den.

San Francisco lawyer Thomas B. Bishop sued Hollister on behalf of the Den children in 1876, and won the case in 1885.

The least attractive land was left to the Den children, and that included the Rincon Ranch, which was at that time the name of the entire Isla Vista mesa, from present-day UCSB west to Coal Oil Point.

The third tract that comprises today's Isla Vista, Orilla Del Mar, to the west of the Isla Vista tract, was owned by two Santa Barbara sisters, Harriett (who designed a number of "fairy tale" homes on the South Coast of Santa Barbara County[11]) and Brenda Moody, and was subdivided in 1926.

Some of the speculation was related to ocean-front real estate, but an equally important motive was the likelihood of oil reserves' being accessible from Isla Vista property.

The development of Isla Vista as a housing site for UCSB students attending a much larger institution began with regulated dormitories located along El Colegio Road.

UCSB administrators recruited developers to build large complexes on El Colegio, which in 1960 were considered to be forward-looking and modern, winning several design awards.

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.

It is local folklore that Jim Morrison of The Doors wrote the song "The 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.

It was also in the 1970s that the Isla Vista Food Cooperative was created, and a community federal credit union based on geography for membership was founded.

The Community Council implemented a variety of other services, including animal control, but these projects languished due to lack of monetary support from County government.

These murders motivated large demonstrations opposed to violence against women and in favor of better transportation for the young people residing in Isla Vista.

Other performers from the area that have garnered substantial notability include Animal Liberation Orchestra, Jack Johnson, Steve Aoki, Lagwagon, Thriving Ivory, Rebelution, Ugly Kid Joe, Iration and Nezara.

On April 5, 2014, during an annual celebration known as Deltopia (formerly known as Floatopia), a riot broke out in Isla Vista after a police officer tried to arrest a partygoer, only to be hit in the head with a bag of bottles from behind.

[26] Rodger had left a YouTube video recorded on the day of his killing spree in which he blamed young women who he claimed rejected his advances.

Rodger died of a gunshot wound to the head, apparently a suicide, as Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies closed in on his crashed vehicle.

It begins at the bike path bordering the campus and continues to Camino Majorca, where it ends at the entrance to the trails to Sands Beach.

Del Playa Drive is a large component of the University of California Santa Barbara off-campus social life[citation needed].

The high percentage of non-family residents living below the poverty line can be attributed to the fact that Isla Vista is a town populated predominantly by college students.

[46] When UCSB moved from downtown Santa Barbara to Isla Vista in 1954, students were relocated from an established community to an isolated place.

By the early 1980s, word of mouth had spread and students from schools all over California began to converge on Isla Vista for Halloween.

At that time, the County sheriffs deputies viewed enforcement of "quality of life" laws in Isla Vista as a low priority and consigned matters to UCSB police.

In 1993, law enforcement drafted a "Five Year Plan", which included confiscation of dangerous costume props, restricted parking,[47] zero tolerance for open alcohol on the street, increased ID checks to make sure alcohol consumers were at least 21, a strict noise ordinance, enforcement of drunk-in-public laws and restrictions on open kegs at parties.

Since then, Halloween in Isla Vista is a real life ghost town with 6 pm noise curfews, increased foot patrol, and many streets blocked off for non-residents.

The tallies that were released by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office showed a decrease in citations and arrests compared to the year before on the two-day Halloween period.

[67] Other media available include Edhat Online Magazine,[68] an aggregation of citizen news and links to other media websites; The Daily Nexus, UC Santa Barbara's independent student paper; The Bottom Line, UC Santa Barbara's weekly student-run newspaper; Noozhawk, a local affairs website; and Builder/Architect Gold & Central Coast Edition.